#i think the fandom this ship has is so wonderful

[flutterbyoz]

It always surprises me, or maybe it doesn't given what the general TWD fandom can be like, that people are using the fact that The Ones Who Live is a love story as a reason to criticise the show.

The fact it is a love story was never hidden, it was never a secret or kept as a surprise, it's what the show was repeatedly promoted and advertised as. Andy, Danai and Scott never misled anyone into thinking it was going to be anything else, they were quite clear and pointed out that TOWL would be a love story every chance they got. So if someone saw any of the promo, interviews etc whether online or on TV and were going into this show expecting something else then I don't really know what to say other than they probably should have paid more attention.

The show was not aimed at or made for people who hate Richonne. I get that not everyone is a Richonne fan, to each their own for the most part, but when you watch their spin off, what else are you expecting other than a love story? Especially with Andy and Danai at the helm, it seems some people really don't understand the characters at all.

I know some people tuned in just to see what happened to Rick and that's great, the show isn't solely for Richonners but if the love story with his wife and love of his life annoys you so much that you can't continue watching your fave in their spin off and the feel the need to announce that you quit half way through then not only do I have to wonder why you hate their relationship so much but also say that you're purposefully ignoring a huge part of who Rick is and why he does what he does. I don't think you can fully understand and know Rick without his relationship with Michonne and how his love for her and hers for him shapes him into the man he is today. Without Michonne, Rick is a shell of himself, she is his entire world, she and their kids are his reason for everything so you're not going to get a Rick story without Michonne, because without Michonne there isn't really a Rick.

Had this been Rick and Daryl instead of Rick and Michonne, had they been the ones with the emotional scenes I can pretty much guarantee a large majority of the people who complained about Rick and Michonne would have no problem with Rick and Daryl. It's what a lot of them have been calling for since Rick was taken not to mention the people who are bitter that Richonne gets everything they have wanted for their ship for years.

Attacking a show because it is what it was promoted as and did exactly what it set out to do is more than a little bizarre to me but I suppose it's just another way to criticise and disregard Rick and Michonne's relationship and diminish Michonne's importance.

I know, if we see Richonne again, it's going to be another love story and those who complained before will most likely complain again but only one spin off has been the most successful, a hit for the franchise and for AMC, included on numerous best of lists, gained Emmy buzz, received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and fans alike, has multiple Saturn award nominations and given this franchise a new lease of life. I find it strange to watch a show knowing full well you're only doing so to find something to complain about and though those viewers are just a small percentage of TOWLs overall viewers they did the exact opposite of what they wanted to do. Instead of bringing the show down they're just raising it up even higher!

Nothing will stop this ship, everyone wants a piece of them, they draw everyone in even those who say they don't care or even like them together and that's the power or Richonne!

[howlsofbloodhounds]

I have a couple of questions, the main two being: 1: what ships do you dislike/hate? and why? 2: are there any ships you enjoy/like? and why? I am an anti-shipper myself, so hearing other ppls opinions on ships is interesting to me.

Only ships I really hate are like, incest, pedo or zoophilia, and Killermare and Bad Sans Poly.

I hate Killermare because it is trafficker/kidnapper/abuser x victim/captive and that is just..baked so completely in their narratives I find it ridiculous to ignore it.

I hate the narrative that Nightmare ever genuinely saved Killer, he didn’t—Color was the one putting in hard work and tears trying to protect, understand, befriend, and earn Killer’s trust. He was the one being threatened with death and stabbed and attacked for trying to help like he was asked to— by Killer himself—to help. He’s the one constantly risking his life and safety and well being for Killer’s freedom.

I hate how certain shippers treat this ship, how they treat Killer, and how they definitely treat Color—like Color’s somehow the bad guy because they want to pretend that Nightmare is somehow good for Killer’s safety or that Killer would ever be happy with him. Or as if Color only has selfish intentions and motives for Killer. Even more so when they pretend it’s one sided and Killer doesn’t grow to feel the same eventually—even when they’re extremely rough and certainly not friends in the beginning.

As if Killer wasn’t the one asking Color to save him. As if Killer didn’t say he kinda likes Color, and Nightmare had to tell him to literally shut up—as if Color isn’t the only one besides Toriel Killer has admitted to liking before, compared to when he said he doesn’t like anyone when asked. As if Color wasn’t the only one Stage 1 Killer ever felt comfortable asking, pleading with, for help—trusting him enough to admit he wants to be saved.

As for ships i enjoy, there’s Colorkiller obviously—but I also enjoy them as a friendship, or queer platonic, or them in general. Lifeafterdeath most definitely. Reapertale Chara x Core!Frisk (I don’t know. if they have a ship name) is wonderful.

Epic Sanses poly, Delta x Color, Epic x Color, Ccino x Color, just other Color ships in general i like. Chromatic Crew poly could be interesting.

But honestly what I really want is more of Killer in platonic relationships.

Color is special to him and this is just an undeniable fact, and Killer doesn’t strike me as the type to be very interested in friendship outside of what he managed to build with Color—but i think he should have more social connections, even if they aren’t what he has with Color because he does not trust most people at all.

I’d love to see more of Ink and Killer. Not really as a ship, but as pals—I feel they’d understand each other. Ccino and Killer and Lust and Killer and Color too. I’d like to see Ink and Color content as well, and Color and Dream.

I feel I’d be interested in seeing more Killer and Horror content, but there’s barely any outside of Bad Sans Poly or MTT Poly—and even in those ships there’s hardly anything.

I’ve found myself turned away from most Killer and Murder dynamics because, similar to Kross and killermare, these two always have to have some sort of “sexual tension” or something and it’s actually just beating eachother half to death or being lovey dovey and so in love. (Or when Killer is portrayed as a desperate whore for dust’s attention and begging him to love him or something.)

I think I’d find them more interesting in fandom depictions if 1. It wasn’t always just about how “hot” they are together and how “hot” is it that they hate eachother or whatever, and 2. people focused more on how they’re different rather than how they’re similar.

[searchingforserendipity25]

very like, very like.

for @janeuary-month. day 4 - portraiture. Fandom: Persuasion. Anne Elliot/Frederick Wentworth, Established Relationship.

Also on AO3.

They sit for the portrait in Cádiz, in a cramped artist's studio with a view to the marina.

High masts prickling a low sky, the business of a short-lived peacetime climbing inside the windows along with a few tendrils of fragrant honeysuckle, not enough to cover the smells of turpentine or bitter almond liqueur ingrained into the walls.

A good use for the profits of Frederick's most recent prize, and a peculiar hankering of his. A whim of the day, at the end of a long conversation when they took shelter from the high sun beside the church.

"I have spent years avoiding thinking of you, and wondering how much I had forgotten of your countenance," he said. "How much you may have changed."

"I grew sallower, I think," Anne noted."Thinner, and with less roses upon my cheeks, though I was not so freckled as I am now. No, one of us only grew handsomer in separation."

Her husband kissed the back of her hand over her glove, pressed the warmth of it against his breast.

Years after their marriage, the old injuries they had dealt each other had much eroded in sharpness, a reminder that ached and prickled and did not mark the shape of their days.

Not easily laughed at; though Frederick could make her smile, not happily, by mentioning some of the foolish things he had done in trying to hold her in his heart only with dismay - walking out of recitals when a song she had liked was played on the piano, pretend to loathe Figaro when speaking to a disciple of one of Mozart's disciple, lie unwisely to his sister to little and unprofitable results.

"Your eyes were lovelier," Frederick said. His fingers, light and careful, wrapped around a stray curl of the windswept hair beneath her bonnet. "And they are lovelier yet today. As they may grow moreso in time, I would like to have a keepsake for memory, for when the mind falters."

The composition did not permit much irreverence; it was to be a small painting, larger than a miniature but not overly large, just the right size for a Captain's cabin.

Still, the artist was young and forceful, used to a clientele of officers and officer's wives and sweethearts. He flirted politely with Mrs. Wentworth, was politely indifferent to the Captain's opinions on background colors, made himself amusing with presenting a number of nautical implements laid out for choice.

"I have not seen so many broken astrolabes all together since my midshipman days," Frederick commented, turned a small model of a ship inside a bottle between his palms. "Many officer's children brought to pose, then?"

Indeed. Indeed, of course; and midshipmen, too. Anne took the small bottle, rubbed some old jammy thumbprints with the edge of her kerchief. For a moment her thoughts turned to her nephews, as they sometimes did, not often. It was good to live in peacetime, better to live in peacetime with no child of her family in the lists of the Navy.

You must sent us a copy. The sketches at the very least, so we might have them engraved, Sophy wrote to her brother and sister-in-law.

It is past time. In truth I had expected Frederick to beg you to sit for a miniature when you were wed; though there was little time then, and being lucky enough to sail together, I suppose he prefers the living model. But it is good to have these things; I for one brag quite badly of you to my acquaintances, so make certain to send a decent likeness, and a handsome one at that. The better, if you can have Frederick to do as Nelson did and trim his sideburns for it. He has not the cheeks to do them justice, as he indeed he ought to have learned already, if means to do justice to Anne's countenance.

Frederick did trim his sideburns for it. He did however sent his sister the first sketch only, before visiting his barber. Anne touched the neat line of his jaw afterwards, pressed her cheek to his to test them pleasing rasp of skin against skin.

They stood side-by-side, Captain and Mrs. Wentworth, for the initial sketching and then three or four further sessions, in between social engagements and official meetings.

It was something of a bother, but no true irritation, made better for the mirror against the studio wall, from which they could gauge their stance, and spy the other.

Few things in marriage are better conductive to love than a happy secret in company. The Wentworths had learned that even in their first betrothal, had long mastered the art of speaking from the side of their mouths in company, and having conversations in glances alone, which many a happy couple does possess, and few own to.

In the end Anne held a spyglass against her breast, while her husband rested a hand upon his sword, and another against the curve of her arm. Near enough the starch in his collar filled her nose. A few times he did touch her loose curls, to tease or adore; then the artist turned his back to fetch some paint or linseed oil, and pretended at polite deafness. Sailors, port side artists know, were very like each other, no more so than when in love.

 Not more than three months they stayed in Cádiz, and a pleasant time it was, more so by the knowledge of its brevity. In this fashion they passed some afternoons, and referred friends in their circles to the care of the artist. As for the painting, it referred itself.

A fine painting from a fairly mediocre hand, with some fine Mediterranean light to it; all that saw it agreed something to that effect. His epaulets glittered, her mantilla was well-made, and the lace passably managed in oil.

A handsome man; and the lady's eyes were striking. One could tell, not by the varnish or the trick of light in a delicate paint stroke, but the angle of her husband's chin, tilted to glance sideways at her profile. 

[khaleesiofalicante]

Literally all it takes to make an author smile ^^^

I often see people saying things like “I’m sorry I don’t know what to comment”…you can simply say thanks for posting. Because this commenter is right. When you visit a fic much later and you see no comments, it’s often difficult to remember if people enjoyed or not.

It’s incredibly demotivating. It makes you wonder why you’re writing - and who you’re writing for.

I’ve received more asks about “when will you post next YBMF” than actual comments for the YBMF chapters I post. I find this kind of behavior very selfish. If you can send an ask asking when I will post, perhaps you can also take the time express gratitude?

I don’t think many readers understand how much writers depend on their audience to fuel them - especially for fanfiction where you write solely because you enjoy writing and you write for your community/fandom because you all love a story or a ship very much.

I don’t know why I’m ranting so early in the morning lol but writing has been feeling more like work lately where it’s “give give give” with very little appreciation and acknowledgement, and it’s made me want to write less. Like if I can sit and write for 5 hours to give someone a chapter, I can’t help but wonder why do people not take one minute (or less) to comment.

PS - this is not necessarily about me. I see this a lot in the fandom where creators aren’t appreciated enough and I don’t think you people understand just how much effort we put into our work and some of you really take us for granted.

Anyway, I hope this person who commented has a wonderful day.

[thestrangerthingsgirl]

okay look, at this point, i do not care about what you guys ship, I do not care if you ship mileven or if you ship byler, ya'll need to be patient and relax, don't go hating on others just because you don't like the same ship as each other, iti's always "byler this mileven that" and like calling the ship names different names just to make the ship look bad, it's 2025, ya'll are still fighting over ships and the show is ending any moment of this year, do you guys really want to just keep on fighting even AFTER the show ends? the show will end with the ship that will end up endgame after a while and we'll have to deal with the consequences with what ship ends up endgame, if i'm being honest, I like the show, I love it obviously but not just for the ships and the love, but just mainly for the plot, for it's story, i'm sorry if your tired of me bickering about the hatred that goes around with the stranger things fandom in here (obviously other sites like instagram, tiktok, x etc has different opinions on ships i just feel like tumblr is mainly more about the hatred around the ships) but i'm just going to be completely honest, I don't think we should worry too much about whatever ship happens, we should just worry about what characters the duffers are deciding to kill off in the end, like there's a lot to worry more about what ship will end up endgame, I know there's a lot of proof on both sides but it's not like the duffers want to use fan service for the last season.

and if you are wondering what side i am on, i'm on neither, I like both ships but I don't hardcore ship mileven or hardcore ship byler, I find them both nice ships but I don't go hating on others for liking mileven or liking byler, I just feel like we all need to relax and be patient instead of just assuming that all mileven or byler fans are mean and cruel, like of course not all of you guys are cruel and I see you, I see you looking at my posts and I understand that you aren't here for the drama and the hatred, and I want to see more of that, I would like to see more honest respect about opinions, I don't want to see anyone hating on each other just because they have a different preference or a different opinion, it's not the end of the world if you ship doesn't end up endgame and you are not delusional for enjoying mileven or byler.

I don't want to say anything about my opinion on the ships, I obviously don't care what happens other than the characters happiness, like I would rather see them happy with each other than one of the characters being disgusted or angry about them liking the other character (for example: el upset about will falling in love with mike because that's her bf or something) i obviously think that el wouldn't really care much or understand, just being honest but after the whole massacre she really did lose her memory so she basically has to understand everything that she learns about like learning about sexuality. I mean I don't really understand why people would think that El would hate Will for liking Mike? like it's valid that he likes mike and El likes Mike too but it shouldn't be something to like reconsider, let's just trust the duffers, like we're not the writers of the story, and the actors don't write the script they act out the script but other than that, I think we all need to relax which I know that doesn't help to say so but I feel like people just need to stop attacking each other for people's opinions, even the actors had said stuff about their opinions on the ships whether or not they want to talk about it especially since they don't want to deal with getting in trouble for spoiling something, like yes i have heard about noah saying that will has a crush on mike, like that's obviously something we know about, and millie, she doesn't need to talk about mileven if she wants to avoid questions about that, or finn also, like i feel like when it comes to the actors, whenever they do panels and such in cons I feel like the most majority of questions that people ask is about the ships and what their opinions are on it but maybe we should ask them about what they think themselves about the ship war or maybe ask about their character arcs and such, and there's also the fact that sometimes maybe the ships won't exactly end up what we want as sometimes the actors will say "don't be upset if byler doesn't happen" as that's something noah has said in a live stream before but he could be wrong he could be right but he can't get im trouble for spoiling especially since NDAs are very strict.

Okay i see that the name is something so it doesn't show up on the tags of the opposite ship, I don't be calling byler something else that seems rude okay, I'm putting this into the tag of both ships for a understandment of both ships, obviously this post isn't here to hate on each others ships or anything, I'm not here to hate on y'all for liking mileven or byler don't get me wrong but don't go saying assumptions that I'm hating on one of the ships when I'm not hating on any ships whatsoever, i'm just talking about how ship wars are stupid and unnecessarily.

If you don't agree with me on this that's okay, just scroll ahead, I just don't want to cause any trouble but I wanted to say like my opinion around the ship war.

Another note, don't go assuming that i hate a specific character, I do not hate el, will or mike, i just hate the ship wars involving the 3 of them. I do not technically have any predictions about the 3 of the characters but i do hope they are all happy with whatever decision they are in.

One last thing, I do not hate mileven nor byler, I just hate the ongoing fight about whatever ship should end up endgame, You are entitled to what you ship and I respect that, I am just here to state how I do not enjoy the ship war that always tends to be a problem in the fandom.

[elainsgirl]

the petty side of me laughs at how poorly all these gwynriel comms and posts are going to age. they repeatedly talk about gwyn and azriel being mates as if it’s canon, despite zero definitive proof and more proof to the contrary, and it’s hard not to feel secondhand embarrassment for them.

at least most elriels will preface their art and posts with “this is what i think will happen because of XYZ” or “this is my favorite theory” or even outright say it’s a crack theory; meanwhile gwynriels are out here with their whole chest saying “they are MATES and i can’t wait for them to find out that they’re MATES and nothing is more important than the fact that they are FOR SURE MATES and this is CANON because SPARK”

they are setting themselves up for failure at this point and it is going to make looking back at their old comms and posts physically painful tbh.

i guess it doesn’t help they don’t have any actual canon to go off of, whereas we do and can create from that. it would make me feel bad for them if they weren’t so toxic and rude about it

anyways, thanks for listening to my rant, happy elriel announcement year!!

Hey anon 🫶

Honestly, I think they’re just going to go on a huge mass delete and erase everything they’ve said about elucien/gwynriel. It depends on how serious they take the shipwars - I know some act as though it’ll affect their actual life whilst others do not care. Idk about comms, there’s beautiful art of both elucien/gwynriel however their theories/opinion posts? Yh. Does will not age well and give second hand embarrassment. I can imagine them rereading all posts wondering where they went wrong lmfao.

The obsession w mates its so…weird? Can’t just be me who feels this way. At this point - its not even about love or true soulmates. It’s a hostage situation especially in Elucien’s case.

I think the funniest thing about antis claiming gwynriels are mates - is that simple logic, Sjms patterns and literally acosf disprove this so easily. Yet they hold onto that spark and over exaggerate it to be something it isn’t. Which in the end will backfire when it’s proven sparks �� mates in every case.

Yeah see, when you’re working with 0 canon or very little of it - you don’t have an outline to work with. Anything goes which is why 1) you have so many different versions of elucien/gwynriel and how their stories will go 2) thats now how canon ships work. Authors who hint at a couple a book or two prior to them being canon will always leave an outline (don’t know the technical author word for it) so you know how this couple will turn out to be.

Like - elriel is the same dynamic and have the same theories or direction of the story no matter who the elriel stan is or which platform they’re on and that’s because elriel has an outline within the book. You know how they’ll turn out to be - Elriel is just consistent whereas with the other two - you have different versions of the ships heading into different directions.

At this point, Im just waiting for the announcement and the fandoms reaction after bcs I know the announcement wont end the shipwar but instead antis will change their tune and I want to see how far they’ll go to basically backtrack what they’ve believed and said for years.

Anytime anon 💕

Happy Elriel announcement year ✨🤞

[sejjiplinth]

sejanus/marcus tag having nearly 90 works is so insane and beautiful to me like y’all i was translating a fic paragraph by paragraph via google on a site that kept adding viruses to my calendar app in 2020 because it was the only sejarcus fic that existed at the time 😭😭😭 I’VE PRAYED FOR DAYS LIKE THIS

[rist-ix]

https://www.tumblr.com/rist-ix/749015401700229120 not you reblogging this when you ship bloom with the man who murdered her family 😭

Bloom's into ppl who slay! Hope this helps :3

[utilitycaster]

Sort of a distant tangent off my post about Ashton, but I'm growing more and more suspicious of the fandom claim that there's no time for small RP moments in Campaign 3. I do think that it's been challenging to get deeper party bonding or serious conversations that aren't about the big philosophical questions they're facing, since those do take much more time; but then I think about Calamity, or Candela Obscura. I can genuinely give you at least a couple paragraphs about pretty much every relationship in the two Circles, or in the Ring of Brass. I can also point to no shortage of small moments between characters in the Mighty Nein Aeor or Vox Machina Vecna endgame episodes, which were all extremely plot-heavy and fast-paced, and D20 consistently nails character relationships in a fraction of the time.

I think it really does come down to, as Brennan Lee Mulligan always says, the character creation phase. Laying down a solid groundwork in which everyone has a detailed, rich backstory and sense of personality and relationship history (in the case of characters who knew each other prior to the start of the series) is absolutely crucial, and even in the case of characters who don't know each other before going in, a good amount of time spent in character creation ensures that it's easier for them to develop those interpersonal relationships on the fly. I know in actual play there's some degree of finding the character as you play, but there are games for which there is a very short runway, and I don't think it ever hurts to do more extensive character prep than the bare minimum. And if there are gaps, I think it also helps to go back and fill those in mid-way, away from the table - Travis clarifying Chetney's backstory being a great example that allowed the history of Chetney and Deanna to feel realized and full, despite only a few episodes.

I'll also be blunt: most of the time when people complain that there aren't moments because the plot keeps moving...they're mad about shipping. Which has always rung hollow to me. It was a common complaint in C2, that no time was taken for character relationships, despite them taking an entire half of an episode for the Beauyasha date and despite no shortage of moments for all three of the other couples (and plenty of platonic moments between friends). The issue was never a lack of time; it was that the characters they wanted to talk to each other didn't actually have the relationship in canon that the fans had dreamed up, and so, when the chips were down, they went to other people.

It takes two seconds to say something like "I hold their hand", even in the middle of plot-heavy adventuring. If someone doesn't say it, it's rarely the GM rushing them; it's the player either choosing not to do so, or not remembering to do so, and either of those is quite revealing regarding how the player feels about that relationship and where it stands in their priorities.

[phantajam]

my hot take about descendants is that NONE of the core four were ready for a relationship until maybe like, the third movie (rant in tags)

[chocolate-cream-soldier]

-.-

[novelconcepts]

i don't make resolutions, but if i did

it would be to finish this fic

(and to be kind to myself for however long it takes to actually do so)

[chaosthatsmellsgreen]

so here's the thing.

Swan Song is the perfect ending.

it's not a happy ending, it's not necessarily the ending i'd want for either Sam or Dean, but that's not what a good ending to a story is. not all stories have a happy ending. and Supernatural? it's a tragic story. it's a story of perservering in the face of insurmountable evil. it's a story about holding on for dear life, as long as you can. it's a story about making the right choice, even if it seems impossible - even it if doesn't make you happy.

i wouldn't want Sam to be locked up with Lucifer for the rest of eternity. i wouldn't want Dean to fail the one goal he'd had in life, to protect his little brother. but by looking at the narrative of the whole five seasons, it's the ending that makes sense, and while bittersweet, it completes both of their stories perfectly.

Sam had been infected by evil before he was even born. he'd made unforgivable mistakes, he'd been struggling to stay on the path of good his whole life. in the end, the one thing he had to do was to be able to do the right thing. as heart-breaking as that is, the right thing, for Sam, is to sacrifice himself to save the world. the tragedy of it, that all he wanted was an out of this life he'd grown up in, to be normal, to be safe. to get away from the monsters and the darkness inside him. throughout the five seasons, he'd been struggling to make the right choices, he's been trying to deny who and what he is. in season four, he makes the ultimate mistake - and season five, from start to finish is his redemption arc. he knows what he's done, and he genuinely doesn't try to excuse it. even in the last second, he considers himself less than the people he looks up to, less than Dean and Bobby, but he knows what the next right thing is. the only thing left to do. and in the end, he doesn't get to enjoy the normal life he'd wanted in the world he saved, because that's just not his story. what he does get to do is to do right by the world - and more importantly, right by his brother.

Dean on the other hand, had always been fast to sacrifice himself. he was happy with his life as a hunter - keep in mind, even though he starts questioning that through the seasons (same as Sam is questioning whether he could ever be normal), that's where Dean comes from, originally. he's a hunter, it's his job to save people, it's his job to take care of his family, his little brother. that's what he is, that's all he is. and you can see how much of a toll it takes on him. he gives up his life so that Sam can live, but he resents the universe for it. he resents Sam for making the wrong choices, but it's because he feels like it's his responsibility to fix them - but Sam has grown up. he has his own mind and Dean needs to understand, as he does in the very end, that he needs to let Sam be who he is. that this obsession with cleaning up his messes is ruining him, it's pushing him to do things he never would've done for anyone else. and in my opinion, he does the right thing, too. he lets Sam make his own call. he's there, he goes with him to see Lucifer, he goes to where the battle is going to go down, even if there is nothing he can do, just so he's there for Sam ("Well then I ain't gonna let him die alone."). he's not there to change anything. he's there to support his brother. and the thing is, Dean never even dared to want the apple pie life. he was a good little soldier for his dad, he looked after his little brother, he saved people and killed monsters - between all that, anything he might've wanted for himself was just... buried by all the noise.

but Sam knows what it's like to want that. and he wants it for Dean. Dean never let Sam do anything for him, because it wasn't Sam's job to look after Dean. and Sam, whose last act was going to be self-sacrifice, who knew he wasn't going to make it out, he made the last thing he'd ever do be, for once, to look after his big brother. to prevent him from going down a path that would lead to loneliness and madness and the end of the world, again

and after five seasons, after giving up on Sam, on family, on life, on happiness, on the world, Dean finally gives in and lets him. he chooses to honor Sam's wishes, and do the one thing his brother always wanted, the one thing he could never have, the one thing Dean has always been too selfless to even want for himself; he goes and lives a normal life.

i know the series goes on. despite not watching to the end, i know Dean ends up dying and Sam ends up living to an old age. i know they go back to not trusting each other, to recycling their five season long character arcs over and over until narrative cohesion is gone completely. i know there are traces of the Sam and Dean of what i consider to be peak Supernatural in the later series (S8 Sam is very on theme for his character, which is why it's my favourite season from late-Supernatural). but the thing is, Swan Song is the perfect ending. it ends a complete arc, it closes a cohesive story with complex characters, a strong thematic core about love and family and free will, and an - albeit tragic - ending.

there are a lot of posts and conversation around how rare it is to have shows and movie series with a planned story, a story that ends not when it is no longer profitable but when it's supposed to. and Supernatural was clearly supposed to end here. this is my example every time i have a conversation about shows that you shouldn't watch every season of. and like i said, there is a lot of good stuff after this. there is a lot to explore in the world of Supernatural. i personally enjoyed a lot of later episodes, loved season eight and absolutely. fucking. ADORED Fan Fiction (10x05). but i look at all of that as spin off. an alternative way for things to go after the real ending. i often have a loose relationship with canon, and such is the case here. i have my own headcanon about how i'd like to imagine things go after season 5, but that's irrelevant.

Swan Song is a wonderful episode. it rounds out the story, brings it to a bittersweet but complete point. our heroes have made their choices, and Chuck's ending narration says it all.

"So, what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test... for Sam and Dean. And I think they did all right. Up against good, evil, angels, devils, destiny, and God himself, they made their own choice. They chose family. And, well... isn't that kinda the whole point?"

THE END

[its-stupidhours]

YOOOOO WE GOT COMMON TAGS YALL LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO

[thefandomcassandra]

they're Orpheus and Eurydice, they're unhealthy and imbalanced, the very heavens keep them apart, they do not love equally, they have both become parents, they have a century between them, death cannot keep them in his grip, they lie and cheat and steal to pave their way

[quietwingsinthesky]

I know you reblogged the post about people being like "fictional cannibalism is deep and intellectual and fictional incest is disgusting and morally wrong" some time ago, but I just wanted to add that it’s absolutely insane how people are calling every piece of media that isn’t wholesome and unproblematic nowadays a direct reflection of the creator’s secret deviant fantasies à la "check their hard drive". Like where does the line between getting called a genius and a master satirist and being labeled a disgusting pervert lie? Whenever I see someone make absolutely nonsensical comments like those all I can think of is Vladimir Nabokov getting canceled and chased off the internet in 2023 after writing Lolita lmao. Seriously tho. Especially in the spn fandom, how can people make posts about loving the fucked up family dynamics and the body horror and the psychological terror and the abuse parallels etc and then fall over themselves to put wincesties DNI DNI DNIII all over their entire blogs lol

My take on it is basically that the line people draw between what’s “morally” acceptable to write about or not is really just what they enjoy. That’s why this stuff usually comes down to shipping nonsense, it’s just fandom flame wars in a different trenchcoat. It’s also why you’ll get dissonant opinions like ‘incest is bad and we can’t write about it’ and ‘gore and murder is just fine to write about.’ If someone enjoys writing about their thing, however dark, and can understand why they enjoy writing about it, of course they’ll give it a pass, but other people’s dark things? that they don’t like, don’t understand? Must be evil. Must be disgusting.

(Plus, obviously, there’s probably something to be said about how in ‘incest vs cannibalism’, one of these is going to be assumed to only be about Sex and Perversion, while the other is obfuscated around sex, sometimes a display of desire but easy to deny that at the same time. Which is not to say that writing about incest is even always about sex, only that it will be perceived as such, no matter what you’re actually trying to discuss in your work.)

All that to say that of course it’s ridiculous to assume that someone’s writing or hell, even their internet persona, is reflective of their desires. I’m ace as fuck and get nervous if I don’t have explicit permission to hug someone, and I also have and will write noncon fic. There’s no secret there, nothing hidden that’s gonna lead to me hurting someone. I just enjoy writing impossibly huge power imbalances. I like squeezing characters like stress balls.

The “Wincesties DNI” thing still bothers me to this day. Maybe because I’m not sure where I even fall on that line. I follow wincest blogs, like their posts, I’ve written I think 2 or 3 wincest fics? But I rarely participate in it or reblog stuff here. Am I a wincestie? Am I tainted by association in such a way that I might as well be? Does “Wincesties DNI” mean actually all incest shippers dni, or are you secretly telling me you’re cool with Jo/Ellen, or did you just forget in the midst of your ship war that other interests exist. I don’t usually follow blogs that announce that, but that’s more because putting that label there just tells me even if I passed the test on that specific thing for you, you’re not gonna be cool about all the other weird shit I post lmao.

(I want to stress, I think there’s a difference between “Wincesties dni” and “wincest dni”. I think that asking people to not leave tags on your posts or comments on your work referencing an incest ship is a valid boundary to have. If that content is triggering to you or just not your vibe, I think you should be able to say, ‘hey, not here.’ That is very different than going ‘if you are a part of this group or ever interacted with this group, get away from me.’ Especially in a fandom where. I mean. Sam & Dean being weird is in the text. It’s a huge part of the show to the point of being referenced repeatedly in-universe, it’s a famously huge part of the fandom to where wincest built the very ground (AO3) we all walk on, and I just think that if you walk into a gay bar, you really shouldn’t complain so loudly about all the bears you see.)