#fanon ftw

[cloudel-corner]

and yet fanon Draco is a more believable human character, go figure

[cloudel-corner]

This is brilliant

and also pinpoints a key reason why there are some relationships which work brilliantly in fanon but which would not have worked at all if written into canon by the original creator

Hello. I wanted to tell you how much the way you write Harry means to me, and how real it feels. I personally feel like you are one of the very few h/d writers that manage to write the absolute clusterfuck of what that man could be like where it feels like yes, this dumpster fire of a man feels like a real person. And I don't mean it in a sense that those other writers aren't opod at writing or worse or something... They just see and focus on things differently I think. What I am trying to say I think is that I did spend my eraly childhood similarly to Harry, minus the magic, and the way you write him seems almost as if you have taken him directly from my dumpster fire of mind. And for that, I am very thankful, because it is real and beautiful.

Plus I adore your dramatic and yet vulnerable and very human Draco.

I think you are incredible at writing people as actual people. Which I find is quite rare.

Thank you so much! One thing I love about writing fic is dissecting some of the genre conventions that prevent us from seeing characters as real people. In HP, the characters are not meant to be realistic. This is okay! It's escapist! It's fiction! But I'm always interested in using fiction to explore real life, and fic is such a perfect way to do that because you get to have all the escapism and the magic and relate it to your real life as well.

So, with Harry, I'm always thinking about how it would really feel, to live the life he's led and suffered what he's suffered; what would that do to a real person? What I end up writing isn't always a study in realism, but it's taking those experiences and asking some of those questions. And as you say, it's great that there's fic that focuses on other things! But these are the things that interest me.

Part of it is just because I don't really identify with a character who has been through all that and is unaffected by it. Interestingly, I had a pretty great childhood, and in general, I'm a pretty happy person. But I think we're all connected by the things that have hurt us, that have made us who we are, and I love to explore that in writing, and I'm so glad when it can touch other people.

Thank you so much for your kind words. Sorry it took me so long to respond.

[dicttheo]

I see that Thea discourse is popping up again and y'all lemme just say... I'm the biggest Thea supporter. y'all say what you want but who else is Kevin gonna be with??? Jean??? he burned that bridge when he left the nest, and even if he didn't, that relationship would be toxic af. they'd never be able to escape the power dynamics. the best they could ever be is what they are: tepid friends from a distance. andrew or neil? they're too devoted to each other. Neil is andrewsexual and literally no one else, not even Kevin, has ever been willing or able to meet Andrew where he is, accept his quirks and his mental illness, and be willing to support him unequivocally, except for wymack and bee. And let's be honest, as cute as the idea of Kevin falling in love with someone who doesn't know anything abt exy, or who doesn't play, or who isn't at his skill level is, that is the most ooc thing that Kevin could do. He only respects people who can challenge him, and he's best challenged on the court. Kevin has to be with another raven who understands the trauma of the nest, and he has to be with someone who can challenge him, and that's Thea

[nopanamaman]

Howdy hey hiya!

What's one of the ways fans interpret characters very differently from what they're actually like? Your mentioning of the big text slab changing people's perceptions of some characters has me 👀

Hi hello!

Firstly, I just want to say that the last thing I want is to discourage people from making fan content for fear of characters being ooc or whatever. I genuinely really enjoy seeing different takes on them, variety is part of the fun imo! There are just some interesting differences I've noticed between my own writings and fan stuff. Namely, the openness.

I think I've noticed that with Yura and Sergei the most. People tend to write Yura as being significantly more open about his emotional state. In canon, he doesn't normally let his melancholy slip out, it takes a lot for him to actually show vulnerability. If anything, he's more likely to act very distant rather than express anything that may hint at any sort of genuine sadness.

But I understand why people take this approach to him. A more vulnerable take on him can push some really great emotional scenes, powerful moments. I don't mind this version of Yura at all, it's very endearing!

I've seen something similar with certain versions of Sergei, too, what with him being softened up a fair bit compared to how I imagine him. Though, again, I think it's also a nice interpretation that gives way for very touching moments.

And on a sillier side, canon Olya is a lot doofier in her day to day life than most people seem to imagine. She also makes a lot of deadpan jokes, which I don't think I've seen a lot of in fan content

[kaleidoscope1967eyes]

how do you think luke would be with pets?

Thanks for the ask, anon! I don't know if any canon or legends material really touches on this, which is such a shame because I think he would be so good with animals!

Luke has always been a fan of all sorts of creatures. As a little boy on Tatooine, he loved playing with and riding his friend Windy's dewback. He did have a pet of his own growing up: the Lars family owned a spotted sandhound named, you guessed it, Sandy. Even though she was an old girl, Luke would always run around the farm with her and try to teach her tricks, and she'd always do her best to keep up with him.

Sandy was extremely protective of him, to the point where it cost her life; when he was around thirteen years old, a group of womp rats ambushed him while he was tending to some moisture vaporators, and she immediately rushed in to take all the fatal blows. It was absolutely devastating, but in a rare moment of vulnerability, Owen used the situation to teach Luke about the inevitability of loss and the importance of appreciating those you love in the moment--a skill that would ultimately be very relevant to his jedi training.

On the topic of jedi training, animals are naturally drawn to him due to his strong presence in the force. Sometimes this means an entire flock of jubba birds will land on him and all start singing, other times it means large, predatory creatures will locate him very easily and try to eat him. Luke absolutely hates fighting or attacking animals. He is forever haunted by the time he literally disarmed a wampa--he was only trying to scare it away, he didn't mean for it to actually make contact with his lightsaber. You remind him that even though he didn't have a choice, he still did the right thing by giving it a chance to live.

I know I've talked about this before, but Luke would be a total horse girl (boy). He's great with dewbacks and he's great with tauntauns, so he would definitely also be great with equinoids like pulgas, orbaks, and guarlaras. Even though horses are usually extra skittish around men, they're perfectly fine around him because they can sense just how kind and gentle he is. They especially appreciate that he's intuitive and empathetic enough to know never to raise his voice or make sudden movements around them.

After noticing Luke's knack for critters, you decide to get him a pet of his own. You end up getting him a rescue tooka cat you found in a shelter at Mos Espa: it's a playful, snuggly orange tabby that's missing its right paw. What a strange coincidence, you thought, gently picking it up. Luke deserves to know he's not alone.

When Luke came back to your shared quarters on Home One and saw a kitty on his bed, he was ecstatic. He literally started crying--thankfully, you had R2 there to record his reaction. Because you found it on Tatooine, Luke decided to call it "Lars" in honor of his family. They end up doing everything together: he goes to briefings with Lars stretched out on his shoulders, they go on joyrides in his x-wing together, etc. People get a huge kick out of how close they are--"guy who blew up the Death Star crying over a cat" ends up becoming a huge meme in the Rebellion.

Tagging: (comment if you want to be tagged or you want me to stop tagging you)

@stonegoldsxcrxt

@laserbrains

@fandom-gal44

@myevilmouse

@hansonveggieclub

@lex-the-flex

@ancient-stardust

@dailydragon08 (happy birthday!)

@spacesurfing

@starobi

@starryluce

@hxney-lemcn

@lukefics

@demigoddessqueens

@micheleamidalajedi

@princessxkenobi

[cloudel-corner]

Not only this, but occasionally I open my “read later” bookmarks and find some in there that I’ve already read, because I forgot I had bookmarked them and ended up rediscovering them via tumblr links

Sometimes, I would bookmarked a few dozen of the hundreds of tabs I have open. I put them in a folder: read first, for fics that seem REALLY good. Then, when I have a day off, I say to myself “Woo! I’m gonna read fics all day. Finally going to get the number of fic to read later down.”

Then I open ao3.

And then I see my favorite author has posted a new, fairly short one-short.

And then I start binging all of the works they’ve written. All 200,000+ words of it.

And now I still have the same number of my to read fics, if not more.

There’s a small part of me that knows that I will never read all of them, because even if I start working on the list, I’ll just end up adding more to the list. And it’ll just keep on growing.

Anyone else have this problem?

--

[artsycloudysleepy]

reading aftertale again and obsessing over it again

[l1lst4rf1sh]

Macaque in an outfit i found on pinterest

[sour-n-salty-citrus]

New portal 2 fans shipping chellDOS is funny to me because chell and glados' relationship is heavily implied to be that of a mother-daughter (or at least mother-daughter coded)

[jasontrthhrtz]

Faceclaim for Grace (OC! Bloom x Sebastian's daughter): Dylan Conrique

Don’t steal and/or repost. If you like it, I’d appreciate a like. Thank you! 💜

[t4tails]

its all "fuck canon" and "fanon ftw" until youre asked to care about girls because then its all "how could i ever be expected to like such an underdeveloped character?!"

[cloudel-corner]

Remus Lupin should obviously have been fired, not for being a werewolf, but for making a bunch of thirteen-year-olds (let alone ones whose families lived and died in a war) face their deepest fears in class IN FRONT OF EACH OTHER

like, of course safety in school is not a relevant concept here, but… having enough sense to stop Harry Potter from facing a Boggart in class does not explain why someone who knew Frank and Alice Longbottom personally would choose their son to take the first turn at facing his personal horrors

(but yes as with a lot of these things, the reason is that HP canon isn’t that deep)

[kindlingkeen]

Hi! I absolutely adore your Asymmetrical Warfare series on AO3 (it’s got me back on a competent Jason Todd kick, which, there’s honestly too little of so if you have any recs pls fire away)!

I did have a curiosity that I hope you don’t mind answering though: are there specific reason why you’re not a Tim fan? And does that extend to other members of the batfam as well?

Hi, anon! I’m so glad you’re enjoying Asymmetrical Warfare (competent Jason ftw!). 🙌

Re: Tim. I should probably be more conscientious with my wording around Tim. A lot of what I say in ao3 comments or here tends toward facetious, and tone doesn’t really come across well online.

Which is not to say there aren’t things about Tim that bug me. For example—canon Tim, there are more than few instances of him being downright shitty to Jay’s memory. Case in point, from Batman #456, Tim imagines Jason’s ghost giving him a pep talk about becoming a hero and Jason says he killed himself because he didn’t listen to Batman.

Ah, no sir, the responsible party was the psychopathic clown with a crowbar and some explosives, not the 15 year old trying to save his newly discovered biological mother.

But is this really Tim the character’s fault? Or is it dc’s fault for creating a narrative that brutally murdered a child and then spent decades trashing his memory and blatantly victim-blaming him for it?

It’s really more fanon depictions of Tim that I have a problem with. In particular, the tendency to project Jason’s trauma onto Tim. Trying to spin the white boy who came from an affluent two-parent household as somehow more neglected than the kid whose parents are dead/incarcerated and was literally homeless is just ??? Jason’s backstory touches on so many important societal issues (the gutting of the social safety net, the industrial prison complex, the opioid epidemic, the criminalization of poverty, the stigmatization of sex work), and this approach sweeps all of that under the rug.

It also really gets my goat how many fics masquerade as being about Jason, but are actually just a vehicle for Tim time. These stories tend to dramatize Tim’s character, whether it’s woobie, touch-starved little Timmy who needs constant reassurance and protection, or smarter than everyone ever, can not be out thought or out fought, is actually a CEO while he should be in high school Tim. My problem with this type of narrative is usually two-fold. 1) It dumbs down Jason’s characterization (which should be so rich and complex) to ridiculously oversimplified motivations and actions. And 2) it turns Tim into a caricature of himself, instead of a compelling character with a balance of strengths and weaknesses and a normal amount of teenaged self-esteem.

It probably doesn’t sound like it from this blog post, but I do really try hard in life not to yuck other people’s yum. Just because I don’t care for how Tim is portrayed, it doesn’t make it inherently bad or wrong. And all of this aside, I’ve read plenty of fics where I enjoyed Tim just fine. For example, I love how @bonerot19 writes Tim in their Something in the Static series. And Tim and Jay’s dynamic in WFA is often amusing.

So, yeah, bottom line. Tim is … fine. I’m just not a fan, per se. I try to at least write him fairly in Asymmetrical Warfare, with both the realistic shortcoming of a teenage boy and the awesomeness of Robin. He’s never going to get the same amount of page time as the rest of the crew is, though.

Re: the rest of the batfam. I mean, I often want to bop Bruce on the nose. Especially canon Bruce who beats up his kids and is completely unrepentant about it. But, honestly, that’s not my Bruce. My Bruce, who I love and love to hate in turn, would never do that. (Compartmentalization, the key to happy fic reading and writing.)

I love Babs and Dick. I want to be besties with Steph, but in reality she’s way too cool for me. Duke and Cass I’m less familiar with, but have no problems with. Damian is growing on me, and if dc would just give up the game and admit that Dami and Jay met in the LoA and are actually super special murder brothers at heart, that would be great. Selina is a queen and someday I will write that Selina + Jay and Dami meet in the LoA fic I’ve been dreaming about.

Re: competent Jason fic recs. One of my favorites is butcherbird, fly away home by e_va @e-vasong. Bonus rec, the same author put out a new fic recently, another way to make it to ten, and it not only features competent Jason, it’s Jason & Tim, and I like Tim in it.

Thanks so much for the ask, anon! Really great questions. Kudos if you made it through the whole post. 💙

[disdaidal]

Giving you a character: Billy, of course. :p

Of course, Billy Hargrove was to be expected :D

How I feel about this character: I have strong and complicated feelings about this character. He's a bad boy, the kind of guy I would have absolutely hated in high school but also the kinda guy who would not be boring at least. :D He's loud and obnoxious and parties like an animal, but his taste in music is impeccable (I love rock and metal and music from the 80's and I will not take criticism for that). He's got pretty eyes (that curly mullet is... well, let's say, H&M did it better <3), a nice body and a great fashion sense (denim-on-denim and leather jackets ftw) and he drives a Chevrolet Camaro from '79 like a madman. He can also be pretty funny when he wants to be, ridiculous even. So, what's not to like really? :P

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I mostly ship him with Steve, Eddie and Argyle (the last two are totally crack and fanon but who gives). I think Billy and Heather could've been hot, more than friends, maybe even friends-with-benefits if not an actual couple. Just sayin'. I've seen some great headcanons, maybe even fanart of Billy and Chrissy and I think, you know, the princess and metalhead setting could've worked with them, too.

As for my most 'problematic' Billy ship, I actually really like Billy and Hopper. There's this whole daddy kink thing involved I suppose. Lowkey my favorite crackship Ted and Billy as well. :P I'm also very supportive of Billy and El in general, I think the actors had great chemistry in s3 and I can see why some ship them, so I suppose I lowkey ship them (in spirit), too.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Though I ship Billy and Heather romantically, I also love seeing them as 'gay besties', supporting each other and protecting each other. It's one of my favorite headcanons in this fandom. Same goes for Chrissy I suppose, if not romantically involved.

Though Billy had his issues with Max, maybe even than beyond just normal 'sibling-ship', I still enjoyed their relationship a lot. It's clear that they spent a lot of time together (whether they actually hated it or not), and that they deeply cared for each other.

My unpopular opinion about this character: The majority of the fandom seems to think (or at least acts like) Billy is the worst character in the show and at least used to actively bully and harass Billy fans and shippers (his actor got his fair share of that also I hear). Though Billy was definitely not the nicest character or even particularly 'goody-good' (he was a bully and quite shitty at times actually), acting like he's worse than Dr. Brenner, for example, is bullshit. We clearly did not watch the same show.

Also, for other Billy fans... He might be your baby, but he's not an actual baby. He's not really your son or child and you don't need to 'protect' him from the haters who can't separate fiction from reality (just block them) or tw/anti Karen or any other character you don't like in favor of Billy (you're no better). Billy can also be shipped with characters other than Steve (male or female, older and younger, even self-inserts) and just because you don't like it, doesn't make the ship automatically 'problematic'. It just means there are people out there who like different things than you and you need to learn to suck it up and look away. It's for the best.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. That Billy wouldn't have faced such gruesome death. He wasn't a good guy, but he didn't deserve to die, especially so young. I also wish we could've seen what really happened between him and Max between seasons 2 & 3 because clearly their relationship improved there. Such wasted potential.

[kermit-coded]

for the choose violence ask game:

1, 3, 8, 10, 12, 18, 22

answer whichever ones you want, i'm really curious about your dead boy detective and fantasy high hot takes are lol 🫶🏼

i know you said fantasy high/dead boy detectives but unfortunately most of my fandom takes have to do with comics so here we go.

the character everyone gets wrong.

kristen for sure. a lot of people paint her as this silly, irresponsible person who doesn't care about the consequences of her actions, but that's so derivative. she was raised in a restrictive, bigoted cult and it informs how she acts!! she's a teenager learning how to make her own choices after spending her entire life in an environment where thinking for yourself was actively discouraged, if not outright punished, so of course she's going to be messy.

3. worst fandom take i've seen.

hoo boy.... when you're a comics fan you've seen some abysmal takes. gotta be the takes surrounding how bruce is a coward for not wanting to kill people. yes, even the joker. is he flawed? yeah, but not wanting to permanently end a life is not one of those flaws. full stop.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about.

honestly anything to do with tim drake and to an extent all of the bat siblings. theres a reason why i stopped engaging with the batfandom on a larger scale and that's because it has a tendency to sand down any interesting character traits in order to fit them into a nuclear family-esque dynamic. i really don't see tim and jason ever being that close, and i think they don't really see each other as siblings. also, dick was tim's robin, not jason.

10. worst part of fanon.

i'm going with comics again because it's insane how many people not only don't read the source material but actively brag about it. i think if you are going to call yourself a comics fan, then you need to read comics. otherwise you're a fucking poser. also i hate the damage xfi did to shatterstar as a character. peter david turned him into a slutty bi stereotype when in x force 1991 he literally has a panic attack the first time he gets a boner and is very specific about the people he trusts. that's not someone who would be sleeping around a lot, and yet so many people buy into that version of him and write him like that in fics. demisexual shatterstar ftw.

12. unpopular character that i actually really like.

hmm, not quite unpopular so much as niche but amadeus cho. he's such an interesting character and he deserves more love. he's a fun little anarchist and he hates the avengers and is wracked by guilt over his family dying because shield decided that a thirteen year old genius was a threat to national security and bombed his house. really interesting guy.

18. absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

charles and his trauma. maybe it's the aro in me but sooo many people seem only focused on charles in so much as him being in love with edwin back and im like... he has character traits outside of that.

22. my favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

EVERYONE GO READ X FORCE 1991. rictor and shatterstar my underrated x men beloveds...

🔥choose violence ask game🔥

[shebeafancyflapjack]

If you're still doing the ask game, can you do Robin as you said he's your blorbo?

He is! Thank you anon!

Favorite thing about them: HE JUST SO CUTE! I'm a sucker for characters who appear one way but then completely take you off guard. Robin looks like your typical grunting simple caveman but then reveals himself to be the kindest, wisest, most mentally tortured character in the show. Add to that he's basically a human pupper. My previous blorbos (Thirteen, Arthur Morgan, Spike) have all had "Kitty!" vibes but Robin is pure Pupper.

Least favorting thing about them: That he didn't get to move on. :( The show was really playing into how desperately he wanted to go by the end. I was even certain that as soon as he felt "Christmassy" he would get to leave but it didn't happen. Let him rest! Also the incest...Just ew.

Favourite line: "She no porcupine!" / "I want my lawyer." / "Before you was moonah, before house was moonah, everything come, everything go, but always there, moonah." / "I miss a lot of people. But more come along."

Brotp: Canon is him and Julian. Chess husbands are so real, but queerplatonic imo. Fanon is him and Alison, he is her good boy.

OTP: I'm like the only person who actually thinks him and Mary were cute? Gremlin couple ftw. But really Robin/Mary/Annie is my favourite polyship and the only one I've actually written fic for so far.

Notp: Pretty much everyone except Mary, Annie, Julian and possibly Thomas.

Random headcanon: His whole going mad thing from the book is still an ongoing problem. He has more coping mechanisms now but still has bad 'spells', some of the ghosts help him through it but others have become so used to him just "being strange" they just ignore him and wait for it to pass like in Not Again.

Unpopular opinion: I think he was a good dad. For the time. For a man who had thirty kids and most of them probably with his sister. The way he talks about the importance of "raising children together, in peace and love" and watches over his animal friends when they have babies, how sweet he was putting Kitty to sleep, he seems to love just being around kids. I dunno if that's unpopular, it just always seems to be Pat or Cap who get talked about when it comes to dads and my boy was over here fathering future generations, as well as putting the work in to raise said kids - but he often gets passed off as too immature or uncaring, like forgetting the whole duality of his character and how he's never as simple as he appears to be. Like sure he probably picked those babies up by their ankles and carried them on his shoulders, but he never dropped them!

Song I associate with them: Starman by Bowie. My Tears Ricochet by Taylor Swift is so him/Sophie/Humphrey.

Favorite picture of them:

Just look at him, hims just the cutest little thing!