#because believe it or not shipping is supposed to fun and fictional and i can say whatever i want

[greensaplinggrace]

"darklina shippers will see alina wanting the darkling dead and treat it as high romance! 😡" lol of course I will? they're a lovers to enemies ship like damn girl learn to have some fun!

[msboookesh]

cling-csc

Pairing: idol!scoups x fem!reader

Genre: fluff, cute jealous and sulky scoups, established relationship

Synopsis: Seungcheol's jealousy about y/n's fictional celebrity suitors meets its match when y/n finds his frustration too adorable.

a/n: happy birthday general leader!

୭🧷✧˚. ᵎᵎ 🧁

One balmy afternoon in Y/n’s cozy apartment, sunlight filtered through the gauzy curtains, casting a warm, golden hue over the room. Y/n lounged comfortably on the couch, a soft smile gracing her lips as she watched her boyfriend, Seungcheol, with a mixture of amusement and admiration.

Seungcheol, perched on the other end of the couch, had his toned legs crossed and his expression was one of adorable irritation. He was intently scrolling through his phone, his brows furrowed as he read the various public opinions about Y/n and her supposed type of men. The comments were a mix of speculation and playful shipping, reflecting the K-entertainment industry's tendency to speculate about the personal lives of celebrities.

“Can you believe this?” Seungcheol muttered, his voice tinged with frustration. “They’re saying you’d look good with all these other guys. Just because you’re pretty and young doesn’t mean you have to be paired up with everyone.”

Y/n's eyes sparkled with mischief as she observed Seungcheol’s pouting. She loved seeing him like this, his usually confident demeanor softening into something more vulnerable and endearing.

“What do they think my type is?” Y/n asked, feigning innocence. She already knew the answer, but she enjoyed teasing him.

“They think you like guys who are nonchalant, the ones who don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves.” Seungcheol grumbled, still scrolling through his phone.

Y/n couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, really? That’s interesting.”

Seungcheol’s pout deepened. “Yeah, well, if they only knew how much you love someone clingy. Someone who can’t breathe without your attention. Someone like me.”

Y/n's heart swelled with affection as she saw Seungcheol’s sulking face. She decided to stoke the fire a bit more. “Maybe I do look good with those other guys. You know, it’s all just for fun.”

Seungcheol groaned dramatically, his shoulders slumping as he scooted away from her, his frustration palpable. “You’re not making this any easier, you know. You’re really pushing it.”

Y/n bit her lip, a playful glint in her eyes. Without warning, she grabbed the front of his oversized shirt and yanked him down to her height. Seungcheol’s eyes widened in surprise as she closed the gap between them.

Leaning in, Y/n captured his lips in a long, passionate kiss. The tension melted away as their mouths moved together, the world outside forgotten. Seungcheol’s phone slipped from his grasp, landing with a soft thud on the couch beside him.

Their kiss grew more intense, Seungcheol’s hands sliding up to cradle Y/n’s face as he deepened the kiss. Y/n’s fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer as their bodies pressed together. The heat between them grew, their breaths coming in ragged gasps as they explored each other’s mouths with a hunger that left them both breathless.

When they finally pulled away, both panting, Seungcheol’s expression had softened from frustration to a heady mix of desire and fondness. He wrapped his bulky arms around Y/n, pulling her even closer. His eyes locked onto hers, the playful spark replaced by a more serious, burning intensity.

“Now you’ve started it,” he murmured, his voice husky with emotion. “I think I need to show you just how clingy I can be.”

Y/n laughed softly, her fingers tracing the collar of his shirt as her eyes glinted with anticipation. “Oh, really? Is that so?”

Seungcheol’s hands roamed down her back, his touch igniting shivers as he leaned in to kiss her neck, his lips trailing heated, lingering kisses along her skin. Y/n gasped softly, her body responding to his touch with a mix of desire and need.

“You’re going to have to prove it.” She breathed, her voice trembling slightly as she tilted her head to give him better access.

Seungcheol’s lips curved into a teasing smile. “I’m more than happy to show you.”

He guided Y/n gently back onto the couch, his kisses growing more fervent and exploratory. His hands roamed over her body with a mix of tenderness and intensity, each touch sending jolts of pleasure through her. Y/n’s hands clung to his shirt, pulling him closer as their bodies pressed together.

The room filled with soft, sensual sounds as they lost themselves in each other. Seungcheol’s lips found hers again, their kiss now a desperate, passionate dance. He pulled away just enough to look into her eyes, his expression a perfect blend of adoration and desire.

“You know,” he whispered, his voice dripping with affection and a hint of mischief, “I might have to be a bit extra clingy from now on.”

Y/n laughed, a soft, delighted sound that mingled with the warmth of the moment. “I think I’d like that.”

[yennas-stuff]

E/riels say that we deny that Elain feels any attraction towards Azriel and that they are just supporting her in what she wants. That Eluciens don't listen to what she wants.

First of all, all Eluciens notice these interactions between Azriel and Elain. Nobody is denying she likes and probably feels attracted to him as of now. What we are noticing as of now, though, doesn't have to have any baring on the endgame pairing. We are just questioning the sustainability and depth of these feelings when faced with a mating bond and, basically, an immortal life.

To put it in the simplest terms: Does the crush you had in college have any impact on your future relationship with your spouse? Nobody will deny that the previous feelings or attractions were real. But it doesn't change the endgame. Nothing is set in stone (except for the mating bond that stays with you forever).

If you add the inevitable nature of a mating bond and the fact that you can live for hundreds of years... Feels silly to think Elain and Lucien wouldn't even try to explore it.

And about what Elain wants... We don't know it. Her actions only signify some surface level attraction and playfulness. It also really disappoints me when people only see Elain giving Azriel gag gifts as her showing romantic interest in him. It was supposed to show us her true character and her being capable of being fun and playful. But E/riels take it away from her and make this small indication of her personality into something about a man.

When it comes to the whole consent to shipping that a fictional character is supposed to give... It's ridiculous to even discuss it. No Elucien wants Elain to be forced into a relationship. But we do understand her hesitancy. Mating bond is like this ultimate YOU NEED TO TRY THIS. IT'S GOOD FOR YOU sign from the universe that has a very big significance and is sacred to the world she just found herself in. I do notice that she's rebelling against it. And I dont hold it against her. But I believe they will find the way to each other and fall in love despite the mating bond.

My final point to the whole "having a problem with shipping people who are not into each other as of now..." It's an unfinished love story. It's like reading the first half of Pride and Prejudice and saying Elizabeth should be with Mr Wickham because she was into him and she hates Mr. Darcy. The whole enemies to lovers trope is based on getting over prejudices, getting to know each other, and falling in love. It's something that has already happened to the main acotar couples... twice. And Elain and Lucien are not even enemies. They are just strangers tied to each other by forces stronger than them.

[ooc-themis-cattails]

Can I just say how much I appreciate the diversity of ace identities in ISAT and all the detail about it?

(spoilers ahoy)

I love how at first Sif sees the porn scroll as "people doing fun things" but later admits it doesn't interest them at all. Their first response is to say what they know they're "supposed" to think it is, what everyone else is probably going to think it is. But then they learn that it's really ok to admit that they're not into it.

At first Sif is like "why does Beau like me?" but after a while they start to find him cute because they understand the emotion behind his feelings, and while they're not sure if they can actually take it as far as a sexual relationship, they're interested in figuring it out, because for them, that doesn't gross them out, it's just not a drive. This is so relatable to me and I love seeing it bc it's not the typical ace in fiction where like, this character is ace so we mustn't put them in a ship because we should assume it'd gross them out. Sif can be ace but not entirely horrified by sex, and Sif may be romantic (I don't know if even Sif knows whether they are romantic or not)-- I suspect they are demiromantic because it's the intimacy and familiarity of Beau's emotions that makes them start to feel things about the moment by the tree, to the point where they miss it when he doesn't try.

Mirabelle going through the dating service papers is the most wonderful scene because this is what it was like to be ace when I was in my early twenties. Most people didn't know it was a thing, and friends/family were very helpfully concerned that you should find a partner in order to not be alone, because the theory was that it was a basic human need for everyone. I did exactly what Mirabelle did, and had the same kind of reaction: "I have to pick one of these people to try dating because I have to figure out how to be sexually interested in someone so that I can do the whole partnership thing that everyone says you need to do in order to have a fulfilling adult life." Looking at pictures of people trying to figure out how to be attracted to them, or what you like, when the answer is really that you're just Not. And you're kind of torn because some part of you knows that this isn't going to work, but the other part of you legit believes that it's like staying hydrated, you have to do it for your own good even if you're not thirsty.

Mirabelle's being into fictional romance and shipping, just not into doing it herself, is also such a good detail. I'm not aro so I can't speak to that myself, but still, it's a thing. She's emotionally invested in the dynamics between people, she loves watching the details of how they play out, and that's completely separate from ever wanting to do it herself. I've seen it in others and I definitely get that from the perspective of an ace person reading smut-- you can very much enjoy a dynamic without wanting to BE in the dynamic yourself.

Sif coming to understand how attraction works from the outside: "Wait, you can't choose who you get a crush on? That explains so much!" The line made me wince because it's so self-deprecating-- they're probably thinking they're not good enough for Beau-- but I also very much appreciate the realism of how... nobody explains to you how attraction works because they assume you know what it's like, and you probably don't ask because it's embarrassing if they assume that you're an immature late bloomer with no experience of the world, rather than someone who will never have a libido no matter what they've seen. It's so easy to feel infantilized or to infantilize yourself if you're not comfortable with your ace identity. Both Mirabelle and Sif are young enough that they struggle a bit with whether this is really their identity or whether they've just not figured it out yet. In reality, at their age, this probably IS who they are. But they're also a bit hesitant to rule it out because it's really hard to know that you are NOT something, and (given that Mirabelle hadn't really considered the possibility that she's aroace) the culture doesn't seem to have a lot of representation or support for the idea. It's obvious to the player, well, if this is how they feel, then they're ace! But neither one of them can quite settle on that for sure. Because, unlike being attracted to someone where you can go "well that sure did happen", being not attracted to someone is a nonproof. So Mirabelle keeps trying, and Sif doesn't know that their reaction will seem valid to others (as evidenced by the change in how they describe the scroll). Odile, who is aro and who seems to be not entirely ace but isn't exactly the thirstiest plant in the garden, has a different position. She seems to pretty much know where she's at, which makes sense for her age, but we can't really tell if she's always been okay with it or if it's been an issue. We don't know if Ka Bu is a more uptight culture, or how long society has been normalizing non-hetero identities, but we do know she had no female role models, so if any of this heteronormative business was an issue, I imagine it contributed a lot to her feeling of outsiderness. I'd love to know more about how Odile's sexuality impacted her life but she's obviously not about to infodump it on a bunch of 20 year olds, so it remains a mystery. Nonetheless it's pretty great that there's an older aro character, illustrating that people have always been this way, it's just easier for young people to discover it now because they feel more allowed to not be heterosexual. [eta: @butterflyknifepoisoning reminded me that I've misremembered this and Odile isn't actually aro, she's had hatecrushes before and explained them to Mirabelle. Which I kind of sort of remember now! Not sure why I thought she was aro, my memory is crap sometimes. It's still a far cry from yamato nadeshiko, but yeah. Point taken]

...In the end, I find it extremely refreshing that there's a whole RPG party here and only ONE of them experiences sexual attraction, and it's a flamboyant gay-seeming dude with a poorly-kept-secret crush on an enby they/he. ISAT is so cool, it's the best aroace representation I have seen in fiction so far ever.

[genericaces]

if u did a tier maker of buffyverse ships i would enjoy it 🙏

This is tricky because ships are one of those things that people can get really passionate about, and I don't want to upset anyone. I try to steer clear of any drama when I can, but I also want to feel free to express my opinions, you know? Because god knows I have them.

I guess I'll say before I wade into any discourse that, disclaimer: my enjoyment of a ship doesn't mean I condone what goes on in it, and I can separate fiction from reality. I try not to moralize when it comes to fictional ships and approach them both objectively in terms of quality and also subjectively to my personal tastes. But I also believe that, at the end of the day, it's just fandom and people should do whatever floats their boat.

So with all that being said, here's my (highly personal!) rankings of the ships in Buffyverse:

C Tier:

ATS 1x09 - This is the ship with the bomb that Doyle sacrifices himself to disarm. Now it's a good episode, but this is really the only wide shot we get of the boat. I literally forgot that the climax takes place on the water. The interior is fun with lots of stairs and various apparatuses for fight scenes, but it could just as easily have been a basement or abandoned factory. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed by the ship factor. Rating: 4/10

B Tier:

BTVS 2x13 - You might be thinking, "You're ranking a BACKGROUND ship higher than an actual location?" but hear me out: because the ship is in the background, I actually remembered that this scene had a ship. There's a great fight scene in front of it where Buffy uses the chain along the docks to choke out a bad guy, and then she gets thrown into the water. The ship hangs out in the background the whole time and brings together the whole nautical-themed fight. Rating: Angel diving into the water/10

A Tier:

BTVS 3x15 - Now we're cooking with gas. We get a FULL shot of the whole ship on the dock. The establishing shots linger on the boat more because Buffy and Faith have a confrontation here. Not only do they have a conversation with someone visibly ON a boat, Faith starts out on the upper deck of the boat then swings herself OFF the ramp to argue with Buffy on the docks. Bonuses for a visually dynamic conversation and the boat representing Faith's plans to fuck off, interrupted by HER choice to get off and get in Buffy's face about it instead. Rating: Saving the girl that's supposed to be your enemy/10

S Tier:

ATS 3x22 - I know, we're getting into controversial territory here. But look how beautiful this ship is. Is it a boat? A schooner? A yacht? I don't know, but I DO care. Extra points for it being a plot-necessary boat, of course, since they had to get Angel out into the middle of the sea somehow. What's great about this ship is that it's really condensed all the ship elements into a smaller vessel, so you're aware throughout the tense emotional scenes that you're actually ON a boat in the middle of the sea. It really emphasizes Angel and Connor's isolation at this point in the finale, both physically and emotionally. And, I mean, look at this: we actually have a shot that has most of a boat AND most of a person in it. AND it's the climax of a season finale? THIS is the ultimate Buffyverse ship. Final rating: The misunderstanding-to-patricide pipeline/10

[moeyangwenli]

I feel like I come across as moralistic when I talk about Reinhard. In fact when I started the show, I was engaging with it how I engage with history. I’ve studied Roman and Chinese history somewhat in-depth; when you’re discussing a ruler, you aren’t trying to slap a “good” or “bad” label on them, but to place them in historical context. Appraisals of their merits and weaknesses are done neutrally. Thus, I was watching the show like a drama rooted in realpolitik.

The reason I ended up being critical of Reinhard’s writing is that it felt like the story romanticized him to a significant degree… specifically in how it ceased having any feeling of sociopolitical groundedness. If LOGH has historical felicity, it’s in terms of military history. Reinhard as head of state was glossed over; he faced none of the challenges one would expect for someone in his position.

I’ll give one example. You know what foe shows up to menace kings and emperors across history? Inflation. Financial crises have brought imperial powers to their knees, accomplishing what a thousand armies could not. I suppose you could say that seizing control of so much territory, including the financial hub of Fezzan, would solve that for him. But is that actually the case? The Mongols conquered vast lands and riches in a span of three generations, but it took no time at all for them to devalue their currency and burn through their wealth. What kind of taxes did Reinhard impose? I’d assume he’d have to levy high ones to maintain his military force and support his building projects. Wouldn’t that reduce his popularity?

While watching LOGH, I was asking myself a lot of logistical questions like that, which the story itself seemed uninterested in. For instance, where were all the damn ships coming from? An economic and materialist exploration of that question could be very interesting. I mean, we were told next to nothing about the economic systems of the Alliance or the Empire. One can assume they’re capitalist and feudal respectively, but how was the work actually getting done? Wouldn’t it have deepened the themes to compare the two societies in these terms? An exploration of how the Alliance’s economy was geared towards war would have been nice, as well as an acknowledgment of the role money plays in politics (the work liked to blame “the people” for the failures of democracy without actually going into how that democracy functioned). And on the side of the Empire, we are told that the Goldenbaums used forced labor. Well, did Reinhard outlaw that or maintain it? If he got rid of it, how did he replace the laborers? Wouldn’t that affect the imperial budget?

After watching LOGH, I went on a bit of a girl-on-girl kick to cleanse myself of all the masculine energy. I finally sat down and read JWQS (English title “Two Adamant Hearts”), an incredibly long Chinese novel series. Spoilers, but one of the main characters of that series, Jingnu, becomes an empress. She’s young and idealistic, determined to be a good ruler. And as soon as she takes office, she’s hit with the reality that she’s inherited a financial crisis. The story expends a great deal of time dwelling on what she has to do to save her kingdom from destitution.

I’m not saying LOGH had to do the same. Tax policies aren’t all that fun to learn about in history books, much less in fiction. My point is that I believed Jingnu as a good ruler more than I believed Reinhard as one because the story focused on what it would actually take to rule competently, justly, and responsibly.

Reinhard ended up looking like a pretty weak ruler in a variety of ways, and even if he had been perfect, I would expect his empire to be very unstable. It would take a ridiculous amount of effort to control and administrate all the territory under his power. Even an excellent statesman like Kublai Khan ended his reign in failure and disgrace because of the contradictions inherent to being an imperial power: the imperative to expand. But Reinhard’s glory was dimmed by nothing; even the most significant challenge he faced, the accusations of the survivor of Westerland, were only used to fuel his angst and get him in bed with Hilda, after which they were swept under the rug, never to be mentioned again. Couldn’t that have gotten out and damaged his reputation? Again, there were a million ways the story could have gone, but it feels like it only chose the safest ones.

So what I’m saying is I would have liked either for Reinhard to have done his absolute to best to be a good ruler, with focus on the logistics of that, or I would have liked to see the story take a realist turn where his legacy is tainted and his empire falls apart, or is at least destabilized. Ending the story with an epic tone, and the assurance that everything will probably be fine ‘cause Reinhard has a son, was too much for me. Especially given that there was no resolution between democracy and autocracy. At one point, Yang gave a wonderful speech about how dangerous it would be for all of humanity to exist under a dictatorship, and then the story ended with all of humanity under a dictatorship, and this was not painted as a bad thing 😭 A constitutional monarchy was maybe on the table but that was also not explored at all, leaving me with no choice but to conclude that LOGH ultimately did not care about politics in the least.

[slimypaws]

A part of hates that I still like Greenflame cause it's very problematic, but also they look so good together!! I guess the Movie version is kinda more ethical since there's no "age up" situation there and they're just the same age from the start, but I still feel weird about it

Let me just say: If you like the ship, you can like the ship. Doesn't matter what ship. It really does not matter. They're fictional dolls. Have fun with them!

They bring you joy? Awesome! Don't let a random dickhead on the internet tell you to don't ship x and y just because it's "problematic" or "would be illegal in rl!!". It really does not matter in the slightest. Believe me.

Shipping is supposed to be fun. Not to be some kind of moral contest of "who ships the healthiest and best ships!" and whatnot. Just. Fun.

Now go out there and have some fun!

[betaminshitto]

What’s your favourite thing about shuggy cross guild and mishanks? Why you ship them?

what i like most about those ships is BUGGY i love teasing and tormenting and driving that clown up the wall! I guess i get the most out of it with Shanks because of their past and unresolved tensions hahah... also i love making myself feel bad over fictional characters and they give me that good pain! They make me laugh but also grind my teeth in agony...

As for cross guild, well, it was the thing that motivated me to pick up op again (i was stuck at fishman island for a few years), i needed to see what the fuck was that combination of characters teaming up all about!? And what do u kno...it was about tormenting Buggy...which i love to see... and also about giving him the spotlight he deserves (even if it was the result of failing upwards one too many times but i believe in his odd charisma) and the means to chase his dreams again! I really just like Buggy ok!! Cross guild is hilarious as a very dysfunctional polycule - but really, while Buggy is their punching bag (the violence is very much played for laughs and i genuinely feel bad for him but as i said i like pain) he also stood up for what he believed in when it mattered and challenged croc and hawk's pessimistic/realistic outlook on what it means to be a pirate.

for the record I can't say i actively ship mishanks really, honestly i didn't care about them as characters enough (i swear i care about them a little bit more now) for me to get invested in their relationship. Although i can see them having this fling in their youth which Shanks fumbled too but unlike Buggy, Mihawk has standards and, as my friend put it, deserves someone who owns more than two pairs of pants. Which brings me to crochawk which you did not ask about but i just want to elaborate on that too. At first i didn't pay their dynamic too much attention because of my lack of interest in Mihawk (again, sorry) but slowly warmed up to it, they both have a distrust in others and i think they'd be very good at giving each other the personal space they need while also being fucking weird about forming a genuine bond because idk if they have ever had a normal and balanced relationship in their life (i also ship dofuwani so yeah let's just throw one more ex to the mix).

Alright! Enough rambling! Hopefully you got something out of this and if you didn't...too bad. Also final note: even though I'm a shuggy truther myself it's all just my personal interpretation. Shipping is supposed to be fun! Or a way for you to experience intense emotions you don't really get to experience in your personal life or whatever! Don't take me too seriously im begging you

[unquietspiritao3]

kayfabe in rpf

I’m back with another meta-essay on the nature of RPF! Did you miss me?

This time, I was inspired by some notes on a poll about shipping Greg/Alex which seemed to me to imply that some anti-RPF people believe us shippers want the real people to break up with their real partners and publicly get together. And…darlings, no.

But also, this essay isn’t really aimed at those people. I know there will always be antis, and I don’t expect to change their minds. My audience here is actually other RPF fans, because I believe I have a useful word for a concept we’re all familiar with, and adopting it more widely might help avoid confusion both amongst ourselves and with outsiders.

The word is

✨kayfabe✨

Now, I didn’t make up this word. I’m borrowing it from the world of professional wrestling—you know, Hulk Hogan and all that stuff.

Kayfabe (rhymes with ‘say babe’) refers to:

the tacit agreement between pro wrestlers and fans to pretend the staged/scripted events are genuine, and

the play-acting involved in maintaining that illusion of genuineness.

In the past, kayfabe in pro wrestling was almost never broken. Wrestlers stayed in character whenever they were in public. That’s lessened over the years, though, and these days all wrestling fans (unless they’re very young, I suppose) know what they are watching is fake and happily suspend their disbelief to keep kayfabe.

Hopefully you can already see the connection to Taskmaster here. When Alex goes on Sunday Brunch or whatever other UK show and talks about Greg being his ‘boss’, that is kayfabe. When he was asked at the NYC premiere to list five things he likes about Greg and one of them was “he’s a gentle lover”, that was also kayfabe. Conversely, when they went on Seth Meyers and Alex took the time to explain very carefully to the maybe-unfamiliar-with-Taskmaster audience that it’s his show and was his idea to make Greg the Taskmaster, he was breaking kayfabe.

(It should be noted, sometimes the division between kayfabe and reality is murky, like a real-life marriage getting written into a wrestling storyline, which is a whole other interesting discussion. Little Alex Horne’s wife is often mentioned on the show, but when Greg used Rachel’s actual name, some of the contestants were taken aback—did he blur the line of kayfabe a bit too much? But that’s beyond the scope of this essay.)

Now let’s expand this to the fandom. When we as shippers talk as if Greg and Alex have an actual sexual/romantic relationship, all knowing full well that they don’t, without explicitly acknowledging to each other that it’s a fantasy—a fiction we’re creating together—we are also keeping kayfabe. But if we wanted to talk about their real-life friendship behind all that, for instance, we could say, “Let’s break kayfabe for a moment…” and everyone would understand it’s time to set those shippy tendencies aside. It could help make the line between fiction and reality clear, both to ourselves and to outsiders looking in.

Of course none of this is limited to Taskmaster, it’s just the RPF fandom I’m in most deeply right now. I think it’d be useful for all RPF fans. At the very least, it’s fun to say. Kayfabe!

[duskcowboy]

Y’all realize you can make your own Elain crackship weeks without harassing real people, right? Like you can do that and we’d leave you in peace to do it? You don’t have to target and harass a group of people who are just trying to find the tiniest minuscule of enjoyment in this f*cked up fandom? Making threats and creating a whole tag so that you can ridicule real people just trying to have fun. You’re preaching about fandom inclusivity and the “rules” for fun fandom events while harassing and bullying real people who were only trying to do a considerate thing for others in a fandom where that’s rare. Your collective outrage speaks volumes of your lack of empathy.

Elain week is about Elain and positivity of her character. Elain fans have had to put up with the most heinous, misogynistic, cruel hate for years and god forbid we want to have a week where we are able to celebrate her with positivity.

Again, you can create your own ship weeks since it’s apparent you only care about Elain in the context of ships. I can’t even believe a rule against domestic abusers has led to this, but how can I even be surprised at this point when this fandom just sucks the goodness out of everything and warps it into ugly, unnecessary drama for the sake of what? Likes? Laughs? The thrill you get from putting others down?

I barely even participate in this fandom anymore. I only really contribute during fandom appreciation events because it’s the only time when it’s supposed to be about positivity and most of the fandom understands to respect that and leave others alone during that time. But now even that is being stripped away. And again, for what? A fictional domestic abuser that I can’t even tell if you actually care about. It seems to me that the real problem you have is the simple fact you live off joining the mob mentality and cyber bullying. Cause you realize that’s what you’re doing right? You’re mass posting negative, mean, and spiteful messages towards people you don’t even know—going as far as making threats to take over the event to purposely attack those who want to enjoy Elain during her week.

Congratulations. You’ve achieved what, exactly? Right, nothing. It’s honestly no surprise that you’re the type of people who would go this far for characters the author herself said are “giant douchebags,” nevermind the fact the domestic abuse hotline was even provided at the end of the book. If I hadn’t already lost all respect for how this fandom behaves towards one another, I sure have now.

[davekat-sucks]

homestuck's fanbase is really making me feel like giving up on the story as a whole... Jesus, I might just call it quits soon. Listening to idiots try to defend how shit Homestuck's story became is too exhausting. It reminds me of when I was listening to lectures of, people who hardly counted as, writers go off about how important it is to prioritize representation over all else. They never realized if you do a terrible job with writing a story, you do a terrible job of representing women, different racial groups, gay men, ext. They don't want to write female characters like they're people who make mistakes and grow. Those authors wanted women to always be perfect and always in the right and her biggest obstacle is that men don't believe in her. You can see that in Star Wars with Rei or Captain Marvel as an example of the mindset I'm talking about.

I liked homestuck because so many of the female characters had challenges and flaws. Aradia, Terezi, Rose... They had amazing stories and their flaws made them interesting.

Homestuck could have been a story about different people who have completely different mindsets coming together for a common goal. Homestuck is just... soap opera drama and shitty teen romance at the end of the story where the characters just wait for the story to finish and most of the audience left. In the epilogue, it feels like all of the characters gave up. I suppose Kanaya did put in effort to find Rose and make sure she is safe, I'll give the story credit there. Dirk wants something too. Dirk's goal is just to close the loop and create the first universe in the first place but all you ever hear people talking about is how his motivations have something to do with the shitty meta fiction gimmick the story has going on. "Gotta keep the story going or else the characters fade out of memory" That is such bullshit concept. Sounds like a justification for why there are so many Star Wars shows now. Sounds like milking an IP. Quantity of quality kind of excuse.

And, for the record, my beef isn't with how the fandom represents it's own headcanons or interpretations of the characters, my beef is with how people talk about the canon. Fandom and canon should be two different things. But people act like the fandom should influence canon. I thought the point of both of the cherubs were to show that is a bad idea. Fanon being in canon feels like it derails the story, even the homosuck part that Caliborn came up with.

I'm getting tired of trying to even find a space in this fandom. It's occupying too much of my freetime now. I have so much nostalgia for homestuck but now it feels like trying to get back on the swings of a playground, too old for this shit. Fuck, I adulted too hard and I outgrew fandom I guess. Shit sucks.

Ah well, at least they fans are having fun. But how much fun can you really have when Rose screwed over Kanaya in two timelines? Kanaya felt like a better character in the epilouge cause she's given a challenge to face that is unique to her and her relationship with her wife. Rose's dad brainwashed(?) her to leave her wife, wow, Kanaya that's some shit. Just sucks that she is getting cucked AGAIN. Is it a universal constant that Kanaya is just going to keep falling for women who don't respect her? Maybe she should have stuck with Vriska. All of this Kanaya Rose drama is a bad sign of what's to come. I think it's disrespectful to the fans that are still sticking around. I'm not really included in this bunch. My horse tapped out of the race years ago. People who are still holding out for hope this story is going somewhere are either the most optimistic people out there or the most beaten down.

It's no wonder so many people who worked on homestuck abandoned ship. Toby looks like he's having a good career and Hussie looks like he's afraid of what he created. Maybe there is poetic justice to be gleaned from all of this.

It had lot of creative ideas and talent. But through it, there are cracks and messes that can't be ignored. Even now, the same kind of messes appear again in present times and I think people are scared to talk about it in fear that the thing they love was not as great as they though it was. We really are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Even when moments in the series and narrative itself that tells the audience that we were stupid to even care, we stayed because we loved it for what it was back then before the meta shit kicked in. The whole revival of the series so it won't fade away and being comparable to Star Wars is a good way to describe it. The team not taking risks to actually go outside of the Homestuck cast, tell a new story, or even trying to focus on the base webcomic alone that made it popular in the first place. They can't even put more focus on Hiveswap just yet because they know people know Homestuck first before Hiveswap, despite said game could make a better introduction or entryway for people to get interested in the webcomic. I'm not sure what is going on through Hussie or James Roach's mind for all this.

[localdorkincombatboots]

Opinion on Kankri (or Cronus)

Oof ill be honest it's been a while since a did a good examination of their canon characters

Let me preface this with the fact that each of them are supposed to be obviously recognizable as exaggerated stereotypes of different kinds of real people.

They're both problematic in their own ways, Kankri in his performative advocacy that only goes as far as correcting others and going on long rants about the implications of an issue and Cronus is his idolizing of the Greaser life and "nice guy" bs. But the thing is, they're literally eternally stuck as 19 year old ghosts, just arguing with their friends and alt versions of them and themselves. They don't grow or mature and they don't have any better perspectives to teach them better even if they were open to accepting that the way they act isn't okay. They each think the way they are is who they have to be in order to be an activist for Kankri or be cool for Cronus.

Are they great people trolls? No but again they're 19, dead, and stuck in a video game with an infinite number of other 19 year old versions of themselves and their friends.

But they do each play their own part in the story and when examining both the way that society was on Beforus and their narratives amongst their ancestors/dancestors they make sense.

For Kankri, Karkat, and Signless (who is literally Kankri but on Alternia), their major recurring thing is being treated differently by society because of their blood mutation. While Kankri doesn't have to fear being killed due to his blood color he does still face hella ableism because the society on Beforus believes lowbloods should be coddled due to their lack of power in comparison to highbloods. The trolls of the cancer sign always have to fight for themselves somehow as a reoccurring theme and Kankri's activism is his. Had he been able to continue growing and learning he could've become a better activist as he got older but because of the game he didn't and now spends eternity frozen as the same person.

For Cronus, Eridan, and Dualscar, their characters think of themselves as cool and better than others because of their status as violet bloods but in reality is regularly disregarded personally and not as worshipped as they think they should be. With the peaceful society of Beforus his "nice guy" bs was given more room to flourish bc he wasn't spending his time causing as much bloodshed and instead was focusing on how to make himself "cool" in a misguided attempt to get the attention he wants. Hussie himself has been quoted calling Cronus the worst character in homestuck and that's what he was created to be for the story. Had their session not started, could Conus have become a better troll some day? Maybe but we'll never know.

At the end of the day, they were both created to play a specific part and have a specific influence on the story.

Did I used to have fun back in high school shipping them? Yeah a bit but I grew out of that a long time ago. There's actually a Cronkri fic on AO3 that low-key still haunts me to this day. It can be a cute and fun ship if you wanna have fun with it. Are they good for each other? No but depiction does not equal glorification and it was through the exploration of characters like that going through some (tbh uncomfortable) stories that taught me some perspective on certain things and the only way to learn and grow as a person is to explore stuff like that. Plus it's okay to just have fun with silly bad characters I mean look at Vriska lmfao

Sorry that this turned into a whole thing but they're both characters that were intentionally written to be kinda shitty teenagers and too many ppl turn into real life Kankris trying to villify fictional characters.

[mulletmitsuya]

I hated the tr ending so badly. Not because it was rushed or anything. Wakui could have fleshed out the last timeline so thoroughly and logically and I would still hate it because the ending itself goes against what I felt the story stood for in the first place. He replaced all the characters for fakes, none of the characters we were intoduced to had happy endings because they either are totally different people or re lived their life to avoid healing. The ending basically proved izanas last words right "there's no saving me" yeah I guess not if the only way to help everyone is to make sure their lives never happened the way it did. Horrible I hate it so much. Also one ship I hate is rinzu or ranzu because they don't even interact once and it's so popular for no fucking reason other than "its hot" and tbh they would prolly hate eachother like petty bitches, they would NOT get along at any point. Also Koko and amane ship because if people actually read the manga with their eyes open it would not make sense. Anyways thanks for letting me be a hater in ur askbox, I love your blog btw

This is long, also tw for typical tokrev themes and sa

I think you're the first person who has the same opinion as me lmao😭. I also didn't believe it should have had an ending like that at all because of the themes that had been set up during the entire story. I understand people's perspectives of "It's Wakui's manga and it's his ending he can do what he wants" but media is supposed to be talked about, discussed and even criticized at times. That's like, the whole point of publishing stuff. As an enjoyer and supporter of Wakui's manga, I feel like I have the right to question some inconsistencies and contradictions (not directly attack him tho, that's never okay. like people who send death threats over ships and stuff that's messed up) that showed up in the ending. I also believe lots of people didn't really take it seriously as a manga idk. It had some very serious topics that people seem to forget about. For example: suicide, abuse, abandonment, child neglect, substance abuse, extreme violence, rape, prostitution etc, and I think people just kinda see it as a silly manga that has cool characters they like. And that's okay. It's okay to not take a piece of media seriously and enjoy it for the sake of enjoying it, not everything needs to be critically analyzed, but stop shitting on the people who take it seriously enough to question why the fuck it ended how it ended. Lots of the discourse took place between critical analysers who wanted an author to finish the manga by sticking to the themes and messages he has set up the entire time versus casual enjoyers who just wanted everyone to be happy for the sake of liking the characters. And I completely agree with the Izana thing!!!! You cannot claim to have saved someone by rewriting their entire life!!! Takemitchy was not supposed to be god!! Also, isn't the moral story of time travel that you should never ever do it? Because you win some, you lose a whole lot fucking more. I thought Draken dying was setting up that narrative. That saving Mikey, was gonna fuck up a whole lot. Isn't that why Chifuyu broke down?

Idk about you guys, but dark impulses being a curse disappointed me quite a bit. I thought it was supposed to be a symbol of Mikey being deeply mentaly ill. And that he had to deal with it head on and not run away all the time (this was Takemichi's entire storyline basically and the the main theme of TR). I just feel like it sucked because the message of the ending, whether Wakui intended it or not, was that you can't be fixed without magical time traveling. Although the story had some fictional aspects, it was realistic at least. I thought they'd deal with everything that wasn't time travel realistically.

Any ship with Sanzu and the Haitani's is hilarious to me and although I don't ship any of them seriously, the fanarts fun to look at some time (and you're right I think they look good together cause they're hot😭). You are completely correct about them not liking each other tho. It's actually canon. Idk if you remember during the three deities fight when Ran hit Haruchiyo with his baton? Nothing but pure malice between their eyes😭. The Koko and Akane ship actually triggers me because one thing about me? I'm not comfortable with large age gaps. Akane was 5 years older than Koko💀. And I didn't know people took what she said to him seriously. I thought she was just trying to not hurt his feelings? Koko and Inupi were around 7/8 when the fire happened. Meaning Akane was like 12/13. Uhhh Idk bout y'all but I don't think a 13 yo would be attracted to someone that young. And waiting for them to be of age is...😶. Be fr.

[bibibbon]

"Can we be friends or have moots with those who have very different views from us?"

What will your answer with that ask above?

Me, I have a friend (starts off as moot) who is a multishipper. I mean they can find ships from any fandom they're in, and once they love it, they'll make fics and arts of that ship.

About BNHA, they're die hard fan of BKDK, don't ask me, even I can't understand it (I'm also anti Bakugou and BKDK). But my friend and I can still talk about fandom stuff (minus the ships cause I'm not really into shipping).

Don't you think fandom have become more toxic these days? Like, even if I don't ship bkdk, but I never think to say rude things or send death wish to those who ship them. I feel sad when my friend receive those negative things just because of shipping fictional characters.

Thanks for bring positivity to BNHA fandom. My friend was surprised when finding out, you're anti bkdk but never say rude things to the shipper. You're the first anti bkdk blog that they followed and like the posts.

Even if BNHA end with disappointing last arc, it's a great journey overall, right? I don't get people who talked shit to the writer/artist of a certain work? Horikoshi-sensei have work hard all these years, we should appreciate his hard work, at least....(I can feel how hard writing is as a writer myself).

Now, at least I can see that BNHA near its ending from last year. But for JJK I did not see that coming. Is it true that JJK will also ending this year? What do you think the ending will be, tragedy or open ending? Can Yuuji defeat Sukuna?

As long as there's mutual respect between one and another I do believe that two people with different views can be friends. However, this honestly depends on the person for example I personally wouldn't be friends with someone who has a completely different set of morals than mine. Other than that( and maybe a few things I suppose) i think its good to surround yourself with people who have different views as it allows you to build a much more nuanced perspective on certain things and honestly talking to people who you have different views than can be fun.

Honestly depending on the websites or platforms your in different fandoms vary in their level of toxicity and all. I have found it that the most popular fandoms are the ones that have the highest levels of toxicity and Iam completely against it. People should be allowed to like or dislike or comment on whatever without recieving death threats or hate by others because at the end of the day these are simple pieces of fiction and the person you're hating/harming is a real being behind the screen.

I would like to thank you for your comment as I actually wasn't aware that I had such an impact on your friend and if the anons friend is seeing this I would like to apologise for whatever you went through as no one deserves to get hate or death threats for expressing themselves and making content for things they like.

Giving an author hate/death threats is completely inexcusable and shouldn't happen at all. I want to clarify that criticism (which is something that my blog is heavily centered around) is completely different to hate and while I think MHA has had a lot more downs than ups it's still a series with a lot of potential that has captivated me to be honest.

Also, I do want to bring to light that the manga industry in Japan is incredibly competitive and has put a lot of it's artists in tough, exploitative and outright inhumane positions so great works may lose quality overtime due to that or other external factors. In the end horikoshi is an amazing artist with potential to do much more but the writing ends up lacking in various aspects.

I have seen the posts saying that jjk will come to an end but I honestly doubt that gege will wrap up the manga at the end of the year. As of current the manga is in its last act and probably has one or two more arcs to go through before wrapping up to a conclusion. I used to be somewhat optimistic in hoping that jjk will follow the story of the younger generation overcoming and breaking the flaws and problems of the older generations so we would get somewhat of a bittersweet/happy ending but I do see a bad/open ending much more plausible in the current direction ths manga is heading in.

[skygirlstars]

❤️🧡💛🏳️‍🌈 for unpopular asks game!

yayy thank you for the ask!! this was so fun. it's yappin' time

❤️: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

this is a tough one because there's so many lol. Barriss (not a villain), Han (not a player), literally SO many of the Jedi, the list goes on. but I think Luke is one of the most interesting cases because I feel he's mischaracterized in different ways by different sides of the fandom. there's the dudebros who think he's just badass, which he is, but nothing else. his most important character trait is quite literally his compassion because it drives the plot of the whole OT. he's a kind and empathetic person, not some embodiment of toxic masculinity bullshit. on the other hand, there's the poor little meow meowfication and infantilization of him from another side of the fandom. yes he's a ray of sunshine but that doesn't mean he can't be tough too!!! he's nice but he also has zero tolerance for bullshit, is headstrong and stubborn, and the furthest thing from shy. many people (myself included) headcanon him as gay or bi and that characterization of him also enforces really harmful stereotypes and narratives about queer men. so in summary, a lot of the fandom mischaracterizes him through a lens of either toxic masculinity or harmful stereotypes. not fun. that got way longer than it was supposed to be, whoops 🙃

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

in-universe: that Padmé was somehow manipulated into loving Anakin, whether by Anakin subconsciously using the Force, or by Palpatine, or whatever. nope, my girl Padmé just has horrendous taste in men (case in point: my least favorite SW character, Clovis 🤢). she saw the red flags and decided red was her favorite color. stay delusional queen. out-of-universe: DISNEY LUCASFILM IS NOT GOING TO RETCON THE SEQUELS FFS. that is the dumbest shit I've ever heard sorry not sorry. Disney admitting they made something not good??? not possible. I can't believe people still honestly believe this. the sequels are not my faves either but with the amount of money made off them anyway, a retcon is not happening

💛: What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

do we consider Reylo popular??? it's very divisive so idk if it counts. but I hate it lol, it's the yucky toxic BookTok type of enemies to lovers. bro deadass tortured her. me personally, I wouldn't let that slide. they also feel like Force cousins or something in a weird roundabout way...? we've already had one incestuous kiss in SW, don't need another. also Rey is lesbian imo. if we're not counting Reylo as popular, I quite dislike Sabezra just because I see them very much as siblings. honestly, any ship where I see the characters as siblings feels icky to me -- Anisoka, Rexsoka, Obikin, etc (although siblings vibes is not my only complaint with those examples, unlike Sabezra).

🏳️‍🌈: Which character who is commonly headcanoned as queer doesn't seem queer to you?

quite honestly I think this is the hardest one for me because I headcanon so many characters as queer HAHA. my personal philosophy for fictional characters is bi until proven otherwise lol. maybe Ben Solo/Kylo? idk how much he's HCed as queer but I think he and Hux are shipped fairly often and I just don't see it lol. that's a straight man, I'm afraid. but he's really the only one I can think of off the top of my head, though I'm sure there are more

here's the original ask game if anyone else wants to have a go or wants me to answer any others (please send me asks I love asks I love yapping)

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY doesn't care if faunus are viewed as an allegory for real world minorities. Faunus are magic hybrids of humans and animals - fairy tales in RWBY were always true. Hence, Blake is offered to become a human or a cat. Blake calls herself a cat because she is part cat. Ruby tells the red prince Blake is a faunus (the elf of the group) and the rest of them are humans because they are. Simple. RT: "I didn't come over here looking to solve systemic societal issues."

Then RT shouldn't have written a story in which they are actively and knowingly commenting on a systemic societal issue.

Yeah, this could have been the case. It's absolutely possible to write a version of RWBY where faunus are just #there and their animal characteristics in no way intersect with social justice. But RWBY didn't write that story. They explicitly introduced the faunus as victims of long-term discrimination. They're "second class citizens." "Animals" to be exploited, tortured, and discarded. There's nothing simple in writing a post-war decree that forces everyone with certain physical characteristics onto an isolated island away from the "superior" group. Or making your billionaire CEO target faunus for slave labor, including giving us one character who was branded. We're shown an extremist group fighting for their civil rights and the end message of that is, "They're fighting the wrong way not to be treated like they're disposable :/" RWBY introduced Weiss as a character who would compare Sun to a trash can and, what? We're really supposed to believe that he's just the "elf" of the group? It's a complete coincidence that the citizens of Remnant just happen to systematically target all the people with animal traits.

This isn't even the only time RWBY has explicitly woven social justice into its story. They had a main character lose her arm, introduced another with a metal body, a third that had lost half of his, and took all three on a journey that hinged on their disabilities. The entirety of the Atlas arc revolves around class and getting us to emotionally side with the victims of the rich elite. They've been teasing a queer ship for four years, but refusing to commit to it in a way that might piss off real life homophobes. Our fictional world supposedly wasn't grappling with the same discrimination... until May casually tossed out that she was disowned for being trans. The ENTIRETY of the story hinges on rooting for four young woman in a genre that has historically been dismissive of them and the go-to insult when someone disagrees with a reading is, "You just hate women, huh?"

RWBY is seeped in social issues. It's built on it. They're the freaking linchpin. The writers WANTED that because they understood that the best storytelling engages with real life concerns. But they didn't know how to approach these topics respectfully - they wanted the rewards of a "deep" story without carefully working out what they wanted to say about these topics - and the result is a franchise that's often more insulting than it is inspirational. After nearly a decade of that, RWBY doesn't get to suddenly backtrack because they fucked it up. They can't have their cake and eat it too. "We're a story about strong, empowered women, one of which is fighting for equal standing in her society, another who is grappling with disability, a third who is acknowledging her status as heir to a company that has done irreparable damage to her world and exacerbated class discrimination... but if that's not written well, don't worry about it! It's just a fun, silly story! Haha, why would you take a cartoon so seriously?"

RWBY has always wanted to be taken seriously but, you know, only when they're succeeding. If they mess up they want you to do them the courtesy of ignoring that which is... not how writing a paid for, public story consistently commenting on minority groups works.