#i am a huge shipper but even i know when things go too far

[deadlypincers]

I legit cannot fucking believe there are people who want Kuma and Panda to become a thing. 💀

Are you all that stupid or something? What Kuma has been doing to Panda all these years is the literal textbook definition of sexual harrassment. Please use your goddamn brains, I am BEGGING you.

[fluffypotatey]

To be honest I am a huge Nalu shipper. But the thing is I want to know the difference between the way Natsu cares about his guildmates and Lucy. Like what is the obvious difference since that boy sees every as Nakama so how can we say that the wag he cares about Lucy is different?

Like even when Erza passed away? (All the way back in first season there was a segment where the guild was gathered at her grave and all) Natsu was still very reactive. Plus he was also said to be depressed even when Lisanna passed.

What's the difference between all of them and Lucy?

the fact that he stayed. the fact that before he met Lucy, Natsu wasn't one to stay in a group or even want to work with anyone besides Happy at the start of the story. hell, he was ready to just file Lucy down as "New Guildmate" once they reached Fairy Tail

but then, Lucy doesn't leave. she follows him on his mission to save Macao despite her not needing to or even really understanding everything about it. she stays and then fights with him and saves him. it's no secret that Natsu is strong and can take care of himself really well. he's been going on solo missions for years now, and no one has really stopped him, but that means he's been in a lot of sticky situations where he and Happy are on their own and have no backup. and yet, without asking, Lucy offers it

and i think this is the moment when Natsu considers that maybe it's okay to have someone there to have his back (sans Happy)

"but Natsu only needed Lucy for the next quest because of the requirements," well, Natsu also wouldn't have taken or even considered that quest if it weren't for Lucy, yeah? he was not a team player (in the picking job's sense) or really wanted other people to help him on his quests sans Happy. and then he goes and picks a job that caters to their team whilst ensuring that Lucy can't say no

or maybe i'm reading too much into it 🤷🏻‍♀️

or maybe Natsu's got horrible abandonment issues that he will latch onto people so fast (Igneel & Lisanna) but also cause him to distance himself so far when left behind (his 1st time at the guild, Lisanna's death). Erza and Gray are Natsu's closet friends after Lisanna and yet they cannot reach him when he closes himself off. and then we have Lucy, who stuck by and had his back, so who is to say Natsu didn't make some contingencies to ensure whether or not she'd join him?

but maybe it's the rose, colored ship glasses i have on

because yeah, Natsu cares for all of his guildmates. the power of friendship is his biggest motivator. when we meet Natsu, our first introductions of him is defending his guild's reputation from Bora (who was using it as a guise for human trafficking) and saving Macao. and our 1st big arc (Galuna Island), where Natsu adamantly refuses to allow Gray to use Ice Shell and sacrifice himself despite how antagonistic they've been to each other. we get Natsu 100% at Erza's defense throughout the Tower of Heaven and he is even ready to defend Wendy though they only met hours ago

Natsu is a character with a bleeding heart and cannot help but wear it on his sleeve, but we don't really see him allow others to fight his battles or have his back until Lucy comes in. to be honest, i don't even think he had his heart on his sleeve until Lucy. he still has a bleeding heart (i don't think anything could stop that), but he was not ready to be open in receiving company because he was so used to it being ripped away from him

that being said: of all the characters he interacts with, he finds Lucy to be someone compatible enough for him to start going on team missions and inviting her on them (for example, his 1st S-class mission, which he stole, he went to her house to show it to her. the fact that part of the reward was a celestial key might be a coincidence, but i wouldn't doubt it as Natsu and Happy's trump card in case she refused)

but yeah, the difference is that he stayed and didn't push her away at the beginning, but instead continued to invite her along with him to the point that doing a mission without Lucy wasn't his regular anymore. compared to the rest of the guild, of whom he spent most of his childhood with, even if he spoke to no one, they would still be around and talk to him anyway. he might not invite them on job and only challenge them to fights, but the guild is his home and a constant in his life, a constant he needs (bc heavy abandonment issues).

"okay, but he still pushed her away after he watched Igneel die right in front of him. and he left the guild for a whole year, too. so what's the difference there?" you may ask.

so 1) Natsu never thought the guild would disband. he returns to Fiore after a year and is the last to know that they disbanded. he assumed, like all the other times before and while he and others were sealed for 7 years, that Fairy Tail would still be there when he returned. he assumed that his disappearance would not impact so hard because the guild would still be around and Lucy would have the others with her

which, did not happen :)

and like, so many guild members go off on jobs, quests, or even just leave for an indiscriminate amount of time (which i, personally, believe was his rationality for leaving), so him being gone for a year was nothing! right? no harm, eh? his plan was never to be gone forever :))))

2) he just watched his father die and lose any chance of having some semblance of a long term reunion with Igneel. he literally lost one of his main driving motivations for getting stronger and taking jobs. before Fairy Tail, before anyone, it was Igneel. and to learn that a) Igneel was always with him to begin with and b) he only got to see him for less than a day after 14 years of nothing......i would feel lost too ngl

man's needed space from everybody. and he also needed comfort, but Natsu has been shown not to really be the character who asks to receive comfort (and when he does receive it, it's usually when he's already emotionally compromised). he is in the habit of shutting people out after being abandoned or losing someone close to him, with his next rationale being to "get stronger" in order to prevent what happened in the past to ever happen in the future.

anyway

what makes this different? well for one, he sent the letter only to Lucy (or it's implied since no one else is shown getting one) because of how the two spend most of their time together. even the line that goes with the panel makes it sound like Natsu is unsure on how the note will be received (maybe even hesitant? but that could be my own hopes)

and one of the 1st people he reunites with after a year is Lucy and we get such a similar parallel to the first chapter of Fairy Tail between the two as if the narrative itself is slotting them together to say "ah yes, now everything is back to normal and new journeys can begin"

but yeah, this is just a long way of saying, that Natsu does love his friends and guildmates but even when he is close to them, he kept to himself (and Happy) and sort of stayed in their orbit but always with some emotional distance because of his fear of abandonment. and then you have Lucy where he will stay for and allow her to orbit around him and he will invite to new adventures no questions asked

that's the difference

[rantceratops]

So here’s my thing: I personally don’t care if those that think Wally dying was a great decision that had so much meaning and sacrifice think he should stay dead.

I personally will never be okay with the decision, and frankly if that’s just because I’m an irrational Wally West fan and Spitfire shipper, then so be it, I won’t claim otherwise and I’ll hang onto my irrationality. Wally West shouldn’t have been killed permanently. The show feels weird to me without him, and to be honest it just makes me think of the Justice League episode where the League basically turned evil because Wally was killed. I don’t have any real good argument against him dying from a narrative standpoint right now other than we know for a fact he was chosen just because it would hurt the most, but as I said, I’ll fully admit I’m simply forever pissed such a beloved character was offed. If someone has actual good insight on his death being bs, feel free to share. (Even if it’s not narrative bs, I still think it’s bs.)

All this being said: I don’t think I actually want Wally to come back anymore at this point in the series if it were to continue with a s5. I think they wasted too much time and now it would just be far too much misery. Wally would be so far out of everyone’s lives it would be almost impossible to reconnect and re-insert himself back into life(which would likely cause him severe mental health issues, yay), and I don’t think he and Artemis would be able to get back together(not that they have to, but as a shipper I’d have ideally wanted this outcome eventually). I just feel like they wasted their chance. S4 should have done it, it felt like the final opportunity, but they didn’t, and so I’m sadly off the train for him coming back, unless someone has a convincing argument that any of this could still work out.

I feel at this point that nothing short of time travel, dimension hopping, or a full ass reset could fix it, tbh.

Like, is it even worth it for him to come back at this point? Would he be able to be happy again?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Wally truther and a Spitfire shipper through and through, but I just finally got tired of it when s4 ended and nothing happened.

At least we have our brains, fanart, fanfic, aus, etc.

(And for the record, as much as I love YJ I promise any grievances with the show post-season 1 go beyond feeling cheated out of Wally existing.)

(Edit: Wanted to add that the angst, drama, and eventual fluff that could have happened if they’d brought Wally back sooner/at all could have been delicious. Him working through his trauma, he and Artemis being so unsure of where they stand, so much time has passed, but eventually slowly coming back together and realizing they still have feelings, even if they’ve changed, they still love each other and they want to try and let things happen how they happen, etc. RIP)

(Edit 2: Am I talking about this in 2024? Yes, yes I am.)

(Edit 3: It kind of pissed me off that s4 has such a huge issue of pretending to kill characters off, but then they wind up being fine (Conner, Dick, Rocket, everyone on the ship when it crashed) but somehow Wally MUST stay dead. Why, exactly? No one else fucking does. (Not that I want anyone to stay dead tbh.) It just kind of felt like a slap in the face. Wally died and Artemis was heartbroken? Haha but Conner gets to be okay and he and Megan get married, because fuck you.)

[austinslounge]

Deumoxi doesn’t know as much as she thinks she does.

She was super weird about Austin and Kaia. If anyone even brought up the idea of them having problems or breaking up, she would get super defensive about it. She never went hard for anyone else.

I always assumed she was on Cindy’s payroll or something. With the way she would make sure Kaia was never seen in a bad light.

Until DM exposed the Marcello connection. That started a huge shit storm for Kaia’s image. In my personal opinion, I think Austin broke up with Kaia in August. Then she started acting out, a little too much. Hence the forced pap walk in October. Austin was in the middle of filming a huge movie and more than likely didn’t want the news of a his break up overshadowing his work. So they delayed the news. Kaia also had her own stuff going on. But then she was acting a little too much like a messy single girl. So Austin did her a solid and walked with her to quiet down the rumors. It worked….for a short amount of time.

Then that Daily Mail article came out a few weeks later about her parents giving Austin an ultimatum. I think that was during the trip in Canada. Which by the time that article was released, Austin and Kaia had split.

In between time, Deumoxi had posted many fake sightings. Probably sent in by shippers. The one about Kaia FaceTiming Austin at the TIFF was hilarious 😂 way too far fetched. Then the fake plane story. Obviously that lady met Austin, pic was proof. But the context of the conversation was very much exaggerated. I bet he didn’t even talk about Kaia. At least not in the way this woman claimed. I think she made it up to appease people. Hence the “rest easy shippers” everything was good….which was bullshit.

Then DM still denied any problems. They were “still together but super busy”. Even though it was the holidays and both Austin and Kaia weren’t working at the time. She had no answer as to why they hadn’t been seen together in months. Austin spent two weeks in Mexico without Kaia. Kaia was sitting in another man’s lap when everyone else sat next to Santa.

Just proving these two were broken up long before the end of 2024. Then DM said they weee expected to spend Christmas together. Well Ashley Tisalde came through and blew that shit wide open with her pic of Austin spending Christmas with her.

Then DM posted the pics of Kaia in Cabo with a bunch of guys on the beach. No Austin in sight. So we knew they split. Again with DM though, she exposed Kaia being messy. First with Marcello then with all those pap pics of her in the ocean.

Anyways. Best way to start the year was with a break up announcement. There was no excusing Kaia this time. But since the break up, DM has been silent. Guess she didn’t want to admit to being wrong for months 😂😂😂

Yea girl, that's pretty much what was going on lol.

I think they broke up long before December also.

Sit down, grab some popcorn 🍿, or some wine 🍷 and take a seat 💺, because I am going to share my thoughts on this below lol.

Just to clarify some things --

The Canada trip was in late August. Around August 27th, to be exact.

The Marcello Gate happened in mid-September... around September 15th - 16th.

The Gracie concert pap walk occurred on October 5th.

The Daily Mail article talking about the Gerbers issuing Austin a "fierce warning" came out in October (October 16th). That was the same day that Austin started following The Daily Mail.

So yea, I personally think that Kaia, more so than even Austin, had much more to lose with her behavior, and I think they were trying to keep the breakup hush-hush for several reasons.

One, most celebrities never announce a breakup immediately to the media and public. Couples can always work things out and then make back up again a few weeks later.

Two, even if the breakup is final and you are "never ever ever getting back together" with your ex, who on earth wants to go through a ton of media scrutiny as soon as you and your significant other have broken up? 🥴 Most celebs put a little distance in btwn the breakup and the announcement.

Austin and Vanessa actually split up around November 2019, but didn't announce it until Jan 2020.

I think you're spot on 🎯 about DeuxMoi. I think either shippers or Kaia's team were sending in fake Kaustin sightings in order to protect Kaia's image, and since DeuxMoi had a myopic view when it came to Kaustin (for some reason 🙄), she refused to look at the evidence that did not support her idea of Kaustin being the perfect couple. But we fans knew better. 😏

And now, here we are lol.

In Psychology, I believe they call this Confirmation Bias? It's when you believe something so strongly, that you only look at evidence that supports (or confirms) your belief, and you totally ignore everything else to the contrary, instead of looking at the whole picture.

We non-shippers were looking at the whole picture. So, we could see the signs early on that they were crumbling and weren't going to last.

Deuxmoi was either just shipping them hard and was desperately wanting to prove us non-shippers (who she probably at the time just viewed as jealous fangirls of Austin) wrong, or, she had ulterior motives.

Which brings me to my last point....

I'm also kind of agreeing with you that maybe DeuxMoi is either being paid by the Gerbers, or knows them (or people close to them) in some way, because the defensive way that she would get about Kaia and the Kaustin relationship in general was not normal imo.

Any normal gossip outlet would have found it super weird that Kaia was out with some guy other than her bf, looking super flirty, and disappearing for 20 mins downstairs in some restaurant. 🙄 DeuxMoi would have been all over those Kaia/Marcello pics if it had been any other person.

The way she just brushed things off lightly like those weren't glaring red flags was just totally weird to me. 🥴

DeuxMoi was acting more like Kaia's cleaner and Damage Control Specialist than she was acting like a gossip site. Jmho.

Anyway, I sure hope that DeuxMoi has now learned her lesson lol. 😅 Listen to fans. Look at all the evidence. A lot of times, fans are very astute, and they pick up on stuff that even the media misses out on.

If you somehow made it down this far -- Thanks for coming to my TED Talk lol.

[novafire-is-thinking]

4 for Death of the Phoenix 5 for Elegant Choas 24 and 47 for both of the above fics 11 16 49

4. What detail in "Death of the Phoenix, Return of the Wolf" are you really proud of?

I don’t have time to reread the entire fic and find my favorite detail(s) I’m proud of, but after skimming everything, I’m going to go with this:

A blaster probably would have been more effective and far less painful for the victims, but seeing as the flashback takes place during an energon shortage, it makes sense that Soundwave went for the more practical sword. On the writer side of things, it allowed me to explore the scene more viscerally and emphasize the messiness of Soundwave’s grief.

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about "Elegant Chaos, Inelegant Solutions"? Answer it now!

“If you’d had more time, what would you have added?”

I would have:

Written out Brainstorm and Nautica’s tour (middle of Chapter 4)

Added Nautica and Perceptor’s first meeting (end of Chapter 4)

Spent time with Brainstorm when he located Quark in the past (+ split Chapter 5 into two chapters and inserted this before Perceptor’s “Don’t look outside.”)

Expanded Brainstorm’s one-sided conversation with Megatron (Chapter 5)

Shown Perceptor and Rung discussing Brainstorm’s fate (beginning of Chapter 6)

24. Are there any easter eggs in "Elegant Chaos, Inelegant Solutions", and if so, what are they?

How dare you make me reread my fic /lh

The list of Easter eggs is long, so I put them in a Google doc:

47. If [insert fic] was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.

Death of the Phoenix, Return of the Wolf: a shoemaker apprentice’s first pair of shoes. (There are obvious flaws, but they turned out better than expected.)

Elegant Chaos, Inelegant Solutions: Heelys that light up. (They speak for themselves, lol)

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

Funny you should ask this because I’m in the middle of writing a mini essay on my approach to character relationships and why I don’t consider myself a huge shipper. As for being partial to a certain character, I won’t even start on my blorbo list, but one trend I’ve picked up on is that I’m drawn to characters who are exceptionally powerful in a particular area. I know the reason, but it’s not for the tumblr public to know.

16. What’s an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?

I would love to read an AU where Shockwave was never shadowplayed. It would basically unravel the entirety of IDW1, but that’s part of the fun >:) Huge kudos to any author who attempts to untangle that mess.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

I’ve been toiling away at my newest Pharma WIP. Here’s one of my favorite parts so far:

—

(for this ask game)

[cosmicjoke]

Thank you for answering!! I am the one who spoke about life is strange. The couple was definitely a lesbian couple. I don't know how to send media on Tumblr unfortunately for the evidence on isayama's blog. I am an Eruri shipper and though I know Levi is canonically not in love with anybody my mind can't help but think Eruri is semi-canon. I know most shippers have on shipping goggles but there's something about Levi and Erwin's relationship I just can't wrap my mind around. You are the only person I have come across who is really good at analyzing Levi and will be able to answer any questions I have with genuineness and competence.

If you get the time, pleaseeeeeeee help me answer these questions. I want to be unbiased about my ship and maybe have the semi-canon persistent thought attended to. Thanks in advance!!

1. What do you think is the reason for Isayama drawing Levi clutching the serum to his heart when he saw Erwin's injured body?

2. For us Eruri shippers, the night before the retake of Shiganshina is a huge reason why we ship eruri. When Levi was convincing Erwin to stay and not risk his life, I felt as tho Levi was being a bit OOC. I know Erwin is his commander and he believes in his leadership that's why he didn't want him to join because he knew they needed Erwin alive for the betterment of humanity but the way Levi went about it felt a bit too personal imo. Isayama himself said in an interview that what Levi really wanted to say to Erwin is that: “Don't go. I want you to be safe.”

If it was Miche asking Erwin not to go, do you think he would display his sadness the way Levi did by sulking in a corner and drinking alone? Or banging the door when Erwin disagreed with his request or beat up Eren and Jean out of frustration like Isayama said Levi did? I'm sure Hanji also cared about Erwin's well-being but they didn't show concern at the level Levi did.

3. What do you think about Isayama's editor saying that Erwin and Levi's relationship cannot simply be classified as friends or merely comrades but that there's something more there?(the same thing was said by Erwin and Levi's japanese VAs) Also, Yuki Kaji (Eren's Va ) said that Erwin and Levi's relationship is like two people in Les Miserables. There are two men in Les Miserables named Grantaire and Enjolras. Enjolras is a charismatic and inspiring leader of the group. While Grantaire is a skeptic but a devoted follower. Their dynamic of soldier and leader is the same as Levi and Erwin. In the story, Grantaire is said to sometimes question Enjolras ideals. Their friendship goes through a lot of changes and challenges but later Grantaire is still said to have deeply loved, admired and venerated Enjolras at the end. I know Yuki, Erwin and Levi's VAs, and Isayama's editor are not the author but they are close to him so their words could have some relevance. Idk.

4. Levi is the only one whose type is defined with gender-neutral terms. Yams said he likes tall people. Not woman or man. Isayama also said he is a levifujoshi. Meaning he likes to think of Levi being in a relationship with men. That was a joke but still....lol

5. This is far-fetched but when Levi says only one man while thinking about Erwin and hoping he is alive so that he can give him the serum, there is a drawing of what looks like a broken heart on Levi's cheek. Some people say it could just be a printing error which I agree is likely, although I think it is quite oddly coincidental for a printing error of a broken heart to happen while Levi was saying those words specifically. Another thing on my mind is that Isayama has done a similar heart shape around Hange when Hange was communicating affectionately with a Titan.

6. Isayama said Mikasa's liege is Eren and so is Levi with Erwin. Ackerbond doesn't exist. I know that because Isayama even said himself that Ackerman's liege thing isn't blood bound but something that they themselves choose to do. This is later affirmed by Zeke who said Mikasa protects Eren out of adoration and not from a blood bound instinct or whatnot. So if Eren is to Mikasa what Erwin is to Levi(as said by Isayama himself) does protecting out of adoration also apply to Levi since he's an Ackerman and his liege is Erwin...?

I know Isayama confirms all his ships but all the outright confirmed ships are straight ships. Historia and Ymir didn't happen, and though Ymir loved Historia it was never confirmed if Historia saw her the same way romantically.

Homophobia is rampant in Japan. I honestly think it is a bit naive and wishful thinking for us to conclude that a homosexual ship can be easily confirmed. I think it makes sense for a gay relationship(especially among men since women are more fetishized and less frown upon in media) to be hinted hence why only homoerotic relationships has had subtext for decades while straight ships have always had the privilege to be outright confirmed. It makes sense for Isayama to do the same with Levi since Levi isn't the main character and he wouldn't want to take from Eren's story by outshining it with something as controversial as a gay relatiopnship from a side character.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your honest thoughts on each question. Thanks!!❤️

Hey, you can think whatever you like, and ship whatever you like. But it's just a fact that Levi and Erwin aren't canonically romantically involved. I don't even know why this is so difficult for some people to accept, or why it bothers them so much to accept it, to the point they're willing to twist canon events and read meaning into actions and events which simply isn't there. It's called a confirmation bias. If you're looking for something to have some special, hidden meaning, you're going to start seeing things that way, whether it's actually supported by the evidence or not. Accepting canon doesn't prevent one from imagining or creating content with their preferred ship, so again, I don't know why this is so persistently an issue.

I'll answer your questions, but as I've repeatedly stated, this isn't a topic I like discussing anymore, because it's so constant, and I've answered it so many times, in so many different ways, that all you have to do is look through my blog to address whatever issues you have.

Levi holding the serum against his chest doesn't mean anything. He's literally just hesitating because he was about to hand the serum to Eren to give to Armin, and then he saw Erwin was still alive, and he realized he could give the serum to him instead. He pulls the serum back and holds it against himself as an act of hesitation. Not romantic.

Again, you're reading into Levi's words and actions what you want. You want to believe Levi was "sad" about Erwin insisting on going because he was in love with him, when there's zero evidence to support that. Levi wasn't acting OOC at all. He was pissed because Erwin had just shaken the foundation of Levi's belief in him as a leader. Levi always believed in Erwin and his leadership and his judgement because he believed in Erwin's commitment to humanity. And now he's having to question that commitment, and thus his own loyalty to Erwin. He's upset because he's wondering if he's been following the wrong man this whole time. You also keep quoting Isayama without providing any proof that he actually said these things, quotes I've never heard actually attributed to Isayama, so I can't regard any of that with any seriousness.

Nothing outside of what Isayama himself writes matters. So, I don't really care what anyone else says or implies. But of course, Levi's relationship with Erwin is very much rooted in admiration. That doesn't in any way indicate him being in love with him. He admires Erwin because he sees him as a great leader and an admirable man for his commitment to humanity. If one says there's more than just "friendship" there, all that means to me is that Levi looks to Erwin as a guiding light. I've talked about this countless times. Levi looked to Erwin as a man who could best show him how to help the most people.

Again, quoting Isayama without any proof isn't going to get you anywhere with me. Offhanded comments by Isayama in Q&A sessions don't mean anything and have no real relevance. The only thing that matters is what's in the actual text.

Again, this is reading what you want into the scene. It's projection. There's nothing in Levi's words or actions which indicate that his heart is breaking because he's in love with Erwin.

Erwin isn't Levi's "liege", and I don't think Isayama ever said that word in relation to them, or to Eren and Mikasa, for that matter. He said Levi and Mikasa were like Knights, and he said Levi and Mikasa are both "loyal", meaning their personalities are geared toward loyalty. They stick by their people. That's all that means. Mikasa is loyal to Eren because he saved her life. Levi is loyal to Erwin because he believes in Erwin' as a leader. We see this loyalty manifest Levi's sustained belief in Erwin as a leader, even after he confesses that seeing what's in Eren's basement is more important to him than humanity. Levi's trust, and loyalty born from that trust, isn't so easily shaken. It, again, doesn't indicate any kind of personal, romantic feelings, it simply indicates a high regard and level of trust in Erwin's goodness as a man. Mikasa is obviously in love with Eren. Why, then, wouldn't it be equally obvious if Levi was in love with Erwin? And don't say something like, well, homophobia. Isayama clearly doesn't care about that. Look at Historia and Ymir. Look at Hange, who's essentially transgender. EVERY romantic relationship in AoT is explicit. If Isayama wanted to make it obvious, he would have. To see the relationship between Levi and Erwin as romantic requires way too much speculation, generalization, indistinct conclusions and broad, indeterminate assumptions to ever be taken seriously.

Again, you're simply projecting and engaging in pure speculation to support your desire for Levi's relationship with Erwin to be romantic. But nothing in canon suggests it at all. There's no hint of it, no foundation for believing it, no proof of it. You rely on promotional material, live interview answers, vague, undefined and far-fetched elements which can be easily twisted to fit a certain narrative or bias, and call it evidence. It's not. It's simply you taking inconclusive answers to random questions and imbuing them with symbolic or subliminal messaging, or taking a panel and doing the same, or twisting Levi's emotional response to things which have an in story explanation which isn't romantic, and coloring it to be romantic. There's literally zero evidence to suggest Levi's relationship with Erwin is anything other than that of friendship, subordinate and commander, and confidant. That's it.

I don't mean to be so harsh, but this is beyond exhausting. I don't know how many times I can go over this same topic, again and again, and still, people refuse to just accept it. You're being friendly, and say you want me to simply help you have a better understanding of their canon relationship, but you didn't accept my first answer, and keep pushing and prodding, as if wanting to trip me up and prove that I'm wrong, even when you must know my stance on this issue and you must know how I'm going to respond. I've dealt with this same type of approach from Eruri shippers countless times. I don't know if that's what you're doing, but it feels like it. So I'll kindly ask that you just accept this very long winded reply from me. You aren't going to change my mind, and you aren't going to convince me otherwise, because, again, the only thing that matters when discussing what is and isn't canon, is the manga and anime itself. Everything else is meaningless.

[jovenshires]

I feel like the real problem with the shourtney isn't the weirdo (affectionate) tumblr side but stuff like tiktok. Bc with almost every other ship it is only weirdo tumblr kind of people that treat it as ficition but with shourtney there are so many normies that are doing truther shit.

Tiktok is so so so so bad. There is a tiktok with half million views analyzing courtney and shayne selfies and account of their family to "prove" that they are a couple.

They scare me.

I am not part of either group but if you a weirdo tumblr shourtney shipper just know that when people complain about shourtney "shippers" they are talking about the second group of people mostly.

(sorry for so many people using your inbox to do ship "discourse" haha, I am doing too but feel free to ignore and delete this if you don't want to talk about it anymore)

okay so to start off - totally agree with you that it's not really tumblr that's the problem. i will say i don't go into the sh/ourtney tag (bc. not my monkeys not my circus) but at least as far as the mutuals i have that do ship sh/ourtney, they're super chill about it! as we do, they treat the dynamic as purely fiction, they don't ya know. harass anyone.

i (and i say this thankfully) am not REALLY on smoshtok. i get the occasional smosh men or angela thirst edits and that is About it. but i will say this: you all know i am totally against tinhatting in all senses of the word. i try to stay as far away from those sides of every social media platform. so i'm with you, that shit is nasty.

but even after all that - i saw that tiktok. multiple friends sent me that tiktok. i didn't like it or anything or engage with it on purpose but i saw it. and then i found out later that they were both tagged in it, as was the official smosh account. my brother in christ i truly wish i'd never seen it. i think its one thing to look at a picture and be like 'omg they're so cute here' but another thing to compile it as evidence and throw it back in their faces. at that point, it feels like forcibly outing an aspect of their life that they clearly either do not want to or cannot discuss. they are still people with a right to privacy. rpf is just that - fiction. this is something different and i hope they one day have the clarity to see that.

tbh i really appreciate your input; you worded it much better than i did!! this is what i was talking about when i said that this epidemic isn't a huge thing here on tumblr, and i think a lot of that is in part bc the cast isn't here for us to interact with. the official smosh blog has been dead for years and as far as i know (?) none of the cast uses tumblr anymore. i was thinking more of the instagram, tiktok, and some twitter fans. (twitter is a mixed bag though and i won't get into that here. ever.) 9 times out of 10 i am Not talking about tumblr fans when i critique shipping at large. (that is to say not always. we can always work on ourselves and grow as a community. i, myself, am always learning and growing.)

anyway! i wanted to publish this ask, because i think it's very succinct and touches on a subject that i think was very valuable to this discussion (re: tinhatting). this ask is totally fine and did not cross a line in any way and i genuinely appreciate the thought you put into sending it!! that being said - this is probably the last ask i will publish on the subject. though i adore you all and i want you to feel free to speak your piece, frankly, i would also like to maintain my peace knnfnfk i do think that these discussions are important and worthwhile but that being said. i am just one lil guy.

[raynavan]

Ok so, turns out this “princess Mononoke” Submas au was a bit big for a single post (and also I can not do all of this in one day) so I’m only going over the beginning of this story.

Dw if you know nothing about princess Mononoke or have never watched the movie. I’ll fill all that in (to the best of my ability) as necessary.

This is not a fic, and I would not have the energy or time to make this a fic, but I will be treating this a bit like… a campfire story. 

(I am shamelessly stealing this from @/coramatus sorry not sorry love the way you tell stories)

Oh and, I hate that I have to say this, BLANK SHIPPERS DNI yes I’m aware the two characters that are Ingo and Emmet in this au like each other. This is not the case in this story, they are brothers. Please go somewhere else. Thank you. 

Alright so, part one here we go:

Emmet and Ingo live in a small town in the east. There aren’t many people living there and everyone knows everyone. Ingo and Emmet usually are the ones on watch, or leave the town to get goods from other places far off, because they have a particularly large Pokémon team. 

See, while the town is known for taking care of Pokémon and respecting them, not many train their pokemon (or having Pokémon willing to) to such a strength. Mostly, the important thing to note is that they love their partners dearly. 

They carved pokeballs out of stone and wood to keep their partners safe when they go out. The Pokémon enjoyed it as it meant they could be right by their partners side even as they slept.

Ingo was out on an expedition, one that was supposed to only take him a few days. When a week goes by, people begin to worry. 

Emmet had been patrolling the forest's edge, being careful not to enter the forest itself, for over a month looking for him. His partners were tough, but the larger portion of their team had gone out with Ingo, and he did not wish to take any risks. 

It is during one of these patrols that he spots a shadow shifting behind the trees, and huge creeks of straining wood as trees fall down in a straight path. Immediately Emmet springs to his feet and runs to warn the rest of town, as whatever is knocking down the forest is heading straight to the village.

As he glances behind him, though, he spots a horrible mass of pitch black tendrils leaping out of the forest and killing the fields of grain. He can’t even see the things face behind the black- just two bright red eyes. 

As the beast just keeps up with him, Emmet realizes that the town wouldn’t even have time to prepare if he did warn them, so he sends out Eelektross and calls out to use thunder- a devastating attack that… doesn’t really do much but stumble the strange thing from the woods. 

Emmet comes to realize that this must be one of the forest gods, as they are some of the most powerful Pokémon known, and that only they could have shrugged off that kind of attack. Emmet shouts at the god to please not attack the village, but the god does not listen.

It does stop to properly face Emmet, however, bemoaning about the human race, and how destructive and cruel they are. How they deserve nothing but distraction and pain, if they were filled with such greed. 

Emmet asks what the god means, but it isn’t listening, only screaming out and firing a tendril at Emmet that he is too slow to dodge.

“You shall feel my hate! You shall be consumed with it!” 

The tendril wraps around his arm in burning pain, leaving behind deep marks on his skin. Emmet's Pokémon react, shooting attack after attack at the god, only managing to knock off some of the black mass covering its body. 

It starts towards the village again, where people are scrambling to get out, but just as it is beginning to enter its proper, a shadow ball hits its side, making it buckle. 

Emmet looks up and sees Ingo’s ace, Chandelure, screech at the god, covering it with flames. Five others come out and help, beating back the god with over double the firepower. 

They knock off just enough of the black tendrils that Emmet is able to see glints of a gold crown and a gray body. Yet it does not go down. It stands tall a screams out once more-

“YOU SHALL FEEL MY HATE!”

And disappears into the shadows. 

-

Emmet's arm aches as Elesa pours fresh water over it, and the skin hissed like a hot pan in water. The people are worried about a curse possibly befalling the village, but mostly they worry for Emmet and Ingo, who has still not returned and is now without his Pokémon. 

Drayden, the oldest and wisest of All of them, says that Emmet has been cursed with something he cannot mend. The magic is too old and powerful for him to do much, but in the east there is another god that could heal him. 

The god of creation, arceus. 

It has not been seen by them for a long, long time. But if this curse is not healed then it would seep into his bones and kill him from the inside out, while his hatred grows. 

Emmet agrees to go, both to hopefully find a cure, but to also look for his brother. With a hug and a sack of food and tools, Emmet sets off to the west. 

Perhaps, just maybe, he would be able to find out what had made that god so angry as well.

[antirozaline]

Fanon vs canon, Toga Himiko. Well, I saw some like that, but they were mostly with Deku and I never saw one with Toga. So anyways, let's get started-

Fanon: 'A psychopath', 'yandere'.

People just label it like that, cause it's easy to just take some word like 'Oh it means evil' and put a villain in. Toga is sadistic but it isn't equal with being a psychopath, as she lacks other traits. And that yandere part. For her, drinking blood is like showing affection. And a yandere is someone who's insanely obsessed with their love. And they can hurt them, yeah, but Toga doesn't see it that way. See any similarities? Well, I know that she loves her "enemies", but still. It makes no sense.

Fanon: Toga has a need of drinking blood.

Canon: She's more touch-starved without blood.

I know it's cool to make her actually malnourished without it, but like… it's quite a huge change. Plus I saw a few times something like 'the government supplies her with blood bags' in Hero AUs. It wouldn't work, cause she wants to know whose the blood is.

A shipper.

Never mentioned. Why does she always have to put Dabi and Tomura together? Like, seeing the relationship of her and Dabi, I doubt that she would think of him as of being in love with anyone.

Note: fanfics in a nutshell: Aww, he's so cute! Wait- what the fuck am I thinking about?! And those weird feelings… better ask Toga. *explains*. Toga: and you didn't realize?! You're in love! 😑

Fanon: Her feelings for Izuku and Ochako and Stain mean nothing in Twice's light.

Even thought that Stain thing is more of a Quirk fascination, she still thinks about him sometimes and refers to him as "-sama", which is more polite, borderline worship. Once she was listening to that video with Stain. And for Izuku, she didn't exactly like him, but she remembers him (thinks he's cute) and she mentioned him as someone she loves while talking to Spinner. And Ochako… I've got a feeling that Himiko liked her more from the beginning. And then she met her second time. And that other time… Ochako literally decided to help her. And she agreed. And Toga's really in love with her, and somehow, far away, with Izuku. (more like his looks, but anyways-) Twice's her closest friend, and she called him her big brother. If not Twice's "kiss me" or smth, it couldn't be more platonic. And yes, he's dear to her, but in a down-to-earth way. And Ochaco is just like… her dream.

Fanon: The family of villains

Canon: Depends who you're asking.

I'm not trying to say that Toga doesn't like the League. But she isn't still. She does what she wants, and when she wants. And while she finds it nice and fun, it's just a chapter in her life. She's herself, her normal self. She deeply wants to be normal, and that won't stay for long with her allies. Unlike Twice, she doesn't feel that "bound with souls" with them.

Fanon: DabiToga siblings

Canon: DabiToga riposters.

This speaks for itself. Neither Dabi would like to do things for her, nor she'd do so. Also the whole thing like Dabi does her hair, or she's always around Dabi. No comment. I know that later he became kinder to her, but I see it like he just... Thinks it's fun. And he may spend some time listening to them, and talk to them and be with them, but it doesn't matter after all. Also let's not forget that suddenly annoying shipper vampire becomes Himiko's only trait. And genuinely she is unlikable.

Fanon: She always arranges things.

Canon: I can see her do that. I can.

Toga is "light-spirited". (I don't want it to end! I thought he's going to kill us! Will you kill me, too?!) Okay, but seriously. She likes fun things, and so, and she'd do that.

[lcndonboysstuff]

I also haven't watched a TV show in ages too tbh. Atleast like from start to finish. Same with books. I tend to have fixations and over the last year and half or so, my mind has been mostly on all of this. I have been trying to find a new thing to fixate on so I can actually focus on a fun thing, but I haven't been feeling about tv shows in a while. I actually have been into astrology lately (hence why I started that convo the other day) and I have been getting back to rewatch some old soap operas I know I already love. That has been fun actually. I live in Portugal and we are big on soap operas or telenovelas as we call it. I wish there was a way to share that with subtitles for y'all.

Still, here are some TV shows I watched like a big while ago and I liked. Others are some of my old comfort shows. I usually am into drama, thriller, crime shows. I also like to be a shipper so I do love a romance too (even though the couples I like all get screwed up somehow). I try to not stick with just the stuff I know I like and try something different every once in a while (same with books but yeah). I also like to watch anime sometimes. Anime is like my happy place. I only watch the romance and good vibe ones.

Charmed (this is the original version by the way, not the reboot. one of my ultimate comfort shows. Some of you probably will know this one, since it's very popular. But long story short, it has 3 sisters who find out they are witches. There's a lot of magic ofc, there's a lot of family union and bonding moments, there's a lot of good romance, there's a lot of funny moments. It's just a feel good show to me)

Instant star (other old but gold. Not sure if this one is very known, because it's canadian. Ok so for those who like series that have a music storyline this is it. Like the whole show is so well developed. It's basically the story of this 16 year old who wins a talent contest and the prize is to record a CD and the show is her whole journey inside the music industry. It goes from her having 16 to 19 years. It depicts the ugly sides of fame and the industry and how is definately not easy to reach success. The songs on the show are all originals written by the lead actress specifically to fit the storyline. But the show also puts a lot of emphasis on her as a person. One thing I will say is, there's a relationship with a problematic age gap here. I know to some people that can be an immediate discard, but don't just rule out. I'm someone who really gets uncomfortable with age gaps as far as up to 5 years. Here, it's higher then that. Yet I still shipped them because it has to do with the way the story is built. Looking back I can admit they were kind of toxic at times but that wasn't due to the age, but ✨ trauma ✨ Also the show treats the age gap like a real issue, it's not swept under the rug. It's a constant talk. And the couple doesn't really get together like that, that's why you end up rooting for them (when they aren't being toxic that is). It's a very slow burn and yes they do pine for each other but that doesn't stop any of them from being with other people and actually fall in love with other people. I think the first ep does give the impression that the fact she immediately crushes on him is going to lead to something right away but it's not. Anyway...ahahaha)

I already wrote a huge ask so I'm going to do a second one with more shows on it

i’ve actually managed to read a few books this year, which i’m proud of cuz i don’t read much anymore.

i think one telenovela that i’ve watched a few years ago, “La Patrona” very entertaining.

my sister has actually watched charmed and recommend it to me a few times!

i’ve never heard of the second one but i’ll add it to my list, i’m looking for a long series to watch throughout the summer. i watched greys anatomy through the last winter break, i stopped at season 11 but it was very enjoyable. those first 8 seasons are class

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

I don’t know what you supposedly did, nor do I care.  Spop is a hard fandom.  I’ve seen people get dogpiled on tumblr for having some kind of “wrong opinion” or even for something that was supposed to be funny.  I’ve seen serious dogpiling and wailing and whining on multiple tumblers over JOKES.  I suppose the anti-character and anti-shippers going too far and judging our moral character by fictional people we find entertaining got everyone on edge. People got blocklisted and called out over rumors and misunderstandings, too - Someone has a beef with someone, gets their friends involved, it snowballs. (This is exactly the reason why I stopped letting Anon on my asks - getting an angry demand about WHY I’d reblogged something I thought was insightful because it supposedly came from a “bad person” who I didn’t know from Adam).  Part of me blames the general crazy-making for the pandemic coinciding with the latter part of She-Ra’s airing and fandom for how nuts things got in it because the isolation and fear of an apocalyptic event made us all generally more nuts than we ever were before, even into a thing we were using as a distraction.  (I’d say that it’s better I got into Spop fandom than Q-Anon, buuuuut....in some ways, not much better).   I mean, seriously... I’ve been getting into other fandoms lately - actually, getting back into things I’ve loved before / never left / only had a gap in and realizing that it seems like things aren’t so crazy there - I don’t know if they’re just plain bigger (Zelda is a huge fandom, so the nutballs in it never get much of a voice against the crowd) or more mature (Trigun fandom - well, Trigun, especially the new iteration, is a for-adults anime, lots of blood and it runs on philosophical questions) - and being more mature, it attracts fans who are able to deal with moral grays.     I haven’t been into writing for Spop lately.  I haven’t watched the show in a while. I am thinking of re-watching just the last season so I can get in a mind-frame to finish up a clone-centric fic I started long ago.  (When I was writing it, there was a death in my family of someone I was extremely close to, so it just halted).  I read in the fandom only seldom now. I don't think I've read much of yours, actually... I think I might have read a few shorts? I’d say that thing in a lot of Entrapdak fic that really bothered me I was last reading heavily in it in other writers regarding out of character writing is making Entrapta too much of a damsel (it’s okay to make her scared of Beast Island when she first arrived there, but let’s face it, she was the Tech Queen of Beast Island within a day) and making Hordak wussified.  Nothing bothers me more than Hordak suddenly pining for friendship.  He is proud. He is dignified (except around Entrapta and Imp, and his bowing before Prime prior to the abyss-drop).  He would turn himself in for trial - for those who like doing those kinds of fics, but he’d hold his head up high.  I remember some fics really making him helpless and overly emotional, when let’s face it, the man is serious and would have some cold snark. 

I was reading another entrapdak fic and suddenly "blah blah the alliance wont let us do anything" and i immediately stopped reading. Yknow it's possible to enjoy characters without villainising every other character, especially without making Entrapta's friends really nasty to her just because you want to make Hordak more sympathetic.

[lucas-grey]

Ambrose Island

So, after playing the map now for a while, it's time to write my first impressions and a first Review about it so far. There will be spoilers ahead!

First of all, this location is full Lucas Grey fan service! I'm sorry shippers, but I hope you will get your chance with Freelancer ❤️ But Ambrose Island is clearly Grey's level! IOI shows again, that they listen to their fans. After several YouTube videos, Blogposts and other posts on Reddit and the Hitman Forum from fans complaining about Grey's early death, they finally brought him back!

He has the most lines, and here is something that it's a bit of a pity: All lines I have found from 47 so far are reused. Diana has some lines in the opening cinematics, but in the location itself, Grey is our only handler and he guides us through the map.

The whole thing is set during the two month episode between Whittleton Creek and Sgail, and at the beginning, we see our dream team together again on that ship in the North Sea.

So let's start with the opening cinematic! It is similar to the ingame cinematics we know from Hitman 3. The lip synch is good, but the facial expressions are a bit wooden, more like in the cinematics we had in Haven and New York. But what counts is what happens and after they went a bit OOC (in my opinion) in Hitman 3, they show here how good they actually can write chracters.

I loved the little teasing between Grey and Diana! They are so cute together, in a mischievous way.

Diana: "I've seen the man's file. What did you expect would happen?"

Grey: "It's not like I had much choice, seeing as all my best lieutenants were killed by you two."

Diana: "Fair point."

This is GOLD!

The cinematic also gives us a deeper look on what kind of a person Grey is. He hired Noel Crest, one of our targets, to have an eye on the militia while he's away. But Crest turned away from the militia, disregarded Grey's order and formed a group of ruthless thieves, running around and killing people, no matter who they are.

Grey shows much regret, and again it is shown how broken he is. He tries to correct his mistakes he made in the past, maybe still hoping for a better future. Damn... 🥺

Grey: "He is my responsibility. My mistake."

I'm not crying, you are!

Grey asks Diana and 47, to "correct" this mistake, because with his next heist, Crest could warn the Constant and destroying the plans to kidnap him.

So here we are, on Ambrose Island, and what can I say? I love it! It is acutally bigger than I thought, considering that the level is for free. And it's not as I first thought, that it is Colorado 2.0 and that the whole map is a restricted area. There is a village near the beach, where you can walk around freely, a little jungle part and than there is the restricted section in some ruins and behind the village.

The default suit 47 wears and we can unlock at lvl 20 is a reskin of the tactical wetsuit and it's hot! Even if it's a reskin, I still love the more military look of it.

I can't say so much about the targets for now, because I haven't seen much of them. But I was strolling around the island and damn, there are so many things that are fun to play! A slap contest, hello? I slapped the whole village! You can also find the Buccaneer suit and some interesting items. I don't want to spoiler too much, go and discover the huge island, it's so much fun!

I am a bit sad about the missing new lines by 47 (Mister Bateson, were you busy?), because I was hoping for some brother-content between him and Grey. But there is one little hint I want to share with you, because it's kinda cute!

We can find an old acquaintance on the Island: Agent Smith. He is trapped in a cage and when we find him and he starts talking to 47, you can clearly hear Grey smiling when he says: "Heh... friend of yours, 47?" Tell me what you want, but you can almost hear the little jealously in his voice 😅

Of course, there are some things IOI could have done better. But I will not talk about these now, I am too thankful that they brought Grey back and kinda made his mission.

I can't wait to explore it more, so prepare for new screenshots and Reviews and more stuff about the level in the next days! Have fun playing it and tell me what you think about it in the comments or write me a message! I can’t wait to hear your opinions ❤️

[shkspr]

hi. on your post where you may or may not have ended on 'moffat is either your angel or your devil' did you have maybe an elaboration on that somewhere that i could possibly hear about. i'm very much a capaldi era stan and i've never tried to defend the matt smith era even though it had delightful moments sometimes so i wonder where that puts me. i'd love to hear your perspective on moffat as a person with your political perspective. -nicole

hi ok sorry i took so long to respond to this but i dont think you know how LOADED this question is for me but i am so happy to elaborate on that for you. first a few grains of salt to flavor your understanding of the whole situation: a. im unfairly biased against moffat bc im a davies stan and a tennant stan; b. i still very much enjoy and appreciate moffat era who for many reasons; and c. i hate moffat on a personal level far more than i could ever hate his work.

the thing is that its all always gonna be a bit mixed up bc i have to say a bunch of seemingly contradictory things in a row. for instance, a few moffat episodes are some of my absolute favorites of the rtd era, AND the show went way downhill when moffat took over, AND the really good episodes he wrote during the rtd era contained the seeds of his destruction.

like i made that post about the empty child/the doctor dances and it holds true for blink and thats about it bc the girl in the fireplace and silence in the library/forest of the dead are good but not nearly on the same level, and despite the fact that i like them at least nominally, they are also great examples of everything i hate about moffat and how he approached dw as a whole.

basically. doctor who is about people. there are many things about moffats tenure as showrunner that i think are a step up from rtd era who! actual gay people, for one! but i think that can likely be attributed mostly to an evolving Society as opposed to something inherent to him and his work, seeing as rtd is literally gay, and the existence of queer characters in moffats work doesnt mean the existence of good queer characters (ill give him bill but thats it!)

i have a few Primary Grievances with moffat and how he ran dw. all of them are things that got better with capaldi, but didnt go away. they are as follows:

moffat projects his own god complex onto the doctor

rtd era who had a doctor with a god complex. you cant ever be the doctor and not have a god complex. the problem with moffats era specifically is that the god complex was constant and unrepentant and was seen as a fundamental personality trait of the doctor rather than a demon he has to fight. he has the Momence where you feel bad for him, the Momence where he shows his humility or whatever and youre reminded that he doesnt want to be the lonely god, but those are just. moments. in a story where the doctor thinks hes the main character. rtd era doctor was aware that he wasnt the main character. he had to be an authority sometimes and he had to be the loner and he had to be sad about it, but he ultimately understood that he was expendable in a narrative sense.

this is how you get lines like “were the thin fat gay married anglican marines, why would we need names as well?” from the same show that gave you the gut punch moment at the end of midnight when they realize that nobody asked the hostess for her name. and on the one hand, thats a small sticking point, but on the other hand, its just one small example of the simple disregard that moffat has for humanity.

incidentally, this is a huge part of why sherlock sucked so bad: moffats main characters are special bc theyre so much bigger and better than all the normal people, and thats his downfall as a showrunner. he thinks that his audience wants fucking sheldon cooper when what they want is people.

like, ok. think of how many fantastic rtd era eps are based in the scenario “what if the doctor wasnt there? what if he was just out of commission for a bit?” and how those eps are the heart of the show!! bc theyre about people being people!! the thing is that all of the rtd era companions would have died for the doctor but he understood and the story understood that it wasnt about him.

this is like. nine sending rose home to save her life and sacrifice his own vs clara literally metaphysically entwining her existence w the doctor. ten also sending rose with her family to save her life vs river being raised from infancy to be obsessed w the doctor and then falling in love w him. martha leaving bc she values herself enough to make that decision vs amy being treated like a piece of meat.

and this is simultaneously a great callback to when i said that moffats episodes during the rtd era sometimes had the same problems as his show running (bc girl in the fireplace reeks of this), and a great segue into the next grievance.

moffat hates women

he hates women so fucking much. g-d, does steven moffat ever hate women. holy shit, he hates women. especially normal human women who prioritize their normal human lives on an equal or higher level than the doctor. moffat hated rose bc she wasnt special by his standards. the empty child/the doctor dances is the nicest he ever treated her, and she really didnt do much in those eps beyond a fuck ton of flirting.

girl in the fireplace is another shining example of this. youve got rose (who once again has another man to keep her busy, bc moffat doesnt think shes good enough for the doctor) sidelined for no reason only to be saved by the doctor at the last second or whatever. and then youve got reinette, who is pretty and powerful and special!

its just. moffat thinks that the doctor is as shallow and selfish as he is. thats why he thinks the doctor would stay in one place with reinette and not with rose. bc moffat is shallow and sees himself in the doctor and doesnt think he should have to settle for someone boring and normal.

not to mention rose met the doctor as an adult and chose to stay with him whereas reinette is. hm. introduced to the doctor as a child and grows up obsessed with him.

does that sound familiar? it should! bc it is also true of amy and river. and all of them are treated as viable romantic pairings. bc the only women who deserve the doctor are the ones whose entire existence revolves around him. which includes clara as well.

genuinely i think that at least on some level, not even necessarily consciously, that bill was a lesbian in part bc capaldi was too old to appeal to mainstream shippers. like twelve/clara is still a thing but not as universally appealing as eleven/clara but i am just spitballing. but i think they weighed the pros and cons of appealing to the woke crowd over the het shippers and found that gay companion was more profitable. anyway the point is to segue into the next point, which is that moffat hates permanent consequences.

moffat hates permanent consequences

steven moffat does not know how to kill a character. honestly it feels like hes doing it on purpose after a certain point, like he knows he has this habit and hes trying to riff on it to meme his own shit, but it doesnt work. it isnt funny and it isnt harmless, its bad writing.

the end of the doctor dances is so poignant and so meaningful and so fucking good bc its just this once! everybody lives, just this once! and then he does p much the same thing in forest of the dead - this one i could forgive, bc i do think that preserving those peoples consciousnesses did something for the doctor as a character, it wasnt completely meaningless. but everything after that kinda was.

rory died so many times its like. get a hobby lol. amy died at least once iirc but it was all a dream or something. clara died and was erased from the doctors memory. river was in prison and also died. bill? died. all of them sugarcoated or undone or ignored by the narrative to the point of having effectively no impact on the story. the point of a major character death is that its supposed to have a point. and you could argue that a piece of art could be making a point with a pointless death, ie. to put perspective on it and remind you that bad shit just happens, but with moffat the underlying message is always “i can do whatever i want, nothing is permanent or has lasting impact ever.”

basically, with moffat, tragedy exists to be undone. and this was a really brilliant, really wonderful thing in the doctor dances specifically bc it was the doctor clearly having seen his fair share of tragedy that couldnt be helped, now looking on his One Win with pride and delight bc he doesnt get wins like this! and then moffat proceeded to give him the same win over and over and over and over. nobody is ever dead. nobody is ever unable to be saved. and if they are, really truly dead and/or gone, then thats okay bc moffat has decided that [insert mitigating factor here]*

*the mitigating factor is usually some sort of computerized database of souls.

i can hear the moffat stans falling over themselves to remind me that amy and rory definitely died, and they did - after a long and happy life together, they died of old age. i dont consider that a character death any more than any other character choosing to permanently leave the tardis.

and its not just character deaths either, its like, everything. the destruction of gallifrey? never mind lol! character development? scrapped! the same episode four times? lets give it a fifth try and hope nobody notices. bc he doesnt know how to not make the doctor either an omnipotent savior or a self-pitying failure.

it is in nature of doctor who, i believe, for the doctor to win most of the time. like, it wouldnt be a very good show if he didnt win most of the time. but it also wouldnt be a very good show if he won all of the time. my point is that moffats doctor wins too often, and when he doesnt win, it feels empty and hollow rather than genuinely humbling, and you know hes not gonna grow from it pretty much at all.

so like. again, i like all of doctor who i enjoy all of it very much. i just think that steven moffat is a bad show runner and a decent writer at times. and it is frustrating. and im not here to convince or convert anyone im just living my truth. thank you for listening.

[undertale-data]

[Image Description: An Undertale chat box that has “WHY FANS LOVE UNDERTALE” at its center. Next to it are a line chart and an Egg from the Dating Hub on its left, and a CRIME measurer (also from the Dating Hub) on its right. End I.D.]

[Image Description: a pie chart titled, “LEVEL OF LOVE FOR UNDERTALE.” The textbox on the top right reads, “On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the least and 10 being the highest, how much do fans enjoy Undertale?” From the top going clockwise, 12 or 0% chose 5 and below; 23 or 1% chose 6; 98, or 4%, chose 7; 325, or 12%, chose 8; 529, or 20%, chose 9; and 1664, or 63%, chose 10. End I.D.]

It’s clear from all of the data analyzed so far that fans who took the time to answer our survey love Undertale. It is unlikely that they would have taken the time to answer so many questions if they had not, and even less likely that they would have come across our survey in the first place. Naturally, it comes as no surprise that 63% of our responders gave their love for Undertale a score of ten out of ten. 95% gave their love for Undertale a score of eight or higher, and only 12 responders responded with five or below, a number so small that their responses had to be lumped together to be visible on the pie chart. Of those, only 3 responders gave their love for Undertale a score of 1, and based on those responders’ other answers, it is likely that they were only intending to troll. We are very fortunate that the vast majority of responders took the survey seriously, enough so that responses like this are barely a blip in the data.

Now, for our final analysis post of the event, we will delve into the reasons that fans love Undertale so dearly.

(Essay and highlights under the cut.)

There have been countless essays on the impact that Undertale has had on people’s lives. I can hardly add more on the subject than what has already been said, but I hope this summary can provide a brief overview of what stood out among the over two thousand answers given in response to this survey. That said, due to the sheer volume of answers, I could not read every single one in depth—however, I did skim all of them, and some that stood out or were representative of several responses have been highlighted below. If you would like to see what every fan who consented to share their response had to say, you may view the full list of responses here. Note that these responses have not been edited in any way. This document may take a long time to load, as it is over 100 pages long.

(Warnings for mentions of suicidal thoughts in the following essay.)

Several responders loved the theme of choices mattering in Undertale. Whether people played the pacifist, merciless, or neutral routes, they enjoyed how the game reacted to their actions. For some, it even made them consider their own morality. One touching response explained the impact that the theme of mercy made on them. “I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.” Many fans left similar comments about how the themes of Undertale made them better people.

Undertale changed how its fans treat others, and it also changed how fans treat themselves. The theme of staying determined and the messages of hope in the game were a light to a very large portion of fans. I cannot list all of the fans who said that Undertale helped them out of a dark place, or that they would not be alive if not for Undertale. “DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.”

Undertale brought fans together in unexpected ways. Some said they met friends or significant others through the fandom. “I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale,” one fan said. A different fan who is non-native English speaking mentioned that the game and the fan community helped them to learn English.

It would be impossible to discuss Undertale without mentioning the fan community. Whether for good or bad, many responders mentioned the fandom in their responses. Overall the feelings towards the fandom seem positive, though many made references to “toxic” parts of the fandom without specifying which parts they consider toxic. Others rejected the idea of toxicity in fandom. One response said: “[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!”

One thing that makes the Undertale fandom unique is the way it embraces various AUs. Some fans are tired of AU content, but the majority of responses show a love for the creativity behind AUs. “Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.” The lack of a judgemental atmosphere seems present in the AU community, according to the responses we saw. There is an interesting balance between AU and canon (sometimes referred to as “classic”) content that another responder pointed out: “The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertale fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)”

Regardless of the many AUs the fandom has created over the years, the original game of Undertale still feels like home for many fans. They wished they could reclaim the feeling of playing the game again for the first time, but even though we can’t reset time in real life, there is still a special feeling for fans each time they play Undertale. One fan said, “Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.” This feeling is one that can be cherished time and time again. In the words of another responder: “It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it.” Others pointed out the strength of the found family trope in Undertale, which likely contributes to this feeling of “home” as well.

As mentioned briefly earlier, the music is part of what makes Undertale feel like home for fans. Even when responses focused on other aspects of the game, many would throw in a comment about the soundtrack at the end. One comment focused on the music said “IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.” Like with the game itself, the music has incredible replay value, an amazing feat considering most of the tracks use the same few motifs. “I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story,” another responder said. “They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.”

If the music sticks with fans in their hearts, then the game’s lore sticks with fans in their minds. Even six years after the release of Undertale, fans are still creating new theories and digging up new secrets. The way the game breaks the fourth wall in particular intrigued many fans and has stuck out through all these years. The awareness that the game shows for the RPG genre makes it memorable. The game plays with the player’s expectations and turns them on their heads, all while reminding the player that they’re in a game. There are few other games that do this on such a large scale, so it’s no surprise that fans cite this as one of their favorite things about Undertale.

Lastly, the LGBT+ representation in Undertale has been a huge draw for fans. Especially in 2015, the sheer volume of non-cishet characters was unprecedented, as one fan pointed out: “It's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. Hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. It's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.” The LGBT+ cast including Frisk, Chara, Napstablook, Monster Kid, Mettaton, Alphys, and Undyne each connected with fans in unique ways. It’s clear how important this is from responses such as: “There are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.” “It made me gay and trans so thanks for that.”

Once again I am overwhelmed with just how much there is to say about Undertale. One responder really understood when they compared Undertale to an iceberg, explaining that there are so many layers to the game that there is something for everyone: “everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans—from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers—is the mark of the coolest games!” I would have to agree with them.

It’s been six years, and despite everything, it’s still you. Thank you for reading, participating in this survey, and above all, staying determined.

Highlights:

DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.

I think the coolest thing was having the opportunity to watch the AU community grow from its bare roots. It's nearly insane how big and complex it's gotten, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.

i love how the lgbt rep is so naturalized... there are just gay people! and its nobodys business!

The music is my go to answer, but what I really really REALLY love is how the minor characters have so much personality to them when you talk to them. They aren't incredibly important to the overall story, but they're all so likeable and diverse that you just can't help but like them immediately!

I think it was the first videogame I have played that broke the fourth wall that much. Of course there has been other videogames that broke it but just for one or two tongue-in-cheek jokes. The guilt of killing mama goat was also something intense as well that I appreciated as an experience and that I didn't think a videogame could cause on someone.

I love how no character can be seen as completely bad! Everyone builds up Asgore as some horrible villain, but he turns out to be a 'fuzzy pushover' who's broken and just wants his family back by the time you meet him. Then you think Flowey's an irredeemable killer who engineered the suffering of the monsters across many timelines, and he is... but he also used to be the kind and beloved Prince Asriel Dreemurr, traumatized by his death and subsequent rebirth, projecting his best friend onto you.

The fact that choices matter in the game. Your first playthrough and getting the golden ending for the first time. I can never replicate those feelings again, wish I could erase my memories and replay the game from the start.

I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale.

(Toxic parts of the fandom aside) The community is possibly one of the kindest I've ever met. Cringe culture is completely dead, and I feel like I can be myself. I felt a very close connection to many of the characters, and I loved consuming content about them when I was in a rough patch in my life.

just everything, the whole game has just impacted my life so much. i know it sounds really lame, but when the game first came out, i would purposely put my hands in my pockets and sway slightly, like sans' idle animation. of course i dont do that anymore haha, but undertale still really impacts me to this day, and i wouldnt have it any other way :)

it made me gay and trans so thanks for that

I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.

The thing I love most about Undertale is no matter how many times I play or watch a playthrough it always makes me genuinely happy. It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it. Toriel still makes me feel all warm and cozy in her home, the Skelebros always make me laugh, and I still cry on the inside watching Frisk comforting Asriel. And on the flip side the No Mercy run still invokes the negative emotions in me as well. In short Undertale just feels like a second home to me and I always wish I could stay.

The reader inserts are my favorite way to decompress after a hard day

I think Undertale helped me discover my love for 8-bit games, and made me realize how IMPORTANT music is in video games.

the worldbuilding and character design are my favorite parts of the main game apart from the music! I’m also a huge fan of the random AU music- not for like underswap or underfell i like the stuff where someone makes a megalovania for a random au where gru from despicable me replaces sans as the character. i think its funny

Just... the vibe, honestly? Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.

there are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.

[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!

There's a scene where Frisk (the player) is going towards what is presumably going to be their death. They will fight Asgore and he will use their human soul to break the barrier and free his people. The music, despite the player's impending doom, is... triumphant. You are not the triumphant one here, and yet, the score invites you to experience the monsters' joy and happiness as they tell you the tale of their subjugation. The monsters are going to be free. This is their victory, but they don't hate you or want you to die. They're just... happy. That scene has always struck me very deeply. I feel it represents the best parts of Undertale.

I loved how well thought out the Geno route was. It really made me feel like I was doing something horrible, and the characters were very obviously reacting to dire circumstances.

I dunno? I like Undertale for it's characters, story, music, secrets and many more. I am not good with Headcanons but I also like the neutral endings and how different they can depending on who you spare and kill

I was very bad at english before, i thought i couldn't progress because i was very shy and not confident. But my sibling and i wanted to have the best experience with this game so we wanted to play it in english. It's this game and the fandom which helped me to make huge progress in english !

THE SOUNDTRACK. IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.

to avoid writing an essay i will say one word. Mettaton

It is like Toby specifically made the games to fit the iceberg meme and it's awesome, everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans - from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers is the mark of the coolest games!

I love almost everything about Undertale as a game on its own. The music, the art and especially the characters and how they interact. They made me feel at home. Undertale means a huge amount to me. (I even got a tattoo of the castle when you and MK walk together!) The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertake fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)

the mystery. toby fox refused to give answers to anything and i think thats very sexy of him.

I just feel guilty for liking it so much when I'm in my 30's. But I recently got diagnosed with ASD, so I guess it explains things a bit. Many ppl consider Papyrus to be neurodivergent, and some adult fans are too, so seeing that makes me feel a bit better.

i think about "Despite everything, it's still you" everyday of my life.

I like how it's just as funny as it can be serious. All routes are this way. I laughed as much as I cried when I played the Pacifist route and then once I opened the game again and Flowey was telling me to let them be happy, I immediately turned off the game. I somehow felt bad.

The Found Family Trope

The True Pacifist Ending is just...man. And the fanworks about saving everyone even when the game doesn't let you? MANNNNNN

I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story. They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.

there's honestly a LOT to love about this game, but i think one of my favorite things about it is just how many lgbt+ characters there are??? i can think of alphys, undyne, frisk, chara, mettaton, napstablook, monster kid, asgore, mad mew mew, the dress lion, the royal guards, and arguably even papyrus off of the top of my head, but im sure i'm forgetting a few from just undertale alone (there's even MORE in deltarune)!! it's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. it's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.

[Image description: A wordcloud in the shape of the capitalized word UNDERTALE. The text is white on a black background, and uses the font found in the game. Some of the most visible words are: Game, Love, Music, Life, AU, Store, Friend, and Feel, which represent the most common words in the essays people wrote about their love for the game. End of ID]

[oivsyo]

I'm so happy!! I thought I wouldn't recieve an answer, nevertheless this soon! I've written to other shippers before but they seem not active anymore.

I'm looking forward to December then! I NEED more on NejiHina haha I started shipping them when watching the war for the first time, like, the moment exact that I realized Neji's feelings for Hinata (and around the same time Neji became my fav character, even above Hinata... I first hated him, then liked him and then loved him). Tbh, I watched the war arc and end a lot of time later, like, I stopped al 14 and ended it at 19 YO. Then watched it again with my husband, and this time at 26 I'm watching again just focusing on Neji. So, I was not a shipper before 2015 but I'm one of those "old" ( in age) shippers. It justs makes more and more sense the more adult I am, I feel haha also, I'm very Canon strict to establish the relationship (though I do enjoy the fillers that shows it), it makes absolute canon sense that Neji loved Hinata, it's actually impossible IMO to separate him from that fact.

Aaaand, since I'm very logic/factual, I decided not to only do a fanfic to have them together but to give them logic enough that it could have been canon. Like, I decided to rewrite the story since the war to avoid his death without taking the emotional impact. In the midst of it, I decided to make justice to all Konoha 11 + Sai (even Sakura, just no more Naruto and Sasuke pls) and rewrite parts of them too, so I have a lot in my plate right now. I'm working hard to fill all the wholes I see the best I can, both in the main story and in my AU. I'm working hand to hand with the OG material (canon and anime only), so I'm simply "coping" some parts as it is, changing minor things on some parts and major things on others, and then, in postwar, I'm going to finally lead the story on my thoughts mainly. But it's taking sooooo long. I'm doing the first script by hand on english, but I intend to do the final one on Spanish since is my main language and I want to go as in deep detail as I can. Maybe I'll translate it back later.

Does this makes sense? Does it sounds like something worth reading?

I also wanted to tell you that here in Mexico NejiHina seems to be in the rise, kind of. It's more like it has become really popular on TikTok, many many fans loving Neji, and it leaded to 2 memes: Neji Chiquito (Mini Neji) and Neji Norteño. The later refers to the fact that Neji is in love with/ attracted to his cousin; it's a meme but is a huge one, and it implies people recognizes and accepts the fact that Neji was in love with Hinata. Some leave it at that, but many others wished they could be together or state that Neji was a better option for Hinata than Naruto, that also being because a lot of people was upset about NS ending and hate Boruto series.

I'm sorry about the long post 😅 I needed out, I feel like I don't have ppl enough to talk about this haha I also wanted to know your opinion on my project and to let you know that in spite of how things turned out, NejiHina do is getting more recognition on some places.

Good day once again, anon! I'm sorry for making you wait for so long. I read your message right after you sent it but I didn't have enough time to reply properly. As far as your message was full of passion it deserved a thoughtful reply.

I understand you so well about writing to other NejiHina shippers. That is what I did when I returned to NejiHina and started to draw again after more than a decade long hiatus. I didn't know anyone, most accs looked dead so I just started to post my pics. And I'm endlessly grateful to @cyanis-art @nyxvoidart @incensuous @nejihina-and-mlb @nejihinata @toonamifaithful and other people who noticed and liked my arts, wrote comments and supported me in many ways. In the beginning support is needed as air, so I have no idea whether I would continue to draw NejiHina if not their support🙏

I'm looking forward to December then! I NEED more on NejiHina haha I started shipping them when watching the war for the first time, like, the exact moment that I realized Neji's feelings for Hinata (and around the same time Neji became my fav character, even above Hinata... I first hated him, then liked him and then loved him). Tbh, I watched the war arc and end a lot of time later, like, I stopped at 14 and ended it at 19 YO. Then I watched it again with my husband, and this time at 26 I'm watching again just focusing on Neji. So, I was not a shipper before 2015 but I'm one of those "old" ( in age) shippers. It justs makes more and more sense the more adult I am, I feel haha also, I'm very Canon strict to establish the relationship (though I do enjoy the fillers that shows it), it makes absolute canon sense that Neji loved Hinata, it's actually impossible IMO to separate him from that fact.

Thank you for sharing your story! It has always been interesting for me to know how other fans came to NejiHina. I've discussed it with quite a number of people and there are some similarities in their stories. Many of my NejiHina fellows say that 'once you feel the chemistry between them you will ship them without turning back'. Also there are many fans who are older than 25 y.o. Most of them agree that NejiHina is a mature ship that goes beyond plain romance. Many ppl started to ship them when they were teenagers and returned to this ship as adults.

As for me, I started to ship them as a teenager after watching s1 and the beginning of Shippuden but I didn’t look in too deep back then. I rewatched Naruto, watched the rest of the series and Rock Lee SD only 1,5 years ago and I was surprised how many NejiHina moments there are and started to love them even more. There is also more info about Hanabi and the Hyuga clan, so I crushed into the clan too.

Aaaand, since I'm very logic/factual, I decided not to only do a fanfic to have them together but to give them logic enough that it could have been canon. Like, I decided to rewrite the story since the war to avoid his death without taking the emotional impact. In the midst of it, I decided to make justice to all Konoha 11 + Sai (even Sakura, just no more Naruto and Sasuke pls) and rewrite parts of them too, so I have a lot in my plate right now. I'm working hard to fill all the wholes I see the best I can, both in the main story and in my AU. I'm working hand to hand with the OG material (canon and anime only), so I'm simply "coping" some parts as it is, changing minor things on some parts and major things on others, and then, in postwar, I'm going to finally lead the story on my thoughts mainly. But it's taking sooooo long. I'm doing the first script by hand on english, but I intend to do the final one on Spanish since is my main language and I want to go as in deep detail as I can. Maybe I'll translate it back later.

Does this makes sense? Does it sounds like something worth reading?

“to fill all the holes” is exactly what I have been doing for the last 1,5 years 🥲💪

I’m not good at writing, so I draw to show my headcanons and write short notes on twitter and here. Gladly there are NejiHina fellow artists around me to discuss our ideas with. And we are happy to wellcome new people to discuss NejiHina with.

I can’t speak on behalf of all the community but personally I’m a sucker for canon compliant + canon divergent stories. It seems I will never get tired of the multi-chapter slowburn stories about Neji and Hinata and the Hyuga clan.There is a NejiHina fan-novel in my language that is written with this approach and when I’ve read it I understood that this is the type of fan-fiction I like the most. I like it when the story begins as in the canon but gradually diverts from it. This appoach provides numerous opportunities to develop side characters making them MCs, adding original characters, developing the lore. This is exactly what I do for my own headcanons so I fully support you. I wish you good luck in writing what you’ve started! Take your time and I’m looking forward to reading your story in English some day!

I also wanted to tell you that here in Mexico NejiHina seems to be in the rise, kind of. It's more like it has become really popular on TikTok, many many fans loving Neji, and it leaded to 2 memes: Neji Chiquito (Mini Neji) and Neji Norteño. The later refers to the fact that Neji is in love with/ attracted to his cousin; it's a meme but is a huge one, and it implies people recognizes and accepts the fact that Neji was in love with Hinata. Some leave it at that, but many others wished they could be together or state that Neji was a better option for Hinata than Naruto, that also being because a lot of people was upset about NS ending and hate Boruto series.

Oh, I saw Neji Chiquito pics on the net! I guess there are many ppl who like him, mini Neji is so cute! I would like a t-shirt with him!

I also came across ‘Norteño’ comments to NejiHina pics on pinterest and on Twitter but I thought that it was some kind of sly insult. Like ‘sweet home Alabama’. Anyway, thanks for telling me about it! I would be very interested to know the origin of this meme. Why northern? 🤔 I also remember comments about Santiago-something, are these things connected?

I'm sorry about the long post 😅 I needed out, I feel like I don't have ppl enough to talk about this haha I also wanted to know your opinion on my project and to let you know that in spite of how things turned out, NejiHina do is getting more recognition on some places.

That’s ok! It seems we have a lot in common, I also like to write very long texts if the topic is interesting to me XD

You can write me so that we will discuss Neji & Hinata, the Hyuga clan and so on =3

[takaraphoenix]

Ship game!! What about Nico and Will?? It’s pretty popular, but I don’t think I’ve seen you write much of it…

That's an interesting one in that I have vocalized my reasons for disliking it way back when it first became popular but instead of just linking that, it has been years so I think it's time for an updated version.

Firstly: This post is gonna be properly tagged and not crosstagged so if any shipper comes across it and feels the need to bitch about it, just don't; your lack of curating your own tumblr experience is not my problem! ;D

Now, there are three key factors that play into my dislike of this ship: How it was written, what it represents, how the fandom around it acts.

1. It’s rushed and uncomfortable

In BoO, it was incredibly rushed. They had literally five sentences of interactions before they walked into the literal sunset together. Five. It was just entirely born from Riordan's Noah's Ark Complex, where he just can't let people be single. The series was ending and he needed Nico to have an endgame so he rushed into some random romance with zero build-up.

The way their interactions went down was also severely uncomfortable for me. Will was acting so offended by Nico not wanting to go to camp and be friends in an entitled way that he had no right to be, he downright guilt-tripped Nico about how he had wanted to be friends. Nico has been just so severely traumatized at such a young age and his coping mechanism, as unhealthy as it was, was to run away and hide. Will acted like Nico not wanting to form attachments to people who could potentially leave him again was somehow just an Edgy Emo Decision and not a direct reaction to his trauma. His entire approach to Nico was basically all these hippie posts of "Don't have depression!! Just go out into the sun and stop being depressed!", which is already a bad take with non-medical people but he's supposed to be a doctor (and let's not get into the shadiness of him technically being Nico's doctor).

There is also an inherent "I can fix him" angle to this ship and to me, only few ship dynamics are more uncomfortable than that. If you want to fundamentally change a person's behavior and personality, you... don't actually want to be with this person.

Now, here's where my points overlap, because the following parts of their writing that bothers me also stand for what this ship fundamentally represents.

2. Solangelo is a queer ship written by and for straights

I'm a queer woman and as a queer woman, I want queer wish-fulfillment, not what straights want out of queerness. I'm kind of tired of that, I've been sitting through it for enough decades now. That's, of course, not to say that no straight writer can give proper queer representation, but far too often do straight writers - even the most well-meaning ones - project straight desires of queerness into their queer representation.

Let me explain that closer through this ship.

Nico's been in love with Percy for years and I'm going to do my best to not hijack this post with some Percico agenda; that's not what this his about, this isn't some "my ship is better than your ship" ship-war nonsense. It's simply a canonical fact that Nico has had romantic feelings for another character for years.

A character who, in this medium, is heterosexual. And if you're queer, you've been there. In love with your straight best friend. It's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason.

We have also all been well-meaningly rejected by said straight friend.

And here's the straight desires for you: The queer person who was in love with a straight person just immediately stops having those feelings and will then as quickly as possible fall in love with the next queer person they meet to be happy and no longer uncomfortably in love with a straight person, because that thought makes the straights uncomfortable.

Queer wish-fulfillment would be for Percy to return those feelings, for the queer character to get his first love, to not be rejected. That thing queer teens always dreamed about for themselves.

Aside from the wish-fulfillment angle, the pacing is another problem. Let me repeat, Nico was in love for years. But a five sentence conversation with Will once causes a crush on Will and we see him physically turn away from Percy and toward Will just immediately to rebound and actually fall out of love with Percy and in love with Will. Anyone who's ever been unlucky in love will attest to just how unrealistic and ridiculous the pacing here is.

It's also straight queerness in another respect; Nico has been the first ever queer character we meet in that world. He loves a straight guy - and to get over that, we introduce the second queer character. Because heaven forbid there are multiple queers to pick from. No, in straight-written queer romances, there is always that one main queer and then they introduce a second one and the two just immediately hit it off and develop a romance like all a queer person needs to form attraction to someone is the confirmation that the other person shares your sexuality.

Also the notable gay guy on gay guy ship here, whereas the more queer-wish-fulfillment option would have also included more nuance to the queer experience, because Percy doesn't have to be heterosexual just because he has only been with girls so far. It's a very old-fashioned - think 90s and early 2000s - kind of straight-written queerness that there are only exactly two homosexuals and that those two homosexuals then pair up.

And, listen, I'm not immune to these outdated straight-written queers entirely, I have many such ships that I grew up with that I am still fond of because they were groundbreaking at that time and they weren't outdated yet back when they happened in said 90s and early 2000s. I am however a grown woman now and just like I have grown, so has queer rep so I am not as easily baited into falling onto my knees in gratitude for canon rep. You have to go with the times. And this ship, by all that is given to us, is just entirely outdated straight-written rep.

Which, I mention earlier that even straight-written rep can be good. If the author tries. Riordan doesn't really try though; he does the bare minimum when he writes any of his rep - and there have been many, many more qualified voices being very vocal about his depiction of people of color and, as a woman, I've been vocal about his depiction of women. I don't want to derail this post with all of that, but I do think that it bears mentioning that Riordan doing rep but only doing a bare minimum and not putting in the necessary work to deepen the representation he wants to give is a repeating pattern that has been pointed out many times by now.

(I’d also like to point out that no, it is not just the ship and not just the listed instances that make it straight-written rep for straights. It’s Nico’s entire queer arc, starting with his forced coming out. A severely traumatizing event that is completely brushed over because the straight author doesn’t understand the impact this has on queer people. Not to mention the framework; Nico’s coming out isn’t Nico’s story, it happens in Jason’s POV, it is given to us through the POV of the straight bystander who gets to be Best Ally by assuring Nico that being gay is okay. This kind of coming out is not a queer wish-fulfillment, it’s a straight wish-fulfillment of getting to be the straight savior, the ally to show the gay the light of acceptance. And, additional to the ridiculous pacing of how fast Nico gets over his love for Percy, Nico also gets over years of internalized homophobia just because of, I don’t know, Jason’s few encouraging words and the fact that Will paid attention to him? For a gay kid who was in the closet all his life, the nonchalant way in which he publicly confessed his crush to Percy at the end made absolutely no sense and was written as basically a joke, finished off with Nico literally high-fiving Percy’s girlfriend despite those two never having seen eye to eye before but this is straight wish-fulfillment so all straights are Super Allies, because that’s the way straights want to see themselves, even though Annabeth has shown before just how jealous she can be and she most definitely wouldn’t go around high-fiving people who confess to her boyfriend. Nothing about Nico’s queer arc in HoO felt natural or queer or satisfying.)

Sure, Solangelo on a surface level is big because it's a canon queer couple in a YA book-series and kudos for that and yay for the kids who get to grow up seeing queers in YA books, but I actually do think that kids growing up with books written in the 2010s shouldn't grow up with 1990s levels of representation, because the 2010s overall are actually at a far more nuanced and better level of representation when it comes to queerness. And I do reserve the right to quit on too straight-written and too outdated queer rep in a landscape where I can get more satisfying representation elsewhere; we don’t live in times anymore where you necessarily have to love every bit of rep because it’s the only one you get.

Now that we've gone through my first two gripes, let's wrap this up with the final point, because it also directly ties into this.

3. The new wave of antis hiding behind this ship

A huge part of the fandom is so busy kissing Riordan's ass solely for giving them queer rep at all they think that both the author and the ship are beyond flawless and that kind of attitude is not good. Just because an author includes rep doesn't make either perfect. Absolutely no one is beyond critique - especially not when said critique comes from the very people the author is representing. And even beyond any "valid" critique on the ship, quite frankly, someone should also be allowed to just not like it, without any reasons given at all.

But there is a certain... protective obsessiveness about this ship that doesn't allow a not liking. Very similar to how PJO bore this mindset around Perc/abeth already. It's okay to have OTPs, even OTPs that you have a blindspot for and just don't want to see any flaws in. It is however not okay to then go around attacking people who don't like the thing and mind their own business.

Solangelo's bred a new generation of antis in this fandom. And, particularly with the fact that this post too receives an "anti" tag, I feel like there needs to be a clarification (because tumblr likes to forget what actually makes an anti). Not liking something doesn't make you an anti, venting in properly tagged posts doesn't either; it's the people who harass others, who seek out the content they dislike to then complain that it even exists and who actively try to make others stop creating for it - those are antis.

And with Solangelo's popularity, there was a high rise in Percico antis, who sought it out, were unnecessarily nasty about it, harrassed creators and tried to enforce some kind of "Solangelo supremacy" that won't allow other ships for the characters.

I've been in fandom long enough to be perfectly aware that not all Solangelo shippers count into this category and that there are completely normal and nice Solangelo shippers, but this is a Venn diagram where the overlap between Solangelo shippers and antis is too large to not widely associate the nasty people with the ship itself. (I've been there myself, shipping the very ship behind which a fandom's antis all hid. The second-hand embarrassment of having these people give the ship a bad name is horrendous and I do feel bad for all the normal Solangelo shippers.)

The more often I encountered these people, who made Percico bad (sometimes in wildly ridiculous manners that bent and deliberately misinterpreted canon) and who in the same breath praised Solangelo high, the more tired I grew of that ship. It's a simple game of association, really. You see that linked to the gross and nasty behavior and you start associating the ship itself with that gross and nasty behavior - and with all the things I said before that already weighed into my dislike of the ship, this just was the final tipping point, really.

And that's it. That sums up why I dislike Solangelo. It was hastily rushed, uncomfortable in its execution, it is outdated rep that very much feels as straight-written as it factually is and it does not feel aimed at me as a queer person but rather at the straight audience and it has gathered a cult following of quite uncomfortable people who on their own would be reason enough to avoid it so you can avoid them.

Send me a ship and I will explain why I do or don't ship it