#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

[kobitoshiningneedle]

My fandom hot take is: Ace Attorney has legal corruption as a theme and no idea what it's doing with it. It starts as a pretty straightforward "the legal system is unfair and slated towards the defence, prosecutors care about nothing but guilty verdicts and routinely forge evidence, you are the underdog attorney performing miracles" before retconning that the two major prosecutors implied to have forged evidence didn't do it on purpose after all, instead pinning it on higher officials, which at once widens the scope of the universe and makes the corruption run much deeper, but also somewhat "exonerates" the prosecutors of their more blatant wrongdoings (although not of all of them). And then after that, it makes two defence attorneys, including our heroes, into forgers, which itself is never retconned. And then there's this whole impersonating officers thing and it just goes completely sideways. It makes no sense. It's fascinating.

A really interesting question! The thematic inconsistency in Ace Attorney is really palpable, despite having some of the most comprehensive stories, so I'm with you on this one

Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree

There are many, many Doylist reasons as to why the theme of corruption gets thrown from one side to the other, but saying that "Well yeah DD is kinda shit without nuance because it wasn't written by Takumi" would be a low-hanging fruit in terms of criticism. So I will try to compile my scattered thoughts about this topic here with another approach.

Seems like as a series Ace Attorney has this "protagonist biased" fault. We are rooting for Phoenix when he tricks Furio Tigre with the bottle. And we are supposed to be mad at Edgeworth for coaching Bellboy to deliberately misinform the court. And considering that, we can't even say that the series tried to imply the "defense attorney always good, prosecutor always bad" type of mindset - despite being first and foremost a game with a necessary element of satisfaction of defeating a malicious foe - because in the very first game there's Robert Hammond. And some time later we see Klavier Gavin. Apollo was a protagonist, so presenting the bloody ace was never called out. Meanwhile Edgeworth has entire drama around him handling SL-9. So that's why in my opinion this is exactly protagonist bias, when you win a game against Edgeworth and prove that this pink suit indeed tried to coach Bellboy to give a false testimony you get a portion of serotonin. The same serotonin runs through your brain when this sleazy new lawyer character gets caught.

But when you think about the grander scope, the things start getting sketchy.

In my opinion, it all can boil down to one sentiment, that again stems from the essence of this series - it's a game, and a story with black-while morals (yes, even games like Apollo Justice are pretty clear cut about who's in the right and who is not in my opinion). So it's a given that the protagonist will do things for the good of others. And the antagonists (which are often the prosecutors) will hinder that objective. So it's much more understandable that Phoenix will use tricks when he was trying to corner a loan shark who manipulated many people, or when he tried to bring the man who ruined his career and lives of others to justice. And with Edgeworth in SL-9 and Manfred in IS-7 is more like a flashback material, a foundation that have its story being built upon. SL-9 was a past case that doesn't quite have this urgency of saving a friend. And Manfred tried to put an innocent man in the jail anyway. I don't really like both of these (in my opinion) retcons, because they make the things unnecessarily complicated and REALLY rob Miles and Mandfred from their agency in some capacity whatsoever - but your writeup makes me think that my distaste could be precisely because these plot points have some serious implications which makes the inherent story structure of AA to bite more than it could chew. Anyway "you can use some tricks if it's helping people" is a pretty concise message that may encapsulate this conundrum...

...which is understandable in a game and a heroic, but an utter rubbish if we detach ourselves from the protagonists' POV. Like, even Edgeworth was truly believing he's doing the right thing in his early career. Besides even the "helping other people" part is fluctuating between different representatives of one profession. Phoenix is called out by Edgeworth in 2-4 becuse defense attorneys aren't heroes and they just make sure everyone is tried fairly. But only 4 games later we got a character who represents this message - Raymond Shie Eddie Fender. I probably derailed your ask beyong possible, but this too, is an argument of how inconsistent the series in its priorities.

I hope there is at least one comprehensive thought about this matter, because this issue is something that could be explored and discussed from very different perspectives... And here I mused about how and why these inconsistencies work, but all in all, I agree that there's no clear-cut stance in the series about what is corrupt and what is not even within one writer team's works

[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.

[waywardstation]

Today (November 23rd) is good brothers day in Japan. (With the focus being on the elder brother here)

I know this blog focuses more on PLA Ingo and his adventures in Hisui with his adopted niece/daughter but I really would love to hear some of your favorite headcanons of Ingo and Emmet.

I also think Emmet would be extra friendly today and maybe even getting him his favorite kind of candy. (while I believe they have their times of rivalry and pranks and other sibling stuff they always look out for each other and let the other know how much they care, especially after PLA.)

Oh!! Thanks for letting me know Anon, I didn’t know this!! And no worries, yes, while this is a PLA blog, I love Emmet just as much ^^

And I love your view of Ingo and Emmet’s sibling dynamic; I see it that way too!! I definitely see Emmet doing that for Ingo and yes, especially after PLA ;~;

And now, some headcanons below!! Several are popular ones within the fandom that I’ve latched onto, but some are ones I’ve grown to think for myself too ^^ (featuring Elesa too!)

—————————————

The twins’ hair has always been grey; it’s genetics.

Ingo’s first Pokémon was his Litwick, and Emmet’s was his tynamo - they found them both when they were young, and the Pokémon always followed them around.

Ingo is slightly taller than Emmet, but only by a couple inches. Post-Hisui, Ingo’s slouch gave Emmet the title of taller twin. Emmet holds it over Ingo’s head proudly until Ingo stands up straight again.

Emmet is very knowledgeable when it comes to Pokémon breeding, from his experience with breeding joltik. From time to time he likes to browse forums about the subject and help people with questions they might have, when it doesn’t seem like anyone else will give them an answer.

Ingo and Emmet love Roxie’s music, and they play it sometimes on the battle subway.

Emmet is partial to electric-type pokemon while Ingo is partial to fire-type pokemon. People speculate that it’s due to Unova’s legendary dragons, but really it’s tied to Emmet’s love of electric trains, and Ingo’s appreciation for steam-powered locomotives.

Ingo is the night owl, prone to getting up and going to bed later. Emmet is the early bird, prone to getting up and going to sleep earlier.

Though living in an apartment complex with neighbors who are very loud and not the most polite, sometimes neither sleep schedule is as smooth and restful as they’d like.

Emmet actually likes puns, just like Ingo - his vocabulary is as stuffed with train terms as his brother’s is. He just finds Elesa’s jokes to be low hanging fruit. She knows this full well, and intentionally keeps telling them. Ingo unironically enjoys them.

The twins met Elesa in grade school when she transferred out of homeschool/private school. Elesa met Emmet first, who then quickly introduced her to Ingo. The twins had transferred to the school themselves a year before and still didn’t have many friends, so they wanted to make Elesa feel welcome when they saw she was struggling with loneliness herself.

Elesa became very popular in highschool due to her good looks and attractive personality (and her family’s wealth became public knowledge); it did not influence her at all though. She did not fall for the fake friends that tried to attach themselves to her, and Ingo and Emmet remained as two of her only real friends through high school (Skyla and Burgh became the other two)

In terms of flavor, Ingo prefers sweet things while Emmet prefers bitter things.

Because of this, Emmet is a bit more lean than Ingo (Post-Hisui, it is more noticeable when Ingo comes back with a bit of a dad bod).

Emmet pokes fun at Ingo for his sweet tooth, saying he doesn’t ‘understand his inferior tastes’ (and Ingo fires right back), but both will immediately side with the other and gang up against Elesa when it comes to her preferred tastes - she LOVES intensely spicy dishes, which the twins cannot handle.

Ingo and Emmet occasionally help Elesa with her model work - their collaborations always brings extra publicity for both parties. Emmet unabashedly loves doing it, though Ingo’s always a little more flustered with all the attention.

Ingo and Emmet love watching horror movies, even if it still freaks them out.

The twins keep candy and gear station pins in their coat pockets to hand to children in the station.

In multi-battles, Ingo always uses his Pokémon to play defensive while Emmet always pushes offensive. (Just like how they’re meant to be utilized in Pokémon Masters EX)

[release-the-sheep]

🍓🍒🍈🫐 :)

hi baby :)

🍓 What's a fic you've written you feel is underrated?

Ummmmm lately I've been feeling the good ol "everything I've written in the past is trash actually" feeling so this is a little tricky... but I will take the opportunity to promote "you'd be so easy to love", because that one doesn't belong to a fandom per se and therefore no one really finds or looks at it and it's pretty cool, if I do say so myself, even though it's not complete and at this point unfortunately probably never will be. I decided to make a bunch of Playboy cartoons lesbian, is what that story is. There's more in the notes of the fic itself

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

Haha. Well. I do enjoy the service top/power bottom thing, probably because it comes easily. It can be fun to write what you know.

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

Right now my blorbo is Jane Clementine Rizzoli, of course. Um, let's see. I'm aware I'm beating a dead horse but service top Jane is important to me. Her Catholic guilt is important to me, even though I don't necessarily write it or think I will (say I as I have written precisely one incomplete story featuring her so far). I like that she's protective and guard dog-ish, but that's just canon. I like playing with the idea that thinking she's not good enough for Maura is part of what keeps her from making a damn move. I'm aware none of this is particularly groundbreaking (florals, spring, etc).

In the past I would've said that I find it interesting to think of her as bi but recently that has become starkly untrue. That woman is not attracted to men and has never enjoyed a sexual encounter with one, not once.

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom? (A ship that only you seem to write for, a character there’s almost no fics about, a trope that criminally hasn’t been written yet, etc.)

I'm surprised by how little knight/princess stuff there is. It feels to me like an obvious thing to do with them, and a handful of people have, but not as many as I would expect (at least on ao3). Maybe it's because it feels like such low-hanging fruit? I may throw one in there at some point. No promises

[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.

[azriona]

For the fic title:

Song for the days long past.

and/or

To whit, therefore, I've been.

Okay, so To whit, therefore, I've been is so definitely a crackfic I can't even. Like, I can almost taste it, honestly. It's something to do with a group of friends and they're trying to convince A to go out with B and also vice versa. A doesn't seem inclined to ask B out at all and B's not that much more inclined and so they're putting the two of them in stupid ridiculous meet-cute-type situations in order to force a romantic entanglement but nope, neither of them are going for it. And then they get to the end of the story and it turns out that the two of them have been secretly married the whole time already? Cue laughter and end-credits kiss.

(I'm seeing Winterhawk, for some reason, but really, this probably fits most fandoms where it's a group of people.)

Song for the days long past. I want to say this is a melancholy thought piece (like, Steve being all morose about Bucky or Bucky being morose about himself) but that's just low-hanging fruit. So let's go with the way more intriguing ALTERNATE DYSTOPIAN REALITY where Hydra's won the day and Insight actually took off and the Winter Soldier was put on permanent ice because who needs him actually, we have lasers from space now acting as the Thought Police. Fast forward a bunch of years and he defrosts when his cryo-freeze malfunctions but no one's around because Thanos STILL HAPPENED and guess what, it's really hard to keep up those dystopian ideals when half the world is gone and hey, look, no Avengers to save the day and bring everyone back.

So now we have a defrosted Bucky who is wandering and trying to figure out what the fuck is going on and everything's all bleak but there's signs of hope and no one knows him or can find out about him really (no internet, no communication, go read Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, guys, this is basically what I'm thinking of) so they're actually helping him and by helping him, they're healing him. Oh, and he's got this sense that he's being followed, it's very ominous.

And at the end he's remembered who he is and who he was and what he's done and what was done to him, and that's when we (and he) realize that he's being followed by Steve and maybe a couple of others who went to ground after Insight, or maybe they've been with him all along and he just didn't see or recognize them? I'm not sure if that's bittersweet or just sweet, you tell me.

[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.