#but i need their friendship to be a bigger thing in fanon i just know those two would be a riot if they got a storyline together

[to-be-a-dreamer]

Just finishing up Season 5 of my 9-1-1 watch through and I, personally, am SHOCKED that Lucy and Ravi being besties isn't more of a thing (both in the show and in fanon). Like, I know they've only had about two and a half scenes together but I can just tell they spend all their free time at the firehouse bitching about the main five. I need 10,000 hours worth of edits about them right now. I don't even want them to be romantic or anything, I just need these two pretty best friends to have more scenes together absolutely dragging the rest of the 118.

[angy-grrr]

welcome back to me being pity. I don’t mind Izu///ocha* in fanon, there’s lots of cute content out there and they are adorable after all. I can’t not love them! However, when it comes to canon, and believing they have to be canon… i have issues with that. and when the justification this being a shonen manga and not focusing on love? Oh. That pisses me off.

There’s lots of shonen manga who are romantic comedies, slice of life, and in general just are about friendships and learning about feelings —but even when talking about just the typical popular shonen, this isn’t a good excuse for me.

There is no need to add 10 chapters about love in order to make it with a natural flow —small details are there for a reason! And I’m making a list of ways izu///ocha could have been developed easily without spending energy on it, using what its already in canon.

The end of the togachako fight, Himiko gets the All Might keychain, a symbol they both have shared to symbolize their crushes on Izuku and their unity in it. Instead of drawing her covering completely with her hand, show her giving it to Ochako, or already in her hand, not completely covered; this would express Himiko’s blessing and wish for Ochako to get to confess her feelings too. An “it’s your turn now, good luck!” moment. Bittersweet, tragic, but also would make it less wrong for her to say her feelings and date Izuku in the end -after all, it would be implied Himiko wanted that! But this way, covered and in Toga’s hand, the message is not clear (is she going to confess still? Or cover her feelings as they “died” with Himiko? I don’t believe she’s dead but shhhhh)

Mutual symbols. During the Christmas present exchange, they get each other’s, an All Might keychain and a bag of mochis, two things they personally like but gifted to other people, like the rest of class A. As we establish this keychain means “Deku-kun” to her and holds onto it, why not making mochis reappear more for Izuku? They are food, so he could have said “sharing mochis” as things you do with a boyfriend. Wouldn’t it be adorable he just said that without noticing that’s Ochako’s favorite thing? If we go further, maybe add a simple scene, where he thinks about how he wishes to share some with her, maybe during one of those calm moments before the war happened.

Have Izuku struggle a little when complimenting her when he thought she was talking badly about herself. If this is your crush, or person you are developing feelings for, how could you just be this confident about such embarrassing things, specially when you are already shy about love as a whole? Even him would know that’s embarrassing no matter how clueless he is for other things, so it would be better to have him struggle to say those things —looking at the floor, playing with his fingers, blushing. Typical Deku stuff, nothing new for his character, but it would confirm there’s something going on his side too that persists clearly even after the first war.

the hand holding; ochako grabbed his hand when they were bringing him back to UA and civilians were against it. It’s a way to comfort him, and tell him everything is going to be okay, he’s not alone. Even during that context, wouldn’t that be a bigger thing between crushes? After all, Deku blushed a lot in the beginning of the final war, when he was grabbed from where he was supposed to be and people he cares for are in the most dangerous situation of them all, why wouldn’t he blush if the girl he likes grabs his hand to support him?

Thinking about Himiko; a reason he could have not reacted is “well, this is the moment they are actually developing serious feelings for each other beyond a crush”. If I was writing this, I would make Ochako have flashbacks of Izuku’s terrible state during her speech —emotions getting her, she just really needs them to let him in! With his hopelessness, isolation, dirtiness and hunger! Isn’t this reason enough to get desperate for? She is screaming with all she has to please let him stay, he is just like anyone else… but thinks about Himiko instead? And not just to stop some sadness, but about making her smile (spoilers for chapter 425; instead of turning negatives into zeros, she is talking about turning negatives into positives. Saving her, and making her happy too, because there’s a need for happiness for them all, not just neutrality and pretending nothing is wrong). This decision establishes her hero arc and ideals, which is amazing! But I don’t see how this is an izu///ocha moment in canon really —just because Izuku cries, doesn’t mean this is good romance. ill never forget the little parallels Ochako has with All Might, and idk how to just let it be when ppl limit them as “her being the love interest”. No, her ideals are so cool, and I’m really hoping she achieves what she wanted for Himiko, so we can also add more angst to Izuku’s character and show her as the hero she is

*i censor it just to avoid appearing in the tags; ppl who want to find content of their ship don’t need to see what other people think of it, specially when it’s critical.

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

I don’t think the harassment is acceptable. I think people are really out of pocket doing that, but I do think him establishing what is and isn’t part of his job is fine. And maybe did need to be said, because clearly people didn’t know.

As for using Buddie as promo… idk. The marketing team is gonna do whatever ABC feels will garner the most viewers, and right now it’s Buck being bi and the long held desire to see him and Eddie become canon. They’re gonna milk it however they can, which falls back on Tim, thus him feelings like he needed to explain himself, presumably.

I do agree it could be toned down though, because Buck is now canonically dating someone else, and I don’t recall them teasing Buddie for real when he was with women. So doing it now the way they are is purely because they’re banking on Buddie fans, while also currently not committing.

Plus, everything Buddie related from before has to now be assumed not canon, so it’s putting everyone in a messy spot. Because we have canon, fanon, show runner confirmed but not on screen, and canon jokes that are now floating in the in between because no one knows if the they’ll be acknowledged in canon or get scrapped.

I think people should just calm down and wait to see what the season brings, anyway. Once it’s over and we get an idea of where all the characters are at, then start asking bigger questions or letting out the more angry frustrations.

Hi! Sorry for the late reply. The sheer amount of work that goes into television hasn't often been well realized in fan spaces. The writing, how it translates to screen, the process of acting, all the work by the crew, the pressures from moneymen, managing the expectations of the audience, the long hours and repetition of scenes. How multiple people working on a creative project means multiple interpretations— all of which bleed through. The showrunner has every right to protect himself and the people who work for him. I was mainly trying to draw on my own experiences in how these harassment campaigns happen, how they continue, and how they can be mitigated.

US TV production has a long and rocky history when it comes to queer narratives. That doesn't really end now that there are canonically queer characters on screen and this fallout is part of the response to that tension.

For example, if I engage in the whole Buddie vs. Bucktommy thing (sorry), I'd say both perspectives have a point they don't realize they're making about queerness in television storytelling.

The thesis I feel like Buddie fans are making is there are two queer coded main characters who love each other, who have seasons of build up in their individual characters and in their relationship. Why can't they be together? Because they're two male main characters on network television? Be bold, be brave. Wouldn't it be amazing if they did commit to that story? Wouldn't it be game changing? Sexuality and friendship and love is not set in stone, it's okay to be flexible. M/F relationships are allowed that space to develop within a story and you know if one of them were a woman they probably would be together already.

The thesis I feel like BuckTommy fans are making is that Buddie was never going to happen, realistically, and it's amazing enough that they committed to Buck being canonically bisexual. Why do you want to rock the boat? Don't you see that if you can't embrace this development it could be snatched away at any moment. The show is its own thing within its own context and not the blinkered interpretation you have of two characters. This queerness is canon.

Those two thesis's (thesi?) are rubbing up against each other and building straw men of the other to attack and tear down. A showrunner wading in was only ever going to combust that tension further and that's what happened. What keeps happening.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda under the cut

Peggy Carter

She’s a victim of Stucky mainly bc of the way marvel used her to give Steve an ooc ‘happy ending, but I know I’ve seen some posts calling her toxic or something it was 2019 so In CAT:FA, she’s introduced as a confident British agent. She has some chemistry w Steve Rogers (although more fans (on tumblr at least) preferred Steve and Bucky). She wasn’t just *woman who is strong*, but also had some emotional depth, with an actual range of emotion outside of angry and sad. She had a spin-off show, and she just continued to fight Russians and misogynists, even having chemistry in an almost wlw relationship and an eventual marriage to a famous shield agent. She went through character development and just was an awesome character. Then you know what endgame does? It has Steve Rogers travel back in time and take all of that development away. Most fans were mad at Marvel, and a lot were mad at Steve, but some fans threw Peggy completely under the bus, saying that they traded the (fanon?) queer ship/(canon) friendship for a bland love interest, which, um, she was so much more then that? I remember people really disliking Peggy, which isn’t fair to her character when she is/was so much more then that.

Peggy is vilified by people who ship Steve with his war comrade Bucky Barnes. I’ve even seen people claiming baselessly that she was secretly HYDRA the whole time. 

She gets in the way of stucky which OBVIOUSLY gives people, most of them women themselves, the right to be ridiculously misogynistic. Dismissing her character arc, traits, presence in the movies and her part in Steve Roger's life, saying she is insignificant on the ground of very subjective readings is one thing, but outright calling her 'just some old coochie', among other colourful, wonderful things, is another. They also keep reaching to villainize her (saying she's a literal nazi which she's not) and cancel her so their ship is somehow made more valid for it, erasing the competition as it were.

Mai

she’s constantly pushed aside for the zuko/sokka ship :/ like i’m not a fan of mai/zuko but they always forget her or make her a wingwoman or make her a villain. 

She's a very interesting character who had the misfortune of being the love interest of the series' most popular character, Zuko, which immediately made her public enemy No. 1 in certain parts of the fandom. Tbh I think she's more a victim of zutara (an m/f ship) than zukka (m/m) but zukka also screwed her over so it counts. She's at best sidelined and at worst demonized. There's a whole section of the fandom who'll swear up and down she's abusive for telling Zuko to deal with his mental health issues himself. There's whole essays on it and I'm not exaggerating.

tell me WHY people think she's abusive just because she?? got mad at zuko?? when zuko was being a horrible boyfriend to begin with?? because theyre both teenagers and they were literally Acting Like Teenagers?? anyway no more mai hate the world has moved past the need for mai hate

[cartcop]

I personally feel offended for that other anon who said that Eddie is not "good enough for Buck" mind you, it's Kristen and co choice to not involve him on Buck's major arcs. We know Eddie should be there, but he's not allowed, there's a difference.

When you think about Eddie's major arc's Buck is there, right? The thing is that sometimes it's actually about him and not about Eddie. When he was shot, at the end, it was all about Buck and his new relationship. So yeah, that was one of my biggest complains with the coma arc because they decided to use everyone except for Eddie, his best friend, they focused more on the Buckley parents who were literally gone by the next episode 💀.

Eddie has been more subtle with showing his devotion towards Buck, but he's the one who truly sees him and understands him. No one else. Buck's arc in s4 was huge, and the one who had the final say was Eddie with the whole "because Evan" speech. He told him what he NEEDED to hear, not what he wanted and I think that's beautiful.

Eddie loves quietly, he's not as open and expressive as Buck, but he gets him and is his safe place.

Part of me is still hopeful that they're going to save this mess, but I'm pissed because even from a best friend standpoint what happened yesterday was awful. I really connect with Eddie because I've been there you know, I understand what he's going through and having your best friend rambling about his new shiny girlfriend that truly "sees him" after you just basically told him that you feel like you are going to die alone... auch.

I don't think they're actually going canon, but I sure hope that they at least get to save the friendship, and have Buck to give some comfort to Eddie, because baby girl needs it so much 😔

Yeah I mean. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in Eddie's presence in the coma episodes. But watching the rest of 6b so far, it's hard to be upset at it when Eddie has been THE character working through it with Buck in literally every episode since. I knew the coma storyline would be very Bobby-centric (what with the Buckley parents being there and it being The Season Of Dads), but in retrospect I'm realizing that all the other characters needed their moment loving Buck, and that keeping Eddie out of it was more so that he could shine in the aftermath.

I wasn't going to get into it with the other anon, because it seemed pretty clear to me that they sympathize massively with Buck and do not care to delve into the reasoning behind why Eddie is the way he is, textually, but yeah, you've hit the nail on the head. I think the text very clearly explains the way Eddie shows he cares, the ways he's adapted it so Buck can hear what he needs to hear, and why Eddie might have trouble with that. Calling that fanon says more about that person's biases than anything else I think. Perhaps they're a little bit lawsuit-era-Buck-coded (sorry.)

Re: last night's episode, I understand the empathy for Eddie having to sit there and hear that. But at the same time, Buck is kind of notorious for missing the good things in his life and accidentally being a dick because of it, and I don't think they'd have given us that scene in all it's glory if it weren't setting up the fact that Buck's going to clue into reality sooner rather than later.

I don't think they'd be investing in buddie screentime if this wasn't a conflict that was gonna get resolved. I think back to 5b, Eddie telling Buck to "move on." That's a fucking hurtful thing to say to Evan Buckley, king of abandonment issues. But it was written for reason; we just have the power of hindsight for 5b to understand the bigger picture. They have a good track record of not letting inter-character conflict fizzle out into nothing, so I'm positive they have something good planned to resolve it.

Basically I wouldn't worry about the friendship, like, at all. A little hypocritical of me to say, since I spent all of 6a and the winter hiatus worried about the friendship, but 6b has massively assuaged those fears. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

drop your thoughts/theories/speculation on why you don't think buddie will go canon in my ask box because I'm curious (I'll be nice I promise)

[clydesdonovan]

I have a question! When and why did you start shipping Clyde and Craig? You’ll the first person I’ve seen ship this so I’m curious!

omggg wait really??? That’s so surprising to me lol I mean I know cryde is a fairly small ship, but I can’t believe you haven’t seen it before !! I feel kinda honored LMAO like wow… introducing people to cryde… my sp destiny

But !! It’s honestly kind of a boring answer lol. Back in ye ole middle school days, South Park was the first “fandom” I ever discovered. I honestly cannot remember why or how lol, but I found… ffnet. And that led me to learning about fanfiction.

(okay I kinda uhhhh rambled for years so here’s a cut!!! ilu)

Of course, I searched for south park LMAO I mean it was like my favorite show of all time. I looked at some fics but didn’t read any, until for… literally no real reason, this one fic caught my eye. It was about Craig and Clyde, two characters we knew next to nothing about, and I was like… hmmm yeah this sounds like a good one!!!!

For a long long time I thought this fic was deleted?? But it’s NOT apparently !!! (It’s m-rated, if that’s not ur thing!!) but yeah!! It’s a very standard, early days cryde fic where Craig is an outsider and Clyde is the cool jock and they really reconnect at a party.

If you know anything about my version of cryde, you know that’s… absolutely not how I envision them at all lol. (I could make a whole other post about that.) but for some reason, I read that fic and was like “wow, I wanna know more about Craig and Clyde 🤔”

Andddd then I just kinda went on a deep sea dive of their characters, canon and fanon, and I just kept reading fics!!! Over time, both fanon cryde and my… version (?) of cryde evolved, and so did their characters in canon!! I remember the like… ten of us on here back when Slash episode aired, we were losing our shit over the fact that they were partners the entire time. We were FED lmao

And then!!!! I can’t even explain how fun it was when TSoT came out. Their partnership and Craig’s double cross was everythinggggg. It was everywhere. We were THRIVING lol. I don’t think anyone expected it and that made it so much better, and it cemented for a lot of us the idea that they’re best friends. We were given crumbs tbh but lemme tell you, we took them and baked a CAKE and it was a time.

Okay all of that is not really an answer to your question lol. The short of it: I read some fics!! I became interested in their characters and their friendship, and it just went from there. Having all those fun moments with our little side of the fandom was always a lot of fun too and it made me treasure the ship a little more I think.

I know cryde isn’t ready all that popular, though it’s gotten bigger over the years, I like that the fandom is kinda on agreement that at the very least, they’re pretty good friends. (Maybe even best friends!) it still gives some cute content even if it’s platonic.

And I have really written a lot more than I intended LMAO if you’re still hanging on anon, thank u, I’m sorry I sorta veered off into another territory but I hope I (somewhat?) answered your question!!! If not I’m sorry pls just tell me if I need to clarify lol

[whatgaviiformes]

No worries that it's been done before. It's always fun to revisit. After awhile, not everyone knows where we started. Here's my little story -

I discovered TOS on my own AFTER seeing 2004. As an everything space nerd, Apollo 13 was one of my favorite movies and I followed Bill Paxton's movies on principle because he is- was- will always be remembered as amazing. Thunderbirds was one of those and I distinctly remember thinking - cool premise, I bet the fanfiction is better.

I discovered pretty quickly this Thunderbirds thing was much bigger than I thought. I read a lot, got my hands on TOS Dvds, wrote a little, and the boys and their story became incredibly comforting and inspiring to me more and more. But I will be completely honest about my experience, I found the Fandom of the time a bit clique-y and elitist, being already so well established by the time I rolled around. It became harder to want to stay involved as any influence of 2004 made it so your work wasn't taken as seriously. Or if it lacked enough TOS Canon. Of course, I was younger and a lot of that could've been my perception. I don't blame anyone for it. I've talked about it before, but I don't think it was a great place for me to have continued trying to grow my writing skills into, or to experience and learn more about the show that inspired us. I would've always been writing to try to please instead of giving myself the grace to play with the content we were given and explore who I was as a writer.

It just was the wrong time for me and I know I would've been disappointed. In the end, I removed most stories and left around when I went off to college. This resulted in a 10 year break from fanfiction and writing when I discovered I didn't actually want to pursue creative writing as a career.

At some point in 2017 I did another sweep of my account and cleared out some more old fics. Those I kept - just 3- got a fresh eyes overhaul.

I missed all of TAG as it was released. I remember watching one or two episodes when the show first premiered but something held it back from dragging me in again. I still just think I didn't need it then. I fully believe timing matters. There's a special beauty in finding something when you need it most.

The love of the boys always lingered in the background and it was almost like coming home. As simple as thinking, I wonder what Virgil's been up to lately...

I started reading fic again on and off and in 2021 (seriously just that recent for me) I started trying my hand at writing again. Little things since I was out of practice. I posted Scenes and got a completely different welcome this time. Even though ff.net engagement was lower than ever, I was shown the magic lived here.

Watched TAG, got off my "what happened to their hair!?" high horse, and figured out that it's totally OK to write influenced by TAG, 2004, TOS, and fanon selectively or all at once. Plus... apparently I write AUs so who even cares about where the accuracy is coming from at that point. Is it the Tracy's? Yes, good, checkmark.

AUs have been surprisingly freeing.

I made some friends both within fandom space and expanding beyond just the fandom. I needed that, probably more than I've shared. But remembering how it was for me, how nervous I was to post after lurking, feeling all to uncertain in my contributions and utter lack of faith in my writing, I have always tried to pay it forward in making people feel welcome. I regret that I haven't always succeeded in it.

So I guess the tl;dr is - came for the love of a family, stayed for the friendships.

FishTank still makes the world go round 😉💚💛

Hi Thunderfam!

Hey, so I know this will have been done MANY times before but for us newbies it would be fun to know how everyone got here!

So… I was a super fan of TOS in the 90s, tried and failed to build a Blue Peter Tracy island, pored through every annual and comic I could get my hands on. Saw small section of 2004 film and could not, so when heard there was another reboot I avoided it because I didn’t trust them not to ruin my childhood love.

Got into Nevermoor late last year, discovered tumblr, overlapped with @womble1 on Nevermoor things and followed a rabbit hole into a womble TAG fanfic which made me think… oh, maybe I should give that newfangled series a little look.

Sat down with 8 year old and said “there’s this thing that’s a remake of something I used to like, let’s see if it’s any good”. We were both hooked the moment Thunderbird 2 appeared out of the clouds - we’ve just finished our second run through all 3 seasons - and I realised there is a LOT of Thunderfam content to catch up on on here too which has kept me pretty busy :) at some point I’m planning to revisit TOS.

How did other people end up here?

[keepswingin]

What were your favorite/least favorite parts about Zombies 3? Which movie in the trilogy is your favorite?

Ohhhh boyyyy well.

Let’s just say z3…massively disappointed me. Enough so that after watching it I really was ready to just. Up and leave the fandom. And even after a few days, I still don’t know exactly why, especially considering I wasn’t super looking forward to it or anything in the first place.

things I liked about z3:

-the humor was stupid-funny (which is my whole brand) and enough so that I laughed more than I’d like to admit

-the bigger budget in some places

-the writing for zeddison

-the way they handled the aliens was actually…well done, more so than I thought it would be

-some of the choreography

-some of the songs (“come on out”, “ain’t no doubt about it”, “exceptional zed”)

-the werewolves

things I didn’t like about z3:

-the absolute fever dream it was, for lack of a better way to put it

-the rushed, one thing after another plot, horrible pacing

-the lack of an main alien song, and the fact that instead we got “utopia” and “fired up” on the soundtrack

-“i’m finally me”

-the fact that they wrote eliza in, despite knowing it would’ve been better to write her out with a plausible excuse

-by proxy, wyliza, which i’m fine with, kinda, but the way in which they handled it was just…eh

-the absolute destruction of wyatt’s character, which i still can’t list how exactly, and not even in like a “fanon” way, in a literal “they didn’t know what to to do with him” way

-the lack of werewolves’ screen time

-the obvious display that they didn’t know how to balance all their new characters with old characters, which wasn’t an issue in z2

-cringe-worthy choreo at times, which was surprising

-a good amount of jump cuts and blurry camera shots/camera work, which yeah it’s a dcom, but like. I know enough about to film to know that most of it was just someone being like “yeah sure that’s good enough” and moving on, instead of properly going back to fix it

-pearce’s sudden loss of acting/singing/dancing ability

-addison being an alien

-addison’s mom basically getting a redemption arc

-the lack of friendship/family moments for moments that didn’t matter, weren’t needed for the plot

-plot holes (werewolves can suddenly have sliver rings after what was established in z2?)

-the pink graduation gowns (lol)

I don’t know, that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Don’t get me wrong, like, I’m still here, and I’m still going to be here, I just wish it ended on a better note. I’ve been here since what, 2018? I’ve seen the fandom ups and downs, the hype, the disappointment, and I wish z3 could’ve just turned out like z2.

And as for my favorite of the three movies? z2, hands down. Movie-wise, character-wise, and because of the people I met because of it.

[haleigh-sloth]

Omg, it would be adorable if All Might “adopted” Shiggy and Deku became best friends with him 🥺 Probably more of a “fanon” idea I guess but seeing Shiggy along with the rest of the League getting happy endings would be great

It would be adorable and heart warming yes. And, well, Shigaraki and the League getting happy endings is not fanon. That’s...that’s happening. That’s what’s being set up. Horikoshi did not dedicate chapters to destroying the prisons, destroying the safety net of everyday society to where citizens don’t have the time to worry about the league, and introducing the idea of Midoriya saving Shigaraki just to say...

“NAAHHH Kill them, throw them in jail. Fuck those guys. Heroes win!” I mean, that’s not competent writing. At all. 

Midoriya and Shigaraki forming an alliance that becomes a friendship, yes. I’m looking forward to it. More than you know lol. I mean, I’ve drawn them together a million times. And I completely lost it over this color spread Horikoshi drew when chapter 305 came out. This blog is a Midoriya and Shigaraki friendship train and I’m the conductor. Lol. 

I don’t think it’s far fetched at all, considering the difference in the lives awaiting the League members once the final battle is over. The League is a found family and I love them all together, but I don’t think they’ll stay together as the League™️ forever. Mostly because each member has something different they need, and the main 3 members have different things they need out of life.

Toga is a teenage girl. She needs to be around other teenage girls so she can talk about teenage girl things. She wants that. That’s why she goes after Ochaco every chance she gets. She needs that connection with other girls her age. The League is her found family, yes, but she’s the only girl and the youngest. It’s not the same. I expect her to find herself surrounded by company of Ochaco and probably Tsu as well by the end. 

Toya needs to find himself with his siblings and make up for lost time. He needs to form that brother bond with Shouto that he never got to have, and he needs to be taken back in by his mother and siblings who love him unconditionally so he can proceed to live a normal life surrounded by love and care.

Shigaraki’s end is a little different to think about. Shigaraki needs a family. He has nobody left, but he was always about family. Which is why I don’t think All Might will die. I used to think he would but now I just don’t know. It seems out of place for him to die at this point. (You could totally kill Gran Torino Hori nobody would be mad) I feel like All Might will be alive because he wasn’t there for Tenko the first time, but after AFO is gone and everything is done, he can be this time around. If All Might dies I genuinely don’t know what would happen with Shigaraki because...who’s gonna be there for him? Midoriya yes, but he’s a teenager and still has to grow up himself. And on that note, another reason I think it’s very possible for Shigaraki to kinda be taken in under All Might is because he’s still basically a kid. He’s 21 years old but he’s not very mature. I’m not saying he’s a child, but he’s got some growing up to do because his childhood was taken right from under him. He’s still in a place where he needs role models and guidance from adults. 

All three of the main league members are immature and still need adult guidance, even though they’re basically grown themselves. They never had a chance to just...let loose and be taken care of and guided. They just had to figure their shit out on their own. It’s time for them to relax and live normally and let the people around them help them figure it out. 

With that being said I still hope the main group is shown staying together. I’ve said it before in other posts but, I really want this type of ending for BNHA:

In FMA everybody gets their happy ending and everybody stays in touch, forming an even bigger found family than before.

So no I don’t agree that it’s fanon at all. I think it’s very in the realm of possibilities. Happy endings and satisfying resolutions is the kind of story BNHA is. 

In BNHA I really want to see that everybody stays together and continues on in each other’s company. I hope Horikoshi shows us something like that in the last chapter(s).

[devintrinidad]

You know I was talking a bit on it on Discord, but I honestly think 3803 doesn’t know how 1146 sees her. I bet she thinks of him as a good friend. But she’s still not sure how he defines their relationship. That’s why she was unsure how to answer Rod Cell’s answer. He’s so secretive and he never tells her anything about himself unless he has to. As far as she knows, based off her answer to Rod, she probably thinks he sees her as more of a charge to teach and look after. Like he’s her sensei in a way. 1146 repeating her answer only validates her views (makes me wonder if she was disappointed in his answer). I kind of thought she was giving him a easy option to define their relationship when she gave a simple answer. But instead of saying ‘and we’re friends too’. He just repeated her. 

Obviously they both know the other cares a lot about the other.

But lately I’m thinking she thinks her views of friendship aren’t completely mutual. That he likes to hang out with her not only because he likes her, but also sees her as someone to take under his wing. She does see him taking care of others a lot. After all, someone else (I think Shiny Armin) has pointed out they don’t go beyond idle chit chat. She has no idea he knows half of what he does about her. Their relationship is actually a pretty uneven one with 1146 having a lot more perspective of it. 

That’s further proof to me that 3803 would have no idea 1146 is crushing on her because she has no reason to think he’d ever feel that way about her. 1146 definitely knows a lot more about 3803 then she does him. I get that’s why he feels more deeply over her then she might him (not saying she doesn’t love him back a lot. But it’s definitely not as intense/big in the way 1146’s is back at her). 

It makes me wonder if something could happen that would make him realize he has a different view of their relationship and he’s no longer okay with that? Like he wants to get closer to her and he has to open up more if he wants her to open up to him more too? Maybe he’d be shocked if she didn’t think they were as close to each other as he feels to her because of this unequal footing they have.

Idk. Shrug, I just bet 1146 has had plenty of opportunities to see why 3803 is someone he could fall in love with. While 3803 could see 1146 as her type, but because he’s made this wall between them (accidently(?)) she’s never had the chance to see why she’d think of him beyond a good friend - who might not even be interested in being a close intimate friend with her.

Makes me a little sad. 1146 you dummy. She’s so happy when you show any amount of interest in her. Open up a little more about yourself. A good relationship can’t continue to blossom when you have one sided moments thanks to stalking/eavesdropping. X (

Lol, if this was a bigger romance series and if 3803 ever decided she wanted to date. She’d never ask 1146 out because she’d assume he’d never want to. Meanwhile he’s all grumpy and upset she’s not interested in him and scaring off any cell he thinks wouldn’t treat her well in all his overprotective worry glory nature. XD

Then there’s almost everyone else just slapping their forehead in cringe reactions to how easy 1146 could fix this whole situation. XD 

~~~

Oooh, you bring up a lot of points and discussion here. Let’s see how I can explain my side of things....

To be honest, while I find myself shipping 1146/3803, I don’t see much of a romantic light in their interactions so far??? If that makes sense? I mean, yeah, you can easily interpret their interactions as being the stepping stones to a passionate, romantic relationship (he’s saved her plenty of times, recent development has cause for us to believe that 3803 is definitely going to have further character development that not only influences here, but also 1146 as well, the character development mirrors each other... etc.), like I get it. Plus, their interactions and the way they regard each other ever since the first time they met is just a gold mine for romance.

I get that.

However, it’s all too easy for me to rationalize and know that what we’re seeing here may not lead into romantic implications. Especially on 3803′s side of things. Like you said, if there were romantic implications, she seems to be overly oblivious and not as receptive (???), like, I would imagine she would be okay with being in a relationships with 1146 (if that was even allowed), but I don’t know... I feel like there needs to be more development and insight on her part before I can fully be on board with the actual “canon romance” within the manga.

Furthermore, it’s true. There is definitely a lack of transparency and knowledge, especially on 1146′s side of things. I don’t think he’s ever revealed that he followed her one day during her circulatory route to make sure that she was doing fine. While most would say that he has good intentions, 3803 could just as easily interpret that as 1146 not trusting her enough to do her job (this might also be a case where we might delve deeper into feelings of insecurity and helplessness considering that she’s different than the rest of the cells of the body... if the manga ever decides to go down that route). 

It just doesn't sit well with me that 1146 may or may not be transparent with her while 3803 is, for the most part, truthful not only to herself, but to others. 

If they were to have a relationship within the manga, I want full transparency on both sides. 

But yes, if feelings were reciprocated, I really do want 3803 to be the one to initiate while 1146 acts all flustered. Honestly, that’s the best dynamic I can think of XD

TLDR; I ship fanon wise, but within the canon, I need more character development and revelations before that sort of thing can happen. At most, they’re best friends. :D 

[toujourspur13]

What’s so interesting about Sirius Black... apart from the obvious?

Well…I feel obliged to jump into this discussion about Sirius and his family.

I actually think that canon Sirius Black is a good example of multidimensional character with a complex personality (rare thing in hp series)…at least the way JKR wrote him implies some psychological depth (hp is mainly teen literature about friendship - the marauders friendship, the golden trio are all great examples of it - but let’s face it - this literature has a tendency to a very specific narrative - maybe that’s the reason for popular Sirius fanon - I mean…Sirius being part of the Harry’s story is seen through the lens of Harry’s problems). The thing is that usually Sirius is greatly simplified when, in fact, he’s one of the most interesting and complex character in the whole series.

OOTP is the longest hp book - it contains huge amount of text about Sirius’s family incl. RAB who’s indeed very important to the story; and it also contains excessive amount of Walburga Black content. Why excessive? Well because she is not even important to the plot…I mean, at all. Harry (and the whole 7-books journey is Harry’s POV) doesn’t even care about her. But she is important. To Sirius. To the extent that he can barely shut up about her.

And as Sirius’s important to Harry we got all those extra pages about The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

When he’s showing Harry the family tree, he keeps going back to her - she did this and she did that, she removed him, she removed Andromeda, Uncle Alphard…

I saw how he managed to squeeze her in one passage in two different contexts. She’s clearly weighing heavily on his mind. Grunted, he is very angry about everything she did - but can you really disagree that he is super fixated on her.  Frankly speaking, you could’ve expected that he’d be talking so much about James (in Flitwick’s words ‘You’d have thought Black and Potter were brothers’) - but in fact he doesn’t talk a lot about James - it’s his family he seems unable to shut up about. Cross out all his rant and the book becomes significantly shorter. Sirius shows Harry all of his relatives because he wants to.

Remember Araminta Meliflua…his mother’s second cousin?! Is it of any interest to Harry - I doubt it. Harry’s more interested in the Malfoys at the tapestry - but then again Sirius pays little attention to them - and only answers the direct questions. The only one about who he truly doesn’t want to talk in that scene is Bellatrix.

Btw if I remember correctly, he’s even distantly related to the Potters…but for some reason he chose to ignore this. So let’s just say that his thoughts in that scene are clearly one-sided and family-centered.

Even in POA Sirius is mirrored to his mother (we can only understand this after reading the 5th book though) - Sirius slashes the Fat Lady portrait when she refuses him the entry to the Gryffindor Tower - Walburga burns holes in the family tree. Angry management is what they both clearly need. They are so extremely alike that I am almost sure it’s all deliberate and JKR used her as a way to show deeper levels of Sirius’s personality (and not the abusive nature of his childhood).  Loud, high-strung, passionate and very emotional.

Sirius says that he ‘hated the whole lot of them’ and that’s why he ran away and instead of saying something like ‘I got so fed up with my parents lecturing me how I should avoid mudbloods at all the cost/ hate them/ whatever fits the profile of pure-blood maniac’ he says in the next sentence that he was constantly reminded that Regulus was a better son. This is a very jealous remark. It’s pretty obvious that what he wanted is unconditional love - ‘either you take me with all my extreme political views or I’m gone’. The things Sirius says are often contradictory and half-truths and sometimes he just chooses to withdraw certain information at all.

I sometimes come across the strange ideas that JKR tried to parallel Harry’s life with the Dursleys to Sirius’s childhood - I mean, do we really need to go there? You’d be better off trying to parallel him to Big D rather than to Harry. It’s fairly obvious that the odd ideas about Sirius’s abusive childhood are used for the sole purpose of helping him to bond with Remus (in terms of being subjected to physical pain) where he wouldn’t be able to relate to James (you know what popular phenomenon I mean).

Another popular idea - that the 1st year fiasco with Sirius’s Sorting was a big deal. I admit we have very little info about this BUT the fact that he put Gryffindor banners and pictures of  bikini-clad Muggle girls into his room makes me think that the parents were clearly disturbed and disappointed but not to the extent that it became something crucial in their relationship. Clearly Sirius used that as a means to annoy them. To tell you the truth, I find this attempt to go against fanatical blood purists quite feeble and certainly below Sirius Black’s level - it feels more like «hey, mum, look I stick posters of barely-clothed girls on the wall in my room - let’s see what you can do about this».

Btw the interesting thing is that it somehow feels that Sirius’s relationship with his mother (unlike the ones with his father or brother) was the relationship of equals which is odd because she was older and his mother. The explanation for this can be that they were very much alike and she in fact allowed it…maybe (well here I agree that it’s vague and can be just because it’s only the portrait and not the real person but still there is something about this).  And they have this you-hurt-me-now-I’ll-hurt-you-back attitude that implies equality and a certain degree of exclusivity. They both very clearly are not careful with words and actions.

And thus we’ve come to the very touchy subject - her psychotic portrait - her little ‘welcome home’ present. I grant her that - very impressive and colorful vocabulary.

She definitely wanted to be sure that in case Sirius had come home he would never have a moment free from her. Very dramatic.

“Yoooou!” she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man.

“Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!”

“I said — shut — UP!” roared the man, and with a stupendous effort he and Lupin managed to force the curtains closed again.

They match each other really well. (All the drama aside, if we consider this matter seriously - it’s just a portrait of hers and she was insane and alone for years after she lost everyone. But yeah - pretty nasty thing to do - I agree).

Frankly speaking, her personality isn’t really that significant in this case - it’s more important how Sirius feels about her, the way he can’t let her go. He’s relatively okay in the 4th book while on the run in the cave eating rats and arguing about Crouch, Bertha Jorkins, Karkaroff, Snape etc. But his severe depression in the OOTP clearly has everything to do that he’s locked up in ‘the house of a dying person’ (the very last one from their family) - like in the case of his mother’s true personality we’ll never know for sure what’s that about - Sirius’s real feelings are impossible to decipher - he says one thing - does another - feels maybe something completely different - for all I know, it could be about plenty of things one of which is that seeing her awful portrait, sitting in the rooms where they used to be together is a constant reminder that his family is gone and no matter what he feels and wants, he can’t fix anything about that - it’s all lost for good.

Of course, Sirius wouldn’t like to be there - a man of action trapped in his own past without any hope to ever overcome his unresolved issues with his family. The way he’s fixated on his mother is so intense that it’s almost unhealthy but I guess it’s just the visible (most explicit) tip of the iceberg.

Sirius with his hidden and repressed feelings is a great and very interesting character - he’s so much bigger than just James Potter’s best mate with a cool leather jacket. His relationships with his family is what makes him such a deep character (and not those ideas about how fluffy little angle was magically born in the family of twisted and deranged warlocks - well, it’s a little bit naive). After all it’s an internal conflict that sells the character.

Upd 2020

I think it is worth mentioning that since we’re discussing fictional world and fictional characters it only makes sence what the author implied and what the author did not. Yes, there is no absolute truth because it is all not real but the way character is written usually allows us to make certain assumtions about his or her inner world and motivation. So called ‘canonical evidence’ only matter in terms of what the author wanted to show us. I’ve never had any problems with fanon and headcanon - the only thing that bothers me is saying some things were in the main text when it is explicitly implied that there was nothing of that sort.

[goblinconceivable]

Still puffs of wind

Part 2 of me looking at Hooked Queen in season 7.  Relatively happy with where I got so far, so a little course correct, mopping up and going a bit fanon/shippy eyes.  Also I made a huge error, I admit my embarrassment to the world and it makes me less embarrassed.

Still referring to Wish!Hook as Rogers.

I screwed up badly by being careless and imposing my own reading, and I hate when I do that.  In the family-reunites scene after Gothel is defeated, Alice is staring at Rogers, and he’s looking at her.  She CAN’T run and hug him, end the enforced distance contrasts with all the inter-hugging that happens through the rest of the scene.  More importantly for my purposes, Robin is looking at him too, for the entirety of that shot.  She turns and comforts Alice in the next, but we’re still looking at a tentative continuation of a family unit comprised of Alice/Robin/Rogers we started when Robin asked for his blessing and happy hugging immediately commenced, and just formalized when the three joined hands.

More damaging to my case is that Tiana totally went to speak to Rogers, and I believe was holding his hand for a moment.  It’s very background, which is why I missed it the first (um, few) times until I looked for it.  It’s validation that the extended family unit in the Enchanted Forest was a real thing, and that means: inclusionary.  It’s a payoff for the few Rogers/Tiana moments we got under the curse, because curse-relationships are weirdly close to the uncursed-relationships, so we can assume they really are friends.  It also supports an unrequited crush interpretation*, because Rogers approaches Tiana, which isn’t so much his MO.  See later point.

Net result: in this scene his inclusion outweighs exclusion. 

I do still think it’s notable that Henry and Regina and Ella and Lucy end up ignoring him.  Scene-wise, it makes sense.  It’s a blocking disaster to have anyone running over there, and core nuclear family runs to each other first.  Yes they could have had Rogers still standing, but I think it WAS a stronger choice to have him physically removed, to remind us that he’s not alright, and that his curse isn’t just separating him from his daughter but from everyone.  

Hyper-focused on finding his daughter, he is barely capable of forming relationships with anyone else.  And we get to see this emotional distancing manifested!  On a gurney, he literally cannot approach anyone, he observes from afar.  

This contrasts heavily with Regina, who’d the most huggy of all.  She’s with Henry, she greets Robin, and then the scene finishes with Regina/Lucy.  We’re left with three couples in relationships, plus Regina/Lucy.  Rogers and Rumple remain odd ducks, only Rumple’s on a quest and has left.  So they’ve tidily avoided setting Regina and Rogers together.  Which... was a major theme.  Keeping them apart.  Was it a creator’s choice in order to avoid shipping?  Did they not think they could write them in scenes and maintain a platonic friendship?  Did they just not think it was important to show?  

In a show about family, and a Regina who’s heart is open wide enough to mentor a random girl she meets (Drizella), why avoid giving her an interesting relationship with the reboot of a character that a) can play against the relationship she had with the original, b) who has a history with her That We’ve Seen and c) she’s known for 10 years and has massive screen time and development so it’s not like “Tiana’s a secondary character we can limit her interactions because of that.”

It’s that enforced disinterest that provides the negative space for speculation and fanon.  But it’s frustrating.  I don’t know what to do with it.  I’m left wondering if a huge sense of the Rogers!exclusion isn’t just down to Regina.  Who plot-wise was scattered but was the heart of the season.  What would be different if she’d checked in on him, how he was getting on with Tilly?  If he’d continued meeting Henry in the bar and she had to balance playing along with them while running a bigger picture?

(I sort of forgot about Lucy.  Does she even HAVE a scene with Rogers?  Lucy is, like Henry in the first 6 seasons, the glue of the family.   She is open love.  She and Tiana are tight in cursed-world.  But Rogers is practically an uncle, he’s known her since she was born.  And nada.)

Which feeds in to a/the reading that his failure to join the table with Charming et al is his own sense of exclusion rather than anything else.  Charming extending his hand isn’t an outreach on behalf of the family, it’s standard fare for the family, and Rogers hasn’t considered it an option.  Having been rebuffed by Regina and Henry probably didn’t help though.  But looking at that again narratively: it wasn’t personal on Henry’s part, in fact he knows Rogers well enough to know he needs to defy him, and respects him enough to believe that he COULD have stopped him.

And now, our technically non-canon scene hinting at the crown.  Which is inclusionary, which means progress.  The open hand remains open on the part of the family, and Rogers has accepted.  Our Alice/Robin/Rogers unit is tight, and his friendship with Henry remains quite strong.  I mean, Henry literally stops his mad rush to confirm with Rogers that he got the thing.  It’s important that Rogers knows, just so that he knows.  Satisfying his investment in the process, and cementing him as one of the ones who are not just aware of the event, but are at the heart of creating this moment -for Regina-.

Which, to sidetrack, is both beautiful and weird.  It was an election, did Regina even know she was running?  All indication was that everything happened behind the scenes and all the Realms just sort of quietly agreed they wanted her and then, SURPRISE!  What would have happened if she didn’t want the gig?  Being part of a council is quite different than “Hi you get to run it all now.”  I mean, she dropped being mayor to live in a forest 

I guess the only thing left is to finally land squarely on Rogers/Regina.  Which...  still doesn’t fall out of canon for me, even including the crown moment.  It does add flavouring for Rogers to be invested not just in the event everyone is pulling together for, but for Regina personally.  Ie, there’s something special about that crown, some special connection to Regina?  Which she doesn’t mention and isn’t mentioned, so it’s very obscure for the uber!fan or the whole quest for it makes no sense and that’s why the scene was cut?

But his interest in Regina for her sake is new.  Generally we saw her reaching out to him - when he was watching Henry/Ella/Baby!Lucy, when he was attacked by his heart when seeing Alice for the first time, when she told him to reach out to Tilly.  With his curse broken, now he can accept and give love more generally, so at the very least we get an extension and deeping of whatever baseline we ascribe to their previous reationship.

And while I’m all about plationic male/female relationships, the best way for the writers to do that is to have GIVEN them a platonic relationship.  In the relative void we have open-ended potential, where happily neither has been pining for the other, because that’s just sad.  But where Regina’s efforts and support can be reciprocated and love birthed from that.  Which is where I’m at, and probably where I end, for meta, the rest is fanfiction ~!

*The possible/probable crush Rogers had on Tiana doesn’t bother me because it counts as a safe space.  She was firmly placed with someone else in canon, and it’s natural to gravitate to someone gentle and friendly, especially when you’re socially inept.  So really what it says about him is he does want to reach out and part of him does want a more intimate relationship, but he wouldn’t with Regina because she’s intimidating.  Complete matriarch.  You can’t crush on her, you lowkey love her and don’t notice until it could be a thing.

[pempeeeperem]

Next chapter will be postponed

I really thought I had more time, but plot inconsistencies are catching up. I knew for a while that I had to do some revisions of the earlier chapters, but I had hoped to get more chapters done before that. I had planned to finish the early game first, before I did some bigger changes. Well, it can’t wait any longer.

Let me explain my troubles to you by going a lil deeper into Lulu’s character and chapter 18. Spoilers are waiting ahead.

Lulu, oh Lulu, my child of sorrow. She’s been the character with the most inconsistencies. That is stemming from me going into this story with little thought to her character. I began with this widely accepted fanon of her being childish, naive, a little stupid and basically annoying, but as you know... the widely accepted fanon isn’t always a good idea.

I knew Veigar was to be the tiny master of bullshittery, trying to get through life as smoothly as possible and constantly being caught up by plot. Teemo has revenge written on his plate and he also tries to get his girl. Tristana has to overcome what has happened to her when she was younger and learn that Lulu is not the helpless girl she got to know her as. Rumble is there to cause trouble, Ziggs is causing trouble, as do Corki and Heimer, latter providing an important plot point later on.

Although all of them go through changes and have character development, Lulu has no clear starting point. My initial idea was “Lulu smart” & “Lulu tricks people for funsies”. Which is where the problem lies. Lulu is too smart to be doing a mistake as gravely as giving out Veigar’s phone number and she is not resentful enough to do so as payback. I had tried to fix this by having Lulu being angry at Veigar for something that happened before the story starts.

Which doesn’t work.

Right now, Lulu has shown much empathy for everyone, lots of love for her friends and some mischief. I want her to be this really emotionally intelligent person, who could be less intelligent on other aspects, but she isn’t dumb. The plot catalyst of tmob doesn’t work.

Which now brings me to chapter 18. It is called “Black is the complementary colour to purple, right?” and I believe that tells enough about its content. It was meant to be their condonation moment, they say sorry and love each other again. Well. The first draft from months ago intended Lulu as the one asking for forgiveness, but Veigar has done just as much shit and even if Lulu doesn’t know about all of it, he needs to apologize as well.

So far, so good, but how should this chapter go then? Lulu apologizes for giving out his personal data (which I’m planning to redact because implausible) and Veigar apologizes for... cursing Tristana without possibility to help? For possibly aiming Ziggs’ revenge on her? For forcing Lulu to pick a side? There is a lot that is going on. Both sides aren’t completely honest.

Another problem, I don’t know how much initial knowledge I should give Lulu about Veigar’s past. She knows about the mothership, does she know about Tristana? No, because Veigar doesn’t view it as meaningful and will be majorly baffled when he finds out that he’s the cause for her trauma. Does Lulu know about Teemo? Some stories, nothing wild. Does Lulu know about Veigar’s trauma? No, she senses it, but he doesn’t talk about it.

Does it make sense for Lulu to forgive him? I... don’t know. I think they’ve been divided for long enough. I want them to make up in chapter 18 and do mischief together or whatever, but does it make sense? A reminder: love and nonsensical hormones aren’t involved yet. They’re friends and while that is also blending, it’s not that blending.

Veigar is not able to help with the curse. There is no way. And that pisses Lulu off majorly, rightfully so.

Now, if I’m to change the phone thing, make Teemo’s and Veigar’s feud the catalyst - which it is supposed to be - then Veigar screws over Lulu and has to fight for their friendship. How in the world is he gonna make up for that? Well, it is nothing personal to Lulu. It is Veigar’s and Tristana’s business. I know better than to mess with my friends’ business unless they ask/allow me to. So, Lulu learning that resolves it..? I don’t know.

Lulu’s initial burden to overcome is her childishness, her disregarding the consequences of her actions, but I don’t want that development to be her character arc. She’s 21 or 23 in the story. She entered the current timeline at age 14 and was thrust into a situation too heavy for a child, dealing with the nowadays world, providing for herself, her magical abilities being frowned upon, etc. It would make sense that she doesn’t want to grow up, because her childhood was stolen, but would it result in this?

Ugh.

Meanwhile, she still wants to play matchmaker because Tristana and Teemo are stupid, and involves Rumble - but how?

Oh, and btw Poppy’s hatred for Veigar makes no sense anymore either. I couldn’t come up with a plausible idea, so I might just spoil what I had initially planned: Poppy is Lulu’s first matchmaking victim. Lulu convinces Veigar to help her and gets caught by Poppy in their scheme, perhaps through a counterfeited letter, and gets his collarbone broken in the process. Poppy is hurt and aims her anger for her failed relationship at Veigar, because she thinks he did everyone for a laugh. And who did they set up for Poppy?

Kennen. Which explains their behaviour in chapter 2.

So, I need a new reason for that too. Oh well, so much work lies ahead of me. My brother (a highly emotionally intelligent person) once told me how easy it is for him to read people and to move their feelings into the direction that could benefit him, the only difference between him and a psychopath is that he chooses to not abuse it. I wanted to model Lulu after this description. She successfully manipulated the Piltovian police officer and Rumble with her puppy eyes, it’s implied that she’s done that with Tristana before. Chapter 18 would have revealed that she could do the same with Veigar. At some point I thought maybe it’s a spell, she can see aura, why not manipulate that. That’s less realistic and less scary, right? It’s such a spicy idea, but it’s also so evil and what is the consequence of it?

As you can see, it’s Lulu’s fault. Ahahahaha. In all seriousness, I need to rebuild her character. The inconsistencies are driving me crazy.

Check the schedule for info. I’m too lazy to post about update dates.

[miamaroo]

Northern Migration- Chapter 30 (Notes)

Yikes, it’s been a while. I’m not sure I have any excuses beyond that I am a fully realized creation with a multitude of real life responsibilities I am absolutely drowning in. But, hey! This chapter is here and it’s out. Yay for that.

Like always, these notes will contain spoilers, so be sure to read the actual chapter before hitting this guy up. Without any further ado—

I kinda have a niche for interpersonal drama, and this chapter’s usage of Julia and Taako is very illustrative of the reasons why. Julia’s flaws show more intensely when you see them directed at a particular person. I’ve always believed that people by themselves will be generally decent; it’s only when they’re put up against something or someone they don’t like will actual flaws present themselves. Similarly, Taako’s starting to realize that he doesn’t like having so much bitterness towards Julia when he can see himself in her. I just really like character conflict, okay?

I’ve always avoided using DND jargon in dialogue and such because I’ve always felt like it takes me out of the narrative too much. What little jargon I do use, like “spell slots,” I typically mean to be a part of the in-universe slang or terminology for magic users. So, for example, spell slots is an imprecise measuring system magic-users use to not only calculate how much energy a spell will use, but how much energy they have left to use at a certain time.

The scene on the Starblaster was written in two parts: the first back in April, starting from Magnus going to Davenport and ending at the same point it does in the chapter. The second part, the first half wherein Magnus and Stevie are whittling wood, was added within this past week. What happened? I realized belatedly that if I wanted to have Angus disguise himself as Merle, I needed to pre-establish his magic use. Not only that, but I knew that I needed to plant some seeds that would pay off in the next chapter. I can see where the scene splits off, and to me it’s really obvious, but I hope that’s only because I know how it originally looked.

That being said, the original reason Magnus went to Davenport wasn’t for reassurance, but because Lucretia left without getting winter clothes for Angus and Magnus wanted to see if anything Davenport owned would fit him.

Should I have written out that scene where Taako reveals the prophecy he got years ago? Yeah, but we literally just got through a bunch of chapters where people learned a prophecy and were amazed by it. I’m not going to write the same scene again for the, like, fifth time.

I like Sloane. I like her understated friendship with Johann and the fact that she’s kinda the underdog. What a legend.

This fic should be a musical. I feel like I’m writing a song every other chapter. The Crystal Kingdom verse featured here should fit the tune of the original song. I borrowed some of the rhymes from part 3, but honestly, who cares?

Here are some rejected lyrics for the second to last line: “Imprisoned by all my misdeeds” / “My own destruction I foresee” / “A lost legacy I foresee”

Lucretia backstory! It’s hard to believe that I’m 30 chapters in and there’s still light sprinklings of backstory I need to write about. I mean, I still have to cover the formation of the pseudo-BOB and the flashback chapters to how the Starblaster mission came about, but that’s different.

I like the idea that Kravitz’s corporeal form does weird things when you try to mess with it. I also like the idea that Kravitz can shapeshift.

I know people wanted a bigger splash for Johann and, so far, I kinda under-played his presence, but I do have plans for him. Granted, he’s still the Greatest Bard Ever and can kick everyone’s butts. So he’s done something. But if you’re a Johann fan and are upset that he hasn’t done more, have no fear. He will have his time to shine.

Taako and Ren reunion! They actually never had their reunion back in Wonderland (which happened a long time ago holy crap), so it’s finally happening. And again, I am team Taako Really Does Care For Ren, so take your bully!Taako headcanons and get out of here.

Lup

Lup, Lup, Lup.

Where do we start?

I wrote that scene months ago, and I remember not being too happy with it the first time around. Now that I’m looking at it again, I actually really like it. I so this pseudo-stream of consciousness style whenever I try to get into someone’s head during a moment of realization, and I like the way it works here. It really does help what his physically just Taako just staring at an umbrella feel as grand as it should be.

But there’s a particular manipulation of Taako and Lup’s famous “always an outcast, but never alone” that I’m doing that is not only incredibly on brand for me (I do love the manipulation of canon), but also demonstrative of how Taako’s character development is different here than in the show and (to be honest) fanon. I don’t like the narrative that Lup is so important to Taako that her absence destroyed him. I don’t like the idea that restoring his memory of her is what helps him recover. The show itself doesn’t do that to a serious degree, but I see a lot of fics play up that angle for angst. So my intention is to do what the show did, which is letting Taako learn how to love but doing it times 10.

I’m not sure how else to articulate this, and at this rate, I’m going to have to come back with a clarification to really convey my thoughts on this. Because Taako’s development is that he learns that he is loved no matter what, and that’s his happy ending.  But here, his development is centered on this idea that he is an extremely emotional person who does not want to be emotional. And he does this by slipping into denial. So to have Taako make a connection with Ren is demonstrative that he’s learning to accept that he cares about people. Putting him back on the Starblaster where there is still a lot of bitterness causes him to double down on denying how much he loves the people he’s upset with. And he needs to learn if he wants to be loved in return.

I don’t know how else to put it.

 And that’s it! Unfortunately, there isn’t going to be a preview for the next chapter since literally every scene involves a reveal. I will tell you that we’re definitely in the latter half of the fic. There’s no definitive outline, but every time I do a count in my head, I can only see around 20 more chapters, which would put us a little over the halfway point. So while we still have this, an interlude, and another relic arc before the finale: the end is nonetheless finally within sight!

And Barry is still kidnapped.

Fuck.

[dent-de-leon]

This may be old hat, but I have seen people talk about how Shiro clearly favors Keith to the detriment of other team members. Namely, Lance. I don't feel like this very IC, but I wanted to get other opinions and I enjoy your meta.

This is something in fanon that’s always kind of bothered me honestly. I have a whole meta here about how Shiro protects Lance and cares for him throughout Sendak’s takeover. I honestly don’t understand how people could say Shiro doesn’t care enough about Lance when Shiro was literally willing to get captured and tortured again for his sake. “But that was one time!” some fans will say. As if putting your life on the line and getting a few thousand volts of electricity surging down your spine isn’t a big deal apparently?? Shiro cares for Lance, he does. He could’ve won that fight, but he threw it for Lance’s sake. 

Something that I repeatedly see people cite as a sign Shiro “favors” Keith over Lance is their talk before the BOM. Shiro decides he’s going to take Keith with him, and Lance lashes out. He claims Keith is unable to stay calm, and yet, he’s the one losing his temper. And this is only the latest in a long line of instances in which their supposed “rivalry” is really just a one-sided game where Lance is the instigator and Keith repeatedly has to remain calm and either try to make peace or just tune him out. Throughout season 2, he really snaps back. In contrast, Lance has demonstrated again and again that he is childish and self-centered, that he himself has a quick temper. And yet, he’s quick to direct the blame at Keith. Who handles it quite gracefully, might I add.

So yeah, anyway, Shiro was right. It was a good call to bring Keith instead of Lance. But because Lance is often placed upon a pedestal, somehow not coddling him 24/7 can be misconstrued as abuse. I think another reason people are so quick to say Shiro doesn’t treat Lance the way he deserves is because he doesn’t talk Lance through all his insecurity issues. But you know what? If Lance wants to talk about it, then he has to bring it up. The only two people that have actually addressed that directly are Allura and Keith. And both of them only do so after Lance brings it to their attention. If Lance doesn’t speak up or keeps up an act, how is Shiro supposed to see the signs and help? 

More importantly, people act as though all of Lance’s insecurities are somehow Shiro’s fault. Why is that? Shiro has been imprisoned and tortured for a year. His PTSD and consequential paranoia, depression, and anxiety are far more difficult to deal with than Lance feeling upstaged. And yet, Shiro would never presume that this was somehow everyone else’s burden, or that they owed him more because of it. So why should Lance merit special treatment? Yes, Shiro isn’t as attentive with Lance and Hunk. But that’s because they’re so much more well adjusted. 

I don’t mean this badly, it’s just a fact. They came from good, loving homes. Hunk feels fondly enough about his family to want to return, and seems to have no baggage associated it. Lance meanwhile we know was the youngest sibling and somewhat spoiled. They had it good before. There’s nothing wrong with that. Characters don’t have to have traumatic backstories to be deep or meaningful. But this also means that these two aren’t dealing with the same shit as Keith and Pidge. They don’t have Keith’s abandonment issues or the shared grief he and and Pidge feel over losing their family. These two need more reassurance and guidance and comfort, and Shiro is of course there to provide it. 

Bizarrely enough, it also feels like fans are unable to believe that Shiro has friends. Lance treats Hunk significantly better than Keith from day one, and in fact forces his personal vendetta on Keith for purely selfish reasons. But Keith is expected to graciously accept this because “it’s just from Lance’s insecurities.” Meanwhile, Shiro clearly has nothing against Lance and has never singled him out or treated him poorly out of nowhere. Yet he’s accused of favoritism. This favoritism is really just friendship. He knew Keith before Kerberos, was so close with him he literally brought Keith to the launch instead of his own family. They’ve clearly been side by side for a long time, long enough for Keith to develop an intense desire to be with him when he shuts out everyone else. Long enough for Shiro to not be surprised that it’s Keith of all people who shows up to save him. 

Romantic or not, “Shiro and Keith have the closest relationship.” In Joaquim’s own words, that’s canon (source). So of course their interactions will be different from everyone else’s. That gravity and vulnerability is unique to them alone. And honestly? Removing that link is clearly detrimental to both their coping mechanisms. I think it’s selfish for people to expect Shiro to either push Keith away or pull everyone else in. He’s not ready for something like that, and it shouldn’t be forced on him. Everyone else is allowed to have best friends or romance or whatever’s happening here. Why can’t Shiro? Why is that so wrong? And, to take this in another direction–were Lance to somehow become Black Paladin, does that mean he has to distance himself from Hunk? That he can’t still be interested in Allura? No, I don’t think so. 

And I mean, Shiro does trust Lance, you know? He does still take Lance’s input into account. When Lance says he wants to try to make that impossible shot in Beta Traz, Shiro lets him. Shiro trusts him. And when he makes it? Shiro compliments him! And the reaction is immediate–Lance is clearly thrilled. So yes, Shiro does think Lance is capable of great things. Yes, Shiro lets Lance know when he does a good job and wants to be supportive of him. That much is clear.

I think the other reason why people assume Shiro is somehow biased against Lance because he made Keith Black Paladin instead. And, I’m going to be completely straightforward here–the idea of Black Paladin Lance just makes no sense to me. Neither in the narrative nor thematically and it certainly doesn’t fit with his character development. The thing is, I think people have lost sight of what Black Paladin really means. It’s not a popularity contest. It doesn’t mean you’re the “best” and you shouldn’t just want your fav to have that spot. Lance is far more suited to the role of a Red Paladin, as reflected in his parallels with Alfor, his talk with Allura, and his character arc. To quote my other meta:

It’d be a huge setback and really detract from his character development. When he sits in the Black Lion for “like half a varga” Lance’s main motivation here is seeking his own glory. His character arc is about learning to grow past that and see the bigger picture and realize everyone in Voltron is part of a whole and you’re not better because you’re the leader. 

The way he treated Keith earlier in that episode was also incredibly malicious considering the guy was grieving the loss of the person he loved most. And Lance still has the audacity to spit on Shiro’s last “dying” will and continually provoke Keith until he lashes out or leaves. Learning to see the wrong in that and instead supporting Keith was a huge step for him, and I don’t see why he’d ever still take Black after that. 

It also makes no sense thematically. When Keith steps into Black again, he says, “I know this is what you wanted for me, Shiro. But I’m not you. I can’t lead them like you.” And Lance just goes, “This is your moment.” Keith’s concern first and foremost is with what Shiro wanted and what’s best for the team. Lance just wants to steal the spotlight. He has no intrinsic connection to the Black lion through his bond with Shiro the way Keith does. He also doesn’t have those thematic parallels to Zarkon the way Keith does–instead, he’s recognized as being very similar to Alfor. 

People act like Shiro and Keith stole away Lance’s chance at leadership, but Shiro wasn’t even considering anyone else. Lance was never even in the running. 

The thing is, I kind of understand where people are coming from. To my knowledge, a lot of fans find Lance to be the most relatable, and reflect on him–likewise, I often do this with Keith. But anyway, people really feel for Lance and see their own insecurities through him. But that still doesn’t mean everyone should drop everything to immediately focus on him. Shiro is a good leader. Shiro cares about all of his paladins. Shiro by no means has anything against Lance. But that doesn’t mean he should be given the spot as Black Paladin just because he’s Lance, or that Shiro should be micromanaging his and the other paladins’ emotional needs 24/7 when he’s just trying to get by himself. I understand people feeling for Lance and wanting to see him reach his full potential. But that doesn’t mean everyone has to bow down to him. In fact, going by his daydreams and personal arc–this would significantly negate a good amount of his character development. 

[rumanope-blog]

Let's talk about APH Poland

Heeeellooo~ So.. Do you remember that girly - man named Feliks Łusiakiewicz or APH Poland? Well… He isn’t that girly or weak.. Why? Hmm.. History says that Poland won most of the wars, so he can protect himself and his people.. Maybe you heard that Toris (APH Lithuania) is protecting him? Ha.. He doesn’t need protection. Of course Poland and Lithuania lived in one house back then.. They were friends so they were protecting each other.. This is how friendship works, right? Also,do you remember that episode where Feliks were in dress? That was Halloween special.. He dressed like that because of Halloween not because he is crossdresser. He did that to scare Toris… Well, of course he looked good in that outfit, but he isn’t a girl..

Many of the nations are scared of Russia. Who isn’t? Feliks Łusiakiewicz! Why? Because he don’t have a reason to be scared of him. He is just a country like others. Well, maybe a little bigger. Ivan (Prussia and Roderich too) occupated Poland for past 100 years. But he rised, like phoenix! Or that time when Prussia tried to kill Feliks? What did he do? Smiled.

He was aware that he can die now, but he stayed calm and accepted that. If fanon, he would probably panick and run away screaming like a girl.. But he is man. And he showed that many times. In manga, Poland protected Lithuania.. That proves that he isn’t the one who needs to be protected. And that he cares about his friends..

“I’m not gonna let you lay a hand on Liet!” He protected him from Russia. That means he cares about his friends.. And want to protect them, so he’s not weak. He can fight for what he loves.

He kicked everyone’s ass for two hunderd years because of hussars and even though that his army isn’t strongest in the world he is still strong in the spirit. Everyone would brake down when invated. Poland wouldn’t. He would wight the hell out of his predicament. Be it secretly or not.

In Poland we respect and tolerate things like crosdressing and have nothing against it. Probably thats why Himaruya created him like that. I know that he may seem girly and cute but he is 100% man and that won’t change.

Thank you for reading this and please reblog. This is really important… #PolandIsNotWeak #FeliksIsAMan #PolandIsStrong

(HOW DOES IT WORKS. I DON’T UNDERSTAND TUMBLR;;;;;)