#i'm neutral on the majority of ships i think. there's just so many characters and so many ways their interactions could go

[td-rarepairs]

Do you have any specific rare pairs you like?

this has been in the inbox for a WHILE because i DO but my memory goes blank every time i try to think of examples gjsjdjfwjd

sometimes what's really appealing to me is characters that could have had really interesting dynamics if given the screentime.... and sometimes it's about. i like these guys individually so i think they should kiss ^_^

off the top of my head, i really like lesheather (with fanon heather </3), the h-bombs, harlightning, harold w anyone out of his league lol. i guess i'm just partial to dynamics involving my favorite characters <3

[strangertheories]

As someone who is neutral on ronance, I think people don't particularly like it because, from what I've seen, sometimes fics sideline, downplay, or even ignore Robin's friendship with Steve. I know this also happens in other ship fics but I think because it's his ex it gets under skin more?

Disclaimer: this is heavily sarcastic!

I agree, our fandom sidelines Steve too much. He only has over 43,615 fics written about him on ao3! Ronance must have so much more than that!

Wait...it looks like there are nearly 7 times as many Steve fics as Ronance, how peculiar.

Well I guess it makes sense. The fandom likes Steve, but the Ronance fandom ignores him. That's why if you remove the tags Steve Harrington and Steve Harrington & Robin Buckley you lose nearly two thirds of all Ronance fics!

And if you filter the completely unrelated tag Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson tag on Ronance fics, surely the vast majority of Ronance fanfiction will remain? Right?

Ok, I'm not being sarcastic now: if you want to read fan fiction including Steve Harrington or Steddie or platonic Stobin, go ahead! I enjoy reading platonic Stobin fics too, and I've defended their friendship multiple times. However, saying people dislike Ronance shippers for not centering a completely different character and friendship seems a bit unfair to me, especially when statistically (as shown above), this fandom, including the Ronance fans, are very focused on Steve.

I'm sorry if I come across as rude, I'm not trying to be, it's just quite frustrating how this f/f ship is criticised for not centering around a male character enough. You can prefer reading Ronance fics that talk about Steve and about that friendship, but it's also ok if they don't. Do people criticize Steddie shippers for not talking about platonic Stobin enough? I don't think so.

[gurt-the-great]

During Rosie's intro post, I mentioned that every Sonic character has been aged up by 10 years! Well I went ahead and designed five of them.

Most of these characters have a connection to Rosie, Shadow and Tails having the strongest bonds to her. This will officially be the 10 years later AU, or just Gurt's Sonic AU since it adds and focuses on my ocs.

The individual refs and more info for everyone will be under the cut

Sonic was a little tricky to figure out in this AU. He's not the type of character to settle down and he wouldn't have a typical job since he's not one for authority figures. Also he's 25 now, he's got to grow up at least a little bit, especially now that the down-time between Eggman's schemes have gotten longer. He needs SOMETHING to occupy the time.

Then I thought "what if he was a professional air-boarder?" Sonic Riders was the COOLEST Sonic racing game and Sonic being an extreme sports Tony Hawk-esque guy made sense to me.

The design was easy to figure out once I decided on his profession. I brought his riders sunglasses back, the SOAP shoes from Adventure 2 and gave him a cool racing jacket with new gloves.

Sonic doesn't have a strong bond with Rosie but he does know her since Tails was friends with her growing up.

Tails was easy to age up, all I did was give him a ponytail, some accessories, new shoes, and some brown fur on his limbs and ears.

Tails is an Engineer in the AU! He already makes gadgets and trinkets, why not make a career out of it? He actually made Rosie's boots!

Tails and Rosie have a very close bond, the two had accelerated courses in school together due to their high intelligence. They visit each other frequently and Tails feels like a part of her family.

Rouge was pretty fun to design for this AU! I took elements from the elite agent outfit in Sonic Forces speed battle, Rouge's outfit in Heroes, and her regular look as well. I gave her bangs too but I like to think she messes with her hair often.

I don't have many notes on Rouge, She's still a G.U.N. Agent but also she's married to Knuckles! This is the only ship I'm canonizing in my AU for now. I might add more ships later on, we'll have to see.

Rouge works with Rosie pretty frequently and tries to get her to come out of her shell. She thinks that Rosie is pretty and could use that well, but Rosie is hopeless when it comes to using charisma. Rouge still likes her though and tries to teach her.

I did not NEED to design Cream but I really wanted to! She ended up being my favorite design here. I didn't really have a major direction to go in for Cream's design since she's still a teen without any job. I took inspiration from different Cream designs I seen online and just merged some concepts I liked. The only big change is making her tall, I thought it'd be cute if I based her on a Flemish Giant rabbit! I wanted an excuse to make her taller than Tails for comedic purposes.

Cream is still the polite sweetie she was as a kid but now she does work with Chao! She volunteers and donates to local Chao gardens and trains Cheese and Chocola for races. Cheese evolved into a hero Chao! Being with Cream throughout the years and going on some adventures helped him evolve. Chocola is neutral fly type Chao! It's one of my favorite Chao evolutions and I wanted Chocola to be more different from Cheese.

Cream and Rosie don't have much of a connection but I'd say they get along well enough. They're both friends with Tails so I'd say they all hang out sometimes.

And finally we reach Shadow! Shadow was easy to design as well. I just gave him a cool jacket. I don't think Shadow would visibly age much since he's the ultimate life form.

He's still a G.U.N. Agent and an incredibly important person to Rosie. Rosie idolized him as a kid and wanted to be like him. Shadow took on a mentorship role to Rosie, seeing great potential in her. He would personally teach Rosie the various ways that chaos control is used and would also teach her chaos spear. He does care about her even if he's tough on her at times.

If you read all that, thank you! I've put a lot of time and thought into this AU and I'm excited to share more! If you have any questions about my AU or ocs, my askbox is open! I hope y'all enjoyed the post!

[neonscandal]

Hi! I have a question, I hope I can explain myself: how would you describe Gojo on a moral level? I see the majority of the fandom (jjk in general, not just the shipping ones) considers him a good person, but I'd argue he's more on the grey side...and not a light grey. See, I can't really wrap my head around the way he blatantly ignores the fact the Suguru was completely fucked up, to the point that in chap 236 he wishes Suguru was with him before fighting Sukuna and imagining him (adult Suguro, the fucked up one) together with the same students he tried to kill in jjk0. How on earth? If I'm not mistaken Gojo never really says "yeah, Suguru was my friend but he used to be completely different, this is not the Suguru I used to be friends with". He never says Suguru was wrong. He just misses him, even though he was surrounded by people who liked him. At least Shoko clearly doesn't feel any affection towards Suguru. And let's not talk about the way he doesn't really seem concerned about the future of his students in chap 236. What do you think? Just to clarify: I do like Gojo. But I don't share the sentiment of the rest of the fandom: he's not a good person. I guess Nanami was right

This is a (somewhat) fair assessment.

Character alignment wise, I think Gojo enters into Jujutsu High as a Chaotic Neutral and transcends into more of a Chaotic Good or maybe Neutral Good? It's hard to say because, if in universe, Gojo is the perceived solution to every problem then why are there still so many problems? Including Geto's 10 year stint running amok?

Morally, Gojo absolutely exists in shades of grey. He uses his power to do the lawful thing but... at the same time, could, on a whim, use his power to do what he or Geto feels to be the right thing. The biggest example being the fact that they were willing to protect Riko Amanai's right to choose whether she wished to merge or not even if the latter would have catastrophic ramifications. Based on the needs of society, Riko needed to merge with Tengen, but Gojo recognized erasure of one girl for the security of others wasn't necessarily right. As an adult, again, he does what needs doing but pushes back on elders that would rather see the likes of Yuta Okkotsu or Yuji Itadori dead.

We have to understand that jujutsu society, with all its rules and hierarchy, isn't a morally upright system to begin with. Gojo, as a Big Three Family heir, is deeply entrenched in that. But he has enough sense to, in his own way, try to correct what he perceives to be travesties.

Suguru Geto is a casualty of this imperfect system and Gojo's initial inability to recognize Geto's struggle was the fatal flaw that put the final nail in his coffin. Discovering the twins was the hand that swung the hammer and he was subsequently radicalized. Gojo wasn't the only person who still kept space for Geto. Nanami and Shoko could also understand that the slaughter of that village was wrong but not find it in their hearts to condemn Geto or hear ill words spoken against him. None of them condemn him because, even if his method was wrong, they understand why he desperately wanted to change the way things are.

Gojo's affection for Geto, in my mind, does not necessarily make him a completely bad person, though. For one, while he doesn't outright condemn what happens in the village, he is clearly dismayed by the murder of Geto's parents. We see that he does in fact understand the wrongness of Geto's transgressions. Bear in mind that, until broken by the system they all served, Geto was a gentle and just person with a noble idea of what was right. So earnestly that Gojo allowed space for Geto to influence his own morality. So this radical change in behavior is a shock to Gojo's system and, even though he was used to deferring to Geto's judgement (like not killing the Time Vessel Association), he very clearly and autonomously recognized Geto's sins. Gojo had an unconditional acceptance or love for Geto which is why, despite everything, he would still find satisfaction in closing the loop, as it were, with Suguru right beside him.

⚠️ Spoiler warning for JJK chapter 236.

The man is dead, what more do you want from him? He knew he was going to die and fought hoping that those who remained could pick up the slack of the weakened opponent. 236 was merely an echo of the same faith he had after he was sealed - that he trusted in the people he left behind. I think Gojo has also come to terms with the fact that all he can do is throw everything he's got at the situation. His failure is unfathomable to most but he's been shown the limits to his power before so perhaps that's why he's overly cavalier. In most situations, he's the first line of defense so if that doesn't cut it... what more can he do?

Bear in mind, what we see of Gojo's afterlife in 236 is more than likely what he hopes for in his heart of hearts. But I'm not really subscribed to the idea that he's Gojover. I could be wrong, especially since Gege Akutami keeps comparing other people to Gojo in his absence to fill in the gaps and explain how they could possibly hope to beat Sukuna. But I think what we saw was an extended version of what Nanami experienced before passing.

You can go left or right - Yuki to Geto about his radical ideals

You can go North to start anew or South to your old self - Mei to Nanami and actualized in his dying moments with an apparition of Haibara

These are choices and the second is as explained to Gojo as if he has the same choice. From his hope that it isn't all in his imagination and the setting therein, it would seem he's leaning toward accepting his fate but I just don't think that's the case. If anything, this prolonged ideation is possible because that brain of his is intact. Gojo even told Toji that he should have cut off his head if he wanted to kill him so, who's to say whether that applies now.

Regarding Nanami being right, I assume you mean the Nanami in chapter 236. In which case:

Hypothesis: The reason we see Gojo surrounded by younger versions of those he lost is because they are attached to the version of himself that died. Gojo will come back as a more enlightened person.

Keep in mind, in a way, Adult Nanami understands Gojo. Every version of Nanami is annoyed by Gojo but there's still a respect that goes both ways, even when their ideals differ. I think Nanami's assessment that "You live for jujutsu. You don't wield it to protect something. You use it solely for the sake of satisfying yourself." is apropos for high school Gojo. But that was before he lost Geto, developed a resolve to take in Megumi and Tsumiki (albeit selfishly), protect Yuta from the elders with his life, and protect Yuji. Empirically, there's a facet of Gojo that uses his power for good and it feels like the versions of Haibara, Nanami, Geto and Yaga that he encounters would be unaware of that. I think that's what makes the fact that Gojo visualizes Adult Geto celebrating him stick out even more. Why the mind games, Gege??

In summation, Gojo continues to exist swathed in shades of grey. He could be better but he could definitely be worse. He is a reflection of a corrupt system that masquerades under the impression of working in service of the greater good but ignores the problematic elements of the likes of Mei Mei, and Naoya Zenin.

[how-queerious]

been seein lot of posts calling the cast weird for the way they/their characters are being with the whole "destined" aspect of callowmoore but like consider who does and does not seem to outwardly ship it that way.

maybe there are things and dynamics i've been missing but to me there is a clear division between which characters (not actors) are pushing it and which are not; The main people seeming to push for it are FCG, Imogen, Laudna, and Fearne. The main people just watching and not really swaying either way are Orym, Chet, and Ash. Here's my thoughts on the possible motivations for that from a character perspective. With that in mind, I have focused on the PCs here; I have all the love in the world for matt as a DM, but to untangle the intricacies of his character work in literally even just one episode at a time is a whole other post. Accidental essay below the cut y'all.

broad strokes are that the camps are divided primarily* by who has and hasn't had extensive adult romantic relationships. Laudna, Imogen, and FCG are all experiencing what seem to be their first real adult relationships, and have had notably, explicitly little experience with romance at all beyond that. Fearne herself, despite her age, also seems to have had very little experience with romance and love (remembering that casual or platonic sex is not romance). They have all been starry-eyed and naive about love in prior episodes, and Laudna in particular has a childlike view of it. To compound this, Fearne has been lonely the vast majority of her life, just her, her nana, and their companions of questionable sentience and willingness. Exhibited in some of the darker episodes, and stated by ashley (at some point), she is literally just learning how to feel as mortals do in the prime material plane. Many of us as young shippers were drawn to the allure of the "Soulmate AU" for a lot of the same reasons.

On the other side of the coin, we have the three opposed or neutral. Chet and Orym, unlike any of the others, have both experienced long-term mature romantic relationships. Though Chet often focuses on the sex, and Orym tends not to focus on anything if he can help it, both have shown in their character choices and interactions with people from their past that they have the understanding of mature and healthy(ish) romance. As a contrast to their knowledgability, Ashton has only ever been burned by what should have been love in the past, and has not experienced romance. They have spent their whole life fighting fate, and will continue to do so for at least the time being. He is just learning to let themself love platonically, of course they don't want to follow "fate" to a romantic relationship with someone as chaotic and beautiful and terrifying as Fearne. They'll do the cool combos with her, and he'll flirt and tease, but anything else is unknown territory in a field already littered with the casualties of their past attempts to trust.

Though they may seem to be pushing for this fated dynamic in a way that feels very off for CR, there are genuine and realistic character motivations for them to do so. Perhaps I'm putting too much thought and faith behind it, but I think the specificity of who is or isn't pushing speaks great volumes to the fact that these are all people who have a wealth of theatric and improvisation experience and knowledge behind them. They are all actors with more than my lifetime of hard work behind this "silly game" they play, and I think we ought to consider that.

[dangerpronebuddie]

At first I was cool multi shipping because I'm fine with casual multishipping but then the bucktommys got annoying and now I want them to breakup not just because I ship buddies as an endgame ship and because I felt like that's where the plot was headed but also out of sheer spite like even if I didn't think buddies would go canon I'd want them breaking up by any means necessarily because those shippers don't deserve to win I don't even want them to break up for some neutral mature reason they deserve to suffer more than that

I was cool with it at first too, I will admit that. I was riding on the high of bi Buck and thought a short term ship would be kinda neat.

But no.

No no no.

I've never seen anything like this. I have friends who ship both and they're completely chill about it and don't mind that I despise it. But the majority of them are honestly out of their minds. I've never seen so many shitty, racist, vile (and downright just bad) takes in my life. Their entire ship is riding on headcanons, and if you disagree with one, you're attacked for it! They try to rewrite canon and take it as gospel. They worship the ground Tommy/ Lou walks on (despite both being racist assholes with no growth or change to be found). They don't know the characters and they don't care.

What has pissed me off more than anything is the fact they attack the actors and other fans. It's not their fault. BT shippers decided there was more than there actually is, thanks to Lou exploiting them for money and fueling their ideas. I could go on for AGES, honey. And it's sad.

I am all for "multi shipping" (such a bizarre thing anyway, I didn't know we had to classify whether or not we enjoyed more than one couple 🙄 but I digress). Ship and let ship, but when you turn to calling fans homophobic for disliking a literal racist, a line has to be drawn.

I love buddie, and I want it so bad, and it seems to be the natural progression of the plot, but I'm letting whatever happen happen. I'm not going to attack actors and writers and other fans when I don't immediately get my way.

As for the breakup, I understand your want for it to be bad. The petty in me would feel extremely vindicated. I think, with Buck's storyline focusing on Gerrard right now and the fact Tommy shows no interest in supporting Buck through it all (even before Captain Bigot took over), I see it all tying in somehow. But that's another conversation entirely.

[chocolatepot]

I was tagged by @edsbacktattoo and @chaotic-neutral-knitter to share my favorite fics that I’ve written!

One of my favorite genderbends is Pretty and Witty and Gay, my second Sweet Damsels fic, which covers the clothes swap in 1x04. It still makes me so happy. It's so gratuitous and literally all of the action relates to clothes, and that all comes together to set up sooooo many thoughts and realizations on Ed's part ... Even rereading it now after a couple of years, I'm just like, "Nice one."

I've written a number of canon divergence AUs where Ed and Stede meet differently, but I really love What Else Could I Do (Again), where Stede does cancel the Revenge after Mary tells him to. They meet as a surprise when Ed's taking a ship and still immediately hit it off. I eventually went back to the same concept with it's a good day for curin' your ills, a genderbent version of the idea that is even longer and tbh even better.

And of course, Yes, Captain. Frankly, I love all of my E-rated gentlebend, but this deep dive into how much Ed likes being dominated and treated as Stede's special prize takes the cake. (And it's basically canon. It makes me sooooo smug.)

I didn't intend this to be dominated by my f/f AUs but in retrospect, I guess it's not a surprise. Anyway, I'd also add It Never Was Anywhere You to my list of favorites. This is the one where Stede seduces Izzy to keep her crew safe until Ed gets back, and it's iddy as fuck. I love darkfic and creepy situations, and also people falling for the characters I relate to, and I really delivered for myself here.

AUgust/AUpril/JanuAUry are some of the best months of the year, and a few of my favorites come from those events. I especially love Fantabulosa, the fic where Ed's an Edwardian female impersonator, and Only Chance, the Ladyhawke AU.

I've mostly talked about OFMD fic because a) the vast majority of my fics are for that fandom and b) my more recent fic is better than my older fic by a lot, and my recent fic is even more heavily biased toward OFMD. But I think about my Good Omens sideswap/genderbend fic, Important Things, on a pretty regular basis just because it's so fun, it's playing with concepts and images I like (like angel!Crowley inventing pay-it-forward chains and demon!Aziraphale climbing awkwardly out of a priest's window in her shift). From a craft perspective, though, my favorite of my GO fics is The Crow Road, a post-finale fic from Muriel's perspective and frankly I think it's really good.

It's taken me so long to get to this meme that I'm not really sure who's done it at this point D: so I'm just going to leave this open to anyone who wants to do it and hasn't yet!

[tubbytarchia]

You don't have to publish this ask but I just need to vent to someone who might understand, cause like, I'm over here like "I don't like fh or scott sorry, I promise though I won't talk about it or maintag just letting you know so you don't waste time since I know there's overlap between us, also I have a lot of interesting ideas about them still but I won't talk or write about them because I know that would make some of you upset and more than anything else I want everyone here to have a fun time and ship and let ship <3" and these unproblematic only fh fans will turn around and be like "oh so you're homophobic? You're the most annoying person on the planet? You're just trying to start a ship war? You're the problem with fandom" like BITCH?! Never met people so determined to make their actually quite comparatively good and healthy fandom toxic

This is where it stops being funny and actually genuinely really upsets me, is that very few people dare to talk about "toxic" Flower Husbands, let alone maintag it (and they should be able to! Because it's not fucking hate? Its valid discussion and expression of opinion that doesn't attack anyone). A few people have been more vocal about it recently and I've seen more people besides you come forth NOW, because you didn't want to upset anyone or get shittalked etc in the past for holding a different opinion to the overwhelming majority. I know people who've joked "am I just insane? Am I just stupid for seeing something here that everybody else is vehemently against?". There's evidently people who have just shut up because otherwise they'll get burned at stake, or they stay in their own little circles

And then a few too many FH posts that dare even imply any negative qualities about FH from a character standpoint get a little bit seen, and suddenly FH tag is full of 10 people defending their ship's honor because how dare you!! The way these people are so fucking volatile about fuck-all upsets me so much. Like, haha, we've been proven right I guess! You DO get burned at stake. These people probably aren't even bothering to read any such FH interpretations if they even SEE any, and don't just see 5 other posts claiming "oh my god can people just shut up about toxic FH and write characters breaking up for NORMAL reasons" (genuinely baffling concern that I've seen like at least 3 times btw??) that just leads them to believe that this is a wide-spread "problem" that needs neutralizing? They take even the thought of such posts as personal attacks that prohibit them from shipping FH for some reason? Like dude I fucking dig FH? Just for not always the same reasons as the majority but I guess I've sinned and shouldn't be allowed to speak lol. And these people don't HAVE to read interpretations they don't like, goddamn, look past?? Block if it hurts you that much?? As you said, the Tumblr traffic fandom is largely really kind and healthy so I can't fathom where the hell these guys come from. And then they proclaim the people who have largely shut up or kept to themselves "the problem", and that's the exact response that has been feared lmao

sorry. Long answer but fuck. I'm so sorry anon. The Flower Husbands scene is truly miserable if you dare think of them as anything other than cuddly and cute and teasing at most. Your interpretation is invalid because. ? homophobia I guess lmao

[the-heartlines]

This Helaemonds are mostly team black folks who ship it only to make the greens look bad is simply BS made up by antis lmao. In my fandom experience most TB stans hate Aemond and don't like this ship either??? In fact they dislike most Aemond ships for that matter except for maybe Lucemond. So why would they spend most of their time pushing Helaemond 24/7, coming up with theories about them and content for the ship? IDK but thinking shippers only ship it for team color wars purposes and not because they simply like the pairing itself and its dynamics is insane. Do they think people wrote Helaemond fanfics and made fan art of them to piss off others too? If they truly bothered to interact with most shippers and the content they produced instead of lashing out they would've probably realized most of them aren't team black (not that it should matter if they are but most simply aren't!!) but either team green fans, greencest enjoyers or people who simply love characters from both teams and don't necessarily care about this teams stuff

"most tb stans hate aemond" !!! exactly !!! the majority of helaemonds i know are neutral and don't give a fuck about the color wars (just the female characters fr)

it's completely FINE to "hate" (lol i can't imagine actually hating one fkljalsdkj because i'm such a mulitshipper LMAO) a ship, but don't be an asshole, dumb, or hypocrite about it! it's just baffling how helaemond is like the TAMEST ship ever and so many have an issue with it??? like idgaf if aemond didn't canonically bone his sister in f&b. i want him to in hotd the SHOW!!!

anyways helaemond is sexy. helaegon is sexy. alysmond is sexy. and any combo of these 3 is VERY SEXY. let's have fun with our blorbos and barbie dolls and make them fuck each other!

[rosesradio]

Putting this one on anon to avoid the Backlash™ but genuinely thank you for being one of the few profiction people in the Riordanverse fandom who actually makes a point about how oversaturated the solangelo and percabeth is. I love percabeth, don't get me wrong, and some of the solangelo art has some true heart and emotion put into it, but acting like these ships are somehow "pure" and "unproblematic" is ludicrous. Will regularly cotton-wools Nico and underestimates Nico's ability to know his own limits. Annabeth can be downright possessive of Percy to the point it makes her aggressive towards others. Just because a ship doesn't involve *checks notes* a miniscule age gap between *checks further notes* characters, that are still BOTH minors at time of writing, and are *taps sign* capable of having a relationship that's entirely *taps sign louder* platonic and NONSEXUAL, doesn't mean it's absolved of any "problematic" elements. But I guess Will shows up and suddenly all the people who were formerly frothing at the mouth over percico or lukabeth have to shove their pre-2010s ship art under the rug and abandon ship lest they be seen as "pEdOpHiLeS". Like... I'm no lukabeth shipper either, I'm pretty much neutral on it, but it's like... who the fuck cares? Everyone in this series is fictional. No real people are being hurt. Sure, don't normalize anything that could be abusive, but abuse isn't intrinsically tied to an age gap of, need I remind people, less than five years. Half these people would probably lose their minds if they actually read the original Greek myths in which there's age gaps, incests and bestiality left right and center. Zeus turns people, including himself, into animals and coerces people all the time. So does Poseidon. Apollo chases after a nonconsenting Daphne. The original myths are full of rape and misogyny, people and animals being tortured, and many other things that by today's standards would be immoral. And yet people still love these myths enough to write various beloved media adaptions about them including musicals, books, videogames, tv shows about the children of these messed up and chaotic entities. Either way, OP, unless you're actively endorsing and condoning real world, non-fictional abuse of animals, children or otherwise nonconsenting parties, then WHO. THE. FUCK. CARES. keep writing whatever you want. or don't. i'm not a cop.

😳

i mean…yeah, that sounds about right. it’s honestly a wonder to me how many people in the fandom are so extremely pro-censorship & sensitive to any dark themes in media when pjo itself is rooted in (admittedly glossed over for the middle grade audience) Greek myths that are…messy on a good day, lol.

also the toxic side of percabeth & solangelo intrigues me, but not enough to really explore it. plus like you said, the Backlash™ would be insane. but you make a lot of really good thought out points.

also, of course i would never condone the things i explore in fiction to happen irl—oftentimes some of the things are explorations of my own traumas that i wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy (not to say you need to be traumatized to write darkfic or ship xyz, but that’s another post i’ve made before).

i honestly really wish people would come forward as being profiction in fandom more often, because to be honest, i think we’re the majority. but at the same time i know from experience that the Backlash™ can be pretty nasty, so i understand wanting to stay anon.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Thoughts on Vainilla x Beauregard (Bunnie’s uncle)? Or just any ship with him that you enjoy? I really like his character but there’s not much discussion involving him so I was wondering what was opinion 😂

Hmmm

I think like with the nephspike/spithys ask I'm pretty neutral on the idea of Vanilla/Beauregard, but I can definitely see a potential dynamic for them!

When I read this ask, the first scenario I envisioned was a classic story. In this case, a story in which (furing a major event such as a battle or natural disaster) Beauregard goes missing, Cream finds him injured and exhausted, and Vanilla takes him in.

While I can see Beauregard being a bit resistant to accepting Vanilla's help and wanting to get back to his crew as fast as possible, he really does need to heal up. So Vanilla would insist he stays and rests while she helps, and then I can see Cream (if she's there) backing her mother up and insist that he needs to rest if he wants to be any better. His pride and fear for his community aside, I think Vanila and Cream would be hard for him to say no to, though at first I can see him trying to escape many times as soon as he feels like he must be fine (not actually the case). Vanilla and Cream are sweet, and he appreciates their care, but getting back feels like an urgent mission and he doesn’t need to get them caught up in the crossfire.

Of course, Beauregard gets stopped pretty much every time by one of the two.

As time goes on and Beauregard starts to heal up, I can see him playing with Cream and telling him stories on the occasion, then growing closer to Vanilla all the while she takes care of him

In the end, the longer he stays the more conflicted he gets. He hopes so badly everyone is doing fine without him, especially against the residents of Sandblast city. He hates that he can't be there and doesn't know what's happening. He wants to rush back as much as he knows he's gotten used to the comfort and domesticity a normal life brings as he's been living with Vanilla and Cream. He also knows he could never stay forever, no matter how badly he wishes to. He can't just forget about his community, leave them to suffer. He can't just pretend he's not one of Eggman's grandmasters. He can't pretend he's not legionized. He could never just stay here without consequences. And yet, leaving would mean leaving Vanilla and Cream. He'd never make them go with him, couldn't even hope that they'd choose a life in the legion under the Eggman empire (and even then doesn't really wish to do that to them). And it's all of this on top of the fact that no matter what he's done in the interest of keeping his family and community safe, he doesn't want Vanilla and Cream to know the whole truth. He doesn't want to taint this paradise with a dosage of reality.

But all things come to an end. While I think Beauregard is aware that anyone can see he's legionized and is comforted in the fact that the two care for him anyways, it's his exact role he's worried about. But I think based upon his principles and the stories he's told, Vanilla ends up having an inkling of his true role in the empire. While she may not have necessarily settled 100% on Grandmaster, she would have deduced that he's a leader of some sort. I think despite his best efforts to slip away when the time comes, I can't imagine a single scenario in which Vanilla isn't there.

In one I imagine, she catches him as he slips out in the dead of night, and she asks him if he's going back home. He's possibly the most honest he's ever been during this scene, talking about how he can't stay any longer, no matter how nice it would be. The scene is a bit bittersweet. Beauregard ends up telling Vanilla the truth of his station and actions (perhaps hoping that then it'll be easier to leave), Vanilla makes it clear then how she'd suspected he wasn't just another mobian who'd been legionized, and while she doesn't necessarily like the reality of the things she's done, she can understand where he's at. While she'd never want to join Eggman, as a mother and community member herself, she can understand the kind of hard choices he's had to make, and can (to an extent) understand that it's impossible for him to turn away from Eggman at this point. They say their goodbyes (if Cream is here, then she's asleep), perhaps share a kiss, and wish safety for each other. Vanilla in this case bids him to leave without waking Cream up.

In my other scenario, it's probably Cream who catches him leaving. Not for the first time, she questions if he's leaving, but it is the first time he tells the truth. He can't explain everything to her of course, but Cream gets a bit emotional and makes it clear that even if he wants to go she wishes he wouldn't. Vanilla intervenes here and comforts Cream. To his surprise, Vanilla tells her that he has his reasons, people who need their leader. Essentially she manages to calm Cream down a bit, allowing Cream to be a bit more rational in her thought. In the end, Cream doesn't want him to go, but she knows there are people who need him. This scenario is pretty similar to the first, only Cream is present and Beauregard doesn't leave without saying goodbye to her.

Either way they all wish each other well, and I think the rabbit family respect his wish not to pull them into danger and his needing to go, while they all kind of wish things could be different or simpler. Either way, I see Vanilla and Beauregard sharing that last (or potentially even first and last depending upon the progression of relationship) kiss before he leaves.

Fast forward to later, after Beauregard has kind of picked up the pieces a bit back home, dealt with any fallout with Eggman, and put his community in a better spot again when he's back as Grandmaster, I think Beauregard would think wistfully back to those times with Vanilla and Cream and the chao while simultaneously hoping that their home stays untouched by Eggman. While he knows Cream actively participates in the battle against Eggman, he hopes that neither of them end up being hurt by the empire, or that he has to cross paths with them (the same way he doesn't want to be forced to hurt Bunnie). Like I said, largely bittersweet. Vanilla and Cream likewise (despite his position) hopes he stays okay. Really best case scenario here is that if Eggman is defeated one day, he doesn't take out his legion and grandmasters with him (you know. With the bombs) and those who were part of it get some sort of chance to prove themselves and reintegrate (and if imprisoned, that it's not for forever).

Of course, in another life in another situation they're kind of perfect for a meet cute of some sort where (no matter what kind of friction they could possibly have at first), they end up doing a lot of helping each other out until they decide to consciously and slowly become integrated into each other's lives.

ㅤ

In the end, though, I must admit that I don't have a real grasp on Vanilla yet (as opposed to how I believe I have a basic understanding of Beauregard). I haven't really watched Sonic X, so all I know about her is what little we see in comic adaptations. So in the end I hope this simple au idea does fit. No matter what universe or the nature of relationship, in all honesty I can see these two becoming good friends. I also feel like the two can relate in terms of how they grew up and some of their principles.

All in all, I also wish we got to see more of Beauregard and the legion life with the Grandmasters. Unfortunately, I don’t think he and his relationships with others ended up getting me invested enough to ship him with anyone, but the possibilities for shipping are definitely there. And if you (or anyone else) does want me to talk specifically about him in canon I can always do a bit of character study the way I did with Geoffrey. Right now what standa out to me about him is how he's genuinely a good guy, but he's willing to do what he needs to do to protect the people he cares about. We know that he can deal with siding with Eggman if it means that he and his people can live, and we know that he not only didn't have a lot of choice with what they were facing in sand blast city, but that there truly was no turning back for him after legionization. His story was always meant to exemplify the complicated nature of living under the Eggman empire and living regular society after prior events, and that good sides and evil sides aren't so clean cut here. After all, his side isn't good, but neither are the Sand Blast City "freedom fighters"

ㅤ

Anyways, I'd like to thank you for the ask, anon! I enjoy getting ones like these that challenge me to think about characters I don't normally ruminate over, and I actually like exploring the ideas of different relationships (even ones I would have never thought of). If you or anyone else have any other questions regarding ships or characters they'd like me to talk about or anything else, feel free to shoot me another ask!!🥰

[more-better-words]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @iamstartraveller776! Thank you! ☺️

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 49 (that number will be changing soon)

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 538,126 (a full third of that is a single story 😅)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Ummmm....I have written for numerous fandoms over the years, and most of them you haven't heard of! (no seriously)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? The four fics that make up my Star Trek: Enterprise series Built to Last, (and one other lol).

From the Ground Up

What We Build Here

For the Duration

The Place We Call Home

Lay Down the Beat (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency)

5. Do you respond to comments? Heck yeah! I love comments. I'm such a comment ho, bring 'em on.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I have kind of an allergy to angst, so...none, really. Okay, What We Build Here has a slightly angsty ending, but that was ONLY because I knew I was writing a followup and the angst would be healed! Bittersweet is about as hard as I go.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Hmmm...Almost all of them? 😄 Destiny and Venturing the Uncharted both have pretty darn sappy happy endings, and of course, the whole point of the Built to Last series was to provide a happy ending, so... yeah. Come to me for all your "everything's gonna be okay" needs.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Haven't on AO3. Tumblr, though...that's another matter. (Which never fails to bewilder me. You're gonna take time out of your life to send anon hate to ME? ME?? Who the actual frilly heck am I to warrant anon hate??)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Sort of? Kind of? For years, I didn't try, and now I have, and it's all rated M because I don't think I have anything more explicit in me, but I'm enjoying it? (it's all extremely fluffy, though, because I'm just a fluff merchant at heart)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? No, I never have. I'm not sure my brain's wired for that.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of, but the majority of my fic is so niche I would be stunned if I did.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? See above, re: niche

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Sort of...years ago, I co-wrote some Baldur's Gate AU fic with a friend that never got published anywhere. Which is a shame, because it was good stuff.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Whichever one I'm writing at the moment lol.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Probably the sequel to In a Strange Land. Of all the stories I've started and never finished, that one stings the most.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue. I like to think I have a pretty good ear for it (so to speak).

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plot. 😅 I'm great at having characters sit around and talk, but I'm terrible at having things actually happen.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Complete neutrality. I've never done it, so I don't give it much thought.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Buffy the Vampire Slayer! And if you managed to dig up my old LiveJournal, you could still read it!

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? I love them for different reasons at different times. 😄

Tagging anyone who wants to play!

[novelmonger]

For the Random Asks Game: 3, 4, 8-10, 12, 14, 20, 22, and 23, please?

Wheeeee, lots of questions! 8D

3. traveling by train or by plane?

Train, if at all possible. I've been in far too many planes for my taste, and trains tend to be more comfortable. You don't even have to wear a seatbelt! It stays level, it's reasonably safe because it's not like there's tons of chaotic traffic every which-way, and depending on the train, there might even be a dining car! Sleeping in a train isn't much better than trying to sleep in a plane, even if you get a sleeper car, but pretty much everything else is superior other than the travel time.

4. have a scenario: you have to break someone out of prison, and you are allowed a squad of four people. they can be real or fictional. who are you picking?

Hmm...Yelena Belova, Victor Sullivan, Eilonwy, and Edward Elric. Because they all have experience related to getting someone out of prison, and because I think it would be hilarious to see them all interacting XD Eilonwy and Ed would be bickering the whole time, Sully would keep trying to hit on Yelena, and she would be the one reminding them all they have a job to do, while throwing plenty of shade herself.

8. themes and/or character dynamics in media that you are a sucker for?

BROTHERS BROTHERS BROTHERS BROTHERS. But you know this already! Brothers who are also best friends, best friends who are basically brothers, brothers who would die for each other, especially when they say something along the lines of "we're all we've got..." ooof, I'm gone! x.x

I'm also a sucker for father-son relationships, and older brother-younger sister relationships, which for some reason are much rarer to see.

9. favorite ship? doesn’t have to be specific, could just be favorite kind of water/spacecraft.

I have zero opinions about water/spacecraft, sorry.

But for characters, my OTP is and has always been Royai <3

10. name a song with impeccable vibes.

(Okay, just to narrow it down, I'm going to have to go with the classical definition of "song" as one with words. That...doesn't narrow it down terribly well, but whatever.)

Ohhhh, there are so many to pick from, but one that just popped into my head and made me gasp just to think about it is "Kaze no Machi he" from Tsubasa Chronicle. When the music picks up around 2:30 and the other voices join in...chills. Every time.

12. favorite book sequel?

As I said with movie sequels, the best book sequels are the ones that I like even better than the first installment. And there are several of those I can think of, but one that comes to mind is Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones. Everybody talks about Howl's Moving Castle, and rightly so; it's amazing. But my favorite is the second book, not least because it does such a good job of capturing that Middle Eastern, Arabian Nights/Aladdin feel that I so love.

14. describe your current dream house.

I'd want the outside to be blue or brick. Bonus if there's ivy or other vines climbing up. Pretty flowers, maybe some fruit trees, outside. There will be mourning doves roosting in the trees. Preferably a tower room, or at least a window seat. The inside will have interesting colors on the walls, not just white or that drab neutral beige/tan everybody paints new houses these days. There won't be any major issues with plumbing or mold or vermin. I'd have my own room with purple walls, and there would also be a wood-paneled library with floor-to-ceiling bookcases, maybe with those sliding ladders even? Comfy chairs and a chaise lounge for reading, and one bookcase doubles as a door to a secret room - either for the extra-special library, or maybe that's where the video games would be. The other thing I would love would be for the house to not be...regular, exactly. There would be all these steps going up and down and weird little hallways, so you never know quite how far off the ground you are at any given time unless you look out a window. (Basically, if you've ever read a description of Bleak House, I want a modernized version of that.)

20. if you had to pick a country to live in outside of your own, which would it be?

There's a range of countries I feel reasonably confident I could learn to live in without too much trouble if I had enough of a reason to move there. There's all the English-speaking countries, of course, like Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand.... I also feel like I could live in [redacted country I grew up in], Belgium, or Japan. There would be a bigger adjustment, and again I'd want to have, like...a job in place ahead of time before moving there, and the culture shock would probably be more severe, but I think I could do it.

But if I have to pick just one? Canada, where I will be getting a house to live with @rainintheevening - at least until she meets her cowboy in shining armor truck :D

22. favorite ice cream flavor?

Bride's Cake. The only brand I know that has it is Blue Bell, and they don't always have it in the stores, so I always pounce on it when I do see it. It's vanilla ice cream with chunks of white cake, and it all has this angelfood flavoring that elevates it even beyond the various chocolate flavors I like.

23. say you are taking a trip to the zoo, which exhibit do you visit first?

Realistically, I start with whatever's closest. But I always like watching the primates. I don't believe that we're descended from apes, but it's easy to see why some people do, because monkeys look so much like people, a little to the left.

Random Ask Game

[bubblegum-blackwood]

Character Ask Meme:

23. Has your favourite character/ship changed over time?

24. What's your favorite thing about Armand?

24(b). What's your favorite thing about Lestat?

Has your favourite character/ship changed over time? Definitely! I was 100% a Loustat girl when I first got into the series, and while I still ship them, they aren't my main focus anymore. Then for a while I was absolutely insane for Armand/Daniel, then I moved to Marius/Daniel and Marius/Armand, and now I'm stuck in a bit of an Armand/Lestat craze. Funnily enough, I was kind of neutral toward Marius when I read TVL, decided I hated him after B&G, then came around and now he's one of my favourites if not my favourite character!

What's your favourite thing about Armand? I think probably how versatile and resilient he is, like as a "person" but also as a character. I am putting that boy in situations. He is made to put in situations. He is also made to turn into a Creature. And he has such interesting relationships with so many major players in the Chronicles! There's just so much to work with and talk about when it comes to him!

What's your favourite thing about Lestat? He's just a silly lil guy

[lesbiansanemi]

Caught up on jjk. opened the jjk tag. saw the first post was a straight x reader post. IMMEDIATELY closed it and opened your blog instead. o7.

I'm so glad to be a safe haven from the hellscape that is tags. I hope you enjoyed your scrolling o7

Nah, x reader shit is a literal fucking inescapable plague and it's so fucking infuriating, I can't lie

Like, I truly have no issue with x reader stuff in general. Like the actual fics and art, of course. I have no interest in it, but other people like making and reading it, so good for them! Like, glad you're having fun

The broad community around it is fucking insufferable though and they make me kinda fucking hate anything associated with x reader stuff in general, to the point that I literally block anyone who posts/reblogs it on sight.

They are so fucking inconsiderate of everyone other than themselves in fandom spaces and ignore so many of the social niceties pretty much all other communities use to make fandom a habitable space for everyone en masse. The way they flood and abuse tagging systems is so fucking infuriating. Like, using the jjk fandom as an example (as its x reader community is one of the worst I've seen in this regard, though kny isn't much better), you shouldn't be fucking tagging your x reader smut shots with every goddamn character in the series. You want to write something of getting dicked down by Gojo? Sure, put it in the general jjk tag as well as Gojo's tag. That's valid and fair. Why tf are you tagging Maki? Or Yuuji? Or literally every other character in the series? Why are you tagging unrelated ships? It's so unnecessary and rude and self centered.

I also hate that the vast majority of them won't tag their stuff with a general x reader tag that's easy to blacklist. If I want to avoid their posts in totality, I'd have to blacklist "gojo x reader" "satoru gojo x reader" "gojo x fem reader" "gojo x gender neutral reader" "gojo x you" etc etc you get the point.... but for every fucking character in the series. Why not just add literally one general "x reader" tag that would mean people like me could easily avoid your stuff and we can both blissfully enjoy our lives? Tagging isn't just for getting exposure, it's for allowing people to avoid your work as well. That's more than half the courtesy of it

But no.... they want to shove their shit into as many people's faces as possible because they think that will get them more exposure, not just piss people off and make tags uninhabitable for literally anyone who isn't interested in it

They also have a tendency to not put their graphic, explicit porn under read mores, which is also just basic decency. Never mind that I then have to scroll through all 4K words of your OOC daddy kink nanami porn, but I had to see it when I didn't consent to it, potentially in public. Thanks for that! Also especially dumb when you put MDNI on it and then... just post it openly without even a single click to keep it off the screen. Great job! Not that MDNI always keeps minors out (obviously) but it's a useless shiny sticker when you then post the porn just out in the fucking open, not even offering one fucking click for people to consent to seeing it

I've also noticed they tend to use uncredited art in their stuff super fucking often? And no "art not mine" doesn't fucking count as credit.

Idk, I just truly have no fucking respect for the x reader community at this point considering their blatant lack of respect and courtesy for literally every other fandom subculture.

Sure, they get some hate for being "cringe" or whatever (which I admit isn't fair. I def don't get the appeal, but I don't think anyone should be getting meanly ridiculed for it, you know?) but I wish they would realize that the fucking disdain they get from the rest of the fandom is for these reasons.... Not necessarily the self shipping or even the blatant mischaracterization for wish fulfillment purposes

Idk, sorry for the rant, but the x reader crowd fucking infuriates me. Like I said, I block them all on sight (probably have upwards of 1-2K blogs blocked at this point because of it), and have blacklisted as many tags for it as I can.... and while how often I see it has definitely gone down and makes tags slightly more bearable... it's still, fucking somehow, like 50 fucking percent of them

But anyways, back to the main point! I'm glad I could curate a jjk tag that is more enjoyable and to your tastes! I know I very much like having one I can scroll through that's art and meta, rather than.... that

[tragicclownwrites]

A tragic clown's SBSP ship opinions

So I came across @shiba-deer's ship ranking post and I thought "fuck it. i'm gonna do one, too!" 😝 I tend to agree with most of their points with just a few differences including the addition of shitty Canva edits by me.

Disclaimer: As the title suggests, these are just my opinions. I know some folks may disagree and that's okay! I'm not trying to flame anyone or start any drama, so please keep it chill. We're all just clowns here. 🤡

Here's the scale I'm working with:

god tier - OMFG I LOVE them 💖🥰

top tier - I really like this ship 💜👍

mid tier - I'm neutral about this ship 😐

bottom tier - I really don't like this ship 👎😓

hell no tier - Get this shit off my dash immediately 🤢🚫

?? tier - I don't know enough about them to form an opinion 🤷

Anyways, here we go~

SQUIDBOB - god tier

Ah yes, SquidBob. The only "god tier" ranked ship on this list. Are we surprised? There are just so many great moments between these two and so much that could be said. Alas, I'll spare the long monologue and just say that their dynamic is absolute perfection. It's literally the basis of a great, slow-burn romance - you can't make this shit up. I love "opposites attract" for the exact reasons that I disliked some of the other pairings on this list. It's notable that while Spongebob is mostly cheerful and exuberant and Squidward is mostly grumpy and reserved, that isn't all they are; Squidward very much has a fun side just as Spongebob has a serious one. They keep things interesting and bring out the best in each other (whether Squiddy wants to admit that or not), in spite of their differences. And per this post, they actually do have a lot in common as well! I could wax poetic about why a fucking sponge and octopus are literal soulmates, but idk. I just think they're neat. 💖

PLABS - top tier

Now this was not a ship that was initially on my radar when I first joined the fandom. But I am happy to say that has definitely changed and it is now a favorite of mine! I love a good friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers ship, and Plabs is one of the best. I feel like they have such a "will they, won't they" thing going on that leaves me on the edge of my seat. I definitely want to look into them more. And who knows? Maybe I'll get around to writing a fic? 😉 As for canon, I could list various examples but there is just so much compelling evidence in favor of this for me not to ship.

KARENDY - top tier

This is a ship that I have grown to really enjoy. While I would like to see more of them together in the show, the few interactions we have gotten are great fodder for a budding romance. I like how they have so much in common (ex. intelligence, interest in inventing), but not to the point where they clash (which I likely will talk about later in the list) and it actually benefits them and adds to their connection. They just have so much potential! They inspire my creativity the more I look into them. I mean, c'mon. Sandy literally said Karen was "beautiful" and Karen's wiki says her relationship with Sandy is "a purely positive one."

SQUIDLIAM - top tier (as exes)

This list simply wouldn't be complete without this pairing. If you've read SquidBob fanfiction, Squilliam is the perfect villainous ex-boyfriend. 😈 It could be that I'm a sucker for villain redemptions (spoiler: i am) or perhaps @misslattesart has made me consider alternative possibilities for this character (probably both tbh), but I find myself increasingly intrigued by this dynamic - particularly Squilliam's motivation for constantly trying to outdo Squidward when he appears to have it all. While I'm part of the majority of fandom that headcanons them as exes, it's evident that they were definitely romantically involved at some point. But I do agree that they would inevitably find themselves in conflict eventually. After all, they broke up for a reason.

PLANKBOB - mid tier

Fun fact about this ship: PlankBob actually got me into the fandom (more on that here), so there's a level of fondness for me there. However, it is purely on a crack-ship basis and I've more or less stopped shipping it since joining in favor of other ships on this list. But idk man, it's just a funny dynamic.

PATWARD - mid tier

This is such a hilarious and chaotic match that literally no one would see coming. I think everyone probably knows about that one moment in Kamp Koral. I can't find the clip right now but, I mean, what the hell even was that?? Still, I'm only giving it a "mid tier" rank as, like PlankBob, it's more of a pairing that I'd ship ironically.

SQUIDVIA - mid tier

I mean, Squidward went on a practice date with Spongebob, who was significantly more interested in him than Squilvia was. She didn't get all that much screentime, despite her being the girl Squidward was presumably trying to impress. I'd argue that Squiddy wasn't all that into her either, but rather the idea of her because they are so similar and he thinks that's the kind of person he should be with. I don't really feel any sort of way about this ship, but their relationship probably wouldn't last. SquidBob FTW.

PUFFKRABS - bottom tier but would be mid tier if not for their bullshit (very confusing, I know)

Surprisingly, I do feel like this pairing has potential... if it weren't for a major Plankton-shaped obstacle holding them back. I've touched on this a bit in my fic, but apparently Mrs. Puff and Mr. Krabs have been/were secretly dating for 16 years. Now, 16 years is not a number to scoff at. However, the "secretly" part is giving me pause and sending up all the red flags. 🚩🚩Both of them are single/divorced/widowed/etc. They are not having an affair. So... why keep it a secret? As far as I'm aware, neither of them have any reason not to be open about it (assuming that I'm not off base about this whole secrecy aspect). Sure, not everyone needs to be in their business. But then it's implied that even Pearl doesn't know. I have no idea who made the call but if I was Mrs. Puff and everyone, including my boyfriend's daughter, was in the dark about our relationship and he made no moves to give me any sort of real commitment after over a decade... I'd start to wonder what the fuck was up.

PATBOB - bottom tier (sorry 😔)

I was really conflicted on this ranking because PatBob has all the makings of a great ship - they're best friends, they look cute together, and they have a lot in common. However, the reason I ranked this so low is mostly because their friendship is so much stronger than any sort of romantic connection. I feel like whenever these two are put into a remotely romantic scenario (ex. when Spongebob they raised a baby scallop), that's when the cracks start to show. As friends, they have a great dynamic and are so funny together, even when they get into arguments/spats. However, as romantic partners, it feels unnatural. As shown in the episode I mentioned as an example, Patrick gets to be his silly, lazy self whereas Spongebob has to take the more serious, rational role - which is not his natural inclination, even if he has that side. I just can't help but feel like this would become a pattern if they were actually in a relationship. I live for best friends-to-lovers... but this ship is not the one.

PLANKAREN - bottom tier

I was originally going to rank this "hell no tier" but it's not the worst thing I've ever seen - mostly just a prime example of compulsory heterosexuality (this was a great response on the topic). I still dislike the pairing quite a bit though. Like, are they even married? The two of them are so off-and-on, hot-and-cold together and there's just something so... forced about it. I just think they both would be so much happier if they weren't together, you know? I don't doubt that they support - and maybe even love - each other a bit, but to quote my own fic (not to plug lol): "you can love and care about someone without being in love with them."

SPANDY - hell no tier

I've never liked this ship, even prior to joining the fandom. Hell, even when I was a kid and didn't know what shipping was, I still felt there was something off. As I've gotten older and wiser though, I think it really comes down to Sandy and Spongebob having virtually zero romantic chemistry. Nada. Zilch. Despite SBSP being episodic in nature, their dynamic consistently gives me sibling vibes - which does not translate well into a romantic connection at all. They're just miles better as friends and I don't see that changing in the slightest.

(And this is just a personal nit-pick vs. a solid point but I find myself put off by the frequently OOC portrayal in fanworks - particularly for Sandy, who is actually one of my favorite characters. I know as writers and artists, we're going to take some creative liberties. But if you have to drastically alter a character's personality and/or physical traits to suit your ship narrative, it's probably not a good ship. 🤷)

SQUANDY - hell no tier

I do love seeing Squidward and Sandy getting along and being pals - I mean, look at this interaction (sorry, couldn't find a better gif)! However, any sort of romantic connotation gives me a serious case of the "ick" (SquidBob be damned, honestly). Hence the very low ranking. They are strangely more believable than Spandy, but that's probably the only redeeming thing about this as a ship tbh. Otherwise, it's a "hell no" from me.

(This sound effect is literally me when thinking about this lmao.)

MINDRICK - hell no tier

Not to be that person, but even if there was genuine chemistry... let's just say Mindy doesn't just look young. I even Googled it for you. You're welcome.

SQUARRY - ?? tier

Okay so I've heard lots of good things about this pairing and how they have some great, shippy interactions. However, it's not a ship I'm familiar enough with to form an opinion.

BUBBLERAY - ?? tier

Not really super familiar with these characters' dynamic in general, let alone the ship.

SLAPFERATU - ?? tier

I've seen this ship making the rounds as well, but definitely not familiar enough with them to make a judgment call. From what I've seen (including pulling this pic together), it is pretty hilarious. I will say that. 😆