#even if it’s not explicitly stated that it’s a canon qpr

[milo-the-professional-yapper]

Hello! about your malevolent ask

[long ass answer- many apologies]

its a slightly goofy, sort of horror soap opera, in the vein of call of cthulu/tma. I dont find it Super Scary, but idk what your milage for horror is.

The overarching plot is drivin by the patrions (sp sorry), in the style of a choose your own adventure novel- you can usually tell where the choices are; it'll be something like 'omg arthur, we're at a crossroads- do we go left, to the evil cavern (where the horrors live) or right, to the evil woods (more horrors).' You can also hear more overt RPG stylings in the beginning- dice roll sounds for perception checks, etc. These do fade out after the first season.

Rough outline (some spoilers): John (a spirit/demon type guy) possesses Arthur (a detective from Arkham MA) and, in doing so, takes over his eyes. Now Arthur must navigate the world with only the guidance of the voice in his head. Horrors unfold, walls are walked into the boys are in their get-along consciousness. Think venom, if both of them were way bitchier and prone to swearing. and also eddy was blind.

IS IT GAY: Yes and no. If its a friendship, its really intense- but cannonicaly it has been very firmly stated that they are just friends. However, the relationship is intertwined and deep enough that many people consider it to be queerplatonic- Arthur being aromantic is a very popular interpretation, if that sweetens the pot for you (idk how loosely you're using gay here). Glib answer: its pretty queer, but no kissing.

COOL STUFF:

-A dramatic, intense relationship between a guy and the dude who lives in his head. They argue ( my god how they argue) they make up, they argue again.

-The saddest little english man (arthur) gets chucked off cliffs multiple times. Do you like men whimpering? This is the podcast for you!

-Very impressive voice acting: the writer voices absolutely everyone in the podcast (yes. everyone) and its genuinely almost unnoticeable. You really do have to have it pointed out to you.

-Fun, slightly campy (in the way of an rpg campaign) Lovecraft style horror

-Lovely piano soundtrack

-A gentleman called the butcher shows up in- what season 3? maybe?- and I adore him. Go singing irishman go. You get that violent homoeroticism.

Drawbacks:

Again, I don't really know your taste, but these are some of the things that might turn someone off from listening. YMMV etc.

-LOUD. If you dont like gentlemen yelling DIRECTLY AND ANGRILY INTO THE MIC then this is not for you. If you do like that, then you are about the have the time of your life. There is also just. An incredible amount of panting/heavy breathing. Also directly into the mic, and at length. Like, an 'i am secretly watching gay pornography' amount. I had it going on a speaker once and my roommate had questions, kind of amount

-Almost no women characters: understandable, since a dude is voicing Literally Everyone- but it is something of a sausage fest. Women exist in universe, they just tend to move in the backround/be unvoiced. Lots of 'oh heres whats happened to her' sort of describing around the 'I can't voice a woman' issue. One old lady has a few voice lines and thats it.

-Kind of a soap: This is a draw for me ngl, but if you are looking for TMA 2: the magnusing- she isn't it. Its a LOT lighter than tma, writing wise, and isnt exactly hitting any crazy new twists in its plot (if you've read Any lovecraftian stuff you probably wont be super surprised by anything)BUT. Its still very fun. Two dudes sharing a body, detective roadship shenanigans. They might kiss! Might see some skinned bodies or something.

The dynamics can be a lil repetative (wake up break up back together) and the plot can be a little- ehhhh. due to it being yk, patrion controlled- but that can be fun- it's pretty heavily a choose your own adventure story at heart, so if your down with that (and the sillyness that comes with it) then you'll like it.

-Gore: pretty gory. I enjoy that sort of thing/ am not really effected by it BUT if that not your cup of tea, then you might wanna skedaddle.

🤠 thats all. Again, apologies for the very long answer.

First off- don’t apologize! This gave me everything I needed- thank you for the detailed answer to my question! Looks like I’m giving this podcast a listen- everyone wish me luck 😭

[platonically-loving-alastor]

Aroace Alastor

Hoo boy here we go- This one might make some people mad at me, so I'll preface by saying I do not want to start a fight and as long as you respect my business, I'll respect yours. But let's get this over with-

First off, I genuinely don't understand how some people can see the Ace-In-The-Hole quote and still believe that Alastor is only intended to be asexual and not also aromantic. Yes, the term Rosie used for purpose of the pun was 'ace', but can we look at the context of that moment before jumping to conclusions?

Rosie, motioning to Charlie: "Oh, who's this you brought with you? Come now, Alastor, she's much too young for you! Oh, I'm just kidding. I know you're an ace in the hole!"

Her original statement implies nothing sexual, only that he's involved in a relationship with Charlie, and she follows it up with why she knows that couldn't be because he's an 'ace in the hole'. I don't think you have to read too far between the lines to see that.

I would also like to say that when Vivienne has spoken about his orientation before, I recall her saying that she didn't want to confirm him being aromantic so that she wouldn't 'ruin anyone's fun', which I just feel like is an odd thing to say if she wasn't already explicitly picturing him as aroace. If she thought he had romantic attraction, why wouldn't she just say that? What fun would that ruin? I also feel like keeping things like this ambiguous just to appease the shippers is a little weird, but I digress-

And to those of you who I know are saying "But aromantic people can be in relationships too!!" *deep inhale* yeah I know. I'm not gonna pretend you're not right about that, but there are also aroace people who have exactly 0 interest in romance or sex at all. This is the part of the post that really is based on how I interpret certain moments, but to me he is absolutely one of those people. I don't really know where people get any vibes of him being interested in that stuff. I have never once looked at him and thought "Yeah I could see him in a romantic relationship with *insert character here*". Even aside from attraction in general, since that's what we'd be talking about at this point anyway, he just seems like the kind of guy who'd rather work and live independently instead of relying on anyone, whether practically or emotionally (which is also probably part of the reason he never joined the Vees, but that's another topic entirely). Hell, I'm pretty sure he's in heavy denial about even developing any kind of care or friendship with the people at the hotel (ie. the episode 8 scene with him and Niffty).

The only ships I see him involved in with people he doesn't hate (so ignoring RadioApple, RadioHusk, and StaticRadio. But to be real, maybe the fact all his main ships are enemies to lovers coded says something about the whole situation, but that's just me-) are Charlastor - which I will not even try to discuss here, people aren't gonna like this post as it is - and RadioRose. Rosie and him would at least be fair, if it weren't for one thing (which is also personal opinion on my end), and I don't know exactly how to word it. I'm tempted to say she has wingwoman vibes? But she knows he's aro, so that's not the right word, but there's vibes of like, she probably did act as a wingwoman before she realized that about him or something.. There's also something about her joking around like "Oh this is the girl? You have a girlfriend and I'm only now meeting her?" is almost giving motherly behavior. Idk man they're just besties to me, I could see them in a QPR though (not that they'd probably label it that way, considering the word queerplatonic is likely just complete gibberish to Alastor lmao).

So to summarize: It feels incredibly likely, if not practically canon, that Alastor was written with aromanticism in mind, even if Vivienne refuses to explicitly state it. Subtext and not-that-subtle implications can say just as much about a character as word of God, especially when that God has explicitly told us why she won't confirm or deny this information. Do I think any of this will stop people from shipping him romantically with literally any other character? No ofc it won't, and that's okay, that's just what fandoms do. I do think there's something to say for the fact the one aroace (or even at the very least asexual) character gets constantly shipped with everyone else in the cast, but this post is long enough I think. The only point of posting this is that I wanted to get information out there in one post to say "Hey, let's look a little bit past the surface for a second before saying there's no proof of him being aromantic"

Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you at least took something away from this

[suffarustuffaru]

my thoughts on every interpretation you could have of ottosuba (+ rated out of 10)

hello recently i did this poll and i said id give my thoughts on it (also bc mutuals encouraged me to do so) so here goes!! gonna cover multiple avenues of platonic or romantic or (it's complicated) ottosuba <3

1. brothers

not a personal fav of mine but i really dig it though i get the appeal :3 bc like ottosuba are Clearly garfiel's older brothers (stated explicitly in rezero canon) but also i just really dig emilia camp's found familyisms and the three idiots are one of my favorite trios in rezero ever!! so the natural conclusion is to round out the trio and make ottosuba found family brothers also which is while not an interpretation i turn to right away i think its really really sweet!! and also platonic obsession ottosuba is a real win bc neither of them are normal about any relationship ever. but especially with each other (from otto's end). a solid 7/10.

2. purely platonic bffs

this is like their official canon relationship right? and also they define their relationship as them being friends and its great!!! also most subarus - otto if subaru is a tiiiinyy tiny bit debatable - but subaru generally we know for sure doesnt like otto romantically while ottos is just hes Down Bad but what Flavor of down bad? but anyway - i love deep friendships!! i love ottosubas own flavor of freak4freak..... platonic obsession........... <333 </333 their friendship is important to me!! its the basis of their whole dynamic!! they love each other so much!! 9/10.

3. queerplatonic

queerplatonic is like. theyre platonic mixed in with the expectations youd have for traditional romantic relationships - the nature of the qpr varies on the people within them of course and i think itd be a super interesting avenue to take ottosuba down. bc i think like in general as they are now in main route especially theyd want to stick with each other for life. they are platonically married to Me. ottoemisuba are a trio too and ottos their biggest supporter (to sometimes concerning degrees but the emilia camp found familyisms matter to Me). i definitely think otto if ottosuba veers into this category or in future categories on this list and im super fond of this take because i am of the personal opinion that ottosuba are like. found family but in a queer way, as @saphiim said in her tags on the reblog of the poll HAH. so queerplatonic ottosuba is fun to me i really enjoy it. and i definitely think otto if could fit under this category (or other categories later in the list). 9/10.

4. schrödinger’s relationship (platonic or romantic???? they dont know/elaborate)

so like. again, ottosubas friendship is super important to me and the basis for the love in their dynamic. it's how they define themselves too. and so schrodinger's relationship is like - they call each other friends they Are friends but theres not more definition other than that that they explicitly say. or - they may not even 100% know what their feelings on each other is, like they might be like oh hes my friend - and then, as it happens irl sometimes, have like a sort of situationship where they arent sure if theyre feelings on each other past that is fully platonic or romantic or what have you.

i think it's a really relatable take that id love to see more in fiction but also in ottosuba - its the default that i try to go to when i write them in a lot of my ottosuba fics where they just dont fully define their relationship past being Close Friends or theres like a loooot of confusion once they go to the core of their relationship. and i think arguably... Debatably... schrodingers relationship IS how otto's end of ottosuba goes. and arguably otto if ottosuba and stuff like gluttony if ottosuba does have the schrodingers relationship going a bit. i think with the schrodingers relationship take though subarus more firmly in the We're Friends end (but with subarus brand of unhinged codependency of course), though i dont think subaru would really dwell on it either or itd get Complicated for him too, but otto's like more confused from the get go. do i love subaru platonically or romantically? what counts as romantic? i know subaru is My Friend. but idk much else other than that. like i just Really Really Like Him and would do Anything for him. im just not gonna touch it other than him being my friend that i would do anything ever for and would like to spend the rest of my life with.

but subarus got a lot to deal with (and is prettyyy attracted to emijuli) and also otto "i could never date a woman she wouldnt be my first priority" suwen and otto "i have avoidant attachment lol" suwen who knows emisuba especially has a thing (and is an emisuba stan) wouldnt really try anything. dude just would never voice much of his feelings on subaru other than "you're my friend" and "i'm glad to have you back", partly bc otto wouldnt know much about his feelings other than that, partly bc otto would have a crisis about it if he touched it for too long and he already has a crisis about subaru’s hero complex. anyway 10/10 this is my favorite ottosuba take HAH. i like the tension of a fictional relationship being in stasis like this and i like how much you can read into it!! this feels to me like the canon basis for ottosuba as well that acknowledges all sides of it!! (their friendship, the unknown queer tension…)

5. it’s complicated (romantic)

this one is you know the one a lot of shippy ottosuba fancontent goes with - the straightforward but not straight romance. it's also the one that gets like brought up a few times in otto qnas - people asking if ottos subarus wife (the answer was no), people asking if ottos gay for subaru (the answer was not really, which is.... a little sus LMFAO). there's also a few other details that you could easily interpret as romantic in nature or at the very least Kinda Queer (otto clearly getting Some Kind of Crush on Subaru in arc 4, otto repeatedly bringing up subaru in his narration in his dialogue in his diary etc etc, the canon "otto is my side toy" arc 4 wn line, the canon "otto are you gay for roswaal lol dont come for me" arc 4 wn line, otto transphobia feeling a Bit too personal, remsuba parallels, otto if.. also those Two Times otto reaaaally sounded like he moaned subarus name in his sleep, etc).

i have written ottosuba romance before and gone a little into how sexual attraction might look there (also my otto bdsm posts exist...), though i do think that as an asexual person im gonna end up being asexual about my ottosuba writing too LMFAO. but also i personally enjoy a bit of asexuality a bit of aromanticism in my ottosuba because thats what i hc from otto for Reasons. but i do enjoy ottosuba romance a lot either way. i think in main route its definitely one sided and in otto if it is. Debatable. and gluttony if is very interestingly ottosuba-centric the Entire way through. like otto if’s subaru dreaming about otto naked and inviting subaru to bathe with him + repeated use of "partners" for ottosuba + remsuba parallels is Super Intriguing. also the. uhhhh boytoy stuff in main route is really really funny. but also the angst in possible otto’s never voiced unrequited crush on subaru is really interesting to me (also bc ottos just. Obsessed. with subaru.) but also the bittersweetness of it bc he does want emisuba to be happy and would 1000% be best man at their wedding. 8/10.

6. it’s complicated (romantic but Asexual)

this is what i default to when writing ottosuba romance even if its not super explicit in my own fics HAH. in my. ottosuba smut fic..... i was going with the intention of otto having a (demi)sexual awakening T^TT with a bit of demiromanticism T^T and otto asexuality + aromanticism is something i go into in a few other fic wips of mine though at the time of this post they are not done yet. i do hc otto as either demisexual - or simultaneously on three A spectrums at once HAH (aromanticism, asexuality, autism, the later of which Is canon), so that does kinda translate whenever i write him anyway even if ive never said it explicitly. anyway i like this take. im fond of it. 9/10.

7. it's complicated (Aromantic + Asexual)

NOW THIS IS DELICIOUSSS i do think theres something queer going on with ottosuba - otto's end of it specifically - but MANN aroace otto hits on a different level for me. i really really love exploration of aro and or ace relationships like this in media esp as an ace person - idk if im aro but i really really like aro stories and the exploration of aroace otto. firstly bc i think its funny that he has the aroace color palette in his design but secondly bc i think otto AT LEAST being asexual makes sense to me.

i think schrodinger's relationship would have to be like. the basis of all the romance tinged ottosuba takes in different ways. its the basis of platonic friends ottosuba too probably but its Gotta be the basis of (a)romantic ottosuba. queer relationships queer love is tough and i think for subaru it comes in more with like the guys hes Really attracted to - vincent, reinhard, julius, and of course subaru has his subaru typical issues but for subaru, otto's his best friend. otto is "simpler" for subaru to deal with. otto is dependable. (this of course will bite subaru in the ass later on in main route.) for otto i think though he has like. his autism comes into this, his slight attachment issues too, and then theres ottos shame (see: otto transphobia), but also genuinely i think otto needs to be close to people to develop any sort of romantic or sexual feelings if At All.

ottos main crush is like. a cat. that he was friends with as a child. and theres kind of not much mention of any other crushes except for like one (1) blink and you miss it human girl. which you could interpret in different ways probably (kid otto genuinely having a crush on the cat and the girl vs picking one of his friends or someone he just admired from afar and going “this must be a crush! normal people have crushes!”). tappei in qnas says spring (romance) wont come for otto which you can interpret in a number of ways (otto is gay for subaru? otto aromanticism? etc etc). and then theres otto saying he cant date someone bc she wouldnt be his first priority (a woman, bc otto has got that societal cisheteronormativity going on and that paired with his neurodivergence and anxiety is him trying very hard to be "normal"). of course you can chalk some of this up to otto's kinda self imposed slight-isolation too but genuinely otto to me reads like someone who feels like he needs to get married to a woman and have kids bc thats whats expected of him to do. thats the "right" thing to do. and he's not Supposed to dress up as a woman or like dressing up as a woman or approve of subaru doing that bc thats the "wrong" thing to do.

and otto of course going "im too busy rn for a relationship i got other shit to do" can be his slight avoidant attachment stuff too or him prioritizing subaru/emilia camp (and also otto genuinely prioritizing his career)... but yeah he does read to me like someone who isnt. Completely. Allosexual or Alloromantic. it's even easier for him to go "nah im not getting too close to people i dont want a romantic relationship rn" bc of that, i feel.

well also like i think the entanglement of ottos autism, aromanticism, asexuality, avoidant attachment and other struggles in his relationships in general is a really fascinating combo and it feels REAL. this is the kind of aroace rep i want in my life. its so complicated and nuanced and i Really Really Dig It.

also tappei says otto canonically has a type in woman and ironically all of those traits are traits subaru has HAH. so like. regardless of whats going on with ottos side of ottosuba i think its Really Complicated. i think that subaru is pretty oblivious to a lot of it. also bc otto would rather subaru not know about any of the details there. and also bc otto doesnt 100% Know what the hell hes feeling about subaru other than the fact that subarus his friend that he really loves. and again if otto looked at it too closely he’d start an alcoholism speedrun any %.

anyway. i really adore aroace otto. i think i mentioned in a past post that i like demisexual biromantic otto too i just never went into depth about my ace and/or aro hcs until now. but yes i really adore aroace ottosuba - even in otto if, otto is enthusiastic about shipping emisuba together LJDLFJDF which is both hilarious and really sweet and you could interpret it in different ways. you could interpret ottosuba in a lot of ways and aroace ottosuba in a lot of ways which makes it super fun for me!!!! a very solid 10/10.

[webtoon-related-tournaments]

Who's Nita?

nita is a goofball who's just a *tad* blood thirsty. she got sold to the blackmarket because she has healing abilities and then burnt the entire blackmarket headquarters down. shes (somewhat canonically? like. they never explicitly state it but everyone seems to be in agreement) in a qpr with a guy who eats pain to survive. she is still somehow the more insane out of the two of them.

Who's Pagoon?

His character summary says "A master sword fighter with a passion for heroics". Which he is. He is Siren's (deuteragonist) master and teaches him how to fight so he can protect himself in the open ocean. He's a powerful fighter. He has a mom who loves him very much. He is a swordfish boi

[damiansgrayson]

seeing your post about trans Robin had me blanking on wait which Robin had we been talking about before I realized it was about HIMYM but it DID make me curious - do you have any trans headcanons about the Robins of the Bat-variety? ;)

hahahaha, i absolutely love the confusion. i wouldn't say trans so much as trans umbrella, depending on your definition, and even still I only have strong feelings about my favorite acrobatic menace.

so tdlr; Dick Grayson is THE MOST genderfluid character in all of Gotham/Bludhaven and arguably DC. (i mean my sideblog title is literally "dick grayson gender envy"). case in point, the below panel:

(shh let me have this)

BUT that being said I'm feral about this boy so if anyone wants to read my very long collected thoughts and links I'm going to have to add a read more here

so this post by @batphobique summarizes all of this way better than i can, with canon panels, but I'll add my own little thoughts

personality-wise: the bird invented Eldest Daughter Syndrome, for one. Also, and while this is my opinion, there is a reason why his closest friendship (that's practically a qpr in some storylines) is with an Amazon like Donna. Dick is one of the few 'men' allowed into Themyscira, largely unsupervised, like seen here during Donna's funeral:

external presentation with the disclaimer that of course anyone of any gender or lack there of can present however, we're just going with a male character historically written by cishet men:

speaking of donna, who he canonically shares clothes with ignoring gender difference:

his insane ability to pull off long hair when it's not tied back:

There's the discowing suit that at least for the era was probably the 'sluttiest' male uniform in the universe at the time? look at that cleavage!! + his infamous booty that even cishet men get mad about if drawn incorrectly

everyone say ty nicola scott:

the way he can sit like a lady and yet man-spread the next in one scene:

the truly unnecessary dramatic gay need to stand like this:

or to fall like this:

other miscellaneous vibes: His most current Nightwing run features a few covers in trans flag colors 1/2, and additionally he's generally featured in DC Pride on Variant covers for no explicitly stated reason??

and while I do prefer to hc him as genderfluid, there is the hilarity of an ftm man going by the name Dick. (also see: BOY wonder)

[aurorasannoji]

Introooo! ^o^

𝓜𝓲𝓴𝓪 | Adult | any pronouns but she/her

PLEASE READ THE BYI AND DNI SECTIONS!!

Hello! I’m Mika!

You can use any pronouns for me expect for she/her, but I prefer they/them :)

Interests 

Sonic 

DRA/SDRA2, I also enjoy 

OC x Canon + Selfshipping 

BYI

I have Autism, ADHD and BPD, so please use tone indicators when possible!

Also, because of past experiences, if you tease me or anything like that, I will automatically assume that you’re bullying me, so please specify.

Ships with any version of Mikado Sannoji make me VERY uncomfy, so please don’t mention these around me. They're massive triggers for my abandonment issues and shit. Especially selfshipping doubles.

Please tag these with "Mika don't look" if possible

DNI

Basic (Bigots, pedos, etc)

If you take part in any form of cringe culture

If you have Mikado Sannoji as a romantic or qpr F/O

Ig I'll include simps of him too (only if you're weird about it though)

About my OC x Canon (added 20th July)

I have used this as a coping mechanism since I was very young. I just didn't talk about it until recently because of cringe culture and bullying in the past

(IRLKado too :D)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚Since April 2020

from @/Voidtheater and @/sweetpeauserboxes.

For my own self-indulgent purposes, AI Mikado will be depicted as a human in any AUs with him that aren't the Killing Game one.

I love Nerdkado and AIkado equally, even if I talk more about AIkado

Even though it's not explicitly stated in the game, he is an adult and 20+. 

All posts relating to this ship will be tagged with #Aurorakado and/or #Aurora Sannoji

Also me gushing over Mikado will be tagged with #Mikadoposting 🎩

[feisaru]

Oooooo may I ask about 🫂 and 🎭 headcanons for Fei please?!

And if you're still up for more, than 👗 and 🧸 headcanons for Saru please and thank you! uwu///

Thank you so much for the ask! Sorry this took so long, I had to think about it

🫂: a hc about friendship

WHOA buckle up this one's a tad bit personal. Him and Saru have been in a "friendship" until they were around 20 years old. Maybe they updated the label to "BEST friends" once, but that was the peak of it (still was a huge step for Saru) (and this made me remember a really bad shitpost scenario ft. my OC). That's when Saru went "haha if it weren't for him, I would be dead by now, might as well just-" and pulled his head out of his ass (this means "stopped being a coward" for those who don't know) and really said "I love you" for the first time without beating about the bush (The reason Fei didn't feel the need to confess before Saru is a topic for another time but here's a hint: it was not because he was afraid of rejection). The thing is, by that point they had been kissing (and everything else basically) in high frequency for a few years already. Most things you'd think are a couple thing, they probably had done already. Their Something, as I like to call it bc that's how Saru started thinking about it one day as well, just had no real label beyond friends (which to Saru is already a special thing, anyway). And they didn't even really feel the need to label it. It was beyond categorization. Their special Something. I'm relatively new to this label in particular, but I guess this goes in the direction of the QPR domain (label that's v dear to me also). Yeah so turning their weird little beautiful Something into an official relationship was in and of itself just a matter of formalities. Quite literally almost nothing changed after they became official partners. But they sure do enjoy telling each other they love each other from that point on. (This makes me wanna reread the other times I've talked about this... damn)

Okay all jokes aside, the real hc was, Zanark and Fei actually get on pretty well. Fei gets on with a lot of people, sure, but Zanark is not so into being friends with everyone and he likes Fei a lot. He thinks Fei is amazing for still being the way he is, for not caving in and letting all that happened weigh him down forever although life has evidently dealt him a bad hand. But he also thinks Fei should most definitely not be shouldering all the burden by himself. I and a friend of mine agreed that it would have been nice if Fei had gotten to structure his thoughts in a more personal talk with someone before the final match. You know, unpacked a bit about Everything that was racing through his head, stated his motivations to someone, made up his mind on some stuff. More explicitly and in more depth and length than canon allowed him to. And even tho Zanark is no expert at comforting, we both thought that Zanark would have liked to check up on him. And Fei would have not had such a hard time explaining some things to him because they are from the same time etc etc. So we roleplayed something that you can imagine as a scene that happened off-screen. It was very very nice I loved that

🎭: a hc about what they lie about

Hard one. Fei doesn't lie a lot. He really sucks at that, as Saru mentioned once. He downplays things or avoids talking about certain topics altogether instead. So even if that's technically cheating, I'll tell you about that instead. He has a tendency to downplay his own feelings and needs. He wants to look after everything and everyone as much as he can and he forgets that he deserves breaks and somebody looking after him too.

👗: a hc about their clothing style

HHHH lotta thoughts on this one actually. But I'mma control myself. Saru is half This Guy Has No Fashion Sense, half Extra. He only knows how to dress when he really wants to. He's gender non-conforming about it. The harder you tell him he shouldn't wear this or that, the harder he wears it. Because he runs on spite. He will wear it because he can, fuck your whole life heteronormativity. He has overly specific kinds of clothes that he feels good in. He loves wearing heels because he is like the dog on the counter that likes feeling Tall.

Okay, so I don't get carried away any more, here's sth more specific: in his generally tad bit less bold first 3-5 years post-CS, he always found himself returning to oversized hoodies and pullovers. There was a rather simple black one that he wore often.

🧸: a hc about their childhood

Hah this one's hard... because these are the thoughts I really only speak about once in a blue moon, even privately with the people closer to me. Let me try and find something that won't feel so exposing (for lack of a better word) in my head.

Once again a beta hc that may change in the future: I like to think that similarly to Fei's rabbit, he once owned a monkey plush. Basically from birth on. I have not yet made up my mind about what exactly happened to it, but whichever was its fate, it wasn't good. Saru quickly grew to be not very fond of it because of who he got it from and what it stood for, to lightly put it. The plush has experienced his beginner attempts at externalizing his inner pain.

Ask game from which this is from

[bees-nest]

probably controversial opinion about the g.ood o.mens l.eak

[Post-rant edit: To be clear, I am not saying it would be an objectively bad thing. I'm just saying it would make me feel bad.]

I know how it sounds, but man, if they really do get together romantically in season 2, i will be... "Devastated" is too strong a word, but. It'll hurt.

And there is still a part of me that also goes "omfg, that would be AMAZING!! That would be HUGE!!!" And yeah it would be, but i'd still have very conflicting feelings about it because

This is, like, my one (1) (singular) (sole) (solitary) mainstream example of [what is arguably-] a QPR that I can think of. And even though I've never been actively in the fandom, I've always held go.mens close to my heart because of that. I know the fact that n.eil insists it's not canon that they're romantically together can seem homophobic (from what I've seen, it seems to me that he's just respectfully saying "that is not what we put in the book/series, and I don't do 'word-of-god' statements." But there is certainly lots I haven't seen), but it has always felt incredibly validating to me. Like, it's nice to see that he's "on my side" about relationships not needing to be romantic to be deeply significant

I know it's not a logical reaction, but I would feel so cast aside if the characters actually had an on-screen, explicitly romantic relationship. Bc what I had held so dearly for so long as sorely-needed representation for myself was actually just a lead-up to something else entirely, because once again, the romance is seen as a deeper, more important stage of the relationship, for which the platonic part was just a stepping stone. Only significant because it leads to the romance.

And I'm using "representation" lightly here... I know it's highly arguable since it's not stated in canon. But I feel strongly enough to make this post because-

I've seen multiple people now say something to the effect of, "I know there are ace/aro people who care about the characters' platonic relationship because they see themselves in it, but if the average straight person can't tell it's queer, then..."

And I can't get that out of my head tonight... Why is the average [allo]straight person's opinion at all relevant to the value our representation holds? Why is it our problem if the general public doesn't know about us? If the romantic relationship does happen, I doubt there will be a point in the show where someone says "btw this relationship here is Gay, it is a Gay relationship with Gay people in it." And people watching will still understand what they're seeing because they have knowledge of gay relationships in the real world...

And what I'm saying is, I don't think lesser-known identities/orientations should necessarily have to have a moment like that in order to be valid representation. I don't think a show featuring a QPR should necessarily have to have a moment with "btw this relationship is Queer, it is a Queer relationship with Aromantic people in it" because I don't think the average allo person's opinion is necessarily a very important factor in this equation. Like... We, too, should be able to have representation that doesn't necessarily serve an educational purpose for outsiders.

Like if you tell someone go.mens features a queer relationship and their response is to be patronizing (a complaint I also saw), that's not an issue with the show, that's an issue with the asshole you're talking to.

Idk. I think I'm kinda talking in circles. I should probably block the go.mens tag.

[noa-ciharu]

F, I

F - what's the longest you've ever been in fandom?

I think around 3-3.5 years. It was KHR fandom, I think I was 12-15.5 back then. But clamp fandom would probs be my longest since I'm at around 3 years now

I - has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so which and why?

Yes and that's actually why I prefer non popular fandoms. I used to be in naruto fandom, more specifically sns ship subfandom and I lasted there for couple months before I actually started disliking the ship. Solely based on association with how vile fandom was.

Countless shipwars, top vs bottom discourses in holy year of 2022, attacking other ships, making analysis posts full of bias and mental gymnastic, countless antis (look, I don't even ship naruhina or sasusaku, but the hate those ships got under pretense of "criticism" created negative energy in fandom; ffs some sns shippers use sasusaku as a slur :/), attacking artits and fanfic writers within fandom for bs, demanding everything is IC and making callout posts for anyone interpreting characters in OOC way and so on.

Last straw for me was when I saw some anon being attacked for saying they personally see nothing romantic between sasuke and naruto but get why people ship them. I sort of tried to defend that person by saying "hey, ship isn't explicitly stated as canon, it's up for interpretation and someone seeing it as platonic or QPR isn't necessarily a homophobe or ass too deep in their heteronormative mindset" - and OP wrote few k long post how I lack critical thinking ability, am causing oppression for gay men irl (hello???), may not be homophobic but should reevaluate why I don't see sns as romantic and basically told me I have my ass too deep in heteronormativity if I can't see "uwu best love story ever written"

So yes, I was so done with sns fandom after that. I doubt other parts of naruto fandom are any better tbh.

Beside that cursed fandom I tend to avoid bsd fandom nowadays since it's swamped by younger fans, more precisely tiktokers. I liked it back in 2016-2017 when it was less popular, but fandom got too fluffy, shipy and dictating for my liking. Also the way characters get misinterpreted makes me cringe so much

[celtrist]

I cannot. Stress enough just HOW MUCH I relate to this statement. I enjoy some Alastor ships (and heavily dislike some but thats sorta normal in fandoms), even if not my preferred type of relationship depictions. I also enjoy going the route of Alastor being someone not at all interested in romantic or sexual relations. But I ENJOY both. And I think shipping Alastor has it's place in fanon.

However, like OP said, there's SO MANY PEOPLE. Who make ship art of Alastor and just toss the aroace identity out the window. And yeah, it does not feel great. A character's worth in fandom is how shippable are they for the most part, and a character having a canon orientation that directly GOES AGAINST THIS while also being the fan favorite is pretty hard to swallow for some. Personally, it's never the shipping itself that bothers me as much as the people who do the shipping with Alastor.

And I mean, for the most part I only have vibes to go off of, but those vibes are typically not great I'll say. Which again, that's just my personal view of it and it's not like it's only people who aren't aroace that ship Alastor that I have this problem with (but the person I'm thinking about does a ship I really don't like and is going by their own relationships as an aroace person. So not sure how much that counts y'know?)

It's more that a character just is never allowed to not be interested in romance or even sex. A character can not be not interested in being intimate. Again, it's not the shipping itself, and it's not the shippers by themselves. It's that the fandom consistently ignores and honestly barely celebrates Alastor’s aroace identity, more the aro part than the ace part.

And while true, somethings people say really sound like they're trying to make it seem like "well it's totally possible for him to get with someone because it's a spectrum". Again, true, but it feels like it's uses as a less genuine reason sometimes and more like an excuse or desperation for the possibility of it being canon (this isn't everyone of course, it's just how it reads sometimes)

And the aro part, yeah it's a bit dubious as I don't think it was ever explicitly stated and if it was it was in past streams. But by the same token, Husk being pan was confirmed in old streams too and there's no question from anyone that that's his canon orientation. In addition, there's still a lot of things that do imply Alastor's romantic orientation being aromantic (like Rosie's comment about Charlie reads as her suggesting their dating not having sex. And referring to Alastor as "ace" might've been using the term as a catch all of aroace as it's often used that way). Again, it's not wrong, but people will more often remind others that Alastor was not confirmed as aro but no correction on him not being confirmed as homoromantic. Or at the least, they just really don't want to take the implications into account. Which again, fair, it's all only implied, but it certainly reads as "deer can't be aro". (As a side note, I cannot stress enough that there's nothing wrong with shipping Al but personally, the fact that one of the most popular ships involves an aroace character and it's rarely in a qpr light [which not a fan of referring a qpr as a ship but I digress and is a personal take], it kinda lowkey feels like if the most popular ship in the fandom was a canonically gay character in a straight relationship if you get what I mean there. Like if a ship like Angel/Vaggie was in the top three ships. There's nothing wrong with it, there is just a level of "hmmm" there for me. But hey, maybe I would change my tune if an actual alastor ship I liked got popular lol)

TL;DR I think shipping Alastor has it's place in fanon and is something I enjoy along with Alastor being purely aroace with no room for romance. There's just a lot of shippers who aren't aroace who seems to throw away or really wanna ignore this aspect of Alastor’s character that's really disheartening. Both aspects of his aroace identity is pushed aside, put into question of authenticity, and is rarely acknowledged or celebrated in the fandom. Hopefully you get what I mean, suck at explaining myself sometimes. And I don't know if OP necessarily agrees with me, but I certainly understand being someone who identifies as aroace (at least currently) and enjoy shipping Alastor while also feeling icky when I see other people ship him sometimes. And we obviously don't need shippers making daily announcements saying "hey I think aroace Al is fin" obviously. People are gonna focus on what they're having fun with the most and that's fair. But an occasional acknowledgment to the identity or a little more love give to aroace Alastor week or whatever it's called in the same level or at least closer level to the ship weeks he has would be nice. Not necessary obviously, and I'm content with the thought that at least the ships aren't really ever gonna be canon (hopefully), but it would be nice.

No hate to anyone, can't stress that enough. I ship Alastor too, it's not like I don't. It just reads like most people would really prefer him not to be aroace so ships can happen and they use workarounds to justify it possibly happening in canon. If you're aroace and uncomfortable with Al ships, you're valid. And if you aren't aroace and still enjoy shipping Alastor too, I'm not gonna say you're invalid for having fun. It's just as OP said, sometimes it feels icky when people toss the aroace identity out the window.

As an aroace person, it's so hard being a Hazbin hotel fan who loves most of the Alastor ships, because on the one hand, people are constantly complaining about how you can't ship him with anyone because he's aroace, which is just untrue, especially since Viv herself said to we can ship whatever we want, let me enjoy my representation how I want, but on the other hand most of the people who make content for Alastor ships aren't aroace and just completely ignore that part of his identity when making ship content, and it is so icky. It's such a struggle, like I just want accurate aroace ship content without being belittled, is that too much to ask 😭😭

[directlyat-thesun-moved]

Yelena Belova is canonically aroace btw

Yep. Knew it. Can’t publish 7 bishova ficlets without one of you guys coming in to give me a stern talking-to. I actually think I know who you are (not naming names though). I just want to say that there are many explanations for Yelena being in a relationship with Kate. (Important points are in purple if you don’t want to read all I have to say.)

I think this is the most important thing to remember, personally: the comics are separate from the mcu. Take Wanda Maximoff, for example: a Jewish Romani woman in the comics and a fucking WASP played by L*zzie Ols*n in the mcu, and they went as far as putting crucifixes over her bed in the Avengers compound. I am writing fanfiction about Yelena Belova as she is portrayed in the mcu by Florence Pugh dating Kate Bishop as she is portrayed in the mcu by Hailee Steinfeld. I think what aroace Yelena truthers also tend to forget is that Kate in the comics is canonically straight (and she has explicitly said that), which is why I’m not writing fanfiction about Kate from the comics, I’m writing it about Kate from the mcu, where there are only a few characters who have a canon/confirmed sexuality, and neither Kate nor Yelena are part of that group.

If you, anon, are who I think you are, you are ace yourself, so I’m surprised that you’ve forgotten about tertiary attraction. For those who don’t know, tertiary attraction is attraction that isn’t romantic or sexual, including alterous attraction, which is the desire for emotional closeness and often results in an aroace person getting into a QPR (queer-platonic relationship, meaning neither sexual, romantic, or platonic). In my ficlets, I have never explicitly defined Kate and Yelena’s relationship. It can be romantic or not. That is up to your interpretation only. The only way I’ve explained their relationship is that they’re girlfriends. I have also never explicitly stated that Yelena is romantically attracted to Kate (or, while we’re at it, that Kate is romantically attracted to Yelena). Besides, aro people can even be in romantic relationships if they want, without feeling attraction. To summarize: Yelena could easily be in a QPR with Kate, it’s your interpretation of my writing.

Thank you for reading, have a nice day, and if you still can’t be civil about the fact that I’m not writing yelena in a romantic relationship and yelena isn’t canon mcu aroace anyway, you can just leave. I don’t actually want to interact with you.

[ranboo5]

whats 'the clip' and knifetrick?

Augh. Under the cut for shipping discourse and p/dophilia ment (nothing graphic or specific). Gets long bc I discuss my thoughts on DSMP shipping in general. You are setting me up fr anon

Some quick vocab -

intimacy here is used to refer to. Well. Any kind of intimacy between characters, of any sort, as an umbrella term /r, /p, and /qp here are used as shorteners to denote "romantic," "platonic," and "queerplatonic," both as adjectives And as verbs ("to /r" = "to portray romantically") shipping here is used to refer to any focused examination of intimacy between characters

And some clarity that Should follow from the essay next but may not - """anti-antis"""" and RPF writers delete forever

The Clip is from one of if not the? most recent Discord stage(s) Mr Live has done (which I missed when it was live RIP) wherein he issues a hard ban on shipping him ("do not ship me, in any way, with anyone!") which would less influence c!beeduo (which has been portrayed/stated to be romantic AND nonromantic both conflictingly for a while until being confirmed unconfirmed several months ago, that being the last was heard) without its direct invocation if he hadn't also cited for the reason as being underage ("'Cause, one, it's straight up pedophilia") which is! a) immediately applicable to At Least his DSMP character, Partially and b) while not Strictly True (should b obvious that portraying a relationship within the bounds of what it is in canon and in a nonsexual way is not That, and /r-ing c!beeduo etc was possible to do Appropriately again by remaining w/in the bounds of canon) is Clearly Indicative of the fact that baggage-wise it IS associated with people being fucking creeps

This Really complicates things bc like okay the apparent solution is "lol just don't /r it" but it's really like. A Worse issue than that bc like.

Okay the reason shipping in terms of fictional characters is a Different Bar is bc it's an examination of Intimacy and certain lines exist in certain dynamics of intimacy that Isn't Shown (which is the whole Within The Bounds Of Canon thing) which is important in a medium like DSMP because of the smaller gap + more personal relationship b/w character and streamer. Examining intimacy beyond th bounds of the consent that has been established in that regard is Weird at best and Violating And Creepy more often and, As Mentioned In Ranb's Stage, Literally Evil at worst

Which is why writing abt like. QPR or platonically intimate Techno and Philza (characters) is smth that is fine because that's smth that has been shown and repeatedly stated onscreen; it's in the bounds of canon n thus within th bounds of what the streamers've consented 2 be done with their characters. But writing T3chza making out or whatever is fucked up because it's smth that's beyond those consent barriers

And the thing is right

Slapping a /p on T3chza makeout doesn't. Make it less violating

Like what you CALL romantic is not the measure or whether it's past those barriers yk? And if it's indistinguishable, if it's in extrapolative territory that is Past The Bounds, it Does Not Matter how much you /p it EVEN IF IT IS TECHNICALLY PLATONIC y feel? Like at the end of the day placing a moratorium on some/all forms of shipping is placing a moratorium on certain examinings of intimacy

And okay 2 go back to Mr Live and his character. What it implies taken in context w/ older portrayals of c!beeduo and said by invoking smth that both evokes Really fucked up baggage (that does unfortunately exist btw I'm sorry if you didn't know that but People Really Do B Fucked Up Abt Beeduo) AND applies to his character is a revocation of consent to examining deep intimacies:tm: with his character, which is gonna apply regardless of the nature of that intimacy (even if nonromantic)

Like I don't /r c!beeduo myself, do not, never have, but I talk to people who have and have consumed content where they r background /r; I also don't think it matters. Like I don't Actively /r it and I don't Actively Not /r it because imho w/ the intimacy regarding c!beeduo that is plot relevant and character important whether that intimacy is /p /qp or /r doesn't really matter. I don't consider myself Less of a c!beeduo shipper than someone who /rs them because that would be dumb as hell and while none of the content I've made* is Intrinsically or Intentionally /r it certainly can be read tht way as much as it can be read /qp or /p. It's be dumb and hypocritical of me to like, dunk on ppl for /r-ing c!beeduo when I'm also invested in these two and my tonetags r not gonna suddenly Delete the picking apart I've done of the dynamic @ hand

Which Has Been. Within Bounds Of Canon. It's been what's been shown (sometimes to my great distress. There is a reason that the :canon_beeduo: emote looks the way it does) Directly Onscreen and in general keeping with the tone n intensity/directions of what they've Done With The Characters

HOWEVER

As mentioned up there. Revocation of consent

It makes. Full sense 2 me that Mr Live wants to place a moratorium or fullon ban on shipping his characters perhaps where he wouldn't have before because of the Unfortunately Very Extant trends of people being Fucking Weird about shipping his characters AND of using them as a Thinly Veiled Excuse to ship HIM, which. I should not have to explain why shipping real people is fucking abhorrent

THIS creates a problem which is a. Bit of a vacuum in interacting with what is a facet of c!Ranboo's arc, decision making, and character. Like you CAN have c!Ranboo w/o cbeeduo but you Can't Really have his plotline without examining c!beeduo. And as I mentioned earlier: even if your examination of c!beeduo is fully platonic, the significance of it To the plotline means that any examination of it and its relevance to the plotline and characters IS gonna be an examination of intimacy, which. Regardless of it's platonic, Is Still Shipping

Unless some HARD retconning happens it leaves this like. Hole in an aspect of c!Ranboo's arc and decisionmaking and it's very. Uncertain? God. Fucking months ago I was already kind of :huh. Does he know what the fuck he's doing: irt c!beeduo and desperately wishing for things to be cleared up and now it's only That Much Stronger

NOW. KNIFETRICK, FINALLY

Knifetrick (or, as it’s actually listed, Bishop’s Knife Trick) is a fic about "Ran and Jackie from The Pit TFTSMP" in a "canon-typical ambiguously romantic relationship." As you can tell from the scare quotes, especially if you've seen me vague, both of these are, to put it politely, Doubtful. I've read the fic; I will not be sharing my opinions because that would be neither productive nor responsible (I will just say I can't recommend it and leave it at that) but I WILL say the following that Is relevant to the conversation:

Ran's and Jackie's characterizations respectively have very little to do with characterizations from The Pit, and bear a dollar-store-version resemblance to tropes and personality motifs found in ESPECIALLY fanon c!beeduo, especially later in the fic. I would not go so far as to say they are Intentionally Literally Ranboo and Tubbo but they are transparent expies and were clearly written at LEAST unintentionally w/ c!beeduo in mind (esp since. Ran and Jackie barely interacted in The Pit), and for a readerbase that, as far as I can tell, is HUGELY dominated by /r c!beeduo shippers. Like. Sorry. This is off-brand c!beeduo.

The dynamic between the two is pretty unambiguously romantic, also; despite what the fic's white knights claim, romantic tropes and implications/motifs/imagery from at LEAST chapter two, and is very much explicitly romantic by the most recent chapter.

FROM CH1:

"And now, with raised eyebrows and a pursed lip, the newly named General Jackie observes Ran in such a way that makes the enderman’s skin crawl. Ran reminds himself that this kid, as short and harmless as he may look, is trained to kill. [...] Jackie narrows his eyes and tilts his head a little, as if he’s trying to read in between every one of Ran’s imperfect scales."

FROM CH2:

"It makes Ran’s skin itch with discomfort. [...] 'That actually doesn’t explain much of anything at all,' complains Jackie, and he pops a few croutons into his mouth with one hand. 'Tell me what you’re thinking, pretty-boy.'

"Ran feels his face flush, no doubt mildly glowing green.

"Yes, that was the other thing. The unnecessary compliments to his physical appearance.

"They don’t happen very often, and don’t seem to have very much meaning or intention behind them— Jackie often speaks like an unthinking kid— but when they do happen… they’re embarrassing. [...] It’s annoying how the rug is pulled out from under his feet in these moments when he’s 'embarrassed'. Like the conversation see-saw has temporarily shifted weight in the general’s favor."

I am not going to include excerpts from Chapter 6 because it's just the entire chapter.

I WILL SAY, HOWEVER, STEPPING ON THIS SCORPION BEFORE IT STINGS: they are not written in an RPFy manner and I don't think there's any grounds, including Vibes, of accusing Knifetrick of being like. Closet truthing or whatever. Also, while I think there's certainly Some Weirdness ESPECIALLY around the reaction, the romance itself is Not written in any way I'd call weird or problematic pre-clip; it's nothing inappropriate or like Weirdly Fetishy or whatever. Knifetrick is not #problematic or anything and I don't have beef with like the concept of liking it intrinsically; if I thought it was like. Abhorrent I wouldn't be sharing excerpts lmao dhjfnhdsbvdnfjh. Hence: if anyone uses this post or anyth like it to send harassment or bad faith ANYTHING to anyone involved with Knifetrick I will hunt you down in the fucking night even if it WAS #problematic that'd be the LITERAL OPPOSITE of productive and as it stands it's Literally Not. Essentially: Knifetrick is a (questionably-written /mean) fic using Ran and Jackie from The Pit as a vessel for a large chunk of the dynamics and headcanons of fanon /r c!beeduo in particular

And again, I would not call it problematic in any way (aside from the disingenuity of the insistence that it's TOTALLY UNRELATED TO BEEDUO and TOOOTALLY WASN'T INTENDED TO BE ROMANTIC GUYS like own your shit please)... IF it weren't for the advent of The Clip, which is calling in2 question the Entirety of the problem of /r-ing any variant of c!beeduo or any of Ranboo's characters at all

I really do not have an answer for this tbh. I genuinely wanna hear from the streamer on this more specifically because I like,,, I got no clue where 2 go from here? Do I just consider an arc retconned? Was it an issue of speaking abt a troubling subject kneejerk wise and I'm reading too much in2 it?

I just. I dunno

Tl;dr (AT LONG LAST)

- The Clip is a clip of a Discord stage where Ranboo (streamer) loudly explicitly decried shipping in a way that implicitly applies to characters he plays - This would be all well and good but is rendered complicated by the plot relevance of c!beeduo, which does not stop being shipping if it's /p'd due to it still necessarily being an examination of a particular intimacy in a way that is in canon hard to distinguish the /p, /qp, or /r nature of - Bishop's Knife Trick is an AO3 fic centered around using TFTSMP characters as /r c!beeduo expies which is not a bad thing in and of itself unless it also is covered under this moratorium - Things remain unclear until and unless we get clearer word from streamer, but considering Mr Live seems to be allergic to clarifying anything abt c!beeduo this is doubtful

*very little if any of the content I personally have made 4 c!beeduo has been posted publicly, for related reasons. You May have seen it if you're in servers w/ me, depending on Which Ones

[novaliae]

hey mcytblr (and by mcytblr i mean my two followers who like mcyt), let’s talk about aphobia

recently aphobia has been rearing its ugly head on mcyttwt and elsewhere in the fandom. it started with this clip of phil responding to a dono about whether he’s okay with fans headcanoning c!phil and c!techno as a qpr (queerplatonic relationship). transcript of the clip:

dono: are you okay with people portraying you and techno’s characters as qprs? qprs are platonic life partners. it’s an argument in the fandom.

phil, over the last sentence of the dono: i don’t give a shit. i—i just don’t give a shit.  it’s headcanons; it’s not real.

(it’s my first time doing transcripts of things so i hope i did it right)

unfortunately, this led to problematic shippers claiming their romantic headcanons or fancontent was actually a qpr. the most blatant include a tweet from a t*chza artist depicting phil and techno kissing with the caption “besties” and replies full of people mocking qprs (ie qrting the art and adding “i love queerplatonic relationships”). the implications, of course, are that people who hc c!phil and c!techno or any other duo in a qpr are just closet problematic shippers, and that qprs don’t exist by extension. and naturally, twitter being twitter, this has spiraled into a whole lot of “aphobia doesn’t exist” and “aces/aros aren’t oppressed” and a bunch of other all-around nastiness/anti-ace sentiment.

let’s unpack this.

first of all, what is aphobia, and what are qprs? if you haven’t heard of it before, aphobia is the discrimination against or invalidation of people on the aromantic or asexual spectrums. people on these spectrums do not experience romantic/physical attraction or may only do so only in certain circumstances. this means that aspec people often do not end up in a “traditional” romantic partnership, especially if they identify as aroace (both aromantic and asexual; aroaces experience little to no sexual and romantic attraction). aspec people will sometimes instead be in a queerplatonic relationship. a queerplatonic partner, or qpp, is most often described as a platonic soulmate/platonic life partner, and is someone with whom you form an intense emotional bond (something beyond traditional friendship) that is inherently nonsexual and nonromantic. the most common dsmp fandom interpretations of queerplatonic relationships are c!beeduo, who are platonically married in canon, and c!emeraldduo, who are the subject of the dono phil received.

ace and aro people are constantly invalidated and forced to justify their ace/aro-ness. we hear all the time that being aspec isn’t really a thing or that we’re confused and don’t know what we actually feel. by implicitly stating that qprs are not legitimate or that they’re romantic relationships in disguise, aphobes a) imply that ace or aro people with queerplatonic partners are actually in a romantic relationship but won’t label it like that because of stubbornness/stupidity/lack of understanding, and b) push the notion that deep and lasting connections cannot exist beyond romantic/sexual partnerships. which. is absolute bullshit and blatant aphobia.

cuddling, holding hands, and kissing on the cheek/forehead (behaviors often part of queerplatonic relationships) are not inherently sexual/romantic. let me say this again for the aphobes in the back. cuddling, holding hands, and kissing on the cheek/forehead are not inherently sexual/romantic behaviors. they are things that sexual/romantic couples may do, but they can also be integral parts of relationships that aren’t based around that sort of thing, like friends and families and yes, queerplatonic partnerships. when fans create art of qpps holding hands or fics where they cuddle and bump foreheads, they are not meant to be interpreted as shipping. i know i’ve said these words so much they’ve stop sounding like actual things, but implying otherwise is amatonormative and is aphobic.

by writing off all queerplatonic partnerships as shipping, or hell, even close platonic ones that aren’t explicitly labeled as queerplatonic, you are erasing a massive facet of the ace community while continuing to conform to an incredibly rigid and liner mindset about what attraction is/isn’t. nothing is more invalidating to an ace or aro person than claiming something they do is sexual/romantic when it clearly isn’t meant to be interpreted that way. we have made it clear that what we feel (or don’t feel), and you are blatantly ignoring that. you are repeating the same old tired stereotype that aspec people do not really exist and we’re only confused or too afraid to confront our “actual sexualities.” stop sexualizing queerplatonic relationships or turning them into something they’re not. qprs are not the next “just gals being pals,” they’re just aspec people trying to exist and sick of having to constantly justify their existence.

i could do a whole other post about exclusionist arguments i saw in some of the tweet’s replies like “aspec people aren’t really oppressed” and “aphobia doesn’t exist,” and maybe i will later on, but this is primarily about the general mockery made of qprs on twitter.

stop belittling ace people. stop mocking qprs. i am sick and tired of the aphobia/amatonormativity in this fandom. let’s be better than this.

please reblog and raise awareness!

[nitroish]

3, 12, and 14?

3 was answered here !! <3

12. what headcanon will you keep implementing in your fics, even if canon ends up contradicting it?

uhhhh many :) trans legend for one, though its never explicitly stated in any of my writing. ravio and legend? yea they are gay. qprs abound, that shit is so good. thats just a few tho!

14. what trope would you refuse to write even if you were paid to do it?

hm. mmm anything that makes me mentally unwell lol HSDFGHDFG major character death (although not rly a Trope, maybe?) probably is one of the things i wont write ever!

[webtoon-related-tournaments]

Who's Nita?

nita is a goofball who's just a *tad* blood thirsty. she got sold to the blackmarket because she has healing abilities and then burnt the entire blackmarket headquarters down. shes (somewhat canonically? like. they never explicitly state it but everyone seems to be in agreement) in a qpr with a guy who eats pain to survive. she is still somehow the more insane out of the two of them.

Who's Simon?

Simon is the younger sibling of the protagonist Uri and one of the main characters of Watermelon. When first introduced is very young and taken care of by their older sister while houseless and orphaned. Simon at this age is commonly taken pity on and given food, but on a day where they are not given any, they learn about stealing from a stranger, and begin to steal to survive. As time goes on they become very defensive of their older sister, as she is a Labiah, which are commonly discriminated against. At 11 Simon looses an eye during a fight with a man they stole from for saying nasty things about Labiah. Soon after it comes to light Simon is sick, if i remember correctly with a chronic illness inherited from their mother. Through a series of events Uri learns to make medicine for Simon, but Simon separates from her for the majority of Simon's teen years leading to them being on opposite sides as young adult/late teen. (Did my best not to spoil events in middle/more recent updates)

[pigstepping]

Some thoughts on the ethics of "QPR shipping" from someone in a QPR

(I wanna start a discussion on this, because I haven't been able to find any sense of community consensus on norms for QPR boundaries in the Dream SMP fandom. Please chime in if you're inclined!)

When a content creator sets a boundary about shipping, they almost never clarify whether they specifically mean romantic shipping. But I think we can assume that's what they mean in almost all cases because frankly, I doubt most of the DSMP creators are educated enough about fan culture/queer culture to understand that other types of shipping exist.

However, I see a lot of people use this argument as a blanket justification for any type of shipping that isn't explicitly stated by the fan creator to be romantic. There's this attitude that if you slap a platonic label on it, you have carte blanche to portray any sort of interaction without fear of violating a boundary. In queer spaces, that might be accurate- queerplatonic relationships are by nature built around dismantling the delineation between platonic and romantic relationship expectations, and there are plenty of QPPs who share a bed, hold hands, kiss, cohabitate, get married, or even have sex, all while maintaining a purely platonic relationship.

But when it comes to cc boundaries, we have to remember that most content creators have no vocabulary for understanding or expressing that nuance. It seems likely to me that when a cc says "no shipping", meaning no romantic shipping, what they actually mean is closer to "no romantically coded or sexual intimacy". I suspect that if more cc's knew there was such a thing as platonic marriage, for example, then they might set boundaries around specific behaviors rather than broad relationship dynamics.

There are also arguments to be made for opt-in vs opt-out shipping ethics, and your stance on QPR shipping will likely vary depending on which view you ascribe to. If you're a firm believer that RPF shipping requires explicit consent from the subjects, then you might think QPR shipping should be entirely off-limits because no cc has explicitly given us permission for it. If, on the other hand, you think that RPF shipping is a-okay unless stated otherwise, you might see no issue writing strongly romance-coded QPRs even for cc's who dislike romantic shipping, because all the cc specified was "no romance."

Personally, I think the most important thing is interpreting and honoring the intention of the boundary as best we can. Most cc's I see who set boundaries against shipping tend to do so because they see no distinction between themselves and the character they portray. So, in the interest of honoring the "spirit" of their boundaries rather than the imprecise language they use to set those boundaries, I think best practice should be to avoid writing cc's or their characters engaging in relationship behaviors we think they'd be uncomfortable with IRL. The exception to this would be dynamics and headcanons the creator has explicitly greenlit, such as queer headcanons, family dynamic headcanons, etc, as well as behaviors that are explicitly present in canon. (A key example of this is the beeduo marriage.)

I recognize that this is an unsatisfying solution, because it leaves us with so much room for interpretation. If a cc hasn't explicitly greenlit handholding, for instance, then it's up to the fan creator to make a judgment call on whether the cc would be comfortable holding hands in a platonic relationship. Since we don't know these people in real life, it's very difficult to make judgments like that, especially when @'ing them on twitter or sending a dono to clarify might make the cc uncomfortable in and of itself. It gets even trickier when you involve situational context; maybe handholding while walking down the street is off limits, but handholding while sitting by their sickbed is not.

Personally, my rules of thumb for writing relationships involving cc's with shipping boundaries are as follows:

Avoid calling a relationship "queer"platonic unless the cc is okay with people headcanoning their character as queer. (I know that non-queer people can be involved in QPRs, but I doubt cc's recognize that distinction.) Potential alternatives include platonic life partners, platonic soulmates, etc.

Intimate behaviors that can easily be interpreted as familial, such as physical and verbal expressions of affection, prioritizing each other above other relationships, etc, are always alright unless the cc states otherwise.

Avoid ambiguously romantic coded behaviors such as marriage, bed sharing between adults, holding hands, calling each other "partners", etc, unless those behaviors are non-routine/situational (see sickbed example). If the fanwork does include these types of interactions, make the platonic nature of the dynamic expressly clear in the body of the work.

Avoid strictly romantic coded/sexual behaviors such as kissing and sex altogether, regardless of platonic labeling.

Behaviors and dynamics that the creator has canonically portrayed with their character are always acceptable. As far as I'm concerned, if a cc is comfortable roleplaying a behavior, that's equivalent to giving fan creators permission to reproduce that behavior in fanworks. (Key example: Techno and Philza cohabitation.)

This code of conduct might be more (or less) restrictive than other fans would prefer, but it helps me a lot with reducing anxiety about writing something that my favorite cc's might judge or block me for. Feel free to adopt it as your own if you would benefit!

A final note: by no means am I shaming anyone who doesn't see eye to eye with me on this. The subject is a massive grey area with no clear answers, and will continue to be so until amatonormativity is dismantled enough that your standard cishet streamer can speak knowledgeably about QPRs. Honestly, it's a miracle that we've come far enough for QPR shipping to be so widespread that it merits a discussion at all.

Ultimately, I wrote this post in an attempt to get a dialogue going so that the community can establish some ethical norms, so please discuss in the tags and notes, or reach out via asks and DMs if you have any commentary! I'm very interested in hearing other people's thoughts.