#interesting but not appealing? i guess? i love angst but i like ships who do not make me feel all crawly and gross in my brain

[floorpancakes]

when I have time I need to read slash watch some more clamp shows

[doctorlombax]

An Observation on Murder Drones and the Current Landscape of Stories with Female Leads

I’m guessing most of you have probably heard of the terms ‘girl-boss’ and ‘girl-power’ within the last decade or so. I see it a lot with action-based shows that center around a woman as a main character. The idea being that in the past most of our female characters were relegated to one-dimensional and helpless love interests for male leads. Now entertainment companies are realizing that women want to see themselves as the heroes of the story, so they went ahead and… over corrected.

What do I mean by this? I mean now we get shows about heroic women who and kick and punch and beat the boys around them in anything from pool to knife throwing. The lesson that writers should have learned from the past is “hey, let’s balance the skills and flaws of our girl and boy characters”. What they did instead was “okay, we will subvert the trope by having the girl take the guy’s place, and vice versa. She’s the hero and he’s the damsel. Audiences will love it!” Well I don’t. In fact I find it to be miraculously annoying (achievement unlocked: shade thrown).

For one thing, it makes the love story boring. Why would a powerful, kickass woman keep dragging around a guy that always messes up and needs to be rescued? What does he bring to the table? I don’t see the appeal because the writers are too afraid to put in a scene where she actually has to lean on him for assistance, because tHeN shE WouLd be WEAk and ThAt’s MiSOgYny.

And it’s not just about the fact that it makes the ships annoying. Even more to the point, as a woman I find it patronizing. Have you ever watched an adult play a game with a kid, and the kid trounces the adult (because of course the adult will let the kid win) and everybody is cheering the kid on and clapping? It’s sweet and cute when that happens because the person is a child. Not so much when it happens because the person is a girl.

Whenever I see these ‘girl-boss’ and ‘girl-power’ characters who never need to be rescued, always save themselves, and triumph in the face of every hurdle, it feels like the writers are saying to me “You go, Girl. Don’t worry- we’d never give this woman character flaws. That’s like taking feminism out behind the shed and shooting it. We would never bruise your delicate ego by having her be anything less than perfect!”

In the immortal words of Uzi: Bite me.

Speaking of Uzi, let’s get to talking about Murder Drones. I had heard about the show before, but only ended up watching it recently (which was lucky for me, just a couple weeks after the finale aired). For those who aren’t familiar, Murder Drones is an independent animation project on Youtube with 8 episodes, each with a runtime between 20 and 30 minutes. Quick spoiler-free synopsis: Uzi is a teenage worker drone living in a dystopia where her kind are fighting murder bots. She has a confrontation with one of the murder bots which sets off a chain reaction of events that leads her on a hero’s journey.

Uzi is every middle schooler’s edgy emo self-inset character. She’s filled with angst, has daddy-issues, and comes with a tragic backstory that is slowly revealed throughout the series. On the surface, she appears to be the exact kind of character I was complaining about disliking. Not only is she a child prodigy (built a weapon that can injure the murder drones, who up until then were believed to be indestructible) but she’s also far braver than any of the adults around her. And (SPOILER ALERT) she had a demonic form based on powers she inherited from her mother, as well as regeneration and telekinesis abilities (I bet some of you are thinking I made up those last two for giggles).

But she does not fall into ‘girl-boss’ territory. She also has moments of genuine weakness that she does not overcome by herself. She relies on luck, and has to lean on the people around her, specifically N most of the time. This is shocking because N is her male partner in the show. I know many writers of these kinds of girl-power shows balk at the idea of the main girl character being saved by her love interest, but there you have it. Uzi also has a ‘dark-night-of-the-soul’ moment where she needs her mother to pull her out. This is not some invincible character, she is flawed and needs support from those around her.

Now let’s talk a little more about N. On the surface, N appears to be your standard bumbling male-sidekick. He’s goofy, he makes mistakes, and tends to go along with whatever Uzi decides they should be doing at the moment. That being said, the writers clearly weren’t afraid to give him moments of depth and competence. He is silly, but he chooses to be kind in a world that has been incredibly cruel. He can also be protective, and is shown to have good instincts in a fight. N does drink his respect women juice, but it’s not that ultra-processed, high-fructose ‘all-women-are-queens’ garbage. He treats the women around him like people (worth noting that aside from N and Khan, all significant characters of the show are women and girls). He’s kind to them whenever he can be, but he also calls them out when they’re wrong. And when he has to fight them, he doesn’t hold back. He gave Tessa multiple chances to see reason. When she made it clear she wasn’t going to change her mind about killing Uzi, he did not hesitate to cut off her head #ActualFeminism.

I just find it so ironic how a story that touts itself as a cringy, self-indulgent and having ‘Mary-Sue energy’ ended up having one of the most well-balanced dynamics between their female lead and her male deuteragonist counterpart that I’ve seen in recent years. Thanks, Murder Drones.

P.S. Just in case there’s any confusion around my use of the word female, this post and blog are 100% trans inclusive. Terfs don’t even touch this post.

[incorrect-skylanders-quotes]

My (kinda disjointed) thoughts on some Skylanders ships (part 1)

Trying something new today! It's gonna be hard to write an opinion on Skylander ships, considering the fact that most of them are crackships and half the characters have really basic personalities, but I'll try my best. I'm starting with the dragon Skylanders, but I'll eventually cover other Skylander pairings in the future.

Spyro x Cynder: 9/10. Pretty basic, all things considered. It's the ship people choose because they were hardcore Legend of Spyro fans and shipped Spynder back then. I do think they have a good dynamic; Cynder's evil past is ripe with angst and hurt/comfort potential, and Spyro being the one to save her naturally makes him a perfect candidate to provide the "comfort" part. At the same time though, I understand the appeal of having them remain platonic since as of 2023, Skylanders is the only Spyro media to have both appear without any hint of romance between them.

Spyro x Sunburn: 6/10. It's mostly an ironic ship I thought of as a joke during the early days back when I only did incorrect quotes exclusively about the dragon Skylanders. I don't think Sunburn and Spyro would really have a whole lot of interesting interactions.

Spyro x Whirlwind: 1/10. I don't see the appeal. To me, they're just friends or coworkers. Nothing more than that. The only reason anyone ships this is that they hate Cynder or Spynder, but they also don't want to ship Spyro with the humanoid girls or Sonic Boom because "interspecies romance yucky"

Whirlwind x Cynder: 9/10. The opposite of Spywind. These two have a great dynamic, Whirlwind being ostracized for her mixed heritage, while Cynder's distrusted for her past as a servant of Malefor. The two could find a lot of comfort in each other due to their shared experiences. The only reason it's not a complete 10/10 is because I prefer pairing the two with other characters.

Whirlwind x Sunburn: 8/10. It's aight. I guess the way their backstories contrast is interesting, Whirlwind used to be hated for being a dragon hybrid while Sunburn was coveted for the same reason.

Whirlwind x Camo: 7/10. No strong opinions.

Sunburn x Camo: 8/10. I can see why it has appeal. Two pranksters goofin' off together is always nice.

Whirlwind x Sunburn x Camo: 9/10. Whirlwind and her two supportive bfs, who are also dating each other. I think overall I prefer polyshipping these three over their separate ships, but the reasons why are based entirely on fanon I made up regarding the three.

Whirlwind x Zap: 5/10 ...Eh? Nothing wrong with it, but I don't really see the appeal either. It's better than Spywind because the entire basis for the ship isn't just "a hetero dragon ship for Spyro that isn't Cynder"

Side note: Damn, Whirlwind has a lot of ships. Why is that?

Drobot x Camo: 8/10. I think it's really funny. Drobot the serious, intelligent, and logical-minded, while Camo is a jokester who makes fruit explode for shits and giggles. The contrast between serious and silly always makes for a fun dynamic, and I think if the two ever got meaningful interactions, Camo would be the guy who'd get Drobot to loosen up.

Bash x Flashwing: 8/10. This pairing actually has ground to stand on since it's one of the only ships that have actual potential for being canon. Bash falling in love with Flashwing is literally half of her backstory, and it's a standout trait for Bash and Skylanders in general. It's rare for Skylanders characters to actually have romantic feelings for anyone, much less each other, which is what makes this ship so appealing, it's potential for exploring this idea. Sadly, canon has not seen that potential. There's been no actual exploration of the pairing in Skylanders media, not even the comics or Skylanders Academy, which literally exist to flesh out the goddamn Skylanders. The closest we get is apparently from a book called "Skylanders Universe: The Complete Collection, page 39" which states Flashwing canonically likes Bash back, though she won't admit it out loud (don't quote me on this, I got it from the wiki). That's it. That's all we get. If the pairing actually got explored in official Skylanders material, then it'd be a 9 or a 10.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

Swiftli? Grant/Marco? Mercedes/Carol? Autumn Oak/Linda Stampler? (spreading my own propaganda <3)

For the ship ask thing :)

Also sorry that it’s kinda a lot lmao

Hiya!!! Hehe very interesting choices, love this, let's get to it!

Swiftli: COMFORT SHIP ALERT!!!

So, okay, the thing about this ship is that it's not my default ship for Linc or even necessarily Taylor? But that's not to say I'm conflicted, no, I really like these two together!

*Romantically* I think it kinda took me a while to feel the appeal of this ship? But then like... One night on a whim I found myself making a really silly playlist for them and... That made me understand it? At least what it is for me. This and, @raemeh (iirc) made a post about their first kiss being a surprisingly good one and- gee idk that made me go 😳 as well hahaha.

And yeah! Like I said this is absolutely a comfort ship for me, they're very silly and cute together, love to rotate them around in my head, might even write them at some point who knows!

Marco/Grant: OUGH THE CUTIE PATOOTIES OH MY GOSH I'M PUTTING THEM TOGETHER IN A LITTLE JAR AND SHAKING THEM AROUND AND THEN UH GIVING THEM SOME PRIVACY EHEHEH

At the start of S2 I think it's fair to say that of all the kiddads I was probably most curious to see what kind of person Grant ultimately got with, I suppose probably because relationship troubles are such a big thing for him in S1! And I just want the best for him honestly ahaaa

😫 And I wasn't disappointed! Marco is so sweet and they're so cute together and eghhsibgosesg-

Er, despite this I'd actually like to see some angst/conflict between them? Grant has a lot of explaining to do tbh, and I sorta don't want everything he's hid and lied about to go without consequences from Marco... But of course I'd want them to work everything out in the end! I think that would make me love them even more tbh.

In general I really just want more of these two in canon! They need to kiss... Otherwise, y'know in general I have a good chunk of ships for Grant but... Ultimately so long as Marco exists in the same universe, I tend to imagine them getting together in the long run.

Mercedes/Carol: Oooh interesting! Not a ship I've thought too much about tbh, but I could get behind it! I think my main hang-up if anything is that usually when I imagine ships with either Henry or Mercedes, either one of them doesn't exist in that universe or they never met, or it's a poly thing! In this case, I'd probably like this best if Hen and Mercedes have an open-relationship sorta deal (I mean they sorta canonically do?) and these two get involved with each other within that context. 🤔 Could also get behind a 4-way poly scenario with Darryl as well, but that's not a necessity by any means!

:0 I like the idea of Carol getting to experiment and maybe learning more about her sexuality and the like the way Darryl sort of got to in S1, and Mercedes would be a lovely person to see that happen with! Yeah, they'd be cute together I think!

Autumn/Linda (Ron's mom!): I'm so fascinated by this ship??? Also love that we've just established Linda's name haha good for her good for her.

You'll have to tell me more about how you see this ship before I come to any concrete feelings about it tbh! Still, I like the premise I mean, I guess they'd actually have a bunch going for them? On its own I love the idea of the omega daddies being divorced af and their exes getting together haha it's what they deserve. But yeah they could genuinely be quite good for each other! I imagine Linda must be pretty good at dealing with people with anger issues, she'd probably have the patience to be there for Autumn in a way that matters and help her work through some things. And Autumn is an underrated catch tbh haha- :o also a very powerful druid who could possibly help Linda with her chronic illness??? The fact that she had a bit of a thing for Ron also makes her getting with his mom pretty funny to me.

Yeah idk, like I said I'm fascinated, feel free to ramble about them!!!

OKAY hehe, thanks for the ask!!!! 💜

[marley-manson]

tropesssss:

sex pollen, hurt/comfort, unrequited love, mutual pining, mpreg, fake dating

Thank you!!

sex pollen

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

I'm in favour of it, though it depends on the circumstances. Porn with the focus on desperate horniness? Good. A focus on the dubcon? Good. Quick and easy get together scenario? Good. But if it's a way to get two people to fuck followed by several scenes/chapters of awkwardness and regret before they actually clear the air and get together that's more of a pass for me.

hurt/comfort

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

I like the hurt part, I tend to lose interest when it comes to the comfort part. I find that the main appeal there is usually the fantasy of a perfect partner who will do everything right and drop everything to care for the person who suffered's every need, and it's a vibe that wigs me out a little. On the other hand it's one of my favourite things if the comforter like, kinda sucks lol, and does the wrong thing sometimes, or makes things worse, or it's just awkward and difficult for everyone involved.

unrequited love

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

I usually love it. If it's a ship I prefer one-sidedly it kicks ass and I rub my hands together gleefully while reading it, and if it's a ship I prefer as a happily ever after ship, then it's ideal angst for when I'm in a certain kind of mood, and one of the few tropes nearly guaranteed to make me cry lol. As long as it's not just shoved in as a prelude to a ship I don't like, ofc.

mutual pining

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

Solid fundamental trope right here. It can be written annoyingly, eg contrived misunderstandings, badly paced slowburn, but when it's good it's top tier.

mpreg

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

I've never been able to get into it, whether it's a magic/sci-fi scenario, mundane but shh don't ask how, or omegaverse. I mean pregnancy isn't my thing in general, I don't enjoy it in f/f or het either, so it just follows that mpreg wouldn't do it for me. Get that man an IUD.

fake dating

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

Can definitely be a lot of fun, but not something I'll go out of my way for, and often depends on the author. imo it's best if it's a ship with tension, like enemies, rivals, or ascerbic friends. Ooh you know what the best mash ship for this would be? Hawnk. Or Charhawk. Charles decides to come out to his family even if it means being disinherited bc he's finally decided to live his truth, but he doesn't actually have a partner and he needs to bring one home to drive the point home. Or Frank shows up in Boston and crashes on Hawkeye's couch after his divorce because he's so much of a sadsack that Hawkeye's his best remaining friend and Hawkeye can't throw him out, and Hawkeye's gay friends assume they're fucking so Hawkeye plays it up to mess with Frank, but then they invited to a couples-only thing or something that he wants to go to for... some reason idk I'm spitballing here. The point is this would be comedy gold.

Send me a Trope and I’ll rate it!

[oakwolves]

I think what happened with the Coven Heads in canon might be that most of them got puppeted before they regained consciousness, and Odalia was just far from the action. Terra then might have either regained consciousness early and got away, or the Collector reversed the spell on her for the sake of the game later.

But personally i really hate the puppet thing, it is such a violation of autonomy whether the people are conscious or not, and the show doesn't have time to address it properly, and it feels almost mean-spirited on meta level. Yes, it is a kids show and they had to find a way to focus on the main cast obviously, but imo there were better, more simple and kid friendly ways to do the Collector's game that would have covered the same themes. Especially since the show gets praise for its depiction of trauma.The whole thing feels kinda uncreative too, because it doest even feel like a twisted game of owl house that much.

Idk, i wouldn't have liked it even if it were just the bad guys affected, but it looks particularly bad that supporting characters of color like Darius and Raine are treated like objects (that post credit art with the tea party and Darius, especially).

I am bitter with Darius treatment in particular, because unlike the kids parents or principal Bump or even Raine, he doesn't even have anyone on the outside to worry about him, since they've dropped whatever connection he had with Hunter, and Eda and Lilith don't care. Like, with Bump, even though he is puppeted, at least it is clear he is still important so it doesn't feel that bad. (And unpopular opinion but it feels sometimes that certain plot points and moments in the show are less for the kids and more for adults who like theories and twists and ships)

Yeah that makes sense as to why the Coven heads were unable to get away before the Collector puppetted them.

Longer post under the cut

I also never liked the idea of people being turned into puppets in the first place (for the reason you mentioned but also because puppets, like toys, can BREAK if someone is careless with them) but certain owl show fans will get mad and call you sensitive if you think something was a bad writing choice 🤷‍♀️

What pisses me off about Raine in particular is that they’re literally getting nothing out of all of the things that happen to them (except r*eda becoming canon in the end I guess 😂). There’s no development, no arc, nothing that isn’t tied back to the white woman they were created for. I don’t have a problem with “bad things” happening to cause conflict. In fact I absolutely love angst. But if there’s no “point” or refreshing catharsis at the end of it all I’m not particularly interested.

Raine gets possessed back to back for them to be ~saved~ by Eda (which is something I also have a gripe with) knowing we won’t have time to even address Raine’s perspective about literally anything they’ve been through these past years is just… kind of not particularly interesting writing.

As for Darius, I guess I feel kind of disappointed that they seemed to have something set up for him (irt Hunter and the previous golden guard, perhaps even something to do with Raine and their rebellion) and don’t really do much with it. (This kinda happened with Gus and to some degree Willow(?)) I doubt that it’s gonna be adequately addressed in the final episode.

(I am honestly not sure if the writers/crew wrote certain things in the plot to appeal to fans honestly. Not to use “thE shOrtENing” as an excuse but I think what happened is that they had a lot of things set up to develop across seasons and… kinda missed the mark on trying to address all of them appropriately…or at all)

[hazelestelle]

Guess who’s haunting your inbox? It’s your self-proclaimed favorite anon of the season! 🎃

I know you haven’t had time to answer my previous ask yet, but I just had a few more questions before I started working on your gift (the vision’s getting clearer by the minute!). So if by any chance you get some time later this week, you’ll already have the questions! Again, if you can’t answer, don’t fret, I’ll be waiting and I really don’t want you to feel pressured!

You mentioned you’d like something in the theme of the holidays. I have a few questions about that.

What do you think that season is like in the other world? How do they celebrate, what do they celebrate? Do you have any headcanons (general or related to specific characters, everything works)?

Since we’re talking non-magical AU, is there anything you’d like to see included or explored regarding that theme?

What are clichés you like and dislike regarding holiday themes? How much do you love holiday clichés? 

Do you love Christmas movies? If yes, what’s your top 3?

A few Saundreas related questions now! 

A. Do you ship them in the past, during canon, in post-canon? (Where do you stand on Andreas is dead-dead in S2 or Andreas died but comes back again eventually?) B. What are the aspects of this ship that make it interesting to you? What do you love the most?  C. What are some of your favourite headcanons regarding Saundreas?

And my final question: could you share some songs that you like and that remind you of Stella and Beatrix, and Saul and Andreas? I was thinking more as ships but if you have some that you think are THE song that was written about/for this character, I’ll take it as well 👀

I have ideas, but I haven’t fully decided which ones I was discarding, hence the numerous questions! I hope you’re not getting overwhelmed!

And if you feel like answering some of those questions now, and others later, it’s all fine, you can just post about it on your blog and I’ll be carefully checking your posts!

In the meantime, merry spooky day tomorrow/today depending on where you are 🎃👻

Hiiii favourite anon!!

I was genuinely just about to answer your other ask, but now you are getting this one first haha. Thank you for being so patient with me!! Life is... a lot at the moment, but your message cheered me up :)

Sooo let's see

Ooohh good question! I have to admit, I never really thought about that, but I will now :) I think they might have "borrowed" some traditions. Definitely decorations. I can see fairies loving decorations. And gift giving. Maybe they just have a general gift giving event? And snow, do they have snow? I hope they have snow! (I love snow lol)

I think there has been a misunderstanding? Because I think I said that I don't like non-magic AU all that much. Or maybe I worded it wrong? I'm so sorry about that! But if you have non-magical AU ideas now, by all means, go ahead!

How much do I love holiday cliches? So much! It's my favourite season of the year, so you really can't go wrong with any of it. Secret Santas, mistletoes, christmas parties, baking, christmas markets, walks in the snow, christmas lights, decorations,... you name it, I'll love it <3

Oohh, well yes, but also no XD The most important Christmas movie here is Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel, so I don't think that will help you. I also watch Barbie: A Perfect Christmas every year with my sister.

Okay, on to the next set XD

A. All of the above? XD No seriously, I think those all have their own appeal, though I would say probably my favourite version is, they had something when they were younger, are exes during canon, and then find their way back together afterwards. But as I said, any version is good. (I'd rather he's not dead-dead and/or died but comes back later, or my "they find their way back together" headcanon doesn't work, haha. But I do like angst too, so if he's dead in your idea, I guess he's dead XD)

B. The "old friends to enemies (to lovers)" dynamic is just so interesting. The "I once knew you so well", the "this isn't you (anymore)", the "you're better than this", the "I thought you were the one (maybe you can be again)", the "tell me you haven't given up on me".

C. I think I put some of those above already :) But have another one: They had a lot of training sessions that lead to more when they were younger ;)

Ohh, songs. Full disclosure, I am not a big music person, sorry! But if I think of any, I will definitely let you know!

Thank you so much for your lovely messages! I'm so sorry I'm slow answering, I definitely love reading them and thinking about this! So let my know if there's anything else :)

We don't actually do Halloween here, but there's still some spooky decorations up :) Have a fantastic day!! <3

[miumiumandoodz]

A friend shared this lil' meme on a server we're in so I kinda wanna do it lol

SOME EXPLANATIONS below and beware of controversial takes!

Ship That I Love At First Sight -- I'M A KORRASAMI TRUTHER SINCE BOOK ONE. Very controversial take, but I really hated how Mako behaved and how he was positioned on that stupid love triangle but Korra and Asami's interaction felt so genuine. It felt like they were genuinely so interested with each other and wanted to become (at least) friends, but felt a little awkward considering their situation. I remember saying to my friend "UGH I wish they're the ones being shipped by the show instead". I continued having no hope and watched the show in "eh" although I loved how their relationship finally developed. AND LO AND BEHOLD. People say them being endgame is not valid and not deserving can meet and fistfight me at 3 PM in the school's football field.

Ship That I Initially Don't Like - This is going to be another controversial take because hhh ok. So I started only shipping Akihiko and Shinjiro because who doesn't love tragic gay childhood best friends who were torn apart due to trauma and life choices and one of them died in a way to sorta atone their mistakes etc etc. Like THE ANGST -- especially when you play this game at FUCKING 16 and only slowly opening the closet door. I invest to them greatly. Surprise surprise, even though she's my type I initially didn't get to like Mitsuru immediately but I realized it's not Misturu that I hate but... Something about her relationship with Yukari bring the worst out of each other (yeah I know they get better at P4A but 1they do have a long way to go I feel like). Turns out I just don't like it when Mitsuru interacts with Yukari but her interaction with other characters is fine to me. So I didn't pay P3 attention for a while but revisited it somewhere in 2010 and I realized how in sync and deeply connected Akihiko and Misturu were. They're so parents-coded to SEES (and boi do I love a dilfxmilf coded ship). That November 4th event did appealed to me the first time but it appealed to me even more. And I thought about how both have lost everything but still have each other and get each other's back almost in a non verbal way. The only person who can love and understand Akihiko in and out the way Shinji does to me is Mitsuru and the only person who would have all the grace, compassion, and patience to Mitsuru with all her burden is just Akihiko. So yeah, I guess they're otp too now. It's okay if you don't agree with this or if you're disgusted by the fact that I don't really vibe with the popular wlw ship in P3. Sometimes you just don't vibe with something, you know. I'm sure there are things you just don't vibe with too and that's cool. That's just human. But if you call me lesboph*bic or h*mophobic for this and think I deserve harassment... WOAH lmao. Are you okay?

Ship That I Don't Like Anymore - Siegfried and Cassandra is a ship of the past when I was still a stupid literal child brainwashed by cisheteronormativity and I just shipped the emoest conventionally attractive BOY with the boisterous sunshine of a conventionally attractive GIRL. As I became an adult I just lost interest in it completely and realized, HEY. Cassandra Alexandra is BIG LESBIAN. No way that girl is straight. Besides, if I wanna see conventionally attractive blonde people getting hooked now, I can just look at Husband and Wife Courtney Miller and Shayne Topp Miller.

Favorite Popular Ship - I think this doesn't need much explanation.

Favorite Rarepair - So is this one.

Controversial Ship - Okay, so, maybe they're not that controversial, but OMG people hate villains and people just can't grasp the fact that sometimes we read books and watch shows and find the villains entertaining because they're complexly written. Do we condone all the fucked up things these two assholes had done? Nah. Do we find character dynamics and development interesting to pay attention to and how the story makes us wanna know what happen? Yeah! But still, people hate me for finding these particular fictional rocks interesting 😂🙃 Other than that, there are people with the headcanon of them being sisters and you know how people treat different headcanons than theirs online, harass the fuck out of anyone who has that different headcanon.

Ship That I Want To Become Canon Most - Sometimes an enby just wants to enjoy a non problematic ship where two adults fall in love and be parents. Sometimes I just wanna enjoy a found family and adoption ever after. Like that sweet dream stepmom headcanon or a girl adopted by loving parents and gets a younger sister thing. Like man. Sometimes you just want simple things. Llsten, I don't think my favorite, even close to canon queer cookie ships can have the chance so Devsis. I'm begging you. At least the breeders are ok with this one, just give it a greenlight.

Comfort Ship - This also needs no explanation lol. They're my foster parents.

A Ship That Deserves More Attention - I'm generally a casual Jojo shipper and most of my favorite ships are the common ones but I really enjoy the KakPol dynamic. Something about a chill guy and a disastrous guy feels kinda sweet to me. To be honest, I find Part 3 Jotaro is hard to ship with anyone (yes, including Kakyoin -- I'm ok with the ship tho!) because of how edgy and distant he is. Like, he's just being his cool main character self and no one can touch him (and Jotaro is my most favorite beside Lisa Lisa lol, but sometimes it's just weird how you just like a character but can't really ship em with anyone). So I just pay more giggles to KakPol and sometimes PolAvdol.

First OTP - I'm torn between Jason and Kimberly from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Rei and Minako from Sailor Moon or THEM. But I feel for a fact that I was a hardcore Xena x Gabrielle stan at 6-7 years old is so interesting to me. First of all, this isn't a kids show, unlike Power Rangers or Sailor Moon anime. Second of all, I still understood nothing and my idea of romance were soooo limited, yet I wanted these two to hold hands and go on dates. NO ONE TOLD ME HOW TO BE GAY but somehow I AM. I tuned in to Xena every Sunday afternoon. Like I just wanna see Xena and Gabrielle be badass and flirt with each other and somehow frustrated why they keep pairing them with uninteresting men lol 😂 but yeah. Look where I am now!

Current OTP - And to wrap it and sorta make it funny, of course I gotta involve another ship that has a Gabriel on it 😂 Of course this is my choice of current otp. I invest to them a lot and I still can't get enough of them. I want them to kiss forever and I'm grateful they have all the time to kiss 🥰

[bitchfitch]

Tbh on the watsonian level I kinda think it might be more than just a politcing thing. Im chewing on it while i wind down for the night and to me at least the three of them as a throuple feels a lot better than just sidlink now. Like I love me some angst, but this version of Link has never felt to me like someone who would stay put very long or like someone who could come back quickly when he does eventually need to just Go. and Sidon sorta deserves better than that even if that wildness is something he admires and loves in Link.

Sidon and Yona Vibe well and the whole childhood friends getting to be in love and eventually marry as adults after actual decades of growing up in this long distance friendship feels Good, can you Imagine the pining? I need to spend more time with Yona to continue getting a feel for her personality and Whole deal and like what she'd get out of an arrangement like this. But from what I've seen of her so far, she really doesn't seem like someone who would be ultra fussed about her guy having a little something on the side with his 'closest companion'.

I do have some anxieties that are far more doyalist in nature but those are like. Idk. It makes sense for a prince character to end up engaged in a sequel, but I've seen so many showrunners and creative teams behind projects i enjoy give previously single characters opposite sex partners purely bc the character in question was too popular amongst the queer community or were too commonly shipped in same sex pairings to not be like a Little sus about this.

I guess my tldr is that i feel Yona really balances things out and makes something good better. but her existence within this work feels a Little icky especially when the developers spent so much time in the last game establishing just how single Sidon was. Like i love him, but Sidon was very obviously written to appeal to women in that kinda misogynistic corporate way where the thinking is that Obviously the only reason a Girl or young woman would care about a video game is if there's a man she can crush on and, for lack of a better term, ship herself with in it.

Its probably even why he was written to be so affectionate towards Link, the vessel these suits were expecting the women to wholly project onto. Its a form of fanservice people don't tend to recognize As fanservice because it's so disconnected from the reality of how people are going to interact with this world. Maybe if Link was just a blank slate character you could customize at the start of the game it wouldve been more obvious and actually worked. but he's not. he's Link. the characters in this story interact with him and not his puppeteer. Sidon being ultra smiley with Link even when he's not smiling outside of their conversation animations, extremely friendly towards him, and telling the player how much he wants Link to visit him more often doesn't read as crush material for 15 to 25 year old women. it reads as deeply homosexual.

Those kinds of characters basically never get cannon love interests because it defeats the point and destroys the 'illusion' that would let the ~silly girls~ who only care about boys and Romance in a story self ship with them.

So in that context with the knowledge of how Insanely popular Sidon is with gay men, and fanfic writers... Yona's existence within the narrative Feels Weird and kind Rough and Bad even if i like her as a character and think she works well even in the context of the broader fanon surrounding Sidon and Link.

this post got away from me. you can tell from the tldr where i meant it to end. but Yeah. Watsonian good, Doyalist is suspect.

MOTHER FUCKER SPOTTED T POSING. GAY SHIT IM GOING TO HAVE TO BANISH THE CHILD FOR TO ENSUE.

[sly-s-n0nfusion]

Based on AO3 filters, my ✨personal✨ ratings and opinions on octopath traveler’s most popular ships because yes

Rated H for Honest ™️ ⚠️ (or B for Brutally honest)

Alfyn/Therion - Yes. Just yes, I ship it and it’s obvious why it’s so popular. They have the perfect amount of fluff and angst and portray the “sushine cinnamon roll who trusts too easily x wary lone wolf with trust issues” trope so well, plus I remember their dialogues being deep and adorable. Kind doctor taking care of emotionally hurt thief? Good stuff I give it a 9/10

Cyrus/Therion - I don’t get the appeal of it so it gets a no from me. I really do wonder why it’s so popular but I’m guessing it’s either because they’re some of the few travelers who don’t get along particularly well so there’s a bit of bickering here and there or because they’re both pretty bois ™️ but yeah I really can’t see any chemistry or I’m just pretending to ignore the fact that 99% of cytheri fics portray Cyrus in a way that is so out of character it hurts and while some people might like that it’s really not my thing. Gets a 2/10 for the good looks

Primrose/H’aanit - Another yes from me! They’re absolutely adorable together, top lesbians gfs. Favourite trope is H’aanit getting flustered with Prim’s teasing and I just love that, plus headcanon that Linde would absolutely love Primrose’s cuddles just as much as H’aanit does. Gets a 9/10

Olberic/Erhardt - Oooh boy where do I start- mfs be like I love Olberic he’s my favorite character and then they ship him with Erhardt 💀 (AFFECTIONATE)

This one gets a Yesn’t ™️ from me. It’s a yes if it’s before the fall of Hornburg, because it’s obvious that what they had was more than friendship especially on Olberic’s side, like, the tension was real. It’s definitely a no if it’s after the fall of Hornburg for a lot of reasons starting with Olberic’s traumatic experience and deep emotional scarring but I’ll just boil it all down to “if I have to, I ship them as a divorced couple”. As I see it, it’s impossible for Olberic to fully trust Erhardt again after what happened, of course they’re back to being friends and fight side by side but my brother in christ I feel like he got sentimentally detached after the fall. In Italy we say “a dish that has been heated twice sucks” and I think it applies pretty well to olberhardt. So yeah super unpopular opinion but it’s not my cup of tea. I just think Olby deserves better and he needs to move on- gets a 5/10 for the effort

Cyrus/Olberic - Just look at my feed y’all, it’s a oh god yes from me. Good chemistry 👏🏻 good dialogues 👏🏻 good fluff potential👏🏻 good angst potential👏🏻 otp 👏🏻 the fact that their interactions are so endearing, and Cyrus is so dense, and Olberic’s pining that eventually gets payed off, and their stubborn duties to keep one another safe, they’re both amazingly written characters, nobile and always fighting for justice, but they also have really different interests and personalities and they- they just complement each other so well okay I love them very much get married already. Solid 10000/10

Ophilia/Therion - Totally didn’t expect this one to be so high on this list but anyway here we are. It’s a yes from me! I remember their dialogues being hilariously cute. The “shy kind girl x bad edgy boy” trope isn’t my favorite but they sure look good together (plus the art where Ophilia cuts an apple for Therion is adorable). It’s a 7/10 for me

Primrose/Ophilia - Gets a “eeeeh” from me. Not personally my favorite but I can see some chemistry there, I just see them more as having a little sister/big sister relationship. Doesn’t get more than a 4/10

Alfyn/Zeph - Apparently it made it to the top relationships on ao3 and there’s a good reason behind it, the boys have chemistry. It’s a yes from me, too bad the Mercedes arc kinda wrecked it but it was there. Not as good as Alfyn/Therion though. It’s a 8/10

These are just my opinions and they’re completely irrelevant please don’t burn my house down I love you all

Also if you want to discuss about your personal favorites please do!

[fireemblems24]

Ao3 Ship Thoughts

To sate my desire to read Three Houses fan fiction and jump in on the shipping comments that have upticked recently, I decided to see what ships were the most popular on Ao3.

Some of it's exactly what I expected, and one in particular is just . . . what, why?

Ao3 is probably the closest you'll get to truly determining which ships are the most popular, or at least have the highest number of passionate fans. So I was curious to see who the top ships were. Here's the ones listed, in order:

Sylvain/Felix

Dimitri/Byleth

Edelgard/Byleth

Ferdinand/Hubert

Claude/Byleth

Dimitri/Felix

Dimitri/Claude

Felix/Annette

Caspar/Linhardt

Hilda/Marrianne

If I exclude the Byleth ships, Dimitri/Dedue, Byleth/Seteth, and Ingrid/Sylvain take up the three missing spots.

Byleth's Ships

I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked that Byleth/Lord is popular. Never wouldn't guessed. I am, of course, being sarcastic. If someone asked me to list who I think would show up in the top 10 most popular ships, the first three I'd list would be Byleth/Lord.

What I find more interesting is that Byleth/Seteth is the fourth option for Byleth. AO3 writers, I officially bow to your taste. It pleases me quite a bit that, if you're not going with one of the main lords, you all want Seteth. This I can agree with.

As for the Byleth/Lord ships, I feel kind of mixed on them. Every lord interacts with characters who have more depth than Byleth, but I still get the appeal. I'm going to deep dive into all of the lords relationships with Byleth later, but here's a quick summary.

Edelgard/Byleth is shoved down your throat so hard it's nearly impossible to ship Edelgard with someone else and even shortchanges her potential to have deep, non-romantic relationships because Edelgard puts Byleth on a pedestal that no one else can reach by her own dialogue.

Byleth's character arc works well alongside Dimitri's. While the relationship is pushed and fanservice-y scenes exist, the game leaves enough breathing room to see Byleth as a mentor/therapist/teacher figure, and Dimitri has no shortage of deep, meaningful relationships with others should you not want to do the whole self-insert thing. It's a good balance.

Claude and Byleth are the opposite of Edelgard and Byleth. They read almost more like friends than lovers. It's a breath of fresh air, honestly. Claude/Byleth seems like the healthiest possible romance for Byleth/lord because the lord in question here doesn't seem as dependent. That said, it lacks lacks romance and shipping fuel. I may complain about fanservice, but the Byleth/Claude dynamic does show why scenes of holding hands in the rain and teasing about badly drawn images might actually come in handy.

Edelgard's Ships

I'm not surprised, at all, that Edelgard has no popular ships outside of Byleth. Dialogue consistently shortchanges Edelgard's relationships with others by having her verbally, repeatedly put Byleth into a special "other" that no one else can reach for her.

Though, I guess I'm a bit surprised at the extreme lack of Edelgard/Hubert. I feel these two have a lot of shipping fuel and their supports left things unresolved. I've come across the sentiment in fandom many times that ship where things are tied off nicely with a bow leave less to explore and aren't as interesting, so I am bummed out no one seems interested in fleshing out Hubert/Edelgard more.

The outlook for Edelgard fanfic and me seems pretty limited. I don't like Edelgard/Byleth for various reasons beyond this scope of this post. I was kind of hoping there were some Edelgard/Hubert or Edelgard/Dorothea character study stuff that could help me get past how much Byleth gets in the way of Edelgard's character growth, but it seems fanfic writers only want to write about her and Byleth, which is a bummer.

On that note, I'm also surprised but also glad that Dimitri/Edelgard isn't a big thing. I thought it might be because tragedy of childhood friends turned enemies by events out of their control is popular. These two seem wildly incompatible though, so I'm glad people seem to agree.

Claude's Ships

Ok. Claude/Byleth. Expected. I'm feel positively towards the ship since they seem mostly good for each other even if it's not getting my heart all fluttering.

I'm surprised there's no Claude/Petra or Claude/Hilda. Those two are my personal favorites for him. I would've given Claude/Petra the edge given how they can uniquely relate to each other, but Hilda's scene in CF really gave Petra a run for her money. Even more so that Petra and Claude have obligations to two different nations and Hilda has no such complication.

But whattttt???? Claude/Dimitri? It's in the top 10?? More people ship Dimitri with Claude than Dedue?? I thought lord/lord might be popular, but I honestly thought Dimitri/Edelgard would take it, not Claude/Dimitri. They never really talk. So I'm a bit confused about this one. Though, intrigued by the idea.

Can I take a wild guess this partly stems from Claude having no real other viable M/M ships outside of M!Byleth and fics that plays up the chapter I'm about to play in AM (Dimitri saving Claude) or "what ifs" VW routes where Dimitri doesn't . . . you know.

I am really curious about this dynamic though. Because I like Claude - a lot. He's a character I want to get attached to. From experience, the fastest way for me to like a character is to give them a significant relationship I enjoy with a character I already love and the new character gets absorbed by proxy. So, fans, please, tell me more about this Dimitri/Claude. I am curious.

Dimitri's Ships

I am as unsurprised by Dimitri's being one of the biggest repeat offenders on here as I am by Edelgard being Byleth or bust. If Edelgard is written to fanservice the player by making the self-insert her one and only, Dimitri is fanservicing the player by being a shipping magnet. The writers knew what they were doing and who they were trying to appeal to with these two characters.

Dimitri/Byleth is a given. The game plays up the romance angle, but it's not at the expense of Dimitri's other relationships.

What I'm more interested in, though, is Felix/Dimitri. Between angsty CF stories, post-AM slow-burns, or fleshing out missing scenes from their shared childhood, there's just a lot to work with and a rich context to use their relationship - spun romantically - to explore each character. Felix and Dimitri's relationship is layered, complicated, heart breaking, and potentially healing. The fact they're two incredibly attractive guys doesn't hurt its popularity either, I'm sure. I'm not surprised it ranked that highly.

Claude/Dimitri surprises me. If two lords were going to get on this list together, I would've put bets on Edelgard/Dimitri. Since Claude and Dimitri's relationship is fairly unexplored, I'm really interested to see more about what exactly this is about. Don't get me wrong. I figured people would pair two main characters who are that good looking together, I just didn't think it would rank that high.

I am, slightly sad, that Dimitri/Dedue isn't a bit higher, but happy it seems to have some steam. I get it though. Dedue's not as flashy as some of the others on the shipping list and their relationship is so full of fluff by their A support it lacks the angst Felix/Dimitri and Dimitri/Byleth can draw out nor is as much of a play around with "what ifs" as Claude/Dimitri is.

Non-Lords/Main Characters Ships:

This list, more than anything else, shows AO3's penchant for writing M/M and F/F works for better or worse. Whether this phenomena stems from lack of representation, fetishizing by the fanbase, deeply ingrained gender roles making fictional M/F ships either less appealing to many fanfic writers, or M/F romances often getting assumed leading to less substantial writing compared to friendships - I don't know. Probably all of it.

There are a few surprises here for me. Felix/Sylvain is that popular? I figured they'd make the top 10, but #1 is surprising. Though, looking through the first page of the tag, it's true Felix/Sylvain have fics just for them, but it also seems like a common pairing in Dimitri/Byleth and Dimitri/Claude fics. It's the same story with Caspar/Linhardt, who I honestly didn't expect to see. They had a fair number of their own fics, but it seems many CF fics put them together rather than focus solely on them. Felix/Annette also balances being the main focus and an adjunct pairing. Marianne/Hilda seemed to have less fics where they took center stage and more they were one of many ships listed.

Ferdinand/Hubert having a lot of fics isn't surprising. I don't really care too much for it personally, but I can see the appeal of it.

I'm surprised Catherin/Shamir is nowhere in sight. Likewise, Rhea is absolutely nowhere. Kind of sad by the lack of adult characters in general. Especially Rhea. I think it's a pretty big sign of how the writing's treated her that such an important character is totally absent in this list.

Not surprised at all to see Felix also get so many ships. He, like Dimitri, seems designed on purpose to ship with many characters. I do really wish Dorothea and Seteth would get more attention though.

What do you guys think? Anything that surprised you? How do you feel about any of these ships and there popularity or lack thereof? Are there characters/pairings you wish got more attention? Any popular ships you despise (spill that tea)?

[tloujm]

Part XXVI: Giving Grief

Author’s Notes: This is the first chapter I’ve posted in months (literally since April). I don’t know if this is a full comeback. I have a few chapters in the drafts that need to be edited and formatted for posting but after that, I still plan on continuing the series bc my plan was always have a long fic. With no new content after part II of the game was released, my interest in the fandom waned but was always there. Now with HBO creating a show based off the game, as well as me being apart of the Pedro Pascal fandom, I think I will soon become more consistent in posting as new content gets released. I will say that at least half of what appeals to me for Joel is Troy Baker’s voice and while I love Pedro’s voice too, I know it won’t be the same. I still think Pedro will do the voice justice bc he can do a damn fine country accent as seen in the movie Prospect on Netflix. If you’re a fan of his and have Netflix, please go watch it!

Genre: Angst and Fluff

Summary: You and Joel reconcile and bond over Ellie and Sarah. 

Ship: Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

Joel waited for you to come home. He paced back and forth in the kitchen switching from holding the card and setting it down on the counter. He was eager to talk to you about this new revelation partly because he was nervous to have the other conversation with you. After a while of calming his nerves down, you still hadn’t come home. The sun had set an hour ago and Joel was ready to throw on his boots and go looking for you. 

Just as he laced them up, the front door opened. You walked in and immediately stopped because his body blocked you from walking in the house further. 

“Going somewhere?” You asked as you slid past him. He was a grown man and could do what he wanted, but the thought of him leaving to go do other things before the issue between you was resolved upset you. 

He reached back down to unlace his boots. “Not anymore. I was ‘bout to head out and find you.”

“Why?” You asked dryly.

“I’d been waiting on you to come home for a couple of hours. We gotta talk.”

“You’re right, we do. I was helping Wendy walk the kids home from the daycare; that’s what held me up. I’m here now, though.” You leaned against the back of the couch and crossed your arms. The stance you took reminded you of what Joel would do.

He walked into the kitchen and came back. “Kiddo made this for us.”

You took it in your hands. “When did she have time to make this?” He shrugged. Your fingers brushed across the drawing of the hat before finally opening it. “Oh my God.” She looked at you for a split second before looking back down at her signature. “Her name has been ‘Ellie’ the whole time.”

“I know.” He commented. 

“She never said anything. All of us have asked her.”

“Technically, she still hasn’t spoken her name, but I guess she wasn’t ready for that.”

“She wasn’t ready to let anybody in.” You said. He nodded in agreement.

“Until now.” He walked up to you and pointed to her name on the card. “She’s doing so good, this Ellie. I can only try to imagine the horrors that she’s seen out in the world before she came to Jackson, but whatever happened out there, it led her to us. I’m...It’s just nice to see her opening up to this place.”

You understood what he was trying to say. “Yeah, I’m proud of her too.” You walked past him and into the kitchen to hang the card on the refrigerator. Joel followed. This time, his arms were crossed.

“(Y/N), I meant it when I said I was sorry back there. I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“If you didn’t mean it, you wouldn’t have said it.” You rebutted.

“I was upset with you because I expected you to react the same as me when Ellie climbed up that T-Rex, but I don’t want a carbon copy of myself. I love you and want to have a family with you because you are wise beyond your years, confident even if you don’t always think so, responsible even for things that aren’t your responsibility and most importantly, you’re level headedness. Where I have a tendency to lose my cool in certain situations, you are guided by this calm...patient sense of will that I envy.” He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, giving you the opportunity to say something. Seeing that you were still soaking in his words, he continued. “You’ll be a great mother. I saw it in the gentle way you juggled all those kids at the daycare. I saw it in the way you took care of Ellie the first day she came here. You’ll see though, if it’s meant for us to have a baby, how difficult it is to stop worrying. It didn’t stop when Sarah....even when I tried to push those feelings away. It doesn’t stop. I know she’s not her, but it’s hard for me to just stand by and watch her do something that could hurt her.”

“I wasn’t standing by, or at least that wasn’t my intention. I wanted to give her space. She’s so delicate, or maybe that’s my problem. I shouldn’t treat her like she’s some glass figurine. I just wanted her to grow comfortable with us by trusting her. Believe me, it wasn’t easy for me to do when there was nothing personally for me to go off of, but then I thought, she’s lived out there for God knows how long by herself. She’s not only seen things but has been able to survive things. It’s hard to see how clever someone is when they won’t let you in, but I knew she had to be to have made it this far. I get it though. I’ve never been a parent. I can only sympathize with your worries. I can not empathize with you until I’ve been where you have. I’m sorry too. I could have found a way to give her space without allowing her to be in such a dangerous spot. You must be disappointed in me.”

He moved up to you and placed his hands on your shoulder. “I’m not. Look at me. I’m not disappointed in you. She was both of our responsibilities earlier.” He brought you into a tight hug. “You’re right, she is smart. She felt comfortable enough to show a side of herself that no one else has seen. You know why? ‘Cause she felt safe around us. Despite the grief she put me through, it was nice to see her so happy.”

“I know it was, wasn’t it? I can’t believe she jumped though! I didn’t think she’d go that far.”

“At the end of the day, kids will be kids. It’s not an excuse to slack off on raising ‘em, but there's just a certain wild and carefree nature that every kid has. It’s instilled in their DNA or somethin’ and then it fades away as they get older, about the time their back starts to ache.” Joel chuckled as he explained. He kissed the top of your head before pulling away to get a good look at you. He made a face as if to ask if you were ok. You nodded. He took your hand and pulled you into the living room. You sat down next to him. “She reminds me of Sarah sometimes. Ellie’s about the same age as her. She ran me through the ringer, raising that one.” He chuckled at the memories. “I wouldn’t trade it in for the world, being her dad, but you shoulda seen the amount of grief she put me through. Especially being a single parent.” He wiped his hand across his face, letting it linger along the length of his neck. “One time, she snuck off to some skate park when I told her no. She was in this skateboarding phase. I bought her a customized skateboard for her birthday and she would practice using it up and down the driveway. She had barely learned that little flippy trick when she asked me to take her to the skate park. I told her no because it looked like it was for experienced skaters. I wanted her to practice more first. To say the least, she was mad at me. She told me she was staying after school for the science club, but she really went to the skate park with some friends. By the time I figured out where she was, I found her lying in the grass, holding her arm in pain. Turned out she had a hairline fracture in her...radius?” He pointed to the bone on his arm. You nodded that it was in fact called radius. “I grounded her for lying to me, but sometimes I wonder if I should have taken her to the park. I mean I’m no expert on skateboarding, but at least I could have been there to supervise; make sure she wasn’t on one of those tough looking ramps.”

“Did you ever take her skateboarding after she healed up?”

“After the cast came off, she switched interests to soccer. I installed a shelf on one of her walls to hang the skateboard on. Better that than being stuffed under her bed. Soccer was her life though. She made new friends from the team, won titles, learned tricks with the ball. Me and Tommy were regulars at her games. I was...am proud of her.”

You smiled as you envisioned his memories. “Did she give you grief with that as well?”

He nodded in an exaggerated way. “Oh yeah, but I’m sure I used to give her grief too.” You lifted your eyebrows with desire for him to elaborate. “I may or may not have argued with the coach and ref on a few occasions regarding plays.”

“You never dated any of the soccer moms?” You teased.

He scoffed. “Most of them were married and the ones who weren’t, I sent Tommy’s way instead. He wasn’t mad at it.” The two of you chuckled. “I did flirt with a few, married or not, so I could get my hands on some of their homemade baked goods.”

“I was under the assumption that soccer moms made food for everyone.”

“They did, but I still wanted a few more cupcakes for the ride home.” He admitted as you laughed. “Listen, I had a busy life. I didn’t have much time to hone my baking skills, so it was nice to be able to have homemade cakes and cookies for a change.

“Well, if you wanted cookies, that’s all you had to say! I can show you how to bake right now.”

“It’s late.” He reasoned.

“It’s never too late to feed your sweet tooth.” You rebutted as you pulled him back into the kitchen.

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

After that gorgeous sequel rant, would you be willing to share your thoughts on reylo?

Ugh.

Once again, that is the most succinct, easiest, answer I can supply. But it's so short, and that just won't do.

I mentioned in a recent post that Dramione comes in a myriad of disguises. Every fandom usually has at least one Dramione ship, you can usually guess which characters the ship will consist of, and while you might not be able to articulate exactly what about it makes it so damn similar to Dramione you will recognize it on sight.

Usually, to me, a Dramione ship features a strong, independent, female lead who may be varying levels of sexually empowered, varying levels of intelligent (Hermione loves to tell us how smart she is but it's not the heart of the ship), is strong, courageous, and noble who depending on the story du jour might slide into depravity.  The real give away is her love interest, always a man, usually a young man of comparable age, who has the bad boy appeal that's not too bad boy where he often is redeemed to the good side for 'reasons' in the course of the story.

Reylo is such a Dramione pairing.

You don't believe me? Look at the authors who write it, I haven't done this too often myself, but I guarantee you that a not small majority of them will either write Draco/Hermione or will have it all over their favorites and bookmarks. It's the same damn pairing.

But worse.

Because Kylo-Ren and Rey aren't really characters.

"Whoa, hold up!", you say, "That's just slander and uncalled for!" Well, change my mind. Rey Palpatine and Kylo-Ren are a series of character tropes and archetypes thrown to us by Disney screaming "LOVE MY CHARACTERS".

Rey is our noble, very Luke like, hero who is a scrappy desert rat with overwhelming mystical powers only acknowledged when the movies feel like acknowledging them (guys, admit Rey kicked Kylo-Ren's ass every time they fought with 0 training, come on, it's not hard).

However, there is nothing underneath her surface. Her hero worship of the resistance feels dull and given to her because it's expected. Of course Rey likes the resistance! The resistance is great! Sign her up! Rey has been living in the desert at the edge of nowhere for presumably 15 years, I'm shocked she's even heard of the new republic let alone the resistance. Despite essentially starving and only having a home that's a broken down old fighter, Rey saves a random droid. We're not really given a compelling reason of why she would do this, that she has a deep respect for droids/is horrified by their use, really really really hates the random trader she sells things to, or really really really hates the empire (if she even realizes it's them behind the bounty). She does it just so that a) the plot keeps moving b) to show Rey is... noble... I guess?

Remember that even Luke (who I have some problems with as a character) started his journey with more backstory and personality than this. Luke loved the empire and desperately wanted to become a pilot. He was very put out that his aunt and uncle kept saying, "Uh, no, bad idea." Luke was ready to skip town and sign on up for flight academy, he just got distracted by pretty women, er, his sister.

So, Rey is never given a compelling reason to do any of the things she does in the series. Just vague feelings of hero worship. And, of course, the drama over her parents. Just... I feel like Disney took out a hat, put a bunch of pieces of paper with words on them, and drew out the one that said "orphan angst about parents" and said "See, now she's conflicted! What a character!"

So yeah, Rey is your cardboard generic hero who is so generic she's not even a person. She has no hopes, no dreams, no fears, just these vague things we're told as an audience she cares about but never shown in any legitimate manner. Rey likes the resistance and rando droids, Rey imprints on Han Solo as the father she never had, Rey has this thing about her parents, Rey is attracted to Kylo Ren.

And that last one, oh boy that last one. It sold me less on the attraction to Kylo Ren than... oh... I don't know... Palpatine's secret Sith planet of doom. I mean, we all saw it coming, The Last Jedi it was very clear where that was going and then Abrams went for it even harder. But what we had was a series of skype conversations where Rey went from "Gr, you killed my pseudo father!" and Kylo-Ren responding, "Yeah, well he was my real father AND HE WAS SO MEAN" to "Oh Ben, I will fly to you through space and we shall save the galaxy together!"

I am given no reason to believe Rey's change of heart. Han Solo's death just suddenly... doesn't really mean much to her anymore (the man was murdered by his son in cold blood so that his son could feel better about himself). She believes Ben Solo is good now because Luke is a dick (never mind that, no matter what a dick Luke is, Ben Solo still murdered dozens of children and then went on to gleefully massacre his way through the galaxy). We're told there's a Force Dyad, which is um... not this thing the writer's made up because they were too lazy to convince me that Kylo-Ren and Rey would end up together in any organic way.

So, yeah, why does Rey like Kylo-Ren? Because the Force told her too? Because it was somehow all Snoke's fault in a way that's never properly described? (Indeed despite us spending quite a bit of time on Kylo-Ren's decision to remain Kylo-Ren being a very internalized thing) Because we saw him shirtless in yoga pants this one time?

It's bad when that last is actually the most legitimate reason I can think of out of the whole lot.

Now let's go to Kylo-Ren. If Rey is boring and nonsensical then Kylo-Ren is a dumpster fire and non-sensical. The guy reminds me a lot of Commodus from the film "Gladiator", the man is cowardly, vile, and murders his father in despair that his father never will be capable of loving him/passes him over for the throne. Kylo-Ren's murder of Han Solo is extremely similar to the murder of Marcus Aurelius in "Gladiator". Han Solo is a flawed father, trying to make his peace with his son, who approaches him unarmed and Kylo-Ren decides to murder him in order to solidify his place in the dark side.

Only, the films never acknowledge that every action Kylo-Ren takes is horrifying.

We're told "oh, Kylo-Ren exists because evil Snoke corrupted him" but also shown repeatedly that Kylo-Ren chooses the darkest path again and again and again. He "struggles with the light" but I don't see it. His opening scene, he has massacred a village and is torturing a man for information (this is presumably a daily routine for him). In the same film he later tortures Rey for information. He serves on a Death Star which wipes out billions in an instant. He murders his father to feel good about himself. He dresses as a man who was reviled and feared throughout the galaxy, a man who murdered countless children, and a man who dressed the way he did because he was barely hanging onto life, because Kylo-Ren thinks it makes him look like a badass. Think about it, this is like if a fully abled Kylo-Ren is wheeling around in a wheel chair, perfectly capable of walking, because he thinks that Professor X is so cool. Now, replace Professor X with Hitler, this is what the movies gave us.

Yet, the films seem to take it for granted that Kylo-Ren is a redeemable character. He's just lost and misguided, he's really struggling with the light and dark side! They don't just tell us this over and over again (which they do) but also just assume we know it.

And base the entire Reylo pairing off of it. Reylo believed Kylo-Ren could be redeemed, they battle Snoke together, then Kylo-Ren stabs her in the back and continues the assault on the Resistance and asks her to be his Dark Queen (TM). Reylo is shocked and appalled, I'm just wondering what movie she thought she was watching, because that was coming a mile away.

Later, when Kylo-Ren is redeemed, we're never given a reason why it happens. Leia just gives him a nagging, one word, phone call and then Han Solo shows up to go, "Ben, are you going to do the right thing?" and Ben goes, "Mumble, grumble, fine" because there's only an hour left in the last film.

Kylo-Ren, like Rey, is the writers' desperate attempt to create a compelling anti-hero with all the anti-hero sauce we love. They just won't admit they made an overgrown genocidal toddler.

Wow, this turned into why I hate both Rey and Kylo Ren, but, uh, back to the ship. Basically, the films give me 0 reason to ever believe it, and even if I wanted to, even if I said "Alright brain, let's make these characters real people for once", I still wouldn't like it. Because the ship itself is just as flat as the characters. It's spicy but not too spicy bad boy gets together with strong female lead.

I know a lot of people enjoy this, and I won't say it's any less legitimate than any of the weirdness I ship, but I'm not one of them. And the whole thing just makes me go "ugh".

[austajunk]

Kamukura for the ask meme, pls! I adore this man 🤩

Alrighty, Izuru Kamukura it is. ^^

-Favorite Thing About Them

Okay. Don’t be mad at me cos I’ll explain this. I like the way he rejected Nagito in Chapter Zero in the second game. When I say that, I mean I like his speech. I like how his identity is hidden. I like how he writes Nagito, whose abilities seem utterly extraordinary, off completely as though he’s nothing. I like that he is this careless mystery devoid of excitement and interest in anything but whatever fleeting bits of intrigue he can find in things. His speech about everything being boring and ordinary people being nothing but worthless leeches to talent is juxtaposed against the fact that to be this person who says such things, Hajime had to strip himself of his entire identity.

A + writing and atmosphere in Chapter Zero. It gets me having goosebumps every time.

-Least Favorite Thing About Them

The fact that I have that annoying thing of getting sad and depressed at his scene with Chiaki’s death. That and that I also adore that scene too because of the angst I’m snorting from it alone.

-Favorite Line

“Ah... how boring.”

If you need anymore, please refer to everything he says in Chapter Zero. :3

-BrOTP

Izuru Kamukura And Despair Kazuichi Souda definitely. Despair Soul Friends! :3 I love the bro-ish destructive art people do of them. Lmao

-OTP

KamuKomaNami (or just KamuNami and KamuKoma separately but don’t make me pick between them!!! They’re so good. I mean... see my Game of Despair comics... I love them)

-NOTP

Kamukura and Junko. Sorry... I just don’t really feel anything towards it. Don’t hate it though.

-Random Headcanon

Something tells me the only talent he doesn’t have is Ultimate Spiky Hair. Just saying.

-Unpopular Opinion

I’m new to the fandom so I’m gonna guess all of you guys got horny for Izuru based on his illustrations and then the anime where he actually has beautiful flowing hair and such. Because when I saw his sprite in game, I choked on my laughter hard. I wanted to slap that shitty wig off my boi Hajime. Just saying. I think we can thank the anime for all the sex appeal he has. Lmao.

-Songs I Associate With Them

Numb by Linkin Park, the 80s remix that goes around tumblr (I like to imagine it plays in his head while the usual dumbassery of DR happens in his presence)

At The End by 16 Volt

Hollow by Yosh (for shipping reasons)

-Favorite Picture of Them

I don’t have a screenshot on me but I really enjoy when he’s placed as a shadowy figure in the distance. Cryptid Izuru is the best!

But here, because it hurts so good:

[tundrainafrica]

Note: Instead of posting a meta or a fic today, allow me to take a quick break from that because I think I really need to appreciate some people here and the fandom overall.  

February 7, 2021. 

Today, I turned 24 and my boyfriend surprised me with a gift I think I’ll be taking to heart for a very long time. 

The story behind the gift was as precious (or even more precious) as the gift itself and I thought I’d share it since it turned out some content creators were involved in this gift and I very much want to express how much this gift has defined this day for me and will place my 24th birthday as one of those birthdays I don’t think I’ll ever forget. 

Apparently, I had casually dropped both my tumblr and my ao3 account during one of our conversations and somewhere around November he had started looking through my bookmarks, my posts on tumblr and some of my interactions with people in the fandom.

I should have seen it coming. It had started with my boyfriend suddenly asking about my hyperfixation with Levihan.

Sav? Shipping? Sav? Binge reading ships and meta posts? Sav? Gushing about a fictional ship?

And I remember gushing about this with my seemingly uninterested boyfriend a long night after explaining what was oddly the most out of character thing for someone like me. 

I was sharing with him my metas and hcs and maybe, I was dropping a few of my favorite quotes along the way and it turned out he was interested. Suddenly he was asking me about my favorite fics, my favorite scenes. Suddenly, he was rereading my favorite fics with me and a few times, he was quoting those same scenes. I did find out he was looking through my blog when I got a random message from a really sketchy tumblr telling me to open my facebook. 

I suspected a few times that he could be planning something. December passed with nothing and eventually he stopped asking so I clocked that as a fevered dream or unnecessary assuming on my end and didn’t think too much of it after. 

It turned out my boyfriend had messaged my favorite authors about their fics and he commissioned one of my favorite artists (if not my favorite) to draw a few photos and bound them into a Levihan Anthology 

And it feels fucking amazing to receive something like this. To get Levihan which helped me through the worst of 2020, bound forever as a book I can just open up and read anytime. And I guess tearing up at receiving such a gift had me thinking of a lot of things at once (which were always at the back of mind) but I thought of sharing now. 

The past year wasn’t easy. Actually. don’t think it’s an understatement to say this past year was dog shit. With the covid pandemic and all plans after that cancelled, I’m sure we can all agree we had our ups and downs. 

I had a lot of my own plans completely thrown out the window for numerous reasons. I had plans of going to law school part time while building a career. And, I got a job right after college to make these plans come true. In September the law school I got accepted to (after working so damn hard the past year to get accepted) denied my appeal for night classes. I decided to drop my enrollment to focus on my career. A week later, my job laid me off. 

And for once in my life, I wasn’t going anywhere. And I lived in a house where everyone was always doing something and as soon as I lost my job I was pressured to find another one. But as we all know, searching for a job during this pandemic isn’t easy. I was still reeling after having dropped my enrollment just to focus on my job only to lose that job the week after with no prior notice. Everyone around me was busy doing their own thing. I had no one to talk to and for a while, I was falling into this pit of depression. 

My days consisted of me hiding under the covers of my bed in between the few interviews I would take day to day. Around that time, I decided to binge watch Attack on Titan as well 

I was never one to get hyper fixated in ships. In fact, this was the first ship since Royai and Victuuri which I have been so passionate. And this is a whole new level of passion. I think this is the first time I’ve ever written so much in this small amount of time. It was slow going. Just like Levi and Hange’s relationship, my fixation with this ship was a slowburn. 

Those days alone, I was reading fanfiction by the bundle, I was scrolling through the Levihan tag like a simp, leaving kudos in ao3 on a throwaway account and just scrolling through random people’s tumblr accounts. 

What happened during the one month? And when I was alone, sad, lonely and stagnant with no one to talk to, when everyone around me was living their own lives, all I had alone in the bedroom was Levi and Hange’s stories to keep me company between interviews. 

And the meta analyses and headcanons I had about their relationship were teaching me things. They were teaching me that life was never about how quickly you progress or how far you go. Maybe the real winners in life are the ones who can build good relationships, build relationships so mutually satisfying they keep each other growing and in those few moments reading, headcanoning ships, I did realize, maybe even as stagnant as I was at that moment, my life wasn’t dogshit. 

No one’s life is dogshit for a few small bumps along the way. Sometimes it just is part of the process of growing, learning to get past the worse, learning to manage relationships. And maybe it’s these relationships which make life worth living. Maybe it’s these struggles depicted in these stories and the bounce back. Maybe it’s the love, the life, the emotions so carefully described and depicted in every single story which makes life, life. 

With every single fic I read and every single fan art I scrolled through. Levihan was teaching my things about love, loss and life. 

Sometimes, these fandoms are the things which can catch people before they fall too low into something. These works and stories authors and artists shared so generously were what pulled me out of this state and are what inspired me to explore this relationship for all the potential its worth and maybe share my own stories and headcanons which people may learn a thing or two from or maybe just find some comfort and hope in.  

And these inspirations eventually evolved to writing. Writing 10,000 words in a day in between three interviews? I never was a writer but somehow, I found myself spending hours exploring the themes of love, loss and life with our favorite pairing 

I didn’t start writing out of nowhere. I didn’t start making metas out of nowhere. I needed the right inspiration, the right content to get me into this point where I could continue writing, reading, meta-ing, appreciating, headcanoning and everything in between.

And I just wanted to express my gratefulness to every single person in the fandom who had made it possible for me to pull out of that blackhole. Fandoms are underrated and I believe there are so many lessons which can be learned from the right content and from the right people. 

To the people who so willingly went along with my boyfriend’s little project: 

@faerielleart​ I saved A LOT of your art and they’re sitting in my google photos under a folder called Levihan and maybe I did share a few of your photos (the cheeks one and the beast titan one and the les miserables) ones to my boyfriend unsolicited just to show him how beautiful Levihan can be. Thank you so much for these beautiful drawings.

@lizaloveslevihan​ You were one of the first people I talked with in this fandom and dreams really was one of those stories that fucked me up a little bit, had me make a few misses on the commute on the way home one day but maybe it did have me explore the angst genre a little more, maybe it did have me explore Levi’s character a little more. 

@ariadneamare​ YELLOW. OH GOD. You know those letters? The ones which Hange left Levi at the end of the story? I ended up copying and pasting them and sending them to my boyfriend right after reading and I remember talking to him about this. We might be facing that same type of story in the future and I guess that ended up becoming a lot of foundation of our discussion and I guess, it’s just proof that there is so much to learn from fanfiction. There’s just so much to explore and fanfiction as a genre just does not get the credit it deserves.

@fanmoose12​​ I was exploring your works even before I started this tumblr up again. Maybe it was even your works which got me building my own headcanons from Levihan and writing from there. And I think I did leave a few anonymous messages telling you how I started exploring other genres because of your fics. Your works got my out of my dark place, it got me exploring a lot of other genres and for that I’m eternally grateful.

And somehow, my boyfriend picked that all up from late night discussions and one-on-one metas. Surprisingly, he wasn’t just playing along to humor his girlfriend. He was exploring the themes of love, life, loss and Levihan right along with me. (And got spoiled about Hange’s death along the way… Oops.) 

And I am eternally grateful for that and I made sure to shower him with a lot of kisses after he kept me in the loop with what has been going on these past few months with his sudden interest in Levihan.

And this huge thank you goes out to all content creators (authors, artists, gif creators, shitposters alike). Sometimes you never know who’s thinking about your work, who’s shoehorning your works and quoting them to their best friends. Sometimes, you never will find out but your work had pulled someone out of a blackhole which they’ve been stuck in and sometimes you never know that your work has been that seemingly small thing that had taught them a lesson in love, life or relationships. Sometimes, that one work turned out to be an inspiration which got them writing and sharing their own stories or making their own drawings

And I guess, the point is, keep writing. Keep drawing. Keep sharing pouring your love, passion and emotions into works of art because you never really know whose heart you touched or whose life you changed.

I have a job now. I decided to push law school a few years back and maybe take the time to work on myself now and maybe spend the next months or maybe years writing metas and fanfictions. I was pulled out of my hole. I was inspired. I have my own stories to tell and I don’t think I would have been here if I hadn’t spent the last few months reading fic after fic, meta after meta, appreciating art after art, 

So anyway, I just wanted to share some pics of my favortie fics, immortalized in one anthology, all organized by my boyfriend. And I think he made some great decisions with these.

(Bookbinding credits to @mayerwien)

[prionguy-old]

hello enderwalk arg people

so i saw a cool thread from @/ranbeans on twitter and it inspired me. so naturally i spent five hours straight analyzing ranboo’s lore playlist

basically i think it’s a timeline of c!ranboo’s life, and it fits kind of eerily

everything’s below the cut (and it’s a lot) :]

prologue from starkid 

 - more clock references. it’s literally just an instrumental of a clock ticking

 - instantly you think of the ender text in that pic he tweeted. like that, this could relate to dream’s clock, or foolish’s clock (reading 10:33 always iirc) 

 - note that butler in tales from the smp: masquerade kept staring at a clock

 - it could also mean a theme of running out of time, or fighting with time

 - in the thread i linked, the person also points out that there are 23 clock ticks in prologue, and angel number 23 means that you are meant to be a servant

 - this would be his beginning

introduction to the snow by miracle musical

 - the first of many songs from the hawaii: part ii album on this playlist

 - i’ve seen that album described as an arg and i find it funny if ranboo just went no. my arg now 

 - introduction to the snow only has one verse, and the rest is instrumental

 - the whole hawaii album has themes of loneliness and death, especially loneliness for this song

 - it talks about feeling isolated, which gives hints about his childhood maybe?

 - the “you’ll live forever tonight” lyric also gives off a hopeful vibe, like that of a child

dream sweet in sea major by miracle musical

 - starts with a changed reprise of introduction to the snow

 - "Rather than trying to “live forever”, it seems that the time has come for something else" from the analysis of the first part in genius

 - odd because this song is meant as a finale to the album, but it's towards the beginning of the playlist (could mean that there was almost an ending of sorts early on for c!ranboo, like a near death experience?)

turn the lights off by tally hall

 - okay this one confused me when i was first going through, but when the timeline started coming together it made more sense

 - about adolescence, and being uncomfortable with growing up, so it fits with the timeline playlist theory 

 - also about phobias and stuff like that in a way?? hm

the mind electric by miracle musical

 - the song starts out in reverse, then plays the stuff from the beginning normally

 - feels like a rls honestly i wish he could use this song

 - it's about someone put in an infirmary and condemned to electroshock therapy because they're insane. fun

 - this is where the timeline started to come together in a way. as soon as i saw the mood get darker i remembered ranboo’s line from the festival i think? “don’t let it happen again” or something like that

 - because of this, if the timeline theory is true, at some point before he joined the dream smp he did something which caused him to be condemned

 - also this

 - the mind electric isn’t the only song where the narrator glorifies themself in a way, we’ll get into this later

 - also the rejecting fanatical views,, i am thinking about that theory that endermen are servants to the ender dragon. if c!ranboo rejected that, the consequences could have been awful

live and let die by paul mccartney

 - if i wasn’t sold on the timeline theory before, i am now. after the mind electric, the mood changes drastically in terms of ideology and theme

 - this specifically made me say “holy shit” because like. that verse means that when you’re young, you’re open minded and say “live and let live” which resembles the optimistic but lonely attitude of the beginning of the playlist

 - but then when the world fucks you over, you begin to say “live and let die.”

 - “live and let die” i take to mean as him no longer caring about the people around him. how before, he wanted to help others, but then the mind electric happened, and he just. stopped caring

 - fun right!! /s

ruler of everything by tally hall

 - there are so many clock and time references in this. we get it

 - "mechanical hands" when it says “mechanical hands are the ruler of everything” refer to hands on a clock, saying how time rules over everything

 - the narrator is talking back and forth with time itself in this, which is interesting because i believe he joins the dream smp in the next song

 - the narrator appears very insecure and looking for a quick way to appeal to everyone (like how c!ranboo at the beginning was trying to be everyone's friend)

 - this is the second song with the narrator glorifying themself out of insecurity. what are you trying to tell us about your character buddy

 - also we can’t ignore this shit

 -  i don’t need to explain why this scared me right. right

merry go round of life from howl’s moving castle

 - this is a change huh

 - god i haven’t seen this movie in years, but i saw looking it up that it plays at the beginning introducing the main character, sophie

 - this is before everything changed for her

 - maybe this is when he joins dream smp? and ruler of everything is him talking to dream prior?

 - or maybe im reaching who the fuck knows

 - but him joining dream smp to this song would make sense. it feels like a clean slate and starting over, which would match with how he doesn’t. y’know. remember things

 - which begs the question: if ranboo forgot everything from before this song in the timeline, and after that i’m assuming his memory issues started,, what happened to cause this?

 - i’d say the mind electric could have caused this, but it was awhile back in the playlist. so whoever he’s talking to in ruler of everything, which could very well be dream, i believe messed with his memory somehow.

killer queen by queen

 - c!ranboo girlboss arc canon??

 - i got lost here ngl. it has a very specific vibe that doesn’t match well with what i know of c!ranboo im sorry

 - but two songs later, i get a hint kind of which makes me believe this could be him burning george’s house with tommy

 - also this song is a banger and i’m pretty sure he put it on there to scare the crown arg people because of the “baroness” line /j

mr. bad guy by freddie mercury

 - literally just more funky villain vibes. i love this

 - no more angst only girlboss

 - since cc!ranboo has said he doesn't want to do a villain arc, i take this to maybe be how he sees himself?? credit to the crown arg discord for that idea they’re smart and cool

 - if that is true, i’d say this would be another song for the “glorifying oneself out of insecurity” list because the narrator is like. seeing himself as cool and The Bad Guy, even if he might not be

 - possibly the butcher army if the next song is what i think it is

ain’t no rest for the wicked by cage the elephant

 - i have been informed someone saw ranboo listening to and grabbing songs for this off of a playlist called "my villain arc" king i hate you /lh

 - in seriousness: the song is about how the world forces people into wicked roles for money. i am getting live and let die vibes, like how both blame the world for making them not care/do bad things

 - c!ranboo take responsibility for your actions challenge /j

 - this definitely reminds me of how when he gave techno his armor, he blamed it on peer pressure. if this aligns with that event, the last two would be burning george’s house and butcher army i think

i can’t decide by the scissor sisters

 - this is probably about enderwalk

 - i really hope it's about enderwalk

 - did mr ranboo commit murder?? manslaughter?? sir

 - i really feel like this is enderwalk or ive forgotten something

stardust crusaders from jjba 

 - thank god for jjba fans, i know nothing about this

 - apparently this is the main theme for jotaro, who's power i think?? is like moving faster than time

 - and his main villain thing is dio, who's power is stopping the flow of time

 - and we're back with the fuckin time references

 - this is pure speculation at this point, but maybe it’s like. him fighting against time in a way, which would draw back to ruler of everything

a mask of my own face by lemon demon

 - the song is about not wanting to take responsibility for their actions again

 - c!ranboo i am begging

 -  specifically this lyric

 - also this lyric draws back to the bidding, in which the singer wanted to be enough for someone and showed almost narcissism as a sort of "mask"

 - also just. mask can be correlated with dream or the masquerade, where the butler stared at the clocks

stranded lullaby by miracle musical

 - been awhile since we had a hawaii album song huh

 - and,, a memory reference.

 - that lyric is talking about forgetting things

 - the rest of the song is,, im not saying time traveler ranboo but time traveler ranboo (look at this post about that theory by my friend pspspspsp)

 - he's talking to a "you" this whole time, and i have no idea who it is lmao

 - there are mentions of dreams and stuff throughout, so i almost want to associate it with the prison visit, but then i think the next song is after the festival so i guess not?

 - might also be him losing the memory book

hidden in the sand by tally hall

 - this is, lyrics wise, a song about a man whose girlfriend left him for someone else and he's upset

 - but if you look at the music video, it shows a cruise ship, on which people are friendly with each other at first, but when it starts to sink, they turn on each other trying to escape

 - i am feeling a connection to c!ranboo's views on "choose people not sides" somehow

 - i feel like he's called people selfish in lore, but my friends and i are all ranboo kinnies so we cant fuckin remember. if he has, then yeaH this definitely correlates

now i’m here by queen

 - there's a very optimistic and nostalgic tone to this

 - this one’s barely annotated on genius so i don’t have a lot for it, but i feel like it's after the dream voice disappeared or something? timeline's gettin a little funky

 - it could also be right before the festival, as he used optimism as a shield there

& by tally hall

 - this. yeah. & deals with opposites, especially good and evil. the singer talks about how everyone sees the world from their own perspective and doesn't look from another

 - and that definitely ties back to how ranboo wanted l’manburg people, like tubbo, to see from techno’s perspective

 - i feel like this is right after the festival. it resembles a lot of ranboo's speech from then, where he basically told everyone “sides dumb. just vibe”

 - and then the outro changes tone, almost like a warning?? which. yeah. a warning to choose people not sides before doomsday, or else they won’t be able to stop l’manburg from being blown up

i’m gonna win by rob cantor

 - this song is about someone fighting their inner demons

 - sounds familiar!! looks directly at dream voice

 - specifically, the singer is optimistic about winning their fight with the inner demons

 - it seems kind of chilling to me though, but it's also late at night when i’m doing these notes so it may just be me

 - if the timeline theory is true, this is where c!ranboo is mentally atm, which tracks honestly

=), an unplayable track

 - ranboo why do you hate us

tl;dr: ranboo’s songs that he would use for lore playlist might very well be a timeline of c!ranboo’s life, from even before dream smp and that’d be super cool

if you read all the way through this just know i would die for you

anyways feel free to drop your interpretations of the songs in the notes :0