#i hate it when i have to have a canon reason to ship characters…. they will kiss even if they barely interact idgaf /lh

[welp-again-and-again-and-again]

Dearest ANON,

"No, I'm not staying long"-- then Tommy practically moved in. Tommy &/or Buck decorated Buck's loft, making it feel cozy and lived in. His loft felt sterile with his other exes. Tommy had pajamas at Buck's loft, knew the way around his kitchen, & spent so much time at Buck's loft that he knew the parking situation outside. All canon. No tingling needed.

"You don't think about jumping ship"-- That was about Buck leaving the 118. WTF? It's not complicated.

Basketball tickets-- It's an anniversary gift. What made Tommy go to Buck's loft and apologize for getting between him and Eddie, which lead to flirting and their first kiss? BASKETBALL. It's romantic.

Eddie being a part of every Bucktommy scene-- Unfortunately, we didn't get very many BT scenes. He's friends with Tommy, and he's Buck's bff and coworker, so obviously, he's going to come up. We'll get more alone time between Buck and Tommy when Lou comes back.

Tommy not interacting with anyone besides Buck and Eddie-- you're right about that. It was weird. Why did TM feel he needed a past 118 guy to be Buck's first? He wanted Tommy to fit into Buck's world, so why were there no scenes between Tommy and the 118 OGs? That's another reason why I feel BT isn't over. Buck inviting Tommy to Chimney's wedding isn't a big enough reason to bring Tommy back after 5 seasons, so I feel there's more story to tell coming up.

Asking Tommy to move in prematurely--Buck asked Taylor to move in out of guilt and to "trap" her so she couldn't leave him. He asked Tommy to move in because he's comfortable with him. Buck is impulsive. He's matured a lot, but he still maims his BFF over a cute boy. Tommy is his opposite. Tommy will keep Buck more grounded (not moving in right away), and Buck makes Tommy's life more interesting. (Making Tommy dress up for a eulogy for a dead cowboy that gave Buck boils, maybe) Perfect couple imo.

Green break up shirt-- Oliver Stark looks good in green. Does he only wear green during break ups, or is it just a coincidence? I don't have every Buck outfit memorized, so please share with the class.

911 doesn't know their timeline, characters' ages, and natural disasters are all perfectly cleaned up at the next episode, but they plan shirt colors depending on a characters relationship status? You're giving the show way too much credit. But anything for Buddie canon, right?

Madney outfit color during pregnancy announcements--again JLH probably has colors that look better on her than others. And were the pregnancy announcement colors ONLY used for that reason?

Predicting a coma plot--it's 9-1-1. Someone is always in a coma. And wasn't that the episode OS was proud of and the buddies' review bombed it because they are evil? Yikes.

You are not seeing what the creators are putting down. After 7 seasons, you're still expecting a couple that will never happen, and your group is making everyone miserable because you are. The GA isn't stupid. They don't over analyze the fun out of everything. They take everything at face value and actually see what the creators are putting down. They saw a beautiful relationship developing before their eyes, and that rug was painfully pulled out from under them. Buddies are wrong about buddie, about LFJ/Tommy being hated by the viewers, and Bucktommy not having a healthy relationship. Hopefully, the creators will see how wonderful Buck and Tommy are together, and buddies can be wrong about "Bucktommy bones", too.

You said that the break up came out of nowhere so let me help you out:

“No, I’m not staying for long.” - Tommy in the scene of their first kiss “You don’t think about jumping ship, are you?” - Eddie to Buck when he visited Tommy Tommy giving Buck basketball tickets even though Buck hates basketball Eddie being either there or mentioned in almost every Bucktommy scene  Tommy not interacting with anyone except Buck and Eddie in season 8 Buck asking Tommy to move in, showing that he didn’t really grew when it comes to relationships and still jumps head first instead of letting himself ease into it

And before you come at me for reading too much into things, I will just like to state, that we were right about the break up green. (Buck wearing green in his break ups with Ali, Taylor and now Tommy, and Eddie wearing green in the break up with Ana.) 

911 doesn’t know their timeline, their characters’ ages and how Eddie’s house looks, but not everything is like that. The break up green is only one example. Madney wears the same colors during both of the pregnancy announcements. During season 6 fandom managed to predict the coma plot, from a glimpse of what Buck was wearing. You might think that we are delusional, but we are not. We see what the creators are putting down.

And maybe those are not the things that GA would pick up on, but you’re not GA and I believe that a lot of of people also saw the lack of chemistry between Bucktommy. I’m not saying everyone thought that, because obviously everyone can have a different opinion on the mater. I just think that the break up didn’t came out of left field at all. 

Oh. You "see what the creators are putting down?"

Okay.

Please tell me... where is your fanon ship??

Where was your jealous Eddie?

Where is your "trapped buddie" scene?

How are your magnets doing?

Why were you so shocked about the Kim fiasco?

Why have you all preached that Buck has been ooc since 7.04?

You know... I could also "see what the creators are putting down" when I have someone who saw the episode early thus leaking the plot.

The fact that the only people who "saw what the creators were putting down" are buddie shippers??

That's all I need to know.

[outrunningthedark]

Do you ever get that uncomfy feeling about fandom dissecting cast interviews and heavily interacting and sharing interactions? Like I ship (shipped? Put off by parasocialness and lfj love) bucktommy and buddie but the fandom is so offputting.

Like appreciating the cast ofc is fair and fun but I cant help but feel like, this broken wall of seperation makes finishing or reaolving the bucktommy break up less likely.

I think im overthinking a bit, but this buddie outrage, lfj sharing posts and interacting, people bashing OS about his wording, like the idea that in 8B. Tim and whoever thinks, okay they should come back. The idea of those actors having to interact after all this (in sone ways) overblown drama makes me cringe and i cant properly express why. Maybe its the lack of escapism?

I cant fully express my thoughts on this properly but i have agreeed with most of your posts on the subject. You articulate stuff well.

Dont mean to bash people that love to follow the cast closely but idk when i see it all blur on my page, i get so weirded out. Anyway ignore if this makes no sense or is irrelevant.

I do get what you're trying to say, and that's where the root of the issues with Oliver's behavior stems from. We, as a fandom, should not be able to *notice* when a particular cast member is being left out of cast moments behind the scenes. Yes, he was professional on set and got through his scenes, but the ONLY reason people have started to put two and two together re: his concerns over "backlash" is because of we just saw happen while Lou was on the show. Before, we could tell ourselves "Well maybe Oliver's just tired of these forced hetero relationships that will go nowhere". But now his character is canonically queer. And he chose not to acknowledge the story line outside of one post that got deleted and a couple of stories. (One of which was most definitely advised for good PR given how he recorded it on the fly - Bi Visibility Day). Viewers should have been able to watch the story line with NO preconceived notions of how anybody really felt. Viewers should have been able to feel sad about the break up without Oliver immediately jumping into a story about how HE TEXTS THE GUY WHO WROTE TOMMY OFF to let Buck go back to his 1.0 phase. Viewers should have been able to believe the guy who seemed so excited to celebrate his character's coming out sympathized with the disappointment. But because Oliver only worries about the hate HE receives, because Oliver puts HIS feelings first when telling a queer (potential) love story on tv, fandom is left to wonder whether he even liked the direction of Buck's story line, whether he actually DID have anything to do with Tommy get written off as quickly as he did. Fans look into things because Oliver leaves the door open.

[lucyskywalker]

I’m actually very curious to know why you don’t like jonsa! my reasons for example are: their fandom is acting way too insane for a ship that never happened and won’t ever happen; kit harington is unfortunately ugly. what are yours?

There are so many reasons that I dont even know how to begin with.

Alright. Let's go.

1st reason: It is only solely based on the show, and I really mean that. When you get to read metas and posts surrounding the ship, u realize these people never opened the books, while traying to pretend they did. I'm not being entitled. It is just obvious with what they write. Everything is taken out of contest. Especially surrounding Jon's pov and his lack of relationship with Sansa.

+ I despise the show. The only good thing about D&D's creations were the Dragons CGI and the dothraki and valyrian language, and it ends there. Out of it, everything sucks. They have rewrote all the female character in such a sexist and ridiculous way that I can't even start explaining for you.

2nd. I ship jonrya. Ik it is not everyone's cup of tea, but I do. And no. Idc if they become canon or not. I like the concept. I love their relationship. And I love what they can become. Now why the fact I ship Jonrya actually matters? Well, specially after season 7, a lot of Jonsa fans started taking things from Jon PIV that were about his love for Arya, and make it be about Sansa, with ridiculous excuses for their takes. The most commun and easy example being "What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister?" When Jon asks Melissandre, he is referring to Arya. And no. It is not a different interpretation. It is about Arya he is talking about. Another one was "Would you bed your sister?" And Again Jon thinks about Arya, but when you read Jonsa's metas; they say he is thinking about Sansa. Another common Jonsa take is that Jon died for his men in the books, or for Sansa, when again, this is not the case. He died for Arya. And that is explicit on the text with no room for other interpretation. No wonder why the last thing he tought was about her.

Jonsas straigh up lie about what happens in the books to support their takes, or they just read metas here on tumblr and believe it. Idk and neither do I wish to know.

Not only that. They started behaving as they had a moral high ground over jonerys and jonryas... when they don't, it is still incestuos and still problematic to modern standards - not only that, they behave entitled to this day, and attack Jonrya shippers and Jonerys shippers in a real coward way.

Many, many times, I received anon hate telling me to *kms*, slit my wrists. Someone even wished for me to get raped over a fictional ship.

My disdain over the ship is not only with the ship itself, hence taking a lot of Jon's dynamic and bound with Arya to give it to Sansa, which is really important in both of their stories and arc, but mostly about the fandom, and how I was affected by it. If it was treated only like a crackship (what book wise, actually is), as my beloved hitsukarin from bleach, I would have no problem with it.

But the community is far one of the most toxic ones I have ever seen or been in contact with. Actually, dealing with them heavily impacted my mental health.

3rd. I really didnt like Sansa way before dealing with the fandom. Since my favorite is Arya, the way Sansa treated her never vibed with me. (And no. It isn't normal sibling behavior. I am an older sister. I would never do half of the things Sansa have done, not even on 11). After book 1, I felt pity for her, but she still was the last interesting character for me, even if her Vale story was.... I guess, more berable.

After getting into the fandom, tho, Jonsas and Stansas ruined Sansa for me in every possible way as well to the point I read her chapters and I won't feel any kind of enjoyment in her journey or her character. She is my least liked character, not because "she is the most horrible person in the books" (she is not. She is far from being that. ) but because her fans made me feel terribly bitter about her. It is not logical or fair, but again, I'm not trying to be.

[nachoaveragejoe234]

Yes! To add to some points:

The Lumity thing. I knew they wanted them to be a couple when they went to grom (prom) together, but when they specifically made their dance a TANGO, a dance that is supposed to be ROMANTIC and SEDUCTIVE, after they hated each other, I was lie "yeah you're trying to make a new ship without actually putting effort into it".

Lagoona was literally described as spicy in her song, like in 3 different ways. And it's sus that when she was Australian she was sweet and gentle, and while she could be more passionate she wasn't violent and she never described herself as spicy or having a temper

Lagoona was also heavily implied to be Aboriginal. Latinos, sorry, but they have representation overall. In most modern media there will be a Latino who isn't just the "Tequila drinking, sombrero wearing mafioso named Carlos or Juan or Diego" or the "sexy attractive bombshell named Maria Teresa Jimena de los Santos" or some dumb thing like that (except Brazilians they only get portrayed as samba girls that American men go to Brazil to gawk at and make kinky remarks towards but that's another story). Name more than two Aboriginal characters in any media if you even KNOW ANY. You can't. You would think that with indigenous issues being big things in both North America and Australia, you wouldn't STRIP AN INDIGENOUS CHARACTER OF THEIR IDENTITY. Right? It wasn't canon but they could have made it canon! Think of the Aboriginal Australians who probably are begging to get roles in movies and TV. I literally have seen Aboriginal fans talk about how she reminded them of their lives and meant a lot to them. They were completely neglected. And worse, one Latina I interacted with on Reddit literally all but admitted she was racist towards Aboriginal people. She basically said "but Latinos don't get a lot of rep and it's not canon! What about us?".

Clankie doesn't work. Cleo was firstly already taken, but ignoring that she and Deuce were paired togther because of the Egyptian-Greek thing.

Nefera being good now... it's not a big deal but I think the sisterly dilemma was a big part of both of their characters. Not all family members get along and showing that is completely ok.

Cleo's voice is the worst. I can see her as an influencer, but why is she a VALLEY GIRL?

Fans call Toralei a punk. She's not. She doesn't wear punk clothing she just has a studded jacket. Her music is pop-rock not PUNK. Listen to her song Cool Cat, it's amazing but not even close to punk. If she was really punk she would look and sing more like the likes of the Clash, the Ramones, Green Day, or even edgier rock bands like the Stones, Nirvana, the Who, or Led Zeppelin. G1 Tora and the twins looked ironically way more punk, and G1 and G2 already had actual punk inspired characters like Venus, Deuce, sometimes Clawdeen and Frankie, and in G2 Silvi and Moanica.

Ghoulia being Canadian for no reason. As a Canadian it hurts. They literally had a concept art with a Canadian flag, she wears a toque (beanie for Americans), and was explicitly stated to be influenced by Scott Pilgrim by one of the designers, and she definitely looks like Ramona Flowers. Despite that they don't even MENTION her being Canadian. Couldn't even get a Canadian VA for her which.... Marieve Herington and Erin Fitzgerald from G1 are Canadians. Get one of them to voice her. Similarly Mr. Foxford has an Icelandic VA but they never acknowledge the fact that he's Icelandic. Even Bunny Earickson, the newest character. Shea basically confirmed she was Welsh. She said that werebunnies had connections to Celtic/Welsh mythology but... did she get a Welsh VA? No, she got a Latina. Why did you explicitly say she was Welsh but couldn't find a Welsh VA? Do Welsh people not deserve representation? Do you know most people know nothing about Wales? That the effects pof British colonization still take a toll on Wales? That one of the earlist British invasions was of Wales where along with Ireland and Scotland they tried HARD to strip them of their culture and language and then made measly apologies in the modern day but still harm the Celtic countries through a lot of crap the Tories do and by keeping their monarchy? Welsh people always get called sheepshaggers and their language is mocked as "smashing a keyboard" (it does look like that but I understand why many Welsh people would be offended and they have the right to be)

Monster high G3 rant

Watching the TV series and I’m kind of disappointed.

This will be my second watch of season 1, I’m rewatching after the current season 2 episodes.

the show feels very flat in my opinion. They’ve given the characters a lot of cool traits, but they’re used for like one episode and then never brought up, or they only use one specific trait 24/7. Like Frankie in this generation, they have the ability to electrocute, extend their body parts, and they get visions from the people they’re made out of. Specifically they get visions from this one recurring doctor/ scientist. The idea is cool, but the vision literally is there to give exposition about something conveniently. Like when they are trying to solve the puzzle of clawdeens mom, Frankie’s vision just conveniently tells them what to do and how to do it.

In that same episode, we see manny taur. A Minotaur character. And right away we are just told that he’s good at puzzle solving, and so is draculaura! They’re rivals! But this is the first time I’ve ever seen or heard about draculaura being into puzzles, let alone her one sided rivalry with manny. And as the episode ends, she’s like “well you can be the rightful puzzle master” but it feels so flat. There has been no build up to this moment.

Another example is lagoona. In her designated episode, she is rooting for torelai to win the fear-leading captain over draculaura (another thing that has no build up as to why it’s important to her) lagoona explains that torelai is holding a secret over her head, and if it gets out she will lose her status as the fiercest monster in school. But this is the first time we have heard this!! In previous episodes there’s no mention of her being scary or fierce. Or even her super fast swimming skills. It’s just brought up and glosses over with a “be who you are, it’s okay to like what you want! We all have secrets 🥹” but there’s no real character development.

My last example will be the way draculaura is presented in this series. From what she tells us, she has high standards to live up to as a vampire. She needs to look good for her day so she studies endlessly and is striving for perfection. But she also has a love for witchcraft, which is banned in monster high due to its connections to humans. This can be a cute premise, but they NEVER show draculaura compared to any other vampire to show how she’s supposed to act. They never give us episodes where she blows off her friend’s shenanigans because it makes her look bad, and they never really show her dad being so overbearing. They don’t show us WHY humans are hated. And even though witchcraft is banned, whenever anyone finds out about it they’re just cool with it? No push back or anything. The only character to challenge draculaura was torelai.

This all may be very nitpicky, but MH is a character driven franchise. Character relationships with each other and their surroundings are very important to me. I want to feel the so called pressure these characters are being put under. It doesn’t have to be ultra serious 24/7, but issues get resolved within one episode and then rehashed a few episodes later with no further development. Especially with characters like Cleo and lagoona. They have been benched as side characters in this show, and side characters get much worse treatment.

‘The general episode progression is like this - introduce an issue, introduce a high stakes situation that involves the school, have all or one of the main 3 engage in a sequence of fights against this issue(or rapid solving of said issue through convince) - issue is resolved and lesson is told to viewers-characters reset for the next episode.

I know this is a children’s show, but that doesn’t mean it needs to have bad writing, not all kids are high off cocomelon. Kids deserve good writing in their media!

My next rant will be about clawdeen and her story this generation

[sonknuxadow]

just got a blazed sonadow post on my dash that was actually such a jumpscare

[set-wingedwarrior]

The way you must justify your lesbian ship even when the characters have canonically a crush on each other (and it's the cutest thing ever) is insane.

"why do you like it, the crush is just escapism on character x's part, I am genuinely confused and want to know why any of you think they should be endgame! Anyway, look at my more straight ships for them that defenitely make more sense character-wise despite them clearly being just friends. I am not an homophobe." Shut the fuck up.

[mrcheezzz]

What do you like about Gundham x Imposter?

honestly?

im like a huge multishipper (and ig rarepair-liker as well 🤷‍♀️) so when i like two characters im just like “wow. they should totally kiss” even if i don’t really have any set reason for it and it doesn’t really make “canonical” sense, it just works in my head somehow

and imposter & gundham are both my favourite sdr2 characters sooo it just kind of makes sense in my head. i think that they would have a pretty interesting dynamic seeing as imposter is generally pretty normal in the game while gundham is.,, gundham. i think gundham would also admire the fact that imposter is really level headed and straightforward. and also they just look cute together,,,

my brain hates me for some reason so all my favourite ships are just rarepairs that just suddenly popped into my head one day and there’s like no content of them ever lol. they don’t really have to make too much sense as long as they’re cute in my head (￣▽￣)

anyway thank u anon for giving me a reason to ramble about them !! i like it when people send me asks about my ships ! (even if it makes me a little anxious lol/lh)

[floorpancakes]

douwata playlist is up!!! ive re ordered the songs so there's a sense of linearity and it isnt super jarring, and added some extra songs, altho ill probably add more later and some NECESSARY songs (like booo! by tokotokop and gin no ai kin no ai by ske48 are sadly absent, pls look them up tho i promise theyll hit different)

hope yall enjoy!

[kyouka-supremacy]

Not to say one can't consume media they don't 100% agree with (I do the same so like), but you talk a lot about how the core views of TPN vs BSD change your entire way of enjoying these two, and I was wondering what drew you in into BSD if there are so many aspects of it you disagree with?

(Not meant as an attack or as a questioning of you enjoying it, I always am interested in your analysis so this is just out of curiosity, and also I am planning to pick up TPN again sometime this year)

[teaandinanity]

Sometimes I'm like 'oh, right, the inside of my head is Not The Standard Model' about the DUMBEST possible shit.

[heycoyotegirl]

always wild to find out a blog you've never interacted with blocked you

[diabeticgirl4]

"You know I'm in love with you, right?" Oh jeez it's just as (if not more) weird and awkward as it was in canon

[tarysande]

The best part about coming back to the source material after a looooong time is you sorta get a fresh look at canon in comparison to whatever the dominant strains of fanon have become. Or, in fact, whatever your own dominant strains of headcanon have become.

I mean, yes, Garrus “I’m not a good turian” Vakarian gets infinitely cooler (and more competent!) by pretty much every metric as the storyline progresses. He does. But fresh out of ME1 and into ME2 through his recruitment, I find myself genuinely amused by how thin the veneer of badass is over a pretty dominant core of straight-up nerd sprinkled with idealism mixed with self-doubt.

When you have Garrus in the squad all the time (and thus get all his ambient dialogue and remarks), you really pick up on the number of times he calls out bad behavior, unethical actions, cruelty, and rule-breaking, especially in ME1.

He’s not actually a hothead who can’t abide rules of any kind. In fact, most of the time he’s pretty pro-law-and-order, and he gets amusingly hall-monitorish when people are breaking rules he considers important and worth following.

Fundamentally, Garrus chafes when his sense of what is just is at odds with what the authorities do about that injustice (or what they stop him from doing). And I would hazard a guess that the reason his actions seem so intense or harsh or "of course we should have shot down that ship in the middle of the Citadel" is indicative not of his impatience but of the degree to which he thinks the authorities have failed to uphold that justice. We know he can be patient. He's a sniper. His whole modus operandi on Omega is precision kills without civilian casualty. But when that long fuse finally burns down, he goes from zero to shooting down ships in the middle of the Citadel in what looks (from the outside) like a heartbeat.

And yes, injured pride hastens the burning of that fuse; he doesn’t like losing. Or admitting defeat. Or failing.

Having just replayed his recruitment mission, a few things really stood out to me this time.

The merc bands really hate him--and they also reluctantly admire him (he's described as smart, resourceful, dangerous, idealistic, brave, slippery; they all agree they only way they managed to get this far is by isolating him and employing dirty tactics). I mean, there's literally a station-wide announcement that Omega can return to "business as usual" once Archangel is out of the picture because he was disrupting things so completely.

The way Garrus blames himself for the deaths of his squad is so freaking turian. Failure reflects on the leader who places his people in danger they can't handle, not the individual who fails. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Yes, Sidonis betrayed him, but the person Garrus blames the most? Is himself. For trusting Sidonis in the first place. For raising Sidonis to a position where he had the means and opportunity to harm others--and the weakness of character to turn coat, to save his own hide, instead of dying to protect the others.

Garrus mentions more than once that he was trying to emulate Shepard. And his tone always implies that he knows he failed because Shepard would never have let a Sidonis into the fold. Again, he's blaming himself. Like a good turian. Yes, he wanted to avoid the red tape and bureaucracy of C-Sec, but his code--Archangel's code--certainly aligns with Paragon Shepard's morality (with a Garrus Vakarian twist).

And since it wouldn't be meta without adding a Tara's Headcanon Twist ... I've always wondered why "Archangel" when it's such a ... human concept. But this time, when I noticed how he spoke about Shepard's influence, and how quickly he brushes aside the name when she asks him about it, I wondered if it wasn't actually his way of honoring the mythology of the dead woman whose example he was trying to follow. Not that Shepard is a God he's worshiping, but ... there is something about the way he talks about her. Garrus doesn't make himself over in the image of a God, though; he's the soldier, the right hand, the avenging angel responsible for carrying out divine punishments suited and proportional to the crimes committed, the rules broken, the selfishness or cruelty of the perpetrator.

[tangent101]

Okay. I can't just let this rest...

So. We have a clip from Max's journal that is out now that shows lackluster art, dialogue from Max and Chloe, and is basically Chloe teasing Max that they should have a threesome with some rando guy. And on the surface it's idiotic and stupid (and part of Deck Nine's efforts to demonize Chloe and break up Pricefield so people will ship Max with Safi). But if you know anything about LiS...

Let's get this straight. (Because neither Max nor Chloe are straight.) Chloe Price, the young woman who freaked out because her mom started flirting with an in-your-face ex-military type within two months of her father's death and married said asshole probably within a year of William's death (and definitely in canon married Joyce before Chloe's 16th birthday), who threw a huge fit upon hearing her not-quite-girlfriend Rachel Amber was sleeping with their drug dealer (and not just a one-and-done deal), and who Rachel Amber herself describes in a note to Chloe in giving the "stink-eye" when Rachel flirted with guys, this Chloe Price... suggested having a threesome with some random guy.

Chloe Price is not fucking Rachel Amber. She has abandonment issues, she is possessive as fuck, and she is fucking loyal. Even after learning about Rachel cheating on her, Chloe still wanted to find Rachel rather than just write her off. This girl can give dogs lessons in loyalty to those she loves.

I said this in previous posts. It is clear that Deck Nine is doing to Chloe in the Bae setting what they did to Max in BtS by making her into someone she is not and setting up a reason to hate Chloe so they can push their new ship. It is shoddy and sophomoric writing that fails to capture the character as she was previously established. It is the worse aspects of fanfic writing. And in fact, the majority of fanfic writers are better writers than these hacks.

[homicidal-lingonberry]

a thought about kabru and mithrun and their time in the dungeon. (I love kabumisu but this is more about their canon relationship)

I have seen several people say that they dont think that kabru really cared about or liked mithrun. that he was just doing things cause he had to, etc. but I feel like this ignores something pretty cool about kabru. Kabru always has an inner monologue going on, one that we get to see.

several times when we see kabru doing nice things we can see that his inner monologue doesnt actually match. we see him kindly doing things that actively distress him several times. we as an audience are made very aware when kabru is doing something he doesnt really like.

so what kind of an inner monologue does kabru have when he performs caring tasks for mithrun? does he think about the advantages of having mithrun or the canaries on his side? does he think bitterly of mithrun? does he think about how much he hates this? the worst he thinks is "to think I'd get roped into this for the sake of that lot." and "this isnt seeing to his needs, this is nursing!" pretty early on in their journey together. this is while he is still digesting the full picture of mithruns condition and all the things hes going to need to do, the full weight of the situation now apparent.

after this, all we see is compassion. him thinking he would like to make mithrun something nice to eat, even if it wouldnt matter to him. him empathizing and reflecting on how not having desires would be really rough. him coming to understand where some of mithruns quirks, like his sense of direction, come from.

by the end, he has trusted mithrun enough to tell him about laios, and mithrun has given him all the information he has been searching for for YEARS.

and this is just the dungeon. kabru continues to involve himself with mithrun when its not his problem anymore. when really, he should be doing anything but. and after everything is done, if he truly did not care about mithrun, he has NO reason to do anything he does in chapter 94.

they are FRIENDS okay??? Kabru cares about him. it isnt just obligation. ty.

as far as mithrun goes, he gives kabru information, he asks him what he wants to do with that little smile (doesnt wait for his squad), slaps him out of his panic attack, and then kabru is the person he eventually confides his true desire to.

theyre FRIENDS and Im tired of people acting like they dont even like each other just bc they dont like the ship. you dont have to ship it, but if you think these 2 didnt drastically change each others lives in a positive way and that they dont care about each other...you maybe need to read again.

and also I think a lot of these takes veer on dehumanizing mithrun. like how could kabru even like him or see him as a friend when hes like that. like do yall forget mithrun was busy keeping kabrus ass from getting killed. or the way he perceptively sees straight through kabrus bs every single time until kabru finally tells the truth? I know kabrus confession to laios is a lot more emotionally intense, but laios isnt the only character that forces kabru to be honest.

[azulaaaaaaah]

rating every zuko ship (cause that mf is shipped with everyone)

CLICKBAIT!!! this isn’t every zuko ship just the main ones i immediately lied lol. idk if any of these are hot takes or not but please don’t crucify me (might do a part 2 where it’s azula ships)

Jinko - Zuko/Jin

6/10

awwww it’s cute (for what it is)

and what it is was one singular date that was never really mentioned again

i really appreciate how jin is so unperturbed by zuko’s awkward angst and just genuinely likes him

howevvver she’s kinda one dimensional (as she’s only in like an episode) and i just don’t see this going anywhere longterm

less a ship, more a vehicle for zuko’s character development lol

Jetko- Zuko/Jet

3/10

jet being zuko’s first gay encounter is canon in my eyes

don’t ship them however cause i hate jet with the fire of a thousands suns

similar issues to jin as well where their interactions are extremely limited so personally have no clue how this could be a long term thing

Maiko- Zuko/Mai

5/10

i am so impartial on this ship it’s not even funny.

i get that it’s canon. i get that izumi looks suspiciously like mai so it’s endgame. i just don’t see HOW?? it feels as if the writers realised zutara was becoming popular and were like ‘OH SHIT WE GOTTA DEFUSE THIS SITUATION SOMEHOW’

their relationship is basically just mai being a cold asshole and zuko being an angry asshole and there’s no change or development between EITHER OF THEM

however when they’re cute they’re cute !!!!

‘i love zuko more than i fear you’ COLDEST LINE EVER

however again it’s like - you had a crush on him as a kid. he was BANISHED. you dated for like a month as teens. you argued the whole time. he left again- and shortly after you saved him from prison, but then you were imprisoned partly due to his actions. you get back together again, he becomes the ruler of a country, and then you’re surprised it’s isolating him/making him even more of an asshole???

on the other hand we as a society need to admit that zuko is weirdly possessive of her (ig that’s a positive if ur a booktok romance girlie but im not). like if i was mai i wouldn’t put up with that toxic shit either

at the end of the day, i honestly don’t care that they’re canon lol- but i think they’d probably best as a bitchy best friend duo

Zukaang - Zuko/Aang

1/10

not round here partner. not round here

my first issue is the age gap is objectively extremely weird if examined in canon. leaving it at that

i get that this is grumpy x sunshine in a way the other ships aren’t to me- but we’ve only ever seen these two characters interact with each other when there’s (again) A WEIRD AGE GAP

they are bros in the least homosexual way possible

the cherry on top of this situation is: isn’t aang the reincarnation of his great grandpa? isn’t that giving slight, uh, inc*st vibes??? imagine if people shipped korra and jinora isn’t that just WEIRD???

Zuki - Zuko/Suki

8/10

is this my most controversial take ???

i am a sucker for bodyguard x royal family dynamics guys

and the fact that this is girlboss x malewife is even BETTER

suki seems the most competent at handling his pissy ass in a way the other people on this list aren’t

like she’s real. she’s not sugarcoating his situation, BUT SHES COMPASSIONATE !!

i don’t like throuples typically but suzukki is even eliter than this, which removes the whole ‘going against the bro code’ element that arises from them being together

also i feel like if you haven’t read the comics this doesnt make sense At All so please do

-2 points for the lack of tangible reason to ship them lol

Zutara - Zuko/Katara

7.5/10

okay this one makes the most logistical sense to me within canon (solely examined as a zuko ship not overall)

it really seems as if they were gonna make this canon and swerved circa book 2

LIKE CMONNNN OG ENEMIES TO LOVERS WHERE THE GUY ACTUALLY HAS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND ISN’T JUST EVIL? FIRE X WATER? ITS INTRIGUING

something about this makes me uncomfortable though. (despite the age gap which again a little weird)

something about katara potentially becoming the fire lady is so… icky. she’s a waterbender. the fire nation tried to systematically erase her kind. her mother is killed by the fire nation because they think she’s a waterbender. and katara…. what, becomes part of the royal family? it just seems wrong, and like something she wouldn’t be into

also i feel like their arguments would be a little too NUCLEAR. there’s like, a 50% chance of divorce

she deserves a better ending than that is all i’m saying

to paraphrase the hunger games: katara has plenty of fire herself. SHE NEEDS THAT DANDELION IN THE SPRING MAN

(i’m a kataang truther)

Zukka - Zuko/Sokka

9/10

my zuko related otp!!!

bros to lovers guys, where zuko falls first but sokka falls HARDER !!!

ik this will never be canon and im happy with that. i know there’s not even a whisper of romance between them in the show, but i just think it’s c u t e .

sokka (like suki) is very likely to call zuko out on his shit, but less likely to lose his own shit (like katara)

this in my heart of hearts is 10/10 however is still problematic in a similar way to zutara

his mother is killed by the fire nation and he (presumably) becomes consort ?

however though, i would still say it’s not as ruhroh as zutara bc firstly, sokka isn’t a waterbender, and secondly, ‘consort’ is a lot more open to interpretation than i think fire lady is. in my opinion a consort ≠ a fire lady, just like irl a consort ≠ a queen. it kinda means he can still be ambassador to the southern water tribe/a leader of his own people, while just so happening to be married to the fire lord.

overall i can’t help but stan a friends to lover ship cmOn now