#different from fanon popular belief

[silver-stake-through-the-heart]

Cas being shy and soft and emotive in fanfictions…

OUT

I want Cas to act like a macho man. He canonically:

–believes strength will solve everything

–decides to work alone without consulting anyone

(–99% of his decisions are taken without consulting anyone, actually)

–rebels for the first time because he sees Dean cry and it panics him

–asks Dean advices to handle (their) kids

–advises Dean to not make things uselessly complicated like women HUMANS tend to do

–explains his son how Dean is a mess of emotions

I NEED THIS IN FICS NOW

[kaxela]

the look of love, the rush of blood

summary: typical fluff college au. kuroo tetsuro is head over heels for you, gets jealous at college dinner party, let the drinks do the talking. yup. . . it’s a cute basic trope, but i am so delusional about this man i NEED an outlet. edits of him don’t do it these days (╥﹏╥). plus, i wanted to make kuroo more true to his canon personality than fanon. fanon is yuck. (i don’t write. ever. so this is my first ever draft, i don’t want to fix too much on grammar errors or storyline. :p) author’s note: i decided to change the wording on popular forms of media of irl, i wanted to embody that they’re in a different universe, and have their own forms of media etc. but still wanted to ppl to get the ref ! word Count : 4.0k

PART ONE | the invitation

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

ᝰ.ᐟ You had never noticed but . . . everytime you were not looking, he would just be there admiring your beauty from afar. You could never find out, you guys were just friends. If only you knew what he thought of you, though.

He was the type to look past the insecurities you always wanted to change about yourself. To him, one glance at you was equivalent to looking into a field of blooming tulips. 

You were gorgeous, a breath of fresh air. Hell, to picture it’s like that one scene of the ‘Secret Garden’ from Howard’s Moving Castle. (see author’s note).

If he had the choice to change anything about you, he would decline the offer immediately. It was transparent he had such a way with you. Because when he had the chance to steal glances over at you, his hazel brown eyes softened up. Kuroo’s pupils dilated. These unshakable love hormones he couldn’t fight back towards you.

Oxytocin. Dopamine.

It was slightly terrifying to experience such an intense crush for the first time. However , . . .

“I want to explore more about it…” Kuroo begins to trail off and murmur out loud. You overhear this strange rooster head talk to himself. You sat right next to him, so your glance felt like you were piercing him. This caught him a little off guard. 

The pen he held against his lips fell out of his grasp. He recollects himself and quickly grabs it and centers it on his notebook. Ahem. 

Act cool, act like nothing happened.

You, being oblivious, act like it really was nothing out of the ordinary.“Do you like today’s subject?” You whisper, attempting to not disrupt the class. 

He sighs in relief. Kuroo begins moving his lips to a closed smile and nods his head to affirm your belief.

The two of you lock eye contact for a few seconds. His face looked alright, but deep in his hazel eyes you knew he was hiding something.

Well whatever. You begin to diligently write notes on your paper to catch up with your professor. Kuroo then proceeds to do the same thing as you.

Your professor wrapped up today’s lesson faster than usual. Class was over, and everyone began packing up to leave. You left first and Kuroo trailed behind you.

but, oh man.

If he could just hold your hand against his right now, he would. His imaginations haunt him because this is clearly not the first time he was being so selfish. Just you and him, being together-together.

Unfortunately, you guys have been friends since Nekoma. He sort of concluded the fact that you want to be strictly friends with one another. If he dared to cross the line one day, he would want you to reciprocate the same feelings that he had.

You guys destined to a bench nearby outside, you placed your bag down and rested on the left hand side. Some reason the left side of seats, benches, sofas . . (you name it) were always your favorite spot to lounge. 

The morning sun was basking on the two of you, it was a lovely spring day. From a distant tree, you hear doves sing. You closed your eyes to take in all the scenery. This was simply the best-

“Hey, stupid.” Kuroo breaks your peace. Half annoyed, you stick your tongue at him. He looks down with a chuckle and adjusts his cap.

“You’re the stupid one for talking out loud in class.” You poke right at him. All he could do was shrug and laugh it off. 

Being the sly bastard he is, he wanted to say how he’s doing so much better than you in that class but he kept it to himself. He wants to tease you and hurt you to deflect his feelings for you. Maybe, for his best interest. . . it’s better not to.

Kuroo bends down beside you. You look down at him a little surprised wondering what he’s about to do next. His coarse black hair covers his eyes, yet you can still see his hazel eyes shine right through his strands.

“Geez, just wanted to let you know your shoes are untied.” He snorts. You sorta make an ‘oh’ noise and let him tie it for you. He swiftly makes a loop with the strings and creates a tight knot. Slightly flustered, you thank him. This wasn’t the first time he did something like this for you, so you weren’t too shocked.

As he sits down by you, the two of you begin to wander to do your own thing while enjoying one’s company. He checks on his phone to catch up with Kenma and other unattended things. You blankly stare at the landscape of your campus and people watch. Your mind begins to drift on one thing, though.

Your friends always see you paired like two peas in a pod. And it’s true you admit it yourself, you are always together. I mean, the two of you weren’t always so close like how you are now. In junior high, you at least had your own group of friends. Of course, Kuroo hung out with his volleyball teammates and was inseparable with Kenma as always.

Maybe since the two of you go to the same university, you are always hanging out with one another. Additionally, Kenma was a stay at home streamer. His income and career is reliant on his gaming, which makes sense why they aren’t bound together as often. Plus, Kuroo was studying more about marketing at the moment. 

You don’t mind always being by one’s side. The problem is: everyone assumes the two of you are dating. You don’t blame the idea, when a boy and girl hang out constantly it just seems suspicious. You refuse all types of allegations when you are asked. You just don’t want to embarrass Kuroo, he definitely thinks of you as a friend. Nothing more. 

You shift to another thought bubble, you don't want to think too much about it. You abruptly recall the dinner you were invited to tonight. You were allowed to bring a plus one, and knowing how everybody pretty much knew Kuroo you thought he was an easy candidate to bring.

“Oh, Kuroo! You know there’s a dinner tonight with a lot of people from our department,” You swipe open your phone to show him where the dinner would be hosted, it seems to be at a BBQ place. “Would you want to come?” You ask all excited. 

He looks up in the sky, you can tell he was craving to eat meat. Who doesn’t?

“Definitely.” He gives you a thumbs up.

. . .

[danykindaforgotaboutdre]

The problem with jayvik

In a vacuum, there is no problem with jayvik. I like jayvik, I think their dynamic is interesting, I think they have chemistry (I think all of the characters have good chemistry with each other, actually), I think their relationship can be interpreted all sorts of ways. I think they're neat.

I also like Meljay, in fact I prefer Meljay, they have more layers that I'm personally invested in peeling back. I love how you don't know Mel's intentions at first, so the first impulse when they get together is to regard it with suspicion (I mean, I didn't regard it with suspicion, but I'm built different I guess). But then, he lets himself be vulnerable with her and they're just open hearted and good to each other from then on. There's no trick, they just earnestly care and see the best in one another. Contrary to popular belief, Mel may have had an ulterior motive for nearly everything else, but she never had one for loving Jayce, that part was always true and good even if you can't see it at first.

I also like Meljayvik, I think Jayce and Viktor have a complicated relationship and she's never shown the slightest sign of being in any way resentful or spiteful over it. Nor is she given any reason to be whatsoever. She supports Jayce fully in his perfectly understandable preoccupation with Viktor's wellness.

But the problem with jayvik, or at least a particularly loud section of their fandom is, they badly want her to be resentful and spiteful. They want her to feel hurt and betrayed, they frame whatever jayvik have going on as cheating on this woman he never actually cared about, and that's supposed to be good, that's supposed to be a W for their ship. What is actually gained from this? Why is discussing Mel even necessary to enjoy this pairing (yes, erasing her is also a problem in the fandom but believe it or not, there's a way to talk about jayvik that doesn't involve doing either, and it's really not that hard).

Also, why does Jayce choosing Viktor have to be because he's gay? (fellas is it gay to chow down on a beautiful woman's coochie?) Why can't he just choose him regardless of whether he likes women or not? Why the insecurity? Is it because if you let yourself believe he actually likes women, you have to also admit that he chose Mel for no other reason than being attracted to her? I get it, they're jokes, haha, it's not that deep, but unfortunately when the same stupid patterns emerge around every woman and especially every Black woman in fictional media who "gets in the way" of fanon, it is that deep, it's annoying af actually.

[humunanunga]

"allowed" is an interesting way to put that. And considering I'm visibly trans, it's especially interesting to assume I would've been in any way including Harry Potter in this statement.

tl;dr Harry Potter specifically has become a sewer. If you splash around in the sewer, you're gonna smell like a rat.

When JKR drank the koolaid and started using the profit she earns from her series to fund legislation that targets trans healthcare, everyone who gave a shit about the safety of trans Europeans stopped funding her success. When she points to the popularity of her series with blood libel, and the "ugly" professor having a hooked nose, and slave races that are happier as slaves, she uses her fandom's continued survival as proof that the fans of her books still agree with her political beliefs, that some fans are just quieter about their endorsement now "because of woke" or whatever.

Plenty of autuers have publicly expressed their political views, but they don't all use their social platforms to tell their audiences who to vote for or what bills to pass. HP Lovecraft is dead. He can't influence antisemitic policies from the grave. JKR is alive and using her literary success to empower transphobic politicians.

And therein lies the difference between praising fanon over canon and... this.

This isn't some corporation that owns all the brands of food you can afford, or that you can tolerate putting in your mouth, or that don't include a niche allergen. Because JKR explicitly makes Harry Potter politically-involved, all the Potterheads who didn't want to show support for the same policies as her left the fandom. And that's okay. You can feel hurt by the fond memories she betrayed by exploiting something you cherished for a vile goal.

What it comes down to is that JKR pissed in the pool, and now all the swimmers that didn't get out are doing it too.

Because of what she's done, Harry Potter has evolved into a safe space for terfs. Your association with Harry Potter signals to terfs that you must have stayed in the fandom because you're One Of Them.

If you don't want anyone to tell you what you smell like, it's time to get out and wash off.

[theglamorousferal]

So if you’re new to the Danny Phantom fandom whether that be because you have joined us via a crossover, the new graphic novel coming out or just somehow got hooked into this fandom there are a few things you should know.

90% of content you will see is purely fanon lore.

I’m gonna divide this into two different sections, going over what is canon and then the most common things from fanon.

So if you go by the show, we have at least three different kinds of ghosts. We have ones like the Fright Knight who is a spirit formed from the feelings and beliefs of people surrounding the thoughts of Halloween and we have ones who were once humans like Sidney Poindexter and Desiree. There are also some who are the product of two different ghosts like Box Lunch. We technically also have the Ancients, but we don’t know anything about them except that they existed many years ago and then they enclosed Pariah Dark in the Sarcophagus of Forever sleep.

We know that a high concentration of ectoplasm introduced very quickly can causes human to turn into a half ghost. This happened with Danny at least 3 times, and the accident Vlad had (as well as Jack in an alternate timeline). Danny was changed twice by the portal and then once by being blasted by a bunch of ectoplasm.

In canon, the Fenton parents are very loving parents with just a bit of absent mindedness to them that leads to them missing the obvious signs that something is up with Danny. Every time in the show that he is exposed to them, he is accepted by them entirely. Even when in an alternate timeline where his parents never got together, he is accepted by them.

In canon, Jazz started out not knowing how to help Danny, Tucker and Sam, but it is shown in the show that she trains to be better later on. She still calls the ghosts by things she designated them as though, not how they would like to be called.

In canon, Vlad is awful. He regularly tries to Hamlet the main character. He tried to ruin/kill Jack to get with Maddie and make their kids his kids many, many times. He cloned a child, gaslit the clones into thinking he cared for them and then planned to melt them down to have his “perfect son”. In canon of the show, Vlad is not redeemable. (This sorta changes a bit in the graphic novel, but it’s a toss up whether that is actually considered active canon or if it’s its own canon now.)

In canon, Tucker is a genius after he was forced to sit through 12 hours of study programming. In canon, he is the reincarnation of a Pharaoh. He can speak a made-up language, Esperanto, and can hack into nearly every piece of tech he comes across.

In canon, Sam is obsessed with all things goth and so has tomes about magical beings and artifacts. She is athletic and is always ready to throw down. She only has plant powers in the episode “Urban Jungle”.

Now onto the Fanon, at least the most popular headcanons that I have come across.

The most common thing among the fandom is that Danny is half-dead. Some have him a ghost possessing his own corpse. Some have him be Schrodinger’s boy. Some have him have lower vitals or just no vital signs altogether. He is said to have died and not come back all the way or right. Common things have him be cold to the touch, a lower heart rate, and him forgetting to breathe entirely.

Probably the second most common headcanon is that Danny is the Ghost King after having fought and defeated Pariah Dark in single combat. Ways he takes the throne are varied, everything from him being forcibly put onto the throne and unable to go to the human world, to having to name Jazz or Maddie as regent until he reaches either human or ghostly majority, to him taking the throne but it being more of a figurehead thing. Most stories will have him have a plethora of titles and names he goes by. Along with this he now has a lair inside the Zone, most have him taking over Pariah’s Keep and some do have him have his own new lair.

Another popular headcanon is Ancient of Space or the Balance Danny (going with AGIT, the balance actually is now canon). These lead to things like Danny having an eldritch form. Something that is obviously “other” and hurts to perceive.

Both of these result in an OP Danny and probably around half of them will have him stuck at 14 and/or functionally immortal.

Another very common DP headcanon is Bad Fenton Parents and that their research caused the GIW’s formation. Alongside that come the most common type of fic you will come across which is where Danny has been captured by either the GIW or his parents and then is vivisected. Majority of them will have him vivisected by his own parents. Many of them will have them be varying levels of neglectful, from just not noticing things about their kids to straight up forgetting they were there and Jazz having to take care of them both.

In most fanon, the GIW are actively trying to genocide an entire species. This is closest to a canon thing considering that they did try to nuke the GZ, which would have resulted in their universe also collapsing. The things that some people write/draw for the atrocities the GIW and Bad!Fentons are things that I bring up to my therapist frequently. Be prepared for descriptive gore.

There are a few characters that have spawned in fanon that are widely accepted as canon characters now. The main one is Wes Weston along with his brother Kyle. Wes Weston was a background character that we see for about 3 frames in one episode, but he looked similar to Danny and had green eyes and the fandom latched onto that. It started out with someone claiming the A-listers would think that Wes is Phantom because he’s athletic, had the same build and green eyes. From there, the fandom has decided that he also is the only person to figure out that Danny was Phantom and tries frequently to expose him. Kyle Weston is Wes’ older brother, in the same class as Jazz and he doesn’t believe that ghosts are real and is played for gags a lot.

Another major piece of fanon lore is ghost cores. This stems from a remark Frostbite said talking about Danny’s core temperature and the fans took it and ran with it. In fanon there’s all kinds of different types of ghost cores, usually an element or an aspect of existence. Many have Danny possess an ice core, in some he has a space core. Others take his “death” into consideration and believe him to have an electric core. Commonly people have Vlad have a fire core. Usually cores are an orb that a ghost can retreat into to heal. If the core is shattered, the ghost is ended and no longer exists in any capacity.

Similar to cores is obsessions. These are essentially the purpose of the ghost, their drive and purpose. Skulker’s is hunting, Ember’s is recognition etc. Most give Danny a protection obsession, but will sometimes give him a space obsession.

Something that has gained traction in the last few years (to my knowledge mostly since the pandemic) is liminality. Liminality is where people are contaminated with ectoplasm due to overexposure or ingestion of it and it gives them ghostly abilities. Different people have liminality give people different abilities. Some have glowing eyes, lengthened canines and pointed ears. Some have enhanced senses, strength and speed as well as extra durability. Some have eyes that reflect like a cats and night vision. Some even go so far as give them at least one of the major ghostly abilities.

How someone becomes liminal differ depending on if the writer wishes to have it just be main characters or if it’s the entire town. If it’s just main characters then usually their frequent exposure to ghostly things as well as close proximity to it makes them liminal. For the whole town people will usually have the portal give off essentially radiation or when the town was pulled into the GZ be the cause.

Frequently Sam, Tucker and to a lesser extent Jazz are given extra abilities. Sam usually has residual powers from her time possessed by Undergrowth, Tucker usually has some form of techno Nancy and Jazz usually has some sort of empathetic ability, if not that she get’s the basic extra strength, speed, durability and senses.

There are some lesser known ones that should at least be mentioned in case you come across them. One of those being ghost hunger. This is where ghosts or liminals thirst for ectoplasm similar to how vampires thirst for blood. Another common thing is that ghosts socialize by fighting. That most of the fights are ghosts greeting the baby ghost. The last thing is that the main characters are known as Team Phantom.

I’m probably going to think of more later and I’ll post when I do, but this is the basics that I could remember on the fly. I hope this helps people!!

[pinkeoni]

During his emotionally charged speech in the van, Will says one particularly potent line.

"When you're different... You feel like... a mistake."

This line is highlighted visually by the camera shifting positions to outside of the van, a shot that is only used one other time to punctuate the end of the scene. This line holds extra weight and the show wants you to know it.

I already made an analysis on the word mistake and what that means for Will, but I want to look at the word different, which feels emphasized in the delivery of the line as well.

"When you're [pause for effect] different..."

It's popular headcanon among st fandom that "everyone in Hawkins is gay!" which sometimes bleeds from into their belief of real canon. Sexuality headcanon lists suddenly are seen with an air of truth to them, and a number of fanon queer ships are accompanied with evidence of their supposed endgame status.

I realize that this is kind of a... weird post to make. I'm not really making this to tell people to stop doing something, this is more of just a rattling off of some opinions I've had for awhile.

I do wanna start off with the obligatory: Do whatever the hell you want. I'm not here to stop you from doing something or tell you that you are wrong for thinking that a character is gay or for shipping something. You are allowed to ship whoever you want, think whatever you want about any character, any ship I don't like I have filtered. But I'm also allowed to not like these ships, or disagree with how others view certain characters. Just as others are allowed to have and express their opinion, I'm also allowed to have and state my opinions on the opinion website.

I think the important thing regarding Will being different is the fact that he is different. As my good friend @karenchildress once put it, if everyone were queer, it would cheapen the message the show is trying to give. Sure, the show displays a variety of ways of being different, but being gay is, among other things Will has been through re: being taken into the Upside Down, is Will's way of being different in Hawkins.

And of course Robin is gay as well, and while there is some crossover, the lived experiences of a gay man is different from that of a lesbian woman, which the show does touch on. Will's story is part of an extended AIDS metaphor, and Robin struggles to gain the attention of women in a world that seems to revolve around the attention of men.

It might be nice to have a moment between Will and Robin, although that alone won't solve Will's problem, i.e. his belief that being different makes him a mistake. Cause that's the thing: the resolution is that being different is a good thing.

If everyone character were queer, this would cheapen the message. Suddenly the resolution isn't that being different is a good thing, but that he isn't different after all.

So then, are queer stories meant to have only token characters?

I think it depends on the type of story, and what it's trying to say. Heartstopper has an eclectic queer cast, but it's also a show that embraces finding community and other people like you. Sex Education has a variety of different sexual identities, but it's also a show that aims to explore a lot of different perspectives.

And there are also queer stories where the queer character's disposition, and their struggle because of that, is a big part of the story. I believe this is what this show is trying to do— highlight Will's difference and how that pertains to his personal struggle and the resolution of that.

One argument that I hear against Will with powers is the idea that making him more different would be bad for his character, because he hates being different. But the thing is, Will is going to learn that his differences are a good thing, which may include any possible powers.

Of course Will isn't the only one with powers, and he also isn't the only gay one. El, Henry, and Kali all have powers, and Robin, Vickie, and Mike (and maybe Henry? I haven't seen TFS myself so I'm not commenting on that) are all gay. So while he's not alone, these things are still a rarity. It's not a case of a headcanon list with mostly everyone gay and some token straights.

"Characters are not straight by default."

This sentiment isn't unique to the st fandom and also didn't originate within this fandom, but it is something that I hear often. And it's... not really true, although it kind of depends on the piece of media we are talking about. It might be easy to say this about a show made in the 2020's, although this same sentiment is hard to state about, well, most shows made before the 2020s. And even then, it depends on what the show is going for.

People being not straight by default is a true statement in real life. You shouldn't assume a sexuality for anyone, gay, straight or what have you. But characters are made by people, and people have different biases on how these characters should be written. Calling the Duffers "two straight men" would go against what I just said, although I don't think that the show was written with everyone being gay in mind. Aside from the 4 (maybe 5) I listed, the other characters are not written to be queer. They just aren't.

All of the queer characters have arcs that feature their queerness. Will's queerness has been mentioned since season one. Robin's romance becomes part of her plot in season 4, and Vickie is introduced as her love interest. Romance has always been an important facet of Mike's story since season one, and his failure in a straight romance is highlighted in seasons three and four. Chekhov's painting of season 4 seems to solidify a gay Mike.

Elmax and Ronance as endgame options not only have no lead up but are also mean spirited towards Lucas and Vickie. Elmax gets together, breaking up Lumax, which has been built up since season two, and Lucas is supposed to be okay with this because????? Ronance get's together, effectively writing off a queer character that the show had introduced, and she can't even fulfill the reason she exists in the first place? Rockie is not the most well developed relationship out there, but it's the one that the show has decided to go for. Maybe Ronance could work, in an alternate universe where the show actually wrote that in.

For those that argue that both Max and Nancy are queer I simply... disagree. And you can disagree with me too, we'll both just agree to disagree. I'm not against headcanons, which are usually harmless, but also usually driven by the desires of the headcanon-er and less so the canon of the show. Which again, is fine, but it's also these headcanons which are being used to drive an argument for actual show canon. Usually the argument for any character being queer that wasn't already listed in canon rests solely on vibes, not any concrete evidence that may suggest actual attraction to the same sex.

More substantial evidence usually comes when someone applies a queer lens to a certain character, but an interpretation can be different from authorial intent. And sometimes, the viewer may be so focused on the metaphorical, that they fail to see the literal.

I do think that you could easily apply a queer lens to El's story. Her story is about, in her words, "not belonging," in society, having to remain in hiding, and deviating from feminine norms. I can easily see how you can derive a queer message from this, but all of the traits listed above are a result of her having powers and being raised in a lab, not being attracted to the same sex. Metaphor alone cannot prove that she likes girls.

Going back to Nancy, Nancy's romantic options are between Jonathan and Steve, although the show seems to make it clear that it's going with Jonathan in the end, what with Jancy holding hands at the end of season 4. Steve get's brought up in conversation between the two, alluding two some unresolved tension that's likely to be brought up in season 5, and Robin is... at the high school with Vickie. That is the end of the season establishing the arcs and romances for the final season.

"Gay people didn't exist in the 80's."

That's an argument on the opposite end of things that just isn't true, although I've also heard the counter for this argument, that gay people did in fact exist in the 80's, as evidence that everyone is gay. I'm not really here to argue whether or not gay people existed in the 80's (they did) I'm just here to argue what I think the canon of the show is presenting.

That being said, the show taking place in the 80's is still significant. It may not be a hyperrealistic depiction of the 80's, but the show does seem to understand the idea that at that time, it was very difficult for gay people come out and to start relationships. It's the reason that Robin can't just go up to Vickie and ask her out, and it's the reason that Will can't just say that the painting is from him. It's the reason why Mike hasn't quite yet left his relationship with El and accepted himself. It's the reason why Rockie has to discreetly flirt through peanut butter sandwiches. A character who hasn't had queerness built into their plot, or a relationship that has no buildup, isn't suddenly going to become canon in the last season.

I was talking about this once with a friend who used the show Only Murders in the Building as an example. In the shows second season, Selena Gomez's character is revealed to be bisexual and dates a character that Cara Delevingne plays for most of the season. The show doesn't build up to her character being bisexual, she doesn't come out as such, the other characters don't make a big deal out of it, she just is. So why can this show do something like that but Stranger Things can't?

Well, Only Murders is a show that takes place in present day, and is a light-hearted comedy (albeit with murder). A character suddenly being bisexual with no set up makes sense for the tone that the show has established and when it takes place. Stranger Things takes place in the 80's and establishes within it's first season and maintains it throughout that gay people get killed and are seen as social pariahs.

It's not that I don't understand where the desire to have more characters be queer comes from, especially characters that people already like and relate to. I don't think it's harmful to think that these characters are queer, I'm making an argument purely with regard to authorial intent and the actual outcome of the show. Again, feel free to disagree with me and continue to do whatever you want, these are just some thoughts that I have had on my mind for a while and wanted to put out.

[ilexdiapason]

the big response that i wrote for that survey before realising i'd misread the question, and that they wanted my favourite examples of popular fanon, not of fanon that became canon:

the examples of participatory culture i have on hand are all dream smp related (sad-ist animation led to phil incorporating damaged wings, assorted fanart led to quackity incorporating eye scar, wilbur outright stole three canon lives system and the lyrics of the lmanberg anthem from two different redditors, the work of evanmcgaming to editorialize the story of dsmp led to niki and quackity among others using his version of events to inform their own, a fan became eret's friend and then was consulted for narrative direction when eret and wilbur were writing their chapter of wilbur's finale "my own judas" together, of course sbi was NOT canon on dream smp but the fanon belief that it WAS led to a tumultuous few weeks between phil's arrival and doomsday as the ccs tried to square that, and of course the number one participatory culture thing in dream smp was the election and exile polls in which the fans were able to directly influence the outcome of the narrative).

[vulnonapixes-dc-corner]

I know that Genderbending isn't a real thing anymore, but I thought it would be fun!

Tim is my favorite batbro, so I started with him.

I chose the name Dorothy since it has the same ending as Timothy and a similar meaning. Other favorites were Tiffany and Theodora.

(Timothy: Gods Honor

Dorothy: God's Gift

Tiffany: Manifestation of God

Theodora: God's Gift)

As for her story/Timeline, I decided to throw a few things from Canon and Fanon together.

Her first memory was of her going to the circus when she was 4. Her parents had just come home from a business trip and wanted to spend some quality time with her. There she met Fanny (Female Dick) and saw the incident that killed Fanny's Parents.

She spent a few years in therapy after that.

Her hyper fixation with Batman and Robin when she was 6 after one of her live-in Nanny told her about them saving her from a robbery.

She just wanted to thank them.

At 9 years old she realized that Batman and Robin were her neighbors Bruce Wayne and Franziska Grayson.

This realization also started her career as a Baby stalker.

(The only reason why she was able to sneak out every night was because she played the role of the good and gentle rule-following Daughter to her Caretakers.)

She was 13 when she blackmailed Bruce into taking her as Robin after Jennifer (female Jason) died and Fanny wouldn't come back to Gotham.

Their relationship was rocky and cold in the beginning till Live decided to fuck her over.

At age 14 she had been captured and tortured by the Joker for a few weeks, resulting in her becoming Joker jr for months.

She only snapped out of it after her mother died and her dad went into a coma.

Despite popular belief and the fact that they spent most of their time aboard, she was close to them.

Daily phone calls and the writing of letters were their way of communication.

The Titans Tower incident happened when she was 15. (Her time as Titan started with her time as Robin)

At age 16 Lilith (female Damian) appeared and Bruce died. She became Red Robin and went on a wild goose chase to bring him back.

She laid down the mantle of the red robin and became crow after accepting Lilith as her family member/as robin.

Now to her relationship with the batfam:

Alfred: doting grandad vs granddaughter who has no sense of time and keeps on forgetting to visit.

Bruce: she still sees him as her boss, whilst he is the most parental girl dad to her.

Fanny: still looks up to her despite the feeling of hurt she still feels about her actions. Fanny just loves her little sister a lot but doesn't know how to apologize.

Barbara; she was her first celebrity crush and still adores her. Barbara enjoys spending time with her and they bonded over the whole "Joker ruined my life" thing.

Jennifer: they are surprisingly good. Dorothy used to look up at her and saw her as "her Robin". Jennifer apologized and all but begged for forgiveness after she broke out of the Pit madness.

Stephanie: Exes turned best friends. Their dating was just a try to name the close relationship that they had.

Cass: they are platonic soulmates. Twins from different parents.

Dara (female Duke): She sees her as the little sister that she always wanted. Dara wants to study her /jk. They often talk about comics and video games.

Lilith: She pittys her after having to deal with the league herself and tries to help her. Lilith hates that but has some respect for her after she brought her father home.

[crepes-suzette-373]

Crepes, do you think Judge and Sora's marriage was an arranged political one, as it appears to be the popular fanon idea, or something else? I remember reading through an old post of yours on Judge's past in MADs that she could've easily been a minor scientist on there, and I really like that idea personally, it gives levity that she could've been smart enough to personally conduct a counter-poison to stop the germa modifications :D

Hey anon! Sorry if my replies are always long and rambling because when it comes to canon analysis, I either have very long thought process that needs explaining, or I just have more than one alternative ideas.

If you ask me, I actually don't have a solid idea for it. I think it's possible that it actually was marriage for love, and it's equally possible it's just arranged. We literally have zero information and I can't speculate based on absolutely nothing. Like, it could be both too, similar to Bege and Lola. That was an arranged/political marriage, but they ended up being in love anyway.

For AU/fanfic headcanons, I'm okay with whatever. I like the idea of MADS Sora because of the medicine. It also works with the question as to where are Sora's family? Maybe she's just an orphan scientist. Who even knows, but yeah.

Otherwise we have nothing, so I have no strong feelings about it. Oda-sensei has made really convoluted explanations for things before. Like, maybe the scientist with the goggles was just rogue and helped her, and the medicine has nothing to do with Sora's past/background. The scientist guy did weirdly look really similar to one of the Marine head chefs.

The only concept I have strong conviction in is that Judge is from Germa while Sora is from the outside marrying in, because of the language tics in the raw. Otherwise I'm okay with exploring various ideas...until Oda-sensei drops the truth on us anyway, which I believe that he will in the future.

The main reason why most people think it's arranged is because Sora was portrayed as very kind and Judge was cruel, so I'm sure people just can't comprehend how that can possibly be a marriage of love.

Also Judge is not a handsome guy, and that only makes things even worse. Like, seriously, if he looks less ugly (maybe more like the "Saint Germain" rough draft), you'd have more people willing to buy that it's love that went horribly wrong at some point. Visual impressions do 100% affect people's perception and thought process.

Although, I did always say that MADS Judge just looks like Kin'emon, so hey. If, like, they met and got married all the way back then it's like... visually speaking it's not that bad. Just saying, LOL.

Anyway, back to serious. Considering we have had many villains that didn't start out as evil, I think it could be that Judge was kind of the same way. Maybe he used to be nicer, we just don't know.

We had the direct example of Big Mum right there in WCI, and it was kind of obvious that Germa and Big Mum were meant to be parallels. The way Big Mum treats and views her kids as tools weren't much different than how Judge was with Sanji. Big Mum was originally just a clueless little girl. She was just too strong, and so nobody could correct her behaviour.

With Judge, everything that he did was for the sake of the revenge, we we don't know why he wanted that so badly. It could be that the person Sora initially met had a completely different personality, but then later something happened and changes him. Maybe there was a point where Judge wasn't so aggressive in his approach, or maybe back when he wasn't the king yet he used to be just more focused on the science experiments.

People are going to point to the fight that Reiju witnessed as proof of Judge not loving Sora, but if it's an issue of belief and/or conviction, this kind of fight can still happen despite two people being in love with each other.

I had a theory that it's possible that for 300 years running the kings of Germa instilled the desire for revenge on North Blue to their children through the generations. I also thought because Brook had said Germa used to be known for its military, they might be previously a warrior culture. The science was either a later development, or just incidental that they don't really think much of. If Judge feels honour-bound to fulfil some kind of ancestral legacy, plus if they really were at heart a warrior culture, it's only sensible that he thought there's nothing wrong with what he's doing.

It doesn't make it right, but this is a fight in ideology. It's just that the ideology is also attached to very drastic actions.

Plus, all we saw was Sora arguing that editing their emotions would turn them into monsters. We didn't see what was her stance about just the physical mods. What if the part we didn't see was actually Sora being fine with everything else, revenge and superpower mods and all, but editing emotions was just one step too far? I don't know and I don't like to assume.

[perciverthoughts]

Sometimes the canon straight relationships are deeper, better fleshed out, and more compelling than the fanon gay ships btw.

Not all the time, and this might be sacrilegious to post about on the Gay Fanon website, but I really do mean it. I ship a lot of non canon gay couples in a lot of different fandoms, but I can also see when popular fanon ships are just an excuse to put someones favourite blorbo into a gay relationship. And like, it's fine or whatever. Let the little fourteen year old queer kids who don't have any other outlet to explore their queerness have fun and feel safe. Let them create their made up worlds where everyone is queer and accepting and gets a happy ending because they may never find that in the real world. Escapism can be fun and healing. But lets not pretend these worlds are narratively as strong as some cannon ships and let's not pretend this part of fandom culture doesn't carry some serious issues. Let's not pretend these ships don't often end up reducing complex characters to one dimensional stereotypes. Let's not pretend they involve ignoring key details about a character's background or beliefs to project [insert sexuality here] onto a character to fit the ship. Let's not pretend this often leads to perpetuating negative stereotypes in order for a antagonistic character to fit a fanon narrative (a common one I see is bullies or bigoted characters only doing it because they were closeted. Like, what message does this send kids when their past shitty behaviour is automatically excused by other characters because of it?)

Also, let's not pretend fetishization of gay people (or trans people, I see this too) doesn't play a role (at least some of the time) either. Let's not pretend that sometimes some fanon gay ships are just an excuse to get female characters out of the picture because people carry so much internalised misogyny they refuse to adress. Let's not pretend that taking a male character who's arc revolved around unlearning misogyny, learning to respect women, and falling in love with one, and pushing him into a fanon gay relationship kind of assassinates his character a bit.

And I know, believe me I know, we're starved for queer characters. Believe me I do. But taking a canon straight couple, that were well written and well suited and whose arcs complimented each other and going well he's gay now and is in love with Hot Male Villain #1 but she's a lesbian now too so don't worry there's no hard feelings on her end and also I don't hate women but i'll never write about this lesbian relationship ever it's just an excuse to get her out of the way without having to explore any negative feelings ever- is, a bit weird to me.

I've also noticed there tends to be this odd conflation in fandom spaces where queer characters= inherently morally good and straight characters= inherently morally bad in an overwhelming number of stories, and I find it concerning. Sexuality and gender identity and queerness in any form is inherently a neutral thing. It has no moral connotation whatsoever. At all. And while I know most people know this, this feature of equating queerness with morality and straightness with immorality is not a good thing for anybody, queer or not queer. These are not the sorts of ideas it's healthy for anyone to internalize, and having these messages beamed at you from every direction ever day means people will start to internalize them

This isn't a callout post and I'm not about to start listing ships or fandoms because that is neither constructive nor kind and I really don't need people coming after me for 'attacking their ships' but I find a lot of these issues pervasive and slightly worrisome. Again, everyone is absolutely entitled to their escapism and their interpretations of a character, but if you're interpretation of a character involves changing literally everything about them just to put them in a gay relationship, maybe you don't actually like that character that much. Maybe write an OC. Ask yourself why you ship this so hard? Do these characters as PEOPLE make a good couple regardless of their sexuality or gender identity? If one of them was canonically in a straight relationship maybe ask yourself why you think they were so ill suited. Ask yourself if one of the characters in that canon relationship you hate so much was genderbent if you'd still think the relationship would never work. Ask yourself if the narrative purpose of that canon straight relationship was important enough to the story that to dissolve it would dissolve the main themes of the work itself.

Again, this doesn't apply to every straight relationship in media. A lot of them are shitty, heteronormative, underdeveloped, and excuses to put two single characters together because god forbid a fictional character ever be happily single. But some straight relationships are well written and cute and explored well and central enough to the centre of a story that pulling characters out of that relationship deeply affects your ability to actually engage with a piece of media, it's themes, and the messages it conveys. And I know not everyone is into literary analysis as much as I am and that a lot of people just want to use their blorbos like paper dolls, and again that's absolutely fine! But call it what it is, be cognizant of the media you're consuming and creating, and try not to fall into common 'traps' in fandom spaces because goddamn even the most lighthearted of these spaces are a goddamn echo chamber.

[silver-stake-through-the-heart]

Fanon: Dean has so much internalized homophobia he needs Sam Thee Stanford™ Boy to explain him it's not bad to be queer and Cas to be patient with him through several freakouts. Also, he's so afraid to be seen as anything other than a Manly Man he can't stand being associated with anything seen as feminine.

Meanwhile, in the show (a very few selected examples because there are tons of them):

Sam: Huh, interesting look for a centuries-old witch.

Dean: Yeah, well, if you were a six-hundred-year-old hag and you could pick any costume to come back in, wouldn't you go for a hot cheerleader? I would…

-4x07

-5x08

-7x12

Sam: You got to stop calling yourself "The Meat Man". It… it doesn't mean what you think it means.

Dean, coffing: Yeah, it does.

-15x04

[kiisaes]

yes THANK YOU for saying it i hate those specific fanon nicknames as well. my other pet peeve are the terms 'bakusquad' and 'dekusquad' used in fanfic because i feel like those are okay to use in fandom discussion but the actual characters would NOT come up with those names much less use them unironically c'monn

SAMEEE these terms used in fics make my eyes roll fr. and I think the longer I've enjoyed mha the less bakusquad and dekusquad make sense to me anymore, even in fandom discussion

in the early days of mha fandom it was pretty normal to split up deku and bakugou bc 1.) not a super cool awesome amazing relationship at the moment and 2.) both of them were becoming friends with other members of the class (thank you season 2!!!). so if they were befriending different ppl then making two fanon friend groups seemed like the right fandom thing to do.

but fandom has always flanderized relationships pretty badly and mha, imo, is one of the most egregious examples. the loud majority of early fandomgoers were too scared of bkdk being connected in any possible way. they were abusive, toxic, evil, etc.etc.etc. and if you liked them then you fetishized bully/victim relationships. hence, in order to be a Good Fan, you had to separate them.

I fell for this belief back in 2019-2020 so I get it but like. it's crazy now. thinking about it. because horikoshi has Never meaningfully separated bkdk. they have always been joined at the hip regardless of how bad their dynamic was at any point in the narrative. in fact, this has been a core reason why bkg hated dk at the start. it's bc they literally could not distance themselves from each other 😭 idk. do you ever just think about how dissonant the popular fandom bible was to the Legitimate Canon Word Of Mouth.

there is no "dekusquad". there is no "bakusquad". it was a fundamental misunderstanding of the story to assume there are. bakugou has always been a part of deku's "squad" he just refused to admit it until recently. (he is also conveniently drawn in a lot of group illustrations with characters that are stereotypically a part of the dekusquad.) likewise some characters in these groups straight up don't interact anymore. anyway as of late mha has been prioritizing the Entire Class Of 1A as a singular entity instead of splitting it up into distinct factions.

I don't think the dekusquad and the bakusquad should be abolished, after all they're just typical fandom creations that get widely adopted because they're digestible and charming. if you like them then you like them! I don't dictate how you digest mha. but if you think bakusquad and dekusquad are still established friend groups that mean anything to the narrative and you navigate fandom discourse with this particular mindset I WILL look at you funny

ANYWAY THANK U ANON U GET MEEE

[mx-piranha]

𝕱𝕺𝕵 𝕱𝖆𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝕾𝖕𝖔𝖙𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙: ℜ𝔢𝔤𝔲𝔩𝔲𝔰 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨

"... I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more." - R.A.B.

°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞·

Regulus Arcturus Black, an enigma within the Harry Potter Franchise that never actually appeared on screen but left behind an everlasting legacy. Inspiring fan content from around the globe, Regulus Black is a popular character in the realm of fanfiction, and the same goes for my own up-and-coming fanfic, FOJ, which will be uploaded to AO3.

Let's get to the point of the post.

FOJ is canon compliant (to an extent), but one of the things I will tweak in the sense of the original HP universe is the fashion. I've seen many fans critique the Wizarding World's attire, and I've found myself agreeing with the opinion that JKR could've been more... creative.

Since Regulus is (mostly) a fanon character at this point, I've taken the liberty of styling him in the universe of FOJ. This post will contain his general fashion and some of the outfits he will be seen wearing in the fanfic.

So, without further ado:

𝕮𝖆𝖕𝖊𝖘

Antique Victorian Cape Jet Beaded Black Velvet Mantelet or Capelet

Yep, we're going Victorian with this one. Most of the outfits (of Regulus and of this series) will be Victorian or Edwardian inspired.

I see Regulus as a mysterious, yet elegant type of guy. He follows and exemplifies his family's blood purist and anti-muggle beliefs, so it's safe to assume he adheres to rules, traditions, and customs.

Evening cape

"This style of round cape was de rigueur in the mid-1890s. The elaborate large-scale embroidery and delicate silk ruching amidst the alluring changeante velvet displays the rich opulence of the fashions of the period." - Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black is one of the richest Wizarding Families in all of Britain, and of the Sacred 28, so Regulus wouldn't be spared from the luxury of expensive garments and lifestyle.

12 Grimmauld Place is depicted as very gothic and old-fashioned, so Edwardian and Victorian gothic it is.

𝕮𝖑𝖔𝖆𝖐𝖘

Pure Wool Cloak

"Pure wool cloak, fastening with hook and adjustable chain attached to two molten lions Adjustable buckle closure." - Original Venice

Surprise. Yeah, still in the Wizarding World, will still need some cloaks lying around. Only the best quality for the members of the House of Black, of course.

CLOAK OF DARKNESS - BLACK TAPESTRY

"Made in rich flowing black tapestry fabric with rich black satin lining inside... Braided black trim lines the collar and along the front of cape. Fastens in front with a heavy antiqued chain which clasp at either side to heavy D-rings and decorated with two ornate metal buttons." - Shrine of Hollywood

Called forth for more elegant occasions during the chill, like balls or galas.

𝕿𝖆𝖎𝖑 𝕵𝖆𝖈𝖐𝖊𝖙𝖘

Peacock Embroidered Cotton Doeskin Jacket (right) | Alexander McQueen

This garment inspires the first scene in FOJ that calls for a more formal occasion amongst family, the invitation of the Malfoys and Lestranges into 12 Grimmauld Place.

A different view.

For the FOJ version, the golden embroidered peacock will instead be a black bird sewn with silver thread, and the black of the cotton doeskin will either stay that way or sport a phthalo green hue.

°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞｡

This post will be subject to edits as my fanfiction progresses/if I differ in opinion. I encourage any comments and constructive criticism one may have for this post, please correct and educate me if you are so inclined, I will appreciate it.

°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞｡

Next up on Fashion Spotlight: 𝕭𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖝 𝕷𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖊 ☠︎︎

[chaztalk]

I’m going to go on a little rant here but this “canon is canon” mentality isn’t as healthy as some of you like to advertise. There is a real problem with thinking nothing in canon is wrong. And, contrary to popular belief, it’s not for petty reasons. It’s because you are actively, and unabashedly, turning off a whole group of people trying to enjoy the fandom themselves. We now have a whole lot of fans that have differing views than us, and that isn’t a problem to us.

Regardless of your opinions on JKR, media literacy is important. People should be able to read and form their own opinions before being told what to think. Scaring fans away from fanon because you convinced them that canon is somehow better is bad.

And when these “fans” come on here to share their opinions that they’ve based off of the misinformation they’ve been fed (cough cough Harry finds Hermione boring cough cough), they will still act like they’re in the right even though they are wrong.

And because they can’t argue their case (what do Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny do in their spare time?), they will start to associate disagreement with hostility. They will go on the defensive - use the excuse of “what’s canon is canon” - and thus the cycle continues. No room for healthy debate. No room for conversation.

TLDR; “canon is canon” completely shut down the chances of any kind of productive discussion. It’s ruining fandom.

[crazykuroneko]

What I like about IWTV is it forces me to re-evaluate my relationship with media and fandom as well. Through S1, I learnt how far I want to distance myself from the media yet still be able to enjoy it (too lazy to link my old post, but it thanks to S1E5). Now, I find myself paying attention to the connection between the media and the fandom's "voice".

Back then, I went into S1 completely blind, and I have to admit I wasn't (am still, I think) that familiar with Black media, Black stories, or Black history. I literally didn't know even one (1) individual in the fandom. So a lot of my initial conclusions and impressions of S1 mostly came from what I saw on my timeline/dashboard aka the things people reblogged/retweeted the most, the "popular" contents. And as the time goes by, I realized those contents are actually fanon; They're made based on someone's interpretation and expectation of canon, and they get blown out, and they eventually shape the fandom's "consensus". And I found that to be so misleading. Especially in a lot of cases they're contradictory and feel like an overcorrection to another. And it took me like months of curating my own timeline - blocking and being blocked, applying my newfound distance with media, reading/watching opinions from different kinds of people and rewatching the series until I could say this is my core opinion/beliefs of this media and these characters.

And it's happening again this season. IWTV is a very rich story which is open to very different interpretations, and it's easy for you to just want to "go with the flow". Go with the metas you see the most on your timeline. But as much as I appreciate good metas, and I have shared them all here, sometimes there are nuances that I can't agree with. So, I don't want to read them too much. I feel like the writing in this show deserves to be judged as itself - free from previous fanon, book canon, theories or expectations. I don't really know where I am going with this actually, but I think "let the tale seduce you" is really the right way to process this show. Like, watch it, write down what you take from it, stick to what you wrote, and see how the show evolves your perspective. Anyway, idk, I'm just looking forward to rewatching S1-S2 and making my own conclusion.

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

(TW : Rant and fancomic hate incoming) One time I saw a ghost au comic of v3 here on tumblr only. Tbh I think I might have liked the au if I saw it through any other post first but this post was so bad it wasn't even funny T_T.

Basically it had Miu screaming at Kokichi to get away from Gonta cause she's apparently part of the Gonta Protection Squad or whatever??? Miu would not defend and infantilise the man who killed her like whatt--- And thats not even taking into account the blatant Ougoku/Kokichi hate and mischaracterisation here?!? Gonta doesn't need to be protected by the woman he killed!!?! Hes NOT some sad and he also made a conscious decision to try and kill all his remaining classmates at some point!?!

YOU CANNOT BLAME GONTA HAVING A FUNCTIONING MIND AND MAKING BAD CHOICES ON KOKICHI?? WHAT DID HE EVEN DO TO YOU? TRY TO SAVE HIS OWN LIFE??? WHY DO PEOPLE WOOBIFIYING GONTA AND VILLAINISING KOKICHI??? CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, KOKICHI DOESNT EVEN HAVE A SINGLE TOXIC FRIENDSHIP WHERE HE'S THE ONLY ONE AT FAULT. OUGOKU HAS BOTH OF THEM AGREE TO THE PLAN, IROUMA HAS BOTH OF THEM PLAN TO MURDER EACH OTHER AND EVEN OUMOTA DOESN'T JUST HAVE KOKICHI LEAD KAITO TO HIS DEATH OR WHATEVER YOU WANNA BELIEVE (I guess Kiibo exists but Kokichi was probably acting robophobic cause he was suspicious of him and he also ended up being right cause of the end twist). *WHAT IS THIS?*

Sorry about the rant. This has been festering in my mind too long and I need to get it out. To be clear, I'm not hating on the artist, I remember I liked most of their other works I think?? I'm not sure cause it's been a while. But it's just the blatant infantilization of Gonta I disagree with. And making Miu into an avid defender of the person who murdered her with no hesitation. Kokichi villlainization is also something that turns into pure fanon beyond a certain point (which admittedly isn't *that* far off from canon as the Gonta infantilization as Kokichi's villain act does play an important role in V3 but it's still pretty far off). Gonta being sorted into the box of "fully sympathetic blackeneds" has done a lot of damage to his character, along with characters like Kaede who doesn't get *any* slack for jumping straight to murdering the mastermind rather than just capturing them or going along with Shuichi's plan. The Gonta characterisation also doesn't account for variables like how Kokichi might've twisted the story in order to further his act, what exactly did the Killing Game Busters see (it had to have been different from the outside world at the end of the death road of despair, cause it needed to give them somewhat of a proper explanation and a reason to believe them) and also the possibility of Kokichi, not just twisting, but just straight up lying about certain parts of the story. There's also evidence to prove that Gonta's memory loss wasn't accidental (Chibi Gonta asking how Normal Gonta knows about him killing Miu), but I'm not entirely sure if that's a plothole, cause the game certainly doesn't go anywhere with it.

Oh I know that comic.

I do however mildly disagree with a few conclusions, I get the overall vibes, but Miu very much is the kind of character who would shift blame like that I feel, that doesn't make it CORRECT of her to do, but I could absolutely see Miu scapegoating Kokichi less because Gonta needs her protection, and more of her own trauma making her lash out at Kokichi along with her own guilt for her part in all of that. If she just blames Kokichi for everything and doesn't look deeper, she doesn't have to face herself, and Miu hates hates HATES facing herself.

If anything it's just a furthering of the masks Kokichi is himself setting up to paint himself as a villain to the cast extending into the afterlife as well which makes sense. The problem for me is how Gonta REACTS, because i can see how all of this would happen around Gonta. However, I think the au fails to really fully get Gonta right in his reaction to everything and failing to account for how emotionally mature Gonta can be, however I think this could be fixed honestly relatively easily by the fact alter ego gonta also kind of has his own ghost

A Gonta ghost split in two, one that remembers and one that doesn't, that needs to come to terms and reunite into one single gonta by understanding the nuances of what he did, the situation, and coming to terms with his own sense of self and its relation to it, could be FASCINATING to explore and could really play into the duality by having one half of Gonta's ghost without memories falling into the "i was manipulated maybe" camp due to his own conflicted feelings and also everyone saying that around him constantly 24/7 while the Gonta ghost with memories is still defending Kokichi fiercely.

Though back to about the actual art, the fact they have Kokichi specifically marked as not blaming Kaito for the plan failing shows to me at least some level of genuine understanding of Kokichi's character because of how common a misstep that is. So while I definitely get the frustration, it makes sense to me and I think there's not enough art made to actually draw any conclusions