#but it feels like we’ve gone so long with just fanon content that people are getting completely closed off to canon content

[mando-din-lorian]

I was so worried that they were going to full on write Din’s covert off as an actual cult this is season, and I’m so so happy that’s not that case so far.

I think there’s so much more nuance to Din’s covert that a lot of fandom don’t give it credit for. I swear, some of ya’ll act like Din is being held captive by his covert (and Bo too after the recent episode) and it’s like…they’re not.

The Armorer literally told Bo that she’s been redeemed by the way of their Creed and if she WANTS to she can join them (for however long she wants to be there), but she is free to leave any time she desires. No one is going to hold her captive there.

Same with Din. Yes, he broke his creed and became an apostate, but they didn’t hunt him down and strip him of his armor. This is the Way they follow and they’ve survived so long—have been together so long—because they stuck to is to rigidly. I love how faithful Din is to his Way. I love how much it means to him. The covert is his family. Of course he’s going to fight for it.

I don’t know, some peoples relationship with Din’s covert in this fandom is weird. Like yeah, it’s not perfect, but it’s not a full-blown cult keeping all its members locked away from the rest of the galaxy. They’re a people on the brink of extinction and doing what they can to survive.

I just think we’ve gone so long with just fanon content that it’s skewing perception on canon content.

[basu-shokikita]

I was in the sp fandom once, was very much obsessed with your kyman posting. Like I used to check your twitter daily. Kinda wondering, what made u (sorta) quit sp/kyman?

oh wow 😳 i’m flattered

and well…my answer might not be as interesting. as you know, for years kyman was at the center of my fandom life. i talked about them, i wrote fic about them, i organized and helped organize projects about them…and i loved it. despite the negative attention i received for it, i loved kyman so much that i kept at it. nothing came close to grabbing my attention the way kyman and sp as a whole did.

last year, exactly around this time, a good friend made me start watching the show otherwise known as metalocalypse. now, we’ve watched a lot of shows together and i enjoyed them all but i never dug up any further than that. i didn’t think metalocalypse would be any different. why would i?

anyway. metalocalypse. at first it didn’t click, then it got interesting, then it became hysterical…by s3 i was fucking invested. the way i hadn’t been about any media in years (i got into SP as a kid so the peak of my hype for the show itself was during its golden years). but yeah, i continued metalocalypse, finished it, then watched the movie and that was the final straw for me. i had gained a new otp and i wanted to see yaoi of them!!

i figured this wouldn’t be a problem and that i could be both into sp and mtl at the same time. as time went on, though, i felt guilt that i was currently more interested on the brand new thing (metalocalypse) than the old one (south park). i thought new content could fix this and as we got the sp new season announcement it seemed like this would fix the problem.

but then the new season was so….lackluster. like, okay, sp has evidently declining for years now, we’ve known this. but the new episodes didn’t have kyman interacting?? kyman?? the relationship that was at the heart of the show??? so i was like, well, i already have mtl, i don’t really have a reason to stay in the fandom if the show isn’t delivering, you know? i’m the type of shipper that likes to feast on canon and complement it with fanon, not the other way.

so yeah, it felt like the world was telling me it was okay to focus on metalocalypse and that’s what i did. the new south park special was great though! and good for kymans. but that spark is kinda gone for me. i don’t feel that special something i had for kyman anymore. i do love them though, i always will. but the thrill, the obsession? that’s what i feel for skwistok now

but hey, i was into south park as a kid and then i got into it again as an adult. who knows, maybe i’ll get into it again? it is the show that shaped me, my sense of humor and my taste in media even. it’ll always be special to me so it could always make a comeback in my heart. :)

sorry this turned out kinda long, but i’ve had several people asked me what happened over the course of this year so i wanted to say it in case anyone else is still wondering. nothing bad happened, i just grew out of it. doesn’t mean i’ll never write for sp again, though! i totally might, there’s a couple of drafts i’d like to finish not gonna lie. it’s just not my priority at the moment. but i do have writing commissions open, so if you want to see more kyman from me, you can always shoot me a message. ;)

[lovee-infected]

For the anon talking about how they hate how over exaggerated a character is. I am not trying to start hate or anything, but if you don't like the way how someone portrays the character, just stop reading it. Some people don't delve deep, they just want to write fanfics for fun they're not going to make sure it's 100% the characters VERY complex personalities. Or the way how they view a character is different from their beliefs. I've gotten this message before and I am TIRED of it

I think it's a good time to talk about this because I've been thinking about bringing the topic up for a while. To begin with, let's clear something between the two anons because I think it's a misunderstanding:

Note: Please read this, this is important.

Anon A is saying that they're sometimes bothered by how some fanfics and Aus have a different way of picturing character X, in other words, they don't really enjoy it when a character is bring mischaracterized

Anon B (this anon) is saying that if you're bothered by a fic because you don't like how they're characterizing an specific character, then you don't have to read it.

Let me say that both of these anons are right, yet to think that their ideas are the opposites of each other, is totally wrong. In other words they both have a point, but I guess their points needs a stronger a better way of being explained in order to avoid any further dramas and misunderstandings.

Why am I doing this? Because I've seen -enough- of it. After the twst character analyses, aruges toward the mischaracterizations in this fandom became a thing, it's been causing some issues and arguments between the fans and it's mainly because of how sides fails to explain their points clearly.

Though I didn't really receive any rude asks/comments regarding myself the matter I can still how some fans feel attacked, offended or called out by character analysis posts or have the NERVE to attack or offend others with their own perspective on characters and try to force others into accepting them.

Enough with drama, I'm sick of it. I'm going to explain this as clearly as I can, hopeful that this would at least lessen the chance of having to go through another drama regarding the mischaracterization issue.

1) The concept of FANfiction

First off, the fanfiction itself; what is a fanfiction? What type of writing is considered to be a fanfic? What is it even used for? These are the questions we all need to answer before getting to know the world of fanfic.

Just as its name explains, it's fan + fiction. It's the result of the fan's creativity and imagination taking place in a fictional plot, something that hasn't happened with the original characters and he original story. The fans' imagination is often far beyond the plot which the original story/series/book offers, yet this isn't going to hold fans back from imagining it. Fanfiction is the way of giving yourself (or others) the specific and plot with the original and canon version isn't going to give you, in other words it's a way of getting what you wish to see through a story but this time, it's you who'd decide what will happen.

You are the one who decides how characters will be, you are the one who decides how and where this story happens and you are the one to choose how this story must come to an end. It's all about your own imagination and creativity, which enables you to have power over everything about your own story and fanfiction, everything (In expection gor than legal issues including claiming the original character as yours). You have the power, and you choose how it should be.

2) Fanfiction and mischaracterization

This was mainly the most brought up issue in the recent Twst drama, mischaracterization through writings. Many were saying how they find this annoying and nerve-wrecking, but no one really talked about how mischaracterization comes to life.

Let me tell you, as long your writing is a fanfic, there is a 70% chance of mischaracterizing the plot or the characters and there's nothing wrong with it, that's just how fanfiction works! It isn't supposed to be canon, it is fanon and only fanon. Everything that happens is fictional and fanon based, in other words, it's the fan who decides what should happen in a fanfiction and how it's supposed to be!

One of the Fanfiction's best purposes is giving the fandom a chance to mischaracterize! To write the characters the way they wish them to be and not necessarily the way they truly are. Fanfiction allows us to imagine and create something that isn't true, so let me clear my point here: It's totally okay to change the characters' personalities in your fanfics! As the writer, you have the right to do so, and since writing a fanfic must be for your own pleasure in the first place, no one can stop you from imagining whatever you want! No one can jump out and say stuff like "YOU CAN'T MISCHARACERTIZE A CHARACTER IN A FANFICTION" because that'd be super lame. It's your own fanfiction, your story, your creation and you're free to mischaracterize if that's how you like it to be! And if anyone doesn't like that, remember that they don't have to read that.

3)What is the problem?

Look, we've been going through some drama because of the recent character analyses of twst fandom, and I'd like to explain why. First off, note that I think both sides of the argument have been wrong and I'm going to talk about both of them.

Let me begin with a small example: It's been argued that based to what we've seen from Leona's personality so far, he doesn't seem to be the type to love healthily or even easily fall for anyone. Some of the fans seemed to be offended by the statement and said that "They still want their Leona fluff no matter what everyone else says" okay okay, this is the problem I was talking about: Saying that canon Leona doesn't seem to be much of a fluffy lion or a sweet lover isn't equal to forbidding the fans from writing fluffs for him or picturing him as a adorable and gentle lover! No one has the right to hold fans back from appreciating and enjoying what they like! But it's important to know what exactly is happening.

I'll talk about some crucial points you need to know about character analyses and how it's different from a fanfic in part (4), but before that, let me continue to give some examples of the recent argues and how each of the sides were wrong.

A) You enjoy reading fluffy Malleus content but character analyses have been saying that he isn't as soft and cute as you'd expected him to be. Does this mean that you can no longer ask for wholesome Malleus content or enjoy reading them? -> Of course not! You're still free to read/imagine/write whatever you like with Malleus! No one has the right to tell you what to do, and character analyses aren't meant to be a way to hold you back from enjoying what you like! If you're enjoying something, go for it! In this fanon world no one can accuse you for not following the canon interpretations!

B) You've spent a rather long time getting to know Ace and his canon personality, and you really like the way he is! But by reading fanfics/ fandom's interpretations on him you can't help but to feel like they aren't giving his personality the justice he deserves, and aren't seeing the great and amazing character he truly is. Is it okay to feel upset about this? -> Just as I said, it's totally fine to have your personal interpretations of a character no matter how different the rest of the interpretations are! But the real question is: what should you do when you think fandom isn't doing a character justice? This would be answered in part D!

C) You are enjoying your personal ideas and headcanons with Idia and many are saying that your way of picturing him is so adorable! Does this necessarily mean that the canon Idia as well is like you describe him? -> Absolutely not! No matter how adorable an Au/headcanon is, everyone's free to enjoy it but you should remember that canon ≠ fanon. You are totally free to imagine whatever you'd like! But keep this in mind that you shouldn't insist on your ideas being necessarily canon!

D) You feel like many are mischaracterizing your favorite character and you don't like it, what should you do? -> Well to begin with, remember that other fans have the right to characterize a character just as much as you do! You can't stop them from doing what they like or expect them to change the way they are because of how different the canon interpretation of a character might be. But you as well have a great chance to inspire the fandom by your own ideas! You can try to discuss how different the canon personality of your favorite character is and even try to turn that into a character analysis! This way you'd not only avoid causing any drama because of disagreeing with someone's way of picturing your favorite character, but you will also have a chance to present your personal ideas and characterizations to the fandom in a friendly and polite way!

E) You don't like how an author is characterizing some of the boys, what should you do? -> Easy solution, don't read it. Let me tell you, I have gone through this a lot and do you know what I do whenever I read/see something that doesn't match my tastes and expectations? I keep scrolling! That's all, I don't have to like it, but I don't have to read it either! 😀

F) You're an author and a writing request is asking you to write for a character in a way you just can't or don't want to write because that goes totally against your idealistics and ideas on a character, for example: You just can't write something really wholesome and fluffy for Leona because you can't imagine him being like that, what should you do? -> It's obvious, then don't write it! You have the right to choose what you'd like to write and how you like to picture a character no matter what others think. If you want to picture Leona as an emotional and soft boy, it's totally okay! If you want to picture him as a cold-hearted and mean prince, again it's totally alright! Remember, just like fans you have the right to picture and characterize the characters the way you want to, and no one can tell you otherwise!

G) You've read a character analysis and you realize that you've been mischaracterizing Floyd for a while, should you feel bad or sorry about it? -> Of course not!! Even if you were mischaracterizing him, keep this mind that there's nothing wrong with picturing Floyd as the way you want him to be! As long as you don't claim your headcanons to be canon and share stuff like "Canon from is definitely like this" or "Floyd would do that, canon! ^-^" it's totally alright to imagine him the way you like!

H) You saw someone saying something about Malleus that didn't match the canon interpretations of him. You quickly replied to then and corrected them about their wrong point of view and tell them how the real Malleus is, which kinda led to and argument between you and the person, did you do the right thing? -> Absolutely not! Attacking others out of nowhere and without any context isn't the right way of introducing the canon characterizations to the fandom! Even if you were right, keep this in mind that the other person has the right to picture Malleus or any other character the way they want them to be so if you want to correct them or try to get to know the canon character interpretations, you should do that from the logical and polite way.

I) Someone wrote a character analysis for Idia and said how they find it so annoying when people who refer to Idia as "Baby" and "uwu beanie". You often refer to Idia as baby or cutie yourself and the context of that analysis/general post some how got to you. You feel lowkey attacked and offended, did the original poster say the right thing? -> No, matter what the context is or how accurate and well-written that analysis was, directly calling people who have a certain way of picturing a character "Annoying" is rude no matter how you think of it. Even if the original poster were right about Idia not being UWU, their way of wording their sentence wasn't really pleasant; keep this, in mind that everyone in the fandom is free to picture Idia as they like and it doesn't even matter if you don't like it or not! If you're going to write an analysis/essay regarding a character's personality, remember that you should prove your point and disagree with opposite opinions through logical reasoning and explaining your point, NOT by offending and attacking other ideas by savage contexts like "You have to stop saying that Idia is like this", "I hate it when people say Idia is like this", " It's so annoying to see people saying Idia is like this... "

4) What's with the character analyses then?

There's a difference from the canon and fanon interpretations of a character, this is a truth which cannot be denied. But it's important to remember that just because a canon interpretation of a character exists, you can no longer enjoy the fanon interpretations!

Even I, for example, enjoy picturing someone like Malleus as an purely evil being like Maleficent herself because I enjoy seeing him as a perfect figure for "Mister of all Evil", but in my Malleus analysis post I explained how we should NOT think that Malleus is nothing but pure evil or a heartless monster! See, this is the difference I've been talking about. I'm pretty well-familiar with the canon Malleus, but I'm also enjoying the my own fanon Malleus and I know that the Evil Malleus I admire is a fanon one, not the canon one!

The thing is, character analyses aren't meant to be a way to hold anyone back from enjoying their fanon interpretations or imagining what they like, they aren't call out posts either. They are simply a way of getting to know the characters as if you're getting to know one of your irl friends. You come to think of them, see how deep their personalities are and get to learn more about them!

It's true that reading a character analysis might make you realize that you've been somehow mischaracterizing a character but this, isn't anything to be sorry or frustrated about! Character analyses are written to learn us more about our favorite characters, or as I like to name it, they want to show us that they're a lot more that we may imagine them to be!

Now, you may wonder how can we write a good character analysis without getting out of the line, offending anyone or giving out any cheap information?

I, personally, am pretty strict when asked to do a character analysis. Doesn't matter if I like the character or not, I'd try to judge them nonetheless. You HAVE to talk about both good features and bad features, and you must strictly avoid your analysis from getting personal; you have to make sure that your personal thoughts, feelings and emotions regarding a character aren't effecting your analysis. You shouldn't be writing it in a way to show off with your analytical ideas either.

Some people think coming off as rude would make them sound valid and acceptable, or they might just be used to being a little offensive in general, but as I explained in part 3-I, I won't recommend using any harsh or mean languages at all. Let me note that your way of wording your ideas is crazily important and if you're not careful enough with what you say and how you describe your ideas, your post would be not only be not much helpful as an analysis but also a cause of more drama and arguments. Also, keep this in mind that even the best of character analyses can't totally catch the characters' personalities correctly because we do not own them! Twisted wonderland's characters are a property of aniplex and neither me not anyone else in this fandom has the right to claim what a character is 100% like unless Disney officially releases those details!

Writing character analyses can be hard, from finding enough of hints to defend your point to choosing the right Grammer and way of speaking to avoid any further misunderstandings. But remember, those who write character analyses have no right to attack anyone because of them (They can oppose to different opinions of course, opposing ≠ attacking ), but keep this in mind that readers have no right to attack then because of their analysis either! See, that's a two-sided relationship. Both of the, sides have to learn to respect, both of the sides should, know, their boundaries and both of the sides have to be respectful!

Warning: When I say you're free to do or imagine whatever you wish to do, know that posting and sharing writings too has its own rules. Make sure to put the proper warnings, and avoid using any taboo or clearly impolite and sometimes, illegal concepts such as incest, pedophilia, etc.

I actually had a lot more I wanted to say regarding the matter but I'm keeping it short, because I know that writing too much would make this boring and pretty hard to read. Hope that it's clear enough and avoid the possible future misunderstandings and arguments regarding the matter. Please, this isn't even about twst, it's about learning to respect each other it's about real life. Having people read THIS is a lot more important than having them read my character analyses or writings.

[otp-armada]

If Jason wanted to convince me that Lxa was the love of Clarke's life, he wouldn't have killed her off, effectively cutting their love story permanently, with 4.5 seasons left of the show. Their arc, starting with their introduction in 2x07 and concluding with L's death in 3x07, is 17 episodes long, accounting for 17% of the entire narrative. If I generously add 3x16 to the count, an episode in which L is already dead in the corporeal world Clarke is trying to return to, it's a whopping, grand total of 18%. An 18% congruous with Clarke's intense connection to Bellamy and vice versa, which even A.lycia confirmed as romantic. Feelings romantic enough to spur the formation of a love triangle. An 18% ignoring Clarke's ultimate choice to go back to her people when L wanted her to stay.

CL is a chapter in the story begun and wrapped up in the first half of the narrative. And that's omitting further illumination on the finer details making CL so problematic for Clarke. Do you expect me to believe it was coincidental for CL to occur at a time when Clarke was spiraling down a dark path, commencing with Finn's death? Who played a hand in forcing Clarke's own hand, with Finn, and TonDC, and Mount Weather? Whose example inspired her to ensnare herself in armor and warpaint to be strong enough to save her people? Whose behavior did she emulate in the pushing away of support from her people? Who gave her a place to continue hiding from Bellamy, her mom, and her friends? A place to be someone other than Clarke Griffin? In lieu of facing her fears like the heroine she is? The purpose of CL wasn't to provide Clarke with a magnificent, fairy tale romance gone tragically wrong. I believe Jason's intent with the relationship aimed to further damage Clarke's psyche after L's death, to solidify the belief that her love is not only deadly to its recipients but renders her too weak to do what must be done for survival.

After 3x16, CL is an often superfluous namedrop or two per season for Clarke to briefly react to before carrying on with the plot. Season 5 aside, most of these references are needless enough to be able to interpret them as attempts at reparations for the L/CL fandom's benefit -and their views- without altering the course of the story. Crazy me for thinking it's not enough to constitute an ongoing love story. Crazy me for not thinking this was on par with interactions between living characters. Crazy me for thinking it doesn't befit a love story for the protagonist.

This sliver of the story is what Jason and the CLs would have us unquestionably believe is the pervasive love story of The 100's seven seasons?

Despite his lie and the constant gaslighting from the pineapple CLs, some of us know how to decipher what a temporary love interest is. Lxa? I think you know where I'm heading with this.

I'll acknowledge my admittedly negative appraisal of CL as someone who recognizes its value to the LGBT+ community and treats it as valid while not caring for L/CL on a narrative level. I felt, when swayed by L's influence, Clarke became the antithesis of what I found admirable about her. I resented Clarke's acquiescence of her power to the commander. I wanted nothing more than to remove the wedge L had driven between Clarke and Bellamy.

Let me try to give L/CL the benefit of the doubt for a minute. I don't hold L as responsible for Clarke's choices, but I recognize the prominent role she played in their upbringing. The push and pull was an intriguing aspect of their dynamic, as was the chance to meet a manifestation of who Clarke might have been if she was all head, no heart. Her fall from grace was arguably necessary for her to be a fully-rounded character, not a Mary Sue. It wouldn't be realistic for the protagonist of a tragic story about a brutal world to be a pure cinnamon roll. When forgiveness is an innate theme with Clarke, it would be my bias at work if I was content with her applying it to everyone but Lxa. Clarke saw enough commonalities between her and L to identify with the latter. When she extended forgiveness to L, I believe it was her way of taking the first step on the path to making peace with herself by proxy. None of this means I wanted them paired up. At best, I made my peace with seeing the relationship through to its eventual end. In time for L's death, ironically. My passivity about them notwithstanding, my conclusions are, however, supported by canon.

If I may submit a Doylist reason for romantic CL? Jason knew he had a massive subfandom itching to see them coupled, thereby boosting ratings and generating media buzz. A Watsonian reason? Without relevance, I think L would have been another Anya to Clarke. Grapple shortly with the unfair taking of a life right as they choose to steer towards unity, melancholy giving way to the inconvenience of the loss of a potential, powerful political ally. Romance ensured her arc with L would have the designated impact on Clarke's character moving forward in the next act.

For a show not about relationships, Jason has routinely used romantic love as a shorthand for character and dynamic development. It's happened with so many hastily strung together pairings. And when it does, everyone and their mother bends over backward to defend the relationship. It's romantic because it just is. Didn't you see the kissing? Romantic.

No, The 100 at its core is not about relationships, romantic and otherwise. But stack the number of fans invested exclusively by the action against those of us appreciating a strong plot but are emotionally attached to the characters and dynamics. Who do we think wins? Jason can cry all he wants over an audience refusing to be dazzled solely by his flashy sci-fi.

Funnily enough, "not about relationships'' is only ever applied to Bellarke. Bellarke, a relationship so consistently significant, it's the central dynamic of the show. The backbone on which the story is predicated. Only with Bellarke does it become super imperative to represent male-female platonic relationships. As if Bellarke is the end all, be all of platonic friendship representation on this show. In every single television show in the history of television shows.

Where was this advocacy when B/echo was foisted upon on us after one scene between them where he didn't outright hate Echo? When one interaction before that, he nearly choked the life out of her. If male-female friendship on TV is so sparse, why didn't B/ravens celebrate the familial relationship between Bellamy and Raven? Isn't the fact that they interpret Clarke as abusive to Bellamy all the more reason to praise his oh-so-healthy friendship with Raven as friendship? They might be the one group of shippers at the least liberty to use this argument against Bellarke, lest they want to hear the cacophony of our fandom's laughter at the sheer hypocrisy of the joke. Instead, they've held on with an iron grip to the one sex scene from practically three lifetimes ago when the characters were distracting themselves from their feelings on OTHER people? They've recalled this as "proof" of romance while silent on (or misconstruing) the 99% of narrative wherein they were platonic and the 100% of the time they were canonically non-romantic.

Bellarke is only non-romantic if you believe love stories are told in the space of time it takes for Characters A & B to make out and screw each other onscreen, a timespan amounting to less than the intermission of a quick bathroom break. If it sounds ridiculous, it's because it is. And yet, some can't wrap their heads around the idea that maybe, just maybe, a well-written love story in its entirety is denoted by more than two insubstantial markers and unreliable qualifiers. B/raven had sex, and the deed didn't fashion them into a romance. Jasper and Maya kissed but didn't have sex. Were they half a romantic relationship? Bellarke is paralleled to romantic couples all the time, but it counts for nothing in the eyes of their rival-ship fandom adversaries. Take ship wars out of it by considering Mackson. Like B/echo, the show informed us that Mackson became a couple post-Praimfaya, offscreen, via a kiss. Does anyone fancy them an epic love story with their whisper of a buildup? Since a kiss is all it takes, as dictated by fandom parameters, we should.

If Characters A & B are ensconced in a romantic storyline, then by definition, their relationship is neither non-romantic nor fanon. "Platonic" rings hollow as a descriptor for feelings canonically not so.

If the rest of the fandom doesn't want to take our word for granted, Bob confirmed Bellarke as romantic. Is he as delusional as we are? Bob is not a shipper, but he knows what he was told to perform and how. Why do the pineapples twist themselves in knots to discredit his word? If they are so assured by Jason's word-of-god affirmation, then what credibility does it bear to have Bellarke validated by someone other than the one in charge? They're so quick to aggressively repudiate any statement less than "CL is everything. Nothing else exists. CL is the only fictional love story in The 100, nay, the WORLD. CL is the single greatest man-made invention since the advent of the wheel."

We've all seen a show with a romantic relationship between the leads at the core of the story. We all know the definition of slowburn. We can pinpoint the tropes used to convey romantic feelings. We know conflict is how stories are told. We know when interferences are meant to separate them. We know when obstacles are overcome, they're stronger for it. We know that's why the hurdles exist. We know those impediments often take the shape of interim, third-party love interests. We know what love triangles are. We know pining and longing.

Jason wasn't revolutionary in his structure of Bellarke. He wasn't sly. Jason modeled them no differently than most other shows do with their main romances. Subtler and slower, sure. Sometimes not subtle at all. There's no subtlety in having Clarke viscerally react to multiple shots of Bellamy with his girlfriend. No subtlety in him prioritizing her life over the others in Sanctum's clutches. In her prioritizing his life above all the other lives she was sure would perish if he opened the bunker door. There is no subtlety in Bellamy poisoning his sister to stave off Clarke's impending execution. In her relinquishing 50 Arkadian lives for him after it killed her to choose only 100 to preserve. In her sending the daughter Clarke was hellbent to protect, into the trenches to save him. In him marching across enemy lines to rescue her. In her surrender to her kidnapper to march to potential death, to prevent Bellamy's immediate one. No subtlety in Josie's callouts. No subtlety in Lxa's successful use of his name to convince Clarke to let a bomb drop on an unsuspecting village. Bet every dollar you have that the list goes on and on.

There are a lot of layers to what this show was. It was a tragedy, with hope for light at the end of the tunnel. It was, first and foremost, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi survival drama. Within this overarch is the story of how the union of Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake saves humanity, ushering in an age of peace. In this regard, their relationship transcended romance. But with the two of them growing exponentially more intimate each season, pulled apart by obstacles only to draw closer once again, theirs was a love story. A romantic opus, the crescendo timed in such a way that the resolution of this storyline -the moment they get together- would align with the resolution of the main plot. Tying Bellarke to the completion of this tale made them more meaningful than any other relationship on this show, not less.

Whereas the trend with every other pair was to chronicle whether they survived this hostile world intact or succumbed to it, Bellarke was a slowburn. A unique appellation for the couples on this show, but not disqualifying them from romantic acknowledgment.

Framing Bellarke in this manner was 100% Jason's choice. If he wanted the audience to treat them as platonic, he should have made it clear within the narrative itself, not through vague, word-of-god dispatches. A mishandled 180-degree swerve at the clutch as a consequence of extra-textual factors doesn't negate the 84% of the story prior. It's just bad writing to not follow through. And Jason's poor, nearsighted decisions ruined a hell of a lot more than a Bellarke endgame.

The problem is, when Bellarke is legitimized, the pineapples are yanked out of their fantasies where they get to pretend the quoted exaggerations above are real. Here I'm embellishing, but some of them have deeply ingrained their identities in CL to the degree where hyperbole is rechristened to incontestable facts. An endorsement for Bellarke is an obtrusive reminder of the not all-encompassing reception of their ship. A lack of positive sentiment is an attack on their OTP, elevated to an attack on their identity. Before long, it ascends to an alleged offense to their right to exist. The perpetrators of this evil against humanity are the enemy, and they must attack in kind, in defense of themselves.

Truthfully, I think it's sad, the connotation of human happiness wholly dependent on the outcome of a fictional liaison already terminated years ago. I'm not unaware of the marginalization of minorities, of the LGBT+ community, in media. I haven't buried my head in the sand to pretend there aren't horrible crimes committed against them. I don't pretend prejudice isn't rampant. When defense and education devolve into hatred and libel for asinine reasons, though, the line has been crossed. You don't get a free pass to hurt someone with your words over a damn ship war. No matter how hard you try to dress it up as righteous social justice, I assure you, you're woefully transparent.

[ayellowcurtain]

Would you mind giving a description of the type of character sander is pls? I can't get a handle on him. At times he was inconsistent in s3(this is partially bc of the writing and partially) bc he was trying to conceal parts of himself from Robbe and exaggerating his personality to impress Robbe. The source material was a huge crutch in parts of this storytelling, then sobbe lost some spark in parts of wtfockdown, fanon help fill the empty spaces and now the transmedia is evolving him too. Help?

I’m gonna try to help you, anon but I guess what I’m gonna say is basically my opinion and so it might differ from what’s canon or what other people think of him and also gonna link you to some prior posts I already made talking a little bit of him: 

- Sander’s similarities with Eliott about how sometimes they struggle to deal with emotions 

- Sander and his parents, his home life and his relationship with them 

- Why was Sander going back and forth with Britt 

Now onto your real answer: 

I think Sander, as a character, is a solid one. He as a human being in some universe is imperfect, has his flaws and maybe his bad judgment at times, of situations and of people. 

Is not because he’s a fictional character that he needs to be perfect, to always say and do the right thing. 

If WTFock did him (and Robbe) dirty was mainly because of their complete lack of understanding of what pacing is. I don’t think season 3 was that badly written. It does has some horrible pacing at times, yes (OHN being on a Monday can only be a joke!!!!). 

I don’t think he was purposefully exaggerating his personality. I’m sure the Sander we now know isn’t exactly as loud and out there as we saw during the supermarket clip, for example. But he was freaking out, and being obnoxious without meaning to.

To me, it felt like was mostly freaking out, not sure what to do with himself because the boy he saw once during a random night was there, all alone with him, accepting to go out to go grocery shopping. 

That’s just an example but it’s the same behavior I see when he says they won after he shot Britt during the paintball scene, when he sings Bowie to Robbe while they see the girls walking away after the Noor x Robbe fight, or when he goes to Robbe’s place the next day and tries to kiss him. All this moments, to me, feel like a boy that doesn’t know what to do with himself, how to behave when he’s around someone he’s falling so deeply and hard for. 

We often see the Evens as these cool creatures, confident, sweet, chill. But we have to remember that’s just the first impression (and from their Isaks’ POV), and after they get to know each other, the Evens are often shy, insecure, kind of lone wolves to some degree. 

So what I thought could be seen as “inconsistent” of Sander was just him probably freaking out he was spending time with Robbe, the boy that the moon was shining on him and that Sander knew was the one. 

That’s why I assume putting “original” characters after two seasons feels a little bit like crutches (with their background stories) because if you think about it, we always know most of the characters in Skam since season 1, so even when they’re not main characters, we got to know them in the background at least, to get some information throughout the other seasons. 

We feel more connected to Robbe (and every Isak), and his background story because we’ve been hearing about it for two seasons. 

We know he has a messy house situation, we know his relationship with Jens is kinda platonic but also very brother like (with slaps, saying rude things to each other, etc), we know some people think he’s gay, we know he’s a caring friend because of the way he was with Jana during her season. All this information we got before his season. So when he was main, there was no need to build background around him because we already had most of these informations before. 

Sander is a complete stranger to us. And WTFock even gave us two episodes of just Robbe, to get to know him even more but also leaving less time for us to connect with Sander. So what we got of him was mostly WITH Robbe and ABOUT his feelings for Robbe. We know where he studies because Noor told this in ONE line.

The fandom often falls deeply in love with Even because of what we see through their lovers eyes and for how soft, caring, and representative he is (with being bipolar and pan) but I feel like we get more of who he is and his background in Sana’s season. We learn more about his past, his friends, his MI, his beliefs or curiosity about faith, etc. 

Even if we barely see him with the balloon squad, watching them we see the type of people Even (or Sander) would like to be surrounded with. 

I know people are not the biggest fans of Sobbe during WTFockdown, but I said this before, and I’ll say it again: I think I love them even more after. Even the cybersex part because I thought it was cute, the way Sander was saying he shouldn’t have pushed Robbe into doing it the past week, or how they look at each other and the things they say and how clearly they’re still trying to find the middle ground both of them are willing to experiment with. 

Anyway, I thought it was cute, and I thought it was necessary, with the conversations about the attack (WTFock made a horrible writing decision not letting this happen during the season, but at least they gave us something), about Robbe’s traumas that are still very much alive, about his mom and how well she’s doing most of the time, how Robbe is still trying to help her in any way he can. And also about boundaries, about Robbe, that same boy that was calling Sander the F word is now so out and proud, asking Milan about cybersex, talking to his friends about it (because he did tell the boys what they did or Aaron wouldn’t be trying to have cybersex with Amber and the boys wouldn’t be taking their clothes off for Sander’s bday). 

I think WTFock would use Sobbe for as much content as they can because they know that’s their golden couple. The Willems have a unique chemistry that’s out of this world, they’re both amazing actors and WTFock knows they’re solid, that the fandom will watch, engage in whatever these characters are involved in and that they boys will deliver every time, no matter how odd the circumstances are. The WTFock team knows they can give these boys a few lines and let they create a scene out of it and it’ll still be good content.  

After this long ass post I’ll have to tell you that Sander is:

Mostly private, reserved, some would say shy but I think he just saves himself the energy and the trouble so he only really engages with who he really wants. In this case, Robbe, and the people that are important to Robbe because, again, Robbe is the most important person. I really think (and hope) that when Sander keeps saying “it’s you and me, always”, he really means it. Like they’re one, a solid team that works so well together to tackle any and everything. 

A natural flirt. I mean, look at him, you know? And he doesn’t even have to try. And when he tries, it’s over for anyone else because he’ll be eating a marshmallow in that way he did with Britt, he’ll be kissing his girl like he wishes he could be kissing Robbe, he’ll be licking your ear, and dragging you out of a bar, purring please say at yours like no fucking other. 

He’s a full on artist. He loves any type of art, he loves talking about art, he loves doing art, painting, drawing, taking pictures, listening to music, thinking about all the intense colors. I’m sure he’s a very visual person in his brain too. If you ask him about how he’s feeling, it’ll be probably easier to draw what he fells than write. 

Again, nobody likes talking about this but Sander is a horny one. And he knows how to tease with the stepping back before Robbe can kiss him, he knows what to say, how to look at you with those shiny lips, wetting his lips with his tongue all the time, asking to have cybersex. And I’m also sure he’s really good at sex and enjoys it so very much. 

When you’re not Robbe, and when you’re not involved with Robbe, when Robbe doesn’t care about you, Sander can be hard like a brick. He’ll scream at you with no shame if you get under his skin because he really doesn’t care. He’s finally fully happy, with the guy he thinks is the one and he doesn’t want to spend a second of his energy with you so he won’t even try. 

I think he has a really small filter from what he thinks and what he says. Like when he says Robbe can bribe the teacher, or when firts with Robbe while Britt is taking a shower, or when he says they need to put some better music instead of making out with his boyfriend during the last episode. 

His “all the way or no way” line is basically words he lives by and he’s also a taurus, like myself, so he really means those words with any aspect of his life. 

He forgave Robbe so easily after the F word scene because 1) he’s a teenagers, he won’t be thinking as hard as the fandom did about it 2) again, it’s Robbe and he can get away with anything because Sander is completely gone for this boy that he won’t be able to stay mad even when he knows he should because he wants to be with Robbe, that’s it.

He and Robbe are very close, not only as boyfriends, I feel like right now, after everything that happened between Robbe and the boys and Sander with Britt (and probably the ballon squad) they’re very picky with trying to start new relationships, and they know they’re solid with each other, they have similar taste and opinions. Robbe softens Sander’s edges a little bit and Sander makes Robbe a little more confident in being himself, picking himself first. 

I hope this very long, ridiculous answer helps you a little bit, anon, don’t mind me getting carried away talking about characters I love :’D

[ardenttheories]

Weird notes and thoughts on Pesterquest: Volume 6, under the cut because this shit got long.

GAMZEE

Gamzee calls the Reader “sister”? Several times, in fact.

The Rage symbol is hidden in Gamzee’s pie.

Gamzee “moves on marianette strings” and his eyes flash as he stands up, which indicates that the movement is controlled by someone else (additionally that refusing to eat pie immediately loses him his free will?)

Either Gamzee is being funded by someone/something, or we’re literally just seeing troll Amazon in action.

The reader is a colossal dumbass for leaving a raging highblood to see “what would happen” in the future (although maybe if they’d stuck around they would’ve seen much sooner what was going to happen)

Gamzee, when raging, doesn’t want to see himself; he goes out of his way to destroy every reflective surface

When raging, Gamzee always scars his face. He does it here, too - which seems odd. Either he did it himself, or Kanaya did it - either way, it must be symbolic.

(Amended to the above, maybe the slash represents the Bardic Split - which we see fully when half of Gamzee is sucked up into Lil Cal. Slashed face = full Rage Bard)

The Reader mentions that they feel like they’ve seen everything as if someone else did it, so we’ve got that same odd instance of Reader remembering other timelines - which means there isn’t one “Alpha” Reader, and that all outcomes merge back into the Reader eventually.

Someone “spoke to Gamzee” about the truth of the world. If he thinks the Reader is going to “meet him soon”, maybe he means someone in the Dreambubbles? Like LE? 

Considering this is a timeline where Gamzee goes off the wall and kills everyone (or so it seems, since he’s yet to be stopped), could this allude to the honk HONK timeline? Can’t remember if they ever entered the game or not. It’d be a nice touch if so!

The pie is definitely NOT something you’re meant to eat, and I’d assume the initial nausea is Reader’s body trying to reject it before the effects kick in. Now we know what it’s like, there’s literally no surprise that Gamzee eats the pie all the time. It really does dampen him - but with a much stronger, more immediate effect.

(Amended to the above, if Gamzee is easily influenced to Split as soon as he stops eating the pie, then consistently eating is key. Explains why even refusing to eat once hashes him out.)

“Someone wants you to forget. Forget all of your friends and past adventures”. So, Reader is likely still very much under Doc Scratch’s control? Or if not Doc Scratch, then something else (maybe just the narrative) - but interesting to note how it doesn’t work while Reader is high.

The sopor slime really must block out any and all attempts from outside influences to control the mental flow of the consuming character.

Trying to go to the Friendsim timeline causes something very wrong to occur; Reader is literally blocked out from it, and managing to do it seems to fuck everything up for a split second. I have no idea what the T-posing alien was for, though.

VRISKA

“You step on a weird bug and you don’t even care” that’s a reference but I can’t for the life of me remember it. EDIT: FOUND IT. Page 797 of Homestuck, titled “Jade: Lose interest in fauna and never speak of it again”, the narrative details her being a majestic beast and ends with “you eat a weird bug and don’t even care”.  

The Reader is still being forced to make new friends. Even when their feelings are very much against this - and I assume they are still struggling with that concept of doing things with no meaning - their narrative is forcing them to do it. 

Vriska trans.

Vriska steals Reader’s luck. She doesn’t even know she’s doing it, I think, but I’m assuming that’s what it is. I’m also assuming this is why the Reader can’t speak out against her at first, and all of our options are just one box; she’s stealing their narrative importance, too, and the only good outcomes are ones that favour her and her ego/character.

Vriska deciding not to rag on Reader for up-chucking is oddly kind of her, but at the same time you’re getting this really heavy handed sense that she’s a lonely girl - the same one we got in her conversations with John in actual Homestuck. Feels like this might replicate that sort of friendship? Where she ends up opening up to John prior to going after Jack Noir about her life and how much she dislikes it.

On top of that, she seems genuinely upset when the Reader leaves. Vriska wants friends but has no idea how to make them, although that doesn’t admittedly excuse her actions towards Kanaya - though it does show more about how conflicted she is as a person. 

Reader can just open up the game client at will. Reader if you ever touch the close window button I will destroy you.

Reader really dislikes having a name. It’s not a comfortable facet of their being, despite having shown they own one - likely because they’re just meant to be a vessel for our whims, and therefore shouldn’t have a name.

More implications that the Reader is living multiple canons at once that then merge together into a singular Reader at the end, since here they already know Vriska’s name before being told (which they do, in one route).

Like with the humans, Vriska can’t actually control the Reader. More hints to Reader being human? Or just to Vriska’s inability to control something that isn’t Alternian?

This Reader is, in fact, the Reader from the comic - the Land of Stumps and Dismay is clearly referenced.

Boldir appearing is so fucking sad. Poor Reader. In a more genuine sense, though, Pesterquest seems to be trying to say here that this offshoot of Homestuck isn’t fake unless we see it as such - and that, I assume, something good (and perhaps will) come of it. The Reader has complete freedom to do as they please, even if they’re still a puppet on strings for the moment - if they can remember, then they can fix it.

More clarity on the Reader; their memories are, indeed, locked away. Not gone entirely, but repressed by Doc Scratch for the purpose of the story. On top of that, Reader was definitely being used to set Act 2 of Hiveswap in place. Vibes well with the announcement of Act 2′s trailer. 

This story is for the Reader - and always has been. It doesn’t belong to “them” - which I assume means Doc Scratch and Dirk, perhaps? This isn’t their story. It’s ours. “What will you do?” Vibes well with Homestuck^2′s fanonicity. 

Oof. Doc Scratch returns to knock Reader down. Reader, supposedly, is only relevant because Doc Scratch says they are - as an observer, as a vessel for the story. The story can go on without Reader (although I highly suspect that it can’t, since Doc Scratch mentions “the really important bits” would survive without them - e.g. Meat could go on, but Candy couldn’t, and Pesterquest is a mix of both.)

Did Doc Scratch really just call Reader “darling”? And more references to the Reader and little girls. I’m starting to get a fairly female-vibe here when combined with Gamzee’s prior references to the Reader as “sister”. Which is ironic when you consider that the women in Homestuck tend to be the ones that carry the plot along, and the men tend to be the hands that enact it out.

Doc Scratch isn’t “the one doing this”, whatever that means. I’m assuming something along the lines of “are you controlling the narrative? Are you making this happen?” But he clearly is, I think, unless the strings we saw don’t belong to him. Or he could be refering to something else entirely, or going a bit meta (thereby saying no, he isn’t doing it, but Hussie is). Might need to think on that more. 

What is the scratchy voice that screams “fix this”? Hopefully this means in the next few volumes, Reader is going to start remembering more and trying to fix the timeline - or at least stop it from being one heaving big paradox.

Vriska is really not happy about having to feed her lusus. I know it’s gone over in Homestuck, but it’s way more evident here; she does not want to do this. I think it’s sad, too, that she feels betrayed and hurt when Reader doesn’t turn around. Maybe she knows how bad it looks and knows that the Reader standing up to her makes her seem the villain? That Reader’s suddenly the hero trying to stop the big baddy from killing the innocent trolls that she doesn’t even want to kill?

Oh. Huh yeah that’s exactly what she thinks, I just didn’t read far enough before typing. I wonder how often this has happened? Or if she’s just adamantly aware that every time she feeds someone to her lusus, she’s being a bad guy - while being a victim at the same time, and struggling between the two views. 

Poor Vriska. Her sobbing at the end fucking hurts. How many friends has she had to feed to her beast of a mother?

Vriska’s lusus talks to her constantly. That’s got to be hell, going through your life knowing that your mother is demanding more food from people you actually, genuinely like if you want to not be eaten by her as well.

Vriska turned on Terezi after the revenge thing because “that’s what you do to backstabbers”. I wonder if she even wanted to, then, or if she did it because she felt betrayed and hurt and that was how she dealt with being betrayed by someone who knew that she did what she did because she couldn’t not do it?

Her being down that Terezi doesn’t care anymore makes a lot of sense as to why she tried to use Kanaya to get back in with Karkat and Terezi. I think, more than anything, Vriska hates being ignored. She can handle being hated so long as there are still people there - but when they leave, and people always leave, then she’s left on her own to deal with a life she really does not enjoy.  

Vriska’s concept of love is horrifically skewed by her perception of herself and of romance as dictated by Mindfang’s journal. She thinks there’s this person she has to be and she struggles deeply with it. Quite literally, tables in player handbooks that tell her who she is and what she has to do.  

She’s not content with Kanaya because she thinks Kanaya sees her as something broken that needs to be fixed - which isn’t wrong, because Kanaya is trying to change her for the better, without wholly knowing what’s going on and making a lot of misconceptions because Vriska doesn’t know how to talk to her about the truth - and therefore she sees a lot of what Kanaya does as just another person wanting something from her. 

I’m assuming the other “she” she mentions is Terezi - aka Terezi is the only person who cuts through the self doubt and the self hatred and these concepts of who she should be (and the voice of her lusus literally telling her she’s not good enough, on top of ther own doubts). Which would explain why Terezi’s betrayal hurts her so much. 

Reader pointing out that Vriska let her guard down around Terezi only to be betrayed and force her to put up a stronger guard? That shit hurtes. Case in point, though; Vriska sets up this guard around her because she can’t afford not to (because she’ll either get hurt or end up having to feed the troll to her lusus anyway). 

Vriska can save her friends by feeding her lusus enough trolls - so, more death to keep the people she likes alive. Though she mentions Karkat in line with this? Did Karkat ever meet Vriska IRL?

Schoolfeeds indoctrinate the trolls with the idea that they have to kill everyone below them so they’re more viciously okay with killing any species out in space - which are naturally lower than them in status by warrant of “not being Alternians”. 

Vriska wants to be like Mindfang literally right after mentioning how Mindfang joined the Summoner’s rebellion? She really wants to change what Alternia is like. I’d go so far as to say she gives 0 fucks about the hemospectrum in truth. Seems like she wants a better world for everyone, though - not just herself. 

Oof. Vriska’s self image is likely severely fucked up by her lusus. Must really fuck a 13 year old girl up to be told you’re fatter than your mom and you have to bring her more kids to feed her. Especially when you’re dying and she refuses to stop even then. 

You’re looking at a survivor. At someone who did nothing wrong. FUCK that hits hard. I love the comments about Dave, Rose, and Jade, too - and the specific exclusion of John. That ramps up my “all the kids suffered prior to the game, gained what they wanted after the game - except John, who is an inversion of that” theory for his Classpect.

Reader’s taking control of the narrative! I repeat! Reader’s TAKING CONTROL OF THE NARRATIVE! Now this bodes well to future volumes, and makes me wonder if this is the first step to the Reader fixing everything.

[musselini]

I’m on my optimistic klance shit

Reasons why this season was actually the biggest klance season to date:

- allurance is fake af. The show runners favorite thing in this gd show is shock factor. We’ve seen it over and over. There is no way they would make their ending be something that looks so obvious from the outside be their end game. I mean even people who ship them think it’s fake! I’ve seen about ten different tweets talking about how cute fanon allurance is, but that it’s toxic and seems fake in canon and I agree. I mean they even forced Veronica in on it! It’s forced and seems out of place.

- Keith and Auxa is also fake news. I’ve been thinking about her and Keith for a very long time and I just dont believe it. We’ve(the fandom) been guessing but Voltron plot lines since Keith was galra because of this I feel like we can trust this fandoms hunches. I think auxa is Keiths sister. I think it might be his half sister tho. Maybe Keiths mom took up with kolivan. They seemed rly close-closer than most blades of marmora considering they spend most of the time with their faces covered and their goal is to focus on the mission and not the individual. Yes the show runners have said she is not Keiths sister, however they have lied to us before. I dont take what they say to heart. I am basing this off of what I see in the show not what they say. Because of this, what I see in the show is shock factor; crazy plot lines, big surprises, and lots of family plot lines-every character pretty much has a family arc. Keith especially. Even if axua(I’m not spelling her name right I know I just cant remember how to spell it) isn’t his biological sister, I could easily hear him saying she’s part of his family; like a sister to him. She, like his mom would be able to teach him about the galra side of him and inform the team about all they’ve missed. Kaxua won’t happen. It’s too obvious and if it where to happen they should have had more parallels to Keiths parents. That would have made way more sense instead of paralleling to klance. (I mean hello they where literally on earth and there was nothing)

- speaking of parallels to klance... Again, Voltron’s entirety is about shock factor, but it also goes off of flashbacks and parallels between characters. The Voltron team knows we know this, and knows we see the parallels between klance and other couples, therefore I think the moments where they had similar scenes as the ones w/Keith and lance but with Keith and hunk or Keith and acxa(that’s how u spell it I remember now) are very intentional to point us in the opposite direction of klance. I don’t trust Lauren and Joaquim, however I don’t think they where lying when they said they where shocked by how big the fans where over klance. I think this is why they started to turn us away from klance. They forced scenes to make klance appear more platonic-but it’s in such a weird way I don’t believe it. For example: The cave thing with Keith and acxa vs Keith and lance makes Keith and lance appear more romantic if anything. They had a longer moment; they held eye contact longer; they held hands longer; Keith actually carried lance to the healing pod(not confirmed but Keith did say he cradled lance in his arms-if that’s not gay idk what is), I mean in comparison Keith and Acxa are barely even friends. The hunk and Keith scene was different as well. I think this scene was made to show how much Keith has grown as a leader. He was able to console hunk and ask him what was wrong, when compared to last time it was lance reaching out to Keith. Therefore I believe these scene where made to look like parallels to make klance look more platonic-but in reality they still gay af.

- next u might be thinking, “hold up-Keith was rude in this season and idk who he is anymore”. I would like to say that I disagree. If I’m being honest I didn’t even notice anything was wrong/different with him until I checked twitter after. While watching the show I saw the interactions very differently. I mean throughout the season Keith trusted lance SO MUCH. He asked him to lead the team on several occasions, he turned to him when he needed help, he worked with him to form the booster of Voltron to make Voltron speedy. They where so strong and supportive of each other-they literally picked each other to leave on the game show! Now u may be thinking, “but Ari you gorgeous genius, Keith was rude to lance and wanted him gone” well I’m here to say I disagree.

- from Keiths vlog we know he rejects people before they can reject him. In season 4 we saw the team kind of reject him as Keith was struggling to balance between the blade and Voltron. I think this hurt him more than we know. Voltron is his family. I think the only reason he wasn’t hurt more is he grew a lot while on the space whale with krolia. This growth made him trust the team more and, as we saw, accept them as his friends(although since we already knew they where friends I think this proclamation was actually Keith accepting them as family), thereby possibly forgiving them/accepting they weren’t rejecting him when he left. I think we saw this especially between Keith and hunk(we rly got that good hunk content) and between Keith and lance. As I already said Keith really trusted lance this season, but what I’m also trying to say is I think that is making him nervous. Even if he sees the team as his family I’m sure that might make him even more nervous about trusting the team-I mean it was his family that left him after all. Now going off of this and off of the fact that I think keith trusts lance the most out of the team; I think he is therefore taking his insecurity about trusting the team out on lance(but not in a bad way-that would be toxic). His few snarky comments are a reference to how they used to act. Keith is saying these things as almost a desperation for a time where he didn’t trust lance; where he couldn’t get hurt if lance left him or if lance died. He knows Adam died; he could be thinking that if someone shiro loves died, then someone keith loves could die to. Therefore I think the comments Keith made where from a place of insecurity and him being wary of trust and acceptance as he is worried it might leave him. I also want to say if Keith really meant what he said on the game show-that he wanted Lance gone-he would have died! Thanks to coran, we found out the Bob they meant was actually testing them to see if they are pure of heart or heroes or something like that. If Keith was really saying he didn’t care about lance, they wouldn’t have passed the test and gone back to their lions because what Keith said wasn’t nice. Therefore Bob had to know that was Keith said he didn’t mean and that he wanted Lance to leave because Lance is his right hand and he cares about him uwu.

- all this evidence adds up to klance being canon. Ya I think there where wayyyy more problems in this season besides klance or even how they treated adam. They entire plot was kind of a mess-I mean there are four Voltrons now. What does that even mean???

- in conclusion; thank you for coming to my ted talk. Klance is cannon as fuck and I’ve been too optimistic about this for too long for one season out of seven to change my mind.

[midoriyasbones]

This isnt hate but man, you're wrong. You were an anti, you took part in a nasty group that hurt people and continues to do so, and no one has to forgive you or be nice to you just because you got better. even if you didn't send the hate, you're not entitled to others nice behavior. and complaining about being judged for it when sheith shippers have had to go through so much shit, just makes you look so fake; 1/?

2/? sheith shippers have had to go through so much shit, and just because you have or Are going through doesn’t make you deserving of our consideration; It just means you’re in the same boat as us now. And so you should know how it feels; But seeing you complain and gripe about it makes you look incredibly whiney and superficial dude. You ARE ALLOWED to be sad and angry and want to enjoy your ship,           

3/? you absolutely are, and we are too. But we got our anger from the group you used to support and belong to– You’ve gotta understand that.  antis are still out there doxxing, harrassing our staff and VA’s off twitter, ruining panels, making death threats and suicide baiting, chasing off content creators, misusing “pedophile”, causing the infamous needle incident and more– and you guys are mad because theres some angry posts and cross tagging?? And you expect /sympathy?/ Really????            

4/ Please, go outside, get some fresh air, go for a walk, go offline for an hour every day. Refresh yourself. Take a breather. Refocus, and understand with more perspective the irony of it all, and why you’ve got so much angry vitriolic Sheithers out there. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and ex-antis/klancers, especially the ones who are content to “stay in their lane” are only making themselves look worse by acting entitled to forgiveness while taking out anger on sheiths for being             

5/? justifiably angry about the cyberbullying they themselves helped bring about. Especially the ones who are “staying in their lane” while doing nothing to prevent all the anti’s that are CAUSING such vitriolic sheiths in the first place– then demanding that we stop being angry because its not fun for them– wow yknow what isnt fun for us? Being called pedophiles, suicide baited, and threatened daily. But god forbid we talk about it, be angry about it, express that– then we’ve gone TOO FAR             

6/? im stopping here because this started with intent to be NICE criticism and is now descending into an angry ramble and thats not what i wanna do here- the point remains: what you said is not reasonable, relies on expectation and entitlement, and as such, comes off as entitled, fake, and all around insincere. And in your TakeBackKlance server i see you shitting on sheiths like this all the time. Its disappointing, extraordinarily hypocritical, and furthers the established mistrust between             

7 / ? shaladins and ex-anti’s. And you complain about people staying away from ex-anti’s. If they’re acting like this, of course they would. They’re perfectly within their rights to, justifiably, and you have to accept that. So yeah, you “have to atone” Its almost like you’ve gotta earn each individual persons trust, like in real life?. If you’re complaining about it, then it just shows you don’t really support Shaladins as much as you claimed you did.            

okay, thank you for some perspective on the situation, and i’m going to give you some credit. you managed to convey yourself in a civil way making very valid points and expressing emotions that are entirely valid. there is nothing here that i don’t think is out of place. your anger here is very much warranted and i appreciate you acknowledging all this, but i’m not sure you understand everything that’s going on.

first of all, i was an anti almost a year ago. i ditched the community in june of 2017 and became a full fledged pro in july of that same year. since then i’ve done my best to drop all my former bearings of that life. that’s my personal history.

1. “you’ve gotta understand that.  antis are still out there doxxing, harrassing our staff and VA’s off twitter, ruining panels, making death threats and suicide baiting, chasing off content creators, misusing “pedophile”, causing the infamous needle incident and more-”

not only do i understand this, but i’ve seen it first hand and have been fighting against it for nearly a year. i understand your anger because i am just as angry about it too. i’ve actively been fighting against that since i switched over and i’m not saying that makes me ‘worthy’ or anything, but it’s not like i’m sitting back here doing nothing.

2. and you guys are mad because theres some angry posts and cross tagging??

no, we’re mad that pro ship klancers are being constantly kicked aside and expected to just take it. we’re mad that a community that calls themselves ‘pro ship’ makes us feel unwelcome and has chased us out of what is supposed to be a place for us too. cross tagging isn’t cool no matter what. vent posts i really don’t give two shits about, you have every right to express your anger.

3. And you expect /sympathy?/ Really???? 

no, i actually don’t. you don’t have to give me the time of day, i’m just asking that you not come into our inboxes or reblog our posts with angry and irrelevant additions (so long as our posts aren’t overstepping certain boundaries of course).

4. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and ex-antis/klancers, especially the ones who are content to “stay in their lane” …

i’m not an anti, i’m a pro shipper. i believe that everyone has the right to ship whatever they want. i think that people who harass others for their ships are immature. and in case you didn’t know i far from stay in my goddamn lane. i don’t allow antis to say shit and get away with it. i don’t support anyone who is anti ship, even those who claim not to be a part of the anti community. you’re comparing apples to oranges.

5. are only making themselves look worse by acting entitled to forgiveness 

again, not asking for forgiveness. i’m not entitled to a damn thing except a peaceful life.

6. on sheiths for being justifiably angry about the cyberbullying they themselves helped bring about.

i won’t deny, when i was an anti i should’ve recognized that what i supported was wrong and i should’ve stepped up and done something, but i didn’t. i won’t excuse my actions, i’ll stand here right now and tell you i was being immature, selfish, and stupid. there is nothing i can do or say that will make up for what i did or actually didn’t do. i can at least say i never sent anything or said anything extremely awful, but i certainly didn’t try to stop anyone and i did actively support them. that’s on me… but that’s also almost a year ago. you don’t have to even want to be around me, i’m just asking that you don’t think i’m still in support of that stuff anymore.

7. Especially the ones who are “staying in their lane” while doing nothing to prevent all the anti’s that are CAUSING such vitriolic sheiths in the first place

i’m not causing anyone to do anything. the way people act on their anger is entirely on them, not me. furthermore, i’ve already addressed that i am taking action, so this really isn’t a fair thing to say to me at all.

8. then demanding that we stop being angry because its not fun for them

point to where i’ve said you can’t be critical of klance or lance or anything. as long as what you’re doing is cross tagging i could care less. as long as what you’re doing isn’t going into people’s inboxes or bullying them out of fnadom spaces that are supposed to positive i quite honestly don’t consider it my business. be angry, get that out, it’s healthy to express that emotion, just make sure you aren’t being toxic.

9. wow yknow what isnt fun for us? Being called pedophiles, suicide baited, and threatened daily.

full offense, but i’ve been called a pedo too. i’ve been suicide baited and threatened too. in some cases it was daily. you already said we’re in the same boat, so suddenly why are you shoving me off of it? we’re in this fuck fest together anon, and again, that doesn’t mean you owe me shit, but i don’t owe you anything either.

10. But god forbid we talk about it, be angry about it, express that– then we’ve gone TOO FAR 

like i supposedly have when i express my anger about getting the same treatment from people who said they supported me? vent posts are not too far. harassment (like that lance’s ass fumes anon and the clit anon) is.

11. And in your TakeBackKlance server i see you shitting on sheiths like this all the time. Its disappointing, extraordinarily hypocritical, and furthers the established mistrust betweenshaladins and ex-anti’s

false. i’m literally never in there because i’m so busy with my real life stuff. i have said some things in my anger, but i do not think it is nearly frequent enough to label as ‘all the time’. most of the time i’m in agreement with the sheith fandom. your criticism of antis and of fanon and even canon stuff is totally valid, i’m only angry about when things stray too far and actual people are attacked. what’s disappointing is that i’m on the receiving end of your anger for something i don’t even do.

12. And you complain about people staying away from ex-anti’s

i literally don’t want you anywhere near me. i don’t want my name in your mouth. i don’t want to be yelled at for things i haven’t done and no longer support. i’m not asking you to support me. i’m not asking you to follow me. i’m not asking you for anything. i’m asking that i not be blamed for things i no longer take part of. that’s all.

13. They’re perfectly within their rights to, justifiably, and you have to accept that.

what’s justified? vent posts that are properly tagged.

what’s not justified? getting sent anon hate and seeing myself vagued just because i don’t like it when my friends are upset over how they get treated and i actually speak my mind. what would be fake is if i kept my damn mouth shut, but i don’t. you need to accept that.

14. So yeah, you “have to atone” Its almost like you’ve gotta earn each individual persons trust, like in real life?

actually?? it’s almost like i have been working my hardest to do so? and those who actually know me would say that i am balls to the fucking wall in everything i do? you don’t have to trust me, you don’t have to forgive me, but i’m not going to take everything lying down just because my past isn’t spotless. i don’t owe you a blind following. you’re not immune to my thoughts just because i was once a part of a group that hurt you. it’s been hard enough to forgive myself, i don’t need to work for someone’s forgiveness who clearly has no intention of even giving me a chance. i don’t need to atone for a damn thing and i thank you for actually bringing this up. i was working and being so hard on myself thinking i had to make it up to y’all and i actually don’t. i’ve been chaining myself up for you when i didn’t need to.

15. If you’re complaining about it, then it just shows you don’t really support Shaladins as much as you claimed you did.            

if you’re complaining about someone bringing up that they’re uncomfortable with how horrible a certain aspect of fandom life makes them feel than you clearly can’t take as much as you think you can. i was never trying to hurt or offend anyone in my post and was careful to craft it in a way that took into account how much anger has built up over the years. you have every right to hate k/l, but you have absolutely 0 rights to pretend you’re a perfectly kind person if you think that my past means i owe you anything while thinking it’s justified that my friends and i receive hate for a fucking ship from people who say they support me. 

no offense anon, i think your anger towards my past and what i once affiliated myself with is totally justified, you can even be angry at me, but you also need to accept that i am not who you are painting me to be. i am not a ‘stay in my lane’ fake person. i stand up a lot for others and i work hard to create things and places for everyone. i understand that not everyone needs to like me, and i’ve accepted that fact long ago, all i am asking, and all anyone is asking really, is that if you don’t like us, then ignore us. don’t feel the need to come into our inboxes or reply to our posts. we really don’t want to hear it. we’ve been through quite enough just from leaving the antis. you don’t have to like, you don’t have to follow me, you don’t have to be my friend, but you do have to acknowledge that i am not the person you think i am.

your anger, your hurt, and your frustration is something i resonate with. i can feel the pain through your words and i want you to know that i don’t hold this anon against you at all. you have every right to express your opinions and offer me this. i think that in some ways you’re right, maybe i am asking for too much, maybe i’m being a little much, maybe i’m not totally in the right here, but a lot of this feels misdirected. instead of being angry at antis you’re pouring it out on me. instead of taste of my own medicine you’re just pouring concrete down my throat. your emotions and your pain are valid here, but i’m not your target and taking it out on us isn’t fair. you can’t hold this above my head and think you’re justified in doing so.

again, i’m not taking away your right to vent, all i’m saying is please don’t think i am your enemy because i truly am not. i’m not an anti. my past is not my present and neither is it yours. the anger you feel is real, but it’s not entirely something you can throw at me and expect me or any pro ship k/l to just take it. we’re not the fandom stress ball or punching bag, we’re people just as you are. you have every right to be wary of me, i  don’t blame you, but again… don’t tell me this is all my fault. it’s not. it’s really really not.

thank you for giving me your perspective and your time, but at the end of the day it’s not my responsibility to make you feel okay again. that’s on you. we don’t owe each other anything. i don’t expect anything from anyone but it feels like everyone is expecting a lot from me, too much really.

[sage-nebula]

Okay, so when I first heard the news about the third season of the swimming anime on Facebook, my immediate reaction was, “If it doesn’t end with Makoto and Haru getting married, or at least engaged, then what’s the fucking point?” I was kind of being facetious, but at the same time, I’m actually a little serious.

I normally don’t care very much if my ships become canon. I mean, obviously it’s great! It’s always nice to have a canon ship, but it’s not the end-all, be-all. Fandom is there to provide what canon can’t or won’t. I’m a fanfic writer. If canon doesn’t want to make my ships canon, then fine, I’ll just make some fanon myself, it’s nbd. Even in the event that I’m the only person on a little inflatable raft of a ship because the juggernaut ships are notps, that’s fine, I will happily row myself and my fics right out to sea, see if I won’t.

But in this case, I actually do care. Not just because MakoHaru is one of my all-time favorite ships (seriously guys, I love it so much), but also because at this point . . . look, I’m not one to whip out the queerbaiting accusation very often. I think that, a lot of times, people in fandom use that term too loosely, applying it to ships that they personally like a lot, but that were never actually teased to be canon. Queerbaiting is very specific; there has to be actual teasing that insinuates that the ship has a real shot at being canon, only for it to be yanked away at the last minute (and often replaced with a het relationship instead). So I’m cautious about lobbing that accusation out there, because oftentimes it’s just not true, and I don’t want to be someone who reads too much into something. I don’t.

But the thing is, the swimming anime has been known as a fanservice anime since it’s introduction. I mean, look at it. The very first season of the very first episode has Makoto pulling Haru up from the bathtub (with Haru’s swim trunks revealed at the last minute). One of the characters, Gou, routinely gushes over the boys’ muscles. The animation is gorgeous and no expense is spared at showing just how built these athletes are. Couple that with how close all of the relationships are in the show, and yeah, you can see why it’s called a fanservice anime. That’s justified. Likewise, like with many sports anime out there, the relationships do veer into homoerotic territory sometimes, with “wink wink, nudge nudge” jokes made about it sometimes. That’s where the accusations of queerbaiting come in, and where they start to gain more legitimacy.

Nonetheless, this was something I accepted at the start. I figured that no ship in this anime would become canon. And to be perfectly honest, when I first started watching this show, I did so as a joke. My friend and I started watching it with the intention of getting a good laugh, because we thought it was hysterical how the OP to a swimming anime went as hard as it did, and also everyone on tumblr was talking about it. So we figured, hey, why not. We never expected to get invested, and I especially never expected the story to be as rich and emotional as it was, but here we are. Nonetheless, even after getting invested, I still didn’t expect anything to become canon, much less my preferred ship. I knew what sort of anime I was getting myself into. I was prepared.

But then . . . well, everything happened.

The thing is, it’s not just content within the show itself, although there’s plenty of that as well. It’s also everything surrounding the show. Everything in the side materials, the official art, interviews with the directors and writing staff. There have been so many insistences that Makoto and Haru are not only the closest of best friends (able, as we’ve had reiterated to us time and again, to communicate without spoken words, pretty much telepathetically, due to how close they are), but also that they are literally each other’s other half. The directors and writing staff have gone out of their way to paint this picture for us, and most of the extra materials (such as the first movie, which was a prequel) have focused around their relationship. By now, so much has piled up that it genuinely feels they are one step away from canon---one tiny little nudge to canon. Just off the cuff (and in no particular order save accessibility):

In the official novelization for episode six, it’s revealed that losing Makoto is Haru’s biggest fear. It’s also apparently said at another point in the novel that Rin “taught Haru what nakama is,” but that Makoto “is different from that.” (Additionally, Haru tries to answer Makoto’s “it’s meaningless without you,” but Makoto understands what he’s feeling without words once again.)

In the new movie, Makoto has a dream about living together and cooking for Haru. Additionally, he has concerns about Haru’s new apartment because there’s something creepy there (?) and he’ll be coming over a lot. This prompts Kisumi to tease him about how close he and Haru are.

KyoAni made a magazine spread titled “sweet love life” with Makoto and Haru (and also Nagisa/Rei). 

When asked whether Rin was Haru’s other half, the director not only said no, but specified that Makoto is Haru’s other half.

In one of the drama (well, comedy) CDs, Nagisa, Rei, and Makoto think Haru has turned into a mackeral and can only be awoken with true love’s kiss from a prince. Both Nagisa and Rei immediately assume this means Makoto must be the one to do it.

One of the lead writers has called Makoto “Haruka’s childhood friend and partner”, and has said that their relationship “makes you wonder ‘what’s going on with those two . . .’” because they’re so close.

That same writer has said that “it’s very easy to become a married couple’s conversation” when describing the dialogue between Makoto and Haru, and in that same conversation, the director said “they belong together.”

The director has also said that they have a “telepathic relationship” and that “they need each other.”

The director of the prequel movie has said that Haru and Makoto’s relationship is “an inviolable sanctuary.” 

The show director has said that Makoto is the only one who is “drawn to Haru’s existence alone,” and that when he tells Haru “it’s meaningless without you,” he means that it’s meaningless without Haru as a person rather than Haru as a swimmer. The director also “strongly fought” to keep the line “it’s meaningless without you” in the anime.

In the prequel movie, Makoto is asked by another member of the swim team if he’s swimming because he actually likes swimming, or if he’s there because he likes Haru. Makoto is conflicted for a good part of the movie, and avoids Haru because when they’re together “his feelings are more confused.” He ultimately apologizes for the unintentional avoidance, and comes to the conclusion that, “I love swimming, and I love you, Haru-chan.” He uses the word “daisuki,” which is very powerful when said to another person. It’s powerful enough to be a romantic confession. The way Haru’s eyes light up doesn’t help shake this feeling.

When Makoto and Haru fight near the end of season two, Haru not only races home to curl up in bed, but he’s so depressed over it that he doesn’t even bring his swimming gear to Australia with him. (This is big for Haru.) I don’t have a link for this, but it’s in the last couple of episodes of season two.

Likewise, no link, but in the bonus episode following season two, Nagisa starts to say, “Our Haru-chan and Mako-chan are . . .” before they both look panicked and hush him. Hm, what could they not want him to reveal?

And so on and so forth. The implications in the show alone could be an essay, but looking at everything that has been said in interviews and the like (and there’s more I’m sure I’m forgetting), the feeling that they are one tiny nudge away from canon is, I believe, a justifiable one. When you consider that Yuri On Ice! has a confirmed queer pairing in Yuuri/Viktor, thus opening the path for such relationships in mainstream sports anime, I feel that at this point, KyoAni has absolutely no excuse. I always forgave them for it in the past because I know how Japan is with LGBTQA issues, I know they’ve still got a long way to go, I figured there was no way they could get confirmed, canon MakoHaru greenlit. Both since Yuri On Ice! did it, I feel that now they absolutely can. YOI opened the gate. KyoAni could do this now, particularly with how popular the swimming anime is, and how much emphasis they have placed on Makoto and Haru’s relationship. (Again, the first prequel movie---released in theaters, iirc!---was all about their relationship, and the emotional climax had young Makoto telling Haru that he loved him. Come on.) It’s right there. They are so close. And if they don’t do it, then I feel that not only is this flat out queerbaiting, but also that there’s no point, there’s no excuse, what are we doing here if we aren’t going to make these two officially, inarguably, canonically involved?

So yeah, I have a lot of emotional stakes in this. To use a meme: Just make them fucking canon, you cowards. I’m of course not going to attack KyoAni over it or anything (I’m not one of those), but . . . god, KyoAni. Please. Come through for me on this. Please. I’m not asking much, but if they’re not at the least engaged by the end of all this, then honestly . . .

. . . what’s the fucking point?

[officialmaleclibrary]

This month we’re showcasing an author in the fandom who has written popular works such as melt me down. Lori is on ao3 and tumblr as @maialec (ao3), and we’d like to thank her once again for taking part in the OML author showcase! 

1. When did you start writing fics? Tell us a little of your journey as a fic writer.

I’ve always been passionate about writing ever since middle school, but I would only write original works or assignments for class. I guess my inclination to writing fics began once I actually started reading fics and I kind of learned the “tricks of the trade”. The first fic I’ve ever written was a coda for the season 2 finale of In The Flesh that you can still read on my AO3 page and I wrote it simply because there was a situation that hadn’t been addressed on the show and it really bugged me. So, I took matters into my own hands, something that a lot of fan fiction authors do. It’s basically the most common motivation for it.

After that, I took a really long hiatus from writing fics because I didn’t find a source material I loved enough to feel inspired by it. Until Shadowhunters. That is when I went back to it and I was reminded of why I love writing so much.

2. What fic of yours are you most proud of and why?

The answer to that would obviously be my most recent fic and my first ever multi-chapter, “melt me down”, that I worked on for almost two months. It wasn’t just the amount of work I put into it, but the fact that I actually stuck to it and finished it that makes me so proud of it, since I usually only write one-shots because they require less commitment. The idea for it came when I’d spent an entire week reading fake dating AUs with unhealthy tropes that simply did not fit Alec and Magnus (mainly miscommunication which lead to unnecessary angst), and I took it upon myself to make it as realistic as possible. Also really gay.

3. Who is your favorite character to write and why? Which character do you find the most challenging to write?

I haven’t written from the POV of enough characters to really think about it, but, if I have to look back on what I’ve written so far, I have a pattern of mainly writing from Alec Lightwood’s POV, since I identify a lot with him and I find it easier to keep him in character. As for the most challenging, I would say, the other side of the same coin, Magnus Bane, because, even though there’s parts of his character I see myself in as well, his experiences are so complex and I know so little of what it’s like to be in his shoes, that I have to put a lot more effort into making sure that my understanding of him and the way I represent him in my fics is as accurate as possible and doesn’t fall into harmful stereotypes that stem from laziness and ignorance.

4. What is the hardest part about being a fic author? The easiest?

The hardest part as a writer in general is definitely finding the motivation to keep writing. Even when I have a good idea of what I want to write, inspiration only strikes in the most inopportune of times. For fan fiction, it’s doing the characters justice. Even when you write them in an AU, where their goals and motivations may not be at all similar to the ones in the canon material, I think you have to stay true to their personality, and their essence. For me, there is only one thing that is easy about writing and that is having an epiphany about what I want to write next. Everything after that − bringing it to life, correcting it, doubting everything and still posting it in the end, waiting for feedback and getting discouraged when I don’t receive it − is extremely difficult.

5. What inspires you? Where do you find your muse?

As it is with any type of art, I don’t think you can force inspiration or look for it. In my case at least, inspiration comes to me at the most random moments from the most random sources. What is important to me is that I latch to it and put it on paper as soon as possible, before the magic is gone.

6. Do you write original content as well as fic?

Yes, absolutely. I find it’s important to step away from a universe that has already, more or less, been created for you and try your hand at writing something that is completely detached from it or its characters. Luckily, the creative writing class I’m taking at college gives me an outlet to do just that.

7. Do you have a favorite fic from another author?

Do I? There are so many it would take me an entire day to list them all. However, there is one particular fic that has marked me for life, better than a lot of published novels I’ve read, and that is “Teenagers Scare The Living Shit Out Of Me” by @Mellow_Yellow on AO3. Surprisingly enough, it’s a Ian x Mickey Shameless AU that, as much as I’ve grown to despise what that show has become, I would gladly reread any time, because it is a literal work of art.

8. What’s something you’re looking forward to in the upcoming season of Shadowhunters?

Magnus’ intriguing storyline that we’ve been teased with a lot, more development for his character individually as well as regarding his relationship with Alec, more Downworlder politics hopefully, Maia being a season regular because I love her to death and whatever new VFX they have in store because they tend to step up their game every single time.

9. Can you give us a sneak peek to what you’re writing next? Or at least any hints to what’s to come?

I’m not working on any fan fiction at the moment and, since we’re on hiatus, it’s pretty hard for me to be inspired by anything, not to mention college is taking up most of my time and energy. I am working on something for my creative writing class though. It’s a very Poe-esque short story inspired by a really obnoxious bird that keeps knocking on my window every single day without fail. I took this real life event and put a dark and supernatural spin on it, something that I’ve noticed I tend to do with any original content that I write.

10. Do you have advice for anyone who might be interested in writing fan fiction?

Just write. Don’t be afraid that it’s not good, most of us start with really crappy works, but, as is the case with everything else, practice makes perfect. Another thing would be to actually read a lot of fan fiction, especially if you’re scared about characterisation, but remember that fanon is not canon, and fan fiction tends to distort our perception of certain characters and turn them into something they are not. And once you get used to it you start to believe that is who they are, when the reality is different. Most importantly, just have fun with it, because no one is paying you or making you do it for a grade. You’re writing because you want to and because you want to share it with other people who are just as passionate about it. And try not to get discouraged if you don’t get a lot of feedback right away. I assure you there are a lot of people out there who appreciate your work more than you think. Oh, and also don’t be problematic.

11. Do you have a writing playlist/do you listen to any music while writing? Why or why not?

I actually cannot write (or read) unless there is complete silence around me. However, when that is not the case and I still need to write, I like to drown out the background noise with classical music. I find it can be either soothing or extremely stimulating. I just look for 5 hour classical music compilations on YouTube and get to work.

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

Legacy characters

Got so many asks about legacy characters...

so here you go.

My favourite Captain America is Steve Rogers. He will always be the only Captain America. John Walker is one of my favourite characters and his tenure as Captain America was a fantastic story but it’s a completely different story. John was never meant to be Captain America or the best Captain America or the real Captain America or even the “hero” of the comic. He remained a great character afterwards. When Geoff Johns made him Captain America again it was terrible writing and completely butchered the character. The whole direction of him being a ersatz evil Cap was a colossally bad idea which ignored all his character growth and his relationship with Steve. With that said, Allan Jacobsen did a pretty great job at half-fixing that bad idea and making it a bit worth-while. I really like Jeff Mace (read Captain America: Patriot, everyone) and I think 50s Cap has his place as an antagonist but none of these are Steve Rogers. Two i want to mention though; Punisher - i am one of the few people who think Punisher as Captain America makes sense and could get some good mileage out of it. But it’s a story not worth doing at the expense of Steve, it was good when it was done briefly when Steve was gone and I tihnk they could’ve ran with it for another trade or two. And secondly, Hawkeye! I think this was unintentionally the best idea Jeph Loeb hit on in Fallen Son. I think when it comes down to it, if Cap was ever to pick his successor (and not have Bucky or Falcon forced down his throat as the obvious candidate) then Hawkeye is perfect. Hawkeye is someone who has completely grown into the perfect person to continue Steve’s legacy. Again, i don’t want to see this happen, i just want to say.

Although most my opinions on legacy characters are “the real one is best”, one of my big contradictions is I much much prefer James Rhodes as Iron Man. I find he is a far more compelling and relateable character than Tony Stark, he’s someone you can root for and he truly improves on all the problems I have with Tony. Tony is a selfish, vain, elitist bully who is rich, a genius and one of the most successful people in the world who can just solve stories with new armor. James Rhodes is more of an everyman, he has doubts, he’s not doing it to show off or because he can and he has a lot to live up to. Not only that - and I don’t really want to wear this as a point - but he is a “black” character and, i really don’t think characters should be replaced with others for diversity’s sake, but having a black man as Iron Man does give a fantastic marquee black character.

Captain Marvel i’ve covered before. Basically, I’d settle for anyone who isn’t a mischaracterized terrible looking Carol Danvers who makes me ashamed. Honestly, Genis, Phyla, Monica, Noh-Varr, the Skrull, Rick Jones, Hulkling, Quasar, Mar-Vell... just anything other than what we’ve got.

Quasar i don’t think requires any mention. i never liked Phyla assuming the mantle but i won’t fault her for it. Rich was appropriately almost as short as it could be (though it bothered me that he was depicted using the powers far more impressively than we’d seen Wendell ever use them). Avril kincaid ahahahah. I don’t see the point in making Quasar a mantle. If Wendell retires, there doesn’t need to be a Quasar. There needs to be a Protector of the Universe, yes, but that is not equal to being Quasar.

Nova is again Rich Rider. Well, I’ve no issue with the Nova Corps, but Richard Rider is the featured Nova. Frankie Raye is cool but her name is unfortunate - she’s someone who i think should’ve gotten a new moniker rather than shuffle off into the grave for Rich (I’m sure I’ve posted before that I’d have dubbed her “Herald”). I’ve also considered the idea of having Robbie become the New Warriors’ “Kid Nova” but that’s entirely fanon thinking. I would never suggest he replace Rich. No one should really replace Rich, especially after the DnA stuff made it completely the case that no-one could ever achieve what Rich has.

Swordsman - i almost forgot this one as it’s not a big character at all. But Swordsman is a case where I like the legacy more than the others. Andreas von Strucker is a fantastic character and he’s run as Swordsman, while not particularly honouring the name, is the highlight of the character’s existence and name. Although the original Swordsman himself is quite a decent character, if it came down to picking between the two, I’d go with Andreas as Jacques is best defined as dead. He achieved his whole “hero” thing with his death. The Gatherers one is a character they never kept around long enough but he had potential and wasn’t bad, but again just Andreas is much more interesting and useful i think.

Penance isn’t much of a legacy as it is just a name that gets thrown about between unrelated characters. I think the Generation X one (who is hurt by James Robinson’s garbage retcon with M) being called Hollow now makes the case for not calling her Penance anymore. Robbie as Penance... I’m conflicted with. I completely see why people hate it and agree that it doesn’t make much sense with Speedball’s character - and it’s genesis as Joe Quesada just hating Speedball (and the horrible notion that he, Jenkins and Ellis were knowingly mocking self-harm) - but as a character concept I love it. If Robbie had kept being Penance I would have no problem but i wouldn’t want to inflict everyone else with something they hate. I do think Penance is a solid idea and everything done with Robbie as Penance was good but i find it really hard to reconcile between Speedball and Penance. I like them both and i feel picking either/or is doing a disservice to the other. I’ve thought up a few ideas for how to keep Penance AND Speedball (Penance was a Robbie Baldwin look-a-like hired after Season 1 of the reality show, Penance is former Speedball wannabe Darrion Grobe who i know next to nothing about, even just doing a Namorita style time-travel resurrection to have both) but i don’t feel any of those ideas are things that i would consciously want to do. I hate when other writers do shit like that. With Speedball and Penance I really want to have my cake and eat it too.

Marvel Boy... is a name I do not really have any consideration for at all. And that’s not due to the characters - Vance, Noh-Varr, Uranian, even Wendell - they’re all great. But every single one has another more identifiable name (except may Noh-Varr). So, Noh-Varr can be Marvel Boy if there must be one and if he’s not Captain Marvel. But he’s one of those guys who can get away without having a codename and just being Noh-Varr.

Ms. Marvel someone asked about and they definitely wanted to know what I think of that one and i refuse to offer an opinion so people can’t just say i’m being racist or sexist or whatever they want. Carol Danvers is/was/will always be Ms. Marvel. She was the first, she was the best, she was the longest enduring, she had the longest lasting ongoing of a Marvel female character in years. She was so close to the precipice of becoming huge on her own accord but Marvel decided it was better to force that and fail. And it was all just so Wacker could have his daughter dress up as her (hey, idiot, why not have her dress up as Sue Storm or Phoenix or any of the many less leg showing heroines?). Marvel were content to ruin one of their best female characters for selfish and idiotic reasons and that great character can never exist again. I also will mention Sharon Ventura. I feel bad for her. She was as much as a Gruenwald character and could’ve been something special but Steve Englehart butchered her early on in her existence and lumbered her with off-panel rape backstory, a man-loathing personality and quickly a rubbish “She-Thing” dynamic. And she became known as “She-Thing” by readers and unattentive writers who missed she was still being called Ms. Marvel even when she was in that form. Then when she got restored to being normal, subsequent writers just didn’t bother remembering that. I remember when Triathlon killed “She-Thing” in Secret Invasion and it turned out she was a Skrull, I was hoping it’d turn out she had been a Skrull between Gruenwald writing her in Cap #331 and Englehart writing her in FF but that was an entirely selfish desire on my part which would have been just as bad as Stephen Wacker for what he did to Carol.

Ant-Man is an identity i’ve never cared for. I think it’s a lame identity. To that end, i like Eric o’Grady. i think he was the most entertaining/interesting/unique.

Giant Man is a dud of a name. I’d just get rid of it altogether.

Goliath is okay and in many ways I’d say it should be Pym’s. If you want Pym as the giant growing character. But I think that should be Bill Foster... but he’s dead and i preferred the moniker Black Goliath. Then you’ve got people like Erik Josten and Hawkeye cluttering up the Goliath name.

Yellowjacket is a rough name. It’s probably Pym’s coolest sounding but I sort of feel it’s a name he shouldn’t want to ever use. Which is a problem since I prefer Hank’s science elements of which this name is the best fit for. Then we have Rita deMara who is another character who i think deserves another shot but then you’ve got the problem of her being Yellowjacket or having to give her her own name which then robs the character of pretty much 95% of the reason people might be interested in her.

Wasp is Janet van Dyne. It’s sad that should ever be an area for contention. I think Hank taking up the name was... well-intentioned. But it was mainly just a source of ridicule. Which is a shame because that costume and attitude was probably his best. And I’m not gonna bother acknowledging the other Wasp.

Nearly forgot Green Goblin (in fact now i realize i ain’t been thinking villains). I actually don’t know what to say about Green Goblin. I think Harry might be my main choice... but that is down to J.M. DeMatteis’ being a great writer and Harry not being rubbish in Amazing Spider-Man 2. Phil is a great character pre-Slott but i think could benefit more from a different name (while maintaining the same Green Goblin look)... maybe Jackal? Norman i think should’ve stayed dead after Gwen’s death and it’s hardly that alternative a thought. At the end of the Clone Saga, i think it would’ve been a lot wiser to have resurrected Harry as the architect as his death was both more recent, less iconic and far easier to reverse. We would’ve lost Ellis’ Thunderbolts and Dark Reign but I think that’s a decent trade-off. Even those could have been retrofitted to include Harry instead... if they were ever worth doing...

hobgoblin is a tricky one. i have the utmost respect and unwavering loyalty towards roger stern. his original hobgoblin stories are among spidey’s absolute best.  but when it comes to his identity... i must confess i much prefer Tom DeFalco’s idea that Richard Fisk was the Hobgoblin. This makes more sense to me than in terms of believability and motivation. Of course, neither of these got to  play out and instead we got Christopher Priest’s dreadful revelations to spite DeFalco (he wanted the Foreigner, but Peter David talked him down to Ned Leeds which is still rubbish). If it’s Ned Leeds or Roderick Kingsley, I’m going with Kingsley. I’m glad Roger got the chance to fix it but it would never have needed to be “fixed” if Christopher Priest hadn’t turned the entire thing into a farce. So ultimately, Kingsley is for the best... BUT THERE COULD’VE BEEN A ONE I PREFERRED EVEN MORE. But then we have Jason Macendale - who was a great character and a really wise choice for substitute. Even when we got the Demogoblin stuff, it seemed all as a means to make Macendale as interesting and challenging as his predecessor. I think Rog killing Macendale off was a bit of a bum note (why not have him revert to Lantern or even in some way Demogoblin?). Clearly the hobgoblin is always going to be a problem and it’s just a shame that so many good aspects or elements have been gotten rid of.

Which brings us to the Rose. Defalco intended him to be Roderick Kingsley. Which makes a lot of sense to me again when it comes to motivation and believability. But as some have noted, there is a slight wisp of homophobia in making the pampered homosexual into a flower villain. BUT i will counter that by saying, the Rose is actually fucking badass! he’s a really legitimate and was a well received villain at the time. there was nothing “gay” or “insulting” about the Rose, past the flower idea. But Priest decided to make it Richard Fisk - again motivated out of spite for DeFalco. This was fortunate for Roger being able to fix the Hobgoblin. And i think the motivation for Fisk was always there - but the same motivation led to him being a good Hobgoblin - and Priest tried his hardest to even butcher that decent motivation. And then any Rose that followed was dreadful, confusing and became utter editorial farces. We don’t need a Rose that badly.

Venom - Eddie Brock. Simple. But i will say i understand mac gargan. I think the problem was people like Bendis. The problem is Venom is one of Spidey’s most iconic and beloved villains but it’s a role that’s increasingly hard to force Eddie Brock into. So the solution to make Mac Gargan Venom and have a Venom without the anti-hero baggage of Eddie is incredibly sensible. We got to have a Venom who was evil and one of Spidey’s greatest foes. Except Bendis and others made mac gargan an utter joke. Flash thompson had an ok set-up... that works for Eddie Brock... but making it Flash was just rubbish-y. Most of Venom’s appeal is as either a Spider-Man villain or as Eddie Brock. Like i don’t need to say anything else.

iron man’s rogues gallery is pathetic. every single one, barring ghost, is a fucking legacy. there’s 20+ crimson dynamos. even ones like firebrand, whiplash, justin hammer... are replaced by legacy ones. it fucking sucks. and you know what, ghost is one of iron man’s best villains... madame masque too and her “legacies” are shit kurt busiek retcons.

human torch... simple fix: jim hammond is the torch. johnny storm is human torch.

whizzer isn’t really worth the consideration. one is dead, one is from another reality and one is called speed demon now.

ghost rider is an awkward one. johnny blaze has the better name and origin but danny ketch is a better written character i feel. and you can’t pick one without alienating a large fanbase of the other. i think there’s a fix for this... there’s the firestorm route of having them merge to be ghost rider or... how about they both can become ghost rider but only individually? like there has to be a ghost rider and say when johnny is ghost rider, dan is dan and when dan is ghost rider, johnny gets to be johnny. so the dynamic is that one is always having to suffer for the others freedom. but this is all fanon. alejandra is a non-entity and ghost driver isn’t someone i feel the need to consider.

scourge - retire this name and idea fast as possible.

nomad - likewise

deathlok - probably best retire this one too. michael collins was your best go and unfortunately his creator got to wrap that up and give the character a happy ending and to go back on it (oh, they did) would be incredibly insulting to the late dwayne mcduffie.

can’t think of any others worth mentioning... i mean i can think of other legacy heroes but none i really consider. captain britain, thor, hulk, nick fury... not really an area of contention with anyone i’d hope.