#frans’ rambles

[vanillainverse]

Every now and then I rewatch the most gut wrenching, tear jerking death scenes of my favorite characters and sob uncontrollably for the next couple of weeks while in mourning.

[krk-wa]

Redraw 01/12/23 || 7/02/24

Redraw? Idk, morelike their character development 🤣

Topic aside, still cant believe that by simping your fictional bae can also effect your whole drawing.

[anhonest-puck]

you know it’s a good day when your AP english teacher pulls you aside after class and says that you’re doing well like yes!!!! finally oh my god!! 🙏

[the-writing-mobster]

Because I constantly get hate for WDYW Chapter 49,

(I get it, it's polarizing) allow me to like,,, explain why I went with the plot point? I don't really owe anyone an explanation, and literally fuck any of my haters, they're ants, but I think my readers/people who actually like my writing would like to know the lore behind my choices.

So, context, in chapter 49, Frisk is drugged into obedience by Muffet and Muffet, being the money hungry cunt that she is, sells Frisk's body on the black market. It's a really uncomfortable concept, and when it happened it caused a lot of readers to drop the fic or rant at me in the comments, talk shit about my fic in private forums behind my back, or even imply a bunch of horrible things about me as a person lmao.

So why did I decide to go with this plot?

Well, for one, it all stems from two books: The Hunger Games, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins and the Empress by S.J Kincaid.

In both of these books, there is a pivotal character who is drugged, manipulated and used for political gain by a dastardly authority figure. In The Empress, this plot point was ESPECIALLY devastating, because it completely changed and corrupted the character into a horrific shell of their old self to where they were actively antagonistic and irredeemable!

This plot device has intrigued and fascinated me ever since. Drugging a protagonist to make them wholly dependent on their abuser/villain, manipulating them, having them at rock bottom is, in my opinion, one of the worst things that can happen to a character... And seeing how the character can overcome it is the greatest triumph!

Ever since reading these books, this plot device has buzzed in the back of my mind and there is a part of me that always tries to recreate it, but I can never come close to perfecting it.

Either I always miss on the addiction part of the manipulation, or I can never commit truly to character corruption. Either way, the closest I've ever gotten to scratching this itch has been in WDYW part 3, but even then, I barely came close to getting it right.

My second reason for choosing the route; In WDYW, Frisk's whole arc is about having control over her own agency/autonomy/fate. What happens to her in Part 3 is the culmination of everything she's ran away from, fought against, and her greatest nightmare come to life. It was the lowest point I could bring her character, and make her face her past demons in a horrifically evil way. But my plan had obviously been that despite all of the torture she survives, that she not only survives but fucking WINS!

That was the whole point, but when I wrote it I was like,,, 17/18 😅, so there was definitely things I wasn't as graceful about.

With that said, would I change anything? Yes. If I could change anything I wrote about part 3, I would do a couple things:

1. Take out that obedience spell Muffet puts on Frisk. The reason I made that was because it was like a catch all spell to keep Frisk in Muffets clutches? But it was pretty OP and seemed like a hand wavey excuse to brush aside plot holes. I should've just simplified the spell to where she was simply tethered to Muffet's soul so Sans couldn't kill Muffet, or teleport Frisk away.

2. Frisk's "obedience" to Muffet should've been entirely addiction based, which would make the plot point of Frisk using determination to burn out her addiction in Part 4, and then eventually Determination becomes the addiction instead, (because overcoming addiction is really fucking hard actually and a constant struggle) a lot stronger.

3. I would probably be much more careful with my word choice in chapter 49. Some of it comes off as sexualization. Not my intention, but it was because I was writing in the creepy photographer's pov and he was objectifying her. In my head I was like, "surely people can read between the lines right???" (They can't. Only a select few fanfic readers have media literacy apparently)

So, TLDR, No chapter 49 was not some author's barely disguised fetish (that's honestly a really gross way to think about my writing and about me as a person) it was my genuine worst nightmare as a woman, and one of my favorite plot devices from two of my favorite books 😭 Please lay off me about chapter 49, and Part 3.

Last but not least... Some art is meant to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.

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[willmike-what]

Sorry to come back briefly from my long hiatus to talk about this. But this is just more evidence that antis care more about fictional characters and they treat them just as real as actual people, and yet they say that we have an issue with separating fiction from reality

[unma]

Top 3 favourite Frans au pairings in no specific order and a short (or so) explanation on why? (Frans doesn't have to be canon in the au, it can be aus you just like to make them canon in/ explore their dynamic)

Underfell I blame Vene for this, her Underfell Frans comics made me fall madly in love with the pairing in this AU. I find it wonderful, the amount of angst and fluff you can squeeze out of this situation. It's basically my default because you are rather flexible in what you can portray using this AU, and it's definitely an easy AU of choice for any oneshot ideas I have picking at my brain. What can I say? Underfell Sans lends himself rather well to fun and wacky romantic situations (as well as angsty ones)

Dusttale I'll admit, this was the first one that came to mind when I got the ask. I definitely write about it the least on this list, but it's the AU I spent the most time thinking about. It's just so juicy, seeing these two who are downright obsessed with each other further that obsession in many ways, including romantic. It also helps that I'm a yandere lover, so this kinda romance is right up my alley. I do also have an AU in the aftermath of a Dusttale AU where both are returned to normal, but that's a story meant to focus on the aftermath, picking up the pieces, and the importance of forgiveness. I do really like that AU too, but given how much is connected to it it would take a long time to actually put that into writing. I'm referring to the Fallen Angels AU here, and a few people might remember that I'd written to oneshots for this (one is part of my latest fransweek collection, the first chapter).

Swapfell I'm gonna be honest, I frankly never cared much about this AU until I started writing it for a Secret Santa present. It was because of that fic that I'd even first thought about Frans in Swapfell, and honestly I fell in love quickly after that. Whether in versions of the AU where Frisk is alive or a ghost, their interactions with Sans were always so fun, and whether you wrote Sans as tsundere or Frisk as tsundere, or perhaps just have them both be awkward, there really is something lovely about pairing up the vice leader of the Guard with the princess of the Kingdom. You can probably tell how much I love it by how I proceeded to write more and more for my own Swapfell AU afterwards. Don't even get me started on other SF!Frans pairings, such as those of Lord Yabadoo, or the royal Frans Swapfell AU, and so on that are all really beautiful (the two mentioned here are really inspirational for my own SF work, especially the former) . It's great, and I would probably wax poetic longer about it if my laptop wasn't almost dead, lol.

Much apologies for this wall of text, but I had so much to ramble about and not much idea of how to go about formatting it. When I get back on my phone (or when I get home so I can charge my laptop) I'll take a look at the post to see if I can make it more readable. No promises tho. Thank you for the ask!

[xviruserrorx]

I hope that they don't kill John (I like him) and instead they work out some type of lavender marriage so Francesca and Michaela can be together

[edwardslostalchemy]

I watched Shouto Todoroki: Origins and I'm reminded of how insane both Izuku and Shouto are. They were made for each other, but fuck they wrecked that arena. Listen to me, the tododeku fight is incredible. It gives me so many different emotions and feelings. It really is the climax of the sports festival arc and it goes out with a bang. They could've killed someone or each other. Izuku sacrificed everything and gave his all to fight AND save Shouto from his past so he could look to the future using talk no jutsu. *Chef's kiss* 🤌 It's poetic cinema at its finest. I was trying to go into this episode the way I did for season 1 and 2 where I pretended I didn't know what was going to happen. But it is impossible with this episode because it's so poignant. Izuku challenging Shouto and his voice cracking when he tells Shouto his fire quirk is HIS and Shouto is having flashbacks mid battle. 😭 The way everything is intertwined and it flows together, the flashbacks cut in with the present time and Shouto narrating, the way we SEE the fight shift from Izuku's point of view to Shouto's point of view, then BACK to Izuku's to watch him witness Shouto's full explosive power....GENIUS. The director deserves an award for that. Horikoshi really went and invented cinema with Midoriya vs. Todoroki. He really went and gave us tododeku on a silver platter. The intensity. The emotions. The lighting. The drama. I just need to cry for a moment, it's beautiful. One of the BEST details is Shouto shedding a tear after his garbage dad loses his mind. He cried. 😭 He's free. 😭 Thank you Midoriya, indeed. 😭💖

[mosswoss]

PSA for new/younger Undertale fans!

TLDR: Be critical of the content you consume, especially when it pertains to abuse.

I've been noticing a bunch of new faces in the fandom!! I'm super excited to see the fandom revitalized and y'alls new ideas!

However, there's a few things to keep in mind to stay safe (looking at you minors)

While it's not as popular nowadays, when you go through old content, you're gonna stumble across Frans content

For those who aren’t familliar with the term, Frans is the ship name for Frisk/Sans. We could get into the whole debate about the ethics of aging up character and adult/minor pairings, however I'm tired and don't want to

If you want to learn more about that topic, I'd recommend the angry victim’s essay on their experiences as a kid in fandom. Link. TW for pedophilia, S/A, self harm, incest, and general grossness towards kids

Anyways, the issue isnt that a lot of Frans content features unhealthy dynamics and abuse. That’s all fine and dandy, a lot of people process their trauma through fiction. However, frequently in these comics, fics, art, etc, the abuse is framed as romantic and healthy, which isnt super great for people actually in these situations.

Dating someone who’s obsessive, twice your age, and violent isn’t romantic. It’s abuse. When it’s not properly framed or given in the context of being wrong in the real world, people (especially kids) are going to be more vulnerable to being taken advantage of by predators.

If the media you’re consuming is telling you that the unhealthy relationships you’re in are romantic, its gonna be more difficult to escape.

My goal isnt to send a bunch of hate to Frans creators, or acuse them of grooming. I just want young fans to be aware of the real-world dangers of these dynamics.

[shorukarts]

Kinda disappointed no one noticed this ( if you did why didn't you comment 😢)

[venelona]

Hey! Big fan of your art!

I have a question:

You’re a big shipper of frans which gets a lot of hate online from people who claim it to be “problematic” or “pedophilia” and I’m curious: How do you deal with these people?

A lot of the time these people have the intelligence of a paint can, and the personality of a rusty pipe. They come in many forms: sometimes they just follow mob mentality, sometimes they think they’re the “good guys” and are fighting against “problematic” stuff, sometimes they’re just uninformed and too stubborn to listen, and sometimes they just hate to hate. These things all mean that they can’t really be reasoned with.

So I’m curious as to how you deal with them and what the best strategy is (I’m planning on getting into ut writing, so I wanna be prepared).

(Thank you!)

Hello, thank you!

Your observations are very on point - a lot of people who send frans hate (honestly, its not even just frans issue - it can apply to any not-canon ship) are quite narrow minded, stubborn, like to play a morally superior 'hero' and do not like to listen to any reasoning

I deal with it by simply not being that person. I keep open mind and respect even ships that I dislike with all my soul, because at the end of the day this is fiction, hobby, for fun. And that's what I tell people who try and sling hate at me - you really have a problem with a person's choice of fictional character romance? Even if its problematic (when it comes to frans, as long as Frisk is an adult I do not even consider it problematic), exploring a problematic ship does not make a person awful, as long as they are and the audience is aware that it's supposed to be problematic. Like, yunno, people who write murder stories are not killers

When engaging with the hate comments (which I usually do when I receive any - when I was still in the toxic pit that is Instagram when I wasn't in the best mental space I'd just delete hateful comments, only for those people to come back and point fingers at me for it, which means they were monitoring a post they actively dislike... honestly, those kinds of people just have too much time in their life) I usually try to respectively describe my point of view, and sometimes even engage in conversation when I try to talk with them through their points in an effort to show them that there doesn't need to be hate like this, and how usually it's hypocritical in comparison to other ships, maybe world in general, or just that it's kind of a waste of time to talk about this because this is for entertainment purposes of a person you do not know but choose to hurt and can hurt

I do not owe this to those people - I probably don't even owe them politeness I try to extend, but I choose to act this way because usually those people are young, and if my words have even a slight chance to change how they choose to act and view things, it's worth it in my eyes to try. Though, I do this if I'm in a good mental space, which I usually am, but I get wore down also. If I'm too tired, I just ignore it, or leave a shorter comment

Honestly I've been very fortunate not to receive a lot of hate over the years - I was too unpopular/not worth it at first and later too big and intimidating to attack later lol I'd never want for people to attack someone on my behalf, even if they attacked me, but having friends you can vent to if something did get to you is very nice.

Most of the time people don't really change their point of view, but sometimes they do. I got a couple call out posts on twitter last months, and commenting on them and talking to people who made them made them delete them, because they were made by teens who got scared that the person they ragged on saw this, asked them why they were gossiping, and explaining how their 'heroic unmasking' posts could lead to a person receiving threats and having their mental state crumbling (I was in good enough mental space so I didn't think of it much, but I worry for those who may receive same type of treatment and handle it worse). Those teens said they won't make posts like this again, which doesn't mean they changed as people or changed their perspective, but hopefully means in the future there will be less people hated, and less people will embarrass themselves by targeting people in hopes of being a 'hero who brought awareness to this person being bad' when the person didn't do anything to deserve this

In conclusion... Do not listen to hateful comments - there's no shame in deleting them or blocking the people outright. I always leave blocking as last resort, but it's a personal choice. Sometimes for your mental health and mood it's really better just to yeet that out of your sight tho, complain to your friends and move on to have a nice day

Good luck with writing! If you start getting any ship hate you're always welcome to dm/tag me, and I'll try to help you ✨From personal experience, Tumblr doesn't have much haters though - even if you catch their attention, you can always turn off anon asks

[vanillainverse]

I think I just about died 😭

[rhiefiefie]

Itward as a character is so funny to me because you spend the first half of the game knowing that hes apparently supposed to be a mysterious, important figure that might actually be evil(?) but the game doesn't tell you until the final half of chapter 3 that, actually, hes that same strange suited skeleton that opened a vent + a window for you when you wouldve otherwise been stuck, and gave you crumbs of guidance a few times on your journey. which might make you think "huh. ok. maybe hes not that bad?"

*then* you get to chapter 4, and this character that initially might have seemed unknowable and scary actually turns out just to be a really kind & friendly guy who likes to build things and collect forks. Hes also apparently been our bff since we were an infant. And he helped us to get our cat back. He likes to make shoes. He has a funky flying machine. It has his own version of space invaders on it. Oh, and hes afraid of bunnies. Literally top tier writing

[djevelbl]

Aight now with the newest chapter read and analyzed I should go back to finishing TGG!Cup's character design sheet

[berrisweet]

RANTING ABOUT HAJIME PADILLA ♡

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⟶ one , feeling sick

⟶ two , tutoring

⟶ three , serenading

⟶ four , jealousy

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[unma]

There's something so deeply irrational about how people will simply choose to substitute their own falsehoods as truth when confronted with a reality even mildly inconvenient to them.

I was scrolling through the flowerfell tag (in part because Kazefiend mentioned that more people were posting in the tag about how they didn't like Frans). Of course I did nothing more than block them, because I simply can't be bothered to go after random people on the internet, and keep scrolling through the tag. Yet, as I kept going, it was surprising to see more and more people talk like this.

Now I don't need to explain why tagging your ship hate as the ship you're hating on is a dumb idea. If you're lucky, you just get blocked by a bunch of people who understand harassment is not okay and not worth it. If you're unlucky you get dogpiled. There is no winning here. But this is slightly different, so I wanted to talk about it.

The pattern I noticed here was that these posts seem to accept that Flowerfell is a frans au, but either choose to actively ignore the shipping aspects of the au (a tough ask when said ship's relationship is one of the defining pieces of the au's narrative), deride the au for having the ship (oh my god mind your own business. Don't like don't read, have you forgotten your basic fandom etiquette?) or act like it was never a frans au, which is perhaps the worst of them all. But I'm not here to talk about the last one. No, I'm here to deal with the second option.

Choosing to deride or despise a work simply for its main ship is dumb for a whole lot of reasons. Firstly, you lose out on the joy of experiencing great works residing outside your current taste, for example: I was never a Charisk fan (until recently) and have a faint distaste for Soriel (due to how much I see it and due to how often it's compared to Frans), but if you asked me my opinions on, say, the Fading Away comic or Reapertale, I would tell you I love them both. The Fading Away comic is so sweet and wholesome, and I adored it even though at the time my involvement with the ship was 'a ship that one friend of mine likes', and I don't even need to explain why Reapertale is so damn cool.

At the end of the day, though, you do not need to force yourself to read things outside your comfort zone. It is your choice, and I ain't forcing you. But here comes fandom etiquette once more: "Don't like, Don't read." There is no point to subjecting yourself to something you don't want to read. If you don't like frans, don't read it. Simple.

Yet, that isn't even the most important part. It's not the point I wrote this post to create. The real point I want to convey is simple: If you refuse to acknowledge a part of the work so foundational to its identity, narrative and meaning, you are failing so disastrously to truly engage with and understand the story. It's like playing Undertale and choosing to ignore the fact that the pacifist route exists. Even in stories focused on the Genocide route, if the author chose to act like said route was the only possible option for whoever was in control, then it would go directly against the in-game portrayal of the route as a choice the player made despite the game's attempts to deny you the route.

If you go through Flowerfell ignoring the relationship between Sans and Frisk, or worse, changing it to fit your convenience, you end up with a dramatically skewed perspective on the work. Sans is an utter shithead to Frisk when they first meet, something he ultimately regrets, and their eventual reconciliation and their growing romantic relationship is important to the story. You can wish they weren't shipped together, sure, but to deny it is simply to deny reality and to deny yourself a complete, accurate reading of the story.

Don't even get me started on how absurd the hate for aged up ships is. But that isn't the point of the post. I've said my piece, and I'm just gonna keep blocking anyone being stupid in the flowerfell tag. Back to scrolling, and perhaps crying to Secret Garden at 3am.