#i hate it because they're overwriting all the interesting material in the books with the most generic cliches

[ettadunham]

i'm kinda heartbroken about the new redthreadgames title becoming one of those clown gamer ragebait targets, because even if it is genuinely bad, there's now no way to find a normal fucking conversation on it on the internet.

anyway, i'm obviously gonna get it during the christmas sale anyway, it just sucks that there's so much bullshit to wade through because gremlins can't be normal about minorities in video games.

[vampirestairs]

every once in a while, I remember that the fandom just completely made up Regulus Black's personality. Like, we know, like, a handful of things about him from canon:

Serius calls him soft

Youngest death eater

He was petty enough to leave a 'fuck you' note to The Dark Lord during his suicide mission.

He cared a lot for Kreature/Kreature cares a lot for him.

He was a seeker

He documented Voldemorts "achievements" on his bedroom wall

He was the only confirmed Slytherin to stand against Voldemort.

(I'm sorry, Dorcas lovers, but she's never actually called Slytherin. And if you want to include Snape, I dont believe he ever fought against Voldy in the first war. He was only protecting Lily. Which to me is an important distinction)

A lot of these are stuff that he does. They're not necessarily a reflection of his character. So much of this is up for interpretation. He is quite literally a blank slate.

He could have been super charismatic! He could have been a sneaky bastard like Lucius. He could have been boisterous and loud, trying to emulate Sirius. He could have been bookish and quiet. Or mischievous. He could have been cold to everyone but loyal to the family like Narcissa. He has no confirmed friends or allies. He has no canon interactions except the note.

It drives me a little insane every so often. There is so much you could do with Regulus, but there's almost a standard now, with how the fandom writes him. I think my favorite Regulus fic was written in like, 2014, I dont remember. But it was definitely before he was popular enough to gather a baseline. And old Regulus fics are so interesting! Because everyone is doing their thing! No one is trying to shoehorn their plot onto a character that is not fit to the role they need to play. It's crazy.

My point is to be free. Regulus is free real estate, and just because people want to read him as a pathetic wet rag or a Draco rip-off does not mean you have to write him that way!

*slightly on topic rant below*

Btw, I wanna clarify that I'm not against, per say, the fandom taking the reigns of the characters as a big "fuck you" to JKR. But like, holy shit, we all read the same books, right? We all watched the same movies? The reason they were so popular was because 1. easy self insert material, 2. the story and characters were loved. I get the sentiment of overwriting the story to add themes important to the person writing it. What I don't get is everyone refusing to concider the source material as a guideline because 'fuck jkr'. Have you heard separating the art from the artist?? It words wonders, let me tell you.

You see it a lot with specificly James Potter. He 👏 was 👏 an 👏 asshole👏! And no one likes using that part of him because everyone makes Regulus an asshole, and apparently, the only way to fix his trauma is to throw an endlessly patient sunshine incarnate at him. Because James had good parents and therefore has the emotional maturity to treat the damage that living with the Black's did to Reg???

Which, first of all, they're fucking teenagers, stop giving James the wisdom of a licensed therapist. Second of all, this is the same shit with Sirius, and it doesn't work, which people are able to let slide. Like,, don't you see the parallels??

Sirius meets good people, has a support system with theoretically morally superior influences, runs away from home to this new environment, and he still messes up. He does the thing with Snape. He fucks up, he makes mistakes. The fandom still likes to write him having difficulty separating the "Black family traits" (ie. morally questionable retaliation).

(This is good. Sirius writers, do me a favor and pat yourself on the back for me, thanks)

So if love and support don't "fix" Sirius, why the fuck does it work for Regulus?? ughhhhhhh it drives me insane.

Okay, this is just personal preference now, but I hate, nay, loathe the 'love fixes all' rhetoric. This is why I explicitly avoid most romance fics for this reason, unless I'm familiar with the writer, the summary convinces me the romance is b or c-plot, or I head spoilers from tumblr.

And circling back to my original point, I hate that people have to nerf a characters personality just for the 'love fixes all' to work.

The dynamic, too, is so infuriating to me because you have the loving and nurturing partner to heal the wounds of the angsty/stoicly tragic character. It's the most nuclear family heteronormative dynamic you could have, which is Fine, people are like that. It works sometimes. But I hate seeing it in every queer fandom relationship.

Take Regulus and James. Both really fucking headstrong characters. Regulus is filial, raised wealthy with traditional values of duty and pride. James is really proud, raised within a wealthy family, but kind enough to take in a runaway from a 'dark' family. He flaunts his strength by acting as the savior from asshole Slytherins. They are two sides of the same coin. Both have very set worldviews, unwilling to give. A romance plot could be interesting. But what do we see? A watered-down character where their backstory barely makes a dent in their personalities because they're molded to fit a pre-arranged dynamic.

Stop making the characters fit your romance, and start making the romance fit your characters.

Christ, stop twinkifying a character just so you can write two guys kissing. Ohhhh my goddd.

ok,, rant over, pardon my uncouthness, and don't take this as an excuse to badmouth people's writing. I am a firm practitioners of don't like don't read.

Anyways, someone please recommend me Reg-centered fics.

***No starchaser, please. The ship was interesting the first 5 times I read it, and the next 5 unique plot lines I found, I am tired.