#i’m not even like a super hardcore shipper or anything i just love LOVE i’m sorry you’re bitter & scared of growth and humanness

[hop3wrlds]

bakudeku is so special to me i’m sorry that some of u cannot see beyond black & white thinking but there is something highly beautiful in a person going: "i love you & i am going to love you despite." y’all want to stick them in a box so bad but i fear characters (people for that matter) are so much more complex than good or bad . characters r flawed n make fucked up decisions & act in stupid fucking ways but i will be damned if you try to tell me that they don’t have the RIGHT to grow & change & atone & explore LOVE …. fuck you ! [ explosion ]

[adrianasunderworld]

Okay so I'm sorry for word vomiting here but I've got this AU that I've been developing in my head for the past few weeks. I call it my Disney Crossover/House of Mouse/When I say everyone loves Yuu, I’m talking about the entire Disney animated multiverse AU.

(I’m going to be referring to Yuu as she/her because of my own pronouns)

Basically, Yuu ends up working at the House of Mouse every night for extra money because Crowley sucks. She travels through a magic mirror in Ramshackle. Everyone there loves her: the (human and animal) adults think of her as their daughter, the animals love her (she’s not a beast tamer for nothing), the kids constantly want to hang out with her and even the villains have a soft spot for her (mainly because she treats them like normal people and not as villains. She’s super kind and sweet to them even when they try to scare her). Somehow, they realise that they don’t really know who she is or how she got there or anything so they ask her about it and she’s like “it’s a long story I don’t want to explain the whole thing.”

So due to either Disney Magic™ or one of Professor Von Drake’s inventions, the entire Disney theatrical animated universe watch everything that’s happened to Yuu so far in Twisted Wonderland. So obviously this would lead to lots of questions and everything but that’s not what I want to talk about. Oh no. What I’m getting to is this:

Ship Wars.

Everyone sees how Yuu has got each and every boy at NRC wrapped around her little finger and she’s literally so dense and oblivious to how positively smitten and whipped they are for her so they play a little matchmaking. Obviously The Great Seven™ would want Yuu to get with their own Twisted versions. It was unprecedented. Normally every villain knows not to get on the bad side of the Mistress of all Evil but the second she’s like “she’s my future granddaughter, my Malleus has been courting him the day they met” WWIII breaks out.

The Heroes™ are at first like “why villains though?” before realising that the boys would rather chop off a limb before they would ever think about letting Yuu get anywhere near harm and they’re like “so for their wedding, I’m thinking…” Because what’s the biggest bragging right than having the beloved Yuu getting with someone that’s based on your story.

Listen, because I have ideas™ of villains trying to get their kid (yes, they see the boys as their kids, sue them) with Yuu and the heroes being like “Are you married? No. Move over.” Simba and Nala helping Leona with ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight 2.0’ whilst Scar and the hyenas scheme in the shadows (the hyenas love Ruggie by the way. He’s an honorary member of the cackle), Aladdin and Jasmine hardcore shipping Kalim with Yuu (Aladdin to the other princes “they rode on a magic carpet and had an elephant parade. Perfect first date material right there.”) whilst JamilYuu shippers Jafar and Iago seethe, Alice may not know much about relationships but she’s got an imagination, an older sister and sees how invested the White Rabbit, card soldiers and the Queen and King of Hearts are with RiddleYuu so she’s going to help. The Dwarves hate Vil. Snow White loves everyone. She just wants Yuu to be happy. Lovable himbo tries to get Idia and Yuu together but Meg just rolls her eyes and Hades yells at him for ruining his plans. Ariel and Eric see Azul, a mer who’s fallen in love with a human and they’re like “our time has come. Sebastian, get your voice ready.” and Ursula’s like “that might be the one good idea you two have ever had”. Maleficent has been MalleYuu Shipper No1 from the start (a title that Lilia had to give up to her after a one minute stare down). She already has a room prepared for the prefect for when she visits the Valley of Thorns. Aurora, Phillip and the three good fairies think that Malleus is a sweet boy and are rooting for him.

Of course, there will be ship wars.

And don’t get me started on the battles that the villainous henchmen/sidekicks get with each other. If I have motivation, I might write something for this AU but I have a bunch of headcanons and scenarios for it. Also, Yuu is an honorary Disney Princess. She gets to sit with them at their table and has a personal invite to visit their castles whenever she wants so that they can have some girl time together. (Mulan and Merida mainly want to teach her how to use weapons and are 100000% ready to hunt down any of the boys that try to mess with her).

Listen, I love everything about this. House of Mouse was one one my favorite cartoons as a kid so i'm all on board for this. (It is an affront that the series is not on Disney+, but at least its on Youtube.)

Mickey tapping on the glass of the Ramshackle mirror: Hey, hey kid. Wanna work at my club?

All i'm thinking of is the episode where Max has a date with Roxanne and everyone swears not to embarrass him, and then proceeds to embarrass with their well intentioned attempts to make it perfect. Like dedicated Sebastian's Kiss the girl performance and setting up a Lady and Tramp style meal for them. That, but with the NRC boy of the week.

Miss Yuu: I'm going to be bringing my friend Azul this Friday. When he heard about the club he was interested to check it out for ideas for his lounge.

The entire cast of the little mermaid:

There is not a speck of chill in that establishment. Sebastian's going to perform Kiss the Girl. Ariel and Eric get the bright idea to invite them to sit with them like a double date. Ursula and batting the other villains from interfering with a stick. It's a mess.

Rinse and repeat every other week with a different student.

Imagine Hades trying to teach Idia how to be a quick smooth talker to get Yuu to go out with him and its just failing miserably. Or Yuu just glaring at the Magic Mirror in the lobby.

Or ladies night at the House of Mouse, and all the princesses insist Yuu sit them and enjoy the show, and Minnie assures her she can take a break for a while. Then upon Clarabells suggestion in the episode, they do a bachelor auction, Only the Bachalors are Vil, Malleus, Leona and whoever else they could rope into it. Only all the princesses are bidding on their favorites and then giving the date to Yuu.

And like you said, everyone sort of adopts Yuu in their own way. But Goofy especially is going full dad mode for Yuu. Just comes to her defense at any moment like he does with Max and its very sweet.

[byersfanclub]

ships aren’t the only things people care about in shows but I think that ppl lately highly underestimate just how important romance is in a story whether you personally care for a romance plot line or not. people like romance whether they realize it or not. it can be as simple as waiting for a character to finally pop the question to another character (proposing) that’s been hinted at, it can be the “ugh, finally” when two characters kiss in a season finale and a whole other array of examples I could use. people may not be into shipping culture the way we are, but ppl are rooting for romances subtly, without even realizing it. people like romance. it keeps you on edge, you want to see the outcome.

which is exactly why I think people have a hard time liking M1lev3n. It’s pretty much “established” from the beginning. There’s no build up to their relationship, there’s nothing really special about them, their romance story is as cliche as it can get and also a play on a super sexist trope within sci-fi “born sexy yesterday” but much more PG since they’re kids. you can’t deny it. mike and el are forced together, mike is a loser nerd that no girls like and (quote by Lucas Sinclair) el is the first girl who isn’t grossed out by him. she doesn’t know anything about the world, she grew up in a lab her entire life up until that point. she barely speaks, she doesn’t know what “friend” means, she doesn’t understand privacy and all the sudden a boy is being sprung in front of her and she doesn’t even UNDERSTAND what romance is and that she could even like/love another person— and he kisses her.

suddenly she vanishes and is yet to be seen for months and they’re suddenly reunited.

there’s no development between them. el only knows what she knows from reruns of old tv shows she watches which are highly dramatizied. again. this is all el can gather about romantic relationship. her and mike do not show any development or maturity in their relationship. all they do is kiss in s3 and suddenly they're broken up for most of the season and for months after the events of s3 end before the byers move away and suddenly she wants to tell mike she loves him back???

at this point, in my opinion, el is hyper fixating on mike since hopper “died”. she needs someone to fall back on, someone that took care of her and she feels (at least somewhat) comfort and safe with. but as we see in s4, mike doesn’t seem to be able to even give her that. I don’t think el loves mike and I don't think mike loves el romantically. they never have. they don’t know what the fuck they're doing. el wants to be a normal teenage girl and mike wants to be a normal teenage boy.

but that isn’t what stranger things is about.

M1lev3n being endgame directly goes against stranger things message. it’s forced conformity.

which brings me back to my point.

this is why the general audience of stranger things doesn’t care about m1lev3n the way m1lev3ns do. they aren’t hardcore shippers, they’re casual, and mike and el give off nothing to be excited about, because el’s storyline was never about romance, it’s about found family.

but who’s storyline was directly tied to romance in s3? Will. “I’m not gonna fall in love.” immediately set Will up to have a romance storyline. The beginning of s4 “I think there is someone he likes” set will up to have a crush. The painting scene directly set will up to HAVE to eventually confess his feelings for mike because mike is inevitably going to find out the truth (if he doesnt already know). will at some point is going to confronted about his love for mike whether you like it or not which is why so many ppl became attracted to byler as a ship after watching s4. with will being confirmed gay and in love with mike, it sets the stage for a newly blooming romance and so much context, subtext in earlier seasons to go back and watch with a new lens. the duffers know what they’re doing, and byler being endgame in s5 means byler has been intentional since the beginning. they have been writing the show, the dialogue, setting the scenes and lighting and set design to directly link back to byler falling in love with each other.

I'll end this off with byler being almost at 400k followers on Tumblr, being the most viewed ship in st on TikTok, the third most popular ship on ao3 and constantly trending on twt.

M1lev3n can barely beat out bower x luigi.

fin.

[bishkebab]

Thought dump on the Ted Lasso finale below the cut

The Ted/Rebecca fakeouts actually felt kind of mean to me until I realized I was looking at the show from a tumblr perspective and thinking they were picking on shippers vs looking at it from a mainstream audience perspective and realizing they were thumbing their nose at the expectation that Ted and Rebecca would end up together because Ted HAD to have a love interest at the end.

The way Roy and Jamie were talking about Keeley made me cringe hardcore. It felt like a regression, especially when Jamie brought up the video as a gotcha point. I was so glad that Keeley said fuck it and didn’t end up with either of them, even though I was originally rooting for triad.

That made it clearer that the point was that even though they both have grown a lot, they both have a long way to go….and even if they didn’t, growth doesn’t guarantee anything! They could both have become the absolute paragons of perfection and Keeley still wouldn’t have to choose one of them! I think it made sense for Keeley to be single at the end because she’s barely been out of a relationship for more than short periods throughout the show.

Even though I wish Keeley and Rebecca had been endgame, from a watsonian perspective they’re at different points in their lives. Yes, they’re both powerful women, but Keeley has a huge career trajectory in front of her and Rebecca is looking for peace and a family.

I loved the callback to the suggestion box at the beginning of the show, with Nate getting to proudly pass around his even more bedazzled box and Jamie sneaking in extra money with a wink instead of putting in his gum with a sneer.

Rupert sweeping around in his evil coat felt a little over the top, like we could have somehow forgotten that he’s The Villain and they wanted to make sure that we saw him Earn His Comeuppance. Seemed unnecessary.

When they passed the ball off to McAdoo and I was holding my breath trying to figure out how his super powerful corner kick that broke the window was going to be significant, and then he kicked it through the net like something from a sports anime 🥲

Ted’s arc was actually what was most baffling and depressing to me, up until the very end. He looked so subdued for the first half of the episode, and it felt like we were being shown how everyone around him felt about him going but not how he felt? Like, shouldn’t there have been some sign of joy for what was ahead, not just resignation that it was what he had to do? Even the speech in the locker room felt like an attempt to justify the fact that they hadn’t actually given him a future beyond “be in the same country as your son”.

The final diamond dogs meeting helped a lot. We actually got to see Ted being Ted again, plus the full circle of seeing Nate back in the fold plus Trent and Roy added in. Perfect scene 10/10 no notes 🥹

I was going to be so hideously depressed if Ted’s final scene had been him getting out of the taxi and walking with Henry back into his ex-wife’s house. Like what, you’re going to throw away all your autonomy and growth and just be a third wheel to Michelle and Dr. Jake because your son needs you? But the final scene made me feel a lot better, because it felt more like…a real reason. Like look, at the beginning he was running away from a dying marriage and a son he was afraid to fail, and he became a father figure to an entire team, so then he needed to go home and give his own son the coaching he gave those other young men and face his dissolved marriage head on.

And then the elephant in the room, Trent my beloved. I’m not going to blame any of the TedTrenters for being disappointed, but I will say the impression I was given of the laugh police scene by people in the tag was vastly different from my interpretation of the scene. I didn’t see it as Ted shooting Trent down or not liking his enthusiasm at all, it was just a gentle admonishment to not fish for a reaction (and also, like, don’t bug me when I’m concentrating on reading lol) but Ted was looking at him with complete fondness the entire time, he didn’t seem actually bothered by Trent himself; and Trent didn’t seem dampened at all, just a little abashed. I don’t know, I kept seeing it interpreted as Trent’s bid for connection - “I just want you to like it” - being rebuffed in that scene, when to me it is met and returned by Ted’s note on the book- he didn’t just like it, he loved it!

The thing is, people were analyzing everything James Lance was saying about Trent through a shipping lens, and so I can understand why it would be so disappointing to not see what they thought he was telling us we’d see. My view is, James Lance fell in love with his character, and he’s looking at everything from a purely Trent perspective. Someone asking him about how Trent looks at Ted and him saying “oh wow, you noticed that? Yes, that’s significant” could definitely come off as “yes, Trent has feelings for Ted” but I always pretty much interpreted it as “yes, actually Trent is attracted to men and I’m impressed that people picked up on that”. And the final shirt that said it all- “Stay Golden” - is a thank you to Ted and a well-wish for the future, not the love confession we were hoping for.

While I 100% think James Lance did play Trent as having some level of feelings for Ted, ultimately Trent’s love story is with himself. He says it at the final diamond dogs meeting- I don’t necessarily think people change, but they learn to accept the person they always were. Trent went from his tough-as-nails, unflappably suave persona to a massive dweeb 🥹 he wears band shirts and dorky scarves and leopard print shoes! He does cute little paws during diamond dog meetings! He dances awkwardly with his crush’s mom! He takes off his blazer and twirls it around his head like a maniac!

Like to go from being astonished by the fact that Ted actually meant it when he said he enjoyed spending the day together, to joining in with the team’s revelries? He loves himself now!

Like I said, I’m not denying the subtext. I absolutely think Trent has some feelings for Ted, and I absolutely think Ted is bisexual (though I doubt he knows it). But I don’t know, I guess I never saw Ted as showing any conscious sign of reciprocation purely because, to be honest, he IS still a huge mess. He’s way too absorbed in his own guilt and confusion to be able to figure that out. But I didn’t feel like the show actually, canonically shut down the possibility. 6 months, a year down the line…? Trent has finished his book, he’s no longer a sports journalist, Ted is in the states near his son, who’s going to write the fanfic for me about what happens next…? 🤣

I will say one loose end that I sure wish had been tied up was Dr. Jake. So what, Michelle’s just going to…keep dating a walking ethics violation who was shitting on the game to her and her son? I mean, he wasn’t in the final scene so maybe they did break up, though I hope to god that wasn’t supposed to imply that she and Ted would ever end up back together because I WOULD break into Jason Sudeikis’s house and smash his kneecaps.

Anyway, I dunno. I still feel like it was weirdly sad on Ted’s behalf, but I felt like it was a nice ending for everyone else. Overall it was…fine. I’m not tortured by any of it. I’ll just be over here continuing to read Ted/Trent fan fiction 🤷🏻‍♀️

[spade-riddles]

Submission:

Do antis and ex-Kaylors ever stop to think about how their perception of Karlie makes no sense?

We all know Jerklie is fake. But he’s toxic to her reputation now, and she could easily beard for someone else. So why wouldn’t she? 

“But she likes Jerk” - I mean, does she? Because she looks dead behind the eyes during their pap walks. She’s been caught on camera arguing with him multiple times (1975 concert, 4th July party, etc) and it’s clear he keeps springing stuff on her she didn’t agree too, and resents. The sheer weirdness of the “wedding” PR rollout attests to that. Just look at her miserable face eating cake on the floor. I’m not exactly feeling the love here. Yeah, she slings her arm around him in a picture, but Taylor used to be just as OTT with the PDA with Calvin, and we all know she hated him. Pictures prove nothing. 

“But Jerk is rich and well-connected and that’s why she sticks with him” - oh please. The Kushers are as sham rich as their in-laws. We joke all the time about how crappy Jerk is at business. Karlie is charming and well-connected in her own right. I struggle to believe she couldn’t find better business partners. Maybe she has poor management, but the number one reason for that is her connection to Jerk. Better management won’t touch her while she’s connected to him. They can’t sell this version of her. 

The smart move for her career would be to dump him. If she’s so fame hungry and self-centered, why hasn’t she? Are we really supposed to believe Karlie would be selfish and cruel enough to put her career over Taylor … but not over Jerk? How does that even make sense? It doesn’t! 

“Karlie toys with Kaylors because we’re the only fans she has left” - does not compute. First because Kaylor fandom is tiny now, and the subset of Kaylors who believe they’re still together (and pay attention to Karlie) is even tinier. It wouldn’t be worth her while to use us for financial gain. Half the Kaylors who even support her on Tumblr have made it clear they won’t be buying from her Adidas line or supporting her other endeavors until she leaves Jerk. There just isn’t any money to be made from us, pure and simple. 

“Okay, then Karlie TROLLS Kaylors because she hates us and wants to make us look stupid!” - I mean, looking at the venom we send her way I doubt she loves us anymore. But why would she bother trolling us? It’s so unbelievably petty, and she never seemed to be that. Maybe I have her character all wrong, but even if I do … wouldn’t she get tired of it eventually? All the “trolling” ever does is bring more hate down on her head and reduce the amount of people willing to pay attention to her in future. It’s shooting herself in the foot. 

Most of the people who get excited by her hints are the well-intentioned fans who want her to be free and happy. If her relationship with Jerk is fake (as it obviously is) then why would she be so full of hate for fans who only wish her well? You may as well say Taylor stunts with Toe because she “hates” Gaylors and wants to troll us. Why do we always give Taylor the benefit of the doubt and assume there were 1001 pivots on the road to her coming out, but with Karlie, we always assume the worst? 

“Kaylor broke up and Karlie is just trying to stay relevant by mining the Taylor connection!” - yeah, I don’t know how to tell you this, but if a tree falls in the forest and only a tiny subset of internet fans notice it, it’s not staying relevant. Karlie wearing a rainbow sweater the day Fearless comes out is only interesting to us. Literally no-one else cares! These kind of obscure hints aren’t going to get her headlines or jobs. 

Also, if Karlie really cared that much about using the Taylor thing for fame, there are a million better ways to do it. She could post throwback pics of their “friendship”. She could mention her all the time in interviews. Taylor is in a quiet phase with the media, and NDAs don’t cover EVERYTHING. As long as Karlie didn’t actually lie or expose their relationship as more than a friendship, there are a lot of ways she could have continued to tie herself to Taylor for publicity, and Taylor couldn’t do anything about it. But mostly Karlie hasn’t done that. Instead, she went dark. How does that fit?

Also, if they did break up, there is nothing to stop Karlie coming out. She’s good friends with Cara Delevingne. She could get loads of headlines about Cara “helping her find the courage to come out” or “helping her realize her sexuality”. She could be linked to other famous women. If Karlie was OUT, people would speculate like crazy about her being an ex of Taylor Swift’s, even if NDAs meant she couldn’t talk about it. If publicity was all Karlie wanted, she could have plenty of it. If she came out as bi, she could even go back to bearding later. It hasn’t stopped Julienne Hough, Harry Styles, or a bazillion other Hollywood celebs. 

But instead she puts all her energy into presenting this image of herself as super straight. WHY? 

You know who really needs Karlie to be straight right now? And to have always been straight, and in love with the same guy the whole time they knew each other?

TAYLOR. 

If Karlie is married to Jerk and had “his” baby, then the Jerklie relationship was real all along. That’s what people will think. Kaylors are just a bunch of deluded, intrusive shippers on the internet. TAYLOR needs people to believe this. There is no other woman she can be convincingly linked to right now, and it’s hard for her to stunt with Toe, for a lot of reasons. One is that she picked a British beard and then an international pandemic hit, whoops! Another is that she set up this whole “private love story” idea with him. And anyway, its been four years. If she starts stunting more hardcore with Toe there are only so many stunts left to pull. If Karlie wasn’t “married” to Jerk right now, I GUARANTEE we would be seeing a Toe engagement. 

Karlie is doing the heavy lifting for Taylor. It’s obvious to me. 

[spnasylum]

Sarah Z Silenced Me!

I’m a black queer SPN fan as I’ve said before. I just watched a nearly 2 hour long video Sarah Z made about the Supernatural finale. She makes it so obvious that’s she’s a Heller and Minion. She spends most of the video making references to Misha while barely mentions Jared and the only talk of Jensen is her talking at length about his alleged homophobia. She claims Castiel is “the most important character” on the show. She seems to want to convince that Supernatural queerbaited, but uses the same old problematic stereotypes and congratulates Misha on being so pro Destiel while it makes everyone else uncomfortable (yeah because he wants your money, girl!) She also seems to think that seasons 14 and 15 where leading up to canon Destiel (girl, where????) with no real evidence of it. I left this comment…yeah I know it’s long!

“I’ve been a hardcore SPN fan for a long ass time, I grew up on it, been to cons, done foolish things in the name of Gish etc etc. I thought the finale was beautiful, I’m not really a crier and I was sobbing. I loved the more laid back cover of "Carry On…”. I have never seen the appeal in Destiel and as a queer fan I actually find it to be incredibly problematic and not at all representative of anything other than bad stereotypes and toxicity (every other LGBTQIA+ fan I speak to feels the same way). The shippers have gone way too far, its become cult like and has turned SPN into a mockery, they are a small but very loud part of the fandom who manage to make all of us look bad to the cast and crew and even people outside of fandom culture. Many The Boys fans are not looking forward to Jensen joining the show for no other reason than the possibility that some of them may follow him and they don’t want that kinda energy over there. The show didn’t queerbait us because everyone involved with the exception of Misha Collins have been very clear its not real and would never be canon. Anyone who managed to convince themselves otherwise despite repeatedly being told it wouldn’t happen played themselves and have no one to be upset with other than themselves (and maybe Misha because he kinda encouraged them to sell merch which he shouldn’t have done knowing their reputation.)

PS the accusations that the CW, with so much rep on its network, would go to great lengths to somehow edit the American airing of the show to “silence” Dean from declaring his undying gay love for Castiel (who’s I love you I still see as platonic. You can look up to someone, have them be a good influence in your life and love them dearly without wanting to screw their brains out) Why then with so much homophobic rage for just this one specific show and only two very specific characters they decide they must stop Dean saying “me too” or whatever at any cost would they let the “super secret REAL script” play out on screen in another country for a show with a dedicated global fanbase. Why would a network with so much rep, that makes sure to have diversity on their network, want to conspire to stop Dean Winchester specifically. Like I’m seeing conspiracy theories and hashtags that would make flat earth truthers embarrassed for destiel shippers detachment from reality. “

Within minutes, literally MINUTES, it had been removed. No discussion, just straight up censorship. So I’m leaving my comment here instead along with the link to the video so you can hear the same nonsense I just did.

https://youtu.be/M0QhgQ-g4C0

I think this is her tumblr https://dingdongyouarewrong.tumblr.com/  I see a post defending the bullying and harassment the Destiel shippers are doing online being waved off as just “over zealous women” or something... insane.

[forever--rain]

I mean if you’re making playlists.... I’ve seen a lot of Zutara playlists and that Sukka one you made was freaking adorable! Can I request a Taang one 🥺

I just have very soft feelings for them and would like to cry to a playlist pls 😭🥺💛

OF COURSE YOU CAN REQUEST A TAANG PLAYLIST, JOY. WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? I WOULD NEVER DENY YOU SOMETHING SO PURE.

We both know this is you subtly trying to get me to be more of a hardcore Taang shipper. 😉 No, I'm kidding. I know you love them. I love them too! 💛

Oh, this playlist was so sweet to make! I have so many E.M.O.T.I.O.N.S now. (Explanations below the cut to save space.)

Wildflowers by Tom Petty

Seven Wonders by Fleetwood Mac

Fools by Lauren Aquilina

Why Can't I? by Liz Phair

The Louvre by Lorde

Precious Metal Girl by Weezer

Doors Unlocked and Open by Death Cab for Cutie

Wild Heart by Mumford & Sons

From Afar by Vance Joy

My Arms Were Always Around You by Peter Bradley Adams

Send me a playlist title and I’ll give you 5-10 songs I think would go on it!

Wildflowers

You belong among the wildflowers/You belong somewhere close to me/Far away from your trouble and worries/You belong somewhere you feel free

This song makes me think of the moment Aang asks Toph to teach him earthbending and join the Gaang. I also think it could carry over into plans they make post-war and could represent their adulthood. Really, it's a song that feels applicable to them at any point in their lives. And it goes both ways! They'd want one another to have freedom and they'd want to be by each other's side in that freedom.

Seven Wonders

So it's hard to find/Someone with that kind of intensity/You touched my hand, I played it cool

I see this as a "Toph is pining" song. It's probably a post-war POV for her. She's been around the world with Aang and has developed feelings for him, and she knows that she'll never find this kind of adventure with anyone else. Maybe they part ways for a time after the comet. They're still friends, of course, but their post-war plans take them in different directions and Toph has that big "OH" moment.

Fools

Friends, I watched us as we changed/The feelings in my headspace rearranged/I want you more than I've wanted anyone/Isn't that dangerous?

Best friends to lovers anyone? Honestly, I could see this song from either of their POVs. If we're talking Zutara, Sukka, Taang endgame, I see Toph and Aang taking the longest to get there. Possibly even into their mid-to-late twenties. Everything is just so good and easy between them, you know? They have an easy camaraderie and they can tell one another anything, but they know something is there underneath it all and they're terrified. Katara and Zuko are probably the ones who finally tell them that they need to have The Talk.

Why Can't I?

Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you?/Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you?

Mutual-pining-but-they're-with-other-people, anyone??? I mean, you could even tie this into the previous situation. Toph and Aang are such good friends and they can't hang on to significant others because other people find their closeness weird. The vibes they throw off around one another are just a big red flag to anyone else who wants to date them. And they're like, "No! We're just best friends! I don't get butterflies! My breath isn't taken away by the most mundane moments! THIS IS FINE!"

The Louvre

But we're the greatest/They'll hang us in the Louvre//Okay I know that you are not my type/(Still I fall)/I'm just the sucker who let you fill her mind

Ah, yes. This one is a Toph POV for sure. She's in denial, you know? "He's not my type! I'm not into him!" But her heart just starts hammering whenever Aang comes around. She gets so caught up in him. And one day she gives in and decides to make a move and... Broadcast the boom boom boom boom and make 'em all dance to it. 😉

Precious Metal Girl

'Cause you're my precious metal girl/My best friend in the world

Okay. I know this is super cheesy, but COME ON. She's his precious metalbender girl.

Doors Unlocked and Open

Down in the ocean of sound, sound/We'll live in slow-motion/And be free/With doors unlocked and open

This song gives me so many domestic!Taang vibes. They sleep with the windows open at night and they don't lock their doors and breezes curl throughout every corner of their house (which they built from stone themselves) and they're free.

Wild Heart

It took a wild heart to tame mine/And it took a wild heart to charm/Now a wild heart has gone and floored me/With this ever lasting glance

I see this going both ways! Aang has a wild heart in that he's so free and Toph's heart is wild in that she's Toph Fuckin' Beifong. It takes them to round out each other's edges and smooth one another's rough spots. They never fail to astound one another every day, whether it's with a new bending move or the sheer force of their love for one another. And maybe it took them a long time to settle down, but when they did it was with each other because they are perfect together.

From Afar

You lined me up/Across the room/Two falling sparks/One willing fool//It shouldn't come as a surprise/What I'm feeling, what I'm feeling now

Okay, I gave you Toph pining and mutual pining. Now... I give you AANG PINING. I personally headcanon Toph falling first but being very in denial about it. But if Aang were to fall first, this would be the song. And maybe it freaks her out because she's like, "We're friends! This is not what friends do! Why are you throwing off those vibes, Twinkletoes?" He doesn't understand how she's so surprised by his feelings, of course, because she's incredible. She's Toph Beifong. But she is because his first girlfriend was Katara and he's had other girlfriends like that since. And Aang is like, "Yeah. And they were all great in their own way. But they're not you." (Nobody look at me. I'm v emotional now.)

My Arms Were Always Around You

Your pretty little wings/They must be getting tired/Trying to keep your feet/Up off the ground//No more dreams/Must I sacrifice/My heart is safe/You'll guard it with your life

Ohhhhh. Yes. Okay. This song is for both of them. Toph gives Aang a safe space to ground himself and Aang gives Toph the freedom to chase her dreams without inhibition. They always have one another's backs. They're always there to support one another. At the end of a long day, they're always there to let the other sink into the comfort of their embrace. 🥺

[msgrumpygills]

what made the colored rose glasses come off?

i can say that mine too came off a while ago and i cant believe how blind i was and i blame his fans because i remember how i was defending him even with all that shit he pulled i thought he needed protection and needed to be treated with so much care and he was big cute baby i was part of the people who got his back no matter what but he is not stopping and the amount of money he and his wife keep asking from the fans and the fans give with love is just too much for me am glad you got out i just cant wait for the others to wake up too

and speaking of walker i too hope it flopped because of his ego and his spn Easter eggs and dean sam parallels its just not fair you cant have it all dean died for sam to live even before he died in the end and jared still trying to make money of it just no!!

This is a really good question, so thank you for asking! I’m glad you got out too! It’s kinda liberating! This will probably get really long because I ramble a lot, so I apologize in advance! 

I’m not entirely sure there was a specific incident or one thing that happened that made me stop and thing, it was sort of a culmination of a few things. Firstly, I sort of lost interest in the show because I was getting tired of the fan service. I know that sounds a little silly because I was a fan, but the whole pandering to the shippers and the bad writing and for lack of a better word, ridiculous storylines, it got to be too much. I stopped getting excited to watch the show. Now that kinda happened naturally in a way because I fell behind a few weeks, but it wasn’t like when I was a hardcore fan, and I’d be waiting to catch up, I just kinda lost the push I guess? Then seeing the storylines and things, I just didn’t think “Oh wow, I really need to get caught up!” because nothing really sounded that interesting. I didn’t care about the Jack storyline, I was tired of the Dean/Cas fan baiting, all of that. I was only interested in Scoobynatural and then the episode where John comes back because I wanted to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan. 

So I was kinda disillusioned a bit about the show. I was also getting really tired of Misha’s political tweeting and his hypocrisy. I believe that was what led me to an anti blog? I can’t really remember how, but I stumbled upon an anti blog and I started reading through and realized that there was a lot going on behind the scenes that I wasn’t really a fan of. So all of these things were kind of stacking on top of the next, and I started to take those glasses off. So it wasn’t really one specific thing, it was many. 

But now I’m at this point where I’m really opening my eyes and realizing how bad things have always been, and I turned a blind eye. I was the same way as you were, needing to protect Jared the big fragile baby, standing up for everything they did. I was going through my timehop and saw some tweets defending Jared’s relentless bullying of Justin Bieber, his insensitive comments of PSH, things like that. It was embarrassing because I was only standing strong with him because I was in so deep as a fan. I mean, I never really agreed with his doxxing of random employees, but I would sort of turn a blind eye to that and just ignore it. Now I realize how stupid that was. 

I’m not saying that I regret being a fan because I don’t. I had a lot of memories, I loved the conventions (not the prices or the Creation company, but that could be an entire different post) and some of the fans were great. I still consider myself a fan of Supernatural and a fan of Jensen and Jared (but he’s pushing it), but I’m not a super fan anymore. I’m at that point where I can recognize when they screw up and can call out things that aren’t okay. I think a lot of fans are still stuck in that illusion that these guys can do no wrong, and it’s sad, but I’m sure they’ll come around at some point. I’m not saying that no one can enjoy the show or the actors or whatever, but at least call them out on their bull and don’t blindly defend everything just because it’s your fave. 

I will say that all celebrities sell things to their fans, and that’s just part of the celebrity/fan relationship. Everyone has merch, everyone does charity fundraisers, etc. What I started to get a little wary of, was everyone jumping on the Represent bandwagon and milking AKF and YANA for every single penny. The first run of AKF was great and I think it started a conversation within the fandom, and everywhere really which is great. I mean, to a point, the second and third runs were cool because I know a lot of people missed out on the first run, etc. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I bought most of the shirts released. But then Misha had to get his grimy paws in the pot and make YANA, using Jensen in the mix too. Is it great to raise money for charity? Yes. Is it cool to do that while making fans happy? Sure. What I got tired of was them milking the same thing for more money. It seemed to lose its authenticity when they kept milking it and making new things if that makes sense. 

But look at Misha and Stands; they milk EVERYTHING they possibly can to get money out of the fans. It really disappointed me that Jared moved AKF to Stands because Stands is a trash company as it is. 

The fans are paychecks to these people, and while that’s just a fact of life, they don’t need to make it so blatant. I thought Gen was bad for shilling products left and right, but Jared is getting just as bad. He’s using Jensen, his family, and Supernatural to try and shill his show and his crappy supplements. 

I haven’t watched Walker, but I’ve seen the failed attempt at trying to capture that Supernatural lightning in a bottle and that reeeeeeally rubbed me the wrong way. I’ve mentioned it before, but he’s basically taking a show that took 15 years to build its fanbase, the family, everything, and trying to do that same thing with a concept that seemed better on paper. 

I think Jared got cocky and figured that the success of Supernatural would follow him into anything he touches, and he’s quickly realizing that it’s not gonna happen. So what does he do? He rides on Supernatural’s coattails to try and bring traffic to these things. The Easter eggs aren’t “for the family”, they’re to try and get viewership up for his show that no one seems to care about as much as he expected. The forced “brotherhood” with Keegan is him just trying to recreate the J2 brotherhood for more attention and more views. After all, part of the magic of Supernatural was the boys, Sam and Dean. Jared’s having to start from scratch and trying to have the same magic and fandom that Supernatural took 15 years to grow, but right away. That’s his biggest problem. 

If anything, I hope it flops because it’s really embarrassing and a bit insulting for Jared to just move onto the next “ship” and the next “family” like Jensen was nothing. It makes the “brotherhood” and the “SPN Family” seem so fake it’s unreal. I also hope it flops so he can get a reality check and a hearty slice of humble pie because Lord knows he needs it. 

[zalrb]

Hi, i adore your metas. I know you aren't a steroline stan, yet I had a question: what made caroline fall in love with stefan and vice versa?

Hi, anon, thank you saying that. I actually have a few posts on this - I don’t know if you know that I used to be a hardcore shipper, a lot of people forget or don’t realize this, which makes sense since I’m super anti now lmao - and I’ll just combine a few posts.

On the how and their build-up:

I thought that Caroline falling for Stefan was natural. From another post of mine:

I didn’t say they had an amazing relationship and I’m starting to wonder if you’ve been reading anything I’ve been saying about Steroline. How many times have I said that that their relationship is awkward and clunky [...] But. The buildup to Steroline was there. It was a standard friends to romance ship that the show bungled. And it does start in 4x19: “I think that one day you’ll fall madly in love and you’ll have moved on without even realizing it” and they pause and stare at each other, that’s a narrative signal that the show is going to begin building a slow-burn to a romantic relationship between the two of them.  

Season 5 was mostly about how Caroline comes to realize that what she feels for Stefan is more than platonic and it starts when he has PTSD when she tells Elena that she read up on psychology and biochem and Elena says, “You did all of that for Stefan?” “Of course I did.” And with Katherine: “Have you and Stefan ever…?” “We are friends.” “Your loss, he’s great in bed.” And when Katherine hijacks Elena’s body and Caroline sees her in the Salvatore mansion, Caroline is freaking out about it and she’s having disproportionate reactions to things regarding Stefan and doesn’t quite know why until she’s confronted by Elena at the cabin, “Where did that even come from?” “I have … I have no idea” and then from then on she sort of knows that what she feels for Stefan is more than platonic.

Like having fallen for my best friend, I thought the writing captured Caroline falling for him without realizing it and acting like a jealous girlfriend without noticing it and then going oh. shit. 

Basically, in season 6 Stefan was going through what Caroline went through in season 5. The problem is that the things that made their build-up a will-they-won’t-they buildup, being on opposite pages, timing, lack of communication, that all fed into their actual relationship and they were simply incompatible with no chemistry, everything about SC just didn’t work

In terms of why:

For Caroline: 

I don’t think Caroline had a thing for Stefan after the pilot until season 5 (that vow was fucking ridiculous). What I will say is that I think she idealized and idolized him as this perfect boyfriend.

What I will also say is that that idealization/idolization is wrapped up in her wish fulfillment of how Stefan loved Elena

because she had a front row seat to their relationship

she wanted that

she saw how much he loved her, she saw not just the commitment but the devotion

In season 2 she had a whole ass mission dedicated to spying on them and breaking them up because Katherine couldn’t handle just how in love they were

and then of course it can be inferred that she’d hear the stories of him fighting compulsion for her etc. etc. and I think she expected that

like even when she’s pining for him in season 6, the photo they choose to have her gaze at is when he’s cuddled with Elena

so I think it was that coupled with the fact that he was an actual best friend, like he supported her and was there for her, he was loyal to her so she thought she’d be able to get that kind of devotion.

For Stefan:

And I say this without being pejorative, I think he always knew he would never truly get over Elena,

like that just wasn’t possible

but he wanted to make room for something and someone else, which is encouraged by Lexi

and who better than his best friend who he admires and respects and has a great time with (because when they are friends, they actually are very sweet)

So I don’t say this to shit on Stefan or to have people come into my inbox to shit on Stefan or to even suggest that Stefan used Caroline, I think that it’s more than fair to not want to spend what could potentially be an eternity wallowing because when you do, you get Damon and I can see how it’s this thing where Stefan didn’t even realize that she liked him like that but when that’s made clear, he’s like huh, why exactly can’t this work?

My issue is that it doesn’t work.

[ffamranxii]

Bro. My shipper heart is bleeding. These are my current fandoms (Persona, Sailor Moon, Fruits Basket, and Haikyuu!!) and I have some FEELINGS (under the cut).

1. I don’t ship Ryuuji/Protag/Goro. I very specifically headcanon Joker as two different people, with slightly different personalities. Joker-as-Ren I ship with Ryuuji, Joker-as-Akira I ship with Goro.

2. Makoto/Hifumi is a chance interaction that takes place when Joker and Makoto go to Jinbocho. I decided that very second that I ship them so hard, since Makoto abandoned Joker to go shop with Hifumi.

3. I do have specific headcanons for the other thieves, but none are romantic. Ann and Ryuuji have an epic bromance; Yusuke is asexual but best friends with Futaba and Joker; Futaba and Sumire are best friends and neither of them need a relationship while they are healing from their respective traumas; I hardcore ship Haru/happiness but have yet to find a specific person to ship her with. Same with Mishima - I love my boy but haven’t found the right person for him. Also honorable mention to Iwai/Takemi. 

4. Yu/Yosuke was my first P4 ship. Never looked back. I also shipped Yukiko/Chie way before I shipped Ann/Shiho, despite playing P5 first.

5. My take on Naoto is conflicted (I understand their story from both the Japanese and Western point of view and can’t decide which I like better). I very specifically ship Kanji/boy!Naoto.

6. Teddie/Marie was a crackship I came up with during Golden and decided I really liked for some reason. I was thinking of what to write for a fic and Yosuke mentioning “oh hey my brother [Teddie]’s getting married” “oh yeah? to who?” “that weathergirl, Mariko Kusumi” just popped into my head. I’m on board now. 

7. I really like Rise but I can’t for the life of my find a person to ship her with. I do not like Rise/Yu. 

8. Honorable mention to the ball bois Kou/Daisuke.

9. I don’t know why I ship Minato/Yukari. I just really like them together and surprisingly I can hardly find any fics or art of them. I also ship the Minato/Aigis bromance and I love Elizabeth-loves-Minato.

10. You can pry ShinjiHam from my cold dead fingers. VIVA LA SHINJIHAM!

11. These two are similar to Minato/Yukari in that I don’t know why I ship them, I just do. There’s also not much art/fic of them. :(

12. Ngl, Junpei’s inability to leave Chidori alone because he can’t fathom a girl just sitting on a bench drawing really rubs me the wrong way. However, they develop an actual relationship (in as much as a secondary character can in Persona) and by the time she sacrificed herself for him I was hooked. I think Chidori really didn’t give a fuck about Junpei until she was in the hospital and saw how much he cared about a person he didn’t really even know. 

13. I’m not totally sold on the other SEES peeps. I LOVE Fuuka but I can’t find anyone I truly love her WITH. Ken is a child among near adults so I don’t really have anything for him, and Koro-chan’s a doggo. I love Rio and Saori, but not together, and also Mamoru... 

14. Maya/Katsuya are just stupid cute. I take no criticism.

15. TATSUJUN FO LYFE. DON’T EVEN @ ME.

16. Eikichi and Miyabi are honestly super sweet, I can’t even.

17. Maki and Naoya are the only two people from P1 I really connected with in any meaningful way, so of course I ship them together. I also loved Yukino in P1 (but not P2, really), and Yuka, but have no one to ship them with. Yuka married rich so maybe she married Kei! XD

18. Sailor Moon is the ONLY series where I ship people differently based on adaption. I ship Usagi/Mamoru in both, of course (and I think Mamoru was done better in the live action than the anime and especially the manga); but in the live action I hardcore ship Rei/Minako (who seemed to be the replacement Haruka/Michiru, since they weren’t in the live action), and really, really enjoyed the developing relationship with Ami/Nephrite during the Dark Mercury arc as well as the surprisingly stable and sweet Makoto/Motoki relationship.

19. However in the anime/manga I tend to ship what I’m “supposed to” (within reason, lol). Chibiusa was the first person I ever shipped with two different people. I like the idea of her and Hotaru in young love, and Mistress 9 and Wicked Lady getting together, and I love the idea of older princess chibiusa with her first love Helios.

20. Ah, the Kakeru love triangle. Kakeru just RADIATES bisexual energy - he hits on literally all the Sohma men and he LOVES Yuki. I actually did not like Yuki with anyone but Kakeru until the 2019 anime came out and I saw a lot of discourse about how well Yuki/Machi went together. I’m also a sucker for Kakeru’s girlfriend Komaki and I hope they put her in the anime. The idea of chaotic bisexual Kakeru actually having been in a longterm relationship all through high school and marrying her is just super sweet.

21. I will never let go of Hatori/Kana. They should’ve had it all.

22. Kagura/Kunimitsu and Momiji/Kimi are two crackships I found as fanart (I’ve reblogged them at some point), that every so often I stumble upon a fic or art for. I originally didn’t like them, but ended up ADORING them. Kunimitsu is exactly the calm yet gently mischievous presence Kagura needs and Kimi and Momiji would create SO MUCH CHAOS.

23. I do not like Uo/Kureno within the context of the show. I understand that Uo is probably the first non-related girl Kureno’s interacted with since his essential imprisonment and he is probably suffering from “new is always better” syndrome when he meets her. Kureno hardcore needs a few years on his own, away from the Sohmas, to figure out who he is, and what he likes to do, and live as a normal person; and Uo is NOT the person to help him do that. She’s got enough on her plate with the death of her mentor/mother figure and rehabbing her father. Uo is in a good place right now and Kureno is not, and she shouldn’t need to “save” him. I DO like Uo/Kureno as an “after the series” pairing, where Uo’s in her twenties and out of college (if she went) and got a career, and Kureno’s finally gotten his shit together, and they meet again by chance and they’re both in a good place. That’s adorable. Uo/Kureno while Uo’s in school isn’t.

24. I actually think Kagehina was the first ship I shipped in Haikyuu!! I remember watching the first episode and going “...are.... are they gonna make out?” Then Noya and his dramatic “ASAHI!!!!!” and “I’M NEVER GOING TO PLAY UNLESS ASAHI PLAYS TOO!!!” swooped in and I forgot about them. Asanoya is just so precious and pure. Daisuga smacked me in the face like, “Oh. OH. This is... this is fucking GREAT.” I think it was because I saw someone say “Daisuga are basically volleyball mom and dad” and I was hooked. I DO, however, enjoy a Kuroo/Daichi bang it out rivalry though. Tsukki and Tadashi was a no brainer; Tadashi yelling at Tsukki at the camp was just *chef’s kiss*

25. Yachi is the cutest little lesbian, and she’s even gayer in the manga. I actually can’t decide who I like more, Kiyoko/Yachi or Kiyoko/Tanaka. 

26. Iwaoi and Kuroken came to me during my first forays into AO3 for fics. I can’t imagine shipping them with anyone else. They’re just... MADE for each other. 

[tea-at-221]

I just want to specify that I had not seen the full scene with the Castiel confession--I had only seen what I could find on social media--but I finally saw more of Cas' speech, from gifs (not the gifs above, obviously...I just included those to illustrate everything else I'm about to say). I'm very relieved to say that my initial impression of his confession being too open to interpretation has receded--seeing more gave me heart. So while I still hate that Cas ya know, IMMEDIATELY DIED, and while I've been afraid for a long time that they'd make some huge and permanent sacrifice before the show ends (my true dread has fixated on Dean as the most plausible, but the loss of any of them would be a nightmare), my fingers are crossed and I'm holding out hope for the Destiel shippers (I ship it, but not hardcore like I do Johnlock--yet anyway, maybe some day, I just haven't focused on it) that this will be a nice, happy, unambiguous, canon shippy ending to the series.

Wow, pardon my parentheses. I like them a lot.

So, I am sorry for laughing (though I can't help it, it was born out of hysteria and past trauma, seriously, The Magicians anyone? Like I was already suicidally depressed and then what they did with S4 of that show...), but I'm really really rooting for your happiness. Go nuts. Write fic. Cry joyful tears. No matter what. Because that's the joy of fandom, and I hope you never let anything take it away from you.

A word to both Destiel shippers and Johnlockers, because I've been seeing some nastiness: please, even if some of the people in the other fandom haven't been kind to you, try to be kind to them as a whole. We all want the same thing: to see our ships be treated respectfully, whether or not we ultimately get to see them realized on-screen.

A few nasty, spiteful fans on either side do not a fandom make. Let love win. It's so much more rewarding and fun if we can all celebrate together.

I still dream of there eventually being some kind of LGBTQIA+ fandom love exchange, where we all (from across many fandoms) come together and make art for each other's ships as a show of support and camaraderie. Especially for the ships we don't ship, and maybe at some point have made it quite clear we don't ship!

I'd organize something of the kind myself, but I have a chronic illness and suffer from a lot of fatigue and am super busy as it is running 2 small businesses...and also have a horrible habit of always trying to bite off more than I can chew.

But I'd pitch in on it if someone, or a group of someones, wanted to take on the bulk. @threepatchpodcast, no pressure, but maybe you'd be willing to put the idea out there?

I think sometimes it's easy to get insular when shipping, or for some people to feel competitive over it. But my hope is that by standing in each other's shoes for a bit we can begin to see that while the shoes don't always fit, the view from them really isn't so different. I think in some cases it might even be healing.

[tbhwhocaresanymore]

Nancy Drew 2x1

ONE OF YOU apparently ran to @kat--writes, or as my friend and I call her Tumblr Kat, and snitched that I had not yet posted my Nancy Drew premiere review. I promised to get it up by today and yes it is technically after midnight but the sun has not yet risen, so please find my thoughts under the cut.

Before I do anything else let me just say I will never stop appreciating the continuous book Easter eggs the show writers drop. Nancy mentioning how she learned that trick with the mirror in “a bungalow mystery” when she did in fact pull that exact same trick in The Bungalow Mystery? Iconic.

Now that’s out of the way, I’m going to do something I’ve never really done before and start off with the negatives. Guys, I was underwhelmed.

Not by the episode itself, the episode was great. It picked up right where we left off and continued into the mystery of the Aglaeca, the cast was engaging, the horror was chilling, the story kept unfolding. The problem is, it was great as any other regular episode, it was less great as a season premiere. I waited TEN MONTHS for this episode. And granted I understand that ND didn’t get to finish off its first season how they wanted, but they have had, I repeat, ten months to plan this. The season 1 premiere, for all its issues, did exactly what a season premiere is supposed to do. It established relationships, a season-long arc, character trajectories, and even a couple of smaller plots. We saw Nancy and her dad were on the rocks, she and George didn’t get along in high school, Bess is rich but living in a van, Tiffany Hudson was murdered and the crew are suspects, George is sleeping with Ryan, Ace is working for the police, and we found the bloody Lucy Sable dress in Nancy’s attic, to name but a few.

You guys, that is a lot of plot lines. And the writers explored and solved every single one of them over the course of the season.

Now we have the season 2 premiere. The crew tries to find a mirror to fight the Aglaeca, meets a mouthy dude, and takes a break from the Aglaeca to hide from the Gorham wraith. (Gorham is 100% a play on Gotham fight me.) Like yes there is more if you squint, but aside from that nothing all that major really happened. Mr. Hudson is setting up a defense, but we knew that already. Ryan wants a relationship with Nancy and is pissed at Carson for keeping her a secret, but we knew that already. The new head cop doesn’t trust Nancy or the crew at all, but, again, we knew that already.

But since this was still a good episode even if a lackluster premiere, I will still give you some positives.

The Gorham wraith you guys, oh my god the horror was fantastic. Nancy Drew is really looking every other magic show’s super special effects in the eye as it hits them over the the head with a folding chair made by their costuming and makeup department. The scarecrow coming to life, banging on the back of the bus, crawling in after Nancy? On point. I was on the edge of my seat.

Ryan I know you are an asshole and your character arc is a work in progress but kidnapping? Are you serious right now? “Your suicidal girlfriend begged us to hide and take care of her child right before jumping off a cliff. Also I didn’t even know you were the father.” “Omg how dare you. Time for BLACKMAIL.” It’ll be interesting to see how this whole Ryan v Carson thing plays out. I suspect maybe Carson will become like an example father figure to Ryan, teach him how to be good to Nancy. Something like “if you’re serious about being a father lesson number one is it’s not about you anymore, it’s about her. And you sending me to prison won’t just hurt me it’ll hurt Nancy.” I think that would be a nice parallel, Kate was Lucy’s guidance counselor, and now Carson will be Ryan’s parental counselor/therapist/whatever.

I’m going to be completely honest here, I totally forgot Nick and George had not actually told Nancy they are together. No idea how long this is going to go on for, I suspect not that long, but maybe up until like episode 5 or 6. I do think it would be fun if Nancy found out in like the absolute worst way possible. Like here is my worst/best case scenario. I know Nancy is supposed to have some kind of thing with Gil so let’s say they hook up a couple times and he burns her, as he probably will, and Nancy goes to Nick cause she’s upset and needs to talk, and when he opens the door thinking it’s the pizza guy he is shirtless and George is in the bed behind him. Unlikely, but fun to imagine. But however they do it, all the Nick and George fans will undoubtedly get some fun footage of them sneaking around, so enjoy guys.

All the Nancy and Ace shippers are also getting good material, even if I want to grab Ace by the shoulders and physically shake him.

Nancy: I can’t let you guys help me summon the Aglaeca, there could be really bad consequences.

Crew: Psh, consequences? What consequences? We have the power of FRIENDSHIP.

*Aglaeca sends them all death visions*

Ace: How dare you drag me into this Nancy I can’t believe we’re all going to die because of you.

LIKE BRUH. ACE. MY GUY. If you could maybe use your considerable brain power to pull your head out of your ass for TWO SECONDS I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks. But aside from that, their scene at the end? Poetic cinema. The slow burn is strong with this one. Even if I do have faith she will eventually find her way back to Nick aaaaaaaaah

Not sure how I feel about the twins yet. I know they were in some other ND-verse book series, but tbh I only ever read the Nancy Drew books. I never delved into the Hardy Boys or anything else, I was a Drew girl all the way. I do think the writers could maybe have done a better job introducing us to Gil and making us like him. Like they were definitely going for the Han Solo type I feel, and George being all “wow the Bobsey twins are hardcore” as he ups the price while literally dying. Um, George, no, the Bobsey twins are fucking morons, or at least Mr. Diabetic over here is. It says a lot that Amanda had only two lines of dialogue and I liked her considerably more than Gil. But who knows, maybe they’ll grow on me. And they did mention their family used to work for the Hudsons, I would bet good money they know about more than one skeleton that’s been stuffed in the closet.

This paragraph right here is for me and the like two other Drewson shippers in the fandom. Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the first meeting flashback oh my god. I was dying. I rewatched it ten times. I am in love. The way they both just sort of stared at each other, the way Nancy clearly feels a certain amount of nostalgia for him and what they had. I am deceased. Honest to god I don’t care how many Nick x George and Nancy x Ace moments the writers throw at us, just as long as I continue to get crumbs like that I am good. Have faith guys.

And finally, oh my dear, talented writers. I would like to know when exactly you are planning on pulling my three most favorite women out of whatever floorboard you have stuffed them under. I WOULD LIKE DEAD LUCY, VICTORIA, AND HANNAH GRUEN TO PLEASE STAND UP. Yes I know Hannah Gruen is in the next episode but the wait is excruciating. And if the last time we saw Dead Lucy was going to be in the courtroom scene, her standing in the doorway as Nancy read her suicide note? I am going to mcfreaking lose it.

Well that’s all for today. Sorry this took so long, I guess I just wasn’t all that inspired by this premiere episode. But hopefully I will get the next one finished much quicker. And with that, I leave you until Wednesday the 27th when Nancy Drew 2x2, The Reunion of Lost Souls airs. See ya

[zhanex]

RWBY Rant

Always said that I wouldn't make a petty-ass rant like this, but w/e, might as well vent out my feelings. Also always said I wouldn’t post it to Tumblr of all places, but RT’s comment section has a character limit and I wasn’t going to write multiple comments to get my feelings out, SO...

This is the volume that made me stop watching RWBY. After being hooked way back with the original Red Trailer release, what, 9 years ago now? I'm just done. Really, V7 was the one that made me want to stop, but I figured, hey, give V8 a shot, it might pull things together! It did not. Instead, everything about V7 that turned me off this show I've loved for years just got worse, episode after episode. V5 had me there before, but V6 won me back over handily. Made me excited watching, made me interested to see where the plot and characters were going. V7 (and subsequently 8) then proceeded to squander everything I thought there was to look forward to.

Weiss, first and foremost. She's my favorite character. Atlas is her birthplace. V6 had several scenes focusing on her anxiety returning there. And what happened with that? Nothing. She had one confrontation with her dad, and then her never-before-seen mother handed her the win over him. Her major personal conflict, built up since the very start of the show, wrapped up with a PUNCHLINE through no effort of her own. And, just to make things worse, any hope of a more satisfying closure to that plot was dashed when her abusive father got killed by a crazed gunman.

Then, we've got Winter and Penny! Weiss' sister was certainly the most developed of her familial relationships previously, and she got a lot of focus in Atlas! Did Weiss play a part in any of that development? Nope! Instead, Penny got the lions share of focus for Winter's development and eventual turning on her boss. Even with the possibility of some conflict in their ideals being raised at the end of V7, did anything actually come of it? No, Winter and Weiss never once encountered each other while on "Opposite Sides", Winter brushed off any mention of Weiss, Weiss seemed generally unconcerned, and ultimately Winter turned not due to any sort of confrontation or conflict, but just Ironwood going so crazy even Winter could see it!

Likewise with Winter, after V6 had her steadfastly in Weiss' corner, Ruby -established from the series' onset as Weiss' partner and one of her first and closest friends- spent this arc focused nigh-wholely on Penny. She and Weiss barely said a word to each other the entire arc! Two characters closely tied to Weiss, all the reason to presume she'd get a spotlight in Atlas, just to be usurped by Penny, and for what? Killing her off! "Kill" a character off, bring her back years later because "Robot", make her the center of attention for 2 whole volumes, go all the way with her Pinocchio allusion, just to kill her! And give the super powers she temporarily inherited to the person they were telegraphed as being for in the first place! I'll admit that I really did like Winter and Penny's dynamic, but with how ultimately pointless Penny's return feels, it just makes me wish that time had been spent developing any of the dozens of other plot threads fighting for some scrap of screentime! I will say this much though: As far as pointless gut-punches to try and get an emotional reaction from your audience goes, Penny is at least a better attempt than Clover. But then having Jaune be the one to do it, likely just to add to his own fucking angst, again? That's insult to injury.

Then there's Ren and Nora! It utterly confounded me choosing to have their relationship finally be focused on in Atlas. After ending V6 cuddled together, V7 sees Ren rather spontaneously become a brooding grouch. And after having suddenly become this angsty grouch through V7 and the first half of 8, Ren develops a new use of his Semblance and develops... right back into the calm-headed, friendly support he always was previously. Nora gets off slightly better, getting to show more of her thoughtful, introspective side. But is that gonna go anywhere? Given my disappointment in Weiss' and Ren's arcs, I'm inclined to believe "No."

My exacerbation with their focus at this point only grew when their positions seemed to suddenly reverse at the start of V8 too! Where in V7 Nora's attitude was "What about Mantle?!" first and foremost, in V8 she was right behind Ruby prioritizing a long-term goal. This is an exact reversal of Ren following Ironwood's long-term planning in V7, only to switch to "We should focus on helping Mantle first" in V8!

Oscar is another sore point for me. The "Chosen One" with a legacy of eons behind him, the "Good" contrasting the "Evil" Salem. I see how much clear attention goes into his character; the subtle details of his animation and voice work, the work put into portraying his assimilation into "Oz"... and it annoys the hell out of me. Ruby, one of the title characters, on whom the narrative seems to so badly want to focus its themes of hope and unity, has barely gotten a SCRAP of development in 8 volumes. Meanwhile, introduced halfway through, and Oscar has gotten so much attention, he seems like a clear "Main Character" more than anyone else! I know this has been said to death, but I feel it bears repeating: I watched RWBY for RWBY!

And that really is the point. RWBY feel like side characters in RWBY. The show's production puts out a single season annually, comprised of similarly short episodes. It's like every character and plotline has to fight to get any bit of attention and development, and RWBY -the title characters- feel totally brushed to the side in this Atlas Arc. Character bloat is a huge issue with as brief as the show ultimately is. I'd seen some folks express that, "Oh, it's just temporary. They'll trim the cast some when they leave Atlas!" And then, what happens? The show transplants the entire population and most of the focused cast from Atlas to Vacuo, the next likely arc location. It is mind-boggling what a bad move this is.

Even with RWBY (+Jaune and Neo) being separated from most of the cast, I can't see that lasting for more than a volume. And even if that volume were to focus just on them, rather than cutting back and forth between them and the larger cast (which it probably will), that's still just 1 volume before they're back to being sidelined as even more characters are introduced. Weiss the most, as I've elaborated; Ruby the longest, having yet to receive any significant degree of focus; Yang and Blake as well. And I group them together, because the show certainly seems to. Even having nothing to really do plot-wise, even with as much that got pushed to the side, they kept throwing in little background flirtations between the two. Like that's all they're good for anymore.

Yang fares slightly better of the two. While I hated how she started V8, undermining Ruby's role as leader, seemingly blaming her for the worsening turn of events -Ruby, her own sister!- they did get a good scene regarding Summer later on. Would that I could believe it was going somewhere.

Likewise, Blake also got a nice scene with Ruby. But while a nice scene on its own, to me it just spoke of how little focus Ruby's character has actually gotten. People have talked for ages about Ruby having a "Breakdown." A moment focused on her character coming to grips with all the horrible things she's had to go through, before finally being given a moment to lean on others, rather than being built up as a pillar they all lean on. And the hardcore shipper in me would love that moment to have Weiss specifically supporting her, but sadly it being a team moment seems far more likely.

As my obvious dissatisfaction with many of the turns RWBY has taken recently may indicate, I've lost any hope of such a moment coming to pass. I have no confidence that the lead, title character, will ever get a moment focused on her being developed. And even if it did, I have even less hope that it would actually be a satisfying moment, and not rushed along for the sake of the plot.

And that, in short (hah) is why I'm just done even bothering. Because I just can't picture anything happening with this show anymore, that isn't just plain bad.

[en-theheights]

How I feel about the cast of Andi Mack since the finale is about to be a YEAR OLD: (this is my opinion soooo..)

Peyton (Andi): She is so Graceful! She’s turned into a beautiful young women, and I’m excited to see where her career goes cause I know it’ll be good! She’s really quiet when it comes to social media, but from what I can tell she’s just living a good ordinary teenage life.

Sofia (Buffy): it’s literally Sofia, a freaking QUEEENNN!!!✨ she has probably grown the most out of everybody imo, career wise. She has moved on to so many different projects that’s really putting her name on the map. She is beautiful, and as always so well-spoken and an amazing role-model for younger kids. I don’t like picking favorites,,,, but Sofia is literally my Favorite.

Joshua (Cyrus): uhhhh...idk honestly. Josh did a lot of really awful things during the running of Andi Mack, and even after. He’s doing better now I guess, but after Andi Mack was officially over, I just kind of forgot about him. He’s super political, which for me can sometimes be annoying, but other than that I guess I say my feelings for him are neutral.

Lilan (Bex): I haven’t been following her much after the end of Andi Mack, but as I can see she is living a good adult life with a bunch of her friends and family. Seems to still be an awesome person doing great things.

Trent (Bowie): He’s so perfect, like omg. I always see him leaving comments on some of Asher’s and Sofia’s Instagram post, and he just gives off the best dad vibes. It looks like he’s living a good quiet life with his fiancé (wife maybe?) and her son.

Asher (Jonah): Uhhhhh.....ehhhhhhhh...Asher is...whelp just Asher. imo, Asher has become EXTREMELY irriating on all of his social medias. He only ever post about his music career and... that’s it. His Instagram is just flooded with a bunch of tik toks from fans, and his merch, and his music, and I feel like I don’t know Asher at all. I’ve never really liked Asher much, he seemed a bit..off to me. He did just recently break up with his girlfriend ( which I was lowkey happy about, that girl is the reason he didn’t go to the last and final cast party and I will NEVER FORGET IT) so maybe that’s why he acts super strange. All in all, I could care less about what he’s up to now, but I will be tuning in for Shazam 2 when it premieres.

Lauren (Cecila): She’s adorable! She’s not very active on social media, but when she is she’s always talking about Andi Mack. Not much to say about her, but I will always and forever love Cecila !!!

St*ney (Ham): Fuck this dude. A phedophile, and just weird. I’m pretty sure the reason that Andi Mack didn’t get a season four is heavily due to the situation involving him. When all that came crashing down, I felt like it was Andi mack’s breaking point, and they just decided to end it at season 3. I will never forgive him for ending an amazing show, and I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison.

Emily ( Amber): When I think of Emily, I immediately think of grass and flowers. She’s super out-doorsy, and all of her picks are of just her and nature. She’s seems likes she doing well. Also to add on, her style is EECENTRIC LIKE I WISH I HAD A STYLE SENSE LIKE HER.

Garren (Marty): he hasn’t been active on any social media’s, but Garren is a phenomenal actor because he can go from being cutesy Marty to hood-gangster Garren. From what I can tell, he’s sticking to a rapping career, so I hope eveything is well. To add on, I don’t think he ever said anything during the finale or the end of Andi Mack. He was a hardcore Muffy shipper, but then came their endgame and he had nothing to say.

Luke (TJ): Luke is a CHARACTER, I’ll tell you that much. He is overly obsessed with all of his activist stuff. Like yay for the environment, but he takes it a step too far. He’s also just says some really weird shit on his Twitter. Idk how it’s going for him but I hoped he’s well. Also he’s been canceled like 12 billion times, but I’m not 100% sure why.

Darius (Walker): Seems like a cool dude. Not even going to cap, I have no idea what he’s up to.

Raquel (Kira): I see her in One Day At a Time now, so I’m guessing she’s doing good. Don’t know anything about her either, oops.

[seyaryminamoto]

hii, can you tell me more about why you’re anti sukka?

... Okay, now, that’s an inaccurate statement.

As per current internet terminology, I’m not ANTI Sukka. These days, an anti is someone who obsesses with the ships they hate, and spends an insane amount of time harassing fans of the ship, attacking other shippers, making content to disparage the ship and pretending they’re on some sort of superior moral high ground by doing all these things. While I’ve made occasional posts on why I don’t ship Sukka, I don’t think I’ve made any since AGES ago. I don’t get in the way of anyone who does ship it and I wouldn’t even say I HATE the ship. In truth, I just don’t care for it. I won’t read or look for content about it, but that’s not the same as hating a ship, let alone the same as harrassing its shippers: so I’m not anti-Sukka, I just don’t ship Sukka.

Now, since your question’s intent was to figure out why don’t I ship it...

... Warning: long, long essay that won’t sit well with any hardcore Sukka shippers right under the cut. I would be using a truncated term like su*ka throughout the whole post if only the anon hadn’t already used the actual ship name, but regrettably, it’s likely to show up in your tags all the same. I am sorry, preemptively, if it does: please ignore it for your own good and go on your merry way without letting me ruin your day.

I haven’t talked about this for ages tbh. But anyways, here we go.

When I watched The Warriors of Kyoshi for the first time, I actually liked Suki plenty. I liked her initial conflict and chemistry with Sokka, though I wasn’t big on how she made him wear the Kyoshi Warriors uniform when it clearly made him uncomfortable, but all in all, I liked how their relationship had shaped up at that point and I even looked forward to Suki returning in future episodes.

On my first watch of ATLA, I seriously saw nothing wrong in Sukka. I didn’t think a lot of things through during that first time I watched the show, I was just binging the whole thing like a maniac (like a lot of people are doing at the time), so I found their relationship perfectly acceptable as it was, for the show I was watching.

And then later rewatches, even before the Sokkla bug bit me as hard as it has, I realized maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

One of the things I really, REALLY don’t like about Sukka to this day is how unequal their relationship is in terms of how the characters are written in the show. Basically, the same complaint I have about Asami in LOK applies to Suki ever since she reappears in Book 2, but ESPECIALLY in Book 3: her character ends up revolving almost exclusively around Sokka.

Meanwhile, Sokka appears to forget about her surprisingly often and easily.

Instance #1: there’s no sign of Sokka holding a torch for Suki when he first develops a crush on Yue. Implying that, while Suki impressed him, his feelings for her weren’t necessarily romantic despite she outright kissed his cheek... whereas he is crushing, HARD, on Yue. In contrast, Suki was so affected by Team Avatar’s visit to her island that she took off to help people around the world to follow their example. Sokka (and his friends) have a huge impact on Suki’s life... whereas Suki’s impact, sure, taught Sokka to set aside his sexism, but he’s never even seen reflecting on how much Suki has changed him because of this? Neither is Katara portrayed mentioning how much nicer he became after meeting Suki? There’s not a single sign through the rest of the season of how much Suki has meant for Sokka, whether as a teacher, friend or potential love interest.

Instance #2: after initially hesitating to kiss Suki in the Serpent’s Pass, Sokka finally kisses her once they’re about to part ways before she returns to the Kyoshi Warriors. It’s soooo very romantic... until, a mere episode later, Ty Lee openly flirts with Sokka and, instead of reacting as he does later in the season (with a comment along the lines of ”Uh, I’m with someone else”), Sokka merely WAVES AND SMILES. I... don’t even understand why the writers did this. They spent the entire season featuring Sokka avoiding Ty Lee, or being fully hostile with her, but somehow RIGHT AFTER establishing his relationship with Suki, he’s shown behaving like this? It doesn’t make any sense to me. It basically says either he’s not taking his relationship with Suki all that seriously, or he’s just blatantly disloyal, and considering how devoted he was to Yue, I can’t bring myself to believe it’s the second thing. A writing oversight? Eh...

Instance #3: when Toph talks about the moon turning mean, Sokka rages and rants about how nice the moon is. Why do I bring this up? Because Yue is out of reach. Yue is gone: he still feels the need to defend her from someone who isn’t really insulting her despite that. MEANWHILE... Suki’s fate, at the time, is unknown. Sokka has no idea if Azula captured her, left her for dead, tossed her in a river, sold her to a traveling circus...? He doesn’t. He seriously doesn’t. He can’t KNOW what Azula did because the last thing he knew, Mai and Ty Lee were masquerading as Kyoshi Warriors. Implying them, and their leader, did something to the group his girlfriend was part of. And yet, for an entire season finale AND the first half of Book 3, Sokka betrays zero intentions of wanting to discover what happened with Suki, or guilt about not being able to save her UNTIL AZULA BRINGS HER UP. I know it’s very sad for Sukka fans to see Sokka crying over Suki as he did when Azula taunts him... but why haven’t we seen the slightest sign of how affected he is by Suki’s presumed capture/murder/whatever he was imagining happening to her, when Book 2 features Sokka suffering over failing Yue in the Swamp, as well as rejecting Suki initially over guilt because of his lingering feelings for Yue, paired with fear of failing to protect those he cares about? And then in Book 3 he’s even standing up to Toph when she makes a careless comment about the moon spirit...? Why is it so easy to bring up Yue, but not Suki? Is this really just another writing oversight? So we’ve had TWO writing oversights about this relationship already, both of which suggest Suki is barely on Sokka’s mind at all? Is this oversight... or accidental characterization? :’)

Instance #4: Sokka and Zuko travel to the Boiling Rock. Sokka is determined to save his father. It’s a really cool, absolutely acceptable, very important decision for his character... but here’s the kicker: Sokka knows now, at this point, that Suki might still be alive and a prisoner of the Fire Nation. Azula outright said Suki had been WAITING FOR HIM AND GAVE UP BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME. This is what drives him to tears and to shout at Azula while wasting time during the Eclipse! :’D And then? Then he goes to Zuko, to ask him about Fire Nation prisons, and my gullible, first-watch self thought “oh, he wants to save Suki now that Azula said she’s alive! :D” ... only for his intent to be exclusively about his father. I’m not saying it’s WRONG for Sokka to privilege Hakoda over Suki, I mean, he is his father and Sokka really cares about family. It’s one of his main priorities, always has been. But isn’t it WEIRD that after Azula taunted him SO BAD about failing Suki, after saying Suki GAVE UP ON HIM, Sokka makes zero moves to find out if she might be alive and within reach? He could ask Zuko about her, maybe, seeing as he was on Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se and may have known a thing or two about any prisoners she captured in the Earth Kingdom? Sokka could have mentioned he wants to save BOTH Hakoda and Suki, and it doesn’t harm the story in the least for him to say something like that. It doesn’t make his efforts for Hakoda any lesser, and it shows Suki is a priority for him too... But no. Instead let’s feature him bumping into Suki by sheer luck, because that’s truly what it was, and instead of feeling any guilt for not helping her sooner, he’s just lovestruck and attempting to put moves on her when she doesn’t even know who he is yet. Super funny. Super romantic. Super lacking and I can’t understand why, WHY, someone would ever think this is how to write a quality romantic relationship?

Instance #5: connected to instance #4, actually. When traveling to the Boiling Rock, Sokka and Zuko have an awkward conversation. During this awkward conversation, Sokka asks Zuko if there was anything he left behind in the Fire Nation that he might have missed. Zuko smiles and talks about Mai. Sokka is surprised that the “gloomy girl who sighs a lot” was his girlfriend, and Zuko looks genuinely fond of her as he smiles and thinks of her. And then Sokka brings up his own romantic experience... WITH YUE. Instead of bringing up the girl who taught him girls can fight too, instead of bringing up the girl he hasn’t been able to save yet, the girl who MIGHT BE in the prison he’s headed towards, Sokka brings up the girl he absolutely CAN’T save anymore. He brings up the girl whose death most clearly scarred him, deeply, and I’m not trying to lessen the blow Yue’s sacrifice takes on Sokka... but Suki literally, LITERALLY, has something to do with the plot of this very episode? While “My girlfriend turned into the moon” “That’s rough, buddy” is a well-loved hilarious scene and line, I’d have sacrificed that IN A HEARTBEAT if the writers had thought to feature Sokka talking about Suki instead. He could’ve said Azula took her! He literally KNOWS this now, for a fact! Zuko could’ve told him “Hey, maybe she’s in the Boiling Rock too!”, and the plot of the episode wouldn’t have changed in the slightest, beyond featuring Sokka actively looking for BOTH Hakoda and Suki! But no. Again, no. Again, the writers choose to privilege Sokka’s bond with Yue over Suki. With Hakoda over Suki. With anyone else over Suki.

... whlie Suki, most obviously, has no one else she cares about more than Sokka. Why? Because she hasn’t even had enough screentime to establish any other significant relationships, and after the Boiling Rock, she doesn’t establish them anyways.

This causes Suki to feel like a Sokka satellite: SHE revolves around HIM. But Sokka? Sokka doesn’t revolve around Suki IN THE LEAST. Would it be healthy for him to be completely devoted and crazy over Suki to the point of disregarding his ties with other people over her? Hell, no! But it’s not healthy to feature Suki as good as doing that for Sokka either! :’D Suki doesn’t even have a solid, established friendship with any of the other Gaang members. She has POTENTIAL for it, but ever since she joins the Gaang she is most frequently shown interacting with Sokka and only on occasion with the others, but in no memorable, meaningful way with anyone but Sokka. She even joins Katara while searching for Aang in Sozin’s Comet, and we don’t see the slightest sign of unique, important bonding  between them. She saved Toph from drowning once, found out Toph has a crush on the same boy she likes, and it’d have been interesting if she, for instance, had refrained from seeking an openly romantic relationship with Sokka out of respect for Toph’s feelings? They could’ve had a conversation about it? With Toph telling her to go for it, maybe, because Sokka liked her too? Suki saying she doesn’t want to hurt her? A perfectly nice bonding situation for these two girls, showing quite a lot of respect between them, as well as respect for their personal relationships with Sokka?

But no. That doesn’t happen. 

The second important character Suki bonds most with is Zuko, and in the show, it’s exclusively because they’re with Sokka in the Boiling Rock. Once that’s over you can’t really say there’s any relevant, personal dynamics between them in the show. Heck, Suki tells him she wants a rematch with Azula in the Boiling Rock: Zuko could have offered her a chance to come with him to the Fire Nation and get that rematch, instead of offering it to Katara :’D Why doesn’t he? Because they DID take their time to establish a relationship between Zuko and Katara, even derrailing the show for a whole episode to ensure they would convince Katara to forgive Zuko for all the wrong he did, in the most absurd and contradictory situation possible. Meanwhile, a simple “sorry” from Zuko is enough for Suki to stop holding a grudge. You absolutely CAN interpret this as Suki not being the type to hold a grudge! Which, great! But you also CAN interpret this as the writers being way too lazy to give Suki as much time to forgive Zuko as she could have/should have needed. And sadly, while story-wise I’ll choose to read it the first way, I think, realistically, what happened was the second thing instead.

Suki doesn’t even have a meaningful relationship with Aang. AANG. I’m not saying she should have been his best friend, but Oyaji outright says “you kids had a big impact on her”. It’s PLURAL. It’s not supposed to mean “Sokka had a big impact on her”. Hell, Aang is Kyoshi’s PAST LIFE. Kyoshi is, in all likelihood, Suki’s hero! :’D And yet... nothing. Not even featuring Suki as a Kyoshi fangirl who knows all sorts of random facts about her, such as her favorite foods or the habits she enjoyed most, and Aang saying “oh hey, I like doing that too!”, so that they both could rejoice in this unique, curious shared common ground!

Nay. Nothing. Literally nothing. Her only serious, meaningful relationship is with Sokka... and like I said, whenever Sokka is asked about meaningful relationships with girls, his brain goes “Yue”, immediately, even when the plot would benefit from him saying “Suki” at least ONCE. He’ll sit out at night watching the moon, but he can’t be bothered to bring up how frustrating it is for Azula to have captured Suki whether before or after the Invasion. Yes, Sokka is shown to be the kind of guy who grieves quietly: why is it so much easier, then, to see his quiet grieving for Yue than his concern for Suki?

The truth is, it’s a writing shortcoming. It’s not even something I’d blame on Sokka’s character because, as I always have said, his relationship with Yue really highlights what a wonderful boyfriend he can be when he’s seriously interested in someone. He takes Yue out on dates, gives her gifts, fights for her people, fights the fiancé who only objectifies her, tries to protect her from fulfilling a destiny that will kill her? This is all top-tier romance hero behavior. It is. Why the hell isn’t this behavior seen with Suki too?

It’s not a matter of Suki being a warrior rather than a Princess so she doesn’t need him to act the same way he did with Yue: the show outright, literally, explicitly states Suki is a girl and a warrior, implying Sokka could easily enough woo her the same way he does with Yue, if he cared to. But he doesn’t. It’s Suki with the initiative when their actual romantic relationship begins, and later on Sokka can forget Suki is his girlfriend whenever it suits his fancy, to absolutely no consequences.

So... does this mean, then, that Sokka, in canon, only tries really hard when he’s chasing after someone he can’t be with? That he slacks off and drops the ball when the girl is already his? Well, that’s... not good. Not healthy. Not pretty.

This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing good about Sukka altogether, there are a few things about the ship that aren’t bad... but even then, scenes like “Sokka makes a gross sand sculpture and says it’s Suki” aren’t really that heartwarming to me. It’s not only a comedic relief scene that tries to feature these two as super romantic dorks... but it only reinforces one of the main shortcomings in this relationship for me:

Sokka doesn’t even have to TRY.

He doesn’t. He can make a gross-looking statue, say it’s Suki, and she won’t even make suggestions to improve it? She just says it’s perfect this way. It’s basically the kind of coddling Ursa did with Zuko when Zuko messed up in his firebending display and Ursa said it was wonderful. In the case of a couple, it feels like a mix of cute and condescending? Suki accepts Sokka as he is, sure, so she doesn’t challenge him, doesn’t try to make him do better, he doesn’t need to improve his work... because she’s fine with whatever she gets from him. 

This is complacency. It’s a relationship neither one needs to make efforts for. Suki will always accept Sokka’s occasional romantic gestures, even if he leaves so much to be desired in his relationship with her, as opposed to his relationship with Yue. And I’m not saying Sokka DOESN’T care about Suki, but he doesn’t need to do better with her, and while that’s just what Sokka may think he wants/needs for the future, in truth, that’s not what makes his character thrive.

What makes Sokka’s character grow amazingly is CHALLENGE. And I don’t mean that he needs a girlfriend difficult to be with and out of reach (like Yue): I mean that, when faced with a love interest who keeps him on his toes and makes him continue pushing his boundaries, Sokka would genuinely develop and grow further as a man, warrior, leader and love interest. Look at how fast he develops into a quality swordsman while training with Piandao: why? Because it was a challenge. Because it was an opportunity to hone his skills. Because he had to rise up to prove himself, and HE DOES. In the Invasion? He feels he can’t measure up to Hakoda, but in the end? He winds up LEADING the whole operation. People FLOCK to him as he draws out the battle plans and strategies they’ll follow so they can figure out where Ozai is and take him out before the eclipse ends. Right after thinking he couldn’t do it, when the situation DEMANDED that he stepped up, he did and he goddamn EXCELLED at it, proving himself well above these challenges indeed.

THESE are the moments where his character shines the brightest. And a relationship that wasn’t so complacent would do this kind of thing for Sokka’s character just as well: a challenging relationship would promote his GROWTH. He wouldn’t be stunted in simplicity with someone who doesn’t give up on him when he spends MONTHS disregarding her circumstances. Because the truth is, I see Sokka as an overachiever in denial: he wants to go the extra mile, to do things no one else has done before, but because he’s stuck in a world where he doesn’t have the crazy powers his friends do, he wrongfully assumes they’re the ones who’ll do amazing things and he’ll just lag behind them, so he figures it’s better not to bother trying to stand out at all. Yet look at him, figuring out the perfect plan to take down Ozai’s fleet: look at him, making such an impression on Piandao, epic swordmaster, that Piandao even says “If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am.”

Sokka has incredible, extraordinary potential as a character. He has huuuuge anxieties and sources of anguish and insecurities, and those only make his potential greater. He has flaws that can be worked on, there’s so much room for growth...

And the true reason I can’t support Sukka, on Sokka’s end, is because I don’t think that relationship will encourage him to grow any further.

Meanwhile, I can’t support it on Suki’s end because I don’t think she deserves to be an afterthought for a boyfriend who has so much going on in his life that she’s a secondary or even tertiary thing in his life unless she’s right in front of him. And even when he doesn’t have that much going on (meaning, during the first FOUR comic trilogies), he’s shown traveling the world with his friends instead of spending time with her. And heck, where Suki SHOULD have arrived in the South Pole with Zuko as his guard during North and South, Suki doesn’t show up at all. Why? Seriously, what sort of logic explains that the Fire Lord’s appointed BODYGUARD would stay behind in the Fire Nation while Zuko travels halfway across the world, with hell knows how many dangers ahead? If she HAD gone with Zuko, she would’ve had a chance to spend more time with Sokka and it’d even be a point in Sukka’s favor. But that doesn’t happen. To make matters even worse, Sokka doesn’t even tell Aang to say hi to Suki for him when Aang leaves to the Fire Nation by himself in Smoke and Shadow? There are TWO WHOLE PANELS as Aang takes off on Appa with NO DIALOGUE. Sokka calling after Aang to ask him to say hi to Suki literally would’ve fit PERFECTLY, right there! But no. Suki doesn’t even get that much from her boyfriend.

Seriously, it’s NOT THAT HARD to show a healthy long-distance relationship. It’s not that difficult to feature Suki and Sokka longing to see each other but having too much going on to meet up. But that’s not what we got with Sukka, not in the comics, not in the show. Fans ARE free to believe otherwise, and I’m not going to trample on someone who thinks we just conveniently never get to see the healthiest aspects of their very positive relationship... but there’s no genuine evidence to back up this belief. It’s just wishful thinking and hoping that things are far better behind the scenes than what we’re genuinely shown.

Again... I blame the writing. Especially seeing as Yang’s writing of Sokka is DISMAL. But it doesn’t erase what’s already there. It doesn’t do away with the very obvious problems in this relationship.

The positive moments Sukka gets are offset, for me, by all the negatives. The meaningful relationship they could have developed feels underdeveloped instead, something we should take for granted is there and nothing more. And even those positive moments and episodes aren’t necessarily that positive?

In particular, I point to The Ember Island Players: there are soooooo many messed up things about Sukka in this episode I have no idea how people aren’t more bothered by them. First of all: the episode features Sokka crying about Yue’s staged death scene, and Suki is shown amused, saying she had no idea Sokka had made out with the moon spirit. First of all: SOKKA DIDN’T TELL SUKI ABOUT YUE. Her initial reaction here is amusement, for some reason...? Yet as we already saw that there’s no real bad blood between her and Toph despite she, of all people, KNOWS Toph has a crush on the same guy she likes, there’s no real reason to think Suki would behave like a jealous fiend if she knew Sokka had a relationship with someone else before her. Yet Sokka doesn’t tell her about it: this implies he either doesn’t trust her, or doesn’t know her well enough to realize she WON’T be a jealous fiend, and outright assumes she will be one because of mistaken preconceptions about how relationships work.

At this point, Sokka and Suki have been officially together since Book 2, episode 12. Book 2 happens in spring. Book 3′s conclusion is at the end of summer. This means Sokka has had about four-five months of a relationship with Suki. Out of which, yes, she spent the majority of those months in prison :’D but then he rescued her! And... apparently proceeded not to tell her about his experiences while fighting in the war? To not share his biggest failure to protect someone he cared about? So... to NOT open up to Suki about anything that genuinely mattered?

Considering he’s willing to snap at Toph when she brings up the moon could be “mean”, considering he’s willing to tell Zuko that his first girlfriend turned into the moon when they’re only starting to trust each other... this unwillingness to tell Suki about Yue feels OFF. It doesn’t make any sense. His relationship with Yue was far from something to be ashamed of. It meant A LOT to him. Why the heck hide it from Suki, when all the reasons sound either condescending or distrustful as hell?

Ah. Because the writers thought this scene would be funny, that’s why.

And the funny scene gets even BETTER when Sokka shushes Suki and proceeds to cry about Yue’s death: he’s shutting her out. And hey... Suki doesn’t like this. She turns her face around and looks pretty irritated, whether by being shushed or by his unwillingness to share his past with her or BOTH THINGS...

... And then the show doesn’t acknowledge this OBVIOUS, SIZABLE, IMPORTANT shortcoming of their relationship ever again.

We’re supposed to assume Sokka explained everything later just because? Hell, he looks like he has absolutely no intentions of doing that. If you ask me, it even could feel like he thinks his relationship with Yue is none of Suki’s business? And that’s not pretty. That’s not good romance writing, no matter how you look at it.

This, of course, is not everything: there’s another two unpleasant situations in this episode alone! :’D

The second one is a slightly smaller one, but bears mentioning all the same: Aang is annoyed when the play makes a mockery of Zutara, so he gets up and leaves: Sokka tells him to bring him snacks. After his initial request, Sokka wraps an arm around Suki and they’re shown surprisingly cuddly now, DESPITE their previous impasse. At first, Suki smiles fondly at him. But then he turns around and asks Aang for more snacks. And then Suki outright looks ANNOYED, while Sokka looks like he doesn’t give a single crap.

This, I feel, ties in with what I mentioned earlier about how Sokka doesn’t even have to try with Suki: Suki isn’t merely a happy girl who thinks Sokka can do no wrong. She CAN be annoyed by him and his behavior, but for some reason, she chooses not to bring up her grievances with how he’s acting, even if it doesn’t sit well with her?

So while there’s supposed to be something so very cute with the monster blob sand statue, her approval doesn’t feel genuine to me. I simply can’t see it as genuine. Because when you feature Suki smiling in that strangely motherly way, saying the statue is “sweet” (instead of, I don’t know, saying she actually sees the artistic merit of it (if she did) or saying he just needs to put in a bit more work), she’s focusing exclusively on making SOKKA feel better about himself. And when Suki is annoyed? He doesn’t have to show remotely the same amount of consideration or compassion she displays for him. Why? Because she sweeps her feelings under the rug and lets him get away with everything he does, even things she’s not happy about. She lets him get away with keeping important secrets, lets him get away with annoying her in the middle of the play, AND...

... lets him get away with rubbing in Suki’s face that Azula kicked her ass :’)

Look, I’m not even being my biased shipper self here. The third unpleasant thing in Ember Island Players is that Suki decides to point out that Team Avatar keeps getting out of deadly pinches by sheer luck and that they lose a lot! She doesn’t say this with concern: she looks sardonic, like she’s legit mocking them. It’d feel completely out of place if she hadn’t been annoyed by Sokka earlier, so it feels (to me) like she’s just taunting him because she’s already not in the best of moods and expects to feel better by making fun of him. Not a terrible crime, but a rather strange one to commit too, considering she’s making fun of her boyfriend damn near dying all the time. You’d think, maybe, that kind of possibility should worry her a little more...?

... But then Sokka retaliates with: “You're one to talk, Suki. Didn't Azula take you captive? That's right, she did!”

Isn’t it goddamn WEIRD that Sokka would bring up what, according to a large amount of Suki’s fanbase, must have been a terribly scarring experience for Suki... just to win an argument with her? Just to piss her off because she’s making fun of him? They’re BOTH shown being remarkably inconsiderate towards each other and the struggles they faced in their respective journeys in this scene. It’s supposed to be lighthearted bickering, but the subject they’re choosing to talk about isn’t lighthearted AT ALL.

According to some Suki fans, Suki could have even been tortured, tormented in thousand ways, by Azula when she took her prisoner. There were whole posts going around about how heartwarming it was for Suki to still be waiting for Sokka, no matter what...!

And THIS is how Sokka reacted to Suki’s patient waiting for him? THIS? By telling her “lol loser Azula caught you anyhow so your argument’s invalid”? If Suki HAD gone through some serious torture, beyond getting stripped off her uniform, how on earth would it be healthy for Sokka to use this allegedly mentally scarring experience AGAINST HIS GIRLFRIEND?

Now then, it WOULD BE fucked up, but the truth is, Suki wasn’t tortured at all, so the whole delusional, tragic “Suki is so emotionally strong because she believed in the man who would come save her even in the darkest of moments!” is honestly nonsense in the end: a girl who was tortured, tormented and anguished by the memories of whatever she experienced in Azula’s hands wouldn’t have retorted to Sokka’s comment with an irritated: “Are you trying to get on my bad side?”

Yet again, Suki is annoyed.

They’re both annoyed by each other’s arguments. 

But their discussion ENDS at this point, and goes forgotten, again. 

Suki isn’t even a quality bickering source for Sokka, because as soon as Sokka rebuffs with a counterargument she doesn’t like, she turns things personal and takes offense. Where he may not have taken her initial taunt as a particular, personal attack, she does interpret his words that way.

AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO FORGET ABOUT THEIR ARGUMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS, YET AGAIN :’)

Now then... is all this so terrible? Am I making too big a deal out of small things that shouldn’t be inspected so closely, especially as they were likely written with humorous intent and nothing more? It’s entirely possible!

You see, I don’t exactly love the way romance is handled in ATLA because it’s frankly always flawed and faulty beyond belief. People often have said one of the three canon relationships is better than the others, but at this point I disagree altogether: they’re all written to be flawed and have huge gaps of logic in the behavior of the characters involved. The girls are always shown as prioritizing the boy above everything else ever, and the boys are too often shown leaving them behind, forgetting about their love interests alarmingly frequently, being outright FORCED by the plot to let go of their attachment to them, whereas there’s no such conflicts or situations with the girls, in the least! Implying that it’s fine for girls to be completely devoted to a relationship, to the point where their whole LIVES revolve around the boy they like, but the boy shouldn’t behave the same way and must learn to leave the girl behind or put her aside instead?

... The implicit sexism in this consistent writing element in ALL THREE CANON RELATIONSHIPS is honestly pretty disturbing. I don’t think I need to say much more about it, do I?

Now though, I will, however, point out that it’s relatively good for canon NOT to show Kataang, Maiko or Sukka as perfect relationships because it IS realistic. It’s not pretty, but it is realistic. These characters are children or teenagers who quite often didn’t even have good role models of romance in their parents or peers, let alone even slightly decent childhoods, so for them to be 100% healthy in terms of romance would have been utterly absurd. Therefore, these kids would be expected to make mistakes and then learn from them so their relationships improve over time.

Sokka and Suki’s relationship is flawed, which only lends MORE believability to it, because the characters aren’t warped to fit the narrative, to play them as unmistakably perfect, ideal partners for each other. But those flaws do lend for problems like the ones I pointed out above...

And you see, the ultimate problem is that these characters DON’T learn from those mistakes. They don’t. Mai and Zuko are shown making the exact same blunders in the show and the comics, hell, sometimes even worse ones in the comics. Sokka and Suki still act like they’re totally in love ONLY when they happen to be in the same place and even then? Suki outright ignores Azula’s zapping attack at Sokka in The Search! SHE’S IN THE SAME COURTYARD! But it’s the THREE BENDERS who come to Sokka’s “rescue”, despite he doesn’t even NEED rescuing, since the attack was goddamn meaningless anyhow. 

The point is, however, that Suki is right there, damn it, taking care of APPA. And she’d sooner look after the sky bison that than check on her boyfriend, who was just “attacked” by her WORST ENEMY, WITH WHOM SHE WANTED A REMATCH???

Seriously. What logic is this. What kind of ROMANCE is this. It doesn’t make any sense to me, and if I were a Sukka fan I’d be beyond outraged by watching my favorite relationship written so carelessly.

So, because Yang’s writing isn’t even ALLOWED to move anything too far forward, because Bryke don’t want that, none of these relationships have developed in any interesting ways after the show. AT BEST you could say Kataang definitely act differently in the comics than they did in the show, for better or for worse, so you can say there’s some changes in their dynamics, though those changes aren’t necessarily related to genuine character growth. But Maiko? Same old story. Sukka? Same old story.

What exactly does Sukka do for Sokka at this point? He has someone to make out with whenever they cross paths? Yeah, okay, cool. And? That’s it? For that matter, he could be making out with anyone else just the same. What kind of room for growth does she offer him? Going by how she doesn’t even need him around her, by how she has never needed anything but mediocrity from him, I can’t say there’s anything to be found. Their relationship already dealt with its biggest possible hurdle WHEN THEY FIRST MET. That’s the main growth Suki offered Sokka, and now she can’t give him anything else because he’s way too efficient and learned everything she could teach him right away :’) Paired with this, Suki wasn’t developed enough as a character either, so if she has other regards in which she can teach Sokka a thing or two, we simply don’t know it, and the comics refuse to show it to us too, so up to date, Suki is severely underdeveloped by canon and will continue to be, as far as I can tell.

Which, of course, factors in the next question: what does Sukka do for Suki? Honestly, nothing. If this relationship did something interesting for her character, we’d have tons of things to say and discuss about her, but the truth is all Suki-related discussion tends to have nothing to do with Sokka (her past and growth as a Kyoshi Warrior, her future post-canon, whatever the heck happened to her by LOK’s time... I’ve never seen anyone genuinely pondering anything about her relationship with Sokka beyond “did they stay together or not?!?!”). Suki is at her best when she’s with the Kyoshi Warriors, because it’s the only element of her character that DOESN’T revolve around Sokka. Going by the plot of the Shells comic, she could go travel the world teaching girls self-defense, and kicking the asses of sexist dudes! It’s not really going to deepen her character, sadly, because that’s basically ALL we know about her since the start of the show, aside from her attachment to Sokka. And she doesn’t need Sokka to do this. She could do it by herself just the same.

Literally, just for the sake of giving Suki something else to do, not even for my personal OTP’s sake, I’d gladly see Suki breaking up with Sokka so she can damn explore who she is beyond this relationship? The Kyoshi Warriors serving in the Fire Nation Palace was probably the first interesting development for Suki in canon since she first met Sokka, and even then her role there was never explored fully, let alone was her potentially red-herring budding relationship with Zuko. 

But who am I kidding? :’) not gonna happen. For all I know, they got married in canon and had a perfectly happy life together. A perfectly happy, mediocre life, where neither one has to make the slightest effort for the other, in the least. Taking each other for granted, every step of the way!

*sigh* I can’t want this for Sokka, seriously. I can’t. I love his character a lot, but I absolutely hate how he’s written in this relationship. Most my understanding of how Sokka behaves in a relationship has come from how he behaves with Yue, precisely because, as brief as their relationship was, he seriously appeared to value her above so many other things, to fight for her, to do anything he could to help her without asking for anything in return. And that’s why I write him as I do.

Love can feel different when you experience it with different people, of course, and I’m not asking for Sokka to be written exactly the same in two different relationships... but the difference is just way too vast. I don’t question he cares about Suki, but I do question that he genuinely loves her. This is NOT how someone in love behaves. And frankly, Suki’s behavior isn’t that of a girl in genuine love either. She likes him plenty, is impressed by the things he and his friends have achieved, but is it genuine love? How can it be, when they apparently can’t even trust each other about their personal experiences (Yue in Sokka’s case, spending months as a prisoner in Suki’s)? When his behavior rubs her the wrong way and annoys her when they’re at their most casual? When the bickering he’d likely enjoy having with a significant other just falters after two exchanges with Suki because she takes offense to what he said? 

In conclusion:

Writing: the writing of this relationship is frankly really, REALLY flawed, far more than most fans are willing to acknowledge (whether fans of the ship or of the show in general). They try to make jokes with this relationship, but these jokes end up highlighting serious flaws in this relationship that are never addressed. Also, their relationship is hardly ever treated as something majorly important for Sokka, who constantly privileges his bond with Yue over Suki, which is radically contrasted with Suki, who has no meaningful relationships in the show beyond Sokka. As I pointed out earlier, the writing proposes the boy doesn’t need to revolve around the girl, but the girl DOES revolve around the boy? Absolutely appalling.

Dynamics: beyond their exchanges on their very first episode, their dynamics don’t offer anything unique to their characters. You can replace Suki with any other female character, and Sokka’s struggle to let go of Yue and accept a new love interest in his life wouldn’t change in any considerable way. It didn’t HAVE to be Suki, let alone a Suki whose original personality (sassy, demanding, proud to the point of bordering on arrogant, prone to making mistakes because of this flaw...) was completely hijacked by a new one (perfectly nice, friendly, reasonable, considerate, flirty, not demanding in the least, virtually flawless...). There’s not much Sokka can teach the Book 2-onwards Suki, or much else Suki can teach Sokka. There’s not much they can learn together either, because the writing never offers them new challenges they haven’t handled before. Their dynamics exclusively hinge on Suki being reliable in action situations, weak humor centered around Sokka being a mediocre boyfriend, and making out. That’s all their relationship provides, and frankly, they BOTH can do better than that.

Potential: I don’t think Sukka has much more potential beyond what we already have seen. Their natural chemistry isn’t anything out of this world, it’s FINE, but it’s not exactly something extraordinary that can’t be found anywhere else. And that’s really at the crux of why I don’t ship it or find much enjoyment in it: neither Sokka nor Suki appear to be at their best in this relationship. Suki is outright worse off by this relationship because she went from feminist poster child to a girl who REVOLVES AROUND A BOY. Please, let’s let that sink in? There are better possible relationships for them, relationships that absolutely could explore aspects of BOTH characters that have gone underdeveloped and overshadowed in canon, just for the sake of weak humor and make-out sessions.

*sigh*

Fact is, most the problems with Sukka are a matter of poor writing. With better writing, the relationship could be good, and would be easier to take seriously. But even then? I wouldn’t ever expect this relationship to outshine other possible ships for both Sokka and Suki. If you feature another girl as Sokka’s big, rude “girls are fighters too” awakening... what’s left for Sukka? Speaking from experience, seeing as I outright wrote that: without this factor, their relationship wouldn’t be anything particularly noteworthy. Sokka would respect Suki right off the bat, sure, maybe surprise her a bit because of how unpredictable and unexpected he can be, but there’d be no genuine reason for them to seriously develop feelings for each other. That their entire bond hinges on their first encounter, rather than the growth of their relationship across time, is far from appealing for me in a relationship. I absolutely need more than that to ship something.

I’ve already brought up most these arguments in the past, as well as others I probably forgot to mention, but I can give you one more post to look at (if you want it), specifically about how a certain ship can be a vast improvement for Sokka over Sukka :’D This, I’d hope, will clarify what I mean when I say other ships can offer Sokka far more than Sukka does. I didn’t dig into it here, since I tried to focus exclusively on why I won’t ship this, but that might help expand your understanding of my reasons not to support it. And then there’s also the ship I support for Suki... here are my arguments on that topic too. Admittedly, I was more centered on Zuko in this second post, but I basically already gave you all the arguments why Suki in Sukka doesn’t work for me :’D and there’s a few arguments in there about why Zuko would be a far more interesting love interest for Suki than Sokka has been so far, too. So... that’s that. I hope I gave you plenty to think about :’D

[sandalaris]

Ship It or Not 3 Questions Game: Buffyverse ships! Thoughts on Spike/Xander, Willow/Tara, Buffy/Faith, Angel/Cordelia, and Fred/Gunn! 💖💖💖

The Buffyverse is just full of shippy goodness!

Spike/Xander: SHIP IT!!

What made you ship it? I... am not completely sure. I know I was watching the show for the first time, early seasons, and was mired deep in the fandom looking at fanvids - spoilers be damned! - and I came across a truly awful manip of them in a poorly done vid that made me stop and go “what?” Then I started thinking about them, and watching them interact (again, this was early seasons, they were probably only in the same scene together like three times), and thinking about it and sort of went “I like it!” somewhere around season three. By season four they were a top ship and by season five they were my OTP on the show. There’s a lot of potential there if you look for it, they were even played around with in the writers room for a hot minute back when Xander was still slotted to come out as gay, and there is some beautifully written fics out there that explores that potential in fun ways.

What are your favorite things about the ship? They are both just so snarky. I don’t have a lot of ships like them tbh. They are a little too alike at their cores for them to fall under my usual ship types, I’m more an opposites attract kind of gal, and they are both immature and impulsive and full of witty one-liners and sarcasm, not to mention how they both are sort of all-in from the get-go in relationships (Spike more than Xander, but it does apply to both) and how Xander often starts out thinking he dislikes someone that he’s actually attracted to. Probably my favorite thing about them is the snark and banter they both produce both towards each other and with other people.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? It’s not as big of a problem now, but for a while people had a bad habit of writing Xander as basically just a female coded male stand-in. I’m not trying to tell people how to ship, but the number of fics I’d open just to find Xander acting like a stereotypical lovelorn teenaged girl with a cool brooding leather jacket wearing boyfriend (which is also very out of character for Spike) was ridiculous. This is a problem in a lot of older slash ships actually, but it’s the number one most annoying thing I find over and over again in fics.

Willow/Tara: Ship it

What made you ship it? What’s not to love? Willow’s really easy to ship to begin with, I ship her with a lot of people (still pretty sure I’m the only Willow/Percy shipper out there lol), but her and Tara are full of canony goodness! And they’re super cute! I want to say I loved them from the get-go, but I’m pretty sure I was still waiting on Oz to return when Tara first showed up. But by the time Willow blew out that candle I was shipping them hardcore.

What are your favorite things about the ship? They’re both so soft together and they really put off this “soulmates” vibe when around each other. How much Willow helps Tara’s confidence grow until she blossoms into who she was always going to be, and how she was going to take care of Tara no matter what. I also like how their break-up was handled and the get-back-together speech where Tara says “can’t you just be kissing me now” is just *chef’s kiss*

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I don’t know that an unpopular opinion exists for them, tbh. I suppose the closest I have is more of an unpopular Willow opinion; while I see Willow as probably a lesbian in the show, I often take the bi!Willow route in fandom. Not just because I ship Willow with men too, but also because of my love of the relationship her and Oz had in canon. Apparently this can be a bit of a hot debate between people.

Buffy/Faith: Ship it

What made you ship it? Other shippers mostly. I didn’t think much of them when I first saw the show since I mostly shipped Buffy with Angel at the time. I don’t remember if it was a fic or a vid or what, but something took the events of season three and angled them with an underlining romantic/sexual tension between them that just fit so perfectly that I wondered why I never thought of them/saw it before.

What are your favorite things about the ship? The drama :P OK, not exactly the drama, but that sort of good/bad light/dark thing they have going on. They aren’t always healthy together, but there’s a wonderful balance between them and a level of understanding neither will ever be able to get with anyone else. Their relationship was treated like a romance and their falling apart in season three like a tension filled break-up and I love how that gets explored in fanworks.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I don’t think so. I suppose in that I don’t really see them as canon, but I’m not sure how popular of an opinion that is to begin with, although I know it is something people claim.

Angel/Cordelia: Don’t ship it

Why don't you ship it? It’s not a very strong “don’t ship” but in a take ‘em or leave ‘em situation, I’d leave ‘em. They just never really appealed to me and I like them both with other people so much better. They felt almost last minute too, like the writers decided they needed the title character to have a love interest in the main cast and tossed him together with the closest single female main character. 

What would have made you like it? Maybe if there was more of a hint to them being romantically drawn to each other in the early seasons of AtS. I loved their relationship at the beginning of the show, I stan their friendship completely, and had they started hinting at some romantic feelings at that point, then I might’ve gotten on board with them (although Cordy/Doyle was super cute - even if the writers f’ed up the math there - so I may have already been on board that ship) I sort of forget that they happened in show too, like they don’t feel like canon love interests to me. I feel like I could like the idea of them more than I liked the reality.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it? Plenty! They are both great characters and I love their dynamic together. I love how Angel bought her clothes as an apology, and her telling him that she had her water bottle blessed every week when he went all temporary Angelus on them. I like that she was all “screw it” and kissed him before leaving because that was a very Cordy thing to do, and I love how unrepentant she was about leaving wet towels on his chair and how upset he was about said wet towel. They have a great dynamic.

Fred/Gunn: Ship it

What made you ship it? From the beginning, pretty much the moment they started interacting I thought they were cute. By the time they were dating I was so excited for them!

What are your favorite things about the ship? They fit that opposites attract that I love so much. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen the show, but I remember loving them as their relationship developed. Especially when they all thought they were teens and how different Fred and Gunn both work and yet how much they still worked as a couple.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I don’t know how unpopular it would be, but since they are competing ships, the fact that I ship both Fred/Gunn and Fred/Wesley is probably one, lol. I thought the love triangle and how everything played out with all three of them was done fairly well (Wesley’s dark path, while interesting on screen, made me severely miss nerdy Wesley from the early days) and enjoyed the way the showed managed to explore them both without making it seem like they were just flipping through couples.