#isn't it enough with their family drama and communication skill issues

[unrealcosima]

Marwin qué metiche 🔪🔪🔪🔪

[checkoutmybookshelf]

10 Characters 10 Fandoms 10 5 Tags

Rules: choose 10 favorite characters from 10 different fandoms -- no double dipping! Then tag friends or mutuals to complete the game as well.

Tagged by @apocalypticavolition (who I extremely blame for making me pick favorites. I am now the Miette meme sending this mutual to jail for 1,000 years)

Top 10

Jaina Solo of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (technically its now the Legends Continuity, but fuck Disney for that) - The unhinged drama that the extended Skywalker and Solo clans has a special place in my heart, but Jaina's A+ mix of badassery, trauma, angst, communication issues, and severe allergy to feelings makes every stage of her life an absolute treat to watch. That and the fact that she is the last Solo kid standing as of Disney's murder of the EU makes her the best in my book. Teenage me DESPERATELY wanted to be Jaina Solo. Adult me wants to give her a hug and take her out for a synthale.

Lady Sybil Ramkin Vimes of Discworld - This might be a low-key surprise pick, since I have previously cited Granny Weatherwax and Sam Vimes as Discworld favorites, but Lady Sybil also holds a special place in my heart, because she is literally an amazing partner to Sam without losing any of her own interests and personality. She is also a complete badass in a quiet, competent way that adult, married me would give literal years of her life to have. And then there was the time she absolutely let Serafine HAVE IT because she was pregnant, being held hostage, and Sam's life was in danger, but the goddamn tipping point was that Serafine DIDNT RESPOND TO THE ANNUAL LETTERS. Perfection.

Iskierka from the Temeraire series - She breathes fire, she is a holy terror, and she is basically a pirate masquerading as a soldier. Iskierka is a queen without equal.

Briar Moss from the Circle Universe - I just desperately want to give this poor traumatized boy a hug, but he already has three sisters and two mothers to do that for him. I genuinely think Briar's three books are the best written and executed in the Circle Universe, and his journey feels deeply grounded in a way that the girls' don't, because within their origins and cultures, the girls all came from some level of privilege. Briar is a grounding force that I deeply appreciate.

Dau from the Warrior Bards trilogy - Dau, much like Briar, is in desperate need of a hug. Another traumatized boy, but his one literally has to go on a three-book arc to learn how to feel his feelings and how to people. Basically, we have to socialize him, and watching Liobhan try to do that is by turns hilarious, heartbreaking, and rage-inducing. Dau tries so hard that he makes everything about five times harder than it has to be.

Lan Chitward from the Valdemar Universe - OK, I might prefer guys who need hugs, because Lan is a beautifully executed tragic hero. This kid ends up half trained and sans mentor and support system on the front lines of a war with his lifebonded partner and the phyrric victory claims both their lives. Before that though, Lan gets to speed run found family, and it's just delicious because it twists the knife even deeper. I have my issues with Mercedes Lackey, but in Lan she nailed a tragic, doomed hero.

Penelope Featherington from Bridgerton - The Netflix series is objectively better than the book series, but even in the books Pen is my favorite. Our girl is a WRITER, and she isn't afraid to use that skill. There also aren't enough writer protagonists out there, so shoutout to this lovely one.

Fire from the Graceling Universe - Fire is a fascinating protagonist because she is quite literally a monster, and just existing in the world for her is an exercise in understanding what humanity is...even in those humans who lack it.

Ikenna from the Blood Gift universe - Our beautiful murder barbie is inimitable and frankly I want there to be MORE books with her. And murder barbie speaks to my heart in some extremely specific ways.

Nyneave Al'Meara from the Wheel of Time - *yanks braid, smooths skirts* Literally if I didn't pick her, Nyneave would walk out of those books and come for my head, and I would have no choice but to agree with her because she is very much the best.

@giaelesramblings

@iliiuan

@tatithetinybooktuber

@lillywhitefield

@reddy-reads

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

Same anon as before and thank you so much for your fast and super detailed reply! It explains a lot, especially the bit about scoring. I had no idea shoma’s technique was so controversial ( I just think he’s beautiful on ice and I love the way he moves, and that’s enough for me ^^;)

Can’t believe ppl think his family buy his scores though, is his family *that* wealthy? ( I mean they’re obviously well off, but).

I’m also well aware of the controversy around his words and I personally think it’s a steaming pile of bullshit. I hate current internet culture where you just need to say something stupid ( if it was him at all) once and you’re cancelled forever. smh. I can’t believe people still bring that up. Especially given that it happened in a very dark period of his life, I can only imagine how Shoma was feeling in that period :/ anyways, I’m really happy to see him in a much better place now 🥰

I’m so grateful for his YouTube channel too, it really gave me so much insight into his personality and I find him super endearing. I want to sit his haters in front of those videos and make them watch all of them u.u

Anyways, I guess I will just stay away from the toxic fan communities from now on ^^; do you have any recommendations for places (beyond tumblr) that are good for Shoma fans?

Thank you again <3

No need to thank, glad I could help. I'd rather answer such things quickly if I see them as I don't like to have them in my inbox. Better tick off the uncomfortable questions...

___

Yes Shoma's technique is controversial, but Shoma is far from the only skater with technique issues on the contrary many skaters have technical issues. Shoma only gets more hate because he wins and because skaters with the "right" technique don't "benefit in scoring" from their technique being better.

___

Anyone in this sport is from rather wealthy families. I don't know any skater who isn't "well off" however I do think that Shoma's family can be called rich. (there are fans who look for the prices of the stuff they have at home as what you can see on the puppy YT channel and they own loads of exclusive and expensive stuff)

Shoma buying his scores is big fat bs. There is no proof or any words of any official that ever pointed to this direction. It was just made up and spread by haters. Ppl who believe such bs are ppl who don't know how scoring works and can't properly evaluate Shoma's skills in this sport. I don't say that money can't have influence in scoring but any money cannot help Shoma land quads and develop the skill that he has. He was praised for his skating skills back in juniors when he wasn't even able to land 3A or quads and experts found it rather sad that such a talented guy would probably never win titles without the high scoring elements but as we know things turned out differently. In scoring consistency and reputation is key. Shoma may not always be clean but he can still deliver better than most other competitors and his results are pretty consistent. Shoma managed to stay one of the top skaters throughout his complete senior career, that's something that doesn't happen this often.

___

The only advice I have is to curate your own social media spaces. Hate can be anywhere. Block ppl on platforms who hate on Shoma, there is no use to argue with them. Then any social media platform can be a nice space.

I only use Tumblr and Twitter, but I know that Reddit for example is also quite nice for Shoma fans. Goldenskate forum has a Shoma fan fest section and there will only be talk about Shoma and hate isn't tolerated and will be deleted. (I know there can be drama in other general threads on other skating topics but as I don't use it I can't tell for sure)

Tumblr is mostly a safe space for Shoma fans, but as Twitter could crash at any day I see many Twitter users get back here and I can only hope they're not bringing the toxicity with them. But tbf I think it's easier to avoid hate on Tumblr as you need to tag words to make them show up in the search. You can also just stay with those you follow and you won't see any hate at all. (and thank goodness the confession block is gone) (and also because you can't see the number of followers you won't know who is "popular" around here and how blogs are connected and you can like whatever you want and it won't show up in recommendations)

There is one space for Shoma fans I can wholeheartedly recommend and use quite frequently but you should send me a PM that I can invite you to it as it's a little group of Shoma fans who created their own space.

[chairteeth]

i was reading some of your fics and something stood out to me. why do you always age touka and nemu up in aus?

That's a great question actually, thank you for asking. In canon timeline fics it's usually because I'm obsessed with the idea of once-terminally-ill kids getting to grow up and yk be adults, plus my usual general interest in seeing how characters I like would handle adulthood and stuff. Probably influenced by my own plentiful experiences when I was a kid where I didn't think I'd ever even get to my current age (20s), especially with the whole in and out of hospitals, lots of doctors, etc.

As for AUs, my main reason is honestly jobs. You can do so much more when the characters are adults and you can give them fucking Jobs. A more minor reason is that it's a safeguard for these two's general... behavioral quirks let's call them. But for example, for my fairy AU (or as my friends call it, the Stardew Valley AU), things start out with Touka and Nayuta being sent to a rundown farm in the distant countryside, an old property that has basically been all but forgotten and isn't even their family's property. Making everyone older allows me to give them more of a backstory, in this case Nemu's whole thing with Mikoto, or Touka's tensions and drama with her mother, before they even met. In that specific example it also works in Felicia's favor, since she gets more years to stabilize and for her hatred to fester so that she would be solidly on Yachiyo's side later and wouldn't be tempted to change sides when Mikoto does her Thing.

Let me give some other fun examples for the job thing. The sewer worker AU, the single parent/teacher AU, my friend's vampire AU (vampire & vampire hunter, with a history related to Alina and Tasuke), the same friend's concubine assassin/princess AU (where Nemu's mommy issues are severely exacerbated and she has a very specific history that I think you can guess), the same friend's Cinderella AU which involves strategic 4D chess marriage, etc. In general, the playing field is greatly expanded if I make them adults, and it's a lot more fun that way, ntm I get to explore exactly how their specific circumstances affected the core of their characters and how growing up in different but deceptively similar environments compared to canon changed them. There's always, for instance, the decision of how much we want Sickness to play a role in their lives. In my sea monster AU for example, Nemu just has a limp from an accident she had as a kid, which is bad enough that she needs to do specific physiotherapeutical exercises every day and she cannot go join her family for their work, and Touka has a magic-related condition that affected her pretty intensely growing up. For a completely different example, in my fantasy AU, they have completely different issues to worry about that have nothing to do with sickness yet leave them with basically the same issues as canon (Nemu for example was exiled by her community and has lived as a hermit for a Very Long Time before she formally meets Touka, and I would talk about exactly how stunted and terrible Touka's social skills in this are, but then I'd have to spoil that whole thing and idk if I wanna do that unprompted). In my marine biology AU, one of the reasons Touka goes through with the,,,, Thing™ while being at the bottom of the ocean with no one but other scientists and Sana, is literally her sickness, because she refuses to let it continue to rule her life and the breakthrough she's made may not be the most ethical, but it'll do more than just buy her time (it'll cure her basically, more or less). In the roadkill AU, Touka is 29 because if I make her that old then I can easily follow the thread of how she would've developed in her circumstances, with Ui but no Nemu to serve as an ego checker, plus the many new burdens of owning several companies and her uncle being more of a cryptid researcher than magical girl researcher, plus the mystery of his and Nayuta's death and how it doesn't make sense to Touka at all, etc etc.

If you are curious about any of these AUs btw, PLEASE ASK I WOULD LOVE TO TALK ABOUT THEM.

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

What are your thoughts on Easton Weston, the supposedly psychic eldest Weston son, & Flynn Walker, the Phandom's rewrite of Hartmen's Flynn Fenton, Ghost Zone hermit, & the lost son of Danny's aunt, Alicia Walker?

For that matter, what do you think of the idea of the au where Warden Walker turns out to be Maddie Fenton's father?

i'm down with whatever. just in general though i find the fact that we're collectively making an extended universe for danny phantom beyond canon. that we just agree on these things enough to establish fandom characters, it's FASINATING. it's just so interesting that we as a collective, a group of people who don't personally know eachother, thousands of people, decided to just adopt wes weston as a character to the point where people coming into this fandom are confused when they see him, because they don't remember his characters.

and then we did it again. i was there for the formation of easton and kyle. it was purely a hey these background characters look like they could be related to wes. and a seperate post was like 'what if we had a charcter who just didn't believe in ghosts despite living in amity. and it was decided lets make him wes's brother. and everyone was like Yeah! and now it's a thing. easton came along after and i don't remember the specifics right now but i'm pretty sure the post is on our blog somewhere. and it was essentially, wouldn't it be funny if the third brother, misunderstood wes's ghost obsession and was actively hiding being part ghost/ psychic from his brother. especially when wes gets accused of being phantom. just a whole narrative sprang up and i love it so much. i love that we as a community are down to yes and each other

flynn was a similar collective thing. where butch initially introduced the character. and we all collectively went "i see your idea but seeing as that's stupid, we're going to do it ourselves and better. like the fenton's losing a son to the first portal and just continuing to build it and never mentioning said son again. jazz and danny never bringing their presumed dead bother up through all the various trauma and presented opportunities to talk about it. bad writing. bad character writing too because it makes everyone involved look like monsters. a cousin, the child of a character that's already established as existing and someone we aren't likely to know or hear about, getting sucked into a natural portal. better.

the drama and intrigue of flynn as a character is so much better if he isn't their brother. the family implications for alicia who got divorced from her husband, presumably partially because her kid went missing and that kind of thing is rough on a family. the implication that ghosts stole a family member being why the fenton parents have it out for ghosts, because they were their through that greif even though it wasn't their kid. the protectiveness we sometimes see when it comes to protecting their kids from ghosts. excellent. the fact that flynn is a human living in the ghost zone. the only human and the loneliness on top of survival skills he would need to develop to make it through that situation. fascinating. i want more of that. giving that human a way back to the real world through danny and just all the potential drama that would bring. yesssss. hell yes. danny and him having a philosophical parallel of not really belonging in either world. the talks of being to ghost to be human, but to human to be ghosts. flynn just having a breadth of knowledge on ghosts and the zone and survival but having no idea how to use money or a computer. the reuniting of him and his mother. the talks of ecto-contamination and the questions of how human flynn is after living in the zone for so long. the implications that might have for danny watching people react to flynn. flynn also being a possible mentor and older brother figure for danny, but his bad habits and hatred of ghosts leaking through and causing issues.

just ahhh i love stories and story telling and all these characters are great for that.

as for maddie and alecia being related to walker. weird coincidence but i'm down with that too because it's interesting to see where that goes. do they recognize their father? does he recognize them. is walker a more distant relative. i'm here for drama, y'all - Hestia

[threewaysdivided]

Hey, I know this is like a billion years from where you are in YJ:DW, but I had this thought strike me: what if Danny could see and talk to Jason Todd's ghost? (assuming Red Hood isn't YJ canon) There's so much potential for angst there, especially if Danny is the only one who can see him, and decides to try and get Jason to cross over. Or heck, what if Danny had a hand in Jason's revival?

That’s a neat idea that definitely has some good angst potential.  Have to admit though, I’m not entirely sure how it would work within the ghost-lore headcanons I’m using for YJ:DW specifically.  

I can write a longer post on this if anyone wants but Basically ghosts in the Deathly Weapons-verse break into 2 unrelated categories that get lumped together for looking sort-of-similar on the surface:  Ectoplasmic (the ones we see in DP) and what we’ll call Shades (DC ghosts like Secret, Deadman etc).  Ectoplasmic “ghosts” are their own inter-dimensional entities so they can’t really “revive” in the traditional sense, and “passing on” is pretty much limited to accepting what they are and chilling in the Ghost Zone forever or straight-up discorporealising/ re-dying.  Shade ghosts are the more traditional original-soul-bound-to-the-physical-world; either because external force is trapping them there, or because they were willful/ powerful/ knowledgeable enough to bind themselves.  These ones can potentially be “revived” more easily, and can “pass on” if they’re released from whatever is holding them to this world.

If Jason came back as a Ectoplasmic ghost he’d work the same way DP ghosts do; most likely everyone would be able to see him unless he had some kind of Young Blood-esque visibility condition (in which case anyone who fit the criteria would also see him), and outside of extreme edge-cases revival would be off the table.  (Throw a ‘plasmic ghost into a Lazarus Pit and they’ll just climb back out,  except now wet and mad at you for giving them a skin condition.)

More likely that Jason would come back as a Shade-ghost (especially since he seems intended to revive in some capacity in YJ canon), in which case he might only be visible to certain people.  In such a case though, I’m not sure it would be Danny who sees him. 

I feel like Danny would be the least emotionally and symbolically connected to Robin!Jason of the Wayne-household residents who’ve appeared in YJ:DW.  As mentioned in this post Danny kind of falls in this weird spot of being Dick’s Brother first and foremost where all the other Bat-Kids are Bruce’s Son/Daughter, and he has some personal qualms about Dick handing off the Robin mantle (and how close he feels he can/ “should” be to Jason) to work through because of that.  Outside of the both-technically-death thing, I’m not sure there’d be much reason for Jason’s shade to attach himself to Danny as an anchor compared to Bruce, Dick, Alfred or even possibly Tim or some location of personal significance (unless Danny seeing him is due to the ectoplasm, in which case other ecto-ghosts should see him too).

Although, in this very specific hypothetical, Danny is probably one of the better people Jason’s ghost could attach too.  We’re about a billion years from the end of YJ:DW right now but Grief and Healing is going to be a major theme of the core emotional arc, so by the time Jason comes along Danny’s going to be much better equipped to deal with even his canon death.  Add to that that Danny’s had to work with ecto-ghosts and therefore tangentially-death-related problems since he was 14 and he’d be less thrown by Jason’s “reappearance” and more likely to think “this could be a ghost problem” early on compared to Bruce and Dick whose first thoughts would likely be “this is an illusion caused by losing my mind from guilt/grief”, especially if Danny can’t also see him.  Plus, by that point Dick and Bruce do trust Danny pretty implicitly and let him take point where ghosts are concerned.

If Jason did appear as a Shade ghost, Danny’s process would probably look a little something like this:

Confirm that Jason is, in fact, a ghost and not a product of him going nuts

Work together to find a way to prove this to the others (while also working through any personal feelings and unresolved communication/ conflict issues)

Call in Bruce, Dick and Alfred and let them know

Family drama/ angst ensues

Collectively find Dr Fate/ John Constantine/ any other amenable magic-spiritualist hero who exists on Earth-16 to figure out how best to Deal With This.

As for Danny helping Jason (or other ghosts) to “pass on”, I kind of feel like that’s…. not really his ballpark.  I don’t see Danny as someone who’d compulsively seek out other ghosts and feel obliged to “move them along” unless they were actively in distress or causing damage/ distress/ fear/ pain to others.  Like, Johnny 13 wants to ride his motorcycle at full tilt through the streets of a town, terrifying the citizens?  Get in the thermos or get out.  Johnny 13 wants to ride his motorcycle at full tilt down a long, deserted county road?  Fine, just don’t go into towns or bother other drivers.  He’ll leave them alone so long as they leave other people alone.

In that regard I see Danny as sort of the fixer compared to Jazz’s counsellor - if a ghost is acting up because of some problem (or comes to him for help) then he’ll deal with it so that they can leave, or at least chill out.  And if he can’t fix it (because the solution is harmful, the ghost’s nature/powers are too inherently dangerous or they’re just there being dicks by choice) he’ll capture and send them back to the Ghost Zone (or find someone who can exorcise a Shade) to remove the problem that way.  He might gently float the suggestion, but if Jason wanted to pass on then that would be Jason’s choice to explore unless he specifically asked for help or became distressed/ disruptive enough to force Danny’s hand.

Similarly, I think revivals wouldn’t really be Danny’s ballpark either; it’s not a solution he’d like and he has neither the knowledge, interest, skills or equipment to actually facilitate any of the rare reliable edge-cases methods of resurrection.  Danny prefers to keep to the ‘best left alone’ side of ‘Meddling with dark forces best left alone’ as much as is possible.

Personally I kind of prefer the revival stories where Jason isn’t around until his actual return.  I think there’s more easy gut-punch mileage in most of those versions.  That structure forces the other characters to accept that he’s “not coming back” and try to process all the conflict and pain that it brings, only to then sledgehammer the new status-quo by having him reappear, now changed, at point where his death has significantly altered their dynamics with him, his memory and the other characters.  By comparison, having him come back as a ghost and then revive kind of smooths and flattens that trajectory to one where anyone who can interact with him (even indirectly) gets their emotional healing accelerated, and the status quo eventually slips back closer to how it was (with them mostly just having to adjust to physical limitations of the new form he takes), only to reform fully when he “comes back” for real.

But, anyway, that’s part of larger personal nitpick with the use of “ghosts” in stories.  I find that the meaningful thing about death (and that seems to get weirdly missed by a lot of works) isn’t the moment of impact itself so much as the persisting loss and how the survivors cope.  We are haunted by absence more than by presence.  Most cases of bringing the dead character (or at least their mind/personality) back in some capacity tends to soften the weight of that for me, unless the ghost is meant to function as a some kind of metaphor for the healing/ acceptance/ closure process and “move on” when the other characters do.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this long and somewhat tangential ramble.  It probably won’t be happening in YJ:DW or YJ:DW-EU but in a story which took a more hardline all-ghosts-are-dead-people/ horror approach to world-building, I can definitely see the someone-seeing-Jason’s-ghost set-up having a lot of angst and uncanny potential.  (I know there are a couple of fics like that already out there but I can’t remember their titles right now, sorry!)