#i'm not tagging the ships because they're not really important

[musical-chick-13]

For the fandom confession: the to ship or not wars at present are really a sign of how people expect art and stories to be essentially tailor made to their desires. This manifests in other ways such as not supporting the WGA strike. Regardless of the series being discussed, it mostly makes me want to tell people to relax, sit back, leave if it stops being fun. It’s not individually for you and that is fine.

I know I basically meme on how much I love to complain about everything under the sun, but. Yeah. (And I do think it's worth examining wider, overall trends in fandom-some of which apply to shipping. But that's not...what any of this is. It's just "what will make me look good and give me fandom clout and allow me to feel a sense of personal/moral superiority" which is just. Why would you spend your time in fandom. Doing that.)

People so often really do just expect every story to fit into all the exact boxes of what they personally want at all times, and I'm pretty sure I actually wrote a long-ass thing about this phenomenon a while back. (Art that is not made by you! Is not for you! You just get to see and evaluate it!! As anon said, if it bothers you that much, walk away!!!)

And most importantly, we support the WGA strike in this house. :)

Anonymously tell me a fandom-related confession

[ghost-bison]

people who say ninerose is strictly platonic aren't realizing that they just have a hypocritical problem with age gap. i'm saying hypocritical because those people generally have no problem acknowledging tenrose as romantic just because david tennant's forehead isn't wrinkled. but they're forgetting that the doctor is still over 900 years old and even if he wasn't, tennant was still just a few years younger than eccleston. so if you have a problem with one, you should have a problem with the other.

and i'm saying this as a ninerose shipper cause if you think rose was too young and it's weird for them to be in a relationship? ok, fine. we all have our triggers. i personally have a problem with edward/bella (twilight) and stefan/elena/damon (the vampire diaries), because the age difference is fetishized, not really written as something as problematic as it should be, and also, elena and bella are teenagers.

and ok, rose might not be donna's age, but from 17 to 19 a lot happens in your head, especially for rose who already has a job and who takes care of her mum. bella and elena are both financially stable enough that they don't have to "grow up" faster and worry about if they can make ends meet. they're still in school.

and, moreover, the doctor doesn't make it weird. he doesn't obsess over her sexually, doesn't groom her, and is aware of the age difference.

but it's also not like he has a choice: his entire species was decimated, and even when the time lords were still here, they were pretentious, elitist puritans and the doctor was basically the autism specimen who was always more curious and open-minded than the rest of his peers. he always liked human beings in a totally healthy way (I'm talking about humanity as a species, not individually, cause i know he had some weird toxic friendships but it's not about that).

he likes humanity for how fleeting our lives are. we are ephemeral and it gives purpose to our life and the doctor loves how it acts on the way we live it.

he hates soldiers cause they go against what he thinks is our nature (a need to create and witness art, a need for the other) in favour of capitalism, stupid political conflicts. soldiering treats life as less important than those stupid and, in the end, useless concepts, and the doctor loves choosing and interacting in general with people who understand that. people whose curiosity exceeds their love of comfort and fame. like rose.

he didn't choose rose because she was pretty, or young, or because he fetishized her and was weirdly obsessed with her. which is not to say their relationship was without fault, cause it was (there's a reason rose got stuck in that parallel world in the first place and sorry to tell you this, but the reason is mainly the carelessness of tenrose), but it wasn't toxic in its essence.

so yeah, you're allowed not to ship ninerose, it's ok, but don't call it platonic or weird cause it's not (tenrose was actually way more toxic).

for starters, no one looks at their friends or, as people like to call them, "parental figure" the way she looked at him. then, people kept acknowledging their relationship as romantic (calling nine rose's boyfriend and calling rose nine's girlfriend). rose showed jealousy when women displayed romantic/sexual interest in nine (jabe, lynda etc...). they literally shared a kiss on the lips. even jackie ended up accepting the nature of this relationship, and she was very protective of rose. and to finish up, rose herself called their first adventure their first date: "our first date. we had chips".

so yeah anyway. they're in love. deal with it. if you don't have a positive opinion on them there's something very simple you can do about it: to keep it to yourself or if you really can't help it, you can also learn to tag it correctly so i and other ninerose shippers don't have to see it :)

thank you

[bluebeary-jay]

Face to face

Din Djarin x f!Mandalorian!Reader

Summary: as riduurs, you and Din can finally show your faces to each other without suffering any consequences. but when the time finally comes, your insecurities and fears of rejection come into play, threatening to ruin this important moment

Tags: just pure tooth-rotting fluff, Din and Reader being insecure, they're sweethearts though and so in love, Din being a supporting husband <3, mandalorian customs are probably half-accurate but i did my best in research 😌

Word count: 3K

A/N: haiii guys!! long time no see 🤗 i had this idea ever since i watched s2 of the mandalorian almost a month ago and i'm finally done! thank you to all who stick around and i really hope you'll enjoy my first attempt at writing din (feel free to let me know what you think 🤭)! i love all of you darlings 🥰 and as always, happy reading!! 💕

Din Djarin wouldn’t ever admit it to anyone, but he always wanted a family. The memories of his parents were hazy, but he remembered how much they loved each other and in the depths of his soul longed for a connection like this someday. Being the bounty hunter didn’t give many opportunities to look for a relationship, however, and with time he abandoned the hope for a place and people he could call home. He convinced himself that he was content being on his own.

But then the Child came along, and with it everything has changed. This little wrinkly womp rat became the most precious being in his life and Din was ready to die to protect Grogu – but he never expected that he’d also meet his future riduur because of the kid.

He did. You, a fellow Mandalorian Din spoke to only a couple of times in the hideout on Nevarro, decided to help him on his quest, and from this moment on he didn’t stand a chance. You were everything Djarin admired – brave, compassionate, skillful and kind – and though you both respected the Way of the Mandalore and never removed your helmets in each other’s presence, he knew in his soul that you were beautiful as well.

It was a long road to come to terms with what he felt for you and gather the courage to actually let you know it. But it was all worth it just for this moment when you exchanged your vows and he officially became yours, and you his. Now you were his riduur and he finally had every right to admire and cherish you like you deserved.

And most importantly, he could finally see you. The pair of you talked about this moment a lot during the nights spent on the Crest, tangling your fingers together when the ship was flooded with pitch-black darkness. Din used to whisper to you of his dreams, how he longed to run his eyes over your uncovered body, taking his time to commit to memory every little detail of your physique and expressions. You, with a giddy and wistful tone, told him how impatient you were to at last find out how his lips would feel on yours and what color his eyes were. Even when you both knew you were going to marry, you didn’t rush things and never removed your helmets until your union became official.

But you did see each other’s faces, once, though not in a conventional way. Din remembered it clearly as a day, though his eyes – as well as yours – were covered by a piece of a material the entire time. Both of you were desperate for each other that night, the tension hanging above your heads straining the resolve about waiting. And then came the moment when you didn’t fight it anymore. Instead, you both sat down on Din’s cot and without your sense of sight spent the next hour talking and trailing fingertips down each other’s faces.

Din reminisced about this moment a lot of times. He tried to remember the shape of your features to create a full picture of you in his mind while he laid alone in his bed, longing for your vicinity. Even if your bodies were separated only by the layers of beskar, it was still too far for him.

He didn’t have to wait any longer now.

It was the day of your wedding and Din Djarin never felt happier than in that moment when you recited Mandalorian vows and he got to touch your bare hand again, not covered by a glove, to put a custom-made ring on your finger. It wasn’t a necessary but he wanted to make this day memorable and meaningful for you. A few tears of joy were shed, but his face was still concealed by the helmet, allowing his emotions to take hold of him.

He hadn’t let go of your hand since the small ceremony (if one could even call it that) ended, and you squeezed his palm every few steps as you walked toward a house that was going to be your home for the next couple of days. The Child was being taken care of by other Mandalorians so that you could be completely alone for this special moment.

You were buzzing with excited energy for the whole week prior to your wedding, but now Din could sense his partner’s nervousness. He wasn’t exactly surprised – after all, it has been years for both of you since anyone saw you without your helmet on. But with every moment that you neared the bedroom, you seemed more insular, more withdrawn and hesitant, and Din started to really worry.

“Are you okay, cyar’ika (darling)?”

You slowed down, not answering right away, which caused Din to furrow his brows with confusion. Maybe you didn’t want to do it after all? Maybe it was too sudden for you? Or maybe he came off as too eager?

“Cyar’ika,” he repeated softly, wanting to put you at ease – but it didn’t seem to meet the target. “If you’re not ready…”

“No. No, I’m ready. I just…”

You trailed off. Din wordlessly guided you to the edge of the bed, cradling your hands in his – one gloved one and one not. The light of the setting sun flowed in through the small window and reflected off the hard beskar you both wore, bathing your figure in a beautiful golden light.

He was already so in love with you. What could possibly be the cause of your hesitation?

“I’m just nervous,” you murmured at last with your head bowed, looking at your joined hands. “I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“Disappointed?” the Mandalorian repeated before he could think, and shook his head slightly. “What are you… What are you talking about? Why would I ever be?”

You lifted your gaze, and though Din couldn’t see your eyes, he could almost feel the weight of your fears on his own shoulders. The modulator in your helmet was hiding any trace of it, but he knew you long enough to recognize the tiniest shift in your body language.

“Ner kar’ta (my heart). I could never be disappointed with you.” He laced his fingers with yours, once again admiring how perfectly they fit together, and lifted them to his chest. “You own my heart and soul now, and nothing will change that.”

He hoped to soothe your nerves, but you were still silent. It wasn’t at all what Mando was expecting from this evening and he was at a loss for what to do to fix it.

“Would it help if I showed you my face first?” he asked after some time, and your head snapped up.

“No.” Even with the modulator, your voice clearly sounded broken and regretful, and it was wounding Din more than anything else could. “We were supposed to do it together.”

“We can,” he assured quietly, swiping his thumb over your knuckles. “But the most important thing to me… is for you to feel comfortable during it. If you want to wait–”

“I don’t.” You untangled your hands from his hold and instead brought them to his chest, placing them on the beskar breastplate. He couldn’t wait to take it off and feel your touch on his skin. “If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t marry you and make you my riduur.”

You leaned forward and lightly bonked your helmets together, a sweet gesture Din loved since the first time you did it.

“Ni kar’tayl gar darasuum or’atu an mayen. (I love you more than anything.) More than life itself.”

“I know,” he answered simply and delicately brought your hands to the edges of his helmet. It was obvious what he was offering you. “That’s why I’m willing to do it for you.”

You were still, not daring to move, and Din nodded slightly to show you that he’s certain of his decision. His heart was beating heavily in his chest, though, and he could feel sweat forming on the back of his neck.

Showing your face to others was one of the worst crimes in Mandalorian culture, but doing it with your riduur was the highest honor that not everyone was fortunate enough to experience. But Din Djarin was among the lucky ones. Even though it was not in a way he always imagined, he didn’t care as long as you were happy.

You gripped the edges of his helmet tighter and a high hiss sounded, a telltale sign that the metal piece was ready to be removed. And slowly – so very slowly – you did. Din felt a flow of cooler air on his hot skin: first his chin, then his cheeks, finally his forehead…

And lastly, he inhaled shakily before lifting his head to look into the void of your visor.

A second passed by. Then two. Then ten, though Din felt like it must’ve been a full minute now. And still you didn’t move, just watched him silently, motionless as a statue.

The Mandalorian swallowed with difficulty, starting to feel very self-conscious. The crisp air cooled the sweat gathering on the nape of his neck and he had to use all his self-control not to fiddle his fingers nervously. He felt so naked and exposed under your gaze, though he absolutely shouldn’t – you were his riduur and there was no reason to feel ashamed or insecure with you. But he couldn’t help worrying: what if he wasn’t what you expected? What if you didn’t find him attractive at all?

Then a movement of your hands drew his attention and he watched, transfixed, as you slowly started to take off your glove, tugging one finger off at a time. Once your hand was freed from the confines of the protective material, you flexed your fingers before lifting both of your palms to his face.

Even though Din was acutely aware of your every move, he still somehow flinched in surprise at your touch, causing you to freeze and search his eyes with the air of concern around you. He quickly gave you a small nod, silently begging you to proceed, and, thankfully, you did. Your fingertips traced his cheeks, so delicately it almost tickled, brushing down the path to his stubble, and then back up to the arch of his nose and eyebrows. Djarin’s eyelids fluttered closed and he let out a shaky breath, giving in to the most amazing sensation that your touch was.

“I knew you had to be the most beautiful being in the galaxy,” you whispered from under your helmet with a voice filled with a plethora of raw emotions. Din regretted not being able to see your face at that moment, but if it would help you feel more comfortable in such a memorable and important situation, he was ready to do anything for you.

“I’m sure you’re a million times more radiant, cyar’ika,” he said back. His voice was weirdly weak and raspy, sounding strangely to him – probably because he knew there was another person hearing him without his helmet on. “Even if I don’t see your face, mesh’la (beautiful), today or ever… The love I have for you will never change or waver. That I promise.”

“It won’t exactly be fair to the Creed if I don’t remove my helmet in front of my husband,” you answered, half-teasing, but Din knew there was a real worry behind your words.

“You know very well there’s nothing said about it in the Creed.” He opened his eyes, offering you a small smile. “And I don’t remember our vows mentioning it, either.”

You clicked your tongue with exasperation, but Din also saw your shoulders relaxing, a sign that some of your nerves ebbed away.

“Gev bic (stop it),” you laughed, letting your hand fall down – but before it could happen, Din caught your wrist and lifted it back to his face. He slowly kissed the inside of your palm, down to the veins disappearing under your sleeve, his eyes fixated on your visor the entire time. His smile grew slightly when he felt a shiver run through you.

“I love you, ner kar’ta,” he whispered. “Even if you’re a half-Hutt under your armor.”

“Don’t push it.”

You let go of his hand and Din’s face fell, fearing that he really went too far. He reached for you but stopped when you straightened up and took a deep breath, your hands going to the last thing that separated you from him – your helmet.

He held his breath and his heart beat erratically as he watched you. He tried not to blink, not wanting to miss the moment when he finally got to see your face. Just the fact that you were willing to do this meant so much to him, but…

Slowly, you took your helmet off and placed it down on the mattress right next to his. Then, a pair of irises gazed into the depths of Din Djarin’s heart.

…you were wrong.

Oh, how wrong you were.

There was no mistaking it that you were by far the most breathtaking sight the Mandalorian had ever laid his eyes on.

The Maker must’ve been overly generous, or maybe favored you, for looking at you… it felt like coming home.

You stared at him with gentle, tentative eyes of the most beautiful color in the world, and Din would’ve gladly lost himself in them. Your lips, so tempting and soft-looking, were parted slightly as you awaited his reaction, but he couldn’t move. He just watched, spellbound, and wondered if this truly is reality and not some cruel, elusive dream.

He hadn’t felt such awe even when he saw Grogu doing his magic for the first time. Hadn’t felt such elation even when a new skin made of beskar was forged just for him. Had never before felt such love in his life.

You were a wonder. A miracle.

“Cyare?”

Your voice sounded almost fearful to your ears, but you couldn’t help it – Din seemed unable to utter even a word, and panic started to flood your veins when you noticed tears gathering in his dark, beautiful eyes. “Din–”

But before you could move away, he slipped off the bed and knelt by your feet. You were so taken aback by this action that you didn’t even react when he cradled both of your hands in his and pressed lingering kisses to your fingers, one after another.

“If I could, I’d marry you all over again,” he rasped, meeting your gaze with so much love and adoration in his brown eyes that it took your breath away. “How did I get so lucky…?”

“I think I’m the lucky one,” you let out a breathless laugh of relief, your pupils darting across the lines and grooves of his face. “You… you’re not just saying that, right?”

“Cyar’ika, look at me.” He gently tilted your chin up, making your eyes meet his. For a second he faltered, parting his lips in wonder at the feeling of your skin under his fingertips, before he swallowed and gazed at you again. “Do you doubt my words?”

No. There was really no questioning his motives. You knew Din was as honest as one could be and there were only your own insecurities at play here. But the longer you looked at him, his expression so full of love and devotion, the less relevant your own doubts were becoming.

You couldn’t think of anything else but him.

“I really want to kiss you,” you whispered instead of answering, and his face broke into a wide, joyous grin. “Can I–?”

The Mandalorian didn’t even wait for you to finish – the second those words left your mouth, he surged forward and pressed his lips to yours forcefully, eliciting a surprised sound out of you, which soon turned into a needy whimper. You didn’t give him a chance to back away and instantly tangled your fingers into his hair, moving clumsily to be closer to him.

But when you attempted to climb onto his lap, your breast plates collided with a metallic clank, forcing the pair of you to put some space between you. Din huffed with frustration, while you laughed and cupped his face in your hands.

“You’re quite impatient for a bounty hunter,” you accused him playfully, nudging your nose with his. You took a deep, calming breath, wanting to surround yourself with the smell of him completely, but your riduur didn’t let you indulge for long.

He moved quickly and, without a warning, kissed you briefly again – and then one more time. It was more like a light peck, and you longed to feel his tongue inside your mouth once more, but at the same time relished in every sensation that his lips brought. Every touch he gave you was something infinitely precious.

“I’ve waited longer than you,” he murmured. His hands were already moving, taking off the beskar on his forearms and shoulders, reaching where he could without removing you from his lap just yet. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me, cyar’ika.”

You smiled widely and looked up from his deft fingers to throw another teasing comment, but in one second you lost your train of thoughts.

Because Din was blushing.

The feared Mandalorian’s face – a face you were finally allowed to see whenever you desired – was sprinkled with redness across his cheeks and ears. And you were the cause of that.

The thought of it almost caused your eyes to water.

“What are you looking at, mesh’la?”

Your eyes found him again and you smiled brightly, causing Din’s heart to skip a couple of beats.

You took his stubbly chin in-between your fingers and brought his lips closer, planting a soft kiss there that had the Mandalorian melting. He covered your hand with his, feeling the band on your finger under his own.

A miracle.

“I’m looking at you.”

[messrsrarchives]

tiktok has been having a censorship debate for like two weeks now and i need people to understand that "as long as it's not illegal" is not what we mean by fandom etiquette.

there is no ethical level of censorship because when these spaces get taken down for the "immoral subjects"? you will come down with those. when ff.net got scrubbed clean it wasn't just cest fics and proship content etc etc, it was unrelated works because there is no standard of immorality. not here. we lost tens of thousands of works because of puritanical arguments and discussions about morality, and it wasn't just the ones you're debating about.

there is no ethical level of censorship and as long as these works are tagged correctly? you cannot get mad about their existence. you can disagree! you can say you personally do not engage with them, but you Cannot say "ship and let ship until it's -" because that is not how it works.

and i'm not perfect! when i first joined online fandom spaces i was very much like "if you have to change the ages then it's disgusting" "they're related" etc etc and whilst i still don't tend to engage with those themes? we cannot be censoring them either. not without losing these spaces.

it starts with you disagreeing with these things, and it ends with queer media as a whole because there is No Ethical Censorship.

this is less a discussion about fandom etiquette, and more a discussion of Having Fandom Spaces. i beggeth you, don't be part of helping what happened to ff.net happen again 😖

don't like, don't read - including "illegal" and "immoral" things. if they're tagged correctly, you can avoid them.

we also, less of a fandom note and more just a general media note, need to explore these things. yes, there are 100% times where these things get glorified. but on a general basis? we need to explore immoral things in media. we need to explore things to understand them - i'm thinking here about well-known books like the handmaid's tale getting banned because it's Important and it Explains what's going on right now. i'm thinking about morally grey characters/historical figures and how we need to be able to look at their motivations/backstory/etc not necessarily for justification, but for understanding and prevention. even in real life cases, they look at the backstory of the individual because that is how we form and improve preventative techniques and resources.

there is no ethical level of censorship and i've been there, i know it feels good to be like "this is illegal this is bad", you feel like you're doing some good in the world but you're actually causing harm unknowingly to These Spaces.

it is 2025, we do Not need proshipper discourse right now. arguably the worst time for people to be debating what's immoral to read/write about. all censorship ends up as mass censorship, and i really need yall to understand that

block the tags, exclude them from your searches, block the people posting them. do whateverrrr you have to do to curate your own fandom space but for the love of everythingggg, don't be part of the reason we lose these spaces as a whole.

[calware]

as time goes on my interesting in shipping (for homestuck) (that's really the only fandom i'm in) has just gone down lower and lower because i used to see "shipping" as just "characters who were compatible in some way". for example i would look at karkat and feferi and be like "they didn't interact much but a lot was going on with the two of them in terms of their themes and how those themes intersect. and since romantic relationships are "more complex" or "better" or "more potent" than other relationships the natural progression is to ship them together romantically" but the stuff that would make them potentially interesting as a pairing isn't inherently romantic at all. and i feel like that goes for a lot of if not most of the characters. homestuck to me is way more centered on the idea of friendship (and family sometimes but moreso friendship) than romance and when characters have something important going on between them the interesting part is usually not inherently romantic

even the characters that start dating where their romantic attraction IS very important is based on their initial friendship..!! vrisrezi wouldn't be nearly as meaningful if they weren't friends first, same with dirkjake, etc. arasol is such a popular ship and they only dated once when they were 8 years old…. their relationship from that point on is SO important to who they are but it isn't even inherently romantic after the fact, but people see romance as the "natural progression" from there so clearly they "should" date once they get the chance to do so again. my point is i wish people would pay more attention to some of the non-romantic aspects of relationships in hs because i really think that's what takes center stage within the story most of the time (not ALL of the time of course there are definitely parts where romance is important. but you get what i'm saying)

and then of course to take that a step further and be even more of a hater i'm so tired of people taking stuff and putting it into a romantic context when it's entirely unnecessary…. i made a video with dave and karkat bickering and people tagged it as davekat for no reason. literally that post about dirk and john meeting each other that people kept tagging as dirkjohn for no reason. i'll make posts about the alpha kids being friends and doing stuff together and someone went through my entire blog tagging all of these as "alphacule" for no reason. i'll draw dirk and hal literally just looking at each other and someone will tag it as dirkhal. girl they're just looking at each other. seeing someone liveblog collide and they go "did anyone else think dirk and dave should've kissed >_<??" no i actually don't think they would do that. it's so dark in here

[acourtofthought]

I woke up this morning to more hate anons and a few reassuring messages (thank you so much for those ❤️) but I'm not going to be responding to any more about this topic.

I have two younger children with a lot of energy, a needy energetic dog who is always stealing stuff and making you chase him, I'm taking one of my best friends out to brunch this morning to celebrate her birthday and I currently feel like shit because I could not sleep last night. My body was humming with anxiety and I woke up in a panic every hour after finally falling asleep after two hours of listening to sleep meditation videos. Rinse and repeat from 11 pm to 7 am.

Yes, to those who continue throwing this in my face, I do defend Elain's character on some anti takes who constantly use the Elucien and Elain tags. When doing so, you are forcing Elain stans to witness your hatred of her, you are filling their feed with negativity and you should then not be surprised if people decide to comment. But you're also kidding yourself if you think I am constantly bombarding others because responding to the Anti Elain takes would tie up Eluciens for the entirety of their day. Clearly, you have absolutely no room to talk when you couldn't even handle someone having a headcanon that put Elain's story before Gwyn's on the timeline all while only using Elain, Lucien, and Elucien tags. It wasn't even Gwyn slander, it was literally "I know Gwyn is going to be an important part of the IC / Nyx someday as Az's mate but I'd really like to see Elain interacting with them from her POV first". Apparently, THAT was the cause for the downfall of the Elucien / Gwynriel friendship. Apparently THAT was the reason for the discord between us. It couldn't possibly have been all the hate some Gwynriels have for Elain or the statements that "Az's book is definitely next and Eluciens are just going to have to accept it" or "Gwyn will get a Pegasus from Helion first." or "We'll learn about Az and Gwyn's heritage before Lucien discovers his". If you're allowed to have those headcanons then why can't we have ours? And if the only way for Eluciens and Gwynriels to be friends is for us to put Az and Gwyn first at all times, to not try to point out why Elucien might be set up more than Gwynriel (just like you do for Gwynriel over Elucien / Elriel) while acknowledging that we could still be wrong then I guess we can't be friends. Disagreeing is not a crime. Putting our OTP first is not a crime. Saying "I think our pairing is ready first" is not a crime, especially when most of it is in response to the takes we're regularly forced to bear witness to. It's not antagonistic either. You know what is antagonistic? Saying "Az's book is definitely next and Eluciens are just going to have to wait longer". Saying "anyone who thinks Elain's book is next is delusional". Saying, "Elain is so boring and underdeveloped and that's our right to think so but you're a bad friend if you have anything negative to say about Az or Gwyn's character." "Elain is boring but Gwyn does not need more development, they're so wrong for saying that". Saying "we can have our headcanons but if you have yours then you're creating discord." Saying "Elucien's should be happy if Gwynriel is next because they still win, it still confirms their ship". Sending hate anons, gaslighting and spreading lies is the exact same bully behavior you claim to hate about E/riels yet some are turning around and doing it to "mutuals".

I'm an Elucien blog first and foremost. I love both Elain and Lucien. I see the potential of Gwynriel but am allowed to be a little salty at Az for the way he acts towards Lucien. I am allowed to want to see more for Gwyn's character outside of just being Nesta's best friend before feeling like I truly know all her layers. Saying that does not mean I hate her or am slandering her. Elain has been around since book 1, Gwyn was only around for SF, it is not abnormal for someone to feel more drawn to a character who they've been reading about for multiple books. I have many mutuals who comment under my posts and say "I see things differently" and we have healthy exchanges even with a difference of opinions, clearly I don't need every single person to agree with me. If you can't handle that and instead need to resort to telling lies about my posts and sending hate anons than you are the problem, you are the bully.

Wanting to claim Elucien's as friends just so you feel you have a bigger army against elriels while shitting on Elain then expecting us to show nothing but respect for your favorites? That's not a friendship we need.

[antimony-medusa]

*I emerge from several weeks of talking about conceptualizing my cubitos and who else populates their world and what the precise nature of the character is* Hello. Hi. It's time for my twice-yearly thoughts on RPF.

Okay so I was one of the people who was emailing Ao3 about it when we had all of MCYT wrangled into VBRPF going please please please please can we have our own server tags pleeeeeeease I promise it's not just video blogging rpf pleeeeeeease my streamer doesn't have wings in real life pleasssssseeee— and my general stance is that writing about Dream SMP characters is writing about characters, it's not RPF.

Not quite. It's not quite RPF. There is a meaningful distinction there, but it's not a really huge one. That distinction exists and is important to me in how I conceptualize those characters and whether I'm mentally going "okay I need to study lore streams for vocal patterns" for voice research or if I'm going "okay I need to pull up technocord logs " to get techno voice right. What I consider the authoritative canon "character" is a rp guy who spawns withers, not a real streamer in california with a little white dog.

But like I do multifandom exchanges and I wander into them with my cubitos clutched tight in my palms, and I see what other fandoms look like— and importantly, I see what other rpf fandoms look like— and guys, I think that line is legitimately blurry and I think that's literally fine. If I walk into a mulltfandom space with my guys they're going to squint at me and go "rpf fandom— kinda, I think" and I can go "hahaha, not quite", but also I do not blame other people for thinking this is RPF cause like— there are a lot of similarities!

What MCYT tends to classify as "RPF" is directly stories operating in a world where the characters are streamers, they post on twitter, they have lunch with the CEO of twitch. And anyone not writing that, is obviously not writing RPF. And that is not untrue, up to a point, but there is a broad category of fics that tend WAY harder into the pure fictional that are still considered RPF fandoms, if you actually check what other RPF fandoms are doing. There are 599 works in "Demon Shane Madej", many of which are in AUs that have no connection to the real world other than the character relationships, and they're still officially considered RPF.

I have a friend who's in a c-drama rpf fandom that has a rpf ship they really like, and a really popular thing is to take the various characters these actors have played (totally fictional characters from various media) and ship them together. And that's just a crossover of two fictional mediums, but because the thread connecting them is two guys in real life, that's considered RPF.

The banddom tags are absolutely COMPLETELY full of aus that are not set in the real world at all, no connection to the music industry, and what the people in those fandoms will say is like yeah, I have no idea about the real guy, I'm working with a character/persona who's put on for the stage and interviews and personas, and that guy is not REAL, who knows what the real guy is like, but like, I like the persona, I deal with the persona, and then they put that persona in an au where he kisses other personas— and this gets considered RPF.

Wrestler RPF is directly dealing with invented characters who are beating the bloody snot out of each other (hot), they have names like "the undertaker", dealing with scripted storylines, but it still get considered RPF.

And like, I look at myself as I am entering my third year of writing Technoblade most of the time, and what I'm doing here and— there are a lot of similarities in what I'm doing to what other RPF fandoms are doing. I'm a fan of the DSMP character but I'm also a fan of the guy, so I want to play in this extended universe, so I want to include nods to his other stuff. So I will pepper in a cheeky nod to the potato war here, I'll mention hypixel there, etc, kind of make an extended Technoblade universe. And I think that's not RPF (quite) because I'm working from a fictional canon that includes references to the potato war and hypixel etc, I'm just expanding on it, but like, this is literally what my friend in c-drama rpf does as well when she's writing aus about her guy. It's kind of close to RPF. That line is not really obvious to the casual viewer.

So I do not blame anyone else if they look at what we're doing and they go ah, nods wisely, you are a rpf fandom, I've seen this before, and we go um actually, hahah, you'd think that, but no, and then they nod and clearly do not understand how it's not a RPF fandom.

But the thing is it's literally fine if people think that, I think. RPF is not the end of the world. It's just a bunch of people working with people's various performancesonas and worksonas and having fun with it. Spoilers for mythbusters in the real world, but we now know that by the end of mythbusters adam and jamie were not really friends, but most of the mythbusters rpf keeps them as friends because that was the professional persona they provided for the camera, and that was the fictional world the writers wanted to live in. I don't think it's a problem if someone wants to write straight up streamer fic, you do you, and that's unequivocally RPF, but once you start getting into AUs and extended universes and bringing emduo content into qsmp and writing fic based on GIGS streams, the line legitimately gets WAY more blurry.

I think a bunch of fic (including my fic) can start to exist in a "both things are true" state where it's drawing from direct fiction but it's also drawing from a lot of stuff that other fandoms would consider RPF sources, and like, I don't mind this. I don't think it's bad if you're doing this too. We're not getting more DSMP content, the fandom police are not gonna turn up at your house if you want to pull strongly from minecraft monday for your fic. Do schlackity on QSMP. Do a DSMP extended future where tommy gets tubbo to marry him for a bit and then tubbo immediately demands a divorce. The canon of material we have to draw on is not something where big obvious lines exist between "rpf content" and "pure fiction" if you step at ALL outside of canon-compliant. Like fuck, in my very first DSMP longfic I included all these hermit cameos and mcc references which would make it RPF in any other canon, but also I was pulling mainly from the prison arc lore and beats and relationships for the core, which is NOT rpf, and at this point it is not worth the hassle in my head to draw a strong distinction between them.

It's kinda RPF. It's not quite RPF. It's fictional. It's based in the real world. It's all personas. it's drawing on off-lore-stream dynamics. It's drawing on scripted scenes where my streamer had his camera in lore mode. It's COMPLICATED to unpick and I legitimately think that's fine. RPF is literally fine, some people are gonna think we're writing RPF, it's not the end of the world. Just have fun with it.

[ambigrueity]

Incredibly long post about Trey and Riddle's Relationship that I vaguely said I'd do in the tags of my posts somewhere

Disclaimer: this is not intended to be shipping in any way I very much view them as family, even more so after these updates. To start with I'm going to separate their relationship into 3 distinct stages and focus on their perceptions of each other at each stage. I think their relationship is wonderfully written As usual, I ramble so sorry in advance, but I really want to analyze how complex they are.

Stage one: Childhood: ||Riddle|| A friend: Trey and Chenya were Riddle's first friends. Riddle had spent his whole life knowing the four walls of his home and his mother and both Trey and Chenya were his gateway to experiencing the world outside his windows. As such, they're immensely valuable to him. Under his mother he had no other way to grow socially, so when provided with a logical reason for going out and playing (Chenya stated his grandpa believed play is a form of study) he jumped at it because he wanted that connection. Trey specifically was his ideal. I think he looked up to him a lot. Normal home life. His mother didn't confine or trap him in any way. And he could eat whatever he liked. That's why when Trey said that one or two slices of tart wouldn't hurt, it was good enough to sway Riddle. All his life he'd grown up hearing about sweets being poison. But Trey seems happy and fulfilled so surely it's not as bad. However, breaking his mother's rule made him lose everything. The momentary friendship he'd built and any chance of freedom. It impressed upon him the importance of following the rules because breaking them lead to loss. And on top of that, it left him with guilt. I talk a lot about Trey's guilt in this situation (and I will talk more) but Riddle has his own guilt too that just manifested in a different way. More on that later.

||Trey|| A brother: While Riddle might have viewed Trey as a friend (no doubt because he was an isolated only child with a different perception and a lot of baggage tied to the world family), Trey saw him as a brother. He expressly states in his dream that Riddle was smart enough to identify plants and flowers and had enough magic control to get their soccer ball out of the trees, and he felt proud to have a smart little brother. And this sort of label is easier for him because he comes from a rather healthy family with siblings and has a blood brother around Riddle's age. Instinctively, Riddle became someone he wanted to care for, spoil, and cherish. That's why after knowing Riddle wanted to try a tart he wanted to let him. Later on, he tries to dismiss or come to terms with his actions in various ways, stating that it was not his place and of course anyone would get upset if their house rules and dietary restrictions weren't being respected. He tries to make it out into a joke, saying it's become a family incident of sorts that they just laugh about. "Who gets that mad at children playing." But underneath all those attempts to bury his own trauma, lies guilt. Because he feels, deep down, that as a brother he should have protected Riddle better. And instead, after just 2 months, he had to see everything that made Riddle happy stripped away again. More on this later. Stage 2: Riddle's First Year

||Riddle|| A stranger. Riddle's changed. He's developed some of his mother's anger. He's been confined for years. And because of that one incident with the tart, he firmly believes that growth and by extension fulfillment can only happen under the rules. Moreover, since Trey represents that period of his life where he learned that lesson rather harshly, he ices Trey out, pretending he barely knows him. After all, they might as well be strangers after all these years. Especially since Trey is banned from his house. This is a result of the guilt I mentioned earlier. He failed to follow his mother's rules and the punishment put Trey and his peaceful family that he looked up to in the crossfire. I think a part of him doesn't know how to face Trey after all that, worried that he might hate him. However, he cannot fully erase his own memories. So it is Trey he consults when he asks how to challenge a dorm leader for the seat. Even if he's distancing himself by calling him "Clover-senpai" Trey still remains someone he trusts to a degree. After Riddle takes the throne he makes a decision I find interesting. He doesn't select a vice, instead he leaves it to the popular vote. This could be read two ways IMO. Either, he didn't feel the need to have a vice because he was so confident in his own skills, but was aware that it was customary to have one so it didn't matter to him who it was. Or, deep down, he was afraid that no one would be willing to work with him. After seeing his dream, I do think it might be the latter. All of the darkness versions of his card soldiers showed some form of disloyalty. Willing to go along with the idea that they might jump ship, or that Riddle could be overpowered. It's this insecurity born from his own fear of his mother. He knows he's become a reflection of her, and he's worried how other people might react to it. In the end, he's still chasing those relationships from childhood, but is stuck believing that rules are the only way to keep what little happiness he has which alienates him from Trey to a degree. ||Trey|| A brother still: Despite the years, Trey's feelings about Riddle hadn't changed much other than being swamped with underlying guilt. Upon realizing that Riddle was going to attend NRC, his first instinct was to create a space for him. Trey generally, is introverted but excited to see his childhood friend again, he ends up talking to the people around him saying that Riddle was a quiet but studious boy and he hopes that people will welcome him. That was at least, before he saw what Riddle had become (he ended up fighting Floyd at the entrance ceremony) leaving Trey with the realization that this was not the boy he knew anymore. And worse, he was pretending not to know him. I'm sure it hurt, but even so, when RIddle asked about dueling the housewarden, he did try to accommodate him (after getting over his initial shock). The thing that gets me the most, however, is that Trey still saw the good in him. Trey in the rose maze part of Riddle's dream tells Ortho that the first thing Riddle did when he became housewarden was tend to the roses. To him that was a sign that Riddle was still somewhere in there and he was willing to support that. He would have been resigned to accepting that he was a stranger to Riddle if he hadn't been elected vice, but regardless of how Riddle felt, Trey still felt responsible for him. Both out of guilt and because he was still family.

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

One thing I like about Tumblr over Dreamwidth: They don't do anything with your tag list.

Tumblr doesn't know what to do with tags. People only use them seriously sometimes; they're more often a way to vent or subvocalize a response.

Dreamwidth expects tags to be used sensibly, by sensible people. I know someone who joined the site upon launch in 2009 and posts a book review every week or two. Her tag page is a long and tidy alphabetical list of things like "author: asimov isaac" or "genre: insufferable memoir" and if I need a recap I can trust of the romantasy everyone made fun of back when twitter was young, I just need to hit ctrl+f and type "venom cock."

I was 20 and not yet on antidepressants when I joined Dreamwidth. My tags are so 20something it completely justifies my choice at that age not to get a tattoo because something being meaningful to me then was no promise it would be meaningful five years later. I already knew myself.

I had (ugh, have) a "disability: a river in egypt" tag, which I would retroactively use on journal entries where I was talking about this or that random happenstance (being too lazy or unmotivated to do something I deeply cared about, getting a mysterious leg ache, being mystified that over-the-counter painkillers didn't really work to make my pain go away) but also convinced that this was like, the normal amount of anhedonia or leg-length discrepancy or daily debilitating pain! I'm not disabled! I'm completely fine!

Respect to 20something me, that was an important process and journalling with a supportive community of wise and informed people was vital to it. This is an important historical artifact.

But what am I supposed to tag things as now?

(Of course my brain just supplied "disability: well that ship has sailed", shut up you dumb hilarious bitch. And yet it makes me reconsider my plan to sloorp all that blog's content off to a different account, wipe my main one because it's a seed account and worth keeping, and start over fresh.)

[dragqueenstarscream]

hey, its me again, back with more Starscream thoughts, so you just know things are about to get uncomfortably real and introspective! Again, prefacing by saying that a lot of my analysis is based on my own eerily similar experiences to Starscream, so I'm not 100% sure how much of this actually rings true and what is just me projecting.

I have entirely fallen down the StarOp rabbit hole thanks to you, at a speed I never could have expected. When I first finished TFP and started browsing the tags, I'd see the occasional StarOp post and at best be like "alright, sure" and at worst a little confused on where it was coming from, given the infrequency of interactions between the two after like, early season 1. But since I sent that first ask in it just clicked and like.

Before, I was always of the opinion that Starscream joining the autobots was something that could never really work from a character perspective, not just because of his dependency on Megatron like I talked about last time, but like, even if Megatron was completely out of the picture I never felt like the full on redemption and becoming a functioning member of post-war society that becoming an Autobot would entail would particularly be desirable to Starscream (if even possible for reasons both in and out of his control.)

I sorta felt like any good ending for Starscream would have to entail him moreso escaping the narrative than anything else, given the extent to which he's stuck in this cycle almost on a cosmic level, with how he's unable to escape it in any universe, any continuity, which of course ties into wider thoughts on how this franchise seems uninterested in letting Starscream ever escape that cycle. A sort of El Camino style ending, where leaving behind everything you know and running away to Alaska is considered a good ending, all things considered. That naturally led to me shipping him with Knockout, given their chemistry and the fact that they were this close to running away together, it just felt like the most compelling option, narratively speaking.

But now that I've caught onto the StarOp agenda, I've sorta cracked the code and realized that you can make a compelling and believable path to Starscream becoming an Autobot by having him getting together with Optimus initially be on a subconscious level an outlet to recreate the cycle he was in with Megatron purely because he's used to it and doesn't know how to live without it.

Outside of the obvious ideological and moral differences, Optimus and Megatron have a lot in common, especially from the perspective of Starscream. They're both big, strong, masculine figures, and natural-born leaders that effortlessly compel those around them to fight for their respective causes. They both radiate power in a way that I imagine you can almost feel when around them (and in a way I know it, because that's often how it felt being around my personal Megatron, it's why it was so easy to fall back into his arms over and over.)

All this to say, when Starscream gets with Optimus, he's not escaping the cycle, he's changing his target. If he became an autobot he would instantly become the most dedicated autobot, not out of any ideological reasoning or particular desire to be good, but out of an intense loyalty he effortlessly placed in Optimus. But of course, the loyalty phase is only half of this cycle.

This next part I'm heavily basing on what I've realized about my own experiences, so bear with me for a second, (I also doesn't think it exactly applies to TFP as much as it does some other continuities, G1 maybe but I haven't seen much of G1 so idk for sure) but I feel like sometimes Starscream almost tests Megatron in a way when he feels like Megatron's priorities are drifting away from him, (since remember, he needs to be the most important bot in his life, Starscream is desperate for Megatron to be as obsessed with him as he is with Megatron.) so Starscream will sort of do something stupid, maybe he comes up with some harebrained scheme that's probably not gonna work, or he makes some tactical or administrative decision entirely based on what he's feeling on an emotional level, to see "will Megatron back me on this?"

because Megatron does stuff like that all the time, he's far from being a better tactician than Starscream, (notice how the moment Starscream leaves in season 1, the decepticons stop winning like, at all until he comes back?) and he makes rash decisions out of anger all the time, and Starscream goes along with all of it, every single time, so it's only fair that Megatron lets him get away with doing something kinda stupid this once. and when Megatron inevitably doesn't, either because it would work against the Decepticons own goals, or purely because he doesn't want Starscream to think he has power over him, (and despite how good he is at hiding it, Starscream does have power over him in a lot of ways, I might talk about that some other time.) Starscream lashes out, betrays Megatron, and leaves, because once again all the loyalty he gave to Megatron got him nothing in return.

and let's be clear, Starscream doing this is toxic as fuck, but at the same time of course it is, it's almost impossible not to become toxic in an environment like this. And that really comes back to bite you when you get out of that environment, but on a base level still have these habits and base level impulses that might have helped you survive back then but are terrible for the actually decent people you've surrounded yourself with now.

With that, we cut to today, where Starscream is an autobot and he tries to pull one of these "tests" on Optimus because the honeymoon phase is over and Starscream is instinctually ready for things to start getting worse, maybe they had like, one minor argument and Starscream instantly assumed the worst. and I imagine Optimus "fails" the test, says "no, I'm not backing you on this, I'm not gonna let you do that", but unlike Megatron who does so while prioritizing his own ends and his control over Starscream, Optimus is saying no for moral reasons. And I imagine he tries to explain that to Starscream, but that answer isn't hitting him properly because again, Starscream's only thinking in loyalty.

Everything Optimus thought was progress on Starscream's part in living up to autobot ideals was really just newfound intense loyalty to Optimus, his growth was really just him doing what he thinks Optimus would want him to do and what he thinks would gain him Optimus's loyalty in return. and, from Starscream's perspective, it didn't work, so he's thinking "obviously Optimus doesn't care about me at all, fuck him, I'm out of here." so he makes this big display of betraying the autobots and running away.

and from there, it's the question of if Optimus sees through what this is really about. The other autobots are probably no help in that regard, they all probably fall into one of two groups, the "At no point in time was I not 100% sure that this inevitably was going to happen" group, and the "I mean, I had hope for him, and it seemed like he was doing good, but I'm still not that surprised" group.

But of course, Optimus isn't Megatron, he does care about Starscream and wants him to know that, so I imagine he actually tries tracking down Starscream to have an actual conversation with him to try and figure out where his mind has really been at these past few months, and if he catches on to even a little bit of the subtext of what I've been saying here, he's gonna be like "oh shit, there is a lot more we need to work on than I thought."

and yeah, Megatron fucked up Starscream in ways that its gonna take years to properly unpack, so Starscream is lucky to have found quite possibly the best person to help him through it in Optimus. It's gonna be a rocky road, but Optimus is in for the ride.

and I do think this relationship could eventually become healthy, and I like reading fics where they've managed to make it healthy, but I do think at first it really wouldn't be, and as someone with the autism that makes you obsessed with themes and motifs and subtext, the process of seeing it become better, of seeing Starscream have to unlearn these old harmful defense mechanisms, THAT is really what makes my brain vibrate, especially because I've had to go through that same process myself after finally getting away from my personal Megatron for what I'm thankfully certain now is the final time.

also kinda realizing a lot of this kinda sounds like borderline personality disorder, which. that might be something I have to look into in regards to myself, damn. anyways, yeah, thanks for letting me kill the vibe again, appreciate it! I'll probably try and keep these shorter in the future, I imagine it's kind of a lot to suddenly have 1500 words of deep character analysis with hints of traumadumping suddenly thrown in your askbox lol. If this actually was a bit too much then I'm sorry, you can tell me to dial it down a little if you want.

and this, right here, is why starop is my favorite transformers ship.

you really hit the nail on the head with this one. when done well, it's not only cute and fun to explore, but it's also a deep dive into starscream as a character and what could possibly lead to a redemption arc. sure, you don't need starscream to fall in love with optimus to redeem him, but how that would actually play out is so fascinating.

sure, i love aus where starscream is an autobot spy the whole time. yes, i love aus where they were in love in the past and got separated. but the idea of starscream replacing megatron with optimus in his mind fits him so well, because, as an abuse victim myself, it's easy to find yourself drawn to people who remind you of your abuser.

and that's where optimus' kindness sets him apart, because when starscream pushes back on him, optimus doesn't do what starscream expects. he doesn't lash out or hit him or verbally berate him. he responds with honest concern, trying to figure out what's wrong.

and that kindness, that sincerity, is something starscream doesn't even realize he's been missing the entire time.

i do believe they have the potential to be healthy, but the fight towards them actually becoming healthy and helping starscream get out of his toxic mindset is part of what makes these two so damn compelling.

always happy to have another starop fan.

(also you don't have to worry about toning it down lmao, gods know i ramble like a maniac about my favorite things. i'm not gonna be the one to judge)

[agoldenblackbird]

i'm gonna be a ranty bitch for a minute.

tbh i'm turned off even reading new buddie fic despite being a multishipper and have unfollowed a bunch of buddie accounts because i'm sick of the smug attitudes. one ask that i am otherwise not going to publish or respond to ended with 'sorry you don't understand media literacy bestie :)' fuck off. listen INFANT, i have been writing fanfic and original fic AND watching, reading and analyzing queer media since before you were born, i understand how character and story development works, and i know the difference between 'storyline i personally disliked' and 'bad writing.' this was BOTH, and it also was marketed to us as 'carefully crafted bi rep' and 'queer love story that is not about a bunch of pain and conflict FOR ONCE' so we have every right to be upset at the bait-and-switch.

the fact that i'm seeing the same exact posts - 'bt bones buddie CANON' that i saw three seasons ago after the bucktaylor breakup, or every time they thought buck and taylor MIGHT break up - says something. the fact that so many fans seem genuinely convinced (STILL!) that buddie is inevitable because there have been so many 'signs,' and then they rattle off a convoluted theory that would make the most hardcore taylor swift stan say 'wow, that's a bit of a reach,' honestly weirded me out a little when i first joined the 911 fandom. i have never been in a fandom where so many fans are insistent that their ship will be - not might be or could be, but WILL be - canon. i am skeptical both from past experience with other shows mishandling queer storylines or ship-baiting, and tim minnear's proven track record with this one of not really knowing what to do with buck's LI's. but i didn't want to yuck anybody's yum, so i let them have their theories and squee in peace, and unfollowed or blocked certain tags if i was seeing too much of it and getting annoyed. it's too out there for me, but i'm glad they're having fun!

yet they can't give us the same courtesy. they deride us as delusional for thinking that a canon pairing that was presented to us both in promo and the show itself as different and important (eg the bobby approval convo and 'buck getting off the hamster wheel') might last, and we're stupid to have ever liked tommy or lou or be disappointed at how the breakup was written, and if we point out the biphobia it's just sour grapes.

the bucktommy breakup is not the first time 911 has started out strong with an interesting storyline and fumbled it in the 4th quarter either because the writers got bored or in the name of needless drama/a 'gotcha' sudden twist. amir & bobby, eddie's fight club arc, the sperm donor SL, hen vs councilwoman ortiz, whatever the hell is going on with harry, the whole mess with shannon/kim, just to name a few. and especially the past couple of seasons, for me since 6b, the pacing has been off. they seem to have too much happening at once and many of the storylines don't have enough room to breathe to be narratively satisfying, or they get resolved in ways that feel lackluster.

if the toxic buddie stans who have been attacking lou on sm and sending death threats (wtf!) actually get what they want, which i admit is possible, but it's certainly not guaranteed….i don't know why they think the writers won't fumble that just as badly. it's not going to happen precisely the way they want it to because it is impossible to please everybody, that's what fanfic is for. but at this point i have zero faith that it would even be well done at all, and zero trust in the writers not to just sabotage or regress a character for funsies, and that's an excellent reason to stop watching the show. in most of my other fandoms i regard canon as a jumping-off point or a blurry outline at best, and i can have just as much fun in the 911 sandbox without any further input from canon at all, once i'm less angry.

[olderthannetfic]

My two favourite things in the world are both books that have all the elements that I enjoy, and I mean this in the sense of both the ID-gratifying elements like whump and fucked up intriguing character dynamics, and broader and more poignant topics about society and humanity and how it all functions and also some fucking beautiful writing.

Thing A has a massive fandom, whereas thing B has a fandom of like 20 people. This is due to several factors: A got an adaptation and lots of promo, and is also in a genre that doesn't seem intimidating and that fandoms tend to like interacting with, whereas B begins in a way that feels too highbrow/complicated so loads of people bounce off of it even though in the end it has more or less the same mix of ID-gratifying elements and poignant commentary on human nature.

I need to be clear that it's the combo of the two (+the sheer quality of the writing and plotting) that makes those books my two favourite things ever. There's just something very comforting about a work of art that effortlessly gets the things that you perceive about the world at large and find important but ALSO includes all your favourite kinks and trashy romance dynamics.

Now, you'd expect the fandom A to water down the source material and reduce it to incorrect quotes but there's actually a large and quite popular contingent of people engaging with the more philosophical/moral/sociological themes of the work, with excellent quality meta that gets as much traction as the cutesy ship fanart and people going apeshit over the whump and the meowmeowness of the morally questionable characters. There's arguments and fandom drama as well but I cannot describe how much I fucking love it there simply because the average fan understands the source material fairly well and is ready to engage with all of its elements, hot romance and whump and reflections on human nature and all.

OTOH fandom B tends to attract snooty intellectual types - and you can immediately tell from the profiles that they're snooty intellectual types. Lots of people calling themselves "bluestockings" and having the most stodgy upper middle class academia person attitudes imaginable. Which makes sense because you need to have a certain level of... confidence in your ability to comprehend complex things in order to not give up on the canon material halfway through? There's a very prevalent attitude of thinking they're cooler than other people because they're into this super deep and complicated thing.

The funny thing is that they seem to absolutely refuse to engage with the actual themes of the work and insist on mangling them and misunderstanding the characters to gush over the whump and the toxicity of it all. This, combined with the small size of the fandom, and the snooty intellectual attitude (sensitivity to opposing opinions because they've built their entire personalities on being Very Smart and Always Correct included!), and the frequent incapacity to comprehend that sometimes the grey morality and ambivalence is ON PURPOSE, makes me very reluctant to engage with the fandom at all even though the brainrot about the canon material is by this point an integral part of my soul.

I go into the tag almost every day - it gets a couple of posts per week from the same 15ish people and almost all of the ones that aren't jokes that fall flat misunderstand the canon while being obnoxious and snooty and gatekeepy as fuck.

Whereas in fandom A nobody's really putting on airs - they're all like "yeah we like this popular thing, isn't it cool! let's talk about the cool thing!" I don't know what my point was with all of this, beyond the fact that, man, I WISH fandom B were more like fandom A and it makes me sad that it's not.

I just want more cool people that I can discuss shit I like with, yeah?

(funnily enough I'm pretty sure that like 50% of fandom B are also at least casual fans of A, or at least A's mid adaptation, they just don't often have a lot to say about it.)

--

*id

[lizdenys]

Outer Wilds (Video Game) AO3 Tags appreciation post

Of course, no one cares about spoilers quite like Outer Wilds fans care about spoilers:

major outer wilds spoilers

Slight game spoilers

DLC Spoilers / Echoes of The Eye spoilers

art book spoilers

allusions to the dlc but nothing in depth

spoilers for a small but important part of the story

don't read it unless you've played it

as in plot and quite literally a solution to a puzzle, so don't read if you want to solve them all yourself

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED ECHOES OF THE EYE OR FINISHED THE MAIN GAME

all the spoilers ever for everything outer wilds you have been warned

idk what else to tag pretty much everything is a spoiler

I can't even write tags without spoiling

DO NOT SPOIL YOURSELF MY GOD

I'm a little afraid of posting this because it might spoil something inadvertantly

Spoilers!, but this is outer wilds, you probably know the drill

so don't spoil yourself!!

So here's the requisite Outer Wilds "There will be spoilers!" warning because there will be spoilers throughout this post from this point on, okay?

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's start this off like every run, with a cozy campfire, shall we?

Campfires

Campfire stories

there will be mallow roasting over a campfire

Marshmallows

S'mores (OMG how much I wish someone - anyone - got to make a s'more.)

And Riebeck is a big marshmallow

Implied/Referenced Drug Use

just two high buddies chillin and talking about stuff

Now that we're all enjoying perfectly-roasted marshmallows, let's get to it:

breaking spacetime in pursuit of science

they/them pronouns

it is more difficult than I thought to avoid gendered words

Based on my friend's inability to fly and ability to land anywhere

feldspar is a newbie to anxiety

Dark Bramble scary

Third wheeling except your crush is in love with the entirety of space

quantum tomfoolery

the tyranny of linear time

Something about the horror of eternity

the fabric of spacetime is hanging on by a thread

infinite possibilities brain go brrrrrrr

impulsive feelings about chert today

the hatchling just wants to share their findings they're so excited

little tiny bit of cosmic horror

this was written in about 20 minutes (I really need to know if this "about 20 minutes" was, in fact, 22 minutes.)

they're gonna be fine in 22 minutes just

this heist could have been a meeting

Hornfels needs an advil

somebody go save hatchling im begging get this kid a marshmallow

they can have one happily ever after as a treat

Feldspar and I both have no idea how to raise a baby in general

there is so much trauma in this owl

this literally came to me in a dream

Gabbro is depressed in this one because you can't convince me being so blase about losing their ship, and being able to meditate through a supernova is the hallmark of someone mentally well

gabbro is also doing so fine and normal and also does not have any hearing problems (lie)

They all need a hug, Except the anglers

Someone invent therapy for these three, They're going to need it so badly

Spacetime needs therapy after this

Anyway let's go die horrifically in space! ::D

trauma bonds

also i totally stole the main premise for this fic from a mod

when gossan goes low slate goes lower

hatchling was not supposed to be a kazoo player but they're really stubborn

i just think the player should be allowed to play an instrument (Me, too.)

Quartz-Typical Disregard for Ethics

canon typical disregard for affliction

There is an eject button for a reason

does it count as major character death if they come back?

Is it still considered the end of the world if its the entire universe thats dying?

the possibly applicable archive warning is major character death, but you knew that already didn't you?

the many deaths of you

Canon-Typical Suicide, thats an insane tag but its Outer Wilds sooooo

Five Stages of Grief, with a 6th secret stage (Can we call this "the sixth location of grief" please?)

i really tried not to make it sad at the end but the loops are tragic man

I Made Myself Cry

Okay, let's wrap up with all the varied "not beta read" tags this exquisite game lends itself to, nay, demands:

No beta we die like REDACTED

no beta we die like. well. you know

No beta we die every loop

no beta we die like the hatchling

no beta we die like hatchling (horrifically)

no beta we die like gabbro, chill and overstressed

No beta we die like real hearthians

no beta we die like everyone in outer wild does

No beta we die like the sun

no beta we die like the sun every 22 minutes

NO BETA READERS WE DIE LIKE THE STARS

no beta we die like the universe

No beta we die like any time-looper worth their salt

No beta we die like the homeworld

NO BETA WE DIE LIKE NOMAI

No beta we die like 5/6ths of best girl (I teared up reading this tag.)

no beta we die like the prisoner (I nearly sobbed reading this tag.)

No Beta We Just Cry

No beta we die like the fish (Not gonna lie, this one is my personal fave.)

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Since you were asked what were your favorite hp fics, how about your not favorite hp fics? 🙃

https://www.tumblr.com/hollowed-theory-hall/760514932420820992/what-are-your-favourite-harry-potter-ships

Or ships you are against hahaha and what short reason?

I'm assuming you meant ships and not fics, and that you really want me to get controversial, huh.

So, like, I wouldn't call it "against," as I have nothing against people shipping anything, and I don't even mind seeing some of the ships on this list on occasion. These are just ships I don't personally find compelling (some of them I can find objectively compelling and are just not to my taste), so it really isn't "against", more like not my cup of tea ships.

Also, ship whatever you ship, I really don't care what anyone else ships, and these are just some of my subjective opinions. So, in no particular order:

1. Hinny

I talked about my dislike of Hinny plenty, and I have a substantial "anti hinny" tag on this blog, which I will refer to here (and the tag here, if you're interested)

2. Drarry

I talked about Drarry here. Drarry is a pairing that has so much going for it, I wish I could like it, but I find Draco's canon character annoying, so I can't ship him with Harry who's my favorite and gets only the best from me when it comes to shipping. So, it's a not my cup of tea thing.

3. Linny

Talked about them here. I just never got the impression Ginny truly respects Luna, and that sucks for Luna and this relationship.

4. Wolfstar

So, this is, I guess, a big one to say I don't particularly like, and I'll give a bit of my reasoning.

My canon-loving self can't get behind fanon Wolfstar at all. They're not even actually the characters, and as Sirius is one of my favorites, I really dislike his fanon version. Additionally, as I mentioned about Drarry, I can't really be invested in a ship where I don't feel about the characters the same way (that's a me thing), and as I love canon Sirius but am very critical of canon Remus, that also stops me from ever really liking this pairing.

But even if we ignore my own opinions about the characters and talk about canon Wolfstar — I'm not a fan.

I just don't think they work. Like, I can see them having sex during OotP, but I wouldn't call it a healthy relationship. I can see it because they're the only Mauraders left, and neither of them is in a good mental space. Like, I can see them getting into a messy situationship because they're depressed and they miss the dead, and this could be super interesting, but it isn't the form Wolfstar usually takes.

I mean, both of them were James' freinds first and each other's second. James was the most important person to Sirius, but also to Remus, I think. Like, James was the one who held the Mauraders together. Sirius would not have befriended Remus and Peter without James, I guarantee it.

I mean, it's telling both thought of the other as a traitor and potential spy during/after the war. And I think, even during the books, they never really got over it, they just kinda cast it aside.

Like, it's mostly that I can't get behind how Wolfstar is portrayed in the fandom, even when the characters stick closer to canon. I just don't see this as a good relationship. I think, if they were to get together as adults, it would be so much messier. And I can't imagine them getting together as teens during school, since, I think at that point, the interest in each other wouldn't be there. I never saw them as each other's first choice. Like if they had to choose which Maurader other than themselves to save — they'd both choose James.

It might also be my Prongsfoot agenda speaking, but, like, you can't tell me Sirius "it's been 14 years and there wasn't a day I didn't think about your father" Black wasn't in love with James Potter since, like, day 1. I honestly believe in the canon books, Sirius was in love with James (not the other way though, I think in canon it was one-sided, but James did love Sirius, just not romantically).

5. Jegulus

I need to talk about this, I guess. Like, I probably wouldn't have minded canon James being shipped with Canon Regulus (although, I'm iffy about that too, becouse James likes having "the best" and according to Harry and Slughorn Regulus is just a downgraded Sirius, so why would James go for the seemingly "lesser" Black Brother when Sirius is right there and more than willing.) But the fanon version of both of them are just really not for me.

Neither of them actually feels like the characters they are supposed to be. Like, they kinda remind me of the fanon portrayal of Percico (Percy x Nico, from Percy Jackson) back in the day (haven't been in the PJO fandom in years, so I don't know what they're up to now). Like, I think fanon Jegulus is a Percico variant, and I wonder what the Fandom overlaps is.

6. Harry x Cedric

I can get behind the idea Harry fancied Cedric a bit in 4th year. It makes sense, I understand Harry, Cedric is hot, Harry's hormonal, of course, he'd have a bit of a crush. I just don't think they would make an interesting or particularly good couple.

Like, the fact Cedric dated Cho for as long as he did tells me he would not have gotten along in a relationship with Harry. Becouse Harry and Cho are very different people who look for different things in a relationship. I think Harry would find Cedric frustrating as he found Cho if they actually tried to date or got a chance to get closer.

7. Snape x any of the golden trio

Again, no hate, just, this one is really not for me, and I never really wanted to read it.

8. Bellatrix x any of the golden trio

Same as above.

9. Vernon or Petunia with anyone other than each other

I just don't think anyone else (except maybe Marge) deserves it. I can get behind Petunia cheating on Vernon with Marge.

10. Bellamort

I talked about it here. And I just can't get behind it. I don't find them particularly interesting, I don't think Voldemort was interested in Bellatrix romantically in canon (they might've had sex), and I don't think he particularly respects her while she's obsessed with him. So, I don't find them (be it canon or fanon) compelling to read about. The fact that Bellatrix would be easy for Voldemort to be in a relationship with doesn't mean it's a good thing, I think Voldemort should struggle in a relationship. The most interesting Voldemort ships push him into a character arc, and Bellamort doesn't do that.

11. Ron x Lavender and 12. Harry x Ginny

I feel like canon speaks for itself, but I wrote a bit about Harry and Cho here.

13. Most Dumbledore ships.

Mostly becouse Dumbledore is a character I'm not usually interested in shipping. I'm interested in Grindledore because of its impact on Dumbledore's character, but, he's just not a character I want to read a romance about. This is my personal opinion.

---

I have a lot of other ships I'm indifferent towards. Like, Snape with either Lucius or Narcissa, or Pansy x Hermione, I'm not a big fan, but I don't dislike them, just indifferent.

I'm also sure I missed a bunch, but I tried to hit the big ones I don't like. Though, even with some of these, if the summary is interesting I might read a fic with them.

[notashadowbutawave]

ID: screenshot of this article : https://www.tvinsider.com/1186967/911-bobby-dead-peter-krause-leaving-athena-goodbye/

text reading:

TV INSIDER: Because you talked about what Bobby meant to Buck, who is Buck leaning on more, Maddie or Eddie?

Tim Minear: Buck is trying to lean on himself. Because Bobby says to him, "You're going to be okay and they're going to need you," and that's going to confuse Buck. He's not going to quite know what to do with that. Everyone's going to be just a little off their equilibrium in these last three.

TV INSIDER: So when Buck does open up to someone, who is it going to be?

Tim Minear: He's going to open up to everyone on some level. Yeah, you'll see. You'll see, Meredith.

The obsession with Buck and with Buddie is really starting to fucking weird me out. We haven't spoken the name "Eddie Diaz" for the entire two parter and people are just OBSESSED with this nonexistent storyline where Buck leans on Eddie for support and they realize they're in love and marry each other. Like it's not happening. It's not in the script. They did, however, show Tommy crying looking at Buck on the video feed. There is no need for them to be paying Lou to show up as a recurring guest star to shoot these scenes if it's not important. like. 555 come on now. You get the screeners and the interview with Tim and this is the shit you ask about ?

on top of that I think Buck as a character has AWAKENED something in some people that is so haunted. Unfortunately Oliver Stark can't help that his face looks like this but truly that mouth and the wet crying to Hozier, I think the potency of the lab grade blorbo has increased. Like there is a biohazard and it's that huge man's tears

I'm probably focusing on this insanity as a way of coping with Bobby.... which ultimately I think was right for the show but. This is how I described it to my GC:

ID: two text messages from me :

like this show used to be a kind of character driven soap that said weirdly mature things

now it's like "hey what if everyone suffered" and on one hand I think it's madness that meets the current cultural moment but on the other hand I miss knowing peace

I'm just so... I don't even know

it doesn't help that the arc of the entire plot was easily gleaned by observant people from BTS photos and the set leaks were CRAZY. no one I know IRL has ever even seen this show and yet extremely online people seem to gravitate towards it like moths to a flame, across the political spectrum and spanning generations. people are NUTS about this show. this was a big dick swing of an episode at an audience that is splintered into many factions and alliances

I love this stupid firefighter show but Wow this has been a wild ride I think I'm gonna try to stay offline about it for awhile (this will inevitably not happen, because I'm at my mom's without much to do for a couple days, but !!!!! Put it on the record that I tried)

ETA that I re tagged this "anti bobs" (... I hate that this ship war has like distinct terminology) because I'm really not anti buddie at all, ppl should ship what they want and have a good time, but this type of weird insistence that buddie is the only reason that 911 exists is not my jam at all

[zykamiliah]

hey! i haven't seen mha in a looong time and i've never payed attention to bakudeku (mostly because i'm not the biggest fan of bully romance), but i'd love to see your take/interpretation/analysis on it? i've been a really big fan of your svsss metas and so i just thought, "hey, you know what, i'm curious to see zykamiliah's take on a ship i've never been interested in from an anime that i haven't seen in years! maybe i'll see something?"

not too sure if you already made a post explaining it (so sorry if you did!), but i've seen enough of the sudden rise of bakudeku reblogs on my feed from your account to ignite my curiosity lol

i just really enjoy hearing about ships because they're an amazing opportunity to explore dynamics and perspectives i've never given much thought/thought about before (coming from a rare pair lover... oh gyx/lbg, my sweet...) so i'd love to see bakudeku, a ship i don't quite understand (yet!) in a more understanding, different, and interesting light! and in complete honesty i trust your judgement with insightful character and ship analysis stuff, so... yeah!

heeey jade! sorry for the wait, i've been busy with work and irl stuff :DDD but i'm here now!

where to even begin lol... well, it's important to note that the relationship between midoriya izuku, the protagonist, and bakugo katsuki, the deuteragonist, is one of the main narrative lines of the manga, at the very core of the story. katsuki is izuku's narrative foil, their character developments are intrinsically connected (specially katsuki's!), and the same can be said about the themes of heroism, of what makes a hero, who can be a hero, what type of hero society needs, or if it needs them at all, etc., questions that also tie to the evolution of their relationship.

so from the start i was sold on this dynamic because i really like relationships that are at the center of a story!! i also like relationships with a complicated history with lots of drama and ups and downs, and i like that each character has their own things going on in their lives even if they are connected and one of the most important persons in each other's lives. big big bonus guaranteed to get my full attention if they are obsessed with each other lol

the thing is, deku and bakugo are in a bad place when the story kicks in. bakugo isn't an active bully, in the sense that he doesn't constantly seek deku out to hurt him, but he IS horribly mean and hostile, and that's because for years he's felt threatened by deku (and deku's heroic qualities), and wants to push him away, because he also feels that deku is looking down on him. the story doesn't shy away from showing and acknowledging that bakugo's behavior is atrocious and needs to change, and it works towards it consistently: he eventually atones, apologizes, and changes. on the other side of the coin, deku has always been paying attention to bakugo and, despite how the latter treated him, would chase him, observe him to the point he has bakugo's moves memorized, takes inspiration from his fighting style and even imitates him to give himself courage to do something specially daring and when he wants to "win" more than "save"; bakugo is his image of victory, ever since they were kids.

i scrolled through my bkdk meta tag, since it's been yeeeeears since i was involved in the fandom, lol, and found this post that tackles the bullying issue specifically and makes some very good points, if you wanted to read it! :D

the manga eventually addresses the problems in their relationship in "Deku vs Kacchan 2" (chapters 117-119), at the time bakugo is feeling turmoils for the part he played in All Might's end. to the question of "why does deku chase and care about bakugo if bakugo is so mean to him?" ch 119 has deku answer that himself:

this fight is the turning point for their relationship, and for the rest of the manga their individual and dual development is mostly upwards. reading bnha is worth it, if anything, just for the beauty of bakugo katsuki's development.

another big aspect that got me hooked in their relationship from the very first anime episode (and first opening) is that they are

✨Childhood Friends✨

(strap in this is gonna get loooooooooong)

Childhood friends (Osananajimi) is kind of a huge trope in manga/anime, often as a romantic interest. According to some sources i quickly consulted in the internet, and some of the manga/anime I've watched, in Japanese culture osananajimi is considered one of the purest bond formed between people, with a level of closeness equal to that between blood relatives; formed at such an early age, at a time when societal restrictions didn't apply yet, the relationship is genuine because they still didn’t need or know how to hide their true feelings from each other. As the childhood friends grew up together, this is considered a special connection, somewhat different to those formed after societal norms and perceptions take precedence. Or, as makeste put it:

here we have two very young children who are introduced to each other at an age when they’re still young enough to have absolutely no secrets. they’re young enough to have not yet learned to be shy or self-conscious, or to downplay their enthusiasm so as not to let others know they care. kids that young don’t hide anything. they don’t lie or deceive. they don’t have agendas, and they assume that others don’t either. it is, in short, a very pure type of relationship in the sense that it’s honest and uncomplicated, that it is exactly what it appears to be at face value. their personalities are fully out there with no attempt at reining anything in. Katsuki witnesses the full force of Izuku’s boundless hero-worshipping energy and enthusiasm. Izuku witnesses the full extent of Katsuki’s relentless confidence and Peter Pan cockiness. both boys see each other for who they are in their entirety, and accept each other. this is a fundamental bond. there is trust built between the two of them at a critical, formative age. it’s a relationship formed so early on that it’s likely that neither of them can actually recall a time before they met the other. they are and have always been a constant in each other’s lives. they’re a lot like siblings in terms of that kind of closeness and complete understanding of the other, both the good and the bad. in fact I’d say that Izuku’s use of “Kacchan” (and Katsuki’s automatic acceptance of it) isn’t that different from a younger brother’s use of “Niisan” for his older brother. it’s very revealing of the type of relationship they have. and that includes the typical sibling squabbles as well. it’s very much a relationship that’s taken for granted; there’s no filter, no effort to hold back, no attempt at trying to tone down their behavior around one another. there is whining and bragging and squabbling and name-calling and tears, just as much as there is cooperation and respect and trust. because at the end of the day, the assumption is that the relationship will endure no matter what, so they can go at each other as hard as they can and it doesn’t matter. the other one’s presence is just a given. that’s the kind of relationship that this term “childhood friends” really encapsulates, I think.

The sudden change of their statuses when the quirks start to manifest is a major factor that placed them on opposite sides of the social hierarchy, and conditioned the way society and their peers would treat them. But despite this and the misunderstandings that happen between them and the falling apart of their relationship, the subconscious understanding between them remains intact through the years. They always flashback to their earlier memories. They probably didn't interact much in elementary or middle school, and even if they did, they interactions were already tainted by their social status and Bakugo’s hostility. They don't share their innermost feelings with anyone but each other. Like when Deku gets angry or determined to win and to surpass him, or when Bakugo screams and cries out his emotional turmoil at Deku. According to Japanese social rules those are selfish things to do. This relates to the concepts of honne and tatemae.

Japanese society is more regimented than one might believe just from watching anime. By middle school age, and even to some degree in primary school, children are expected to interact with their peers in a relatively professional way. This is especially true of relationships between students of opposite sexes. Such requirements aren't held for family or close friends, but for everyone else one is expected to be polite and not share their true feelings or say things too directly. This concept of dividing people into an in-group and an out-group (内外, uchi-soto) is somewhat hard for non-Japanese people to understand, but is central to interactions between people in Japanese culture. In fact, you can find plenty of examples of this and of the related concepts of honne and tatemae in anime if you look, but if you aren't looking for them specifically it's easy to miss. (source)

So, for example, you shouldn't show your true feelings/thoughts to other people, even more if they aren’t socially acceptable, because that may disturb the peace in the community. But because Deku and Kacchan are osananajimi that have known each other their whole life, that doesn't apply to them. By stating from the very beginning that Kacchan was Deku's childhood friend, Hori put them in a close relationship with each other with a level of intimacy, trust and a subconscious understanding not like any other. Kacchan is, in fact, closer to him than All Might himself.

Like, Deku has been calling Bakugo by his childhood nickname, Kacchan ("Ka[tsu]" from Katsuki + "-chan", which is usually used to address children or females in an affectionate way), even past the age he was excepted it to drop it. When they were 4 years old, the other kids called him "Kacchan" too, but growing up it would be seen as childish or disrespectful so they start to call him "Katsuki" or "Bakugo". This puts a level of distance between him and his peers that, regardless of what happened between them, didn't extend to Deku and Katsuki. And it had to cross Deku's mind at some point ( "Should I start calling him Katsuki/Bakugo too?") but he didn't or simply couldn't. Despite everything, he wasn't willing to put even more distance between himself and Bakugo. He deliberately refused to put formal distance between them, and more importantly, Bakugo just LET THAT BE.

___

Like, this was a great set up from the beginning for me. I knew there was a story there from the first episodes, and then "Deku vs Kacchan 1" happened, showing their childhood flashbacks and the misunderstandings that would persist until DvK2, and i was really into that lol They relationship was one of the main reasons I followed the manga.

i mean LOOK at THIS!

how i could NOT ship it i mean come on

Even their color schemes complement each other, and their costumes have the same/similar colors. they are are complementary opposites that share the same core: to become a hero, their admiration of All Might. Each of them has a quality the other lacks and needs to work on to become the heroes: heroes that win and save, as All Might put it. Selflessness and Selfishness: to help and save others, in one side, and to care for one's personal victory, in the other. Bakugo was obsessed with victory and glory, and Deku was willing to do anything to save others, to the point of self-destruction. These isolated qualities didn't made them good heroes, but combined, as the two learn them from each other, by the end of the story they really become two of the greatest heroes.

This connects with their rivalry, which is richer than any other in the manga because of the many layers to their relationship: they are obsessed with each other, want to compete with each other (for the rest of their lives!!!) and don't want the other to fall behind, specially after their misunderstandings are resolved. They also don't want to be left behind by the other. Because they love each other too much! Whether people interpret it as platonic or romantic or whatever in between (secret third they are like like four different types of greek love categories combined), they are each other's More Important Person outside of family members. Hell, Kacchan getting hurt is basically Deku's berserk button: he punches All Might in the face to save Katsuki during the end of term exam; he goes crazy protective and possessive when Katsuki gets kidnapped by the League of villains(Mr. Compress even calls him out lmao)

he goes crazy when Katsuki is hurt in front of him

and when he thought katsuki had died...

i mean. look at this romantic shit.

_

lol and i feel like i'm leaving many other stuff behind, like Bakugo's apology, and all the little moments after DvK, and all the times in the last arc where Bakugo was thinking about Izuku constantly, and the finale where Katsuki cried because Deku had given up OFA and was going to be quirkless again, and the fact that he was at the heart of the mecha suit years-long project because he wanted Izuku's dream, their dreams, to come true. but tbh I only read them the one time and need to reread the whole manga again to refresh my knowledge. and i already shipped them before all this haha.

they are amazing characters in a really well done shonen manga they have a beautiful story 🧡💚