#because Brennan is a shipper of the people

[yourlazykitkat]

I’m an inkblade/oisaine truther through and through and while I’m devastated by the lack of any actual acknowledgement between them in the finale (other than adaine supported the notion of reviving them all and it being open-ended enough for my delusion to take over)- siobhan Thompson proves yet again that she knows what’s best for adaine because that epilogue of adaine and aelwyn was so fucking beautiful- I love these sisters so much

[cringefaecompilation]

DORIAN STORM, ROBBIE DAYMOND, AND THE CRITICAL ROLE FANDOM

because some people don’t know how to act when a piece of collaborative media they like starts getting people of color to add to it. a good amount of this are things I’ve already discussed on my blog, so if you’ve been following me for a while, consider this a more polished version of my complaining. obvious content warnings for racism, with explicit focus on whitewashing, pinkwashing, and cultural assimilation.

quick note before we start: we’re talking about racism, not how annoying you think xyz white character is or how much you want to punt all xyz shippers into a fire. keep your comments focused on dorian himself; it feels counterproductive when conversations about the racism experienced by actors of color and the fictional characters they play snowballs into shitting on fictional white characters and completely ignoring the former.

with all that said, let’s begin.

if you’re reading this, there’s a strong possibility that you already know who dorian storm is, but just in case if you don’t, i’ll give you a quick rundown.

dorian storm is an air genasi bard from campaign 3 of critical role. he made his debut a few months before the third campaign official started in what was meant to be an anthology series on the channel: exandria unlimited. after eight episodes in that series, a short 14 episode run establishing the new campaign, and two more episodes in a sequel to the first anthology, dorian remained largely out of focus for the remainder of the campaign up until episode 92 whereupon he returned and rejoined his party for the third act climax.

while he’s generally beloved, most of his fans haven’t seen or acknowledged his debut, and have only watched the main series campaign. it’s a shame, given how little he’s given to do in the main campaign asides reconnect with his elder brother cyrus. most of his characterization is found in the anthologies and gets built upon when he comes back, so the fandom’s aversion to watching it means they’re missing out on a lot of what robbie’s established for dorian. the more i thought about this aversion, the more it hit me as to why people might be put off it. for such a beloved fandom character, most fans have completely forgotten that exandria unlimited was largely dorian’s story, with opal picking up the slack whenever he took a break from being in the spotlight. by comparison, fearne, orym, and dariax had minimal screentime and vaguer backstory setup. 

dorian and opal taking up the vast swath of story in makes sense for two reasons: robbie and aimee were completely new to the hobby! let the new guys have their fun instead of letting the professionals try to backseat drive the story! the second reason is that ashley johnson, liam o’brien, and matthew mercer are 100% going to return to critical role. it’s their jobs! so they can stand to fight over the same 15 minutes of screentime where aimee and robbie have their fun in the spotlight. even not-so-new kid anjali bhimani got a massive swath of her storyline and backstory established despite only appearing for half the first mini-series!

the same thing happened with calamity, where the plot was primarily moved by aabria and luis. sadly, lou did not get to add as much as them (or the rest of the cast imo) but brennan understood not to give marisha, travis, and sam special attention because they’re always there.

and if we’re talking about calamity, there’s another thing we’ve got to talk about. why is the pre-campaign three series that is predominantly played and dm’d by people of color, treated as more expendable than the pre-history avalir series despite involving three fandom-beloved characters and two fandom-beloved ships? how come people complained about an episode and a half being dm’d by aabria because “they weren’t warned ahead of time” but were fine with brennan taking over critical role for an entire month when there was equally zero “warning” for him to do so? and thinking harder, i suppose i came up with our thesis question.

do people even really like dorian?

DORIAN/ROBBIE BASHING

edit: robbie pulled a pro gamer move and this section is now somewhat inaccurate. see here for an explanation.

since dorian’s vocal haters aren’t as numerous as his vocal fans, i’ll go through this part quickly.

i understand that any character can be grating to anyone for any reason, but some of their insults and insistences about dorian and robbie tend to get a bit loaded. we’re not racist! we just think robbie daymond is just uniquely annoying with crosstalk and his character’s backstory doesn’t mesh with the story the campaign is trying to tell! he’s not a real member of the group because he wasn’t there for all their important moments! he should just die offscreen so they’ll shut up about him already! the only reason people want him back is because they’re rabid liam o’brien fangirls that want him to kiss a man with tongue on-screen!

we’ll touch on that last bit later, but there’s always a weird pit in my stomach whenever someone insists that dorian doesn’t work with bell’s hells. the watsonian side of me wants to argue that a runaway/disguised noble is a perfectly common npc type. but the doylist side of me wonders if they think it’s because robbie does not fit in as a person with the cast of critical role because there’s just something too different about him. i wonder if you can tell what it is.

and this last one is more of a nitpick, but a few people joked about how robbie, christian, and utkarsh were all interchangeable or sound or look the same. don’t do that.

in full fairness, i don’t think it makes someone a racist automatically if they dislike a fictional person of color. after all, you can say “i think finn was underutilized in the star wars trilogy and had an unsatisfying character arc, so i cannot bring myself to like him” and still acknowledge that there was bigotry in the writer’s room that led to said poor character arc.

unfortunately, someone might agree with only the first part of your complaint and then add on that they fantasize about blowing up john boyega with their mind so that rey and kylo can have their perfect aryan babies in peace. not only that, but the insistence that a person of color having a minimal role compared to the white people in the story to explain why you can’t be a fan of them goes from explanation to excuse rapidly when you realize how many white background characters are given their own sub-fandoms built solely upon headcanons.

which leads us to our next point.

DOUBLE STANDARDS AND WHITEWASHING

this fandom seems to have a massive problem with headcanons, but it’s not for the reasons you’d think. they have to act as though the person is only making up headcanons to spite either the rest of the fanbase or the human actor themselves. i’ve no such compunctions about headcanons. give pike glasses! make laudna viet! say that caduceus is a cane user! but there comes a problem when you insist that your angsty trauma headcanons are more genuine than someone who has legitimately gone through the same in canon.

what do i mean by that? let’s pivot a bit to a comparison between two seemingly unrelated characters that made the rounds about a year ago: essek thelyss and bor’dor dog’son. don’t worry, this ties into dorian, i swear.

both men were jaded by religion and religious people in their lives and were led down dark paths when martinet ludinus da’leth entered their lives and attempted to sway them into his anti-god cult. bor’dor was fully sucked into the cogs of his killing machine and offed by bell’s hells, but essek fled into hiding after giving ludinus a holy item that belonged to his people, realizing too little too late the weight of his actions.

according to fandom, essek was manipulated emotionally into a bigoted movement and just needed to be deradicalized because he didn’t know what he was doing was wrong. the fictional man of color, bor’dor dog’son, as portrayed by the real-life man of color, utkarsh ambhukdar, for some reason is not given this grace at all. in fact, he’s been compared to delilah briarwood of all people because both of them were villainous sorcerers that felt slighted by someone, despite this comparison falling flat outside of the aesthetic where she is a broken bird crying out for her husband rather than a conniving unrepentant villain. or perhaps they see him as just as evil as her for harming and deceiving the white player characters.

it seems fandom is more comfortable with the illusion of a person of color as voiced by a white man, filtered through a fantasy species canonically discriminated against, and further filtered through headcanons, fanart, and fanfiction by their choice rather than having to interact with the indian man on screen staring back at them.

and if bor’dor is demonized for being a person of color, then dorian is liked for… being a person of color… that the fandom can pretend he isn’t because his skin is blue and not brown.

dorian is literally a person of color with his blue skin and hair, but he’s still also an actual person of color because of his player. compare him to sam nightingale and katja cleaver, despite having powder blue skin and olive-green skin and being fantasy creatures (triton and orc), they wasted no time in telling brennan lee mulligan that there would be no “carmelinda” nonsense; they were a black transfeminine woman and an indian woman just the same as them.

and if you’re going to say, “okay but assuming a person of color has to play a character that’s the same race/ethnicity as they are makes you the real bigot!”

again, must i refer to sam nightingale and katja cleaver. they made the active decision to depict their characters the same as themselves. they consented to it. this was not some sort of shallow corporate-driven plot to force two women of color into portraying diverse characters to capitalize off their identities.

and likewise, the same can be said for robbie and dorian. robbie daymond identifies as multiracial and is part apache. that’s straight from his twitter, so it’s very easily accessible to anybody that would be curious.

so going back to critical role, dorian comes from a nomadic people who keep mostly to themselves and provide wisdom to its diasporic people that come to them for guidance. they’re extremely secretive and even more so distrustful of outsiders, resorting to violence as a last-ditch effort to ensure their secrecy. they can’t risk anything about their people or their culture falling into the wrong hands and warn their children to be wary of the outside world. dorian and his brother reject being called princes a lot of times, and cyrus only picks it up because he likes the sound of it!

if you aren’t from the united states of america you might not know (and even if you are, you still might not know) apache tribes are known for being nomadic. being diasporic and wary of outside forces attempting to harm one's culture only further bolsters the coding. dorian’s backstory appears to be robbie attempting to reconnect with his culture, and good on him! but for some reason, the fandom hasn’t picked up on that. look, i love fanart that emphasizes robbie’s culture, but the number of times i’ve seen people reblog/retweet it without a second thought and then go back to ignoring the exact same cultural coding in canon is… something else.

if vandran can somehow have an accent (and fjord can mimic it) from the southern united states of america off the coast of a continent based on eastern europe, if byroden is somehow comparable with the real-life city of laredo, texas despite being smack dab in the middle of a continent based on western europe, if the air ashari’s culture is a weird mishmash of samoan, irish celtic, and pan-east asian (by way of avatar the last airbender) cultures, then i don’t think it’s an unreasonable thought that the silken squall would not have to be a one-to-one recreation to be coded as such, laurel crowns be damned.

this lack of attention to this detail in fandom is a bit strange, as usually every other (usually male) character has their backstories and everything that their players intended for them memorized to a t by the fandom. it’s almost a running gag at this point where if someone makes a headcanon that bends canon the slightest millimeter and begins to gain traction, you’ll have someone more popular than them instantly vagueing “crazy entitled fans” who “think they know better than canon”. so what makes robbie’s unstated intentions for dorian (outside his affection for his friends and possible romantic crushes) completely fly under the radar? doesn’t anybody think that’s weird? does he need to say out loud that dorian is coded as native so people will realize it?

but even this erasure isn’t the worst of bigotry with his character, that’s saved for the next part.

STEREOTYPES

the irony of dorian’s backstory being whitewashed but his role in fandom still heavily conforming to racist stereotypes about native americans is not lost on me. it’s like there’s a veil keeping them from fully realizing it, but it’s thin enough for them to latch onto unconscious prejudices. there are a lot of caricatures of native americans in media, both within and outside of north america, but only two of them apply to dorian’s treatment in fandom. the magical indian and the noble savage.

the magical indian, much like the magical negro and the magical asian, is nothing more than a paragon of perfection that exists only to prop up the white characters. they give sage advice and mentorship, but have little to no aspirations of their own or even a life outside their relationship with their white protégé. they may die heroically to spur the white characters into action and mourn how kind and perfect they were.

the noble savage gives similar bolstering to the white characters, but carries even worse implications. at the very least the former is seen as something resembling a person, deified and lacking all depth as they may be. the noble savage is treated like an entirely alien species, and a violent and dangerous one at that. he is handsome, in an exotic, othered way, but violent and unable to be reasoned with and only ever sated for a time. despite being “one of the good ones” he still needs to be “civilized” completely out of his culture or murdered to avoid tainting white culture.

obviously nothing in this fandom gets that bad, but the parallels are there. prior to dorian’s return, the vast majority of fan content that detailed his return made him into the de facto therapist for bell’s hells. because obviously dorian wasn’t going through anything himself with the solstice, magic backfiring, and opal being corrupted! he’d be happy to be nothing more than a shoulder to cry on without any traumas or tribulations of his own to worry about! they all got solved and dealt with offscreen, honest. and after his return, people who were either on the fence about him or disliked him entirely began to come around once he positively interacted with and bonded with the other white characters they liked.

the complaint of “i dislike that dorian is never allowed to exist outside of his friends” gets misinterpreted as “it’s out of character for dorian to care so much about his friends” either by well-meaning or willful ignorance, but at the end of the day, it’s ignorance either way. this would be different if he was an npc, but he has hours of content that doesn’t focus solely on his relationships with other people. yes, it is a massive part of his characterization that he will do anything for his loved ones, but why are we focusing on them and not him?

then again, maybe fandom shouldn’t focus on other parts of his backstory.

any mention of the silken squall that isn’t reskinning it to be a generic fantasy keep tends to make it a living hell. sure, the bits and pieces we’ve heard from it make it extremely clear they’re unhealthily secretive, strict, and a bit full of themselves, but it’s not as if they’re evil aristocrats that kick puppies for fun. the tale of a young man that’s going against tradition is hardly one that belongs to a single culture, but i’ve found people find it the most digestible when they strip it of all nuances. it’s the “no, dad, i’m my own man! individualism for life, baby!” power fantasy everyone’s always dreamed of where you can up and leave a situation and leave everything you’ve ever known behind.

so the silken squall is just homophobic, transphobic, and fantasy racist. dorian should completely abandon it and all its ways to go off gallivanting with the hells in perpetuity, which is the correct option. never mind that matt himself said that lgbtphobia in exandria is not the same or is far less common than it is in our world. never mind that in the previous campaign there was a massive story hook about prejudice and xenophobia that humans enacted on species they viewed as “monsters”. because why should the silken squall be anything more than a hive of bigotry and cruelty with no grey areas? everyone knows every flying city in exandria was pure evil and should be nuked from orbit! it’s true, brennan lee mulligan told me so!

i suppose i was wrong for expecting better. if two disney films meant to sell dolls to little girls that more or less looked directly into the camera and said “sometimes people do bad stuff because they were hurt real bad in the past, but that doesn’t make them bad people! racism is still gross!” could both get misinterpreted with zero nuance as being about an abusive matriarch forcing her family into impossible perfection, then i should’ve figured that people would do the same with a piece of adult media.

SHIPPING CONTENT

let’s finally get this out of the way. there is a very intentional reason i’ve been dancing around the subject of shipping with dorian.

i do not have anything against dorym as a ship. i do think that they like each other! they’ve got a lot of really sweet moments together! they just have a lot of personal things they have to work through to get there.

to say that it’s forced, or they’re “trying too hard” to make it seem like they’re about to confess their mutual love, or has had zero buildup can feel at times like a “gotcha” to mock its fans for being pushy. they’re both clearly trying to get back into the swing of things now that robbie’s returned and they can move forward with developing their relationship. i wouldn’t be surprised if it’ll be like late game beauyasha, which had a similar problem with not having a lot of content for it due to one member of the ship being absent from the table because scheduling despite being beloved by fandom until we got into the mid-100s.

that all being said, there is a tendency for dorian to be treated poorly in the ship by the shippers. all my complaints about it hinge solely on the fans. now, i don’t think all dorym fans are like this; i would be making the same complaints if dorian/laudna, dorian/imogen, fearne/dorian, doomstorm, or greystorm shippers did this as well. but since dorym is the most popular out of all of them, i will be discussing it primarily.

small mercies that dorian’s coding is largely ignored because that means nobody's making pocahontas aus with the dorym ship. (and if they are, please don’t tell me. we know its racist. you don’t need to show it to me to confirm that it is, indeed, racist. i don’t frequent ao3 for a reason). even without that, dorym still falls victim to the ship dynamic of the delicate white person and the strong person of color.

i’m already uncomfortable with how orym’s trauma is viewed by a vast majority of the fandom, but adding in the “dorian has no feelings outside his own and is only a machine to deposit in trauma coins until sex comes out” situation i described earlier, it gets bad really quick. often times dorian’s whole worldview is warped to focus only on orym and orym’s feelings. he certainly trusts and looks to him as a leader, but the constant insistence that orym is the only thing that matters in his life, orym is the only person he would trust unconditionally, orym is the only one he would ever truly be in love with, he must be the one to fix orym’s trauma and make him whole with no work from orym’s side at all and orym orym orym orym orym-

yeah it’s bad.

and now we come to braius doomseed, the newest bull on the block. sam riegel introduced his new character as an over-comedic flirt who went after everybody with a pulse... and laudna! provided you’re able to take a joke, a lot of people had fun cracking remarks about how braius confirmed that bell’s hells were just another basement away from having a real orgy instead of a fake. but then there were those who did not like the joke, and by that i mean, people who genuinely wished death upon sam, braius and the shippers ironic and genuine for daring to get in the way of dorym. because dorian is orym’s man, not braius’ man!

do i really need to say why it’s wrong to say or imply a white person owns a person of color? do you need an explanation for that? it’s bad! very bad!

i must reiterate: i don’t think every single dorym shipper acts like this or has never spoken out about this trend. i follow a good number of people that like the ship and a lot of them have no problem with shipping them with other people and treating them as their own characters on equal footing. it’s okay to like the ship and it’s okay to not like the ship.

or if you don’t like the ship, you could always make nazi jokes.

would you believe that this post actually made me want to make this one? there is a score of perfectly good reasons to dislike dorym as a ship as stated previously, but you made a joke about how a white guy is getting denied of his rightful claim to a relationship by a native guy? i take it back, maybe people do need things explained to them. you certainly don’t see laura/marisha pc shippers speak about aabria or erika this way.

speaking of, that makes for a terrific segue!

imodna tends to be bashed by both ashrym and dorym shippers in equal measures, partially due to misogyny and lesbophobia usually rampant in m/m shipping spaces, and partially because people still have lingering wounds from entitled beaujes shippers from campaign two. i think it’s safe to assume that a vast swath of the holdover from campaign two abandoned ship (heh) following episode 34, as that’s when i remember seeing a lot of angry imodna shippers complaining about how orym should have died instead of laudna and ragequitting the campaign. but what does this have to do with dorian, you ask?

well, i haven’t seen any fanfiction or aus where dorian is laudna’s abusive boyfriend that imogen must save with her sapphic mind powers (again, if it does exist, keep that shit to yourself because we know it’s racist) but i have seen some imodna fans utterly despise orym and anything that has to do with him. and if they hate anything that has to do with him, that includes dorian.

most of the “dorian is a useless character that doesn’t need to exist/only exists for crazy fangirls/should die offscreen” comments as stated all the way back there come from imodna shippers sniping back at a lot of the people being crappy about their ship. or in fanfic/fanart they’ll overemphasize his snottier or selfish aspects or make him out to be an impulsive dimwit as a “joke.” long story short, they aim at the white guy and dorian gets gored with the shrapnel.

SO NOW WHAT?

i think it’s pretty obvious where to go from here. do better. watch exandria unlimited and exandria unlimited kymal! acknowledge the story that robbie is trying to tell.  be respectful and ask questions if people are willing to give answers. and if you don’t find dorian enjoyable or interesting as a character, think about why you don’t and ask yourself if you’d extend that same indifference to a white character. it’s not that hard to simply say that a ship or a character just isn’t your thing without being bigoted about it!

hopefully this post helped people see things they may have overlooked in their analyses of dorian and thanks to @bam-monsterhospital, @fear-ne and a bunch of anons for adding their input!

[utilitycaster]

"There is zero attempt to extend anything but bad faith."

standing ovation for tidily describing this fandom in a nutshell tbh

Thanks, but I'm talking about a particular subset, the handwringy overwrought appeals to emotion crowd for whom the gods can never under any circumstances be redeemed, so unless you are also talking about that specific small piece of the fandom, I disagree! I actually think the fandom at large has been pretty receptive to the story as it's being told. And honestly, even when I've been in fandoms that frustrated me greatly with widespread bad faith interpretations (Midst and WBN have both had problems here)* they've come around when more obvious evidence came about. Better late than never.

I do think that an issue in this fandom, and fandoms at large, is not so much bad faith but as someone else said, motivated reasoning (though in the case of something the motivated reasoner dislikes, will become bad faith). A lot of people decide how they want to the story to go very early, often in a manner that validates their own existing real-world politics (even if they're not super applicable to the situation at hand) or personal preferences. I mean, that's in the end the source of a good number of shipping bad takes - people decide two characters must be in love and so even if they start dating other people and not talking to each other anymore, the motivated reasoning shipper decides that ACTUALLY this is all a front and the actor's blinks are in secret code and the relationship will definitely break up and the True Love was Always Endgame no matter how many times the creators say "no, it never was our intention to have those characters get together." But even then I think the silent majority of most fandoms are just. vibing and happy to be here. It's just that motivated reasoning people are loud.

And I'm not setting myself apart here; I'm loud and I'm certainly not without bias. My motivated reasoning tends to be based on foregone conclusions that I think are more likely to actually play out, I think, and I try to be self aware about it, but like, I do tend to assume stories will be good and follow some narrative lines and use the hints they drop, and that is itself an assumption because some stories are poorly made. Like, for example, with the gods, I do think that there is very little chance Matt is going to tell a story that's like "hey, Ashley, you know your first ever TTRPG character, who brought you into this friend group and whose life's purpose is to restore worship in the Everlight? Bad news, Everlight's a genocidal cunt and she's gotta die." That's obviously not my only evidence here. We've got the whole opening scene. We've got the fact that the non-Aeorian NPCs who aren't divine companions we've spent time with have been a sickly old man granted peace in death, a gnomish woman granted solace after being cruelly mocked by Aeorian forces, and the beggars who didn't have food despite wagons of supplies going to Aeor, whereas the Aeorian NPCs have been guards, slimy bureaucrats, teens badly beaten for minor crimes, and a drunk cop; the defaced and forgotten temple in a poor neighborhood that is heavily surveilled from afar because its laborers are unwelcome. Hell, as I said before it aired, the fact that the main PCs are gods and not Aeorian mages is a very deliberate and telling choice on its own. But yeah on some level, while I think Bells Hells have the space to decide to kill the gods since they are those same cast members (thought I doubt that is what they will do), I do not think Matt will tell an earlier story that says "hey, everyone at the table except Marisha? your beloved character(s) whom you played for all or most of a campaign followed a rotten-to-the-core lie."

Going off the meta of creators is a bit risky - a lot of dumb D20 discourse is based on assuming Brennan's leftism is the same as Very Online I Do Not Dream Of Labor Leftism and not his actual "the BBEG is the exploitation and undervaluing of labor and the dehumanization of others; labor itself can be deeply fulfilling, you just shouldn't be forced to rely on your capacity to do labor to the exclusion of all other things to be housed and fed" leftism and reasoning from there - but it's certainly more reliable than going off reasoning of "I as a random private individual want the gods to die for whatever the fuck reason and therefore that is the correct thing to happen and any other outcome is bad."

This is very rambly because I just got up and maybe it's that it's a nice morning and I can actually enjoy a leisurely breakfast before going into work unlike most of last week and much of the rest of this week, but for all I proudly identify as a hater, I am very much a lover of fiction and I want it to succeed and I want it to not just validate me. Like, if I hate on something it's because I wish it were better, but I don't hate on something just because it presents a different viewpoint than the one I already held. And I think you have to bring that good faith to fandom as well. If people are being idiots and assholes then yeah you don't need to keep acting like they're valid for that (I mean, they're valid in that everyone has the right to their opinions, but not in the sense that you need to grant those opinions intellectual consideration on par with thoughtful and evidenced meta and theories) but I do not actually go in assuming the fandom is going to be wrong and dumb and disappointing, and I think that's why I've found such enjoyment in it. Most people are chill! Chill people just tend not to loudly say WOW I'M SO CHILL AND THIS STORY IS GREAT.

*one bit of salt to cut the sweetness here but also still weirdly positive: the way I've dealt with that and specifically WBN is that I am trying to write one piece of meta after each episode that doesn't attack people or anything, just lays out my thoughts respectfully. Be the change you wish to see. I think a lot of people in fandom see someone disagreeing with them and go "OH YOU CAN'T LET US HAVE ANYTHING" and frankly this is the cause of almost all fandom unpleasantness I've experienced (in the sense of people seeing me say I don't like something and acting like I shut them down instead of simply didn't vibe), but it's important to remember that isn't how it works. Even if you do think the fandom has widespread bad opinions, you can change this by being thoughtful and patient and putting forth better ones. I mean there's limits, and if a fandom is genuinely hateful, get out, but if it's just surface-level takes for something that should be deeper? Be the one who shows the depth.

[ratgrinders]

(this is kipperlillyforpresident) Hi. This is an insane thing to ask a person, but also I believe you are the best scholar for the job, so I will ask anyway: if Kipperlilly played Persona 5, do you think she would ship ShuAke?

Points in favor: homosexuality, the fact that it isn't canon would probably appeal to her brand of problems

Points against: She might hate Akira to begin with because of seeing his specialness as Unfair (why does this attic trash get to be the wildcard, huh?!?!), potential for her to want to self-ship with Akechi?

I'm unsure on this matter. I yield the floor to you.

Tumblr user kipperlilyforpresident, it is an honor 🙏

(wow this got longer and more rambly than i thought WHOOPS lol)

Before I answer I wanna go on a brief tangent and just say how SIMILAR Akechi and Kipperlily are. Legitimately, during that meeting at the food trucks where Brennan described Kipperlily as having a "polished steel ball of a personality", my first thought was to Akechi's detective prince persona and just how METICULOUS he is at presenting this perfect, pristine version of himself. They're both filled with violent, uncontrollable rage at the perceived unfairness of the world, they're both slightly murderous (it's okay I forgive them though), they're both extreme overachievers who nonetheless struggle with connections and making friends. Literally the main difference is just that (as I've seen you mention in tags) Akechi's rage all stems from his deadbeat father and the injustices he faced as a result while Kipperlily very explicitly DOESN'T have a tragic backstory. If these two met they would either be best friends or want to kill each other.

So going off of that, I just wanna say that I am both a kipperbees and shuake shipper, and the things that appeal to me about both ships are VERY similar. In kipperbees, like shuake, you got two people who at first seem diametrically opposed and irreconcilable; one side of the ship filled with extreme rage and jealousy at the other party but who is unwilling to admit that their rage stems from a very genuine place of wanting what the other person has, being unwilling to admit just how interesting they find the other person (it goes against their meticulous plans, it's counter to everything they believe) so they instead mislabel the feeling as hatred. The preppy, uptight overachiever who cares so much, and the person who seems to get it all (friends, success) without caring at all.

Going back to your original question, I think Kipperlily would latch on to Akechi hard if she ever played the game, both as a sort of self-insert fantasy ("he's like me but with the tragedy and cosmic importance I desperately crave") and spite (because this interesting character is still cast aside as an NPC in the grand crusade of the Phantom Thieves, he deserves justice and not death).

I think maybe at first she'd ship shuake as a sort of self-ship by proxy, believing (not that I agree) that the protagonist is a blank slate for you to project yourself onto. But I think ultimately she'd be unable to articulate just what about the ship is so appealing to her, because by subconsciously putting herself in Akechi's shoes, now she can imagine this scenario where someone understands her fully and still accepts her, someone who appeals to her competitive nature, someone who is opposed to her wrongdoing and thus subconsciously validates the internal strife she has over her own actions, but who will come back for her anyway because I think she, too, subconsciously wants to be saved from what she's been doing.

[acourtofthought]

I am still confused as to why Rhys asked "you think you DESERVE to be her mate?" In response to Az asking if the cauldron was wrong. I am a hardcore elucien and gwynriel shipper but I want to know why Rhys responded this way. Rhys loves Az, and they didn't seem to have a fight before this conversation. Does Rhys know something we don't yet know?

I don't think it's so much that Rhys knows something so much as his shock at Az saying why he thinks he should be Elain's mate. "The Cauldron chose three sisters. Tell me how it's possible that my two brothers are with two of those sisters yet the third was given to another." I think Rhys's reaction to Az is best summed up with the following: "The entitlement mentality is defined as a sense of deserving-ness or being owed a favor when little or nothing has been done to deserve special treatment. It's the “you owe me” attitude. Entitlement is a narcissistic personality trait. It's not known exactly how this mentality develops." (source Dan Brennan, MD). The only reason Azriel gave Rhys for wanting to be Elain's mate is because his two brothers are with Elain's two sisters. Az refused to answer his question in regards to Mor then literally said to Rhys that because he is the third brother, he should have been given the third sister and that is a "you owe me" attitude. He believes that he deserves to be Elain's mate because of who he is in relation to Rhys and Cassian and that is entitlement. Not because they are in love and he's proven himself worthy of her. Remember, Az has pretty much avoided her for a year. Though we know Elain is still processing her trauma (confirmed by Elain herself), though we know she was upset over the fights she had with Nesta (we witnessed the tears in her eyes on page), Az decided that his best course of action was to not be there for her because he can't stand her bond even though she had not pushed him away (That is selfish). Rhys does love Az and I think that's why he was so horrified by his friends behavior because he knows Az's actions and his mentality in the POV were the worst versions of himself. He's treating Elain and mating bonds like a toy, that because his brothers got one with an Archeron, why didn't he? Regardless of whether people think that Rhys was too harsh or justified in how he handled things, the fact that SJM had one of Az's best friends call him out should be proof enough that Az's statements were disturbing and not romantic in the least.

[ailendolin]

M, P and U for the fandom asks

Thank you! 💙

M - Say something genuinely nice about a ship that you don’t ship (or its shippers, or anything related to you)

How about PatCap because I can definitely see why people ship it and why it’s so popular. The Captain and Pat work well together and obviously share a love for routine that sometimes holds them back from truly experiencing life (or death, as it were). It’s something I’d love to see them working on together in the future, and I think the shippers would agree that them both relaxing a little and letting their guard down around each would be nice to see.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas)

Already answered here with a Primeval AU that I can't stop thinking about now that I've written it down.

U - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms

Thomas Thorne - BBC Ghosts Kathryn Janeway - Star Trek Voyager / Prodigy Thomas Jopson - The Terror Archie Kennedy - Hornblower Billy Brennan - Jurassic Park

Ask Game can be found here.

Already answered: A & O, L, N & P

Next up: E

[bisexual-paleontologists]

I wanted to highlight one of the best parts of the treasure trove of old Alan/Billy fandom sites that I came across.

We’ve long since known and loved the Alan/Billy Shipper Manifesto from LiveJournal, but here is an earlier instance of an Alan/Billy thesis statement from Evolution: The Alan/Billy Fanlisting at evolve.amiss.org:

"Didn't see the slash?!  That's like not noticing the dinosaurs!"

//Alan & Billy

In JP3, we see Alan and Billy in what could be called nonheteronormative behavior.  There are a plethora of smiles, laughs, quick touches, a scene where Billy accepts a dinner invitation on both his own and Alan's behalf, not to mention the final scene with the two where he returns Alan's hat and they have a rather long and intimate moment with one another.  

Were Billy a female character rather than male, I don't think anyone would object to the theory that Alan is having a relationship with his research assistant.  It is the fact that Billy is male that causes people to say that no such relationship exists in the film.

Does a relationship exist?  It can't be proven either way, but the thesis that Alan and Billy might involved with one another can be somewhat supported by the following observations:

In the first "Jurassic Park" film, Alan tells Ian that he and Ellie are together by saying, "Yeah," when Ian asks.  We never saw much physical interaction between the two, save a few hugs and a conversation about children.  It could then be said that their relationship was not defined so much by passion for each other but passion for the past and a shared interest.  By the third film, they've obviously broken up as Ellie is married to someone else and has two children.  They're still on good terms, however.   He says of her when asked by Eric, "She was the person I could always count on. I owe her a lot." In contrast, Alan and Billy seem to have a familiarity with one another that is more relaxed and arguably closer than what Alan and Ellie shared.  

When we first see Billy, he's on his stomach helping a fellow researcher distinguish between fossilized bone and rock.  It's clear in the scene that she's flirting with him, and he smiles back and is friendly, but the moment Alan shows up at the dig site, Billy jumps to his feet and calls, "Dr. Grant!" to which is replied, "Mr. Brennan!"  And the girl is quite forgotten.   Billy helps Alan unload his truck, and once it's just the two of them, they've reverted to "Alan" and "Billy" instead of the formal titles.   They go into a tent where Billy has set up the machine capable of replicating the vocalizing chamber of the velociraptor.  There's a long moment where Alan looks at Billy with a slight smile as he watches him work.  They're interrupted by Paul Kirby, who stands at the entrance to the tent. Billy stands in the mouth of the tent, arm above his head, while Alan talks with Mr. Kirby.  Mr. Kirby specifically invites *Alan* to dinner, though he apparently knows Billy as he said, "Hi, Billy" to him when first arriving.  Alan expresses that he's tired from travelling, but Billy walks up behind them and says, "We'd love to."  Alan doesn't contest this, just smiles over Mr. Kirby's shoulder at Billy.  

An established rule of the group on Isla Sorna was NO SHOUTING on the island because, "That's a bad idea!"  However, we see shouting from both Alan & Billy on two occasions in the film. When Billy fears that Alan has been killed by raptors, he calls out for him in the midst of the woods, "Alan! Alan!"  He even climbs up to where the Kirbys are sitting in a tree and asks, "Is Alan with you?"  The following morning, fearing that Alan is dead, he's obviously upset, no emotion on his face. Incident number two is when Billy goes to sacrifice himself to save Eric.  Alan realizes what Billy is about to do and goes running after him shouting, "Billy, Billy! Billy, stop! Billy, stop! Don't, Billy! Billy!"

An interesting moment is when the two groups are reunited on either side of the large fence.  The Kirbys hug, and Alan and Billy shake hands.   Billy says how glad he is to see Alan, and "Hey! You've got my bag."   Alan smiles and says, "Yeah. Lucky strap."  The look on Sam Neill's face when delivering this line makes me think that there was either an inside joke regarding the bag on set, or that the phrase 'lucky strap' has some sort of double meaning.   Also, interesting to note:  although Billy repeatedly tells Alan that he can carry his own bag, Alan continues to carry it for him.  

When Alan discovers the eggs in Billy's bag, Billy says to him, "I swear, if I'd known you were gonna end up with them..."   Although it's not entirely clear what Billy meant by this, it's plausible to assume that Billy was genuinely concerned for Alan's well being.   The eggs were with the group ever since Billy picked them up, so he wasn't fearing for safety as a whole: he was afraid that Alan himself might be harmed because of the eggs.   Alan's reaction to the discovery that Billy took the raptor eggs isn't just that of anger but of true disappointment.  "Billy, as far as I'm concerned, you're no better than the people who built this place," he tells him.  Had Paul Kirby taken the eggs, it's likely that Alan would've reprimanded him but I doubt he would've resorted to character attack the way he did with Billy.  To me, this signifies that the two know each other very well, that Alan has certain expectations about Billy's character that were not met in this situation, and that he was both hurt and angered by what Billy did.  He spoke to him as a friend, not as a research assistant.   The emotional level in the conversation crossed professional bounds.

During the time span when Alan assumes Billy is dead, he berates himself for speaking to Billy the way he did.  "Do you know what the last thing I said to him was?" he asks Eric, and then recounts what happened.  He glorifies Billy's memory, something it's doubtful a world expert would do for any ordinary research assistant.  It goes beyond the boundaries of a professional relationship.

When Alan realizes that Billy is alive, he goes to his side and kneels down.  "You made it," Billy says, and Alan says, "Yeah."  He looks down, his eyes crinkling, and he smiles.  He blinks quite a lot, also, and doesn't look Billy in the face for a moment.   Billy presents Alan with his hat, and it's clear that Alan is truly touched.  "Well.  that's the important thing," he says, apparently referring to the hat.  The tone in his voice, however, indicates that he's not speaking about the hat but rather the fact that Billy's alive. He is asked to sit down, and takes one last look at Billy, stands, touches him on the shoulder with the brim of the hat, and takes his seat.  Billy stares after him with a  smile on his face. Alan sits toward the front of the helicopter, hat in his hands, turning it over and over.  Eric catches him doing this, and they smile at one another.   The pteradons are seen flying next to the chopper, and the Kirbys have a moment together.  Alan watches them reconcile their relationship; it's clear they're going to get back together.  Then Alan looks back at the hat in his hands, smiles and puts it on.  He looks up, beaming.

//Quotes

"I'm sorry about Billy."  -Eric

"You know what the last thing I said to him was? I said, 'You're as bad as the people who built this place.'  Which wasn't true.  He was just...galliant. That's all.  I have a theory that there are two kinds of boys: those who want to be astronomers and those who want to be astronauts.  The astronomer, the paleontologist, gets to study these amazing things from a place of complete safety." - Alan

"But then you never get to go into space." - Eric

"Exactly. That's the difference between imagining and seeing, being able to touch them.  And that's.  That's all Billy wanted." - Alan

...

"Alan, I wanna thank you for bringing me along." - Billy

"The truth is, you got me into this. I have no intention of being on my own with these people."  - Alan

...

"What're you doing?" - Alan

"I was photographing the nests." - Billy

"Don't do that again."

"I'm sorry."

"If I lose you, it's just me and the damned tourists."

...

"Boy, am I glad to see you.  Hey! You've got my bag." - Billy

"Yeah. Lucky strap." - Alan

...

//A final note on A/B

So that's what we mean by "subtext."

Not saying it's definite, just that it's possible to interpret the film this way.  That, and they really are cute together.  C'mon.  Admit it!   You know they are.

by Jess/nortylaK circa 2003

[herosofmarvelanddc]

OTP Tag Game

I really needed a distraction today and I saw some other people doing this game and it looked fun. I won't tag people because it's long but please do it and tag me if you want! Rules: pick your 10 favorite ships (can be in random order) and then answer the questions. Choose ships before reading the questions! 1. Romanogers - Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanoff (MCU) 2. Huntingbird - Bobbi Morse/Lance Hunter (Agents of Shield) 3. Seeley Booth/Temperance Brennan (Bones) 4. Keenler - Elizabeth Keen/Donald Ressler (The Blacklist) 5. Olicity - Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak (Arrow) 6. Jisbon - Theresa Lisbon/Patrick Jane (The Mentalist) 7. Percabeth - Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase (PJO) 8. Hodgela - Angela Montenegro/Jack Hodgins (Bones) 9. Thea Queen/Roy Harper (Arrow) 10. Dousy - Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa (Agents of Shield)

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6? Technically I shipped Jisbon before watching the show because my best friend watched it and would recount the angst of them still not being together to me every week on our walk to school. I think the first episode I watched was actually the first episode they kissed and I was in love but I didn't actually watch the show for many years. But yeah, I shipped them the entire time I was watching the show. I really fell in love with their dynamic though around season 3 or 4. 2. Have you ever read a fanfic about 2? Uh Yes. A lot 😅 I've also wrote several Huntingbird fics. @bobbiamorse is my favorite Huntingbird author so everyone should check out their fics! 3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/Tumblr screen saver? No, but to be fair I never have couples as my profile pic or anything. If I had a Blacklist specific blog though, Elizabeth Keen would definitely be my profile pic and Keenler might be my banner 4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be? I would be devastated. Rick Riordan put them (and me) through way too much pain for them to not get a happy ending. No. I refuse to believe that Percabeth isn't endgame. 5. Why is 1 so important? Because they are perfect. Their relationship was underrated but their chemistry was off the charts. They may have never got together in the movies but every single scene they had together was impactful. CAtWS was a phenomenal movie, "I didn't want you to be alone", the 2 years on the run, the 5 years after the snap, "see you in a minute", Steve saying they were her family. All of these moments (and many more) were so small but packed a huge punch. I know people liked their friendship but they literally embodied everything I love in a good OTP. Natasha is also one of the most underrated MCU heroes despite being one of the original 6 Avengers. And Steve Rogers/Captain America is the hero I strive to be. We have similar personalities and he's probably my second fav hero after Nat. So the pair together just meant a lot to me and I love them

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship? Roy and Thea are a serious ship and didn't get the love they deserved! I know they were both background characters but in general, I think the writers dropped the ball a lot when it came to their potential. The one later season episode where Roy came back was like a balm for my shipper heart and I will stand by that they eventually found each other again and got back together. 7. Out of all of the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry? That’s. This one is tough. Top 3 is definitely Olicity, Dousy, and Romanogers. All 3 of these, I started shipping almost instantly which I think speaks to chemistry. Dousy had less than 10 episodes between meeting and getting together and yet it was one of the most authentic relationships on the show in my opinion. The relationship was shocking but so perfect and natural. Plus, seeing Daisy happy was exactly what I needed from the last season. Romanogers I already discussed but yeah, I think they have a lot of chemistry because every interaction had so much emotional meaning to it. Olicity has to make the list though because they were the first ship I fell in love with purely through a mutual's tumblr posts. Long before I watched the show, I shipped Olicity because every gif made of them (before they were even together in the show) had them displaying so much love for each other. Even the writer's acknowledged that their chemistry is the only reason Felicity became a regular cast member instead of a rare background character. 8. Out of all your ships listed, which ship has the strongest bond? I feel like almost all of them have incredibly strong bonds forged by years of friendship and partnership in highly dangerous scenarios. But for this question, I will say Booth/Brennan, Keenler, and Jisbon have the strongest bonds considering it took 6-8 seasons of them being FBI partners before they finally admitted their feelings. They all exhibit unwavering trust in their partner and a willingness to do almost anything for their protection. Their bond goes far deeper than their romance. (And I totally could have also thrown Romanogers in here but I've said my thoughts on them) 9. How many times have you read/watched 10s fandom? I don't even know how many times I've watched AoS at this point 😂 At least 3ish full rounds and several partial rounds. But I've only watched season 7 twice. 10. Which ship has lasted the longest? I think that award has to go to Angela/Hodgins and Booth/Brennan although they have the unfair advantage of having 12 seasons lol. Angela and Hodgins technically have a season on Booth/Brennan but considering they got less focus, I'm saying their equal. 11. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up? 0 unless you count Jane running away in a panic them breaking up but I don't really consider that since they were married a few episodes later. 12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8? Almost definitely Bobbi and Hunter. As much as I love Angela and Hodgins, Bobbi and Hunter are trained spies and have seen a lot of weird crap. 13. Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason? Did they hide their feelings from themselves? Yes. Hide their relationship from others? No. They kissed and got thrown in a lake for the best underwater kiss ever. 14. Is 4 still together? This question is rude and I take personal offense to it. 😭😭😭 Listen, Keenler is together in my heart but unfortunately, the writer's are cruel, evil people who wanted to make fans hate their show by killing off the main character. I have refused to watch the current season because of this. #ElizabethKeenDeservedBetter 15. Is 10 canon? Yup! Only two ships on this list aren't canon but luckily, Dousy is one of them and they are kicking butt in space on the SWORD team 16. If all 10 ships were out into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win? This is way too hard considering most of them are some type of superhero/spy/FBI agent. I would guess that Romanogers, Huntingbird, and

Percabeth would make it the longest but who would win among them is totally up in the air. 17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s ship? Um yeah, Oliver and Felicity 😂 Like yes others tried to use the other for pain purposes but no one was better at sabotaging their relationship as themselves. See Seasons 3, 4, 5 and bits of others for prime examples. 18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond? ALL OF THEM! There is not one ship on this list that I don't firmly believe belong together and were good for each other. I wouldn't consider them OTPs if I wasn't ready to go to battle for them 19. Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s Tumblr page? From time to time, yes. Unfortunately, Bones has not been airing new eps since 2017 so their isn't new (canon) content to fill my soul but Bones is my comfort show so whenever I need a pick me up, I will go through the tag. 20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink? Unfortunately probably Thea/Roy. I think technically they weren't even back together when the show ended. Which means they've already been apart for years so as much as my shipper heart loves to believe that Thea went back for Roy like people suggested, I would be okay with that never happening if it meant my other ships got their happy endings (which several did not. grrr)

This was extremely fun and just the distraction I needed. I told myself I wouldn't let this get too long but with 20 questions, it was kind of unavoidable.

[variousxcruelties]

Have you considered that some asexual people take comfort in the thought that even someone who is asexual can still be in a happy relationship? Even if you're aroace, that shouldn't mean you're doomed to be alone. QP relationships exist. It's not harming anyone, so why shame people for it?

Wasn't even going to dignify this with a response but the last line really got me heated so here we go.

I'm tired of pretending that rabid shippers and entitled fandom culture, especially here on tumblr, aren't harmful. It's all extraordinarily harmful. It’s lowkey disrespectful to Brennan and the players, specifically Murph and Lou re: FabRiz, who spend countless hours on whack schedules not only filming in order to give us this fucking awesome story but also spend countless hours off camera planning and working with sensitivity consultants to ensure that they are engaging with a great deal of topics in the most ethical way and offering true-to-form representation and respect for their audience but that’s not even all of it.

Have you considered that Riz is a literal teen character that has an entire hypothetical lifetime to figure that out, but is extraordinarily canonically happy with the *platonic* relationships that he has right now and has expressed zero interest in any of the bad kids or NPCs beyond that *platonic* relationship?? To imply that if he doesn't have a defined QP relationship at the least in order to not be "doomed to be alone" is honestly kind of disgusting and reductive?? Like, what a complete devaluation of family, found family, and straight-up platonic relationships?? How do you view QP relationships if you need to use them as a scapegoat for your shipping of a queer character that has expressly stated that they have no interest in romance, sexuality, or relationships beyond the friendships that they currently have? Is QP just the fancy word you use for your need to simulate a dichotomy of a monogamous romantic relationship because purely platonic relationships simply cannot ever suffice in your opinion? Because, I'll tell you, for all of the hypothetically "QP" FabRiz content I've seen, not a single one acknowledges the poly aspect that would be involved given that Fabian is explicitly not aroace and is currently canonically engaged in some kind of romantic/sexual relationship with Aelwyn. So do y'all actually want a complex QP relationship dynamic that benefits both of them or do you just want simulated monogamy in an MLM relationship that you pretend is QP but secretly hope is romantic and/or sexual in nature because you feel that Riz not having that means that he is inherently lonely and sad?

Have you considered that there are also aroace people that take comfort in characters that don't have a want or need for anything beyond their family and close friends, which at this point could also basically be defined as an extensive found family? Have you considered that you don't respect or find value in that so you project onto Riz and/or FabRiz in order to make their relationship more palatable to you?

Maybe it's time to look inward instead of sending anon messages to people that say it is harmful to take aroace identified characters and shove them into ships for your pleasure. Maybe your ships don't exist in a vacuum and you need to figure out why the hell you're pushing this weird rhetoric that aroace people are "doomed to be alone" if they aren't in a defined relationship beyond general familial or platonic engagement <3

Because I absolutely will continue to shame you for it.

[farfarawaygirl]

Hello anon, I hope you are well. I'm in need of some happy words right now, because twitter is full of negativity about the photos that came out. Please tell me what you think of all of this Greg is back at 9x11. And if you think we're going to have any breakthrough for Brettsey in 9x8. I await your eager reply. From one Brettsey to another Brettsey

We need to remember that there are TWO people in this relationship, so we can absolutely have one person move forward with their come to Jesus moment, and have the other be none the wiser.

Greg is a catalyst- he’s here to get things going, but at the end of the day, he’s not a main cast member, and while he might stir some things up, it’s all moving towards the final conclusion! He’s here as a piece to move Matt and Sylvie closer together by pulling them further apart.

In fact, it might be better for us Brettsey shipper long term to have the drama done with now.

This is a high stakes relationship. It involves the shows Top Billed Male actor, and the female lead - but it also involves Gabby. She is gone, but her actions linger. Both characters have to be so sure that move is the right one before it goes any further.

Also, we could look at Gabby leaving the show as a reboot. So, in this scenario, season 7 translates to season 1, 8 is 2, and 9 is 3. Think of a different show you really liked, why did the main characters get together?

One Tree Hill - Lucas and Peyton didn’t happen for real until season 4.

Bones - Booth and Brennan stayed apart until season 6/7!

The Mindy Project - Danny and Mindy don’t happen until the very last episode of season 2.

Look at other one Chicago shows - Burzek is an example, they got together too soon and flamed out. upstead is only now happening in season 8, when she showed up in season 4! Manning and Halstead suffered the same fate - getting together too quickly on TV is usually a bad sign!!

Greg being back means that Sylvie gets to keep smiling as both her and Matt work through the crappy emotions, stumbling blocks, fears and self doubt that we see in them.

Lastly, we don’t know what’s going to happen in Wednesday yet! Keep the faith. 😘😘

[notoriousmasc]

Hi, cringe anon again (i was the one embarrassed about people finding out i have interests, but as the like 3rd other fabragh shipper in the fandom even i had to break silence). Long time no ask! Anyway, hope you're doing fine!

I really had high hopes for Ragh to appear in The Seven before it premiered and now I know it won't happen, which is a shame. It"# a nice season so far at least (when i'm ignoring some of the bathroom humor that d20 is so very fond of). Way better than the last one, by miles imo. Misfits And Magic sucked and it was exactly one player's fault and it was the one people were most excited about. And also everything that happened with Dream since episode 2 but that's a different subject.

I MISS RAGHHHH 😭😭😭 my beloved wife. come back. ive been busy as hell lately so i havent been keeping up with it but im not super motivated because im not particularly attached to any of the characters </3

i did actually end up enjoying misfits and magic and k's arc + evan as a characcter, but i still think k/evan is absolute hot garbage. i don't think the fact that mismag wasnt incredible is all brennans fault, i think its like, equally him and erika's to be honest. having a romance with evan was basically unnecessary to k's arc and honestly makes it feel weaker, since its like they were rewarded for all their uncomfortable behavior. even though they're still growing past it, they still get the guy that they were being weird to, which honestly feels... kinda grody.

they're absolutely going to make another season of mismag eventually (they accidentally listed one of the videos about it as "season 1" like with TUC), so i'm hopeful that they might be able to make their relationship feel less weird and forced (or just throw the whole fucking thing out the window which i'd prefer), but i honestly don't know if they would, and i'm not hopeful that the cast/crew is aware of how weird the relationship is

........... ALSO JAMMER AND EVAN WERE DEFINITELY INTO EACH OTHER LIKE WHAT THE FUCK???? YOU HAVE THOSE SCENES WITH JAMMER AND EVAN AND YOU DECIDE TO GO WITH K/EVAN??????? JESUS LORD

[glassprism]

Do you think the real life relationships between actors affects their acting in POTO? If it does, is that good or bad? Like husband/wife pairs as the Phantom/Christine, or like Ramin/Sierra/Hadley, for example?

I think it can, but I don’t think we, as the audience, can ever quite know, simply because we aren’t privy to the private lives and relationships of actors (and shouldn’t be).We definitely have some famous examples of husband-wife couples with good chemistry, but as I explained here, there’s also couples who, as far as I know, weren’t married or in relationships but who had equally good chemistry. Could they have had been dating and we just don’t know? Sure. Could they just be super good friends? Also possible. Or are they workplace acquaintances who just clicked? Equally likely.

And there’s also the opposite case, where actors don’t have any chemistry. Might it be because they’re actually deadly enemies who hate each other offstage? Maybe, but maybe they are also just professional actors who didn’t meld together. And even if they are enemies to the death, they are actors. I remember reading an interview with a former Christine actress (whose name I can’t think of right now) who said that she for sure has worked with people she did not care for, but it’s her job to act in love with them, so act in love she did. Did it affect her acting? No idea, because I don’t know who that actor was.

In the cases where we do know that the real life relationships may have affected the acting, I think it can be good and bad. The good ones are cases like husband-and-wife couple Gary Mauer and Elizabeth Southard with their legendary chemistry, or Amy Hudson and Brennan Holder, who met, fell in love, and tried to keep their relationship a secret while doing Phantom in South Africa, but fooled absolutely nobody because their chemistry was so noticeable.

The bad? Well, that might include, say, Katie Knight Adams and Ramin Karimloo (then playing Raoul) having such a good friendship that Christine looked like she just wanted to run off with Raoul at the first opportunity (maybe not bad if you’re a R/C shipper, but it does affect the show if Christine appears to have zero interest in the Phantom), or a Phantom who was not happy with the casting of a certain Christine and whose interactions with her came off more aggressive than usual, or where a backstage relationship became so bad the actors were getting injuries onstage. So can it be beneficial? Sure. Can there also be negative effects? Also possible.

[thetvmoviefan]

CAOS Q&A Questions (In Order)

OKAY. Including ALL to most of the questions involving the show and book, so everyone can theorize about what the heck is going to happen in Part 3. But here’s most of the questions involving the show and book, that Sarah Rees Brennan was able to answer. A lot of the questions didn’t really specify if they were talking about the book or show, but we got something to speculate about.

1) If H/S will get back together in Part 3, She said something along the lines she’s not allowed to say anything. She did say she thinks there’s something for their shippers out there. She thinks.

2) If there will be a season 4 or 5: She doesn’t know, but hopes.

3) If Nabrina is okay? She says no because “Hell”, but they are thinking about each other A LOT.

4) Nick or Harvey: She loves them both and thinks they should be friends.

5) About Part 3: She can’t spoil, but she says there’s going be a fight in Hell for many things, but she excited for Zelda’s bit.

6) How much of the show is factoring in the books? They’ve been really good about factoring things and they’ve made up some spells together we might see in Part 3.

7) If there will be LGBT scenes: She says yes

8) How is the coven doing in Book 3 and the house being a full house: She says it’s such a full house and Zelda is tired of all of them. But Hilda is enjoying cooking for all of them. She also says the mortals and witches get to hang out. She says Harvey will make a witch friend or does he?

9) Favorite Nick and Sabrina moments? Her favorite moment is when Sabrina says she’ll do anything for love and Nick asks is he can watch. And now soon Nick’s going to see what Sabrina will do for him.

10) Should Nabrina shippers be worried about their fate in part 3 & 4: She says anyone who cares about any of these people should be worried because Hell, Prince’s of Hell, Queens of Hell and so much satan.

11) Exploration on Mary Wardwell and that she deserves love? She says she deserves love and she’s come back to a situation and maybe she’s not coping well with it.

12) If Ross will sing in Part 3, she says yes.

13) Caliban is going to be in book 3

14) If Zelda is getting a love interest, she says she deserves one and she’s excited for us to see Zelda in Part 3.

15) Theo has a POV in Book 3

16) If Nick will have some mental issues because of the Lucifer thing, she says Nick’s going to have a lot of issues. But since we last saw him she says he’s really brave and strong. And she says keep fighting Nick.

17) Mambo Marie is going to be helpful and she has very good taste

18) If there will be weird sister scenes she says yes.

19) Ambrose and Sabrina moments, she says they get reunited in Part 3 but in Book 3 Sabrina and Ambrose think about each other and Ambrose is “all I miss her and love her". And Prudence is grossed out.

20) If there is anything romantic with Caliban and Sabrina in Part 3? She says Sabrina’s very focused on Nick and Caliban doesn’t know what romance is but perhaps he could learn.

21) If book 3 will have more Nabrina scenes or a kiss between then: She says yes

22) She says it was fun to come up with Ambrose’s back story and we will get Nicks in Book 3

23) A song that reminds her about Nabrina, she says Caly rae’s Real Love

24) If part 3 will involve a lot of music, she says not to much but the mortals have a band.

25) About Sabrina being a cheerleader, yes we will see it and we will meet Lizzie the cheerleader who she really likes.

26) What song reminds her about H/S she says gateway love

27) If there are any lessons at the academy in book 3, she says that the academy is very different now.

28) Sex scenes: She says  “Whose had it, whose going to have it, who maybe wants to have it and whom might get sacrificed”

29) Book 3 we’re going to find out a lot about Nick’s mom.

30) Roz and Harvey have scenes

31) If there’s a lot of Nabrina scenes in Part 3, she says yes

32) She thinks Lillith does deserve happiness but men and men in hell are getting in the way.

33) We get to see a new side of Zelda in Part 3

34) If we meet new witches in Part 3 and Book 3, she says yes and important ghost

35) What she can say about Caliban and Sabrina, she says he does one thing that makes her really like him, but aside she’s not happy cause he’s after lilith’s job

36) About Melvin, Elspeth and Agatha, we will find out about Elspeth’s crushes on two people

37) About Harbrina and Nabrina, she likes both and she wants Sabrina to have everything she wants.

38) Hilda or Zelda, she loves them both and she needs the balance. She talks about Hilda being her favorite and she didn’t like Zelda till she realized how much Zelda really loves Sabrina.

39) If Lilith gets to to bask or or do things fall off the rails, she gets a very basking moments but everything goes off the rails all season lon.

40) Prudence and Ambrose moments in Book 3

41) No Lucifer POV in Book 3, Book 3 POV is mostly Sabrina, Nick and Lilith and little with the others

42) Where is Sabrina mentally, Sabrina is really sad and misses Nick and she’s dealing a lot with her heritage but trouble makes Sabrina even more determined.

43) If H and Sabrina will always love eachother, she says Yes but in what way

44) If Sabrina becomes more power in part 3, she says yes

45) Three words to describe Nabrina, Troubled, Dedicated and Exciting

46) If there’s hope for H/S, she said there’s always hope

47) As far as she knows Sabrina is def the dark lord’s daughter

48) About Sabrina being in a poly relationship with Harvey and Nick, she says “She hasn’t mentioned wanting that”

49) We will see or read Sabrina being sad over Nick’s absence.

50) Anything about Zelda and Hilda, she says many challenges but she feels worst for Hilda.

51) Lilith returned Sabrina’s extreme powers

52) Pambrose are basically traveling the world and there’s going to be a misunderstanding on who Prudence really likes.

53) If Nick is suffering after hell and if he’s happy with Sabrina after hell, she says everyone in stories suffer.

54) About endgame in the comics, she says something about not believing in endgame and that stories are always evolving and they should. Everything always changes

55) About if Nick will push Sabrina away in part 3, she says in book 3 Nick constantly thinking about Sabrina and the moment he fell in love with her.

56) There’s going to be some exciting stuff about Theo and was fun to write him in book 3

57) About Caliban and Nick, she says Nick’s probably like “I have enough problems. WHY?”

58) She can’t confirm if there will be a book 4

59) If someone is going to die in book 3 or season 3, she says you cant count anyone as safe and there’s important ghost in book 3

60) Mambo Marie represents a whole new type of magic and opens a lot witches in Greendale’s eyes to new things.

61) Mary’s explored in book 3

62) Harvey’s going to punch someone in the face in the season

63) If Sabrina will have Dark Sword moments, she says Sabrina is going to show a whole new sinister side to herself and we’re all going to enjoy part 3.

[localbutchcyborg]

Seems I’ve been tagged in a tumblr tagging game by @chroku-n so here we go lads! It’ll be below the cut because it might be a bit long.

Top 3 Ships: Great. Just great. Only three? I’m such a multi/open-shipper that I really might have to uh delay this post a bit. Gods, okay, I’ll do my best um... 1. ShinDeku (from Boku No Hero Academia) 2. SolAngelo (from the Riordan Universe) 3. JonMartin (from the Magnus Archives) Lipstick or Chapstick? Seriously? These two things serve such different purposes! I use lip balm mostly, but I certainly prefer lipstick and, of course, if I wore makeup more, I’d wear it much more. Maybe I’ll get back into that.... Last Song: Id by Charlie Allen and Always by Panic! at the Disco. Both are phenomenal and gorgeous and I love them. 11/10 would recommend. Last Movie: [sweats nervously] I don’t really watch movies all that often anymore. I think the latest movie I truly watched was Spies In Disguise which was rather hilarious and very very fun. I enjoyed it a lot and I’d totally recommend it. Reading: I bought a new book recently called A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan and I have to say it’s really interesting. I’m a huge history and science nerd (to some degree) and so this is just very much my cup of tea. And, of course, it has dragons. I love dragons. Tag Nine People You’d Like to Get to Know Better: Okay uh let’s see... @stoptestingme, @mintintint, @blqckwoods, @frogmunism, @packet-of-staples, @cryptidmusings, @megapanflowerchild. I don’t really have nine people to tag? H sorry!

[wolfwhiteflowers]

fandom wank..stans and forumz..#spoilers

i keep posting of these things. I guess I keep messing it up. We’re human. ok.

im just all fed up with it. im tired of it. but hey it’s hiatus and i think it’s fine for now. Just gotta ignore the fandom wank or those stans/twitter(seriously twitter is the worst place to see the wank). really i don’t need the fandom that much ukno. just do stuff I enjoy. Just be me. Nice shippers are still around. The crappy shippers/stans are a few and loud.

I think there’s something with the two forums going on...with the C0nnie spoilers and shippers. It’s really weird.

first of all, i know people saying they’re stans like it’s a super fan and positive way. But really stans of somethings/someone, those stans are so annoying. I don’t think stans are a good thing. Or people who generalize and single out things of their fave and then trash others..is not cool. Most “shipwars” are about the shippers/grudges on the shippers. I don’t understand why some stans treat their faves like gods when eh their human/fictional. I also feel like I don’t know this fan. It reminds me of the show Bones, when Brennan’s cousin (sis) identity was like all about what and who Benjamin Franklin is. Um yeah I ..gotta stay away from twitter.

Sharing is caring. No one said you have to be a fan of one ship or one character. Generalizing a group of shippers will not make peace; u gonna make more fights. Block the crappy immature ones. It’s a story. Characters grow, writers may fail or have something great in plan. It’s not a game; a character doesn’t win/out-fame the world. It’s an ensemble show/Hollywood business. Anyway I’m tired of people shitting others when they don’t know them really. Sigh ..it just sucks. I like C ship and R ship but I can’t interact/talk anyone cos not a lot of people are fan of both ships or fan/openminded/not shitting of everyone. (but I guess that’s how fandom works.) Funny thing on the forum, if I wanna talk about R ship, the shippers don’t wanna see it.. or something. They’re thinking like stans already. They’re all generalizing or so. Idk.  The haters going wtf and the whole “liking post” thing ..kinda like some popularity drama. It all goes awkward. I mean for me it’s awkward to see it and don’t wanna join along the discussion. There’s the whole hive mind thing going/generalizing. I stg (twitter) drama is so weird and immature. It’s like a gang fight but like it’s story and everyone’s get their focus. (seriously i was talking about R ship on the forum and hoping it goes well and the other R shipper(this person is always rude btw) assumes I was being a fake and sarcastic. That sucks. And some fans have really bad anger issues..like I worry about them as humans ..they need to let it go. You don’t have to argue..be fools. Sometimes my hopes for a story or a ship doesn’t always come out the way I wanted and I just deal with it and move on. )

ok so idk some R stans are like must be d-con shippers or think C shippers are all the bad things when sldkfjlsj it’s just dumb competitive fighting and vs. Just stop. Why are people always wanna a win an argument. (be cocky and play victim). ugh wtf. Seriously I see both sides of those shippers and these people all are similar in their beliefs/politics irl.  Anyway, so I just think don’t get to invested in fandom/friends. Everyone got a list of different ships. 

And I think forums are like easily to get upset at. Everyone’s reading ur comment, people tend to want to argue/debate every little thing, and mods like no that’s off topic go here. Ugh. lol So eh forums.. Anyway ..so I’m just saying if ya wanna vent go to twitter or tumblr. idk. 

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Anyway I noticed T$DF is ukno anti Carol/Caryl most of the time. Most antis go there. And there’s the zone forum which is very pro Caryl forum. It’s like T$DF is missing out the C fans of the fandom and therefore missing some info. It’s weird. So when we’re getting more info that LR isn’t in s10B that much, the fans from the zone or/and, others who are thinking logically,(like they want facts and spoilers and not being shippy/biased), were getting frustrated that T$DF isn’t really saying that C*nnie isn’t in 10B that much. Usually people would put her in the death watch as in 50/50 way. Rosita was already talked about and stuff because of the actress’s show, but not C0nnie? So in a way, it’s like T$DF is being in denial or biased. I guess it is but still nothing really confirmed about C0nnie’s fate, and the spoilery fans already know in their heads that it’s 50/50 with her fate. So when the other fans and Carol fans who are just wanting to bring C0nnie’s fate up (in a logical way I’m assuming) because ep 8 and 9 are coming soon and to warn others I guess, but T$DF and antis don’t wanna hear it and assume the other fans (mostly Carol fans out about) are being petty and bringing it up because of the D ship, etc. When it’s like T$DF are being emotional about it and like being in denial. Yeah I also think the fans discussing in the death thread..it’s gonna be a rough thread to read in no matter what. People are gonna speculate ur fave will die. But *some people who said it, doesn’t mean they think they WANT that character to die. Some people are thinking with facts and spoilers about it and speculating ur fave will die. But whatever, I guess it’s depends on the group on the forum and how everyone treat each other. I think some fans from T$DF, who are C0nnie fans, already got info in mind and so it’s up to them to decide what to do with it. I don’t wanna keep mentioning it or bringing drama. They already know what’s up so, ok.

For me, I want to know the spoilery facts and keep it logically. Rip the bandaid. Being in denial isn’t gonna be good in the long run and for the fans. 

BTW, C0nnie was like 70% dead (with the Zone’s spoiler) but now with that reviewer’s tweet hinting? at Bowl’s filming summary post, and T$DF can’t confirm(doesn’t know it) the spoiler that Zone had. I guess it’s stuck in 50/50. so ok whatever. 

I’m gotta say a character dying in the mid season is the worst, I realized. It’s easy to fall into that trap of hoping and wishing for the fave to make it out. I’m glad Carol isn’t part of this death theory so far. I guess forums tend to be biased because of like what the group is like. 

[dyonoi]

Davekat is one of the ships I'm not as into because it's ruined by the fandoms Biphobic nature. Dave and Karkat are both into girls and it's totally Normal for them to want to eventually date Jade too when they're older and mature, and it doesn't make them less into each other because you think it makes them Less Gay. It just didn't work out this time, in this timeline. Keep hating Jade Harley for getting into your sexy ship.

have you ever considered that a huge chunk of people in the homestuck fandom, especially on twitter/tumblr are...in fact lgbt themselvesdid it ever occur to you that youre sending this shit to actual bi people

im unironically gonna pull out the NO U card here and say the idea that bi people "cant pick" or are naturally drawn to polyamory and/or promiscuity and equating poly to bi is infact biphobic here. not to say real bi poly people dont exist or are doing anything wrong but this concept is often a negative portrayal of bi people in media

let me tell you my own experience here so that MAYBE you can understand someone elses perspectiveback in the midlate 2000s in highschool i dated a bi guy called brennan. i obviously had no problems with this, but in the lead up to this my friends had a whole discussion with me and basically told me not to date him. because he was bi. basically what it boiled down to was "theres double the chances of him cheating on you, you have to look out for him being friends with ANYONE" and "hes probably a manw***e." i dated him anyway for around 4 months before i found out he was cheating on me with 2 other people at the same time. the response i got from everyone was "I TOLD YOU SO" and i internalized this shit for years.

fastforward like 2-3 years and im in a relationship that im still in to this day. im a committed person when it comes to relationships and i am straight up monogamous. so thoughts of being bi were pushed down since i was 16 because i thought admitting to it or even exploring the idea would make it come across like i was less into my bf and an affront to him, that i would potentially wander off or be unloyal because i internalized that all bi people would be secretly unhappy unless "they had both" and that it would come across that way. it took me a ridiculously long time to be able to realize i could admit to finding some girls hot while staying monogamous

so...dave and karkat being bi AND monogamous is important to me. not just because of personal stuff, but also cause ive literally written multiple fucking essays about how its so crucial to karkats character and elevates him from "character i enjoy" to "incredibly well written and compelling character writing that im very invested in, and likely the only vehicle to his actual happiness." as for dave, it just straight up goes against his existing character and sometimes saying "this doesnt add up" is a legit reason not to like something. i find the argument that poly is something that has to happen as a byproduct of them "maturing" and that monogamy is inherently immature in contract is pretentious and condescending as fuck

i dont know how else to explain this multiple fucking times. all this is completely divorced from jade, and this would still stand if it was john, terezi, jane, tavros, obama, or whoever the fuck else in her place. though now the epilogues made it even WORSE in my mind because of the fact that she sexually harassed them for years and people are conveniently ignoring that but thats besides the point

and this idea that i think that bi people in het relationships arent "gay enough" and thats why i hate djk is... incredibly STUPID, considering thats the arrangement ive been in for a large chunk of my life.

im very sorry that i dont fit your neat little one-dimensional narrative that davekat shippers hate jade and are biphobic

anyway if you wanna ignore all of karkat and daves long standing characterization regarding this, and wanna ignore jade (and i wanna make clear here again- i do not hate her, i hate what she did, but it makes me find her WAY more interesting. i LOVE character flaws and think theyre extremely important and honestly jade needed more of them) and everything she did... have fun lol