#i think i have a pretty conservative definition of 'canon' in that i don't really count anime-only stuff as 'canon'

[panlight]

What do you think of the "Everything in twilight is because of Mormomism" theory going around? I'm always in some random comment section that's discussing twilight(either the lore, the characters, or SMs writing) and that's the only thing anybody will ever bring up

I think she was definitely influenced by her religion and the culture she grew up in, but I don't think most of it was like, intentional.

In fact she seemed to intentionally try to avoid Mormonism in the story; Charlie is Lutheran, Bella doesn't really have any faith, Carlisle is/was 'Anglican' and Edward seems to be vaguely Christian. She chose not to make any of the characters canonically Mormon, but they sometimes feel Mormon to readers because of how she wrote them.

SM herself had this to say:

The main theme that I consider to be LDS is that of free agency. These books are all about choice to me–people’s ability to rise above (or sink below) what is expected of them. There is a little bit of Helaman’s stripling warriors with the pack, too (they fight to protect their families, who are not able to fight the way they can). There is some overt discussion of religion, particularly in New Moon, and a little in Eclipse. For me, that is more about realism rather than my specific religion. Religious or not, real people have to wonder sometime about where they came from, why they’re here, and where they’re going. Characters who didn’t ponder that a little would feel pretty shallow to me.   As an author, I consider NOTHING, ha ha ha. I just tell a story. All the symbolism and themes and archetypes are things I discover after the fact. All that stuff in the above paragraph–I didn’t think of any of those things until after the story was done. Then I would read through it and think, “Hey, the pack kind of reminds me of those Ammonite kids. Wonder if that’s where I got it from?”

So I don't think she set out to make Carlisle 'look like Joseph Smith' but can imagine that when she was trying to imagine a young leader she might have been influence by Smith. I can definitely see how her attitudes toward marriage, motherhood, Indigenous peoples and race could have been influenced by her faith and culture. Imprinting seems to be related to a common trope in early Mormom fiction (tl;dr - everyone exists as souls before we are born and sometimes pair up in that spirit realm and have to find each other on Earth and when they do it's this instant, powerful recognition), and this based on an essay by a fellow Mormon (tw: for religion talk). And the whole idea of eternal families relates to ideas about 'sealing' and the Mormon afterlife.

But I don't think she set out like, "bwahaha I'm going to write a MORMON vampire romance!!!" She's not that deep, she had a weird dream and wrote it down and then built on that going wherever her imagination took her, but that imagination was certainly influenced by her faith and lived experiences.

And plenty of conservative religious types hate the books on principle for having vampires and werewolves in them at all because that's occult and that's of Satan. Also because of the 'sexual content.'

[arizonaconservativegal]

Thanks for replying. I didn't think to check here until after work. I believe that you truly believe that your side isn't that bad and I'm under some sort of media hypnotism. Maybe I am and have turned into an elitist snob. I just don't get how you don't see conservative Christians as problems- you are aware when they talk about "religious freedom," they're usually only talking about the right to be obnoxiously Christian in public, right? I know very few conservative Christians whose idea of the religious freedom of others is "I don't want to ever see or hear about it and if you expose my kids to it I'll throw a huge fucking fit." These are the people who fight against evolution and sex ed in schools. I don't get it, man. But that's whatever, we're not going to agree. But...I really do hope you're right.

Anyways, what's your favorite Star Wars era? Do you prefer pre- or post Disney EU? I really like pre-Disney EU so I'm biased towards them and I am weird because I actually really like the New Jedi Order era. (And the pre-Filoni Clone Wars.)

Thanks for talking, even if it wasn't pleasant.

Matt-the-Atheist

Hello again Matt-the-Atheist. I'm actually enjoying our little chat.

Frankly I don't mind if people want to be obnoxiously Christian in public. I'm actually fully in support of their right to do so. That's cool with me. It hurts no one. And suggesting that it's a bad thing if they do so sounds kinda "I don't want to ever see or hear about it and if you expose my kids to it I'll throw a huge fucking fit" if you ask me.

As for people who fight against evolution in schools, that's a pretty tiny minority - I've literally never met one. I might grant you the point on sex ed, to an extent - that does tend to be a point of contention because if you ask ten people (Christians or otherwise) what the appropriate curriculum would be for any given age group, you'll get ten different answers.

Far more importantly though: Star Wars.

My favorite era is definitely that classic OT rebellion era and I'm also really fascinated by the fall of the Republic / early days of the Empire. I probably lean a bit more towards the pre-Disney stuff overall but there's plenty to love and hate about both timelines so I just pick and choose what I like from each and mash 'em all up together in a way that makes no sense to anyone else and ignore the rest and I'm perfectly happy lol.

Oh man New Jedi Order? I applaud the effort to do something different but I must admit I had a hard time with those books. I'm not really sure why. I did really like the legacy era after that though, much more than I expected. It's a fucking trip but it was fun.

Do you have a favorite character, canon or otherwise?

[seriousbrat]

Do you think Lily (or atleast your lily) is “not like other girls-ing” it. Meaning do you think she looks down on the hyper feminine or atleast holds her self as being better (consciously or unconsciously) for not being that?

Given the time period she grew up in it would be a bit of an anomaly for her to not have these deep seated ideas of femininity (which is why I don’t give hermione too hard of a time here), but if you think she didn’t adopt that thinking what caused that? And if she did (to any capacity) what does that look like in her day to day life?

Oooh, honestly a very interesting question! My most honest answer is that.... probably a little bit. The thing is that we've only begun to question the whole "not like other girls" thing very recently, so we have to consider that this was absolutely not a thing during the 70s. I do think Lily would consider herself "not like a lot of other girls" in the sense that maybe intellectual, political, philosophical things are more important to her than stereotypically feminine concerns like makeup, boys, fashion etc. That being said, I think she would in general be what we now call a "girl's girl."

I don't think she can be blamed for this; again the way we now see the whole "not like other girls" thing is very recent. Personally I don't believe that any women or girls who have felt excluded from the roles traditionally ascribed to women are at fault for feeling that way. Especially in the past, I understand why women would have felt like they weren't meeting certain standards that were expected of them and would take that as proof that they weren't like the majority of women-- the truth is that NO women are meeting 100% of the standards expected of them, but all of this is a pretty recent idea.

Lily would have likely compared herself to the model of Petunia, who is in many ways very stereotypically hyperfeminine-- her main life goal was to get married, be a housewife, and have a kid. While Lily did get married and have a kid, I don't see her as being content with just being a housewife, and I don't think that was her only life goal at all. If it weren't for the war (which is already something Lily was dedicating herself to beyond a sterotypically feminine role) she likely would have had aspirations beyond being a mother and a wife. So I do think she compared herself to Petunia in that sense, but you have to consider that in the 70s and 80s women were still fighting for many rights and considerations that today we consider basic.

I imagine that for Lily, Petunia represented something actively anti-feminist-- she married a chauvinist, conservative, middle class man who expected Petunia to cook his meals and clean his house-- and that was all that Petunia aspired to. I think that, in a sense, Lily did look down on Petunia for choosing this lifestyle, simply because she would never be content with that herself. We also have to take into account the fact that, for all the faults that the wizarding world has, gender is not really as big of a factor as it is in the Muggle world---although misogyny definitely exists in canon, a witch could potentially be much more powerful or talented than any given wizard, and it seems as though witches are very capable of reaching the same positions as wizards in the Ministry.

So, basically, I do think Lily would have judged Petunia especially in some sense for making choices that Lily considered to be anti-feminist. Does that make her an "I'm not like other girls" girl? I don't think so, personally I see her as being a stalwart feminist and very supportive of her female friends. Her judgment of Petunia likely came from the disparaging attitude that Petunia and Vernon had towards Lily and James-- I see Lily as being prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, and really making an effort to support her sister and maintain their relationship even if she didn't fully agree with Petunia's choices. But as we know, Petunia didn't let her. Lily tried to understand, and that does show a lot of empathy. I think that in this situation he problem was Petunia.

[myrmyrtheorca]

Which canon character does your OC respect a lot?\Which canon character annoys your OC?\What canon character gets annoyed by your OC? This is for Myr and Tristam

Hello Shade! Super late but here I am-

As always I'll stick to the current state of the story as to avoid spoilers for KW, I know this makes things kinda boring but I don't really want to give hints as to what happens next before time, I'm sorry qwq''

Myr:

canon character she respects a lot: so far she's really respectful of Reborn because he demonstrated that he's able to guide her through her new life, and also because he has clearly shown he can kick her ass any time as well as outwit her. That's why she tends to think of him when there's decisions to be make, like in chapter 6 when she felt lost on what to do. She doesn't really have a good grasp on the canon cast yet, but Yamamoto is also high on the list because of his physical prowess. Tsuna is... kinda still a mystery, he gives her a good impression as in "this is a person I can trust" but doesn't know yet why she feels at ease with him.

canon character that annoys her: Dino, even though she's not aware of his identity yet, simply because of how he looks - he strikes as the typical aloof italian boy that tries to get his way with girls at the first occasion. Also Gokudera, because he's apparently a jerk for no reason and seems to only like Tsuna.

canon character that gets annoyed by her: definitely Gokudera (it's reciprocal!) because of their first meeting.

As per Tristam, since he hasn't met anyone from the main cast yet and none of them know of his existence, I'll play by hypotheticals:

canon character he respects a lot: Tristam and respect are like oil and water, but I'm pretty sure that since he loathes the usual conservative and decrepit bosses he's used to meet, he'd probably be impressed by Uni the moment she's in charge of the Giglio Nero at her age (I know Uni is not a thing at the moment where KW is right now but again, hypotheticals). Other than that, probably Mukuro for his aspirations, though he'd find them questionable at best.

canon character that annoys him: everyone he would NOT like Tsuna. He's like an anthithesis to Tsuna, and would absolutely despise how he doesn't cherish the title of Vongola Tenth. Anyone who doesn't take their mafia duties seriously would probably get on his nerves. He does know Timoteo in KW, and doesn't appreciate how he sent Reborn to ask the Cavalieri for Myr when he could have done that himself.

canon character that gets annoyed by him: the list is pretty long as you may expect but notably Reborn, who comments on that during chapter 1. (Byakuran would love him... actually, they would be good friends...)

[yonemurishiroku]

Do you think that the solangelo contains more of a forceful representation, and if so, what is your advice to authors who are trying to make lgbtq+ representation seem more a part of the story/flow with the story then the opposing option?

May 22nd. I'm so sorry, my mind has been going off track for a while. I'm really sorry for the delay. 😭😭

So, regarding Solangelo as a representation, well this is gonna be hard to say lol. This has been circling the fandom since the day of its emergence, and this is certainly not a good time but eh penny for my thought ig.

Now. I suppose I have a very varying definition of representation, but let's not dwell on that. As for now, I can say that I do consider Solangelo somewhat forcefully developed. As in, the term of writing, plot-wise, etc...

It's quite difficult to say. I have no problem with Solangelo as a couple - or their dynamic - per se. Rather, it's the pacing that throws me off. This has been addressed in many posts - Solangelo has a quite... abrupt (?) takeoff. I just felt like Rick did not mean to make them a thing but just a spur of a moment - something small and... promising that you left hanging at the end of the series for reader's interpretation, for whatever reason (This actually lines up with Boo's time of releash I think? The LGBTQ+ literature being unpopular I mean).

In fact, Solangelo's whole developing process happened behind the curtains - as in, we're told, not shown. Imagine. In BOO, their friendship just barely sprouts, and the next time we see them again in TOA, they're already a couple. For the longest time possible, it was left to the reader/fanfic writers to deduce wth happen for them to become a couple in like idk 6 months? (A pretty fast process for someone like Nico imo. but that's just me).

Something like that is bound to raise some doubts.

The full picture itself is only revealed - partly, and through second reminiscence, mind you - in TSATS. It's also the reason TSATS feels kinda off to me, ig - the fact that some parts actually misalign with the established canon events, or appear like a patch to cover a hole in the piece of fabric. And some others just straight up fall into the what-the-f-was-in-your-mind-rick category. I doubt it was even Rick's initial plan to come up with TSATS in the first place.

However, it's also worth acknowledging that, whilst it would certainly help, Rick hardly has the capacity to fully-build another 5-book romance for Solangelo. That's as far as it can go (I usually think this to placate myself at the thought of the ship being undeveloped). Nico is not the franchise's protagonist (more like deuteragonist I guess), no matter how far this story goes and how widely loved he is, let alone Will.

On to the advice part.

Please keep in mind that I am, in no way, a professional or good writer, nor do I study sexual orientation and/or identity theory (I barely know the flags). I've also grown up and received education in an Estern (somewhat conserative?) country, so please take whatever I say with a grant of salt.

Now. When it comes to "make it seem more a part of the story", I... actually don't know how to say this...

Just look at the all the BL mangas (Japanese comics) and danmeis (Chinese BL literature) and BL manhwas (Korean comics). I have been reading BoyLove longggg before I even came to PJO, you know? The Eastern fandoms have surprisingly extensive LGBT content for a conservative culture, anw they have been telling and/or drawing stotries upon stories about same-sex couples since the dawn of internet. They don't even need to try. They have the image of a love, a story in their mind and just... go along with it.

You don't make it a part of the story. The story is either about it (much or little), or just nothing at all.

I'm saying making a story about it - rather than trying to incorporate it into the story. Give it background and enough development, it'd progress itself. You don't give it anything, of course it'd feel flat. This goes with any type of romance, not just LGBTQ+.

The problem with Solangelo itself, imo, is not the nature of their relationship (tho I do admit somtimes Rick makes me go wtf), but rather how they're portrayed. And furthermore, said portray in proportion to people's expectation. Solangelo, by all means, is a side-story at best (unless Rick manages to come up with a trilogy about their journey from start to finish idk 🤷‍♀️). People like it, so they tend to expect more from it, but the author's just a human.

I think this is everything... My thoughts are kinda in a jumble as I'm writing this, so feel free to ask if something doesn't make sense... This is also just my personal view lol don't take it too seriously if it differs from yours too much.

Lastly, I know my advice would probably not do much, however I hope for you to find your way to tell your stories the best you can!

[chainofclovers]

15, 23, 26 for the writing ask!

Thanks, friend! <3

15. What’s your favourite plotless fic you have written?

HA! I love the assumptions baked into this question and that you chose it for me. I feel seen.

I scanned through my ao3 and which a bunch of my fics are truly just fueled by vibes, they do have plots--quiet ones--and I don't necessarily wanna discount the quiet or domestic or private as not counting as plot?

But I also have some true zero plot stuff FOR SURE. I think my favorite might be "I'm going, all along" about agnosticism and various religions and how they intersect with Ted Lasso characters, or "neon," in which Ted is worried Beard is going to get bored sleeping with him and Rebecca but doesn't articulate it very well, and Beard books them time in a sensory deprivation tank.

23. Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard?

When people talk about being fully comfortable with one and struggling with the other, I'll admit that I'm actually not sure how that feels?! They are both hard, except for the rare times they are both easy! I think I do generally have an easier time writing dialogue with some light descriptions interspersed, and it's harder for me to write longer descriptive prose passages conveying action or the passage of time or whatever. The stuff I imagine most vividly as I start to write are the busy moments where people are interacting and speaking but also sensing/perceiving/noticing/feeling, so zooming out past that to write pure description is a bit more of a slog.

(I want to know how you feel about this too)

26. What would you describe as OOC?

Answered here, but I actually have a slightly expanded answer if you'll indulge me, so I'll paste the original answer (in italics) + add to it.

It’s a bit hard to put my finger on it. I guess it boils down to the “He would not fucking say that” thing?

But as I think about it, in terms of fanfic, something reads as OOC most often when I just get this strong and very distracting sense that the author is more interested in serving their own motivations or wish-fulfillment fantasies than the characters themselves. Which is a legit thing to do when writing fic, even if I have reader preferences! I have 100% put characters into situations specifically because I just really wanted to spend time with those characters in that situation, and I’m sure there have been people who read it and think it’s OOC even if I try to stay true to character. (Like I’ve definitely had people say they don’t typically think of a certain character as having a specific sexual identity that I might ascribe to them. And I might ascribe it to them both because I personally see it as true to character but also might just wanna explore it for my own queer reasons. To each their own!)

With TL fic, I'm pretty picky about reading about Rebecca's explorations of motherhood, because while her desire for motherhood is an intrinsically important facet of her character, she doesn't strike me as someone who would find it at all satisfying to dive fully into super traditional gender roles (and gender roles that are possibly portrayed as more idyllic or even mythical than they actually feel in real life)...like a situation where she needs her man caring for her and doting on her and defers to the care/wisdom he offers her while pursuing a type of motherhood that wasn't available to her in canon. Canon Rebecca has lived through--and observed--the fallibility of those types of structures and nothing about the ways her desires (sexual, maternal, familial, professional, otherwise) are portrayed onscreen make me want to imagine her launching back into a belief that a super-traditional/conservative gendered structure would work for her, even with her next partner being someone who isn't abusive the way Rupert was.

(And I won't even go down the rabbit hole of trying to articulate why this structure also doesn't seem like something that would be fulfilling for Ted [who tried it and failed and spent 3 years of TV reprioritizing] or Roy [who has deep trust issues] or Matthijs [whom we lack historical information on but perhaps tried it and failed and now lives on a very cool boat] or any other potential dude who could be her partner on the show. But I think those structures often do a disservice to men, too, and will leave it at that.)

And again, like with any other scenario that appeals to a writer, I genuinely understand why this type of nuclear family dream scenario is something a writer might want to explore from within the safety of their own complete control over the story and the characters, and that is a cool thing to be able to do! But when it comes to Ted Lasso characters it's probably the type of thing that I personally am most likely to view as OOC.

That being said, I've read and loved portrayals of Rebecca as someone who "mothers" Henry, Jelka, Nora, Phoebe, biological kids, adopted kids, etc., as well as stories that wrestle very explicitly with her NOT being a mother whatsoever. I just balk at this idea that marriage and pregnancy are what allows Rebecca to get what she """""deserves and that canon was too cowardly to give us""""" (read: what we as viewers "deserve"); it feels very ironic for motherhood to subsume and soften Rebecca after she spent three seasons of a television show clawing her way out of the Rupert Effect and becoming a self-actualized human capable of many types of love on her own terms.

[anghraine]

stripedroseandsketchpads replied to this post:

1) I’m very sorry to hear about the fandom sexists (god are they everywhere—“nasty woman” much? They sound like Andrew Tate, jfc!)

Thanks! Certain parts of Austen fandom are fairly conservative and very gender-normative and that's definitely come up in response to that particular fic before. First Impressions was my most popular Austen fic on AO3 for years, but other parts of fandom struggled more with the idea of a f!Darcy who does pretty much everything that canon Darcy does being desirable to a man, or appealing to anyone at all.

(In fairness to them, some of those spaces ended up actually having conversations about why Catherine registered as colder and more unpleasant than Darcy even when doing exactly the same things, interrogating their own double standards, etc.)

This isn't the only reason to dislike the fic or Catherine, of course—I made my other post late last night when I was tired and forgot to clarify that! It's from 2010 and definitely has flaws. It's just that there was (and apparently still is) a very glaring divide between the responses from the more progressive and queerer side of fandom and the more conservative and heteronormative side, wrt Catherine in that fic specifically (even though it's a het fic!).

2) Your fic concepts are impeccable, I followed you for genderbend blogging and I really need to spend sone time trawling your AO3

Thanks! I have written a ton of fic over the years, so some are definitely weaker than others, but I have fun with them.

Also, my experience is that most people are very much not here for genderbending, so that's really nice to hear!

Also tbh as a lesbian often writing lesbians… “step on me” any time a woman is the tiniest bit not-nice or does anything perceived as “mannish” (including being the tiniest bit not-nice) doesn’t feel much better…

it feels like ppl think femdom is “taking the most toxic possible iteration of misogyny in D/s dynamics w a male dom & female sub (bc obv male dom/female sub can be perfectly fine!) and flipping it so the man is in the ‘girl role’ and the woman is in the ‘male role’” and. Heavy sigh. A lot of AO3 comments give off the vibes of “She’s totally a bitch but I can say that bc I like it and think it’s hot. Feminism!” RIP.

Hmm. It really depends on context for me. My experience with it has come pretty overwhelmingly from other queer people, primarily queer women—that may reflect my social circle!—and that feels very different to me than an environment overwhelmingly dominated by straight women being like "ew, a woman acting like Darcy is so awful."

Like, sometimes it does definitely give a "me finding anything between slight assertiveness and mass murder in a woman hot is totally praxis" vibe that's annoying. But annoying in a very different way!

I will also say, in fairness to the AO3 First Impressions commentariat, that they did not literally say "step on me, Catherine," lol. I was just quickly characterizing the sort of vibe there—it was more like "I'm gay for Catherine" "you managed a female Darcy without making it feel like she's being punished, awesome" "Miss Darcy is a gem" "one of my favorite versions of Darcy" "I have a crush on Miss Darcy" "fem!Darcy 4ever and ever amen" etc. So the contrast with the "I don't get what Henry sees in her???" "I guess he wants to be dominated because he's weak" "Darcy could never be a woman" etc is just very sharp.

[ncrosha]

if you give josh a smidge of parental approval, attention or affection - just know it's definitely the most he's actually gotten. his parents have always struck me as people who are exceptionally good at pretending to look like involved parents, but truly don't bother to parent or guide him. he was raised in a highly conservative household which fucked him up pretty bad on multiple fronts. i do think they were a little more attentive to his brother's but they found josh frustrating and needy in comparison.

siege on x-41 may not be 616 canon but all these deets align with my headcanons so i'm using them. including josh being so reluctant to go against his friend group that he ended up cutting out real friends because they were 'weird'. this is behavior his parents definitely encouraged.

i feel like josh is one of those kids who always knew he was different, so he hyperfixated on fitting in. wearing the right clothes, liking the right bands, knowing the right references and liking the right movies. josh in early xavier's / just coming into mutandom is someone who 'likes' things that are superficially popular. his personality is malleable and superficial, he absolutely mirrors the strongest people around him (duncan, julian) because he feels the moment he deviates and shows individuality, he'll be rejected and will become that guy who sits alone during lunch. i don't think his parents loved the skater/punk aesthetic he adopted but i think they liked his friends and their politics enough that they let it slide because it was what was 'in'. they're noted multiple times throughout the book to be pretty anti-mutant and highly conservative, which again - fucked him up real good.

josh himself is goofy, a little dorky, and while not academically minded he's got a lot of other smarts. he's surprisingly quick on the uptake and thinks well on his feet. he has a great deal of emotional intelligence (you kind of have to in order to chameleon your way through life), though he has poor emotional regulation. a perfect byproduct of the 'conceal don't feel' parenting approach.

josh is also fairly conflict avoidant when it comes down to it. he cuts himself out of any picture before other people can reject him.

he's at his absolute worse when he does that.

what i'm saying is being raised by frigid WASPy parents really did a fucking number on him and he doesn't love himself at all.

[castlebyersafterdark]

ok so maybe this is offensive stereotype but am i the only one who thinks the other white police officer in hawkins is written as gay? the writers would know this stuff and hint towards it even if it wasnt relevant to the plot. it could be in s5, but i just feel like them having a random gay cop who isnt out but its unspoken open secret is so Stranger Things. Conservative towns like Hawkins are full of contradictions and people who bend truths to fit their ideology. Plenty of townfolk could suspect or know without actually doing anything about it except feeling judgemental and superior behind closed doors. They other cop who works with Hopper is black, + he becomes the chief. People of colour are often featured in respectable, visible and authoritative positions like school staff, white collar workers (Lucas' family) and news reporters. Not to say they are free from prejudice, but I'm sure Hawkins bigots 'allow' these figures while whispers abide beneath the surface. I just like that non-conformists are dotted all over Hawkins and have been all along, and if the police officer is shown to be queer by being targeted in a very minor plot in s5 it could be really interesting as relates to will's story. Like just one moment in a scene during the inevitable witch hunt, or if there are church service scenes, perhaps some sly looks as the congregation files in or out. That kind of thing.

Hmmm, I can't say that I ever personally got gay vibes from that cop, definitely curious if you want to expand as to why? I'm open to hearing you out!! I mean, I don't know if it's a bad stereotype until I know what the stereotype(s) is? He's one of those side characters that's a familiar face, you know, but not one I've paid too much attention to for anything deeper than rounding out the cast. Tell me your vision.

Open secrets seem to definitely fit in the show, that's correct at least. I mean, we get little hints to this a lot in season one. Building up the vibes of the town. There's so much we learn but aren't flat out told about our core cast. Especially about the Byers and we never really get an easy picture - but we know exactly who they are. Lives lived is something I always say and the show does a good job "implying" things off screen. Trusts the audience to infer and understand. Joyce's known mental health issues, Lonnie being viewed different by different people (blue collar/lower class viewing him as a peer vs. the well-off families like the Harringtons calling him a fuck-up, etc.), the implication from various places about Will's sexuality or assumption of it, etc.

So that's interesting a situation to pose about other characters. I read it a while ago and I don't remember all the details (and I know the plots are only semi-canon) but wasn't there a plotline in the Robin novel about her english teacher who's a gay man? And if I recall - there was stuff about his fear of getting found out in Hawkins and I think he ended up leaving town or something? Clearly - from what I know, the authors are given key themes and plot points for the novel and this is pretty big. Because we've gotten hints and implications about how Hawkins really is but nothing has been absolutely blatant yet, re: bigotry regarding homophobia. There's Troy's bullying via Mike, the implication of Hopper maybe viewing Will's disappearance as a potential hate crime, and Lonnie's verbal abuse implied - but Will has yet to be shown facing it directly on screen. Uh-oh. I feel/fear it's coming.

We see the foreshadowing with how the town acts during a satanic panic plot with Hellfire and the murders and everything Jason whips up. We see more foreshadowing with the townspeople flocking to church post-Hawkins split. I think it's going to ramp up and expose the ugliness in town. I'd like to rewatch the show to see if there's any hints at all with this cop - but for some character outside of the main cast, it would be interesting to see what the fear and tension is like in the town during this catastrophe that happened, played out during season 5. Something's gonna happen. Will is a huge focus. We've seen so much of set leaks focused on that church. It's all lining up.

On a tangential note, you mention seeing this for the cop and I don't have an opinion yet, but it's funny that personally? I got gay vibes from Mr. Clark and yet he's been shown with woman on screen. Like, back in the early days as a casual watcher, from season 1 on I thought he was gonna eventually be key in Will's storyline specifically for his sexuality. He's already close with our little nerd sqaud, but I thought the seasons were always gonna revolve around fall and school and he'd play a bigger role. Because it's such a trope that gay kids are shown to have a close relationship with a teacher mentor. Rings true in media and in real life. Show went a different direction in many ways than how I thought haha. I always felt kinda sad that wasn't exactly a thing in the show. Maybe it's too cliche, but it's a cliche I like.

[13eyond13]

still doing the ask meme? mikami and/or takada perhaps? i love those late-game kiras

Yes, of course! Thank you 🧡

MIKAMI + Realistic Headcanon: after his mother passes away he leads such a solitary existence that he often goes days at a time without ever speaking out loud to anybody, except maybe to say "thank you" to a cashier or to answer a question asked of him by the teacher in class

MIKAMI + Not Necessarily Realistic, but Hilarious Headcanon: he is so obsessed with punctuality and routine, and does his exercises so similarly every single day, that there is a ghostly image of him working out burned into the well-worn security tape at his gym

MIKAMI + Heartcrushing Headcanon: he spent more than one lunch period at school as a child standing on a toilet in a stall trying to hide from a violent bully, or pretending to talk into a payphone so it looked like he actually had friends

MIKAMI + Disregarding Canon Headcanon: I don't go by the anime version of things with Mikami in the warehouse, as in I don't think he actually exploded himself with a pen... Though it was definitely funnier for him to do that than to just shoot himself, or whatever else they could've made him do instead

--

KIYOMI + Realistic Headcanon: she initially met Light at a To-Oh freshman house party. She was a little bit drunk, and so he let her hold onto his shoulder for support while she put her shoes on at the door. He complimented her politely on her hairstyle, which was a new short look that she was a little shy about trying, so she got a crush on him due to that pretty much right away. She (incorrectly) assumed that his approval of girls with shorter hairstyles meant that he probably wasn't quite as traditional-minded and conservative and patronizing in his ideas about women as other men, and that gave her the courage to make the first move with him and ask him out on a date

KIYOMI + Not Necessarily Realistic, but Hilarious Headcanon: I think it would be funny if both Light and Kiyomi thought they were being super enviable main characters in that scene where they're sitting together in class, but in actuality everybody else is just pissed off at them for talking so much during the lecture about their good looks and their dates

KIYOMI + Heartcrushing Headcanon: the two people she trusted the most to have her back both simultaneously condemned her to die by burning to death all alone in the back of Mello's truck... just picturing her huddled in her blanket like that, doing exactly what Light told her to do is super sad

KIYOMI + Disregarding Canon Headcanon:

I don't really have anything like this for Kiyomi, I'm pretty sure!

[headcanon ask meme]

[kiawren]

kiawren things that may add some plot to our relationship: (becuz to me we both like each other too much and are so perfect for each other we already know we're in love and get together so early like I Know it's not realistic but really I don't see how it'd drag out becuz I'm not stupid and I'd realise he likes me becuz he's not exactly good at hiding it so it wouldn't even be mutual pining for long lol)

– wren confessed his crush first (very in character of me becuz I get infatuated too easily), and kia/we says sorry he doesn't like them and has responsibilities to focus on, but they stay good friends. And then he falls for wren

– if we continue with the above, kia/we later asks wren if they view him still as a crush or a friend, and wren replies friend but he actually still adores kia/we, but kia/wes like ok he doesnt like me. And doesn't confess (he would've if wren said he still likes him)

– but then again im not that oblivious I feel like I can easily tell if kia/we likes me 😭 so thats fun to think about but it's not how the relationship 'canonly' mainly goes

– trans guy kia/we who wasn't sure that he was gay (didn't even like anyone legitimately till wren), when he transitioned he just took on an assumed transhet identity. and was conflicted when he starts to like wren whos nonbinary transmasc but doesn't really pass so he was worried he doesnt see wren as the boy they identify as!

– if kia/we already knows he likes guys/masculine aligned people, then wren was worried he wasn't enough of a boy for kia/we to reciprocate (actual thing that I thought of alot when I had an infatuation for a cis gay irl)

– over a vacation wren went back to whatever region they came from (idk poke/mon well enough outside of gen 7 my bad💀💀) and both of them were thinking whether it's a crush that'll pass over the month or two. (spoiler it didn't)

– well on the gender and sexuality thing maybe kia/we thought wren as someone who understands him in that aspect very well (since they're both transmasc, just to different extents) so he confused himself over whether it was like a special bond of solidarity and understanding or like. An actual crush (reminder he has not liked anyone so bad before. Or anyone for that matter. I still haven't really decided on that. I feel like he knows what love is cuz his parents are in love but never really had time to think abt it)

– wren isnt from alo/la right. He's there to study on conservation (my irl dream) and kia/we doesnt trust foreigners as seen in the first few eps. So he treats wren in a stern and a bit mean. kinda way. This is kinda important becuz if he didn't, wren would immediately be infatuated with him within like max 5 days. So to drag out the time they take to like each other kia/we has to warm up to wren and wren has to see him as actually not intimidating.

– it'll also be interesting if there were foreign students before and they did not care for alo/la's natural world as their academic intentions made them seem to. So kia/we had bad impressions of ppl coming to alo/la to help the region becuz he doesn't trust that they truly care for it. But wren really does and kia/we needs a bit of time to realise that. So he was initially really mean to wren lol, and unlike the shift in the canon show where kia/we quickly became a silly guy and wasn't mean anymore, here it was more gradual and so wren didnt like him that early on

– they were on the topic of dating before and wren said they didn't really like the idea of dating a schoolmate (once again, me irl, schoolmates suck) but that mostly applied for his school back home, not the smaller and more bonded class he was part of here in alola. And kia/we was like yeah I have lots of commitments too like my family, my training,... So they were both like yeah I don't think I'd date. So they were apprehensive on confessing to each other becuz they thought the other's answer was pretty much definitive. (but it completely changed later on solely becuz they really liked each other..!!)

Some other points of personality conflicts so they're not actually as perfect as I say they are lol

– I posted this before but wren (me irl) is kind of a germaphobe when it comes to their bedroom and some other routines in their life and kia/we is much less hygienic like basic hygiene ofc but he stays on a farm and sweats a lot and he sometimes lays down on his bed in between, or like before he sleeps he trains but he doesnt shower idfk in the games his bed literally smells like sweat. But anyway the point is wren got thrown off by kia/we like idk not washing his hands that much etc etc it's hard to say becuz I freak over 'germs' in specific places and circumstances only... but ajsksjkd I'm literally getting nowhere with this. I'm just saying they have to get used to each other here

– kiawe has 100 discipline responsibility commitment. wren has like 2. If we were to keep it realistic kia/we wouldn't be like head over heels for wren cuz he's really not perfect lol, all this comes to kia/we so naturally and. I kinda want to say he'd be annoyed that wren isn't like that but he also doesn't get annoyed at people's flaws. He understands them and helps them achieve their goals regardless.. but I still think it'd be tiring for him.. so I guess he'd want to help wren as more of a friend and it'd take a while to see them for their other strengths aside from yknow their work ethic that takes up a lot of what you see in someone and infer about them. What I mean is that I'm so non-committal but if someone were to like me. I guess it'd be more of the artistic and intellectual aspect? I hope........

[ask-artsy-oncie]

I think we're going to have to acknowledge something important in all this discourse about what the definition of "found family" is and why terms like "sibling coded" even exist and how they're used in both media analysis and fandom spaces.

And that is the fact that there exist within these communities, a significant amount of people who straight-up do not see adopted relationships as valid. This is especially important to acknowledge when we've been openly talking about how there are supposedly "progressive" youngsters who don't know how to fully let go of their conservative or otherwise "traditional" mindset. This is another aspect of that and it really shouldn't be ignored if we want to have this discourse at all.

I absolutely agree that "found family" should not be a term restricted to nuclear family dynamics and the queering of the idea of what a family is, is both important in real life and in media analysis. But I've also personally witnessed people argue that "we shouldn't treat these characters like siblings! Found family does not mean nuclear!" with two characters who were literally, canonly, adoptive siblings. As in character A's parents legally adopted character B within the canon. I have seen people argue that "adoptive incest isn't incest!" and even someone who invented a wholeass OC to be the secret, long-lost biological sibling to a character because said character's relationship with their adoptive sibling wasn't "real" enough to them. I've seen people argue that, if a character with mixed race parents only resembles one parent, that it's straight-up racist to headcanon that adoption took place. Because somehow it's impossible or wrong for an adoptive relationship to be seen as just as loving and real as a biological one.

Adoption is real, it's a valid form of familial relationship, and it doesn't fucking invalidate the bonds of biology by existing. And while in fandom it's really not anyone's obligation to follow along with canon, trends like this are extremely telling about how people view these types of relationships. I promise you that less people would be up in arms about whether or not you ship adoptive incest (because older folk in fandom pretty much don't care, even if they don't want to engage with it, we're used to fandom just being fucking weird like that) if you actually took measures to properly tag and filter it instead of insisting everyone be okay with it because adoption isn't a valid thing. I promise you that discourse about found family would be easier to roll with, discuss, and agree with, if there weren't a significant amount of fans using it to invalidate adoptive relationships. I promise you people wouldn't be so hardass about the term "sibling coded" if there weren't people insisting that the only way for siblings to be siblings is if they both came from the same parents.

Your discourse is missing a very important element, and in failing to acknowledge it, the entire discussion is becoming extremely muddied and frustrating.

[writterings]

I mean. Cecil is Jewish. so not quite christian. but otherwise yeah lmao he really is written like a gay conservative early on and that is genuinely hilarious, i hadnt seen anyone else talk about that portion of his arc!! luv him

oh no i know he's jewish!! and definitely not christian!!! i just meant his behavioral is allegorical to / a parody of a conservative christian, especially with his beliefs about bloodstones, which are usually used a night vale stand-in for religion. his practicing of praying to them and sacrificing to them, but still not identifying as religious, to me read as a parody specifically of types of christianity -- especially since he has used his "belief"in bloodstones to justify political beliefs (or more specifically has used night vale's pseudo religious state status to explain why new comers shouldn't come to the town).

and i think the gay conservative thing makes sense -- but i read it less as a literal gay conservative but more as he's simply just conservative by night vale's standards. like we know systemic oppression exists in the night vale universe, but night vale as a fictional town seems to be void of discrimination towards actual groups that are oppressed. which plays into the theme of how ANYONE can hold bigoted beliefs -- but they can also change, as every character does throughout the series. their usage of outlandish concepts to address real life issues isn't always perfect and sometimes they have to avoid certain things all together, but a lot of the time the weird allegories/metaphors land pretty well.

all together i think making cecil a canonically gay and jewish person just plays into the parody as well -- because you would think that making him act this way would imply that he would be a conservative straight christian in real life BUT knowing what we do about his intersecting identities, we can almost be assured the opposite which is pretty comforting.

over the years and as the night vale world was developed more, i do believe they stopped using his character as a parody so much -- but it's still evident in the first few episodes and sometimes still slips through in more recent ones in the name of continuity.

anyways, glad you enjoy this aspect of wtnv and that you noticed it too!!! hope my take made sense and that also you don't mind me dumping all this? lol. anyways. good night, anon, good night.

[girlvinland]

i just wanted to say i am completely unnormal about your pardoner oc Samson

stares at please please please please loredump please 🙏!! i love ds so eheh

Hi! I didn't forget about this ask, I've just been super busy and now I finally have a moment to answer it! Thank you so much for asking, I'll put my thoughts under a readmore bc it got long bc I kind of derailed talking about Carim in general LOL.

Since Samson is a bit of a new character, I'm still going to be working on developing him for a while, but I can tell what I do know!

I have a very big penchant for all things Carim- the land and people really fascinate me, and I like thinking about how it changed over the course of the series. I tend to believe that by DS3, the kind of pardoners we knew before aren't very common anymore (although Idk if they'd be completely gone either - we know that worship of Velka kind of seems to have fallen by the wayside, but I think there would still be people out there devoted to her, maybe some of them still even having ties to the church).

My HC is that the Church of Morne eventually became the major religious and political player in Carim once Thorolund kind of got absorbed by Carim (obv more my personal HC than canon but I think it's not so unpopular an idea), and worship of Caitha (who we know is likely to be Velka) is prominent. I think whether or not the people who worship Caitha know or believe in the Velka thing is up for debate and maybe even depends on proximity to the church or personal belief systems.

That being said, my pardoner is definitely doing his thing during the time DS3 would have been going on, because he's in a hidden relationship with another OC I have who is a Morne knight. I imagine they met during (the knight) Percival's training period, and that Morne knights overall are very much expected to keep their lives wrapped up with the Church (since you have to have a certain dedication to the faith to even become a Morne knight at all). I also HC that Carim has pretty traditional societal standards, judging from their views on knight- and maidenhood and chivalry. I don't think they'd be too fond of anything that goes outside of their brand of conservative thinking, so I doubt any sort of homosexual relationship would really fly, especially for people who's lives revolve around the Church. Hence Samson and Perci keeping their relationship secret.

I HC Samson to be really interested in and fascinated by Velka, I haven't quite considered all of what his beliefs about her being Caitha are but that's something I very much want to uncover and work on bc it's something I like to explore with all my Carim OCs (I have a problem). Outside of all that, he's a pretty private, quiet, reflective person. He would rather listen than talk, which makes him very suited to listen to confessions and help absolve people of their sins. I could go into his ideas on sin and his more personal "relationship" with Velka but maybe another time lol. Unfortunately, his story is kind of fucked up and sad, bc Idk, that's just how I like it.

During the time that he and Perci have grown close, Samson has suffered an illness that would eventually be fatal, though he's held it off through the use of healing miracles only for it to come back with a vengeance each time. In the end, before Perci is set to leave Carim with his maiden, Samson confesses this to him because he's been keeping it a secret in order to not worry Perci. He eventually decides he'd rather simply die than have to live that way and especially without Perci, so he does pass away before Perci heads out. Perci is already a sort of cynical person, but this really shatters his spirit. I won't get too much into Perci's own thing, but he and his maiden have a pretty shitty relationship initially and she's quite cruel to him even though they reconcile and part later.

I'm sorry for rambling a lot :x but I really appreciate this ask and getting to talk a bit about some of this stuff! Thank you again!!

[queerofdenial]

have fun (that is if you actually do this 🤨):

molly cobb

ava daniels

kathryn janeway

judith jones

bestie i hope you have a warm pillow tonight bc having to "least favorite" any of these blorbos hurts

questions are:

favorite thing about them

least favorite thing

brOTP

OTP

nOTP

random headcanon

unpopular opinion

song i associate with them

"here’s to selfish pricks, ‘cause we move the ball forward for mankind."

she's wholly uncompromising about who she is and what shes capable of, but still takes criticism and grows as a person! her confidence and ego are 100% earned and never feel like a Strong Woman Schtick

she had to keep walkin' straight into the destroying thing, didn't she. god damn hero.

i want an entire season of molly and patty mercury 13 backstory

molly x margo would have the best gay enemy sex and i would be so amused (but not as much as molly would) by stoned!margo

honestly don't think there are enough bad ships on famk, i adore wayne

she definitely spent months actively hitting on margo when she started ascan training just to annoy her. she and patty probably placed a bet on it.

she should've been stricter with the guys, and margo was right to fire her

hypnotized by fleetwood mac (second song on my molly x margo playlist)

"...you don't know where a woman gets fingered?"

i love that she's a wreck. i love that she overshares as a way to push people away because in reality she's lonely as hell and scared of true connection. i love that she uses generational stereotypes as jokes for the bit (and to rib at deb) when in reality she could really not give a damn. i love that she does drugs. i love that none of those things change the fact that she's talented and hardworking and fucking thriving. i love that she and i have the same relationship with growing up a gay loser with conservative parents in a new england suburb. i love that she's hot and spreads chocolate on her tiddies when she forgets shes wearing pants.

i hate that shes not real. jk, my least favorite thing is that she cannot for the life of her keep it in the drafts.

carl and hannah get along so well that every time ava and marcus interact i just knoooooow they want to genuinely admit to liking each other. i want more.

avadeb has in fact had my heart from day 1 and that will never change (its not gonna be canon you stupid sluts...ruby's cool too)

ava x not being woken up for breakfast

she's actually allergic to dogs and sucks it up for barry and cara only

unpopular opinion is that i am looking forward to seeing her absolutely thrive in season 3

kitchen light by xana

"There are three things to remember about being a starship captain: keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship… and never abandon a member of your crew."

everything about janeway is my favorite thing about janeway, but especially what i said to you the other day about her being a woman and a captain but never feeling like a caricature of either or the other. her leadership feels different than the other pre-disco captains, but it's never tokenism.

she's got a questionable taste in men. also generally too nice to aliens that usually want to kill her.

if they were stuck in the delta quadrant any longer, tom paris would've named his second kid after her (maybe he already did? who knows what went on on that planet)

j7! i'm always a sucker for a former drone x person who gave the drone their name (a shortened version of their designation). also this (x)

sorry mutuals but ch*kotay takes the cake on this one by a mile

she thinks about that puppy q almost gave her pretty often on voyager, and has programmed a dog into every holodeck program she runs. when they get back to earth she adopts one of the puppies her old dog had from her ex. she names it neelix.

she made the right call with tuvix

all the things you are frances faye

"i'll be your eyes." "what?" "i'll. be. your. eyes."

above anything else, she does the work and supports the people she thinks are worthy, she thinks have something important to say, regardless of prestige. she's cute as a button and loyal to a fault and is exactly the right amount of talented and full of grace and humility for what she does.

she maaaaaay need to start learning what professional boundaries are (mainly irt how much of peoples' personal issues she can carry on her lonesome)

i could watch an entire season of judith and paul attempting to bake bread using the scientific method

blanchejudith my beloved. my milfiest ship. my repression central. my women who desperately need a weekend in vermont.

if julia/judith was a thing ig i do not want to see

i have lots of headcanons ab the cabin in vermont and how she uses that space to better both her editing and her writers' work

i don't think there are enough people in this fandom for anything to be controversial? she is an absolute gem

slip away clarence carter

[dgalerab]

Same long winded anon - Oh damn sorry if I came across like I was seeking validation for the way I see and interact with BNHA fandom/the series in general, that wasn't my intention. I just really enjoy the way you interpret the characters and how you tend to depict them really closely to canon and wanted to open up a dialogue because I find your takes insightful!

I also tend to be pretty fed up with most of the common portrayals of the characters so I completely understand you yelling into the void about it.

You bring up such an interesting point about how these surface level characterizations that we find annoying being really good for people just entering the fandom. Hell, I've even seen fics were people write in the notes that they've never seen the anime or read the manga and their knowledge is entirely from reading fics about it. It's really cool how these base understandings of character makes them so accessible to literally anyone and promotes community in ways that wasn't originally possible just amongst people who enjoyed the original source material.

But that being said YEAH most of these headcanons and characterizations bastardize the original character pretty badly so if you enjoy the character in their canon state or don't vibe with a popular headcanon you are screwed. When people go into talking about these sorts of headcanons like they are the default state of the characters and like anyone who doesn't accept those takes are going against canon it can be really frustrating. I think that probably comes from the same place of the community of fandom tbh. Like when everyone sees a character one way, you feel alienated and it can be hard to find people to enjoy the fandom with when most people don't interpret it at all similarly to how you do.

Also the connection you made between these entry-level headcanons and traditional conservative expression of family dynamics, gender and sex is interesting to me. I feel like a lot of English speaking spaces are dominated by Americans, so it makes sense that these sorts of views that are fed to Americans from birth as the default state of humans (and not... you know... deeply interwoven with religious background lmaooo) are what the fandom at large are desiring to see in the characters. It makes me wonder if Japanese fan spaces have a large amount of Dadzawa or not. Horikoshi himself has clearly pushed the narrative of Aizawa being protective and genuinely caring for his charges as the series has gone on, but if you compare the translations in the subs to the dub, the English voice actor uses more parental/possessive language when Aizawa refers to 1-A (two good examples are if you compare the dialogue between the sub and dub during the scene where Endeavour asks Aizawa to be his sidekick and the scenes preluding when he self amputated his leg where he is being protected by Midoriya and Bakugou).

I'll stop rambling now thank you for indulging me haha. It's always nice to talk about BNHA with someone else in their 30s. I feel like part of this very problem we are talking about is because of how young a lot of the fandom is oop.

oh absolutely no worries you didn't come off as confrontational i just like... sometimes i'll be like "i HATE this hc i'm hitting it like a piñata this STUPID thing" and someone will be like oh interesting i like that trope bc of such and such. and i'm there with my bat covered in piñata pieces like oooooo yeah no i. this was a bit much.

oh definitely i think a lot of fandom characterizations are very american and yes also very young. and like. listen if i'm a teenager watching the shows for teenagers i think i would also be like oh yeah. an adult. and sort of project various adult roles i've experienced onto them without really analyzing the ages. so. i understand ultimately some of it is (not that) old man yells at cloud.

but it's also a common thing in fandom to have characters be flattened down and yeah, i think there's an alienation where you're like YES i want talk about the characters but not the easily shareable versions of them. WHO is gonna wade into the mud with me. i'm TRYING to be deranged here.