#i like lapidot platonically but not romantically

[harp-bo-barp]

i hate to say it cause for some reason i feel like people are gonna come at me for this but I'm starting to not ship peridot and lapis as romantic anymore 😭 like the more I rewatch the show im like. they're in a qpr. THEYRE IN A QPRRRR. and I don't know if this is just me being aromantic and pushing my aro agenda (/j) on them, but I'm just not totally getting romance from them anymore I'm just getting qpr mfhsjhxj and like when I first watched the show I headcanon'd peridot as aroace and like I still kinda do tbh? IDK I JUST I love the idea of them being in a qpr rather a romantic relationship but ik that's just cause i'm aro 😭

[spaceastridxx]

A lot abt SU recently but I just want to talk on my lapidot shipping, bc I don’t ship them as a “couple” let’s say

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately bc I’ve been getting into my past hyperfixations again (once a hyperfixation, always a hyperfixation lol)) and I ship lapidot, as most people know, peri is aroace canonically, so in my brain, lapis and peridot and lapis’s relationship as a QPR(queer platonic relationship) nothing romantic, but platonically partners, I mean they lived in a barn along caring for a farm,with pumpkin- the most queer way of living( speaking from my opinions on howd I live as a lesbian)) plus, their relationship is different from ruby and sapphire, (a canon sapphic romantic relationship, I mean they’re married so idk how it wouldn’t be lol))

One thing I think on constantly, when lapis leaves with the barn to the moon,lapis obviously wanted peri to come with, how they both deal with the loss of each other, it makes sense that their bond is more, their reaction when lapis came back also, it’s an all of sudden thing, you can tell that they both were surprised and glad to see each other- it really makes me wonder what conversations and interactions they had before they drove the arms to homeworld to rescue the gems when they both reformed, it obviously took time to rebuild the ships to be flyable, there was some obvious bug feelings they both had to talk abt that couldn’t in that very moment-

Some things I rlly think on is that Peri’s bubble formed in barn with lapis, yeah it may just be a coincidence that lapis is there but honestly I feel like they both feel like home to each other- the development between both of them is so good, peridot helped lapis thru the stuff with jasper- it may all be just my thoughts but I absolutely love the ship of lapis and peridot having a qpr relationship (this may be controversial but idc)

[braveblackbutterfly]

BBB Butterfly is doing writing commissions

Hello Tumblr fam, friends and associates!

I am making my second attempt at writing commissions! Click the keep reading for all the details!

I'm making writing commissions for two reasons.

Reason #1: my uncle recently passed away and I'm learning as an adult how freaking expensive laying a person to rest is. He had life insurance, but it's not going to cover everything, especially the burial. And the remaining amount will be on my parents' shoulders since the rest of the family can't really help.

I just want to help my parents out in some ways, even if it's just using the money for everyday essentials in the house, like the bills or groceries.

Reason #2: I just finished my tutoring job for the school year. And I don't really plan to reapply for the next school year since it's a part time job and I need a full time budget to achieve my personal goals. Plus, I don't believe tutoring/teaching is for me. But even if I was to reapply, I will still be unemployed until the end of August. And the money I currently have isn't going to last forever.

My commissions are only fanfics this time, which I know will probably limit the amount of commissions I get. But I feel a little more comfortable writing fanfics at the moment than an original short story or poem.

The two fandoms I'm writing for are The Owl House and Steven Universe. I might add more fandoms to the list when I start writing more fics for different series.

What I'm willing to write: romance/romantic ships (happy ending or light angst) and non-romance fics (ex. a platonic or familial centered story)

Ratings: General Audiences to Teen (maybe Mature if it's an adult couple ship)

What I'm not comfortable writing: strong violence/death, explicit sex scenes (I will write suggestive and "fade to black" type of sex scenes but only for adult couple ships), no adult/minor ships

TOH ships I will not write: Luz/Hunter, Boscha/Willow, Amity/With a male character, Belos/With anybody

SU ships I will not write: Jasper/Lapis, Steven/Any of the gems

I may add other ships to the list depending on how (not) comfortable I feel about the idea of that particular ship.

Prices (may adjust at a later date):

1,000 words or less: $10

1,000 – 4,000: $15

4,000 + words: $20

$2 discount on my favorite ships (lumity, amillow, willuz, willumity, lapidot, connverse)

Payment source: Right now, PayPal, but I might use an alternative payment service like cash app or venmo later on.

It might take me some time to get started on these fics since there is a lot going on in my life right now. But I will get to them as soon as I can.

If you want to read my posted fics on AO3, here's the link:

Please send me a message if you are interested or have any questions! Again, please be patient with me since this is my second attempt.

[mymanyfandomramblings]

character ask game: Lapis Lazuli, Greg (su), Aaron Burr (Hamilton). (you don't have to do all [or any]. it just occurred to me I could ask about Hamilton and then I had to)

Lapis Lazuli

How I feel about this character

I like her. She's not really one of my favourites, but I do like her.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Lapix x Therapy :)

Jokes, but I'm not a big shipper when it comes to SU, and I'm not intrigued by very many Lapis ships

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Platonic Lapidot ftw! I don't want them to be in love, I want them to insane best friend who commit Shenanigans together.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't think she was abusive to Jasper, however I definitely don't think she was innocent at all in that relationship.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

We got to see more of her 'adjusting to Earth' arc

Greg Universe

How I feel about this character

I love him. He's my favourite and most beloved SU character. I adore him, and I cannot overstate how much I love him.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Rose Quartz. They truly were made for each other

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I love the Greg-and-Vidalia single-parents friendship. I will always read about them

My unpopular opinion about this character

Not sure I have one.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish he got to fight the Diamonds in Reunited along with the CGs and not just hide in the house.

Aaron Burr-Hamilton

How I feel about this character

He has a beautiful singing voice, and is a great foil to Hamilton

All the people I ship romantically with this character

uhhh

I cannot emphasise enough that I'm not really a shipper when it comes to Hamilton

Theodosia, I guess

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I'd like to think that he and James Madison could have been friends

My unpopular opinion about this character

He's sympathetic, but not always in the right

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

that they at all talked about his life post-killing Hamilton

[brackenfur]

i dont wanna go back to 2017 stephen galaxy discourse bc i spent TOOOOOO much time in my late teens arguing abt that show w mutuals but i rly just think its a shame that so much of the potential of steven universe kinda went down the drain bc some of the writers clearly preferred certain ships/dynamics rather than just telling a good story. theres so much to say abt su critically and this def isnt the biggest issue in the show (by farrr) but i just personally always felt like lapidot felt more self-indulgent as a romantic ship and like it hindered a lot of lapis + peridots character development. i think it works better for the characters platonically rather than a romantic ship but. alas.

i havent thought abt steven universe in awhile but tbh i remember how much i love amethyst/peridot as a romantic concept. i rly always thought it was infinitely more interesting than lapis/peridot as a romantic ship....idk even just that one ep they had dedicated to amedot felt like there was so much more potential and chemistry there for development but. alas.

[e350tb]

People: But what if Lapis leaves and makes Peridot sad?!

Me, an arsehole: That would be sad indeed...BUT THINK OF THE THE AMEDOT POTENTIAL

[patch444]

The Only Thing that’s Puzzled Me About Maya’s Tweet

No, this doesn’t have anything to do with Lapidot or Amedot being “dead.” Queer-platonic relationships exist, people. (And deserve more attention.)

ANYWAY!

There’s one thing about Maya’s tweet that’s had me scratching my head for over a year now…

^^^ This!

“Secondary priority to shipping…” What do you think she meant by that?

Was she talking about herself shipping Amedot romantically? Or, like, did CN tell everyone to keep quiet on Peri being aroace to avoid agitating the shippers?? I have several questions!

Please discuss~

[lapidudes]

Alsksjd, That last post I reblogged with Lapis smiling at Peri wearing overalls is from the offical artbook, I’m crying.

[artsycooky13]

k long one here, i dont have a bias nor a strong opinion on peridot and whether or not she's aroace so hopefully, this helps you, cuz i was hecking confused at first too (plz keep it civil for those reading, its been 3 years)

If I remember correctly, it spwaned from a tweet made by Maya Peterson, one of SUF storyboarders, essentially saying, 'Peridot is aroace, thats canon and intended'. This is the only direct statement that 'confirms' aroace peri as far as I am aware of. As for Rebecca sugar, there is not solid statement from her about aroace peri.

(image taken from google images btw, but here's the link [LINK] *Note that Maya seems to imply Peridot being aroace was something "she didnt know" before but has "for a while now" after she had worked on the show (its unknown how long she knew), this may imply other crew members have had the same idea and not just her, at least overtime. This tweet was made while Future was still airing.

another one that a lot of people claim confirmation/implication for aroace peri is from a Steven Universe children's book (I dont know the name, but was created in 2017) written by Rebecca herself. (Peridot not wanting to fuse was interpreted as implied aroace)

As for "lapidot bad" or "shipping peridot is bad", in some cases it's a response to Lapidot or any peri ships are canon claims. In... extreme cases, some people say that cuz they think its an erasure of Peridot's "canon" sexuality, erasing their representation that they dont get often. (some of those people probably feel like they are personally attacked by depicting something they identify with, being shipped romantically/ sexually with someone, thus, those people not liking it very much).

Though to add a little more to the flip side, people who argue its a "headcanon from an animator" is probably due to the show itself never explicitly stating Peridot is aroace, and there is no other canon material that 100% confirms Peri's sexuality other than Maya's word (as far as I am away of). The show IMPLIES this at best, but never clarifies it to be specifically aroace. (though many interpret it as such, especially after Maya's comment).

Again, Rebecca sugar herself never directly confirmed peridots identity (unless there was an interview or smth that I'm not aware of)

For a pretty solid explination on the topic, here's a tumblr page I found that critiques Maya's tweet and other things related [LINK]

Another interesting fact to add context, Maya herself used to draw Amedot(Amethyst+Peri) ship art around 2016-2017 from what i can find, and it aint a platonic one thats for sure. Of course, this doesnt mean its canon, its just fanart Maya used to do (and potentially changed her mind about but thats none of my business). I only say this to highlight that it would be hypocritical of fans that say smth along the lines of "Maya said Peridot is aroace therefore cant be shipped period", when Maya herself has done exactly that before. (Im not linking the ship art here due to worry that some people will easily get triggered, dont harass her over fictional ships, so I will just say you can view it on her tumblr blog still as did I when fact checking this. Take this information as you will)

My opinion on this topic? If people think Peridot is aroace in canon, cool, you do you. Take Maya's word for it? Aight. But as far as the show itself defines it, which is how most people know the show, at most it's implied, but never solid on it and is open for interpretation.

Also different crew writers have different interpretations of the characters, based on Zuke's tumblr comment about the amedot and lapidot stuff- saying that she wanted to depict queer characters, even describing amedot as a "first crush" (taken from the linked Tumblr post cuz it's easier)

And EVEN IF Peridot gets canon material confirming her aroace, people are gonna still ship her regardless, choose to not accept canon. At the end of the day, this is a fictional cartoon, a pretty cool one, but a one fictional nontheless.

so its hecking useless to say whats canon whats not if even the writers themselves have a different interpretation.

I saw people saying Peridot is aroace, I saw people saying it was just a headcanon of an animator but no one shows any proof so idk what to believe.

Lapidot was really popular when I was in the fandom but now I see people saying it's bad cause "canon Peridot aroace" so I want to know.

I'm not trying to attack anyone btw and I'm sorry if it sounds like that. I'm really curious and want to know the truth

[borkthemork]

Now, I didn't want to get involved with talking about this subject but after noticing some hints of backlash over the Maya post I had to make this a bit informative and akin to a PSA more than anything.

When it comes to the worries of Peridot being aroace and shipping her with different characters, we're having people starting to agonize over the fact "you can't ship her anymore" and that any progress or previous headcanons have been decimated in the process.

That's not true, at all!

When it comes to fandom works and headcanons, one doesn't have to go and agree with the status quo or word of God of the creators, you can definitely still continue shipping Peridot in the pairing of Amedot, Lapidot, Bismidot, etcetera! Not even canon can stop you with your WIPs, you have creative liberties!

However, that doesn't -- and I am emphasizing this -- mean that you should ever invalidate any ace/aro representation, and when it comes to Peridot and shipping I have to inform people on that in particular, because it doesn't mean that Peridot can't love other people (or even date for that manner).

The aro/ace community is vast and differing. People can be repulsed with putting romantic or sexual labels on activities, people can be neutral or lacking in response towards those types of activities, but that doesn't mean they can't be close in their own, unique way. Remember, aces and aros are defined as ones who have lack of sexual or romantic attraction; that doesn't mean one can't act on actions that are very close or intimate, even having the ability to define very closer relationships as dating since it depends on how comfortable they are with labeling the relationships they have.

There's a reason why QPRs are a thing. They aren't just a relationship title for aro/ace people; they could be used for anyone in the partnership who don't want to define their intimacy and connection by societal definition -- anyone can love, it's just that the way we love is unique and sometimes it's used to maneuver around labels that make us anxious even if we do want to get involved in something like a partnership of any kind.

Aro/ace people define their relationships and love by what they're comfortable with doing and experimenting with. Aro/ace people could kiss, cuddle, heck, a good many even like the act of sex because it either makes their partner happy or is perceived as a fun activity to partake in; it's just that attraction isn't part of it, but that doesn't mean we can't love people in ways that rival even the intensity of platonic and romantic relationships.

So, to conclude, ship Peridot with who you like, but don't invalidate the idea of her being aro/ace and that, of course, be informed that aro/ace people can love or do things that they're comfortable with based on their boundaries and personal preferences.

[mortiaddams13]

Peridot is Canonically AroAce, stop shipping her with people non platonically

After the Premiere of "In Dreams" in Steven Universe Future, storyboard artist Maya Peterson said that Peridot is the ace and aro rep of Steven Universe.

So why is everyone acting like if Rebecca Sugr didn't say it herself it isn't canon? Zuke, ALSO a previous Steven Universe Storyboarder was outspoken a lot on Twitter saying how he wanted Amedot or Lapidot to become a thing, and later he left the Steven Universe team, specifically because he and Rebecca had creative differences over SPECIFICALLY Peridot's orientation. So clearly Rebecca Sugar is aware of her teams views of the show, especially since they all have to work together very closely during the entire shows and movie, Rebecca is active on social media, and has done nothing to say that Peridot is not aromantic or asexual. And one of her crew members clearly said it was canon.

So I don't understand why everyone seems to love erasing her identity by shipping her with Amethyst or with Lapis. She. Is. Aro. Ace. You saying it's "just the storyboarder who said it not the creator, it isn't canon" is erasure. I'm greyromantic and asexual, I LOVE the representation because we barely get ANY so why should you be allowed to erase an aroace persons identity but the entire She-ra fandom implodes if you ship Bow and Adora? Because Adora is CANONICALLY a lesbian. And shipping her with a guy is erasure as well. So if you don't ship Garnet with a guy why can you ship Peridot romantically with someone else?

If I had known what asexuality was by seeing myself represented in a mainstream kids show it would have saved me so much physical and emotional pain, 2 incredibly toxic relationships, and a lot of compulsive heteronormativity.

STOP. ERASING. A. CHARACTERS. ORIENTATION.

[infriga]

re: your tag comments on shipping dominating fandoms... wow, do I feel this a lot. Sometimes it depends on the fandom bc there are some romantic relationships I dearly love to see content for, but a lot of the time I'm just... what about my platonic and familial fluff fics? ;D; I be goin through the SU AO3 filtering out all the Lapidot and Amedot AUs just to get a crumb of gen fic sometimes even though I have literally nothing against Lapidot and Amedot, ahah

Right? Like don’t get me wrong it’s easier to search for fics on AO3 than it ever was on FFN or most other sites, but AO3 is also so saturated with shipping that it gets a bit tiring sometimes (which isn’t the site’s fault obviously, they don’t control the content, they just tend to attract more shippers it seems). And even finding fics for ships I like that don’t have to warp the characters to get them together, or to get them to fit popular ship tropes that they don’t usually align with, can be its own slog.

At least gen fics seem to be less likely to shove people into a specific relationship archetype because they’re usually exploring ones that already exist. That’s part of what I like about them!

[mindareadsoots]

So. Peridot.

sigh, this is gonna be a mess.

So, in case you hadn’t heard, Maya Petersen said on twitter this morning that Peridot is aro/ace according to “Word of St Paul”

My opinion, honestly, is that it’s not really evident in the show so you can headcanon Peridot however you want, and that could be the end of the post right there. Full stop.

As for Lapidot, I don’t see how this post changes anything. Lapis is also adverse to fusion, so accepting that Peridot is aro/ace doesn’t even change their dynamic all that much (although put a pin in that for later, because we’re going to have to come back to that). And anyways, Word of God can not and does not stop people from shipping things.

But much like Peridot’s character development, ending things there would be abrupt and unsatisfying, so we’re going to go deeper than that.

Asexuality and Fusion

The big elephant in the room that I want to get out of the way first is that I don’t have a problem with Peridot being aro/ace. There’s some evidence for it (and some against it, but we’ll get to that later), and overall I like it as a character beat for her. It’s a fairly rare bit of representation, so it’s nice to see.

However, I have a HUGE problem with them tying asexuality to Peridot’s disinterest in fusion.

Fusion has always been much more than an analogue for sex. If it wasn’t, then we’d be talking about how Steven and Connie are too young for fusion, and Steg is incestuous. And we don’t want to go down that road. That’s a dumb road.

Fusion can represent loving (Garnet), platonic (Smoky Quartz), or familial relationships (Steg). It can represent budding relationships (Stevonnie) or alliances of convenience (Bluebird Azerite).

Fusion is a versatile metaphor, but it’s that very versatility that works against it when connecting it to asexuality. Because now you’re basically saying that aro/ace people can’t have any meaningful relationships, and that’s clearly not the message that they want to send with Peridot. This could be cleared up if Peridot’s stance on fusion and what it means for her relationships with others was actually examined in the show, but it hasn’t been.

Word of God vs The Work Itself

So is Peridot a good representation of asexuality within the show itself?

On the whole? Maybe, but at best it’s unclear.

That’s why I can’t say whether or not Peridot discovering her asexuality is a good or satisfying character beat in the show. It’s not in the show at all! If you’re looking for representation, we can do better than this. This show has done better than this.

The only scene you can really point to where Peridot shows an aversion to fusion is in Log Date, when Garnet offers to show Peridot what fusion is like with a firsthand experience. 

This moment later got a callback in one of the children’s books talking about fusion, complete with the alien boxers she wore in that same episode.

The problem is that this scene happens very, VERY early on in Peridot’s character development. Log Date was a flashback episode to before Message Received, so Peridot still considered herself loyal to Homeworld at that point. That whole scene - indeed, that whole episode - was about Peridot experimenting and learning how to be more than just a tool for Homeworld. She didn’t have her meep morps yet. She didn’t have her metal powers yet. 

In fact, after Too Short to Ride came out, I remember seeing speculation that Peridot was afraid that she couldn’t fuse and so she broke off with Garnet out of embarrassment.

More importantly, it would have been wrong for Peridot to fuse right at that moment, regardless of her sexuality. She was still getting to know the Crystal Gems. She didn’t have an established relationship with Garnet or really anybody in the cast at that point, so seeing her fuse then would have been meaningless. The scene very clearly set up fusion as something for Peridot to explore later, once she has found somebody who she is ready to fuse with.

And shortly after that episode, Peridot would meet...

Lapis

Let’s call a spade a spade. The real reason why people are upset about Peridot being labeled ace is because of Lapidot, and I think that’s a perfectly valid reaction. It isn’t ace-phobia or erasure to say, “Word of God tried to sink my ship, and I don’t like it.”

I’m not going to go through all of the moments hinting at a romantic interest between Lapis and Peridot, but, ya know...

They’re there.

And they were clearly put there on purpose, as expressed by storyboarder Jesse Zuke back when they were working on the show. 

In truth, I’m not interested in re-litigating whether or not their relationship actually became a true romance, because it’s irrelevant. Either way, the most important relationship the two of them had was with each other. Peridot being ace doesn’t take way from that, but it does leave Lapis in an awkward spot in one specific way.

As I mentioned at the top of the post, Lapis has displayed an aversion to fusion, which could make her perfectly compatible with an aro/ace Peridot. However, there’s one very important difference. Unlike Peridot, who came into her asexuality from thoughtful introspection (or so we’ve been told) Lapis’s problem with fusion comes from a traumatic experience. She isn’t aromantic by choice, it’s a wound that’s still fresh.

So - and again, this question applies whether you ship Lapidot romantically or not - if Lapis is working through the trauma of a bad fusion experience, but the character she’s closest to doesn’t want to fuse, then where does that leave her?

This comes back to that first big problem with the tweet, which is that this shouldn’t be a problem. There is no reason why Peridot can’t have a platonic fusion with Lapis while being aro/ace, but it’s clearly not going to happen in SUF, and it doesn’t sound like it’s going to happen ever.

There are other candidates, of course. Lapis also has a very close and trusting friendship with Steven, she seems to be getting along well with Bismuth in the limited time we’ve seen them together, and in Why So Blue, she even made a potential new friend in fellow Lapis “Freckles” Lazuli. 

But even so, the most on screen relationship development she’s gotten has been with Peridot, and now that character development is just kind of in limbo.

In Conclusion

I don’t really have a conclusion.

I just wanted to convey that this whole situation is kind of a hot mess.

I really would like to see more aro/ace representation, and if any character in SU was going to get that label, then Peridot would be a good candidate, but this was just a bad way to get there.

It’d be one thing if we actually had an episode about Peridot exploring her asexuality. Then we could actually judge how well it plays out. Now it’s just sort of vaguely unsatisfying and it’s left a lot of people arguing about what they think it means for Peridot and the characters around her.

That’s almost certainly intentional on the part of the writers. The crew has said that they don’t want to lock down any canon ships (besides Garnet, obviously) because they don’t want to ruin headcanons. And the whole point of the episode Little Graduation was that Steven (and by extension, the audience) is not necessarily privy to every character development that happens off-screen, but you can’t say that, and then also put your thumb on the scale with tweets like this.

Honestly, I’m expecting the followup tweet any minute now of, “Don’t harass people for shipping/not shipping Peridot,” because tweeting out character details after the fact is just kicking the hornet’s nest. Maybe we’ll get a graphic novel or something where Peridot outlines what fusion means to her, but until then, let people ship what they want, and be good to each other.

[jenhedgehog]

Peridot and Lapis OBVIOUSLY have an more-than-platonic relationship The proof is that peridot falls into a deep depression when lapis gone, that means lapis is important to her more than just a friend

Oh yeah, it's super easy to see how much they care for each other! They were even described as being in a "first relationship" on one of the Crew's podcasts.

They're not just Gals Being Pals, in my opinion - there are some clear romantic undertones with them.

It's all been left open to interpretation anyway, as there's been no official confirmation either way. So it's up to each individual person to interpret however they like. Platonic Lapidot is a valid headcanon, but not one that I personally share.

[shinneth]

what is your absolute favorite ship? How did you start shipping Stevidot? And rant about any ship you feel like, good or bad? :))

… you fool

OH GOD ALL-TIME FAVORITE SHIP YOU SAY. YOU KNOW DAMN WELL I CAN’T CHOOSE ONE.

(it’d probably be Stevidot anyway; objectively I’ve done more for it than anything else I ever shipped in my life and it’s absolutely precious both in platonic and romantic forms)

BUT IN THE INTEREST OF FAIRNESS… and attempt to tone down redundancy, let’s see what other ships earned the “OTP” label from me!

I mean, I pretty much had to lowkey ship Mamoru Chiba x Ami Mizuno because Usagi/Mamoru is basically what Connverse wishes it could be as far as the Ultimate Ship goes. So at the height of my involvement in the fandom (you know, late 90s era), I was never brave enough to make anything for this ship. But the few times they get to interact in the classic anime is legit adorable stuff and I wish we could’ve had more of it. 

Before Gem Ascension, before Travels of the Trifecta, my greatest multichaptered epic was a Digimon Tamers fic called By My Decision. I was a hardcore Digimon fan in my early teen years well before I ever got into Pokemon, in fact. And I shipped shitloads of pairings in Adventure and 02 - I can only imagine how many of those would be demonized by the new age fandom puritans of Tumblr nowadays. You can actually see literally everything I ever shipped on my FFN profile here.

But I didn’t really make anything for the first two seasons. Tamers was what really sparked my inspiration, because Takato and Jenrya… honestly, they’re just adorable together. They get to bond a lot, they’re really in touch with their feelings (contrasting to token girl Ruki who was a stiff hardass most of the time), and I often got the impression that Jenrya, unlike Takato, really doesn’t have any other friends. 

So of course, I tormented these two on the regular in my story. I of course didn’t forget Juri (for I love her dearly); I was kinda trying a love triangle subversion with Takato angsting over loving both Jenrya and Juri… while Juri’s still got so much PTSD (story is 2 years post-series), shipping is hardly on her mind, and Jenrya’s outright in denial of his feelings for Takato to the point where it very literally screws him up and awakens some inner darkness of his own. I even had Jenrya and Juri bond, but it was pretty platonic stuff. 

Still, this ship was way down on the totem pole at the height of Tamers’ fandom. Very frustrating. Takato/Ruki and Jenrya/Ruki were way more popular and I hated both of those ships something fierce. I love Ruki, but I just cringe at the idea of shipping her with either of her fellow leads. Then Jenrya/Ryo got something of a cult following that I couldn’t stand; admittedly I was jealous it was getting the representation that I felt Takato/Jenrya desperately needed more, and I also didn’t like Jenryo in its own right, anyway. 

But yeah. Jenkato is a very underappreciated ship that I loved dearly and invested many of my teenage years into.

So, here’s a fun fact: While I played the classic games (my cousins had a Sega Genesis), the way I was mostly raised on Sonic was via the first two cartoon series and the Archie Comics version of the franchise. Archieverse was largely based on the SatAM cartoon; Amy Rose also didn’t exist in the show and it took about 25 issues for her to show up in the comic. 

So I was big on Tails x Amy. For a long-ass time. And really, the ship was really only feasible in the Archie continuity. There, Tails is actually older than his usual depicted canon age and Amy is introduced to be around his age before she artificially aged herself with a magic ring so that she could later take on her Sonic Adventure design. 

Before that… in these years, Sally was the most well-known love interest of Sonic in the west. So Sonic/Sally seemed like a lock (none of us knowing how Sega felt about that at the time) - and in retrospect I honestly believe it’s a far better Sonic ship than his more well-known modern alternatives. 

So, because of Sally’s prominence, Amy was relegated to Sonic’s fangirl and her crush wasn’t really that big a deal. Honestly, that was for the best, as I by far found Amy way more tolerable in Archie’s incarnation than the majority of her other canon contemporaries (Sonic the Comic Amy Rose is more of a competent badass, though).

Tails and Amy had some good banter in Archieverse and the few times they were allowed time to do stuff together as a duo, they were very cute and endearing and I loved them. 

Tails also had a lot more going on in terms of character development and backstory in Archieverse. Like, a lot more going on. He even had a “Chosen One” deal that sadly didn’t have a very good payoff, but. It’s more than what they really do with Tails in any other continuity.

Bear in mind, I started on these comics when I was eight or nine years old. Yet I followed this comic well into my late teens and even part of my early twenties, so you can tell Archieverse Sonic has shitloads of lore to it to have that long of an ongoing narrative. 

After Sonic Adventure was released, then the Sonamy shipping started to explode. Amy was front-and-center in the spotlight, Sally became the obscure figure in the fandom, and it’s more-or-less stayed that way ever since. 

But I was like “It’s okay! Tails and Amy are still tight in Archieverse! Sucks they have to adjust to Sega’s many changes but they’re still best buddies who’ll hopefully get married one day….” 

Then 25 Years Later happened and for some goddamned stupid-ass reason, Tails was paired with Mina the Mongoose and I believe Amy was suspiciously never ever mentioned in the future timeline stories (as Sonic and Sally did become endgame in this little series). 

Tails and Mina had little to no interaction, and Mina was largely there to be a potential Sonic love interest, and even after she moved on, she got together with another character and still didn’t interact with Tails. 

I was sooooooo pissed off. Archieverse was my one hope for Tails/Amy becoming a thing and they ruined it for me. :(

I did get a consolation prize in Geoffrey St. John x Hershey becoming so canon they actually did marry. That’s another one I shipped ever since they first interacted years and years ago.

Of course, Hershey was then “killed off” - and was set for a major comeback, but Ken Penders put a stop to that and had them both erased from reality because fuck Ken Penders, I actually got a nice thing and you yanked it right out of my hands.

Genis Sage x Mithos Yggdrasill from Tales of Symphonia, a ship I hardcore loved enough to write about. Also a ship I think Tumblr would burn me at the stake for shipping at all, but you know what? Fuck Genis x Presea. It’s a boring-ass puppy love ship that in its own right should be lambasted similarly according to anti logic. 

…. did I get sidetracked? I did? Pfff. Okay, let’s try and get to another question.

How I started shipping Stevidot?

Pretty simple story, really. I binged SU all the way up to Escapism (Change Your Mind hadn’t aired yet) last December/January. Also watched a looooot of Youtube clips. Most involving Peridot.

And inevitably, most involving Steven as well. 

When I started getting into Peridot and SU as a whole enough to seek out fanfiction and whatnot, I didn’t really have any set shipping preferences at first. But when I made myself think about it… honestly, Stevidot just felt the most natural to me. I wanted to see stories about antics with those two specifically - I never liked Lapidot and Amedot did nothing for me ever. So Stevidot was like, pretty much the only thing I really focused on after a while.

Then I found A Gem Like You. And suddenly, INSPIRATION! I developed headcanons for Watcher’s fic, I started reading as much Stevidot as I could, and I was convinced it was the best pairing in the world and fucking hell I need to give it some representation after I noticed how relatively niche it was in the fandom. 

And so, Stevidot consumed my soul for all time. I hope those clods are happy.

Rant about a ship, you say…

Good god, that really does need to be its own post. I have so much to say about various ships in general, I may need a bit to… uh, figure that out. Or throwing out some random ones I’d know about would help my focus, fff.

[kikilazuli]

what's your take on Lapidot now that the series is over? i'm personally a little put off that there was no word on their relationship after all the fanfare of Lapis' departure and return and the development their relationship in general

Thing is, there are tons of su ships I like, but shipping was never the main reason I watched the show, so I was always fine with the thought of none of them becoming explicitly canon. Even when it came to rupphire and connverse which we all knew were the canon ships, it was still a genuine surprise when rupphire got married and connverse kissed in the finale because I wasn’t expecting any of that and still would’ve enjoyed the show if those things hadn’t happened.

Point is, when it comes to lapis and peridot and any other pairing I enjoyed, I’m perfectly okay with some things just being left up in the air. Even if it would’ve been nice to see some sort of development or closure, I’m always gonna think that all the characters in this show are close and love each other very much, whether it’s platonically or romantically, I don’t mind either. I’ve never needed canon to confirm or deny anything because it’s not the biggest deal to me and I was just shipping for fun so seeing the fandom’s interpretations of where they end up has always been enough.