#it's a general ship but it's also a very specific ship

[cipheramnesia]

I would not expect a huge amount from a reality/found footage horror movie about a possessed pregnancy, called "Delivery: The Beast Within" to necessarily offer much, but I figured the concept was just interesting enough that it would at least be, at a bare minimum, interesting to watch. And well, I don't know what to say except this is why I watch random horror, because Delivery: The Beast Within is a really good fake documentary horror.

So the strengths of this style of movie usually revolve around actors delivering more improvised or natural performances, needing relatively few budget intensive effects, and generally using the appearance of lower quality filmmaking to their advantage for suspense or realism. However, the majority of these types of movies generally treat the capacity to use these techniques gives them complete freedom from the need for direction, cinematography, or consistent writing. Plus, of course, the perennial nagging question of "why are they still filming this?" The Paranormal Activity series is probably the best example of lazy found footage horror, where the actors replace naturalistic improvisation with simply being very rude and generally angry at one another, and long, static shots for the sake of a single minor detail pad out the runtime. Poorly made films of this type can feel like they drag on for hours waiting for anything to happen.

Delivery effectively managing to dodge all of the major issues, provide a solid and tense work of horror, along side a bit of subtext plus a genuinely disturbing ending makes the whole affair rather brilliant. I'm not sure what decision helped the most. Having realistic story beats helped a lot - no one in the movie suddenly turns their life over to an imaginary exorcist, everyone acknowledges the protag is going through it, the supernatural parts are just this side of questionable that there's no reason to jump ship. It plays heavily into terrible, family friendly reality TV tropes up front, and there's a good chemistry between the leads where they seem to genuinely care for each other, which makes the gradual decline more distressful. It's just a lot of little details like the way the video artifacting is isolated to the pregnant woman (and switches immediately to the baby after it is born). The husband's reaction to what seems like miscarriage (it felt very nuanced, as someone who gets pretty quiet with strong emotions), and the one major event that makes the couple sever their connection with the documentary crew for several months. It's all a series of clever details that develop into a relatively well thought out plot, good pacing, and respectable camerawork.

On top of all that solid technical foundation, Delivery is also prodding at the USAmerican concept of pregnancy - how it's idealized, how little the physical and mental wear on women is discussed, the stress on relationships, really most of the ways it can impact on people physically, mentally, and socially. This isn't new territory per se, but Delivery makes these topics feel more a piece of the film text, rather than something overtly pointed out to the audience. No one person is explicitly gaslighting or deliberately misleading the pregnant woman, but the social pressures on her both as an expectant mother and also as a woman in crisis surrounded by support for her pregnancy specifically is tangible. It's the kind of subtext you don't necessarily need to recognize to enjoy Delivery as a solid horror film, but it adds layers and emotional resonance to the story.

As a film, it's what you might call a high B; a solid 8/10 performance from something that looks like it's working with 1/10 resources. They tapped into something and everyone involved very clearly committed. There are of course multiple trigger warnings around babies, pregnancy, and animals. But the ending. That was something.

[everestgale]

Spectre from STP

With pleasure :]

[Send Me a Character and I'll List Ask Game]

favorite thing about them

Her contrast, the different facets of her personality that make her, well, her. She is kind, cheery, and understanding, but she is also firm, can be threatening, and takes absolutely 0 of our bullshit. And the best part is that all of these make perfect sense - she is kind because she is hopeful you'll repent and help her leave (and perhaps because your perception skews more positive of her, after learning of what the Narrator puts you through as a "reward"), but she also never lets you forget that you still killed her in cold blood.

least favorite thing about them

This will probably be true for most StP characters, I can't think of any specific that I dislike about pretty much all of them. So most of the time, if it's going to be anything, it'll be something very minor and silly - in this case, it's Spectre's tattered skirt on her dress (it's hard to draw, that's literally it)

favorite line

"All I know is there's a hole in my chest, and not the big obvious one that you put there. There's something older and deeper. A nagging reminder that I'm not where I'm supposed to be."

...honorable mention goes to: "But if you're just leaving me then... then I'm really just going to be stuck here forever. Th-there's nothing I can do, it's just going to go on and on and on and on, lonely and sad and hurting and empty."

brOTP

I like to imagine a close friendship between Nightmare and Spectre! No particular reason (besides them being a shared pair routes), but there is something fun about them hanging out and chatting while drinking some nice tea :]

OTP

Definitely SpectreCold! There is just something really beautiful about how much they contrast each other and yet, ultimately, both yearn for similar things, it's just all feelings, connection, longing. I started really, really liking them after this post by @/wintergrofyuri. Go read it! They explain my own feelings on this ship way better than I ever could (T v T)

nOTP

Don't think I really have those for her <3 Or honestly, in general, I have very few nOTPs :]

random headcanon

I kind of mentioned it in the first question, but I think that part of the reason why she's so kind and understanding is because your / TLQ's perception of her changes as a result of the Narrator trying to shove you into the Good Ending™. Up until that point, you follow the Narrator without question and so when he essentially betrays you... you begin to see him as the "villain" of this story. And since you didn't have much of a chance to really get to know the princess before you killed her... I'd like to think that this shift in perspective also contributes to Spectre's cheery and hopeful attitude :]

unpopular opinion

I don't think it's all that unpopular, but we need more sassy and threatening Spectre <3 This is a self-callout more than anything because I'm very guilty of drawing and writing her as too kind and sweet ^^;;;

song i associate with them

"earth child's lullaby" by TOFIE fits quite nicely :]

"Close your eyes Breathe the night Come home, return Be held by the earth, now"

favorite picture of them

Look at her! She is so pretty :]

[dirtyoldmanhole]

i'm going to be musing about one of gunter's most controversial lines here just because i've been idly thinking about it while drawing.

heads up for dead dove shit.

context: the JP version of Fates:Conquest had a region-locked minigame ("skinship" where you basically pet the character with your stylus lol) where you the player could interact more with a married gunter if you went that route - it also had several JP-only lines which you can read here.

generally they aren't that much different in tone than the EN ones though fun to read (especially since the minigame is lowkey sexual in nature; all the cast's lines were more strongly sexual not just his), but there was one line that uh. raised some eyebrows in the EN fandom when the fan-translators found it, shall we say.

in bold; (i've added some of the others for helpful context; i don't believe all of them are said one after the other, as it's whenever you choose to enter the minigame one is said).

By no means did I think these feelings would develop… Close your eyes for a moment. I apologize… I thought just touching you would be fine… When you touch me like that… Don’t tease me too much… or even someone like me won’t be able to endure it. (TL: He uses the verb “tawamureru” which means to play, joke, or flirt but I decided to liberally change it to tease) You’ve returned. We mustn’t… Oh no… I thought of you as a child but… I love you. Haha… is something the matter? Is it fine for me to touch you too? This side of you… don’t show it to anyone else. My wife… does cute things… I love you. I might have regarded you with special feelings ever since you were young. (A RANK:) Thank you very much for being kind to me to this extent. For as long as you wish it… I promise never to leave your side. (S RANK:) I thought I would always live alone. But you… lit a flame once more in my heart which I had locked away. This time I won’t let you go. I love you more than anyone else.

(... once again touched at how surprisingly romantic he can be)

anyway! oh yes, That Line.

tsk tsk.

given his position of power with essentially raising corrin, you can imagine how some people who already disliked the ship tended to leap on that line as "proof" of him sexually abusing corrin as a child to put it bluntly.

thoughts are still rotating, but roughly in order of:

instinctively (and the most boring position just to get it out of the way) on the first level i don't like how often this line is immediately whipped out to dissuade gunter/corrin shippers specifically but also shippers in general from engaging with taboo sexual concepts. especially when it's just as boringly... crudely blunt as "pedo". (slightly adjacent to gunter fans in general since there's sometimes an uneasy feeling that as long as you don't ship him that way with a 40-year age gap/parental figure/etc there's an exception carved out as "one of the good shippers" as long as you ship him with less of a power differential (eg gunter/shura. note i dig that ship, this is just an example.); though i think this sentiment has thankfully died down as of late versus the early years of fates fandom.)

god that is such a fustratingly common and boring way to engage with media. moving on.

on the second level down, i also instinctively dislike the feeling that it's whipped out to flatten the potential of gunter being romantically/sexually written as either binary concepts of "good" and "bad-touch", with the latter being often pointed out with an accusatory finger. personally i like reading bad-touch gunter for the lulz sometimes. also for the nuance given how sadly complex child abuse/grooming/pedophilia is in real life, and how it impacts the victim in so many ways beyond the obvious. and shocker - i like reading predatory-gunter sometimes even for cranking-the-hog-material! (predatory-gunter is kinda hot, man.) sometimes all of the above at the same time. i think all of these readings is just as applicable and interesting and needful as redemptive-gunter stories. (it's a very similar reason to why i fucking love possessed!gunter noncon what-if setups.)

and the above point doesn't even go into the nuance of can-you-even-have-redemption with the above if you want it. how would that work. how would that work in rev-verse vs conquest (different flavors of anankos possession going on in both. it's so much more complex than your usual grooming story if you frame it that way because his own agency is literally a question mark the entire time, which is endlessly fascinating to me with the horror potential as being a double victim in some ways. is this actually anankos' influence more than anything? how would everyone feel about that? especially anankos being corrin's bio-dad?)

going back to the quote itself there's even several other ways to interpret it that's not a crude (and imo annoying) distraction of moralizing.

like i always found it interesting that for a guy who deliberately self-censors 95% of the time, that he kinda blurts that out in a weak moment (which is already one interpretation, that it's semi accidental). why would he say that to corrin?

seriously, why would he?

i don't think he's trying to scare her off (like he does with some lines when he's a little insecure about his age).

what if he's genuinely fond of and loves corrin with a nuanced blend of fatherly love at the begining but yeah it did turn sexual towards the end (plus fatherly love) and either he doesn't want to exactly interrogate himself when that changed (because i personally think he holds a lot of understandable guilt over these feelings in general), or he isn't thinking about that at the moment and like. how the hell do you relay something like that without caveat-ing yourself to hell.

i think it's one of the few times here he's actually trying to be emotionally honest and vulnerable about how shits' complicated to him too. (and keep in mind he is not in general..... as emotionally aware as the tumblr crowd lol. he's an old man.)

there's a funny line in my head right now of "schrodinger's daddy dom" where society right now is a-okay with a daddy kink from the little's side but metatextually we've created a situation where it's impossible to create a three-dimensional daddy dom that is somehow free of sin and yet has honest to god sexual desires of his own especially in a messy situation like this.

especially in an evolving situation like this when it was very clear by the S-support he wasn't ever anticipating corrin to reciprocate his feelings, and he was dealing with his budding feelings by essentially just keeping it to himself. (canonically, he wanted to do the least-messy thing by not involving himself with corrin. it's only if corrin/you pursue him that he even gets this far.)

the extra funny thing:

all of this is dependent on the translation. culturally, through this whole game of telephone, the line itself may have some other JP specific connotations that we aren't aware of. christ what i wouldn't give to pay a fluent JP translator who didn't mind engaging with dead dove concepts to go through his support chain + these lines and give notes there.

....

and that's probably not even all of my thoughts but it's an essay as-is. :P

[abcwordsurge]

hey so I made this little thing. feel free to use for. whatever

explanations and examples under the cut

wearing each other's merch is just. one of my favorite things. whether by coercion or choice, it's funny and sweet. to me

michigan with ohio's blanket is pretty specific, but it shows up in two of my fics (chapters 12 and 13 of "minnie's scrapbook," and my "van horn" duology), so I figured I might as well include it

everyone else knows: even when ohio and michigan are blinded by their rivalry, the rest of the states (or at least the midwest) are not oblivious to their mutual crushes!

love confessions is pretty generic- as are literal sleeping together, h/c, fluff, angst, and smut- so I'm going to skip past this

ohio and michigan mending old wounds is very special to me. I don't have much of it myself (what can I say? I'm a fluff writer), but it's great to see how others do it. @xechoecho88x is very good at this <3

historical fics are more common than usual for this duo, I think, simply because of the fandom, and the past of these two states. I myself have indulged in writing fics rooted in history a few times, especially "tell me do you hate me" and "or do you want to date me," or as I like to call them, my "van horn" duology)

bickering!! really, is it an ohio / michigan fic without some bickering? (banter might also fall into this category, if done a certain way, haha)

us writers in the wttt fandom have a specialty in repressed feelings, I think. it works particularly well for these two because this is definitely the type of relationship where denial comes first, and far be it from them to admit they care about the other

watching movies together is another one that I included because I realized that it happens strangely often in my fics. notably, "classic hallmark" and "so wrong it's right."

nicknames!! a highly debated topic by ohiogan scholars. (other highly debated topics include the infamous ohiogan vs ohiomich debate. /lh) what various names does ohio use to avoid saying "michigan"? does michigan call ohio "buckeye" or "buckeyes"? (I'm in the minority here; I think it's "buckeyes." it just rolls off the tongue better.) whatever the nicknames might be, if they're in the fic, you can mark it on the box

ofc, I would be remiss to not include The Game. this is the basis on which I ship them. every year ohio state and university of michigan fans meet up to fight to the death- or at least to the end of the fourth quarter. it's football. I'm talking about football. whether it's a scene in the fic or just the basis of their teasing, it's so much fun to read and write. go bucks!

ruining the relationship is another one that I included for @xechoecho88x. (sorry for adding you twice in the same post. I can't help it that you impacted my ohiogan heart so strongly)

there are plenty of fics inspired by music in general, but there's something special about ohiogan fics inspired by music. and I just love writing fics with song titles, ok? I have the aforementioned "van horn" duology, "(never) let you go" (title from "mary on a cross," inspired by an edit from @mittenstroll), and "so wrong it's right" (title from "to my enemies" the theme imo of these two). there's also @xechoecho88x's marvelous "singing until the end." (sorry for adding you again, echo!)

only one allowed to hurt you is me: I love the ohio and michigan rivalry, but you know what I love more? ohio and michigan being protective of each other. it just does something to me /pos

ohio has his whole thing with not saying michigan's name, so there's something special about moments when he does. I myself have used this trick many times. I just can't get over ohio saying it- whether by accident or intent- and michigan's reaction is just- cjskmslslspwl. they make me feel things

yes, I have another box about them being protective of each other. can you blame me?

aspec michigan was another one I did for @xechoecho88x. (I swear this is the last time I'll add you!) it's just. aspec michigan heals me. ohio being supportive of aspec michigan is even better

toledo war mentions, well, how could I not include this? whether it's a historical fic or they're mending the rift between them after the fact, I love when there are reminders of their past <3

go forth and enjoy ohiogan. they are so so special to me

[omo321]

I got Soh @arsquare's Kaishin bundle I won in a lottery last month 🤠

(on the second try that is, he was kind enough to send another copy bc the post office declined to give the first one to me bc I the parcel didn't specify my legal name :// whatever)

Whatever paper was used for the postcard, I love it (shiny in a nice subtle way) also Kaito is so cute here, I only now realized

I wonder if there's any practical sense to having business cards nowadays? anyways it's very pretty and now I DO wish more people had them. I'd be collecting....

I don't have any immediate use for the memo pad so I'm keeping it sealed but looks very good!

the art on the bookmark is amazing as I already have known, it is also more flexible than I thought, and the transparent effect is very nice! when i think about it, I probably prefer paper bookmarks, but it physically pains me whenever they get permanent creases, so plastic is safer that way... (also tassels give me a bit of an anxiety ever since since I used one I got as a gift from Urumqi students as a keychain and it fell apart lol...)

postcard and the book got a bit bent, nothing too serious but enough for me to side-eye our post service (for that, and stealing two of my zines now :/)

Soh was kind enough to add a drawing of fem Tsurumi for me too! (I went a bit insane for her for a month or two, here :DD) incredible <33

the quality of printing in the comic itself is really good, slightly glossy somehow? I haven't read manga in a while but I remember the paper being more plain/rough

can't even imagine the amount of effort that went into this comic, the kaishin santa origin story and three-month production period is wild. mad respect. I have so much respect for sequential artists in general.

I dont remember 1st edition well enough to spot differences but the art looks amazing… what's the word… crisp! crisp.

assorted story notes:

I remember reading it the first edition like "kaito in teitan? where's aoko :/" @ "AOKO!! :DD". she's merged with Ran here technically but it did feel like she played a role and wasn't only "Kaito's version of Ran", which I appreciated. ALSO I LOVE HOW SHE'S DRAWN SPECIFICALLY

progression of shinichi's faces after time reset is so funny :DD

SHIN BEING GHOSTED BY RAN AFTER CONFESSING… then choosing to be honest with her despite it…. Fire...

when I read the 1st edition, I found it not particularly shippy (I didn't know Soh doesn't ship it as that point, put it made sense in retrospect). Re-reading it, I see the romantic notes more clearly, but the sense of distance between them is also more obvious. that's kind of related to why the ship is loved, isn't it? It's easier for these two to be honest with each other who they barely know, rather than their lifetime friends, as far as canon goes. lol Aoko wasn't able to fix Kaito before and she won't fix him now...

[stardustdiiving]

very long elaboration on this:

Mavuika is in a really unfortunate position where ultimately my issue with her is just that her character falls a little flat—in a way that really isn’t a unique or uncommon issue for Genshin characters, and doesn’t frustrate me much personally, but definitely ends up drawing a lot more ire from fans bc to how noticeable this is due to her specific place & role in the story

I don’t think Mavuika’s writing would stand out nearly as much if Natlan’s overall AQ didn’t also just, generally feel rather lackluster for a lot of people (myself included). But honestly i think these two things unfortunately kind of go hand in hand—how well executed the Archon is as a character has a lot of sway over the overall cohesion of the region in my eyes. Their individual character/arc is usually very intertwined with the overall themes/narrative of a region, which is something both the main AQ storyline & other characters of the region are going to be building off of as a result

Like regardless how individually invested people are in say, Nahida and/or Furina as characters/archons, I think they both fill their roles in their respective narratives pretty well, and their regions are stronger in a lot of areas for it. People wouldn’t like the Fontaine AQ nearly as much if people hadn’t been able to become emotionally invested in Furina as a character, and honestly I’d go as far to say a lot of the most popular characters in Sumeru & Fontaine would be a lot worse off from the region’s Archons being fumbled, because generally what makes a lot of Genshin characters interesting is how they interact with the themes of their region that, again, the Archon serves as a cornerstone for establishing. Haikaveh’s massive popularity as a ship, for example, isn’t random: a lot of people like it because the way the characters relate to the conversation of wisdom in Sumeru makes them engaging characters

The reception Natlan’s AQ & cast gets feels really lukewarm in comparison, and again I think that makes sense when it feels they didn't commit to one of the characters a lot of things are depending on as groundwork to build off

And I think…what really gets me about them fumbling Mavuika in particular is just how much she conceptually feels a character that would be well within Genshin’s capabilities to write. Like… I feel Mavuika & Ei’s writing, for instance, share the similar issue of Genshin not committing to their characters the way they need, but while Ei suffers from a lot of wishywashiness or backtracking on the role her character serves in Causing Conflict, the commitment Mavuika lacks is more solidly in a commitment in execution than who she is character wise.

Because I think we actually do have a good idea of what kind of character Mavuika is intended to be & what role she’s supposed to serve in the story, and it’s something I’d theoretically like & consider a welcome addition to the Archon lineup.

I like that she’s a normal human voluntarily assuming the role of an Archon, and I’m not even inherently opposed to her just being a very competent leader who’s good at her job. If we are going to have any Archon who “feels” more like what people would “expect an Archon to be” in terms of commanding authority/respect as a leader, I definitely think it suits the narrative best if it’s a human archon like Mavuika bc an intentional element of a lot of nonhuman Archon characters is that they’re /not/ supposed to “feel” like what you’d expect gods to be.

While I think her being good at her job works conceptually, in execution it’s definitely to her character’s detriment, because you can tell pretty quickly they are…not doing it in a way that leaves very much room for her to be a character you can really connect to emotionally.

Any attempt the AQ makes at giving Mavuika personal flaws/struggles/conflict ends up feeling really forced or pointless, because there’s no room in her characterization for things to meaningfully impact her as a person or invoke a response in you as the viewer other than “wow, Mavuika is so cool and well adjusted”

I know how Genshin writes characters, and I could tell pretty early on what they wanted to go for was that Mavuika is someone who is good at her job to the point of self destruction, someone who’s selflessness & sense of duty is admirable until it becomes sad/concerning with how much its prioritized over her own needs and wants as a person.

This character archetype of denying your own humanity and fixating self sacrifice, especially out of a sense of duty and/or poor self worth, is incredibly on brand for Genshin to write & something we know they’re capable of writing well and with variety.

Like, similarly to Furina, Mavuika is sacrificing/suppressing a lot of her humanity out of her sense of duty as an Archon. The fact she very voluntarily signed up for forfeiting her relationships with her family & neglecting her wants as a person because she’s so set on saving Natlan would be really compelling, but is constantly undercut by the fact it ultimately has little impact on…anything.

Mavuika’s grief for her lost family never makes her falter or struggle in places it would matter—other characters comment she doesn't focus on her own wants/needs, but this never seems to have any genuine emotional or physical consequences on Mavuika as a person or anyone around her. She just, um…tells you she figured out how to cope with her grief a while ago, or that she will maybe try to paint for fun to unwind between her responsibilities, etc.

It feels like even more of a missed opportunity when you consider how well elaborating on things like that would’ve aligned with Natlan’s “no one fights alone” mantra. If Mavuika is actively suffering from the consequences of shouldering so much burden alone out of a sense of duty i think it would’ve worked really well to have the rest of the Natlan cast challenge that, especially when they are so widely good natured and enthusiastic about being cooperative to an almost comedic degree

A lot of what they try to show of Mavuika’s emotions feels crammed into the last act of the AQ, and by then it’s really too late to have good pay off because there’s no room for build up. I wish they’d had something more along the lines of…Yelan getting into a tense argument with Xiao trying to self sacrifice in Perious Trail, or Nahida being so set on sacrificing herself for Sumeru’s sake in her 2nd SQ she’s seen torn up about & struggling to accept the outcome of someone sacrificing themselves in her place instead in the aftermath. Have her arc be struggling to internalize “no one fights alone” applies to her too, or something.

At the very least I wish there was more fanfare or resistance over her not being the one to sacrifice herself in the end omg. She just gets talked down a bit by Citlali & Traveler & then just kinda stands there like “oh…ok :(“ when Capitano shows up with a power point presentation about why this should be His self sacrifice moment now HAHDBXJHXND

Anyways. TLDR Mavuika feels like she was supposed to be a very specific flavor of self sacrificial Genshin character with problems but for some reason Genshin just didn’t do this, which was definitely to the overwhelming detriment of the emotional stakes for Natlan’s Archon Quest but really funny conceptually because it’s like here she is, the one you’ve all been waiting for: one (1) Genshin archon who’s main deal is being an abnormal level of emotionally well adjusted compared to everyone else. Enjoy!

Guys as someone who really enjoys the Archons on a thematic level the way they executed Mavuika as a character kills me omg

[emylilas]

Ladies of WOT - a potential community ?

Hello fellow WOT show enjoyers!

I am deliberately not tagging the show because I am aiming for a very specific demographic. Among those who watch WOT and are talking about it in different spaces (discord, twitter, here), I've noticed that people are having very different experiences watching the show, depending on what they want the focus to be on; to the point it might sometimes feel like we're in very different fandoms.

I realise the show is a book adaptation and I understand why people would expect more attention to be given to Rand, or Perin, or Mat, because those are the names who often come back, rather than some of the Aes Sedai who aren't as fleshed out in the book (I'm looking at you, my beloved Liandrin), but I have no interest in developing a sense of community with people who are watching the show for very different reasons than I.

I am absolutely not here for the men of the show, it's fine if you are, good for you but don't come at me. There are some men whose stories I enjoy following, but I'm here for the aes sedai, the forsakens (I can't wait to really meet Moghedien next season), the younger girls, the seanchans... and I would very much love to be able to share my love for the show and those characters, and to enjoy the show with people who share a similar enthusiasm.

Here's my issue, though, I find it hard to build a sense of community on Tumblr, interactions are limited by a very poor comment section, which is a shame.

I don't believe Twitter should be the main place for fandoms, because there's no room for in-depth conversations and everything has to be done quickly, It's more about posting and liking than engaging together.

I enjoy Dreamwidth and it would be, I think, a lovely place to build a community (besides, there is some WOT content over there) but I know it's not the most popular place, and it works more as a forum, which might lack the spontaneity of conversations.

Then there's Discord, and I am conflicted about Discord, on the one hand, it's convenient to chat and it can be well organised, on the other hand... I have wandered on quite a few fandom servers and they weren't for me, except for one. They're usually too crowded and I found that, in some places, the conversations are overwhelming in quantity but there aren't any real discussions.

As for that ONE server that worked for me, that one is quite special. You see, it's a small fandom of a show with a lot of wasted potential, but it's also the best fandom I've had the pleasure to join. People really interact, most of us know each other at least vaguely, we have a general idea of what are people's likes and dislikes, even when they aren't people we've chatted a lot with, and the mods always come up with fabulous events to keep the community living and it does keep on living, even after the show got cancelled in 2022. This discord doesn't have that many people in it, we talk a lot about the show, we also talk about specific characters, talk about ships in their dedicated channels, chat about our progress in our fic/gif/edits and support each other... people are interacting and we're all loving it. And those same people participate in fandom events because what unites us, even if we don't love the same characters or ships, is our love for that same show.

This is this sense of community built on the common love for a show and its potential that I would like to find for WOT, and more specifically in this case, about the women of WOT (but of course, talks about the show as a whole are always welcome and encouraged, it's just that watching with a preference for the female characters really change the conversations ones might have...) Especially with the new season coming in March, with all those new intriguing women that joined the cast, it would be lovely to have our little corner somewhere to chat together, as a small part of a bigger fandom, rather than individuals floating in the big WOT show tag and struggling to connect.

(And maybe those places already exist and I just haven't found them yet and I'm the only one struggling to connect. In this case, if you know places, please fill me in, I am dying to connect with fellow ladies of WOT lovers.)

So I guess that's it. I would love for us to get a chance to better connect, as show lovers (book readers are welcome, but please, be really mindful of spoilers, I am sick of being spoiled things even though I muted tags because people believe using emojis to talk is good enough to prevent spoilers, like we don't have functioning brains enough to put 2 and 2 together...).

To sum up my wish list: I wish we, those of us with similar interests (I don't care which women you enjoy in WOT, I love them all and they're all interesting, even if I have my own preferences I will gladly chat about any of them with you), could create a little corner in this big fandom so we can start acting as a community rather than separated individuals scrolling through tags. But a community who takes its time, to have nice little chats about the show and its women, to discuss our ideas and hypothesis, to share our thoughts and headcanons about our favourite ships (and yes, please, let it be plural and not just one ship) and characters, to support each other's in our writing, drawing, giffing, editing... all that, free of the drama that too often seem to happen in fandoms. A little place where we could always find someone who's up to chat a little about the show, and its women.

(Little place, because I really think once you're over 100 persons in a discord server (and probably less) it becomes nearly impossible to really get this feeling of a community).

So I'd love to know your interest in building such a place, and where you think it would be the most convenient for you!

[astrid-gallivan]

Let’s talk about Bro

This is a post that I’ve been working on for a week now. It’s a post I knew I would eventually have to make, but it certainly is coming out sooner than I anticipated. This is to clarify and lay down exactly what my headspace is when I draw Eddys Brother (Bro) since I draw him a lot. It'll be a long post no matter how hard I try to cut it down. I'm sorry! ;.;

For a quick TL;DR- I do NOT ship Bro with any of the EEnE characters. PERIOD. I also do not ship the Kanker sisters with any of them. I do however understand that there is a lot of grey area in humanity and support you if you use these characters as Art Therapy for trauma. This is a hot take I’ve seen around various communities, and not everyone processes trauma in this manner, but I do not support the romanticization of these relationships in real life (especially if you are a child!). There is a distinct difference between fantasy and reality, and I am happy using fantasy to point out the abusive and toxic problems in reality so that others can recognize them. But even still, adults, don’t have kids in your fantasy! 😑 And realize that you dont have to share everything you create and that some things can still trigger others!

Okay, now for the long stuff where I break a few things down. I’m going to be fully honest with you. I hardly watched EEnE when I was a kid. But I saw the movie and Bro has stood out in my brain since then. That’s 16 years. Aside from the Eds always trying to get money for jawbreakers, he was really the only thing I remembered about the show. Finally watching the entire show (not even a year ago now) I found that I related quite a bit to Eddy. And I realized part of that was specifically because of his brother. I looked up to my abuser to the exact same degree that Eddy did with his brother.

I do like true crime and dark romance. I have a fascination with the dark side of humanity. I also love stories where the villain gets the happy ending. However! These are two very separate and distinct things and reading dark romances does not mean that you promote the toxic relations contained within or that you want to marry a serial killer.

I don’t draw Bro to be a villain who gets a happy ending. My Bro art ultimately explores the dark side of humanity and helps me to understand and cope with my own experiences that I had when I was a child. I am actually very selective on what I post with him. There's a reason I've got a lot of just Bro without another character, and the like, two I do have are with Eddy... and he's not happy. Art Therapy is a real thing, and I very much promote that. Creative outlets are a safe way to explore and understand our experiences. I want people to process their own experiences because honestly, doing so has made my life so much better! But I don’t support shipping Bro with any of the characters- aged up or not- just because they find it hot. I have seen some OC ships… that I’m more understanding of since it’s a form of projecting yourself into the story. And I know that young adults will have their own OCs be their age. I admit, I do have my own OC with Bro. But I don’t post this, and never will, because it’s only for me to work through something that happened, to release something that I’ve been too afraid and ashamed of admitting happened to me. So I can finally heal from something I’ve been carrying for 20 years. Nothing else.

I think it was honestly pure genius to make him an attractive and mysterious character on the show. Why? Because he portrays the reality of the dark side of humanity. He’s the light that brings the moths into their death- even his own brother, Eddy. I admit I’m a crazy moth that is always attracted to that light. And I don’t condemn you if you are a crazy moth too. There is nothing wrong with someone liking True Crime, dark romances, or villain characters in general. But my moth friends, as you fly around the light, remember what that light represents. Remember that while bringing things into the light makes them lose their power, don’t fly too close and get burned. Balance things. Give yourself breaks. Introspect. And give yourself some grace if something has happened to you. It wasn’t your fault. You’re not stupid for it having happened. You aren’t at fault. Period.

As for the Kanker sisters, I have never been a fan of the Kankers being shipped with the Eds. I always had a very certain “ick” factor with them, because they harassed the boys all the time. I wasn’t going to include them in my comic originally because of how much I didn’t like them…but I decided to take a different direction with them and have them acknowledge what they did and mature while still teasing everyone. This approach is very rooted in reality too- people can realize what stupid and harmful things they’ve done and can change. It doesn’t mean everything is fixed or that the people they harmed should welcome them into their lives with open arms. The change doesn't erase what happened. But they can be proactive and take actions to prevent future harm. They can educate people on why they were wrong and help make the world a better place.

I don’t know what anyone’s take on this will be, but for everyone calling out problems regarding these characters, seriously good on you. You really are doing a good thing with that and problems need to be pointed out. It’s how we learn and change the world for the better. 

And if something in here doesn't make sense or is confusing, please point it out so I can clarify and update it! This post is just so long... and I still feel like I didn't get to hit everything I wanted to say... 🤦‍♀️

[dinnfameron]

ki! happy nice ask day!

what moment in schitt's creek do you think shows the most growth in david as a character?

Hello! Thank you for the ask! I've been thinking about this one for a while, because David's journey is such an amazing thing to behold. He grows in so many facets of his life over the course of the series, so I think it's really hard to choose a moment where we see The Most growth.

One thing that strikes me about David early on, though, is his loneliness. He isn't a particularly self-centered person when we first meet him, at least not moreso than the other Roses. He's a little aloof. Entitled. Snippy. But he's also generous, and he's never outright unkind. When asked for his help, he pretty much always gives it freely, with only mild complaining.

But David is also really cut off from others. We see how reticent he is to spend time with people he doesn't know well. We know that he has no contact with any of his old friends. We see how his relationships with Stevie and then with Jake blow up in his face.

Fast forward to season 6. David has finally found love. And he's getting married!! But then Patrick says he wants to have a baby??? Record scratch, freeze frame, etc.

Prior to The Premiere, we've seen David agree to move in together when he thought it's what Patrick wanted. We've seen him try to set Patrick up with some random because he thought it would keep Patrick from having regrets later. We've seen him joke(?) that it's too late for Patrick to back out of the marriage when he finds out something embarrassing about David’s family.

I believe old David would've tried to do damage control on the baby thing. Maybe he would've never brought it up, hoping (correctly) that Patrick was too high to remember saying it, and that it would just go away on its own. Maybe he would've hinted at a slim possibility he'd be open to the idea of children. Maybe he would've even offered looking into adoption to appease Patrick, knowing all the while it'd be a huge mistake.

I don't mean to imply David was ever manipulative or dishonest in his relationships. What I'm saying is, there was a time that David was so lonely, I believe he would've done anything to have what he now has with Patrick, including compromising his own wishes for himself. In fact, the first time I watched it, I expected the baby conflict to be dragged out a little more. I expected more hand-wringing, at the very least.

By the events of The Premiere, though, that isn't who David is anymore. He values himself. He values Patrick. He knows he is worthy of love exactly as he is, that he shouldn't have to compromise any part of himself. And he knows that he can't commit to a life with Patrick if they want different things.

So he talks about it with Patrick immediately. He's honest about what he does and doesn't want. He's open about his concern that Patrick might feel differently. He doesn't shy away from the conversation, even though he knows it might mean the end of their relationship.

And what's more, when Patrick assures David that they're on the same kid free page, he takes him at his word. He trusts Patrick because he trusts them; he trusts their relationship.

Would the David of earlier seasons have even been capable of that level of trust? Would he have been able to reconcile his doubt so quickly? Thanks to the work David has already done on himself, he's secure enough in his own skin to be the loving partner we see in those final episodes.

Now that's some growth.

[krissi-klown]

> okay so i love to analyse the mechs' dynamics in my own little autistic way, as im sure a lot of us do. im going to do a long fuckin yap session on this, please bare with me here. im only going off of what i can remember of the general lore.

i feel this is connected to the way he describes her. "as crual and brutal as she is science." while we dont get to know a lot about raph [a damn shame], we have a little evidence that jonny admires and respects GOOD rivals/evils, based on his memories [and fondness?] of Marquis d'All The Knives.

i feel like jonny views raphaella in a highly respected way, yet still dangerous either to others or himself. he sees her as a good enough fit to keep her on the ship, but this could be some of his personal fear [?] that she's TOO good at what she does, and it frightens him, even if just a little.

i think its important to point out the obvious similarities of raph/carmilla and what it could mean for jonny's perceptions of raphaella, subconsciously. ofc carmilla was a doctor, a scientist, and so is raph. carmillas parenting is very debatable in the fandom, and im sure the mechs all have their own traumas and perceptions of her, but im simply going off of how i THINK jonny may see her.

in jonnys mind, maybe he thinks that he finally got rid of carmilla, the woman who took him at a young age, gave him immortality and sort of... doomed him to a life of violence. sure he is willfully and cheerfully a violent person, but it seems that he was in a bad place when carmilla came to him, promising a new life, and he saw few other escapes. she also held a lot of power, being captain, and we know that he is very adament on his "position" [whether the others always correct him bcus they see him unfit for the role, they dont want a leader as part of their rebellious nature, they genuinely dont see anybody but carmilla as the rightful captain, or a mix of all 3 is interesting to debate imo.]

taking these into account, imagine how it felt for jonny when, after years, decades, millenias after carmilla was gone, raphaella shows up. this bright, beautiful, cruel and brutal scientist who is VERY much a threat not only to the victims they come across but to the crew itself. since we dont know much about raphaellas mechanisation, she could have infiltrated the ship herself and asserted her role as scientist on her own terms. [i also find speculation around raphs involvement with the crew interesting, many possibilities.]

i believe jonny realised that he has a new person to fear in his life. raphaella serves as a parallel to who first created "the mechanisms", and if raph DID insert herself into the crew without any help from the others and, specifically, getting jonny's permission, it is a reminder that jonny was never truly in control of "his crew". this also ties in with raph being the only member left on aurora when the others leave, the last remaining person and therefore making her "captain" and taking over for her own desire to explore.

i mean, we never truly hear of raph dying in DTTM. she wanted to seek more scientific exploration inside a black hole, and we never got confirmation that it killed her. she's a powerful scientist, perfect additional crew member and an especially great piano player.

her playing is lovely. but for jonny, maybe a little too lovely.

yall know in revenge of spaceport mahon when, from what I remember, someone calls raph and/or her playing "lovely" and after a moment jonny says "one might say too lovely". at least that's how I remember it. wha. do we ever think about that. cause I think about it a lot

[lovelywingsart]

I'm just saying, if the chance was given to romance him, Saren would hold Shepard like they're the most precious fucking thing in the entire goddamn universe even though they kicked his ass twice and would easily do so again.

They may not entirely change his mind on his views of humanity but they changed his views on them, and he wouldn't take that for granted.

Shepard would become the most important thing to him and losing them would utterly destroy him, and you absolutely will not change my mind.

[necrotic-nephilim]

What do you think about the fab five polycule

(Dick x donna x wally x garth x roy)

i'll be SO honest i wish i had like. insightful interesting opinions on them but i've always been a Young Justice kid and sort of. breezed past consuming Fab Five Teen Titans content-

but of what i *do* know, from the few comics i've read with these characters is this is one of the best ships for Dick, honestly. it always deeply annoys me when fanon content breezes past the Titans as if they're just some distant teammates and not some of Dick's closest friends, if not a second family. *especially* the Fab Five. for most, if not all of them, it's the first time getting to actually connect with other teen heroes. so there's something fun about how sort of terrible they are at it, at first. they all care about each other a lot. but they're kind of chucked into the deep figuring out how to work with each other and get along with *very* different personalities, so it's fun to see where the conflict comes.

as a ship, i do really love it. the Titans are a family. like we call a lot of teams found families, but for the Fab Five, that shit is the truest. they depend on each other and trust each other. when Dick and Bruce are on outs and Bruce fires him, he goes to the Titans.

i also enjoy how, to an extent, all of them are outsiders of some kind. Donna is alone in a new world she's never experienced, the same as Garth. Roy is still new and awkward to living the rich life with Oliver. Wally doesn't connect to his parents well. and of course, Dick has lost his parents and only has Bruce, who isn't the most emotionally available. of course they're going to cling to each other, as the first people they can really develop connections too. they're very clingy with each other and i think that's both cute and *fun* to explore like, codependency issues with them. how protective they can be of each other, how they default to trusting each other over their mentors, etc. it's all very interesting for a polycule, especially since for most of them, it's their first real relationship. i'm a big fan of "none of us know what dating looks like bc we've had such strange childhoods so we don't understand the Rules very well. we're all just going to date each other bc why would i date only one of you. do teamups count as dates now." vibes with teenage polycules. and the Fab Five just. have that on lock. they each fulfill a different "niche" in the group. Garth is the softer, more emotional one you can go to if you're upset. Donna is the one for planning bright fun trips and making sure you don't wallow. Roy is protective and can pretend to be suave, but he shows affection through gift giving and grand gestures where words fail him. Wally can cheer any of them up with jokes and distractions. and of course Dick is the logical one who makes sure they all keep their heads on and don't drown in the responsibility.

overall i think it's a really cute ship and i do wish i just. knew more about them to be able to write them/read fic of it because i do love their dynamic. and i'm just a firm believer in the Titans being Dick's family, just as important to him as the Batfam. they're a disaster and for that you gotta love them.

[dinnfameron]

don't hide these tags op

wherein patty wears jo—[dolphin sounds]

[oceanwithouthermoon]

the way some people straight up have no respect for asou's writing is actually kind of insane to me 😭 like youre a fan of HIS manga, but you outwardly express your disregard for the intentions he had when writing....... disregarding canon can be super duper funsies and cool sometimes, but to straight up say "i dont care what he intended and think my headcanons are more canon than what he wrote because i think he wrote it badly/he sucks at writing this dynamic/i dont like the ship (or whatever) he was trying to imply" is literally just insanely disrespectful IN MY OPINION 😖

i think maybe im just annoyed at how badly people misuse the words "canon", "coded", and "implied" (which im also guilty of occasionally- especially when i first came here) cuz like... "i choose not to acknowledge this thing that is canon or technically canon or implied" is fine (usually). "i know what the author intended but i dont like it or care, so im going to call my headcanon/ship canon and anyone who disagrees is disregarding canon and is stupid because i said so" is NOT fine... ☠️☠️☠️

[agabus]

for christmas this year ken and kade's gift to us is old man yaoi, apparently

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Everything Under the Moon

Anthology of queer reimaginings of fairytales by mostly Australian authors

various genres, from contemporary to fantasy and sci-fi, mostly about older teens

mlm, sapphic, trans, nonbinary, demi, bi ace, and aromantic characters, some stories focusing on romance but many on familial relationships and siblings