#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

[musette22]

Hi Minnie!

Just recently I started to watch MCU movies, after years of refusing to consume anything Marvel related. 😅

And the reason for starting now is rather silly. Although I never watched Marvel movies I’ve been reading MCU fanfiction for years now, mostly Stucky fics. So because I wanted more context for the stories I read, I decided to finally watch the Infinity saga.

Of course I already know how it all will end and more importantly how the Stucky story is going to end… 😖

While scrolling through your blog, I read that you decided not to watch anything new that Marvel releases. And from what I understand the reason for your decision is the way the Stucky relationship/ Steve’s character was handled? As someone who used to observe the MCU from the side line and not as a fan/ a shipper I always was, and kinda still am, surprised, that people thought a huge main stream franchise like the MCU would portray a gay relationship on screen, especially between two of their main male heros. Are there other queer relationships in the MCU?

The latest MCU movie I’ve seen is “Age of Ultron”, so the next entry on my list is “Antman” and then “Civil War” (the last CA movie with Steve, as far as I know. 😭).

Because I've missed the initial fan reactions and the overall fandom craze, I think now I’m just extremely curious what it was like back then, especially as a Stucky fan.

Is all hope lost to see a canon version of Stucky? (I know there is a series called What if…, which explores other story variations???)

Anyway I hope my message is not too confusing. It is just very interesting to join a fandom this late and I just want to get a slight feeling of what it was like back then, when everything still seemed possible.

Hi sweetheart! Thanks so much for your message, and welcome! 💗 It's so lovely to see new faces join the fandom lately 🥰

Oh my god, I love that you read Stucky fic before having seen the source material, that's amazing. Kudos to you! I think it's understandable that you'd want more context and that you're curious about the movies, and very brave of you to watch them since you also know how the canon story plays out...

I personally only joined the fandom in 2017, so I sadly also missed the heyday of the Stucky fandom, after CATWS and before Civil War came out. I think for the most part, after Civil War, people knew not to hope for or expect too much from MCU when it came to Stucky, so I also never really experienced the days when everything still seemed possible. But up until Endgame, things were definitely still a little more hopeful, that is true.

As for your question about why Endgame infuriated us so much, and what we expected to get instead: I think it's really important to stress that most people in the fandom never actually expected Stucky to become canon. Sure, there were some hopes and dreams, and there were probably some people who did think it could happen, but most of us were very aware of the fact that the MCU - which, like you accurately said, is a huge mainstream franchise - would never actually feature an on screen romance between two of their main male heroes. Sadly, in the world we live in, that's still pretty much out of the question, and we knew that.

In reality, all most of us ever wanted from those last few movies was a few ambiguous looks or lines, a couple of heartfelt hugs and smiles, and an ending in which they both, you know, remained in the same general area and timeline 🙃 But for a whole bunch of nefarious reasons, Marvel/Disney couldn't even let us have that - they had to separate them for good and really hammer home the Disney exec and MCU bro ideal of Steve not only being straight as an arrow, but perfectly happy living out his retirement in some idealized version of the past without any of his friends and present-day loved ones by his side. Which, I'm sure you'll agree, makes no sense whatsoever considering his characterization in the previous movies.

But I digress 😅 My point is: generally speaking, we never actually expected Stucky to become canon, we just hoped they'd at least remain ambiguous best friends forever, and Endgame ruined those hopes completely. But we clawed ourselves out of the depths of despair eventually, and have maintained a thriving fandom ever since!

As for What if..? Sadly, that show has so far only tried to drive home the Steggy romance (unsuccessfully, since they did it using the exact plotline from CATFA that was originally Steve and Bucky's, so...) and had Steve and Bucky fight each other as zombies or something (I didn't watch it), so yeah, I really don't think we can expect to get canon Stucky from that either, unfortunately.

But all that aside -- the Cap trilogy, particularly CATFA and CATWS, is pretty damn great, and some of the other movies were enjoyable too, if I remember correctly. So I hope you have a great time watching them, regardless of what came after! 😊 And fortunately, once you're all done with the movies, you have fandom and its incredible fanworks to come back to, which give these boys the stories and happy endings they actually deserve ❤️

Sending hugs and happy watching! <33

[juniperhillpatient]

Why is Kataang a NOTP for you?

Honestly? Part of it is simply preference. I don't think they look good together. I don't think their chemistry works romantically for me on a subjective level. And I won't deny at all that at the end of the day, shipping is really just about taste & they're just not to my taste & it's okay if other people feel differently.

Anywho thank you for the ask I'm assuming you want to know in good faith so I will share my reasons. Fair warning if you like the ship you should probably stop reading now because I REALLY don't & I'm gonna be totally honest about why:

I don't bring this up often because it's been debated to death in this fandom but since you asked: I hate that Aang kisses Katara & she doesn't want him to then suddenly with no buildup or discussion she's kissing him in the finale. I think it sends the wrong message & I am aware that I'm a big believer in "media doesn't have to have a moral" but that's also something based on context. Avatar is a kid's show & it often DOES have clear moral messaging & it bothers me that that's the message being sent to little girls who watch the show. How often do we have to watch the pretty girl being the prize for the heroic guy?

Now, before anyone wants to fight - yes, I've seen the people who take the dislike over this narrative choice WAY too far, calling Aang a rapist & a horrible person & saying that it's an abusive relationship & all sorts of ridiculous things. That's not what I'm saying. I just think it was a bad call to have something like that happen & then suddenly without any discussion, they're apparently "endgame." It's a bad writing choice, it's insulting to Katara, & it bothers me the message it sends.

That specific caveat is a big reason I hate the ship but it's not the only reason. Throughout the entire show, Aang's feelings for Katara are made explicitly clear. He has a huge crush on her & it comes up often. Katara's feelings for Aang are shown to be much more like a big sister. We get a few instances where it's slightly hinted at that maybe she wants him to like her, but not even that she actually has romantic feelings for HIM. In the cave episodes, it's more about how it hurts her feelings that he says he doesn't want to kiss her. And that's the most I can really think of for evidence that Katara actually has romantic feelings for Aang, prior to the finale. MAYBE the dance episode? But even that I personally interpreted as feelings of friendship.

I'm not saying no one should like the ship. If you like it great! More power to you. I don't get the appeal & that's fine. The first time I watched the show I was fully 100% expecting a "friendship isn't a downgrade" dynamic where Katara & Aang ended the show as close friends & he put his romantic feelings aside & moved on. That was what it felt like everything was leading up to for me & I was very disappointed & surprised to be proven wrong in what felt like a very, very random kiss at the end.

Side note for the Zutaras: I fully expected Katara & Zuko to get together also tbh lol. I'm not mad that they didn't, I don't really ship it, it's just not my cup of tea but I'm not against it the way I am Kataang. I just got the vibe that that's where the story was going because of the way they sort of SEEMED to have a romantic storyline with everyone always thinking they were boyfriend & girlfriend & the vibes between them. Also the whole sun & moon thing. Personally, I think evil women are better & Zuko is the wrong fire sibling for Katara BUT that's unrelated. Anyway, that's what I mean when I always say I'm not a Zuara but I do believe in their beliefs. I don't personally care about the ship but I think they are correct when they say it was hinted at by canon. That's totally unrelated to my dislike for Kataang because again, I prefer Katara with a girl (or Jet) if it's MY preference BUT I thought I'd throw that out there because I'm guessing a Zutara shipper sent this ask & it'll be Zutaras reading this post & well, I am a Zutara ally lmao

Anyway, I hope this post doesn't open a can of worms. I don't want to argue with anyone about this. It's just not that serious for me. If you like the ship that's great! I'm not stopping you! But since I was asked I'll be honest about my reasons that it gives me the ick. Thank you for reading this far if you did & a virtual high five to the fellow haters haha

[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)

[numbuh-7-knd]

Just watched the first episode of the new spiderman animated series.

It was promising so far and I'm looking forwards to watching the rest. I'm going to get into more detail, but if you don't want spoilers don't click the read more below:

I may have squealed a little when the first person we see Peter save as Spidey introduced himself as Harry. I am a firm Parksborn shipper at heart and just seeing some some potential parksborn in first episode was adorable. I didn't even know I was still capable of making that sound. It's especially cute that the title card for the episode (or series maybe) is one of Spidey holding Harry princess style after saving him.

I like the animation style, it's very comic book style.

I'm a little mixed on the origin. I know they don't want to repeat the same old "Peter goes on a field trip to Oscorp, gets bitten by radioactive spider that escaped its enclosure, Spidey has the chance to stop a bad guy, doesn't because he's not a hero yet, Uncle Ben is killed by the bad guy, Peter could have prevented it, With great Power comes great responsibility, blah blah blah" thing, but changing things is always a little iffy. Especially completely skipping Uncle Ben's death, and randomly having Peter get bit by the spider after an attack on his school by a random spider-ish villian/monster thing chased by Doctor Strange. It was weird.

I'm sure it's going to come up again at some point, and I'm sure they're trying to reference the events of spiderman far from home and no way home.

But uh, despite being a huge comic nerd, I am not a big fan of the mcu, and well, most of the time I do not have disney+ or access to it. So I have not watched Far From Home or No Way Home. Or Infinity War part 2. Or anything that came out after infinity war part 1, really. I only have Disney+ right now because of the new bundle with max, Disney+, and Hulu. And I only got that because of cable reasons. So as someone who has not seen spiderman far from home, having the first episode in a brand new spiderman animated series seemingly reference movies people may not have seen which should share no continuity with the new series, it's not the best move. Hopefully, it won't come up as something where I have to go several movies just to understand the series.

It's an interesting move having all of Peter's classmates that he's interacted with so far be new characters, or at least characters we haven't seen much or or at all in the previous animated shows and live action (keeping in mind my lack of mcu knowledge, so if these characters showed up in something there, I wouldn't know). I certainly don't recognize them from any of the animated spiderman series I've watched, from the Tobey Maguire Spiderman Movies, or from the Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man movies.

Oh, speaking of Andrew Garfield's spider-man, I was kind of getting Andrew Garfield spiderman vibes from the bit where Peter was web slinging to school, so that's great.

I thought it was good, if a little too leaving into MCU ideas like Peter and May living in an Apartment and not a house and May being younger, but I know it's different to tell a spiderman story without just repeating the same old origin we've all seen before. I'm looking forwards to seeing where this goes.

I'm also curious intrigued nervous scared excited by that end. I'm kind of glad it wasn't Tony Stark having shown up on day one offering a new costume and "internship" like in the MCU, as much as an Iron Dad series would have been interesting. I am worried for poor early days Spider-Man, if Norman Osborn has already figured out his identity, but hopefully this is just normal Norman Osborn trying to hire Teenaged Genius Peter Parker for an internship, and not Teenaged Hero Spider-Man who he wants to, I don't know experiment on or maybe hire as his goon. Or generally be all "Your powers came from my spider, that's proprietary technology! You belong to ME NOW!"

Am looking forwards to watching episode 2, just not right now because I like to digest my content slowly one episode per week or at least day, like the tv gods intended.

[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

[chevelleneech]

Exactly my point! I have seen episodes of Supernatural here and there, and I know why people shipped Cas and Dean, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the show. It never pulled in me so I remained on the outskirts, yet I still remember pretty clearly how let down fans felt when it came to the way they ended things between the two characters.

Not only did Cas, a literal angel get dragged to superhell, they killed Dean right after. It was like the biggest slap in the face to everybody watching, because they made sure Dean and Cas couldn’t reunite, but also went so far as to have Cas confess the very feelings their shippers spent about eleven years hoping to hear? If I recall, because I’m pretty sure Cas came along in s4, and the show ended with 15 seasons, right?

So it makes very little sense to me that ABC and Tim Minear would want to recreate such a massive let down, when for their show especially, not a single person was genuinely expecting them to go this far. No one expected Buck to be made bisexual in canon, and no one expected them to talk about any feelings between him and Eddie on screen. They made this bed and are choosing to play with fire about it, and I don’t care what anyone says, it’s still queerbaiting to a degree, if they choose to not make Buddie canon.

Will Buck still be bisexual? Yes. Will Hen, Karen, and Josh still exist? Yes, but no one is debating their existence nor Buck’s sexuality. The topic of concern is whether or not they’ll follow through with a queer ship that has been hoped for, yet never spoken on in canon to this level. Some people can call it shipbaiting, but I feel like that takes away the weight of this particular situation.

Shipbaiting to me, is when characters whose sexualities have nothing to do with the will they won’t they, are never officially canonized. For example, Benson and Stabler in SVU. They’ve been push/pull for literally over half my life, but still there is no decision being made as to if the writers will take it there. Are they in love? Yes, but for whatever reason no one at the network is giving it the official go ahead. Are there any examples for queer characters? I don’t know, tbh, because most queer couples/ships are written to either be about 1) half of the ship struggling with their sexuality 2) already in a relationship 3) already established queer characters who only date other established queer characters.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mainstream show or movie where two non-queer characters discover they’re queer and end up dating. Neither men nor women characters.

So even though I am pessimistic myself and don’t have too much faith in them doing the easy and smart thing, I still can’t wrap my head around why they’d go this far if they don’t want to take the leap. It’s smart business wise and fandom/reputation wise. Especially because their viewership hasn’t dropped since Buck came out. Surely that was their biggest hurdle, because… and don’t get me wrong, I adore Eddie, America is still America. The Mexican man who had a child as a teenager is not the character middle America is attached to. All the people who were going to leave because they “ruined” the show with the “gay agenda” (even though Hen still exists) have already left. The show only has more to gain by committing to Buddie, but even still.

We won’t know until it actually happens, and I can’t see there being any other reasonable outcome. Same as with Supernatural. Destiel was such a simple outcome to go with, because the show was literally ending, yet they still flubbed it to get the last laugh. Which I can honestly see Tim and co choosing to do, based on how they are kind of fickle when discussing certain things, but I guess the semi-saving grace is that Tim has wanted Buddie for a long time, and both actors appear to be on board. The question is, will ego win out?

Will he choose to “subvert” expectation just to prove he’s not predictable? And if so, how do they plan to revive the show? Because the general audience is finally catching on the Buddie, and the anticipation and praise for them getting this close outweighs the hatred for queer characters. At least in this fandom, because we saw how very little Buck’s coming out impacted anything.

Choosing to “outsmart” a subsection of fans by writing an entire storyline around Buddie just to shut it down, would be the most ridiculous thing ever. Especially because Eddie had a girlfriend all through s7, and Buck was dating another man into s8. This is no longer fandom pressure, and is actively choices being made by the writers.

Whatever they choose to do going forward is on them, but I really don’t think the show will survive if they don’t at the very least make Eddie queer and him and Buck attempt to date. It doesn’t have to work out I guess, but doing all of this and not trying? That’s an inevitable crash and burning of what is a very solid, long running series.

Tweets like this are exactly why 7x04 hit like a meteor, yet also led to confusion, lol.

Buck kissing a man was a big deal for him as a character, but because of 9-1-1 being known as “the gay firefighters show” due to the shipping of Buck and Eddie, so many people who don’t watch just assumed Buck being made bisexual in canon came by way of him and Eddie finally kissing. The level of confusion I recall once the dust settled and people realized he kissed someone else, too funny!

So to be back here again, with tweet after tweet of people saying they don’t watch 9-1-1 (they’re honestly missing out) but will tune in after Buddie goes canon, is equally as hilarious.

Fandom/standom are itching to watch a series where the “gay ship” goes canon, and 9-1-1 is on the precipice of doing that. Which no one genuinely believed was going to happen prior to 7x04.

Yes, Buddie fans have held out hope for a long time, and yes, there was always the “anything could happen” possibility, but realistically, no one who wasn’t already a fan of the show was keeping up with it to this degree. Then, s7 comes along and hooks those very same people by making Buck bi, only to lose them by having his awakening be with not-Eddie.

Of course some new viewers stuck around, because they aren’t invested in Buddie and like that he’s at least dating a man. My personal belief though, is that majority of B/T shippers are Buddie shippers who got tired of waiting, or are Buck fans who don’t like Eddie/RG, so they are satisfied getting to ship Buck with a man who isn’t Eddie.

Point is, for us to now be in s8 and seeing Buck be asked if he’s in love with Eddie, and see Buck crashing out because Eddie moved away… the show has yet again brought back people who aren’t invested in anything to do with it beyond getting an answer to “Will the gay firefighters go canon?”

And it might not seem like a big deal that non-fans are interested, but it really does go beyond that. 9-1-1 will be the first prime time network television show as far as I know of, to take two male characters in a masculine field, who in their initial inception were never written nor really hinted at in early canon as being queer, and make them queer. With the likely result of becoming a couple. That’s crazy to think about, but it puts into perspective why people are both anticipating the outcome and are hesitant to tune in.

I didn’t watch Supernatural nor Hannibal for real, but I know of the ships. I didn’t watch Sherlock at all, but I know of the ship. I stopped watching the Star Wars sequel trilogy after number one, but I know people shipped Finn and Poe.

Gay male ships are so extremely prevalent in pop culture, yet almost none of them become canon if the characters were not established as queer from the start. Hell, there is an entire ocean of queer ships within the MCU, yet still no one is willing to make even one male superhero explicitly and unapologetically queer on screen.

Which isn’t to say lesbian/queer female characters have it any better. 9-1-1 is a good example of that as well. Hen and Karen are the pillar relationship within the series, having been together since the pilot, but a huge portion of the fandom does not acknowledge them as queer representation at all. The majority of viewers who tuned in for B/T do not acknowledge them in any capacity, instead choosing to act as if Tommy is the first queer character to be established in the show, and therefore deserves better treatment. It’s honestly ridiculous.

However, there seems to have been this unanimous decision by show runners and executive producers to poke fun at fans who want to see male characters get together, which is the reason I believe gay male ships are often viewed as deserving of having one finally happen.

Now, I’m not naive nor stupid, so I am also well aware that male characters in general tend to get more attention and praise and depth offered to them than female characters, and that point applies here as well, but I don’t think it answers all the questions raised in this context.

So my overall point is, 9-1-1, ABC, and Tim Minear have the opportunity to make canon a queer ship that started out as nothing but a fandom want. They have the opportunity to look back at decades of queer ships being poked fun at, queerbaited, and denigrated, and do the opposite. Will they? Who knows. Even with the writing currently being what it is, we won’t know until it literally happens on screen. But this is the chance to reel in likely thousands of more viewers and catapult the show in a way I don’t think anyone can predict.

Is it unfair that people won’t tune in for the established queer characters we already have? Yes. Does it suck that people don’t value you the great characters and storylines the show has been offering for years now? Again, yes, but at the end of the day, networks want high viewership and loyal fan bases. They want writing that pushes the envelop just enough to keep people entertained, and Buddie going canon would do that.

Will they lose the diehard B/T shippers? Yes, but they’ll gain so many more fans who have been anticipating Buck and Eddie. They’ll gain viewers who aren’t anticipating Buddie, but will hear about a fanon ship going canon, and tune in. That’s just where pop culture and entertainment is at these days, and I for one think it’s both interesting and mildly annoying, but I still get it.

So watching how this all unfolds is going to be very interesting, because 9-1-1 has the chance to either take the crown by being the series that finally Does the Thing or they’ll bottom out by following in Supernatural’s footsteps. I can’t wait to see what they do, honestly, because they are currently sitting in a much worse position.

They spent years having Buck be presumed straight, with little jokes here and there, yet never hinted at changing anything. Then they made the decision to have Buck realize he’s bisexual, gave him a coming out, gave him a boyfriend, and are now questioning his feelings for Eddie. Whom they had another character scoff at, when he was called straight. So choosing to shut Buddie down after all of this will be a ratings and reputation killer, I truly think so. Do I think the network is willing to risk it though? I don’t know.

[minis-gaming]

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.