#its one of the main reasons i cannot interact with most of the fandom sadly. infantilization of billy and everything just makes me uncomfy.

[shuteyelenz]

The amount of HATE I have for Fanon Billy is crazy like what the fuck he does NOT talk like that or act like that shut up..

[raxistaicho]

"White Clouds spends the whole section making you suspicious of the Church and Rhea only to turn around and tell you it's a red herring and actually it's the student you should have been suspicious of; which the writers confirmed in interviews"

Interviews a majority of the fandom probably have not, and never will, actually sit down to interact with, leaving their only source to be the original text. If your need interviews from the developers to support your argument that a character is good or bad or morally gray, then your argument is not strong enough to rely on the main text.

I shouldn't have to do homework and dig for interviews from five years ago to be able to play a game an analyze its themes and nuances and decide whose side I think is worth fighting for or which characters I want Byleth to end up with at the end.

"but this fandom has either the reading comprehension of wet paper or projects their Western centric views so hard onto a eastern style game that follows the path of enlightenment with Byleth to a t"

Okay, so where exactly does the whole "no acts of violence" part come in because that's kind of an important early step and it technically doesn't happen until the very end of the game, and even then, in multiple endings Byleth is shown to still have to use harmful/violent means to suppress smaller attempts at insurrection across the continent for years to come. Also, the path of enlightenment also involves not being involved in trades that would hurt people, like weapons trade or animal slaughter or being involved with people who are owning/trading slaves (looking at you House Goneril). There's a lot of other steps in the path that Byleth skips over, but these two are particularly glaring. If Byleth really were "following the path of enlightenment to a t", then we wouldn't be playing a Fire Emblem game, because Byleth wouldn't have agreed to fight in the war to begin with.

"they ignore the text and thus we still have discourse over the church being bad. It's very tiring and why I refuse to talk about 3H because so many have turned it into something it's not."

The biggest issue with this is that this is the entire point of the game!

The game is asking you to analyze it. To dissect it. To talk about it. To make your choices and replay different paths to find the answers you seek. To show it's not black and white and to understand why it isn't black and white. That things are complicated. And no one in this war is free from blood on their hands. No side is 100% right or wrong. It's up to the player to use their critical thinking skills to determine which they believe is the best path forward for Fódlan.

In order for us to fully interact with the text, we sadly have to face some harsh truths, just like Byleth does. Among them being that the church IS bad. Even if most of its intentions aren't and it still does some good, the fact is that it is bad, and it's a major reason why this war started in the first place. To deny that is to deny the text as it is presented to us, and to deny the actual point in the game.

Edelgard is more than just an attempted conqueror. Rhea is more than a seemingly benevolent religious leader. Dimitri is more than a charming prince. Claude is more than a seemingly suspicious stranger. Yuri is more than just a gang leader. Sylvain is more than a playboy. Dorothea is more than a sexy opera star. Lorenz is more than a pompous noble. Hubert, Dedue, and Hilda are more than just retainers to their lords. Seteth and Flayn are more than just members of the church. Alois is more than just Captain of the Knights. Hanneman and Manuela are more than just fellow professors. Sothis is more than a voice in our head.

And it's only through accepting this one truth, that the characters and institutions are not black and white cut outs, that we can get the most full picture of what exactly the true conflict is.

You cannot interact with the text of Three Houses by denying the nuance that makes the story happen in the first place.

The writing is messy, and complicated, and not always well done. But it's also simple, straight forward, and brilliant. It's a contradiction and compliment of themes. It's so very human. And that's what makes it so engaging.

(Apologies for the long rant but that anon sparked something in me and I had to put my two-cents in.)

Nah, don't apologize, this was great, thank you very much for sending it! :D

[skloomdumpster]

Salty Asks, #9, #14 and #19 for Fate!! Ciaoo

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

The Fate fandom is filled with sweet, creative, open minded people. I have yet to interact with anyone here who's a tool.

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

Already answered in the previous ask!

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Oh BOY. Okay everyone, just gonna put this one under a read more, because it's long. Tl;dr: It's Sam Harvey.

I think I've talked at length about how much I hate Sam, but let me attempt to be coherent one last time and then I won't ever bring him up again.

Sam's character is not only useless, it is actively hindering the story!

So we all know that a good story has two different types of characters (at least): Main characters and side characters. Put roughly, main characters have their own plots, complex feelings, extensive connections with other characters. Side characters on the other hand get to be "flat", but generally speaking in good writing they also have their own emotions and goals, which go hand in hand to support the plot, be it by aiding the protagonists or pushing them back.

Okay, cool. Sam is a side character. Musa and Terra are both main characters.

Sam Harvey is a flat side character, meaning he has very little depth to himself. What are his goals? Fears? Wishes? We don't know any of that about him. That's alright, it wouldn't be a problem in a show like Fate that only has six episodes. I don't think it would be fair to hate him on the basis of having very little personality alone, considering even the main characters fall kind of short with the little amount of time we're given.

No, the problem is that Sam ultimately doesn't DO what he is supposed to do as a side character. Instead of aiding the plot, be it for the benefit or not of the protagonists, Sam serves zero purpose.

He acts as a block of cement on Musa's characterization during season one. Where she clearly has internal turmoil over her own powers, Sam acts as a "let's not deal with that" cop out.

Which would be FINE if it was addressed by the writers as a cop out. If it was painted in the lines of "Musa is jumping onto a romance with the man equivalent of tranquilizers so she doesn't have to deal with her emotional problems". Sadly, they paint it as relationship goals.

Sam is set up to serve as a conflict to Terra/Musa's relationship, but he DOESN'T. He's got zero personality or wishes going into the relationship, meaning that the supposed "we cannot tell Terra" reasoning comes straight from Musa herself... And then it doesn't pay off at all! Terra is extremely supportive! It's the most anti-climatic thing ever and doesn't add anything to either girls' story arcs! Actually it just makes us, the audience, feel cheated on.

Then FINALLY to be the final nail on this metaphorical coffin, Sam getting hurt. We're not invested in him as a character when this happens. We know fucking nothing about the man. Which means the scene happens to show us, again, Musa x Terra. Terra dealing with the pending death of a brother, Musa dealing with her boyfriend supposedly dying and her being able to do something, but unwilling because of the grief she went through.

But then... Musa opens up with three tears about what happened with her mom and decides to suck it up and take his pain. We had zero growth happening between her refusing and her deciding to do it. It's not earned. Her character didn't develop , her character simply jumped to that conclusion of saving him. This doesn't show us that she's coming to term with her powers, because her entire relationship with Sam was about her refusing to deal with them in a healthy manner.

The writers opting for having her use her powers there goes against everything they've shown us so far and it actually diminishes the downward spiral that Musa goes through in season one! Remember, not all character development is good. Musa spending season 1 not dealing with her powers and being stricken by grief would be good writing if they had thought about it! But what they actually do is write one thing for six episodes and then spin it on its head in the last moment.

Terra gets to do some more emotional leg work and talk Musa through her feelings and she doesn't get to be angry or hurt. She only gets to be understanding and complacent with Musa's pain, which is currently harming her brother. Terra, whose character arc during s1 was about standing up for herself and her wishes, whose high point was telling off her father, gets yet again delegated to being sweet about Musa opting out of saving her brother. Terra, who so far is shown to love fiercely. TERRA.

Anyway, conclusion is Sam Harvey isn't a character that helps develop either of his two direct links (Terra, Musa), he definitely doesn't help with the plot (where Dane, for example of another side character, does! And a LOT!), he doesn't get to help us see into Musa's psyque because they don't even have talks or any of that, he doesn't serve as a comedic relief even. Sam is a useless character and then they didn't even allow him to die, to be coherent with what they were writing for six episodes. I hate it here.

[olliya]

Readers‘ engagement on AO3

This time it will be less scientific, and more like me writing down my stream of consciousness. But the methodology was really straight-forward, so I think I can spare us the details, and I wanted to show you a detour I made trying to untangle the reasons behind certain fandom reactions. Join me for a trip?

AO3 is rather infamous for its lack of readers engagement (see all the initiatives supporting the commenting: @ao3commentoftheday​, @longlivefeedback​), at least among the fics and writers I am in contact with (and I do pay attention to the stats, you can believe me 😉 ). Nevertheless, some people feel very comfortable on this platform and for quite some time already I wondered what leads to such diametrically different writers’ experiences.

I started with analyzing Comments for Sakura’s ships. Since I did the same analysis for four Sakura’s ships: SasuSaku, NaruSaku, KakaSaku and MadaSaku on ff.net, we can have a direct comparison, especially as the time scope of existence Pairing Option and AO3 as a platform are very similar, and fic numbers are also comparable.

Very briefly: I sorted the fics into the following bins: >500 Comments, 201-500 Comments, 101-200 Comments, 51-100 Comments, 21-50 Comments, 11-20 Comments, 6-10 Comments, 2-5 Comments, 1 Comment, 0 Comments. All data are presented in percentage to allow for comparisons between the ships.

So let’s dive in:

On the first glance the graphs look peculiar: there is always sort of a double maximum for “0 Comments” and “2-5 Comments” divided by a minimum for “1 Comment”. But once we remember that the Comments on AO3 include also author’s responses the situation becomes clear: the majority of fics have 2 comments: namely 1 real Comment from a reader and one answer from the author.

To put this hypothesis into a test I checked how many fics have 2 Comments, and it is 316 out of 839 of SasuSaku fics in “2-5 Comments” bin, 84 out of 204 fics for NaruSaku and 104 out of 315 fic for KakaSaku – which gives always ca. one third of comments in the “2-5 Comments” bin.

At that point I deliberated for a while whether I should modify my bins to include “2 Comments” as a separate category, but I opted out of it for the sake of (future) comparisons with ff.net (and because I think by bins are very good, thank you).

As a side note: on the first 4 graphs we can also see that MadaSaku has a different distribution than all the other ships, but it is worth mentioning that it was also an outlier on ff.net. We will come to this later.

Peculiarity of distribution aside – the feedback on 3 main Sakura’s ships is consistently miserable. But, I reasoned, AO3 is famously M/M oriented so maybe the F/M audience is simply not there. Therefore, I set off to check all the Naruto ships in the order of their popularity, which btw is the following:

So, working down the list we get this:

And, WTF Naruto fandom? Most of the fics for hugely popular, established ships have no comments??!! Or one comment and an answer from the writer??!!

That was a really disappointing exercise…

Until I found that:

MadaTobi was the first ship that displayed a different pattern of readers interactions! It has a maximum in “21-50 Comments” per fic which is perfectly decent and corresponds well with the values for the ships I examined before on ff.net.

Encouraged by this discovery I dug further: (And tbh for a moment I thought I have here a “Madara-effect”, since both MadaTobi and MadaSaku displayed encouraging results 😉 )

But Madara-effect was not the case (HashiMada displays the same distribution as all the other ships) and further data were even more disappointing. (Let me repeat myself: WTF, Naruto fandom?!)

Until I found another instance of good readers’ participation:

KakaGai! So, at that point we had three ships that were behaving differently than the norm: MadaTobi, KakaGai and MadaSaku.

I looked further to see if I can find more examples of fandom positivity, but, spoiler alert – No. For the sake of appearances lets look at the data though. GaaLee is sort of a borderline case, so let’s flag it as “tentative” for now.

So, what could be the reason for such a drastically different behavior of distinctive pockets of the fandom? Over the course of last year, I was observing how MadaTobi was rapidly gaining popularity, so that hinted me to follow this line of reasoning.

For each ship, I broke down the fics numbers into years when they were published. I ignored all the fics published in 2020 (because the year has only started and including those data would skew the image). To be able to compare the ships (which vary widely in term of fic numbers) I calculated the percentages of fics published in each year. I.e if a ship had 100 fics published until December 2019 and 30 of them were published in 2019, then 2019 had 30% of all published fics. It was at that point irrelevant how many fics were published in 2020, they weren’t counted either the way. I included only data from 2011 on, because earlier ones are very fuzzy due to back-dating customs that were in fashion at that time (for explanations see here).

Let’s look at the data. Tadaaa!!!

Isn’t it absolutely beautiful?! (yes, I know!) Does it look like a tangle of knitting yarn? (yes, I know that as well!)

So, let me break it down for you:

See that, that general trend? This is the growth curve that most of the ships follow – pretty linear, with maybe a bit of acceleration in 2019.

Now let’s focus on outliers: (3 most popular ships: SasuNaru, KakaIru and SasuSaku are included for reference – they illustrate the general trend pretty well).

The ships that grew more than 30% in 2019 are: SasuHina, MadaTobi, GaaLee, KakaObi, HashiMada, KakaGai, MadaSaku and InoSaku. So, among those eight, 4 (3 obvious, and 1 tentative) are the ones which showed outstanding readers’ engagement!

 So, are newer, more energetic parts of fandom also the ones with best readers’ engagement? That would be a very optimistic message… But what about four ships that grew tremendously, but still show very poor readers behavior?

SasuHina is an easy case. If there exist a ship that has a captain, then it is this one. And the captain is @365daysofsasuhina​ who contributed staggering 438 fics (out of total of 966) to SasuHina! (Seriously, a round of standing ovation, because this is amount of dedication, work and talent that we can all only dream about. Talking about being a change you want to see!). And 90% of that contribution was done exactly in 2019, which explains the growth spurt of the ship. Sadly though, the audience response didn't keep up with the supply of new fics, therefore great many of them remain with very few comments.

So what about the remaining ones: KakaObi, HashiMadara and InoSaku?

Scrolling through the fic lists I noticed that great many of KakaObi fics are written in Chinese, so I decided to look into it deeper.

I analyzed the percentages of Chinese fics for all the examined ships (and percentages of English ones, just in case there was a ship with overrepresentation of some other language):

And we can see that both KakaObi and HashiMada have a very strong presence of the Chinese fics!

At that point I thought I have it, and proceeded to look at the distribution of Comments for Chinese KakaObi and HashiMada fics. And indeed, the reader’s engagement is sadly, almost nonexistent (165 out of 182 HashiMada fics and 478 out of 630 KakaObi fics have no comments at all). The reasons for that may be multiple; one that come to my mind is that the Chinese readers are still to follow their writers to AO3, or that the fics published recently are in reality not new (which for sure they are not, given the sheer amount of them) and received already their share of feedback on other platforms.

But, even if one subtracts the Chinese fics from the overall fics, the distribution remains the same! ☹ KakaObi and HashiMada still display the standard Comment distribution, despite having grown 45% and 41% in the last year!

It looks a bit better, but still follows standard, not very flattering trend of most of other ships.

So, then I thought that maybe if I subtract the Chinese fics the sudden growth in 2019 will disappear?

The answer is unfortunately, no. The growth spurt is still there, language independent.

So, at this point I don’t know... I am convinced that there is some effect coming from the influx of Chinese fics, but I cannot put my finger on it. (It is also a beautiful example of how correlation does not equal causation.) I also have no explanation for InoSaku behavior…

  Nevertheless, I think it is possible to draw some conclusions, and those conclusions are of vital importance for the health of fandom as it is currently on the move from ff.net to AO3. And I would hate to see the good habits that are in place among ff.net readers getting lost during this move!

It seems that the readers response is better in the pockets of fandom that experience rapid growth, which in itself is very positive news. But one would think that the entirety of Naruto fandom is experiencing such growth (as the fandom is moving to AO3, remember…?). Unfortunately, it isn’t the case.

There can be yet another factor in play: namely the question if the ship is well represented on ff.net, and most of the ships are. Let’s take a final look at our three outliers: MadaTobi, KakaGai and MadaSaku.

Quick look into ff.net (by quick look I mean: sum of two main Ship Names plus Pairing Option minus fics that were double-tagged) shows that there are 174 KakaGai fics, 132 MadaTobi fics and 230 MadaSaku fics (my carefully calculated MadaSaku fic number was 232 in December 2019, so now I believe this number will be slightly higher).

MadaTobi and KakaGai are definitely underrepresented on ff.net (though MadaSaku is not). Therefore, new fics are not being published on ff.net in parallel to AO3, but rather on AO3 exclusively. It is a speculation only, but maybe if readers are given a choice between commenting on ff.net and on AO3, they are choosing the older platform.  That would imply that the authors who make a complete move can still count on feedback, as with absence of ff.net-uploaded fics the readers would have only one place to comment on. At least that’s my hope…

And finally, dear Naruto fandom – step it up. Those numbers are a shame, and I know that people can do better than this.

[danwhobrowses]

Valentines 2020: A Celebration of My Ships

So it’s valentine’s day again, and...yeah it’s not too great when you’re single is it? Considering that I’ve already gone through a tub of ice cream...

But, it doesn’t mean I’m a cynic, quite the opposite. Most of my fandoms involves a ship in some shape or form, hell I shipped before I even knew what shipping was, so I’m gonna talk about some of them...the ones that still make me happy and didn’t crash and burn in heartbreaking and frankly insulting fashion (looking at you Homestuck ¬_¬), gotta mention that these are not all the ships I ship, they’re just some of the ones I’m quite consistently high on

New Entries So with new fandoms come new ships...as is the usual formula anyway, though my pattern of watching things is usually with some delay, I only watched Rurouni Kenshin and started My Hero Academia in 2019, I still hold off on Attack on Titan and My Hero Season 4 because if I get in, I get IN. So these fandoms may not be new, but they are new to me Steven Universe is very new to me, I’ve been aware of how good it is and their concepts like Fusion. I like it, particularly Lapis Lazuli I really relate to her, but ship wise the two I really like are the obvious ones; Steven x Connie and Ruby x Sapphire (Garnet)

Garnet is badass and chill at the same time, but when she unfuses we see the stuff that makes me smile, the pda between Ruby and Sapphire is adorable, the little pecks and whatnot softens me up like no man’s business. Steven and Connie also have the mushy dynamic with both of them deeply into each other but still being strong individuals. The love for each other is equally platonic as it is romantic as they gel together, both being strong willed in different ways. The laughter probably gets me the most with both of them, the genuine laughter is so sweet and so realistic it’s hard not to love. My Hero Academia seems to be our next wave of shonen anime and for good reason, it does high notes so well and the cast of characters are vibrant and exciting. I haven’t hit Season 4 yet since I’m waiting till it’s all done to binge so I may be a little behind on some stuff (sadly it’s hard to avoid spoilers, I know about Infinity and Unbreakable). While I do like Deku x Uraraka, Tetsutetsu x Kendo and Eraserjoke but the two that I find most enjoyable are Todomomo and Kamijirou

(artist nonoko135 btw, bit tough to find a single image with both ships) Fairly popular ships in their own right, Todomomo doesn’t get many hints but they are sweet, naive rich kids with their own confidence issues, it also feels like they look out for each other especially after the final exam they did together. With Kamijirou though it’s probably one I favour if I had to choose between the two, simply because it’s a dynamic I really like; she busts on him so hard to mask her enjoyment of his company and he takes it because he feels at ease around her, the best part is when Kaminari goes 0 volts, he makes her laugh and that’s kinda big for Jirou given how self-conscious and stoic she can be. Rurouni Kenshin was always on my list, I have often heard about the Swordsman with a blade that cuts no-one. The anime is a bit up and down, after Shishio it’s just filler, but as documented in my Redemption Arc post it is at its core a great story of redemption for the main character, and the driving force for Kenshin’s redemption is his love for Kaoru

While Sano and Megumi have a unique dynamic hinted to be romantic at times, nothing can really beat Kenshin and Kaoru, she literally became Kenshin’s conscience, a representation of his hope to be a good man away from the shadow of Battousai the Manslayer. It may be your traditional romance of the two wanting to be by each other’s side in danger but it works so well given the kind of danger Kenshin is often in. Kaoru still strives to protect herself and aid Kenshin in a way that doesn’t make her continuously wonder about being a burden and Kenshin does everything in his power to keep Kaoru from pain, physical and emotional, even if it meant leaving to keep her safe. The main part of what makes this lovely is the fact that not only did Kaoru’s influence make Kenshin value his own life once more but after continual torment in his past she still saw him as the person he wanted to be, and welcomed in a new home, a new family he was able to live a life he never imagined he could deserve. The Regulars Our Regulars are the ships I still consistently ship, they’re not very old but they’re still pretty great and they still stand the test of time. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has quite a few ships over its 6 (coming up 7) season lifespan, being the longest surviving MCU tv series and one of the most consistently great shows MCU offered - especially Season 4, some of the best TV was on Season 4. But while Philinda is close, Mack and Yoyo or even Piper and Davis (don’t, I don’t care if you believe she’s a lesbian with the hots for May these are my ships) there is one one ship in Shield you can all rally behind, Fitzsimmons

Even when canon it is a consistent emotional rollercoaster. One of those ships where the writers know you love it and decide to put you through as much pain and emotional torment as humanely possible. But you endure it, because these two smart kids are worth it. They have sweet moments, badass moments, emotional moments and even though they get brought apart time and time again, they still find each other, the universe cannot stop them - and it better end happily for them come next season. Overwatch was a phenomenon when it came out a few years ago, Blizzard may have caused it to have some heavily bad rep but I still look forward to its sequel coming out. Given its large roster and most of the characters’ sexuality and relationship status up in the air, it leaves a lot of room for shipping. I do still love Anahardt, Mercy76 kinda falling due to 76 being gay but I like Gency too, my rarepairs include McPharah and Symmzo but my favourite is actually Meihem.

Now I know, Mei’s only voice lines towards Junkrat are cold, they have differing views in terms of omnics and...due process of the law. But there’s a lot they do have in common; both are quite intelligent engineers having made their weapons by hand, both endured trauma and both love their puns. But even the stuff that make them different can compliment one another. You don’t have to like it, but I do, I enjoy the dynamic of Jamison being so head over heels that he embarrasses himself to try and get Mei’s attention, while Mei softens to the fact that his very nature is warped by his lawless upbringing and that deep down he is an exciting and in his own way sweet guy.  Back to anime, because what else do I do with my day, getting into One Piece was always going to be a long effort, keeping tabs on the Manga does make it easier and I’ve been able to catch up quickly. Ships are shaky territory with One Piece because Oda does make a point of not having romance happen a lot, not to existing living characters at least. But I still have the ones I like; Shanks x Makino, Sabo x Koala, Franky x Robin, Sanji x Pudding, Rebecca x Koby, the list goes on, but my favourite has to be Zoro x Tashigi

May not be up there with the ‘big ships’ of One Piece but I do enjoy them the most. Individually the two are characters I have deep interest in; Zoro is well Roronoa Fucking Zoro, santoryu swordsman extraordinaire, master of nothing happening and will cut you 8 ways to Sunday, but Tashigi is a character I like because she also tries, unlike Zoro she isn’t blessed with 2 years training with Mihawk and she’s at constant arms with this self doubt that as a Woman she won’t be as strong (and probably whoever of influence to her made her believe such a thing), people may get on her back for never winning a fight but she fights strong people without a second thought. But back to the pairing, they have an interesting dynamic; two very similar people on different sides of the law, I don’t think Tashigi continues to chase him simply because he refused to cut her in their fight and I don’t think it’s just her former resemblance to Kuina that gets Zoro so riled up about her, I mean Zoro is usually so chill to side characters to the point where he’s ready to throw down but with Tashigi, it’s different, they bicker but he also came to her aid. I still continue to hope that Tashigi shows in Wano for more Zoro interaction, and to prove herself to fans and to Zoro that she is strong and capable. One of my favourite anime of all time is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a combination of laughter, tears and deep philosophical character journeys in a 20th century world with the alchemy fantasy element drawn from actual legit alchemical sources. It just hits all the right notes for me, and ships hit right too; I love most of the ships from EdWin, AlMay and LingFan, but like Fitzsimmons there is one ship that stands above even the main characters, Royai.

Mustang and Hawkeye right from the bat have that connection that needs no dancing around, they care for each other but they work together. Like the rest of the ships they banter, argue but always have each other’s backs, to the point that they go into an insane rage at even the threat of the other being hurt. I don’t think anyone can not ship these two, that’s how strong their chemistry is, even if they can’t officially label it as a relationship because of their jobs it’s that line in the sand that everyone knows it, because it’s impossible to ignore. The Old Guard So we get to the oldest ships in my catalogue, the fact that they could stand the test of time is for a long time what shaped me as a shipper. I still ship these to this day so I ship them pretty hardcore Comics is probably the hardest place to ship something, because different writers will try different pairings at the drop of a hat. Even consistent pairings like Spiderman and Mary Jane, Batman and Catwoman, Beat Boy and Raven, Superman and Lois and more can end up being split in favour of Cindy Moon (I do love Silk), Wonder Woman and others. But I can’t ignore the fact that I’ve always loved Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon

I may’ve liked Teen Titans, but I was never on Team Starfire, it’s fine if you are but to me I have always been in with Dick and Babs. Not only do they have excellent banter but they gel well on and off of crime fighting, no matter how many times DC break them apart (like seriously, how many times do you have to try Bruce and Barbara until you realise that it creeps people out?) they always find each other again someway down the line, they are one of DC’s best couples and while they may never get a definitive ending because of the nature of comics, I still love that there’s a relationship of two strong individuals who can stand as equals and continue to keep their charm and wit after years of being together. When I was young, decades ago as it pains me to type, Digimon was the prime competitor against Pokémon’s tidal wave. Its anime had an awesome opening, more characters with some deeper themes and a quicker pacing. While many could quickly connect to Tai or Matt for their leaderlike attitude or Joe and Izzy for their intelligence or Mimi and Sora for their determination, I gravitated towards TK, a child who had room to grow and the greatest of potential, so when the Dark Masters came in we saw one of my oldest ships take form, Takari

TK and Kari’s pairing was popular that it managed to carry on into Adventure 02 and we got plenty of lovely moments in TRI (though they shorthanded both by having Ophanimon quickly fused and Seraphimon - one of the strongest Digimon - digivolve as backup in a Sora episode). 02′s epilogue is of course a sore spot we can hope Kizuna retcons because these two have been through thick and thin and their bond is clear. Even as they reach their late teens and TK has become master of hats and joined Matt’s band, they still hang out, banter and tease but they still are comfortable to hold each other’s hand and be vulnerable with one another too. Digimon may’ve been a contender, but Pokémon was still the clear winner, even to this day it is one of the most popular franchises in the world. The anime may be an up and down slope (current series seems a tad boring, 10 episodes before Ash caught a Pokémon, plus I don’t like that Ash won in Alola and now thinks he doesn’t have to try) but you can never take away the nostalgia, or the ships. I’ve shipped many in Pokémon in various media; Mallow x Lillie and Jessie x James in the anime, Ruby x Sapphire in the Manga, Looker x Anabel in the games (with Emma being their adoptive daughter dammit Looker you could’ve taken her with) among others and from Pokémon comes the oldest ship I’ve ever shipped, Pokéshipping

Before I even knew what Shipping was I shipped this, Misty may also be mostly the reason for my attraction to redheads but that’s neither here nor there. People may not like it, may prefer some of the softer spoken female (or male) companions Ash has had or feel they’ve grown out of it, but not me. I loved Misty’s feistiness and determination but also the fact that she could reign Ash in (sometimes) to make him think things through, as much as Misty was a companion to Ash she was a rival, a teacher and a supporter of his goal, but she also had her own goals which she fought for as well. They may bicker but they have also had tender moments as well and even with Misty’s return in the excellent Sun and Moon episodes they had their chemistry is palpable. To me, Ash and Misty were kindred spirits and the feeling has never changed since. So with another year of Valentine’s Day going the way it usually does, I’d like a moment to thank these ships, and all my other ships I didn’t have the space to mention, for being something that brings out happiness and a soft joy deep within my being, and for all the fanartists and fanfic writers that bring that love to life Happy Valentine’s Day

[laschatzi]

Just saw your post about fanfic comments. As a reader, I agree with everything you said. Got to be honest I’m less inclined to comment these days for these exact reasons. Actually, I feel less motivated to read fic at all. I sometimes feel that I’m being berated for not being cool enough to ‘get’ and appreciate the worthy and unique fics and I’m some how lesser for preferring their ‘tropey’ or ‘main-stream’ fics. I applaud writers for wanting to stretch themselves and try something new but its..

a bit like when a band builds an audience with one genre of popular music and then three albums in completely change direction and are surprised when record sales fall. Different people will be attracted to different types of stories. You want to write different types of stories, different people will want to read them. Don’t insult the people who’ve been supporting you all along.

And sometimes I don’t have time to write an essay in response to a fic, I just have time to say ‘loved it’ or hit the kudos button. It means I read it and enjoyed it. So did all the other people who did the same. There’s a reason some of us are readers and not writers - we just don’t have the words to express what we want to say. It can be intimidating, especially when interacting with established writers in a fandom. We get starstruck :) Apologies for ranting at you but I feel this a lot.             

Hello nonnie, you’re talking about this post about readers being put off by, let’s say it how it is, entitled writers, and stopping to give feedback altogether, a bit like you said. I’m afraid that there are more readers like you, and that’s really a shame.

I always thought fanfic is there to make people happy - those who write it, and those who consume it. Different people are made happy by different things, and no one should be shamed or made feel “lesser” or “not cool enough” (aka superficial) because they prefer certain things over others. (more under the cut, I’m afraid this got a little long and rant-y)

But I keep seeing lately how writers point out differences between “tropey” fics and “unique” fics, insinuating that the latter are somehow “better” or more worthy, and I find that pretty arrogant and elitist, to be honest. It’s like saying classic music is better than modern music, and if you don’t appreciate classic music, you’re superficial. No, you’re not. You just like different things.

People maybe have a hard life with a lot of conflicts in them, and when they come here (or to ao3 or ff.net) to find a bit of distraction, maybe they just don’t want to read stories that put their characters through 37 chapters of pain and angst, no matter how deep or “unique” or well written that story might be. Maybe they just want to bask in the 50th coffee shop AU or family fluff or, yeah, that good old smut. Oh, and newsflash: a fic consisting of tropes, fluff or smut doesn’t mean it’s not well written, and a fic being “unique” fic doesn’t make it automatically well written.

So, this elitist attitude of some writers is one thing that got me up in arms lately. (Especially because they don’t mind to use the popular tropes to their advantage when they want a fic to get notes - but please note that it is never about the notes, of course not, it’s about quality, always about quality)

The other thing that really gets on my nerves is the culture of policing everything. There are posts like “how to give feedback” or “how to interact with writers” etc. Yeah, sure, don’t be rude as fuck, obviously. But it goes further than that. Writers complain that readers only like, but don’t reblog. That people only leave kudos, but don’t comment. That they only write “more please” but don’t give detailed feedback. Readers get berated for expressing their confusion because they have forgotten a detail from the canon material the writer has incorporated - “have you not watched the show?!” Way to treat your readers.

Writers love feedback, of course they do. I’m a writer myself, I love to hear from readers that something I wrote touched them. But I cannot demand it, that’s called entitlement. Readers have multiple reason for interacting (or not interacting) the way they do - or don’t. Like you explained, nonnie, sometimes you just don’t have time to write an essay as feedback. Sometimes you binged that fic until 3am and then fell asleep, and in the next morning you just forgot to comment. Sometimes you just don’t want to reblog that smut fic, because your teenage daughter is on tumblr, too. Sometimes you’re just shy and intimidated by the so-called “big names” in fandom - and sadly, when writers display those “quality vs. tropes” attitudes I described above, a shy and intimidated reader won’t be motivated to communicate with the writer, or give feedback at all.

I’m sorry, nonnie, that you were made feel like you were a “lesser” fan because of your fic preferences, and I truly hope you know that not all writers have that attitude, and most of us do appreciate you even if you are just sitting in that corner with a pleased smile and quietly hit that heart button - or just scroll to the next chapter of our super-tropey bookshop AU.

Because it’s all about your happiness, and mine, and not about the notes.

[pheacas]

“The Musical Fandom is Sexist” Response Post

I saw a post trying to express the thought that the musical fandom is sexist because there was a lack of f/f ships from @justiceforalanabeck, and although there is something in there, the execution was lackluster, at best, and I thought I would quickly run down a couple of reasons why I find that argument to be weak and a (slightly) more structured argument for my own personal opinion.

Original post (for reference I just didn’t want to reblog because it’s so long and there’s no ‘keep reading’ option on it): https://justiceforalanabeck.tumblr.com/post/182985916366/the-sexism-in-musical-fandoms

Summary of my thoughts I put at the end: There is a clear and slightly unsettling ratio between m/m and f/f ships within fandoms, but the ‘ships’ are not the end all be all of a fandom being ‘sexist’ and shows with women leads deserve more love, but there is still plenty of content created for the women that shouldn’t be discredited because it isn’t ‘ship related’.

My (6) main arguments against the original post:

I’ve heard people argue that Pinkberry is ‘toxic’ (which I can make an argument for just about any ship in popular fandoms), which can certainly keep it from becoming popular.  Although Jeremy and Michael have some toxic interactions in the show, particularly the middle, they’re clearly there for one another at the end of the day and are best friends and have nice relationships (although I’m indifferent on almost all BMC ships).  Chloe tried to screw Brooke’s boyfriend against his will and made Brooke not just feel like shit in that one instance, but constantly put Brooke down in general which she didn’t deserve.

Within the canon universe of Dear Evan Hansen, Zoe and Alana (Zolana) have zero canon interaction in the Broadway run.  Literally zero (unless you could the couple of audios where they interact for a moment in Arena Stage which I wouldn’t count since almost no one has actually listened to it).  I’m personally not a fan of Evan x Connor, but when it comes to it vs. Zolana, they at least interact for a moment in canon, and in the computer lab there is an opportunity where Connor does truly seem to be attempting to befriend Evan and it is established that, yes, they could have probably actually been friends if Connor hadn’t read Evan’s letter to himself and/or Evan didn’t bring Zoe up in it (although they would have still never gotten into a relationship).  Also, in canon, Zoe and Evan’s relationship is built completely by lies on Evan’s side, which is, again, extremely toxic (although it is a ship I prefer to Tree Bros outside of canon).  And also, it’s hard to say that the fandom is being sexist when that’s literally the only f/f ship, until you want to get into Heidi x Cynthia which is extremely weird territory.

The two shows you focused on have a male lead who the entire plot is centered around and focuses mainly on (with Michael also getting a good amount of solo time and being able to be called one of the ‘main characters’ along with Jeremy, Christine, and the Squip), so obviously the male lead is going to be more paired with people than other characters who don’t get as much focus on how they interact (in DEH we don’t go away from Evan’s perspective other than Anybody Have a Map and Requiem, which are Murphy family songs so no shipping there, and whenever we stray from Jeremy I feel like it’s more Michael’s part most of the time).

Heathers has never had a Broadway run and doesn’t have a long running production, so it makes sense it wouldn’t be ‘as popular’, although it certainly does have a fandom, it’s just doesn’t have as steady of a stream sometimes (and there is confusion under the tagging for Heathers and Mean Girls, as well, since they’re based off of a movie, although there still admittedly isn’t as much content, especially for Mean Girls, compared to the behemoths of DEH and BMC (although Heathers I think comes close to DEH)).  Plus, the hype train for BMC was really big in the summer because of off-Broadway, and West End revivals…  Don’t pick up as much traction (although the soundtrack coming out should bring more attention to it which I’m hyped for).

The use of Waitress as an argument for people not liking f/f is just…  Off because Waitress doesn’t appeal to a Tumblr fan nearly as much as other shows because it’s about a middle aged woman getting pregnant in an abusive relationship and cheating on her abusive husband with a man who is also married.  Wicked…  Also doesn’t appeal to a theatre fanbase that will write fan fiction nearly as much.

The Prom is another debatably iffy one because yes, it does really give us f/f on Broadway we need, but it puts many off because of how misleading it feels.  You think you’re walking in and the two lesbians will be the leads, but instead it’s a straight woman which can put people off (along with those first ten minutes I really like the show but not those first ten or so minutes).  Although again we still 100% need love for female-lead musicals and f/f in Broadway just don’t fake me out with the straights (although I understand why that needed to be added to prolong its survival in a business which throws out what the rich, old populous doesn’t like (which is why ETAJ and Bare will never make it to Broadway but that’s another topic in itself and a post for another day)).

My feelings on the situation: Looking at m/m vs f/f can give you a hint of how the fandom feels on female characters, but, in reality, that truly cannot be the be all end all when looking at a fandom.  It does such that we don’t get that sort of representation, but that doesn’t mean by itself that a fandom is sexist.  In most cases, these ships just make zero sense.  If we’re shipping something, there should be a slight basis behind it.  Galaxy Gals has nothing and Pinkberry has toxic interactions.

Waitress and Wicked don’t appeal to a Tumblr audience for the most part.  Mean Girls and the Prom are sadly left in the dirt compared to the other fandoms, but MG has a stigma around it by some of the big musical fans (including me) and the Prom just hasn’t gotten as popular because it doesn’t have a Broadway video more than anything (and those first ten or so minutes I legit clicked off the first time with my friend who is now a mega-Prom stan).  Heathers does have a good-sized fandom, but nothing big has happened to it compared to BMC and DEH.

Looking on Tumblr, though, you can find that the fandom still does appreciate the female characters.  Zoe, Christine, Alana, Brooke, etc. get a lot of fanart around them!  In fact, one of my trading friends named their trading stuff after a female character in BMC, and not Jeremy or Michael or whoever else!  The females do truly get attention in the fandom and calling them sexist really isn’t seeing the full picture.

Also, the part of the fandom who would be writing and reading this stuff is more younger girls, and they just have a tendency to prefer writing/reading about gay men over gay women and straight couples.  It could be seen as possibly sexism placed on themselves by the society they live in, but I think it’s just sort of a fetization of gay men that we’ve seen many times before (namely: Love Simon), mixed with the male leads get more development than their leading ladies and supporting actresses which just makes them easier/more interesting to write on because they’re already 3D.

But, yes, females in musicals and female-led musicals do deserve a lot more attention than they receive and it is sad that sometimes they don’t get the recognition they deserve, but calling the fandom ‘sexist’ for not writing f/f is just so wrong.

[a-rdentlyy]

*finger guns* fuck vld s8 B)

I was incapable to do my final projects until I wrote down all my feelings. VLD is trash, but I’m sadly obsessed with it, dear god just end my suffering. Just to be clear, I also have some (very few) good things to say about this season but those will be at the end.

Cons

lol the whole fucking season

Pretty much everything concerning Lance was about Allura, nothing about his own personal growth except when talking to Keith

Sunset talk was romantic as FUCK and Keith spoke about how great Lance was and was just so fucking soft the whole time

Sitting at the table and confiding in each other about personal growth had me tearing up tbh

Literally episode one was extremely gay

Like, super gay

Lance and Allura have an awkward date, which was honestly pretty cute, EXCEPT for when Lance suddenly tells her he loves her and she’s just like “i mean ok i guess” and they kiss????????????

What the hell??????????

And why the fuck did Lance choose to seek solace in Keith when he was worried about his “date”??????? (hint: its gay fellas)

And then when Veronica asked about Keith and if he was single Lance literally freaked the fuck out for like 67493862988409 years

HUGE queerbait season and episode if you ask me :/

How the FUCK is Ezor still alive, I’m not complaining, but this was out of nowhere

The astral plane episode w the old paladins could have been so cool

Blaytz should have been with Lance, literally his whole speech about people underestimating him and “fucking having greatness within” is LITERALLY what Allura said to him in either season 5 or 6 (can’t remember and don’t really care about their interactions tbh)??????? Like??????? Give my boy some validation that isn’t centered around his romantic life?????

Alfor should have been with Allura. That’s her fucking dad and his whole “my daughter chose you cuz ur cool i guess” speech to Lance felt so flat and awkward, I hated it. Everything about Alfor’s speech would have been so much better if it wasn’t about how Allura liked him.

AND SHE DIDN’T EVEN CHOOSE LANCE, SHE CHOSE LOTOR AND SETTLED FOR LANCE BECAUSE HE WAS HER CONSTANT COMPANION

They did Lotor dirty, my trash son

Not a single bit of actual redemption

In the Honerva flashback episode could see how his parents tore him down. Zarkon destroying his first colony broke him.

Totally unresolved Lotura plotline. I really liked them together and they had genuine chemistry unlike the “main” bullshit ship of the season. Allura first tries to kill him in her nightmare and then immediately trusts him after he says like 2 words????????? Girl ain’t over her ex.

So was he actually evil and was really sucking out quinessence or was that plotline just never touched upon, cuz he tried to explain what was happening in s6 but was never really allowed to speak?????

The Altean colony was never really resolved???????

Like, who’s running it now??????

Altean/Farmer Lance

Don’t even talk to me about this shit

What the FUCK is with him suddenly becoming Altean????? Like, if he had, you know, some Altean descendents and his little markings were suddenly activated then i’d kind of get it

Also Lance has Altean markings now, because we just can’t let Lance move on from Allura and be happy can we

This ending was SUCH BULLSHIT. Lance has always wanted to be a pilot but now that some girl he liked is dead he wants to live on a farm w his family?????

I’m still not done with how they won’t just let Lance move on from Allura and be happy

He lives on Altea, of all places, so he’ll see her people everywhere

He has fucking Altean markings so he’ll be reminded of her every time he looks at himself in the mirror

Honerva seemed like such a good, complex villain but they just made her goal so fucking dumb

I figured she’d want to get Lotor back (which I dug because I’m always here for mother’s love n shit) plotlines, but suddenly she’s trying to get to an alternate universe?????? The fuck?????

And what the hell happened when she actually went to the AU, what the actual fuck

What a bitch, she’s still pissed at Allura even in this alternate reality

Lol AU baby Lotor telling Honerva how she sucks is incredible

Klance

Fucking gypped

So much build up

Where the hell is the “slow burn” endgame for Lance?????? Definitely not with Allura, that shit was rushed as hell

Literally so much chemistry between Keith and Lance

Allurance

I don’t actually hate Allurance

The writers just suck at doing their job and making good romantic relationships

Literally cringed at every scene where Allura and Lance interacted tho, it just felt so forced

When Lance said “my girlfriend” I actually had to stop watching and had to take a solid half hour to recover (I’m not even joking), it was the worst thing I had ever heard

HELLA rushed “i love you” to Allura. Lance, she’s the fucking best, I agree, but dude. You honestly don’t even really know each other that well (the demi in me is coming out lol)

Allura never once responded to Lance saying I love you until the very end, and even then it felt more like a platonic “I love who you are” deal. She definitely didn’t love Lance like he cared for her.

She even ended up dying and walked towards Lotor at the end, she still chose Lotor over Lance at the very end

And we just can’t let Lance have anything nice, can we

Lotura

“He was happy with you” fuckin Honerva speaking the truth for once

Literally one of the best ships that crashed and burned for no reason

Through this entire season you can still see Allura isn’t over Lotor

Allura, they did you so dirty as well

My wife

I’m so sorry for what they did to you

This amazing survivor of genocide that thought that she was the last survivor was killed off

They also ruined ur character tho, the real Allura would never have basically tortured the real Zarkon without quintessence poisoning

And you would have realized you don’t actually love Lance like that

Those goodbyes actually destroyed me at the end tho

“I’m gonna miss you Allura” BITCH ME TOO, THE FUCK

Shiro’s goodbye made me tear up the most

So she can create infinite realities because of her sacrifice except for one where she lives???????

And who’s leading the new Altea????? No one???? They never explain what happens with the actual colony that Lotor made and the current timeline

Holy shit I just realized we never actually found out if Lotor survived the quintessence field or not

I mean, almost certainly didn’t

But still, that shit’s important to tell us

Looked like a hawk carrying away a baby mouse

Shiro’s wedding was fucking bullshit

Like finally he can be happy

But god, give us fucking SOME development that isn’t damage control

At least I liked whoever he married in those background scenes despite never learning his name

MATT’S HAIRCUT IS A TRAVESTY at the end

He looks way better with long hair

What the fuck was with the lions just dipping??????????

Tbh that shit made me cry

And now they’re just chilling out in space??????

Pros

The beginning of the season was actually surprisingly really good? Like, I was nearly invested the whole time up until episode 8?????? And then it got fucking insane and weird with no explanation.

THE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS

Baby Lotor was so fucking cute, I adore him.

Those small Klance scenes killed me

Keith supporting and validating everything Lance has done and just being a great bf in general

That romantic ass sunset scene (you CANNOT tell me that shit was platonic)

We could have had it all yo :(

Surprisingly really liked Kinkade’s vlog episode, it made me like the MFE pilots

I didn’t care about them at ALL in s7 but now I like them more

Just Kinkade and Rizavi tho

Some tasty VeronicaxAcxa shit

That’s lesbian activity

Thank god Bex was right when she said Kacxa wasn’t gonna be a thing

Old Paladin’s were pretty cool except for the bullshit talking

BAD. ASS. VOLTRON/ATLAS FUSION.

Thank GOD Galra Emperor Keith wasn’t a thing

Coran keeping Allura’s memory alive keeps me alive

HIS TOAST TO HER HAD ME CRYING

THEY REALLY WERE FAMILY

Thank god it doesn’t seem like Lance is insanely depressed a year after Allura’s death, this kid needs closure and to move on and find some semblance of happiness that doesn’t revolve around romance

Small Klance moments at the end

That fucking reunion at the end made me cry

At least we got a mlm kiss, even though it’s garbage :)

List of Those Done Dirty

ALLURA

Lance

Lotor

Shiro

Adam

The Whole Fucking Fandom

All in all, fuck v slur, 3/10 for the season and 4.5/10 for the whole show. Seasons 1-3 are the only canon seasons. Except for parts of Season 5 and 6. Those can stay.

Also Klance is Canon King.

[shirotanis]

ok so i was looking forward to doing this and i’m glad it is done eventually ! to make long words short, i recently hit a great follower goal and the number keeps increasing and i’m ??? bc its weird but i’m thankful to everyone following me nonetheless💕💕💕 i’ve had this blog for a month and something but i’ve met a lot of wonderful people whom i grew to love and care for!!!!! some i havent interacted as much as others but i hope to get to know you all in the near future 💖💖💖  

if your url is bold go take a look at the very end where it says ‘read more’ bc there’s a few words for you 💖💕💞💓💖💓💞💓

also i’m pretty sure i have more mutuals but they are sideblogs and idk whats their main to check if they follow me or not but pls know that i didnt forget or that i didnt want to include you!!!!

#: 

@4fnc // @4zammy 

a-g:

@cryogonal-jonghyun // @daypjh // @dojooned // @dojooon // @dowoonhtml // @from-roses-to-dojoon // 

h-j:

@howcaniwait // @ijustcantlie // @iwooseong // @jaeheyong //

k-r:

@lipstick-chathao // @mirinae-x // @rxsewoosung

s-z:

@saekkisongarak // @sangdoldol // @savageday6 // @shelovesjinyoung // @smolpil // @softwoonie // @tasteless-ratatouille // @tennisanon // @thedarksideofthewoon // @thedaysix // @ttherose // @theroseofficial // @wattela // @wonpixel // @woosung-is-my-aesthetic // @woosungs-blackrose // @woosammv // @younghyuuns // @youngks-smile 

@4fnc: oK GIA MY LOVE!!!!! i have sO much to say about you my best absolute perfect !!!! ok first of all we’ve been friends for like, 3 years??? this is the longest friendship i’ve had and it started out so weird like? i was a bts blog and you were an exo blog aND THEN I BECAME AN EXO BLOG AND YOU BECAME A BTS BLOG but over the years, we grew to stan other groups, i parkoured more than you and i admit ;;;;;;  ok but i still remember your most legendary post “my mom bought me cock heck yea - wAIT NO I MEANT COKE NOT COCK WHY WOULD MY MOM BUY ME COCK” and i’ll never let it die. you are such a beautiful person inside out i would have never thought i deserve you but !!! we’ve been together for so long and i hope we meet someday bc honestly? i wanna h*g you so much its a lil gross but,,, you mean so much to me honestly ok i’ll stop now i didnt even say everything i wanted to but i’ll keep that for another time ;)) i love our late night conversations about ??? whatever from memes to long appreciation hours about our faves to personal stuff its just so exhilarating to talk to you ily always gia 💞💞💞💞

@daypjh: oh oh oh my heart is turning into a puddle of joeliness rn thats how soft i am for you :(((((( honestly we have been talking for a few days but i feel like we’ve been friends for years??? when we started talking i was taken aback bc 1) shIT jo noticed me ok gotta act cool 2) it was So comfortable and So smooth and i had so much fun my fist conversations with people tend to be a little awkward and i’m always anxious but with you ??? i was so chill for some reason!!!! also you are the purest jae stan? the softest of them all and i know how much he means to you but you are a lil ho for the rest of day6 too i’m laughing you go all out with your trashiness;; i would have never thought i’d find someone with whom i share so many interests but here we are!! i’m so happy we started talking because i realised i was missing out on some gr8 stuff 👌👌 you are so funny our conversations never fail to make me smile whenever i feel down…i still wanna get to know you more tho but on another note i hope you stay happy !!!!! you deserve everything good i love you pls remember💓💞💓  

@howcaniwait: my fave charcoal 💞 i know we havent interacted that much but i consider you a friend, more than a mutual. you are so cute and funny too also youre so talented when it come to photography like ?? pure goals not even exaggerating!!! you love bri and sammy so much it makes my heart jump a lil :’’’) you also helped me with that friend issue when you didnt have to and i’m still thankful bc it helped me~ btw the way you interact with every single follower of yours is such goals yall like family asdjgldhs cute ;-; lets get to know each other more soon💖💖💖  

also a meme that is a very relative

@ijustcantlie: alice!!!!!!!! one of my fave blackroses 💓💓 i don’t have a lot to say about you bc i don’t know you well yet bUt i want to!!!! anyways your edits are so great they always leave me speechless i wish i had them skills tbh :

@rxsewoosung: hello dora 💕💕💕 in actuallity, he have exchanged a few asks only and thats about it but (though i wish we talk more one day)!!! you are so cute tbh i havent seen you around in a while but that’s bc the rose is kind of dead atm but as i was stalking your blog i realised how adorable you are!!!!you love the boys dearly and i cannot express how happy that makes me also you say i’m your fave woosung stan and that my blog contains a+++ content but same goes for you ;) woosung would be so happy to know such a nice person likes him so much plus your gifs are most pretty in my opinion i aspire to be like you💕 

@thedaysix: MY FAVE DAY6 BLOG HANDS DOWN!!!! bethany ily so much not to be that person but i would have never thought YOU out of ALL day6 blogs would follow me i probably cried a lil on the inside when i saw you had followed me and liked some of my stuff as well askflghlsd ok so basically i have said it before i think but i love and appreciate you so much ik i’m repeating myself lol but you are one of the funniest ppl i follow and your tags are the cutest shit they make me xtra soft 😭😭😭 btw callie is the cutest cat i wish i could cuddle the floof sighs 💓💓

@ttherose: The Blackrose Mom aka Olivia 💞💞💞 I can’t express my appreciation enough tbh ??? without you i doubt we’d exist on tumblr and i’m not even joking!!! i used to be intimidated by you because you are the mvp of the fandom but talking to you in the group chat i???wow you are so interesting and hilarious plus i love how you ALWAYS do your best to update us with everything the rose related and make memes at the same time i’m laughing thats the definition of dedication so i wanna say a big thank you for your hard work bc other fandoms lack what we have (a mom; i mean you) 💞

@woosung-is-my-aesthetic: OH HI FAKE SNAKE JANA oops i mean uuugggh lettuce :))) tbh i thought you were one of those chill stans when i followed you but karma is a bitch i guess bc you are pretty wildt and i like em wildt ;)))) oK I THINK you are one of the most precious ppl i wanna protect with all my heart :(( i love every single meme you send and everything you say is hilarious in one way or another also ??? you are a little trashy prince for shinee and you know i love that about you plus i appreciate the mysme dose on my dash thanks to you my trashy ass wants to download the game for the 4th time :/ one thing i love about you is the mom mode you always like “whO DO I NEED TO FIGHT WHO HURT YOU MY CHILDREN” and that makes my heart blast into outer space and make a colony on mars askflghslahs i’m 2 soft 4 you always thanks for all the help i appreciate it, really!!! and no matter what you do or say i’ll never consider you ‘dark’ you are a lil kitty in need of affection uwu 💖💖 and i’ll only eat pineapple pizza for you but i know i’ll regret it :

@woosammv: 🗣️🗣️🗣️ THE CUTEST BROSE 🗣️🗣️🗣️ julia…you is that one person who is above the rest… like all the other normies are trash for the rose but you are the landfill and that makes you special aslgjhhlshaldhs ok but honestly you are such a great person, always making flawless gifs and keeping the fandom well fed sadly i dont have a lot to say bc we havent really talked but i hope we do soon but just so you know, ily and your blog  💕💕💕

[evakteket]

Watchlist update!

Thank you and halla to all our new followers ♥ 

As promised, we’ll be making posts with WIP watchlist updates more or less weekly, letting you know what new fics we’ve added to that page, and which fics are now complete and in the queue for main archive recs.

The reason we only rec completed fics sadly becomes all too clear, whenever we go to add a WIP we started reading a while ago and find that it seems to have been abandoned. This week we discovered that one work we’ve been eager to rec had been deleted altogether. :(

Update summary: Completed: 1 Added: 4

News:

Those, who could not hear the music by UniversalParadox_13 NEW

This is also pretty new, but again shows a lot of potential to be one of the fandom’s most interesting AUs–this one has Even and Isak as ballet dancers. Although it can go a little overboard with the italics, this fic is already super interesting, has a well-done portrayal of the ballet world, and promises to eventually venture into *drumroll* smut territory. Yep. That got your attention, didn’t it? - kit

it comes in waves by @moonlitbird NEW

Also known as the mermaid AU. Yes, you read that right: MERMAID AU. This mermaid tale (!) is beautifully written, and is probably the best fantasy AU this fandom has, with a perfect twist on Even’s disorder and how it wreaks havoc on the relationship. The entire premise is fascinating, and flawlessly executed, and Kit is basically obsessed with this right now, so you should check it out and head on over to fangirl it with her literally ASAP. OMG. - kit

Darling, I feel you under my body by retts (@clarespace) NEW

Five senses/five chapters, eventually, in which Isak and Even are, well, hot. It’s an exploration of their sexual attraction, and let’s admit that these boys aren’t all softness and cuddles in canon–they are indeed very attracted to each other sexually as well. However, this isn’t just smut, it’s sensual and funny and sweet too. - immy

with love, from anonymous by cosetties (@adamparishe) and iriswests (@westiris) NEW

Fuck yeah well-written slow burn coffee shop AU! It’s also a secret admirer fic, and to be honest that sets off my skepticism, but this is such great fun and the fuckups and misunderstandings and coffee spills abound. It’s not entirely light-hearted; it comes with a dose of angst and frustration and the problems you can expect from life as well. - immy

Lykke til Evak by @stidyr (Norwegian)

Completed, rec here.

Still on the watchlist from last update:

Life Is Now. (and now, and now) by @flybynightgirl

This is an incredibly intense fic, written by an author who is intimately familiar with bipolar disorder. It’s hands down one of the best portrayals of an episode and its buildup/aftermath in the fandom so far. It’s post season 3, and has timestamps just like the show does – basically it’s a continuation of the season, and the conflict is far from over. Although there are a couple of moments when supporting characters make choices that seem ooc, the massive emotional pull of this fic is not to be underestimated. Not to mention that this fic also has humour and very lovely portrayal of friendships in abundance. - kit and immy

Falling (The World is Yours) by chips2

This is basically “what if Even was the main character of season 3?” It’s first person, present tense, so beware if that’s not your thing, but I love how it fleshes out Even’s backstory and thoughts and imagines a world for him beyond his relationship with Isak. An obligatory warning for people with experience of BPD–this fic does portray therapy sessions, and ymmv on how realistic they are. - kit

A Collection of Even & Isak’s First Kiss AU Shorts by @fandomlimb

Just what it says on the tin: first kisses, a different AU in each chapter. Adorable and fluffy so far. - immy

How In My Silence I Adored You by @dahlstrom

This lovely slow burn started as a oneshot but is now chaptered. It’s canon divergent, basically ‘the kosegruppe meeting takes off in a different direction,’ and it’s both well written and realistic. Very funny and sweet - and sometimes not so sweet or funny, as things aren’t easy for Isak. The interaction between the characters is wonderful in this, and the dialogue is great. - kit and immy

In Another Time, Another Place by aothes

This fic has what immy might call an American problem (i.e. it may not all ring true for Norwegian readers), but this post breakup fic fills this giant hole inside of me that feeds off of angst, and I absolutely cannot get enough of it right now. Starting in December of Isak’s third year, this is basically an exploration of Even returning to the city after they’ve been broken up for a while, and all of the teenage drama and heartache that follows. - kit

Spacewalker by evenvaltersen

How the hell you can make a Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo AU work with SKAM characters is beyond me, but evenvaltersen manages just that, in my opinion. This may be my obsession with Christiane F talking, but give it a go. Be warned: it’s every bit as gritty and sad as you can expect something based on a mostly true story about teen drug addicts in Berlin in the 70s to be, no fluff here. - immy

Colours Speak Louder Than Words by BreeTaylor

Yes, another soulmate fic! This one is of the ‘seeing the world in colour when you meet your soulmate’ variety, and I’m already hooked. I especially like the positive portrayal of both Sonja and Marianne. This is the author’s first SKAM fic, as far as I can tell, and IMO it’s an excitingly promising introduction to the fandom (so go and show her some love!) - kit

Lost Boys (Not Ready To Be Found) by kittpurrson

Yes, this is by one of the librarians of this blog. She’ll just have to deal with it being on the WIP watchlist, although she’d rather not have it mentioned, because the other librarian adores it. It’s a university AU from Even’s POV and every bit of this feels real. The characters do all those sort of awkward little things we all do, which really adds to a fic for me. Great interaction, and a great take on what life might be like for the characters if they hadn’t met in Nissen. - immy

making new clichés by strangetowns (@douchenuts)

This is in its early days, but oh-so promising! It’s another Evak as best friends AU, but it’s incredibly well-written thus far and it has a very realistic, nuanced portrayal of their relationship, which is already just close enough that it has us absolutely stoked for the moment it tips over into feelings too big to ignore. - kit and immy