#it just seems like SUCH low hanging fandom fruit

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

cisco ramon has SUCH intense ‘asshole teenage prodigy’ vibes in the first season of the flash like holy shit

even the way they styled carlos valdes outfit and hair wise made him seem significantly younger than the rest of the cast physically and then the general dynamic between him and caitlin is SO older sister baby brother/they get into the whole father-son thing with wells and I just think the general fandom did NOT take advantage of cisco’s entirely unestablished age range enough

like he’s canonically a genius and wells was too much of a time traveling super villain to care about the morals of hiring children for intense scientific research or whatever so cisco could literally be like 19

HOW is there virtually no fandom content of team flash just both desperately depending on and desperately trying to not traumatize a 19 year old child prodigy cisco ramon????

[coryosbaby]

Ultraviolence - E.L & C.M

(Pt. 4)

Fandom: “Scream Vi”

Pairing: stepbrother! Ethan Landry x fem! Reader, Chad Meeks Martin x fem! Reader, Ethan Landry x Chad Meeks Martin

Warning: stepcest A/n: It’s finally here ‼️ I apologize for the wait yall 🤝(stepbrother x stepsister), threesome, double penetration, oral (f & m recieving), cum play, daddy kink, degradation/praise, switch! Reader, switch!Chad,dark! Ethan, dom! Ethan

A/n: It’s finally here ‼️ I apologize for the wait yall 🤝

You’ve been hanging out with Chad a lot recently.

It’s the first thing Ethan notices after the whole ‘fucking at a party” ordeal. And the second thing he notices, is that you have gotten really extroverted.

It’s been a few weeks, so the change makes it course over time. But you’re so much more different than before; where you once wore your little outfits with a shyness to you, you now strut around like you own the place. You speak more, present yourself more. You’ve also went to a few parties here and there. And honestly, Ethan can’t blame you for that. You’re beautiful and perfect, and why would he expect you not to think it yourself? And why wouldn’t he expect you, as a young woman, to go and make your own decisions?

It’s just that, Ethan hates change.

At the beginning, you were supposed to be his. His little secret, his little doll to play with and fuck. And now Chad has joined the mix, and it’s all different. It makes his head spin.

Your parents, Chad, and Ethan are at the kitchen table when you come barreling down the stairs. Its a hot day, like most of this summer, and your cheeks are red and flushed. You’ve been getting sunburn a lot more, it seems.

Chad has been staying over a lot more, too. Maybe partly to hang out with Ethan, but the doe eyed boy knows it’s more than that. Because the moment he’s left alone, Chad is somehow ending up next to you. His hand always rests on your knee, and you always tilt your head back and giggle at what he says. It’s ridiculous.

You smile brightly at Ethan, and move over to kiss Chad on the cheek.

“Goodmorning, guys!”

Ethan scowls at your affection, at your happy demeanor. He doesn’t like to be left out. but then you’re pressing a kiss to his cheek, too. That surprises him, and his eyebrows raise. Your parents don’t seem to notice, too wrapped up in the conversation about bills they’re having to care. And maybe you don’t seem to care, anymore. You aren’t as discreet, aren’t shy to touch Ethan or actually spend more time with him in front of your parents. Maybe it’s better this way.

Except for Chad.

“Goodmorning, bunny.” Chad’s eyes follow your form, and he smiles up at you. “You look pretty today.”

The fucking nickname.

Chad’s been calling you that since the night of the party, when he had went home with you and Ethan and tucked your body into your bed and kissed you goodnight. Ethan had stayed with you, after that, and held you until you went to sleep. Chad had thanked him, and Ethan can remember it all clearly now: the expanse of Chad’s jaw as he spoke, his hazel eyes looking at him in appreciation. He had had a nervous flush to his cheeks. Ironic, considering what they had just done. He had almost looked...cute.

Wait, what?

And this is what brings Ethan to immense confusion. He stares at the bowl of fruit loops in front of him, and contemplates what the fuck he just thought.

And then he looks over at Chad again, from across the table. He’s letting you sit in his lap, and he’s feeding you a piece of toast.

You both look good, today. You’re wearing a tiny pink crop top, and a little skirt hangs low around your hips, thigh highs and garter belt showing. Ethan notices that you’ve been wearing them a lot, recently. And Chad is wearing one of Ethan’s Coldplay tee shirts, one Ethan has seen him in a thousand times whenever he stays over.

But now, he notices, it fits him quite well.

He audibly groans, and loudly. You and Chad’s eyes go to him, eyebrows raised, and he tilts his head back and sighs.

“I’m going upstairs,” he grumbles. The chair makes a loud scraping sound as he gets out of it, and you cringe. You notice the way his hands are clenched at his sides as he walks up the stairs.

“What was that about?” Wayne asks. He’s clearly uninterested; his reading glasses are perched on his nose and he’s looking at the mail. You shrug. Sometimes you wonder if he even has a personality, honestly.

It’s later that night, and Chad is staying over again.

He’s asleep beside Ethan, and he’s snoring softly. Something he’s been doing since high school; Ethan’s bed is like his own.

And when Ethan’s eyes are resting against his pillow, he hears the door open.

He knows it’s you, can smell your strawberry perfume from a mile away. He turns over, and lifts his head up to look at you.

You nervously twiddle your fingers and whisper.

“I’m sorry I woke you up.”

He shakes his head, looking down at your pretty pink nightgown and your bare feet sliding across the hardwood floor.

“You didn’t. What’s wrong, angel?”

“I uhm—“ you hesitate, and Ethan notices the tears going down your face. He sits up immediately, careful not to wake Chad, and moves over to you and pushes you out of earshot. He holds your face in his hands.

“You can tell me.”

“I just had a n-nightmare, that’s all..”

He wipes your tears away and pulls you into a hug. He’s sweet, pressing kisses to your cheeks and holding you for a moment so you can rest.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asks.

You hesitate, but then nod.

“We can go outside next to the pool, if you want,” Ethan suggests. And when you agree, he’s quietly pulling you down the stairs. When you open the sliding door to go outside the concrete is warm underneath your feet; it’s a hot summer night, but not hot enough to be excruciating. Just enough to bring comfort. You sit down beside the pool and let your bare feet rest in the water. Ethan sits down beside you, his fingers brushing against yours.

“What was your nightmare about?” He asks.

“We got caught.” You murmur. “In the dream, we got caught. And they wouldn’t- wouldn’t let me see you..”

Ethan frowns. He doesn’t like thinking about that fact.

“We won’t get caught, honey.” Ethan coos. “And even if we did.. nothing will stop me from being around you. Nothing.”

The way he says it makes you shiver. His tone is dark, and you can see the way his fists are clenched at his sides. And when he relaxes, he begins to speak.

“Can I ask you something?” He says.

“Of course.”

“Do you like Chad?” He already knows your answer. There’s no need to say it.

“…Do you?” You glance at him, and he shrugs.

“I don’t know,” he murmurs. “Maybe.”

You place your hand on his thigh, and softly draw circles into clothed skin. He sighs and begins to relax. His hand goes up to cup your cheek in his palm.

You hesitate when his lips almost touch yours.

“We shouldn’t. Not here.”

“Oh c’mon, baby…” his teeth nip at your earlobe, and that’s all it takes before he slips his fingers underneath your nightgown.

“Don’t you want to make your big brother proud?”

And after, after he’s inpaled you on his thick length beside that pool, after he’s filled you full of his cum, he carries you back into his room. Chad surfaces when he feels your body land next to his. His eyes crack open, and in the darkness of the room, he can smell your sweet scent.

“Y/n?” He questions groggily, and you let out a little giggle.

“Mhm.”

“C’mere.” His hands guide your head to his chest, and you curl up against him eagerly. Then the boys eyes furrow in confusion.

“Wait, where’s Eth?”

“Right here, man.” Ethan says from the other side of you.

“Oh shit, hey!” Chad says in surprise. He can be so dumb sometimes.

And then he’s clearing his throat and muttering.

“You can- you can move closer.. If you want to.”

Ethan ponders, and then he’s nodding as a smile is plastered onto his face.

“Sure.”

He curls his body up, cheek resting on you shoulder, and his hand goes to lay across Chad’s lower stomach. Chad, yawns, and grabs Ethan’s hand as he goes back to sleep again.

Ethan doesn’t really care that Chad is here anymore.

I mean, he’s his best friend, right? And best friends always share.

Even each other.

And that’s evident now as Ethan’s lips are attached to Chad’s with an imminent longing.

It’s the first time they’ve kissed; and although it should be awkward, it’s not. Things have just always flowed between them like that. It’s easy.

You giggle as Chad moves from Ethan’s mouth to yours, lips swollen and kiss bitten. He’s got his shirt off, Ethan with his pants unbuckled and hair mussed. It seems that deciding to go to Chad’s apartment was a good idea.

“I told you guys you should’ve kissed sooner. I knew there was something going on!” You say. Ethan rolls his eyes. He hates when you’re right.

“Yeah, yeah, princess.” Chad teases. “Why don’t you take that little top off and come suck me off, hm?”

“Why don’t you let Ethan do it?”

Chad lets out a breath, and his cheeks become ablazed as he sees the look Ethan gives him.

“You want that, Chad?” Ethan asks. The boy nods, pretty eyes incredibly dark from the intimacy of the whole situation. The fact that he has the most beautiful girl and boy in his bedsheets right now is making his brain fuzzy.

Ethan grins, big frame moving over to push Chad down onto the sheets below him. He huffs.

“Why do you always have to be so aggressive about everything?”

“Bite me.”

“Maybe.”

The thing about Chad is, with you he’s so used to being in control. But when it comes to Ethan, he really just wants to sit back and submit. He doesn’t really know why; maybe it’s the other boy’s cockiness that makes him seem so intimidating, something about his build and that grin he gives Chad whenever he tells him about one of his shitty hookups. He’s never felt this way about another guy, but he doesn’t hate it. And as Ethan pulls down Chad’s briefs and pulls the boy’s thighs over his own, he whines.

“Eth, c’mon.. I want you to use your mouth. Please?”

It’s the first time you’ve ever heard Chad beg. And honestly, it sounds like something you’d like to hear more often. You watch as Ethan grabs Chad’s hard length in his hand, the tip flushed and leaking precum.

“No. Don’t be greedy. Besides, we still have to make our bunny feel good, don’t we?”

Chad flushes, arm going up to cover his face.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, baby. Bunny, C’mere.”

You crawl on your hands and knees over to Chad. He smiles, going up to press a kiss to your lips.

“I’m gonna take my cock out, sweet girl. Think you can use your hands on me?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good girl.”

Your hands reach into Ethan’s pants and you pull him out. You sigh in content, lips wandering over his biceps as you stroke his cock. He groans, leaning back to kiss you again. Chad makes a noise of displeasure, and it gets Ethan’s attention. He chuckles, hands going to stroke his thighs.

“Do you need something?” He jokes.

Chad pouts. “I want a kiss, too.”

“Poor baby.”

And then Ethan is pulling Chad up. The boy whines, lips crashing against Ethan’s again. He smiles into the kiss. Your hand is still stroking him, only steadily, but begins to increase in speed as his tongue goes into Chad’s mouth. Ethan groans harshly, pulling away.

“Little minx. Come give Chad a kiss.”

You smile, leaning over to give him one. Chad’s eyelashes flutter shut at the feeling of your soft hands going up to stroke his hair.

“Good boy..” you whisper. Chad keens, forehead resting against yours.

“Am I really?”

“Of course you are. Now lay back down, okay?”

His body goes down onto the bed and Ethan pulls him back over his thighs again. You move to the end of the bed, near his head. Your fingers softly stroke his face. His eyes flutter shut, and his mind becomes engulfed in the many sensations. Ethan begins to stroke him again.

“Oh! God..”

The boy can’t keep still, his hips chasing that beautiful friction. Ethan spits down on him.

“Good fuckin’ boy. I bet you wanna cum so bad, don’t you?”

“Yes!.. c-can bunny ride my face? Please?”

The nickname and the fact that he’s still worried about your orgasm makes you smile.

“Yeah, baby. She can.” Ethan replies.

You remove your panties, Chad looking up at you with a dazed look and his face contorted in pleasure. Your wetness trickles down your thighs as you sit down on the boy’s face. His reaction is immediate; the moment your pussy is close to him, he grabs you by your ass and holds you down onto him. His tongue rubs your swollen clit with vigor, and you gasp. Chad loves eating pussy, but you’ve got to top all of the other ones he’s become familiar with. Your juices are perfect, bitter and sweet all at once, making his hips fuck into Ethan’s hands more. If he could just sit there and take your wetness down his throat for the rest of his life, he would.

“Look at that,” Ethan coos. “Both my babies look so precious. Does his tongue feel good on your little clit, sweet girl?”

You nod aggressively. Your hands are dripping your tits harshly as you bounce up and down on him. “Feels s’good, daddy.”

“Yeahhh, that’s my fuckin’ girl. Bet you want both those little holes used, don’t you? Want them dripping both our loads?”

The thought of it makes your eyes roll back, and Chad moans underneath you. You feel your orgasm nearing, tummy tightening.

“‘M gonna cum.. oh! God, pleasepleaseplease-“

“Yeah. Go on, cum on our boy’s face.”

And when you do, you’re tilting your head back and obeying Ethan’s orders, just like you always do.

The next day Ethan is bending you over the desk in his bedroom. He’s harsh, hips slapping your thighs in the most filthy way. The door lays wide open because no one is home. Ethan’s hands are wrapped around your throat. His grip is incredibly tight, and he pulls your body against his in an unnatural bent position. He’s fucking you, so careless, as if you’re nothing to him. And although that’s not the case, the incredibly large cock kissing your cervix seems to deem otherwise. Sounds leave your sweet mouth as he pounds your little cunt, whispering dirty praises.

“You’re so fuckin’ tight- love this pussy so much, fuck!” He groans, his cock twitching.

“I know s-sir, feels s’good…”

Your legs shake, body trembling, your sticky wetness coating Ethan’s cock, and he spreads you apart to watch your pussy be pummeled by him.

“God. Look at you, baby. Yeah, you’re my good little slut. So pretty..”

His hand reaches around and he begins to aggressively rub your clit. Your juices gush out and fall down your thighs, your orgasm drawing near. And with one last squeeze to Ethan’s gigantic length, you cum. He groans, and his hips are stuttering as he fills you up for the third time that week. The fact that you aren’t pregnant is beyond the both of you.

When Ethan pulls out, your body lays limp against the wooden desk. Drool is all over your chin and lips. You smile, dazed, and let out a small giggle.

Ethan smiles, bringing his hand down to stroke your back.

“You okay?”

“‘M perfect, E. Can you help me up, please?”

He does, ever the gentleman, and brings you over to his bed. You stumble a bit, due to the process of getting up too quick and because of your sore legs, but you manage. And when Ethan joins you on the bed, he’s pulling your body against his equally nude one. His softening cock rests softly against your hip, and he kisses your cheek.

“Go to sleep, sweet thing. I’ll clean up.”

You nod, eyes droopy, and drift off.

Ethan really did mean to clean up. But your hair smelled so nice, and he hadn’t got a lot of sleep the night before. So, he falls asleep against your back, his lips pressed against your shoulder blade.

You were both so content that you never heard the sound of the door opening and closing. The sound of your parent’s voices carrying throughout the house. And when Ethan’s dad decides to make a trip upstairs, when he walks past Ethan’s room, his booming voice makes you both jolt awake.

“What the hell is going on here?!”

[bonefall]

wait why do you think they'd kill off sunbeam?? if they did that it would SUCK. like im glad theyre not afraid of killing off protags lately but like? you just killed bristlefrost (in an epic way but still) and now you want to kill sunbeam? why only the girls??? (i know why 😮‍💨)

though i love me some nightheart, i know at least half the fandom will cheer at his death so if their goal is to make people interested, hes perfect low hanging fruit. or heck with all the dillema frostpaw is going through, they could pull a tigerheart and kill her but revive her through the awesome power of riverstar

It's JUST because it would be the absolute worst, most obviously wrong thing to do. I have no other reason for saying that Sunbeam would die in the last book, besides that it's really strange they DIDN'T make Moonpaw a NightSun kitten.

It just seems like the kind of awful, obviously terrible choice that this series would make, just for love of the game

[yanderejustforyou]

Beneath the Apple Trees

Fandom: My Hero Academia Pairing: Kirishima x Reader

The day had been perfect—sunny skies, crisp air, and the sweet, tangy taste of freshly picked apples. It was a simple date, but everything about it felt right. Kirishima had insisted on going apple picking, saying it would be “fun” and a great way to enjoy the autumn day. And it had been. The orchard was vast and beautiful, the trees heavy with fruit, their leaves turning gold and amber as fall began to settle in.

But now, as the sun dipped below the horizon and shadows crept along the ground, the once peaceful orchard began to feel different. The sounds of birds and the rustling of leaves had disappeared, replaced by an eerie silence that stretched over the rows of trees.

You stood beside Kirishima, the basket of apples heavy in your hands, your heart not quite in the joy of the moment anymore. Something about the orchard after dark felt... wrong.

Kirishima, ever the optimist, smiled brightly at you, his usual enthusiasm unaffected by the evening’s growing chill. “What do you think? We picked a lot of good ones today, huh?”

You returned a smile, but your voice lacked the same cheer. “Yeah, but... does it seem a little quiet out here? I thought there’d be more people still around.”

Kirishima paused, his smile faltering for just a second as he glanced around. The trees around you were tall and thick, their branches tangled and dark against the darkening sky. The air had a cold bite now, and the winding path you’d walked to reach this point felt longer somehow. The moon hung low, casting long, thin shadows over the orchard. It was almost like the night had swallowed up everything else.

“Maybe people already headed out,” he said with a shrug, trying to brush it off. “Or maybe they just didn’t want to hang around in the dark.”

You forced a laugh, but it came out a little too strained. “Yeah, I guess. It’s just... a bit too quiet, don’t you think?”

Kirishima looked down at you, noticing your discomfort. His usual warm demeanor softened, and he took a step closer, the weight of his presence a comforting contrast to the unsettling stillness around you.

“You’re right,” he said quietly. “It’s a little weird. But hey, I’m here. Nothing’s gonna hurt you, okay?”

His smile was reassuring, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. The apple trees, once charming in their abundance, now looked almost ominous, their branches hanging like gnarled hands reaching down from the sky. You could almost hear the creaking of the wood, as if the trees were shifting, their roots digging deeper into the earth. The wind picked up, but the sound it made was different—like it was whispering something you couldn’t quite hear.

Before you could voice your concerns, a sudden rustling echoed through the rows of apple trees. You jumped, your heart racing. It was a loud noise, almost like something large moving between the trunks, but when you turned to look, there was nothing there.

Kirishima noticed, and his stance immediately shifted. His usual cheerful attitude was replaced with something more alert. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah...” you breathed, your voice trembling just slightly.

Kirishima frowned, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the orchard. “Alright, we need to stay close. Whatever’s out there, we’ll handle it.”

You nodded, but your skin prickled with unease. The faint rustling continued, this time coming from multiple directions. The trees, once so still, seemed to shift slightly, their shadows stretching unnaturally across the ground.

“I... I don’t like this, Kirishima,” you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper.

He took your hand gently in his, his grip warm and solid. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re safe with me, okay?”

As you moved forward, sticking close to him, the air grew colder, and the silence felt heavier. The only sounds now were the faint crunch of leaves beneath your feet and the unsettling rustling that seemed to come closer with every step.

You could see the light of the distant barn now, but it seemed farther away than you remembered. The path had twisted somehow, the trees blocking your view, their branches now seeming almost to lean inward, as if closing you off from the rest of the world.

“What’s happening?” you murmured, fear creeping into your voice.

Kirishima tightened his grip on your hand, his eyes scanning the darkness. “I don’t know, but stay close to me. I’m not letting anything happen to you.”

And that’s when you saw it—a dark shape darting between the trees, fast and fluid, too quick to be a person. Your breath caught in your throat as the shape circled, always staying out of sight just enough to make you question if you’d really seen it at all. Was it a trick of the shadows?

Another rustle, and this time it was closer. Much closer.

Kirishima stopped in his tracks, his body tensing like a coiled spring. “Stay right behind me,” he ordered softly, and there was no mistaking the firmness in his voice. “I’m not letting anything get you.”

You tried to obey, but your heart was pounding in your chest, your breath shallow. Something in the darkness was watching you, and the sensation was almost suffocating.

Before you could speak, a figure suddenly emerged from the trees—tall, cloaked in darkness, and moving unnaturally fast. It paused just ahead of you, its eyes glowing faintly, locked on you.

Kirishima stepped forward immediately, his muscles rippling beneath his jacket as he moved to protect you. “Get away from them,” he growled, his usual warmth gone, replaced by something primal and fierce.

The figure didn’t move, but you could hear the faint sound of breathing, heavy and erratic. It was as though the air itself had become suffocating, holding you in place. You felt trapped.

But Kirishima wouldn’t let anything happen to you. His protective nature had always been one of his most comforting traits, but right now, it was more of a lifeline than ever.

“Stay behind me,” he whispered again, his voice a low promise, as the figure began to inch forward. “I’ll keep you safe.”

And even though the orchard was closing in on you, even though the fear in your chest threatened to take over, Kirishima’s presence was the one thing that kept you grounded.

As the darkness seemed to press in from every side, you knew one thing for sure: with him by your side, you weren’t alone in this eerie place.

[skania]

What’s ur opinion on aqua and kanas relationship? I genuinely feels like they are going to platonic route and kana will soon get over her little crush on aqua and be genuinely good friends until the end. I have never gotten romantic feelings vibes from aqua when he’s with her.. yeah kana has lots of romantic moments and panels with him but it feels one sided and innocent compared with aquas relationship with Akane? Idk but I’m curious to what you think

I feel like this is the question. Where exactly does Aka intend to take their relationship?

Because, on one hand, I feel like the manga is written in such a way that it wants you to think it is romantic. It uses the subtlety of a hammer, the most low-hanging fruit possible (like characters continuously commenting on Aqua's feelings for Kana even when they spend dozens of chapters without interacting), in order to get the reader to assume Aqua has romantic feelings for Kana.

And it's even easier because after reading a few manga/watching a few anime, you come to recognize that when a girl is essentially said to be the light to a boy's darkness, it's safe to expect romance from that trope.

But the thing is, this all kind of falls apart when you take a closer look at the manga, because why are all the big scenes with Aqua going to Akane? Why have Akane and Aqua received so much development while Aqua and Kana have barely developed beyond Chapter 40?

So either Aka is going the route where the intended love interest is left on the sidelines, doing nothing of value until the end is near, and ends up with the main character simply because that's the character's entire purpose.

Or we're not supposed to take their relationship at face value. Considering how good Kana's character is, I feel like this option is the better deal out of the two.

This leads me directly to your question, because I do think that Aqua's feelings actually being platonic is the most interesting route and the one that gives more depth to the story. After all, it would also resolve the hanging question of: What exactly did Aqua feel for Ai? Because it seems pretty clear to me that Kana is his Oshi in very much the same way Ai was.

Pretty much everything Aqua is said to like about Ai, you can apply to Kana.

How cute she is? Check.

Her adorable ego? Check.

How tough she is? Check.

Her frank personality? Check.

Standing out? Check.

And of course, the way she shines? Check.

They're both even compared to the sun!

Even when Aqua describes Ai as his ideal girl, you can apply everything he says to Kana. So his feelings for Kana are intrinsically tied to whatever it is that he feels for Ai. Needless to say, Aqua's feelings for Ai falling firmly in platonic territory would be the best outcome for more reasons than one lol

Even then, maybe Aka wants to show both feelings being very similar but different all at once? Like having a "romantic" Oshi and a "platonic" one?

Could be, but according to this interview, Aka seems to see "Oshi" in a strictly platonic sense. He says that "Oshi" is a mentality where the fan does not want to have romantic feelings or ulterior motives towards the one they support, and that they just want to genuinely support and root for the person.

This isn't the first time he explores that concept either, he did the same thing in Kaguya-Sama and even used the exact same word to describe the girls' romantically-coded yet very much platonic feelings for the boy: Oshi [推し]

This is how he explained it:

With this mind, it's interesting to look back at the Love Now arc and at the First Concert arc, because there seems to be a clear contrast between the two.

Aside from this moment in Chapter 1, the nature of Goro's/Aqua's feelings for Ai was never questioned. At the contrary, he was deeply troubled by how inappropriate it would be for him to see her naked, etc., thus supporting that the "emotions driving his fandom" were indeed as pure as he claimed them to be.

When Love Now happens though, we see Aqua questioning what Ai was to him, and also referring to her as his first love only to admit that he doesn't actually know if it was romantic love at all.

So in Love Now, the focus was on romantic love, and Aqua only starts to seriously give this some thought after Akane starts playing her "Ai" character.

He concludes that his feelings for Akane aren't the same he harbored for Ai, and this in turn allows him to make a very clear difference between Ai and Akane in his mind, so that everything he feels for her from there on out doesn't have Ai's lager than life shadow hanging over it. This is why he is shown giving his feelings for Akane so much thought afer he thinks his revenge is over: because he doesn't have anything to compare them to.

Meanwhile in the First Concert arc, despite the romance, the focus is actually on being a fan (thanks to @miko-ishi for bringing this up to me).

It's not a coincidence that while the climax of Love Now involves Aqua kissing Akane, the climax of the First Concert literally involves Kana saying she'll be Aqua's "Oshi".

That arc also showed that while Ai performed because she wanted somebody to love, Kana performs because she wants to be loved. This is why she only shines when Aqua acts as her motivation, because unbeknownst to her, he has become the fan she has always been looking for. Someone who looks at the actual her, someone she can give it her all on stage for.

Romance doesn't need to be involved there, and I think this would explain the reason why Aqua's relationship with Kana has hardly developed since then. I think Aqua's feelings for Ai are very ambiguous to him, to the point he may even misinterpret them; and if he has misinterpreted his feelings for Ai, it is very likely he has done the same regarding his feelings for Kana for all the reasons mentioned above.

The series hasn't reached the point where it can truly have an introspection about what Oshi means to the narrative, and I feel it's only then that it'll finally address the true nature of Aqua's feelings for Ai and thus of his feelings for Kana.

All this to say, it could go either way. Either we're supposed to take it at face value, or we're supposed to ask ourselves questions. In either case, I personally would love for them to go the platonic route, because I feel this is the route that provides a deeper reading of the manga and its themes lol

[voxofthevoid]

I'm so sorry you've got a transphobic stalker over top/bottom tags of all things! It's especially wild because your fics won't show up if they tag search correctly anyway (using both inclusive and exclusive). It's bizarre that they assume that their preferred orientation is the 'default' and should be pandered to. The only plus side I can think of is that it seems to be mostly one unhinged individual and not a large amount of the fandom.

Thank you 😘

The transphobia sure was new! But it was only a matter of time, really. Existing as openly trans in slash fandom* means that conflict will eventually draw someone who'd reach for that low-hanging fruit. People who send death threats and engage in long-term (attempted) harassment sure won't respect gender. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they're one tantrum away from calling us homophobic slurs on top.

And yep, you've hit the nail on the head—they want everything they like to be the default and everything else to be "warned" for. That bloody hypocrisy was why I initially stopped tagging top/bottom (5 years and 3 fandoms ago), and the JJK fandom has only confirmed that was the right decision. I'm not indulging such wanton entitlement.

The sustained stalking is thankfully just one person. Most of the others are drive-by dickbags. It's still infuriating, which is why you guys get an explosive show or ten 😮‍💨

*Or even as anything but a cis woman because people like these often assume slashers are all women or "women lite" and have no issue shitting out transphobic bullshit out of their mouths.

[branwendaughterofllyr]

passing you the knife, branwen 🔪 8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about & 25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing 🔥

Ohhhh these are some good ones.

8. Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Maester Gyldayn is Team Green. Maester Gyldayn is Team Black. Maester Gyldayn is a misogynist who simply hated to see a girl boss winning-

Wrong. All wrong. Gyldayn was initially writing for Aerys II but had to one-eighty when Robert won. So now he has to suck off the Starks, Arryns, Baratheons, Arryns, and the Lannisters. He’s team neither. And I constantly see people acting like Gyldayn hated every single woman in power, when some of them get pretty decent treatment, like Johanna Lannister and Alysanne Blackwood (huh. What do these two have in common?) Even Samantha Tarly gets something of a pass despite having an affair with her step-son and running over the High Septon with her horse, and even gets called a paramour, rather than a mistress or even a whore. Even Alyssa Targaryen’s bawdiness is treated pretty lightly and positively. The sexual vitriol is pretty much reserved for Rhaenyra, Saera, and the other “bad” Targaryen women. Which probably has to do with the fact that the Targaryens just got overthrown and people would be gleefully reading about how fucked up their women are, bc it’s so much more fun to hate women 🫤. So, yes, Gyldayn is an misogynist but he definitely treats some women worse than others, and he takes the low hanging fruit when he makes villains but it seems to be based more on house, and he’s certainly not taking the side of team green bc he hates women. (He’s not taking the side of team green or team black, guys, to be clear. Both get equal screentime of shitty behavior.) He also seems to have the same bias towards tomboys that George has so, (compare Baela’s treatment to Saera) so do with that what you will.

25. Common fandom complaint that you’re sick of hearing

Okay, I might catch some actual flack for this one. “The show cut the only canon lesbian ship!” Did it though? Did it really? There’s one line about Rhaenyra being fond and more than fond of Laena. There’s not a lot to go off here, they could have been friends and this was turned into yet another salacious relationship to pin to Rhaenyra. And the people complaining about this are mainly using it to shit on Rhaenicent, or to turn it into a polycule with Laena being okay with Rhaenyra and Daemon’s flirting, when we just don’t know how she felt about that. I think this a pretty silly complaint about the adaptation of the show, considering the amount of stuff that got cut and relationships that never got explored.

[delta-lethonomia]

Hi, love For All The Wrong Reasons. It is just such a unique take on Astarion/Tav relationship, that is not often explored in fandom. Really chefs kiss, and all the kudos in the world. It makes my day and I grin like a lunatic everytime I see you post a chapter. Since I have been rereading the fic while waiting for next chapter I have noticed one theme that is interesting to me, mostly because I am not even sure if it is a theme you have conciously incorporated or is it just my interpretation. However it seems to me that Astarion/Tav dynamic often times seems like student/mentor or child/adult kind of relationship especially through dialogue choices and characters reactions in conversations. Which is funny on itself Astarion beeing older than Tav. But a lot of time their interactions could be summed up with Astarion throwing ,,tantrum” ( not really tantrum but I do not have a better word, maybe…, reacting harshly without thought?) and Tav going ,,Aaah here we go again” and patting Astarion on the head saying something like ,,Hush baby boy, you will understand one day”. My question is, because I have been discussing it with myself and trying to work out a definite answer for past 2 hours (also while trying to go to sleep). Was this dynamic intentional? Or is it just my interpretation? Please I need to know and go to sleep 😆🤦🏻‍♀️.

!!! Thanks for the ask and giving your thoughts, anon! What an excellent take! I completely get where that impression comes from, and I think that's really an aftereffect of Tav's bias affecting the narration so heavily. On one hand, yes, I do agree and it is "intentional" (in the sense of Tav being experienced compared to Astarion) but in other ways this is getting flipped on its head and Tav is nowhere as put together as she thinks she is.

Tav really, really pushes for the type of relationship she wants (or thinks she wants.) While Tav and Astarion are both experienced sex workers, they developed different skill sets. I think Astarion went for low-hanging fruit pretty often (prioritizing getting anyone to follow him home that night) + Cazador's parties, while Tav's work depended on maintaining relationships with returning clients. Later, Tav did manage to get into a loving relationship that lead to marriage. She knows how to be in a relationship, she knows (mostly) what she wants and likes, and she knows what she's not willing to put up with. She's familiar with all the self-hatred and weird feelings that arise regarding kink and abuse both through her work, her personal experiences, and living the first half of her life as a pretty regular person who had friends and therefor benefited of second-hand experiences through her friends. She's made mistakes and then over-corrected.

Astarion, by contrast, has none of this. He has one-night flings (the victims), Cazador (abusive master/father/obsessive rapist), the spawn (toxic siblings who all low-key despise each other with a strange sense of commonality that keeps getting undercut), maybe a few repeat interactions with patriars who think of him as nothing more than a courtesan, and the human servants at the manor he despises and gets to feel mildly superior to. A lot of Astarion's skills begin and end with getting to sex and then having sex that the client enjoys. Everything after that is a big mystery that he's completely playing by ear.

To Tav he seems inexperienced because he is. Astarion's shocked he enjoys being submissive towards her and wonders what that means about him personally - Tav goes "been there, done that, got the t-shirt, here's the spark-notes on that." Tav enjoys feeling like the person who can pet Astarion on the head and tell him what he feels and how to fix it. She likes having that authority over him, and so she responds to Astarion's very reasonable points with that type of demeanor.

But. But. Tav is not nearly as put together as she thinks she is. Of the two, Astarion is more emotionally aware and put together than Tav. I think this will become more obvious as Act 3 progresses but it's already starting to happen. Astarion is completely right when he said that Tav actually wants a partner, not a slave. Yes, she enjoys being the dominant partner sexually, but so much of her relationship nonsense she's trying to push onto him has deep roots in her abusive marriage. She's terrified of being the weaker partner, of anyone having power over her, and the best way to avoid that (subconsciously) is both to avoid relationships entirely, or in Astarion's case, only pursue them when she thinks she can utterly mold him into being a perpetually submissive partner.

As the fic progresses, Astarion becomes less frightened of Tav. He pushes back more and asserts himself, and Tav makes mistakes. He said he didn't want to have sex, Tav still snowballed him and skates by on a technicality, then blames him for not pushing back (despite literally taking control over his body in a previous chapter). Astarion (correctly) notes how she's still "that battered wife", that she wants him to hurt her, to kill her. (Noticed how in her house in Act 3 she has him bite her like 5 times until Astarion is genuinely worried about her neck? Yeah.) Honestly, that argument in Shar's temple plus followup at camp really sums up a lot of thoughts on where they're at. Tav has a massive blind-spot when it comes to what she actually wants and why she makes the choices she does. While Astarion seems reactive and short-sighted, she is just as bad when emotionally invested. Tav just seemed a lot more emotionally stable early on because she didn't care.

Regarding companions: I think Astarion does come off as a bit young sometimes, especially if you don't actually know he's 200+. That's just due to his demeanor and abuse under Cazador. Shadowheart clocks him as vulnerable nearly immediately, Lae'zel calls him a pet, etc etc. Numerous people notice how the relationship between Tav and Astarion is a bit... iffy and let's just say that's leading somewhere :)

I'm getting a bit too into the weeds here but in summary: while Tav is more experienced with relationships and dealing with a lot of issues Astarion is facing for the first time, she's very emotionally stagnant and hasn't really moved past her abuse at all. Astarion, by contrast, is inexperienced, but has a lot more emotional maturity and resilience than Tav does, and is thus able to move past things and process them in a way that Tav currently cannot. While Tav steers the ship on the surface (making decisions, pushing for him to trust her, making demands) Astarion is the real emotional driver of the relationship.

Tav can only see the world through her own tinted glasses. Astarion sees things as they are.

Tav wants to be the teacher/adult/master/source of all knowledge and power, but yes, Astarion is very much a 200+ yr old adult who has a much better grip on himself than Tav (and therefor the biased readership) necessarily gives him credit for.

((But yeah the whole fic started from me wanting to write a super experienced Tav in direct contrast to a lot of the super virginal/inexperienced uwu soft Tav's in fandom at the time. idk if that's changed but yeah haha))

[gascon-en-exil]

Honestly there's some "xyz is only bad when my fave doesn't do it" vibe coming out of the OP. They seem to take issue with AM having the characters follow Dimitri even against their better judgement and yet willing to give a pass when the BE class follow Edel on the same occasion (deciding to side with Edel in the Holy Tomb despite the fact that she was revealed to be the Flame Emperor and ordered her soldiers to kill them, believing in Edel when she lies to them about Arianrhod).

Also I don't think Dimitri asked Dedue to turn into a crest beast during CF but Dedue did it anyway against Dimitri's wishes but I guess the OP forgot about that.

I know for a fact that I've had to make this point before, but the low-hanging fruit of the Dedue/Felix conversation is very easy to refute. Dedue trusts Dimitri enough to know that Dimitri would never order him to kill children, and we know both from CF and from their A support in Hopes that there are times when Dedue is willing to disobey Dimitri. That support is just Felix determined to think the worst of Dedue as an indirect way of reaffirming his own negative image of Dimitri, and Dedue realizes this and tells Felix what he wants to hear.

These types of fans insist of reading everything through an overwrought political lens that doesn't even hold up in canon because the writers didn't care enough to flesh out their world in meaningful ways beyond what was needed for the main plot and for specific character stories (and giving priority to the lead characters is standard FE writing...and typical for writing in general, for that matter). Duscur is only restored in AG and in some of Dedue's endings which are of course AM-exclusive, because Duscur - here the Duscur people, not the Tragedy of Duscur which is a much more significant event narratively speaking - ultimately only matters in reference to Dedue. Call the developers racist/colorist for that if you like, but don't try to dump it nonsensically on the characters and certainly don't use it to attack people who like Dimitri or Dedue and/or ship them together. Honestly a romantic reading of their relationship makes their behavior and regard for one another much more straightforward: they're bonded to one another through trauma and mutually codependent to the point that each of them falls apart without the other, but they trust and lean on each other in a genuinely sweet way in spite of how a bunch of people around them disapprove of Dedue's presence in Dimitri's life (queercoding, yay!). The OP of that post was worried about not being smart enough to figure out Dedue, but it's really not that difficult...

...although as I've probably written more Dimidue-related meta than almost anyone else in this fandom and that poster has me blocked, I suppose I can understand why they might find his character unfathomable.

[ashtraythief]

This is kinda a weird question, but isn’t it strange that we all love fan fiction and reading romantic plot lines in them and smut and all of this but our favorite show is Supernatural, which is just this story about platonic love? I think that really drew me to the show, I’ve never seen a show that focused so heavily on platonic love, not romantic, and made that the same focus of the entire show. It’s so lovely to see. Did that draw you into the show too?

Ah, yeah. Fandom and their endless quest to make everyone bang and/or fall in love (which I say lovingly, because so do I). And I don't think it's a weird question at all.

Honestly, I started watching Supernatural for very shallow reasons. It was recommend in the “ridiculously attractive people” category of a streaming site :D The pilot was way too scary for me though and so I quit again. But then a while later, I was watching Leverage on TNT and that ep was followed by Playthings. We left the TV running and I just… got sucked into it. Obviously, I had no idea about the context, only remembered the pilot vaguely, but boy did I fall in love immediately. With them, their relationship, the humor, the love and I went right back to the beginning and forced myself to put on my big girl pants and suffer through the scary eps (yes, yes, I know, they’re not that scary, I’m a wuss) and I was so gone on them, it was ridiculous. So yeah, it was the abscence of romance i guess, because I did fall in love with their relationship. In which Playthings truly is a magnificent gem even among the riches of season two.

I think if Sam and Dean’s relationship were romantic (if they were an unrelated het couple because let’s be real, nothing else would have been on network TV seventeen years ago), I think I would have been almost as enamored. Though I don’t know how to build a relationship like that without their past. It would have needed to be grown up together in some kind of way. I think their relationship would be compelling either way, but it is definitely more compelling for not being romantic. For one I think because romance is the default setting for the all-encompassing, soulmate-type relationships, and also because it’s just so unusual? Like even for one of those fated soulmate romance stories, Sam and Dean are still weirdly intense. They’re just more. Unhealthy, codependent, whatever you want to call it, but it makes for good stories. And I think that’s beautiful.

As for why we make wincest…. Well, the shallow reason is that they’re both beautiful men and it’s fun to imagine them bang. And sometimes you gotta be shallow. But also it just seems…. logical. They want to share everything (they do almost share everything, I mean consider what they know about each other’s sex lives and how they enable each other, like Dean wanting Sam to get laid to cheer him up or Sam wanting to drag Dean to a strip club to cheer him up, like they know sexy times can make you feel better and since they can’t provide that themselves they try to find ways to at least facilitate the happy-making sexy times), they are incredibly intimate anyway, there are many instance where they are jealous of romantic partners/friends and there is an exclusive claim on the other that’s rarely relinquished. Honestly, sex is probably the only facette of an intimate interpersonal relationship that’s not covered due to the whole being related thing, but fandoms love to break taboos and explore all sorts of boundaries in transformative works, and wincest is truly the most low hanging fruit of them all. It’s right there. Dancing out of reach. The show itself plays with it, both as jokes when people mistake them as a gay couple or when Sam and Dean use couple-coded language for each other, like when Dean asks if Sam wants a divorce when they’re fighting. They also made actual wincest shippers canon. Like, I was an innocent brofan of the show when I saw The Monster at the End of the Book, and bam, wincest in my brain, like a lightbulb went off and it took up residence there because it just made so much sense. In more serious themes, other characters comment on how special or twisted their relationship is, both friends and villains alike, they sell their soul for each other (or at least try to in Sam’s case), they do or attempt to do unspeakable things to save each other, they are canon soulmates, they have an extensive repertoire of love language and love acts to show their love for and knowledge of each other, they have a whole you-are-the-most-important-thing-ever thing that goes down in a fucking church, I mean, the show makes it abundantly clear that Sam and Dean are it for each other. And so I think that it’s very natural that people go with the wincest. Even though we have to take the incest hurdle, but hey, fantasy is for the dark, transgressive stuff, right? 

At the same time, it is refreshing that the show doesn’t center romance when almost all other shows do, and I think it’s one of the reasons people do enjoy it. And once you have the magic of Sam and Dean, whether you ship wincest or not, you don’t want them to mess with that so you want the non-romance thing to stay (unless you want a certain ship to go canon of course). In conclusion, wincest just makes sense, on every level really and we just creatively want to explore that in fun ways while keeping what’s great about canon in the show. The true art of shipping, I think.

[bitegore]

dragstrip for 1, 23, and 26? @gaysontodd

Another long response, cut on account of how I can't shut the fuck up. Ask game here.

1. Canon I outright reject

I don't really like to reject canon, so I tend to instead go out of my way to incorporate elements of canon that seem contradictory to give me more wiggle room instead. But I'm mostly doing Sunbow G1/toy canon fusion for the Stunticons, with a few things taken here and there from Marvel G1 but not much. So I suppose you could say I reject the entirety of Marvel G1, but Marvel and Sunbow are basically two different G1 canons the same way IDW G1 is not the same as Sunbow G1 and certainly is not the same as G1 toy canon.

That being said, I'm not doing RID2015/Aligned with them, because that's an entirely different set of characters and I'm not particularly interested in them at the moment. So I also reject that canon, for a certain definition of reject (though I think "ignore" would be a little more accurate).

23. If they were a scented candle, what would they smell like?

This is hard because I very badly want to take the literal approach. SO I'll do both.

Literally: gasoline, asphalt, electrical fire and hot metal (copper or iron both work but either way he should smell a bit like blood imo), with undertones of carnuba wax (car wax lol) and some kind of lysol-y air freshener. I know this sounds horrendous but I would burn this candle without question because to me that sounds like it smells very good.

More figuratively: Drag Strip is ruled by ego and a hatred for losing. He smells like a pale imitation of some more successful candle. So I googled best-selling candle scents and used this article - so chosen because it's by "the strategist" and that's the kind of stupid bullshit he'd buy into - and their best candle is fucking weed flavored. Like fucking cannabis. Which is really low fucking hanging fruit honestly to be like "my favorite character who is a loser smells like weed" but you know what. I did in fact say he was a pale imitation of something someone else thought was cool and then went to the first webpage with the right kind of stupid "cool" bullshit on it so I'm kind of locked into this now. So he specifically smells like, apparently: "Cannabis, suede, white musk, tulip, and amber" but like poor-quality imitations. He mostly smells like burning wax and chemicals, and the oils giving him his flavors are not very well-mixed, but he does smell like that some.

(what the fuck is white musk??? why does this site list the flavor profile as green amber?????? i hate candle scents so much)

26. What they would do if stuck in an elevator with [insert character of your choice from the same fandom] Soundwave or Vortex?

With Vortex, I figure Drag Strip would kind of just shoot the shit until either he or Vortex says something annoying and then they'd start fighting with each other. Ten hours on when they finally get the elevator open both of them are bleeding and Drag Strip has categorically lost and is sulking in a corner.

With Soundwave... I imagine that while the elevator is still working he's quiet and awkward, but as time drags on he starts occasionally trying to give Soundwave like an elevator pitch about why he should be promoted, or put in charge of more stuff, or something... but every time Soundwave tells him to be quiet he shuts up for another, like, twenty minutes, so it's very slow going.

[yanderefairyangel]

Seems like the Engage fandom is suffering from trolls, I salute you for being on the front lines of common sense and lore education. You deserve a medal soldier 🫡🏅 (I'm not up to date on tone markers but I mean this endearingly)

Oh yeah, this person is.... something... alright.

And believe it or not, it's not even the first time they tried to pull this weird thing. If that's indeed who I am thinking of, then we are speaking of the same person who will call racist people who dislike Timerra's singing and sexist people who prefer to play as M!Alear but really that was just low hanging fruit...

I wonder how long their blog is gonna last this time

Anyway thanks for the feedback!

[team-frightfur]

character ask game: dennis mcamerican

Thanks for the ask!

General opinion/How much I care about them:

They're kinda eh to me, honestly, but I still appreciate them. For one, their increasingly suspicious and freaked out faces during infiltration are gold. For another, he has a really fun duelling style and a lot of personality. He's like a second, more competent Sawatari.

A ship I love:

I'm not super into any of his ships (or many ships, honestly) but I can def see why many would work.

Dennis x Yuri capitalises on their shared past and seeming casualness. Is Dennis lying when he tries to reach out? Is it just politeness? Is he scared of Yuri deep down? What abt Yuri, does he find him annoying? Does he ignore him? How does that change? It's an interesting quandary.

Dennis x Yuya is more on the fluffy side. Those two can pull off some fine prime clownwork together. Plus they're both students of Yusho so they have a reason to connect. Then you start thinking abt their flaws and strengths. Eg. Dennis teaches Yuya how to clown better and Yuya teaches Dennis how not to child soldier better.

Dennis x Ruri is pretty obviously interesting because of the enemy -> tentative allies -> friends -> lovers possibilities. It kinda emphasises Dennis's regret and desire for redemption as well as Ruri's whatever you decide to HC her as having.

A non-romantic relationship that I love:

All the romances work just as well as friends lmao. To me, there's barely a difference between romance and friendship anyway. What do you mean romance isn't just friends but kissy. Can you tell I'm aro?

The NOTP:

I mean, anything that's like, incestuous or pedo I guess? I doubt thats really prevalent tho like this is a low hanging fruit. I generally don't dislike ships because there's always some progression they drive or depth they illuminate if you look.

My biggest headcanon about them:

Unlike Sora, Serena and Yuri, all of whom are orphans, they have family in Fusion. Ripperoni.

An idea for a fanfiction I would like to write/read about them: (if I have none in my WIPs I'll make one up on the spot!)

Yuya and Dennis clown too hard at a tag duel tournament and start dropping 11 negates per turn. Cut to a few weeks later where they're sending strongly worded letters to Reiji about how Monkeyboard TOTALLY isn't op! While the entire rest of the cast sighs in relief.

Something that makes me think of them: (a song, a character in another fandom, an animal, anything)

My friend calls him Sideshow Bob (bc of the hair). The link is inextricable now.

Thanks again for the ask!

[thehollowprince]

The violence ask game:

1 (besides characters named Scott)

8

24

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Cruel Caveat: besides characters named Scott

I just want to point out how mean that stipulation was before I begin, but in the same breath, it does challenge me because my Scotts (McCall & Summers) are such tempting, low-hanging fruit.

I've been on a Star Wars kick lately, and so I'm going to talk about Mace Windu.

Everyone (general) points to Mace and gets upset with him because he didn't grant Anakin the rank of Jedi Master or because in the final episodes of The Clone Wars, he dismissed Ahsoka by calling her "citizen".

Mace Windu was not an unfeeling robot. He was a human being who felt love and anger and fear, just like any other sentient being. But, as a Jedi Master, he learned not to be ruled by said emotions. It's especially frustrating because if these people would actually watch the movies or the show, or read the comics, or generally just engage with the media they're complaining about, it does disprove the notion that Mace was a stone-hearted ass. In fact, it was Mace who, along with the rest of the council, agreed to train Anakin, with Yoda being the lone holdout in the end. It was Mace who encouraged Obi-Wan to have faith in his padawan in AotC. It was Mace who told Anakin to sit the fight with Palpatine out because he recognized how emotionally conflicted Skywalker was about potentially fighting a mentor-figure.

I'm actually rereading Shatterpoint, which is, in my opinion, one of the best Star Wars novels ever written. It's entirely focused on Mace Windu and his complicated relationship with the Dark Side and his love for his padawan, Depa Billaba. I'd highly recommend reading it.

Another thing about Mace that I delight in pointing out is that he was basically the head honcho for the Jedi Order. Everyone always points to Master Yoda because he was given the rank of Grandmaster, which is really just a title bequeathed to the "oldest and wisest" of the Jedi. The true authority of the Order was the High Council, which was led by the Master of the Order. That was Mace... until the Clone Wars broke out and he relinquished the title to Yoda. But until then, he was the guy in charge, and I love that for him.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Let's keep on the Star Wars topic today.

The Jedi did not kidnap babies! They are not emotionless droids. They were not hypocrites for joining in the Clone Wars. And they did not enslave the Clones.

I could go on and on here, but I shouldn't need to.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

Racism.

I was going to put down a specific ship that always seems to draw in people whenever you criticize it. Or even just me posting about how I like a certain character attracts said character's most ardent haters who then proceed to try and shout you down. But at the end of the day, the racism within fandom is always its biggest problem (followed closely by its misogyny and homo/transphobia), and any time anyone attempts to tackle the subject, it just makes the most for the most vile discourse.

Because people will go out of their way to tell you how they're not racist, they just only seem to hate the black and brown characters because "they're not that interesting" or "they're badly written". And that second one never seems to be a problem for them, because they can take the most boring white character ever and make a biblical epic to flesh them out, but the same is never even attempted for characters of color. Instead, they rely on racist stereotypes and tropes.

I remember back in 2020, when I received an ask about John Boyega's comments about how his character (Finn) was treated in the Star Wars sequels. I pointed out the similarities between how he was treated by the Reylo-shippers and how Tyler Posey was treated by the Sterek-shippers, and even though I tagged it correctly, people lost their freaking minds. How dare I call either ship racist, even though both ships were rooted in racism and violence.

Especially on here, where anonymity still reigns, and everyone talks about how liberal and progressive the people on here are, people were very upset that I would point that out. People did not like that, even though I didn't tag anyone or mention anyone specific.

[weekend-whip]

Hello a bunch of questions if you don't mind and you totally don't have to answer them if you don't want to! Which Character from the show do you not like or find annoying? When you write Do you start your chapter at the beginning or imagine a specific scene? I don't really understand some of Garmadons motives could you maybe explain them? How did you get into the Ninjago Fandom? And I think I read somewhere that you're not going to include the wildbrain seasons so is the stuff with Aspheera and Nya merging with the water and stuff gone?

1. I don’t really find any character annoying! Sure there’s some I’m ‘meh’ about but nobody’s ever really aggravated me (outside of that being the intention of their character). I guess Dareth in the first half of Season 6 would count but that’s low hanging fruit :P 

2. Depends on the chapter, though most of the time I start with a specific scene and then build around it as needed. Sometimes the beginning is the last thing I write! 

3. Can’t fully clarify just yet, there’s a couple spoilers in there, but if it’s not clear by the end of this story I will definitely smooth things out. Just know that Garm’s torn by his rage at Wu, his own ambitions, and his love for Lloyd and they’re constantly at odds with each other. He’s bitter but he cares and then he’s bitter because he cares and he can’t afford to care while he’s full of evil and that makes him feel bad all over again—thus he’s stuck in a very dark loop which maybe Lloyd will break one day. He also just really likes messing with people, and acting on opportunities that may help him further down the line, even if it seems counterproductive in the moment. 

4. I’ve always liked Ninjago from the very start, and been off and on with it until the Wildbrain seasons kicked in (and then I fully started paying attention). But around the time of the 9th Anniversary was when I was like ‘whoa, I gotta do something for the Big 10!!!’ So I integrated myself slowly into the fandom for like a year, mostly watching from the sidelines while I worked on Book 1, and then once I posted it I became a lot more active and now I have some very nice people as friends and I’ve been here ever since <3

5. The reason I don’t want to fully rewrite the Wildbrain seasons (except Crystalized) is the because there’s not a lot I’d change about them. They’re very self-contained and truly do have some solid stories already (with exceptions). That being said, the stuff that happens within them is definitely not gone! For now it’s just a lot of Call-Forwards, but once we hit Season 5 some more of the future influence will come into play. And hopefully, if I play my cards right, I can set up everything I need to without having to write an extra five seasons snksnksnk 

[wontbyers]

12, 18, 19, 27 👀

Salty Ask List

Thank you for sending, Rae!! My answers ended up way too long/detailed so I’m putting them under a read more to save space <333

12: Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I’m trying to think of an arc that’s unpopular…Maybe Eddie? Just Eddie in general, because I feel like most people either hate that he died (or the way he died) because they love him and think it was a shitty plot for him, or they’re indifferent to him as a character so they’re upset that the show even introduced him in the first place just to die (instead of focusing on other original main characters.)

But I have a unique relationship to his story-line, in which I didn’t really care for him when he was introduced (the way he acted towards the party made it seem like he’s just the equal opposite of the conservative jocks where you still have to conform to his specific “anti-conformist” ideals to be accepted—Lucas playing basketball is demeaned and he’s excluded from the Hellfire session bc of it), and I could tell he was gonna die obviously so I didn’t want to bother to get attached either (even when he had an admittedly sweet scene with Chrissy in the woods.) But he slowly grew on me towards the end of the season until he finally died and that was the very exact point where I actually cared enough about him to cry over his death.

So it was an interesting sort of situation TO ME where the peak of a character’s arc was just finally making you like them once they have no time left for this world. Especially when you knew they were gonna die the whole time and it was just unavoidable, but you still managed to grieve for it.

Could they have figured out a way to drive the Hawkins plot of s4 without creating Eddie? Probably. Do I think the show suffered for spending time introducing a character who was written to die? Not really. It was an interesting/unique experience for me the way his arc played out. Besides, his death is going to affect characters (especially Dustin) in season 5. Bob was also written as a one-season-and-he’s-dead character and I still appreciate his role and that grief was still felt by Joyce through s4, like Nancy’s grief for Barb, etc.

18. Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?

On a general basis, no, not at all. Everyone doesn’t have the same taste in ships whether something is canon or popular or not. Simply not shipping something isn’t really within a person’s control just like not enjoying a certain food or music style, it’s just down to personal taste. There doesn’t need to be mental gymnastics involved (like being in denial) to not liking a certain thing.

That said, if someone is hardcore against a certain popular ship that is...literally not harming anybody, like for example a super innocent childhood-best-friends-to-lovers trope with two boys in the 80s, and they absolutely refuse to believe there’s even a chance that ship could be canon and are really mad that it became the biggest ship in the fanbase after the 4th season of the show when one of the characters involved was confirmed to be in love with the other…idk they might have some biases to uncover and deal with?

(Anti-Bylers get some help challenge. You don’t have to ship it, but don’t be homophobic. If you just don’t ship it, but accept that its canonization would be a win for gay representation, you’re cool.)

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

People who deny that Billy was a racist abuser just because he was abused himself and was still young when he died. I mean. That one’s low-hanging fruit. But tbh I don’t really consider his fans part of the same fanbase as me even though we technically like the same show…I feel like they’re in their own group that’s cordoned off from the rational world? They don’t usually cross my path, I just know they exist...

So what I hate most about the side of the fanbase that I actually interact with—which is not the racists/homophobes/abuse apologists/etc. More the fans of the party, like Byler side of tumblr? I feel like people vague-blog here a lot. (Tbf nobody’s innocent because even I’ve seen a post with a headcanon/opinion I disagreed with and then made my own post with my contrary opinion, not out of spite but in a light-hearted/humorous way.)

Which I’m sure is probably better than directly arguing with people on their own posts if they weren’t specifically seeking a discussion/debate, that’s just tumblr culture (“don’t agree? make your own post”) but the way some people act like their interpretation of the show is the only correct one, and anyone who sees it differently is obviously missing something. Until the show is complete, a lot of what we talk about and theorize could be proven otherwise, so idk. It would be nice if people were more respectful of others’ ideas. We’re all on the same team here.

Least shippable character?

Ooh I’m not gonna say something easy & obvious like any of the antagonists (because if anybody is shipping Brenner or Henry or Billy with anyone I’m side-eying hard, and I think that’s a pretty popular opinion except for amongst B*lly stans 💀)

Out of the main characters, I’m gonna be so honest and controversial and brave rn and say fan-favorite Steve is actually not super shippable. Despite Steve’s whole appeal as the apparently most-shippable figure in the fanbase (I mean, you’ve got the Steddies and Stancys and H*rringroves and Stonathans—and even romantic Stobins if they exist which I don’t like to believe is possible🤮) And I kinda do like Stonathan/Stoncy in a crack-shippy way, not super seriously, but otherwise?? He’s a good dude and he deserves to live his dream life with a wife and 6 nuggets in the future, but I don’t think that’s any of the characters we’ve met in the show (certainly not Nancy.) I don’t seriously ship him with anyone.

Honorable mention is Dustin, but just because I feel like the rest of the party members I have a really strong ship for with another main character (Byler, Lumax, Elmax) whereas Dustin has his own solid long-distance relationship with Suzie instead of a potentially romantic bond with any of the other party members. So like Duzie is cute enough that I don’t need to pair Dustin off with anyone else, but bc Suzie isn’t super relevant on her own and they don’t have much screen-time together (the s3 duet being amazing but that’s all they have) I also don’t really think about them enough to have a strong OTP status for them?? They’re there, they’re cute, it’s whatever.

I also feel like with Steve and Dustin often being paired together as a platonic, brotherly duo of sorts—they don’t strike me as very shippable in canon because if they’re not in group settings they’re just paired together (whereas Byler, Jopper, Jancy, Lumax and even Elmax in s3 are often getting solo scenes/plots together.) Unless you actually really enjoy Stancy for some reason, bc they’ve had solo “romantic” time, but to me they’ve been specifically designed/presented to not be good together so? Idk idk