#like ... there are plenty of ships in my other fandom shows that became canon that definitely shouldn't have

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Your blog is my guilty pleasure lol, it's so validating to read your very matter of fact rebuttals after years of being talked over & down to in the fandom. Being in the fan space & hearing the way people talked about how much more "female gaze coded" Z/tara was made me feel like I was betraying other women by not liking Zuko or Zutara the way "real mature" women did.

Funniest thing is, when i watched the show as a kid as an older sister, someone with talent/skills that nobody else understood, a girl who felt she had to be mature all the time, Kataang instantly became my otp. Katara was living my dream of a fun, cute boy sweeping me off my feet, telling me I was special and going on a magical journey with me-- I had the HUGEST crush on Aang as a little girl. It was so lame growing older and hearing near constantly from the fandom how stupid and unbelievable the idea that Katara actually had feelings for Aang was, and how it's a "male" (aka: bad) fantasy, when honestly Zuko's angsty ass was far from dream boyfriend material in my opinion it made me feel gaslit fjhdidjskj.

Genuine Z/tara fans are fine, I totally get the appeal of the red/blue enemies to lovers sparks fly ship, but the meanest and loudest of your crewmates and the way they act like their tastes are the Correct ones has been just. ridiculous for many years. And why do those types always feel the need to start the conversation by bashing Kataang every single time?? I started with a positive opinion of their ship when I entered the fandom as a teen, even liked a few arts and whatnot as a "what-if," but all the nonsense has left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

So yeah, thanks for this space to complain about the experiences we've had lol. I've had one too many conversations about ATLA & how good it is interrupted with the other person going "well except for the Main Romance, that was shit and Z/tara should have been endgame" not to be Worn Out. Like if in their opinion the show is *perfect* except that One thing.... maybe the problem lies elsewhere?

Yup, that's definitely a pattern I noticed: zutarians are SO many and SO loud, that even though a pretty large part of the fandom disagrees with their takes (regardless of enjoying the canon ships or not) most of them just... didn't talk about it because they didn't want to be harrassed or talked down to or be hit with the "well, we are the majority therefore we're right" argument.

It's part of why I was innitially shocked at how much support this blog got. I thought I just gonna be in my own little bubble of the fandom, but nope, I got sooooo many messages of "FINALLY! Somebody said it!"

And looking back, I should've noticed something was off. There's a reason ATLA's ending was not one of these disasters that basically nukes and kills 90% of the fandom and live in infamy as one of the worst falls from grace ever, How I Met Your Mother style, even though both shows had the fan favorite ship not end together.

It wasn't just that one was well-written and the other wasn't (though that clearly affected the audience and critical reception of these endings, both at the time and through the decades).

HIMYM was a case of "The actual endgame ship was loathed by nearly everyone while the rival pairings were almost universally beloved."

ATLA was a case of "70% of the fandom likes this ship - of these fans, 25% are multishipers that also like the canon ships, 25% only like the ship in fanfic but don't actually want it to be a thing, 25% loves it but can accept it not being canon at point because they acknowledge it'd be rushed, and the 25% are the ones that would burn down Bryke's house if they could, so in reality only a fraction of the fandom didn't accept the Kataang/Maiko endgame, while the overwhelming majority was either happy about it or indifferent to it"

And that's without taking into account that Avatar got new popularity boosts through the years that lead to plenty of people that had Zutara being hyped up for years being disappointed when they realized "Oh, it was popular because of fanon shit, not because it actually would have made sense story-wise" or people who reached that same conclusion after rewatching the show.

I think that's why Zutarians have such a victim complex and want to pretend Bryke and Kataang/Maiko fans are "oppressing" them - they've been dominating the conversation for years, and not only got no results out of it, they're now losing that "leverage" too. They're no longer in an echo-chamber, they need to use actual arguments that make sense if they want their opinion to be almost universal and they just can't do it because their ship was never that good to begin with.

[mementoshay]

I read in a document saying that you are longer going to be involved with anything to do with Hazbin ever again, is that correct? If so, why?

Hello there, I will answer with my own experience.

Keep in mind, however, that the fact that a friend died in the name of this show is already reason enough for me to not want to hear about it again, if only to preserve my own sanity.

For now, the only one who still somewhat engages with the fandom is Eden. I think the reason is that she made many friends along the way in the years she took an active part in the fandom (all the way from before the pilot I think, so many years), and can't quite cut the cord yet.

I, on the other hand, came along after the pilot and belonged to the HuskerDust "side" because of the Instagrams. I'm gonna admit I loved their banter and seeing Angel flirt with him with Husk acting like he didn't care, when he actually did. I found it cute. And also the way Angel blushed in the pilot when Husk was introduced.

I did know about the Hunicasts and about the interactions between Ed Bosco and Michael Kovach (Alastor and Angel's old VAs) on stream, and I found them amusing although not as endearing as the Instagram interactions between Angel and Husk.

I was fully aware though that these streams were the ground upon which the pilot (and fandom) was built, and the "RadioDust" ship carried the whole thing for years before anything was even produced. If you even typed "Hazbin Hotel" or "Alastor" or "Angel Dust", they were the thing that would come up on Google first.

What I liked about it all, however, was the passion and "camaraderie" this whole thing came with. There was passion from the VAs, there was passion from the writers, there was passion from the fans themselves. The fan created so much content it's insane. Every single fan awaited the arrival of the show for so long it was absolutely wonderful to see every character move when the show was announced.

We all believed in this project, it was amazing.

Yet, fast forward to the winter of 2023, my "side" of the fandom became increasingly aggressive. They wrote callout posts, leading to ship and content wars. They expected and almost demanded that the ship would be canon, because of an endless list of clues they collected over the years. And when the ship was confirmed to be 'endgame' the self-entitlement went from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. It was beyond insane.

Seeing the way my "side" could as much as maul people on other "sides" (may it be RadioDust, ValDust, RadioHusk, NifftyHusk, you name it, as long as there's either Angel or Husk in the equation) already made me grimace a little. When all that happened, I was taken aback.

Then, Shay died. And with all the names involved in the fact (which I won't name) that I really looked up to and followed for years, I felt sick to my stomach. I unfollowed them all and took a break from everything.

All I was hoping for was a show about redemption, with fun shenanigans between a bunch of misfits... instead we got drama after drama, ship war fuel directly from up above, and a dead fan.

I still watched the show when it came out, but I felt utterly disappointed by it. Extremely poor pacing, terrible writing with bits and pieces completely useless to the plot, characters that no longer feel like what they were advertised as (e.g Husk, Alastor or Cherri Bomb) and an overall waste of precious minutes for such a short runtime. I felt a bit betrayed as well, given the amount of time we all waited since we saw these characters on screen.

But worst of it all, the passion that fueled the original plan was completely gone, as well as the camaraderie we lived with for so long. And a friend, who dedicated time, money and passion is now dead for this.

There is to say that every community is made out of people that should be taken individually. I can name plenty that would never ever wish what has occurred to Shay and that still belong to what was my "side" of the fandom. But I can also name plenty that to this day still shout death threats over different ships and opinions.

Things change, of course. For me, they didn't change for the better. And neither did for Shay.

So you'll understand if I don't wish to be involved not hear about Hazbin Hotel (or HuskerDust for that matter) again.

Thanks for your question!

- Liv

[olympeline]

@endlesscolddreams and @liemurienn dropped some really good replies on my USUK vs. FrUK post and it’s made me think about the differences between both pairings and why they might attract their respective fans the way they do.

Let’s begin with USUK, which nearly from series start has more canon on its side. Or rather it has more “serious” moments. Hetalia is a gag show at heart and its non-jokey parts are few and far between, ship tease included. The first gut punch most fans will encounter is Alfred and Arthur’s battle during the American War for Independence. That will definitely stick with a lot of people if for no other reason than it’s so unexpected. The funny, silly anime about pasta and gag war abruptly pivots to a main character sobbing his heart out in the rain while another looks on, stony faced, with no joke at all. This can’t not leave an impression. Even fans who loathe Alfred never try to pretend his effect on Arthur isn’t huge. Then the series carries on teasing the things left unsaid between them in both serious and silly shapshots. With all this is mind, it’s not hard to see why USUK became the big, swinging dick of Hetalia’s ships. Aside from the borderline canon Gerita, nothing else really has the weight behind it I think.

This definitely makes it what I would call an “easy” ship to get into. That sounds bad because fandoms can be very judgey about pairings they find to be basic. Just like everything else in the arts, there’s a perception among some people that if something is popular then it must be dumber/less deep/worse. Pure elitism basically. And it’s bollocks. Just because something is popular with the masses doesn’t make it worse. It just means it’s popular. Plenty of people hate USUK for the perfecly legitimate reason that it just doesn’t gel with them. But there’s always been a minority undercurrent of “I hate this just because it’s the fandom’s most visible ship!” Seen this happen a million times with other communities over the years.

USUK also has the almost universally beloved tropes of Happy, Gregarious, Extroverted one loves Moody, Gloomy, Introverted one. Who loves him back but can’t say it because tsundere. FrUK on the other hand is more subtle. It has Slowburn, Rivals/Enemies to Lovers as its bread and butter. These tropes are well loved but there’s no big, attention grabbing dramatic moment early on that makes use of and cements the FrUK interpretation of them in the minds of fans. Francis and Arthur share a lot of screentime but it’s all jokey and fun. Even the ship tease is all gags relating to Francis being comically pervy and Arthur being comically stuffy and flustered. Francis gets some heart rending moments later (Joan of Arc, the wish for a mortal life) but Arthur isn’t included. Even though he could have been because of what happened to Joan. It’s left up to the fans to add him. In another universe the Closet Cleaning arc was replaced by a Bitter Hundred Years War arc, and FrUK subsequently took the top spot in the fandom’s ship rankings as a result.

Leaving plain, old personal taste aside, I think all this divided the fandom between shippers who wanted something they could leap into and get early gratification (USUK) vs shippers who wanted to expend a little more energy on interpretation (FrUK). Because there’s plenty of drama to be had with Francis and Arthur thanks to the French/English historical rivalry (see above). But it’s not offered up on a plate in canon like with Arthur and Alfred. A USUK shipper gets drama given to them while a FrUK shipper has to dig deeper and make their own fun. Different strokes.

This kind of thing is very interesting to me. Please feel free to add on your own interpretations if you like ☺️

[sflow-er]

To me, Stedrika always felt forced and not natural. It was pretty obvious to me in S2 they were the result of fan service. It was so ironic Lisa wrote them into canon because apparently there were fans who shipped them and when it did happen, the pairing was met with backlash and vitriol.

I assume you're the same anon, so hello again!

Ironic as in 'happening in a way contrary to what is expected', yes. Ironic as in 'typically causing wry amusement because of this', no.

[Putting a cut here because this got a bit long as usual.]

Criticising Stedrika and Lisa's decision to write them in is perfectly fine. We can enjoy and love the show even if we don't think it's 100% perfect.

But I want to make it very clear that no matter how anyone personally feels about Stedrika or any other ship, or the actors or writers, or fan service in general, nothing justifies spewing hate at them for it. I am thankfully not on Xitter myself, but from what I've heard from my lurker friend, the anons who occasionally wandered over here to call Felicia various misogynist slurs and spread baseless rumours that "Lisa's pet ship" would have more screen time in S3 than Wilmon were only the tip of the iceberg.

It's also good to note that the hate wasn't the only thing that discouraged people from shipping Stedrika after S2. For example, I also saw plenty of likely well-meaning posts where it was suggested that shipping the "mean white girls" was somehow racist when Rosh existed as a canonically queer POC. The same thing was also said about shipping Henry and Walter instead of Nils with someone. And of course, it is very valid to demand more queer POC rep and fanworks about them! I just don't understand how discouraging people from liking other ships was supposed to help (and this also connects to the posts saying "no one" cared about characters other than Wilmon that became commonplace during the wait for S3, about which I have already written too much before).

So it's hard to say how many people might have actually liked Stedrika even back in S2 if the general response had been less negative. I find that very sad, even if I was never particularly invested in them and actually felt similar to how you did watching S2.

On the one hand, it's good to have different takes and ships in the fandom whether they are our own thing or not. It enriches the fandom in general and may even enrich our own experience later on. I for one am way more interested in Stedrika now than I ever was before, and that's mostly down to discussions I've had and posts I've read on the non-Wilmon fringe of the fandom that have made me reflect on my relationship to various characters.

On the other hand, once you add something to canon, it is canon, whether it was meant to be there from the start or not. I think allocating just a little more time to Stedrika in order to wrap up their story properly would have been a better choice than dropping them completely (ETA: which I guess is the other thing they could have done instead of what we got). Yeah, there were plenty of other, more central plot lines that were also cut down in S3, but I don't think eradicating a huge chunk of the WLW rep they had added in S2 would have been a particularly popular or responsible choice.

And of course, the writers could have also taken various other paths with the story, e.g. making Stella's crush unrequited and showing how that affected their friendship. I personally think those other paths would have been more interesting than making them endgame (and would have also cast S2 in a new light upon rewatch!), but unfortunately they would have required even more screen time.

[suffersinfandom]

Okay, so I usually try to stay out of discourse and drama and all of that because I'm here to have a nice time, but I saw a post in the OFMD tag after the whole Blackbonnet/Stucky poll thing that I really need to type about. It's just... so bad. Like, I totally get disliking things (I dislike things too!), and I understand that OFMD isn't everyone's thing, but wow. WOW. Um.

While the first part's annoying (point to the tumblr fandom that has absolutely no one in it with a victim complex, please), what I really take issue with is the last bit -- the assertion that OFMD's cast diversity is there to be "inclusive" and "progressive" when the narrative isn't. That's just not true? One of the reasons for OFMD's popularity IS its inclusiveness! People who have never seen themselves represented in a show finally *see themselves* in some of these characters, and I think that's lovely. And the show has a wonderfully diverse crew behind the scenes and in the writing room as well!

As for "the narrative being the opposite"... all I can do is assume that OP never bothered watching OFMD. It's the most genuinely, earnestly inclusive and progressive piece of media I've ever consumed.

The acting in OFMD isn't stylistically different from any other show I've watched. The situations and lines are often comedic, Stede and Ed are definitely prone to dramatics, and plenty of the characters are pathetic (affectionate), but this is such a weird critique. Or maybe I just haven't picked anything up from a lifetime of watching media and being a massive dorkass theater nerd? Idk. Maybe they just think the show itself is cringe (I certainly don't think it is, but that's something I've seen plenty of folks who dislike it say) and that colors their opinion on the acting?

Also: where's the slavery apologism? As many other people have said, there's definitely room for good faith criticism of OFMD: its tendency to gloss over the existence of slavery, the rom-comification of real, historic slaveowners, etc, but there's no apologia in the text of the show. (Correct me if I'm wrong! I'm very white and will defer to others here.)

I'm gonna need some sources. I've seen the various accusations, but never evidence or anything that couldn't potentially be explained with context. (I don't actually take much issue with this point -- it's not a crime to think someone's annoying -- I just don't understand the constant vilification of Taika.)

"REAL gay piracy," lol. I can't say much about Black Sails since I haven't watched it (tbh it doesn't sound like something I'd be able to enjoy), but I haven't seen that much seriousness in the OFMD fandom. Do I have all of the annoying crewmates blocked? Do y'all feel like you have a lot to prove? I personally only became invested in this poll when I saw the death threats from Stucky folks, and my impression from my timeline is that most everyone else was in the same boat.

If you ARE taking these polls to heart, please don't! They're for fun (sometimes petty) fandom drama! Win or lose, we all love our ships and our communities and we really don't need to prove anything to anyone (I say, typing out a response to a thing that got under my skin, resolutely not touching grass).

THIS is where I had to start typing. WHAT DOES IT MEAN. How is a show with multiple canon queer couples gaybaiting? Isn't "canon gaybait" an oxymoron, or has the meaning changed? (I'm old, genuinely lmk if my millennial ass is missing something.) Again, I can only assume that OP either hasn't watched OFMD or hates fun romcoms, because the gayness of it all isn't the only thing the show has to offer. My brainworms have better taste than that.

It's some of the best gay rep I've ever seen and I would be delighted to see better! I mean it! I've been in queer circles for almost two decades and in fandom even longer; OFMD is some of the best, kindest, most loving, genuine representation I've come across in that time. I truly hope that it's just the beginning of a new era in media.

"Weak fandom output." I am *drowning* in fandom output and I love that for me! "Driest gay kiss." I'm sorry you don't like awkward middle-aged men who think they're unlovable coming together in what might very well be the first loving kiss either of them has ever had, but I think it's very sweet and moving! No fictional characters have ever owned my brain like this before! I love my silly traumatized queer pirates who can't communicate to save themselves. They're very beautiful to me.

Anyway, that's enough of that. I've released the pettiness and I'm going to go back to being annoying about seeing the lads again in just a few more days. <3

[turquoiseorchid]

what is roswell about? i've never seen anyone else post about it but you've got me intrigued

Ooh, join us! Roswell New Mexico has 4 seasons (2019-2022) with 13ish eps each; it was on the CW and is available on Netflix. (It’s a remake of a 90s or early 00s show just called Roswell. That one’s on Hulu and I’ve only seen a few episodes.) Overall, it’s about aliens living in Roswell and their human friends/love interests, plus a few alien-related mysteries. Most of my summary will be about season one and I’ll leave the rest for you to see for yourself.

Liz (human) comes back to Roswell ten years after high school, discovers her high school crush is an alien, and then finds out her sister had been killed by aliens. This and other developments lead to their whole social circle getting in on the secret and there’s a bunch of love triangles.

If I knew who you were, dear anon, I’d tailor this to what fandoms we’ve already got in common but to cover some of the likely options and their high level comparisons: If you like Leverage, this has found family and the love triangles can easily be shipped as throuples/polycules. If you like The Magicians then same as leverage plus canon queer characters and magic(technically science) powers. If you like Supernatural, there can be a lot of overlap between malex and destiel (for better and worse). If you’re still here from my Torchwood days, again queer characters with messy relationships and a lot of snark.

Let’s introduce some of the characters!

In the Pod Squad (the three main aliens), we’ve got Isobel, Max, and Michael (left to right in gif). Max and Isobel were adopted together and grew up as the Evans twins while Michael was a foster kid but all three are inseparable. Isobel starts off the series as someone whose identity is mainly focused on wife/sister/volunteer but breaks down her walls and grows into a total badass. Often portrayed in fanon as “the woman with the brain cell” for better or worse. Max is a writer-turned-cop and total romantic who has been pining for his high school crush (Liz) for over a decade and risks his family secret in order to save her and struggles with choosing between her safety and his family’s. Michael is an angsty bisexual mechanic with a troubled past and became many people’s blorbo on sight. He too has a high school sweetheart (Alex) who he’s never gotten over but grows enough to find healthy relationships and let people in. They all have various powers including telekinesis, healing, and mind control/influencing.

And now for Team Human! Liz is a scientist who left town after graduation because her sister died from (apparently) drunk driving and gets shot an hour after she returns. The lack of being dead causes her to investigate/confront her crush (Max) and learns about aliens, leading to the realization that her sister was killed by an alien and the crash was a coverup. The first person who she brings in is her ex-boyfriend, Kyle, a jock-turned-surgeon with a strong moral compass who tries to rein in the mad scientist tendencies of his ex-girlfriend (who he still has feelings for).

Next in on the whole alien thing is Alex, a gay emo who had a secret thing with Michael in high school before leaving to join the Air Force. He’s back in town (minus a leg) and has his plate full with finding out that his abusive homophobic dad runs a secret military team hunting aliens and oh hey, his high school boyfriend turns out to be an alien! He’s best friends with Maria, a psychic who runs the local bar. Besides bartending, she splits her time between fortune telling as a side hustle, encouraging Alex about his old flame (secretly Michael), and nursing a crush on the local barfly/mechanic (also Michael).

(Fun fact: I have no idea how to use tumblr’s gif search so both of the human gifs were found through their respective throuple ship tags.)

There are plenty of ships around depending on your preference but the most prevalent is malex (Michael/Alex), it’s nearly inescapable. Echo is Max/Liz and generally well liked. Isobel starts off with a husband (Noah) but also gets other love interests. The two main throuples are malexa (malex plus Maria) and kaliz (echo plus Kyle).

Anyone else please feel free to add why Anon should watch RNM!

[acnelli]

I posted 1,284 times in 2022

132 posts created (10%)

1,152 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@romione-trope-fest

@harryronfest

@disneyprinceronweasley

@oxydiane

@acnelli

I tagged 1,279 of my posts in 2022

#hp - 904 posts

#harry potter - 847 posts

#ron weasley - 627 posts

#hp fanart - 467 posts

#hermione granger - 408 posts

#romione - 321 posts

#hp fanfic - 289 posts

#rarry - 164 posts

#harry james potter - 143 posts

#romione fanfic - 139 posts

Longest Tag: 124 characters

#and also for yourself btw because we might filter out your story because you felt the need tagging every single side pairing

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I'm looking to read some friends to lovers Romione fics??? Plz???

Hi anon,

you mean like...in canon? ;)

Jk, I assume you mean AU fics?

One story comes to mind which perfectly fits the bill and that is Pulley System by @reallybeth9. It's a Muggle AU where the two know each other since childhood.

Another one would be all my best lies by @remedialpotions. It's 6th year AU where Hermione asks Ron to be her fake boyfriend for a wedding.

These three I haven't read yet (at least not all of it) but they should also fit the bill:

Isolated by @cheesyficwriter (6th year AU), 12 Fail-Safe Ways To Charm Hermione Granger by @be11atrixthestrange (a canon-compliant Ron POV of their relationship) and Miracles Happen by @accio-broom (also a 6th year AU).

I also have a teeny tiny self-rec which is a little reminiscence of Ron's about his relationship with Hermione throughout the years.

If someone else has more stories to recommend which focus on the Friends to Lovers trope, please add them in a REBLOG!

And never forget to leave Kudos and comments if you enjoyed reading those stories 🙏 It's so important to keep the fandom alive and get more of the content you crave.

Thanks for the ask, anon 💛

48 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

#4

OH AND SEAMUS/DEAN who happens to be my favorite but I never seem to find any good long ones

Hey anon,

this part of your ask I can answer with two lists. I too like this ship but unfortunately I haven't read that many stories about them yet. These two rec lists though should provide with plenty of Deamus goodness.

Deamus Library Google Doc by @nienna324

Seamus/Dean Masterlist by @hpfanfictioncatalogue

Don't forget to leave kudos/comments/reviews for the stories you enjoyed reading. It gives good karma points as we all know.

Thank you for your ask, anon. I hope you find some more reading material.

50 notes - Posted June 25, 2022

#3

Black & White

@microficmay Day 10: Black & White [Blaise/Ron, rating: GA]

***

"One game, Weasley," Zabini pointed at the chess board in front of him, "and if I win, you'll go to Hogsmeade with me."

Ron sat down, turning the board around, so he could play black. He had to give Zabini at least some chance to win, hadn't he?

***

Part 2

Read on AO3

70 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#2

hullo! do you have any good ron centric fic recommendations? they could be ship or gen i don't have a preference, I'm just in need of good ron centric stuff :3

Hello anon,

okay, since you're not picky with pairings, I'll recommend a little bit of everything. Oh, and there are also WIPs among them. If we don't read and support ongoing stories, how would we ever get new content?

This became a longer post than I thought, so I put the recs under the readmore line (I really hate long posts showing up in my time line).

And dear anon and everyone else who'll read these stories, please please take a minute to leave a comment. No matter how old the stories are, no matter how many comments & kudos the fic already has, it always means something for the author and also for other readers. All this content might be free, but it's still good to get something back. Writing is hard work. And the more you support the writers who write your fav characters, the more content you'll get.

I'll start with the Gen Fics, then Romione, then Rarry, then Other Pairings.

*** *** ***

GEN (there might be pairings, but they're not the focus)

Harry Potter and the Lack of Lamb Sauce by @imagitory

Inspired by a post on Tumblr, this is a AU story set during Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, with one big, foul-mouthed difference. Instead of Horace Slughorn, the position of Potions professor will be taken on by...Gordon Ramsay.

While the summary doesn't indicate it, this story is actually very very Ron-centric.

*

Pendragon: The House of Pendragon by @chuchiotaku

An unsung hero haunted by the loss of his brother's love. An overshadowed youth abandoned by everyone he ever loved. Why the enigmatic Lady of the Lake chose these two as her new champions against the growing threat of the Dark Lord--or why she chose now, of all times, to do so--is beyond anyone's rhyme and reason.

But the Lady does what she wants. All Ron Weasley and Regulus Black can do is hold on for the ride.

Very promising! I'm looking forward to the next part.

*

Tugging Sleeves by @windschildfanfictionwriter

Ron struggles with what to do when he realizes that there can only be terrible reasons for why Harry isn’t responding to his letters. Little does he know that Ron’s distress is just as worrying for his family.

This is adorable, angsty and just beautiful. I also recommend everything else by that author, but all of their stuff is over on FFN. My favs are The Boogeyman (read the A/N at the beginning!) and Spitfire.

*

Pawn to C3 by Realmer06

Teaching Lily chess started as a way to keep her occupied and out of everyone’s hair. It grew into much more than that.

This is a really great story about Ron and Lily Luna. A sweet family story.

*

How to Succeed in Dark Wizardry (Without Really Trying) by technically_direct

Ron maybe accidentally-on-purpose becomes a dark wizard, and everything changes.

This is so so funny. I'm looking forward to the next chapter. I cracked up several times while reading this.

*

ROMIONE

See the full post

76 notes - Posted March 27, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Masterpost for all my entries for @microficmay 2022! Thanks to the mods of this fest, this was so much fun. I kept them all under or exact at 50 words. That was harder as I thought it would be.

I'm also taking requests which of these fics should turn into a longer story.

If you prefer reading my microfics on AO3, click here.

Ron x Hermione

Ignite | Crisp | Lost & Found | Expectations | Radiant | Fire & Ice | Hesitate | Promise | Epilogue

Ron x Harry

Heartbeat | Survive | Ferocity | Balance | Progress | Hopeful | Wax & Wane

Ron x Draco

Irresistible | Decadent | Secrets | Pain & Pleasure

Ron x Blaise

Black & White | Wander | Train Tracks

Other Pairings

Open the Door (Remadora) | Remember (Perciver) | Sand & Sea (Linny) | Serenity (Flonks) | Why? (Harry x Ron x Hermione)

Gen

Solitude (Andromeda) | Symphony (Bellatrix) | Invincible (Narcissa)

99 notes - Posted May 31, 2022

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[shadowfiredemonwolf]

one of the most annoying things I see is when people try to pull the but there arent many same sex ships ( that are canon) out there to defend korrasami and try to shame people into being okay with it when no it doesnt matter that there arent many same sex ships or examples of lgbt rep representation isnt more important then good writing they arent exempt from being criticized 

you dont need to support every same sex ship or “example of lgbt rep with a mc   to support the community or  support the idea of there being a mc same sex ship the important thing is whether the writing is good if it has had proper buildup etc

( also its funny how many times they get mad if the lgbt character isnt the character they wanted to be lgbt like ilia  and act like its wrong that she started on the bad guys side  even though she quickly changed sides

( its funny since I have seen people support the idea of azula being bi  given how she was )

or them getting mad if instead of the popular same sex ship  that they wanted one of the girls ends up with a girl outside of the pairing( I dont recall the example they used ( it was in the tags  naming ship names and I dont recognize all of the ship names)

but imagine someone getting mad if freezerburn happened instead of blacksun 

this way we both get what we wanted they get lgbt rep involving two members of team rwby  and blacksun got the payoff to all the buildup that it received ( while bb got nothing which is why I say its forced  direction change to suddenly start heavily pushing it in v7 ( v6 finale at best)

( and to be blunt the fact is the idea that  all members of team rwby

 had to be in relationship with each other  their partner because team jnpr got teased with theirs ( and if neo joins and gets with jaune it will still be the case) is ridiculous   by that logic it would be fair for one of team rwby to die ) heck it would be fine if none of team rwby were in relationships with eachother or were paired with a guy ( it wouldnt be forced if it was teased by the show with the proper buildup) like blacksun

(  I always find it funny that there are people who will genuinely call a straight ship being teased forced just because it was straight  and they wanted a same sex ship to be teased  instead (that isnt what being forced means it means writing wise . the fact they wanted bb to be teased is irrelevant they didnt get anything to hint at bb beforehand )  then will claim its homophobic to  call a same sex ship forced because after years of nothing hinting at it they were pushed and became canon as treated as something that is practically canon like in v7 or v6 finale ( while blacksun received actual teasing mutual attraction and development) there is no doubt if blake was a guy they would claim queerbaiting.  it doesnt matter that there are plenty of het ships that are canon people dont ship blacksun over bb because of the genders involved and when I see people claim that it comes off as projection

I think my initial disdain for the way Sun and Neptune are written came from how sick and tired I am of straight ships being forced on the audience when lots of us are in the lgbta community. Part of it was because my gay ships were sinking I’ll admit but honestly I’m just sick of forced straight ships especially in one of the only shows with enough well written female characters to /actually/ have believable gay ships. I don’t think I hate Sun and Neptune but I do hate how forced the ships are.

I think this is all the explanation needed(and all you need to dismiss people trying to take moral superiority over liking Bumblebee). Something the toxic side of the fandom loves to do is project and project hard. They cannot understand why someone would not think like them or like the things they do unless there’s something wrong with them or they contextualize it through what they themselves would do.And that’s one of them accidentally explaining how that relates to Bumblebee: wasps like it because it’s a gay ship. They thought Black Sun was forced because it was not a gay ship. Therefore, since everyone must either think like them or be defective, clearly you think Bumblebee is forced because it’s not a straight ship. You don’t like it because it’s gay.“

basically they are just calling blacksun forced because it was a straight ship if sun was a girl they wouldnt make that claim so I cant take anytime I hear someone try to pull the you would ship bb if it was a m/f pairing  or wouldnt be calling it forced if it was a m/f pairing for if sun was a woman and yang a man they wouldnt be shipping bb and would call bb forced

if whether you ship  a ship or not  is determined by genders involved  like say if two ships were paired against the other and what causes you to ship one over the other  the pairing  is genders involved  it is a shallow reason   representation isnt more important then good writing

u/punny-aggron

People need to stop over analyzing every single little detail about Bumblebee. Holding hands and hugging doesn’t mean these two are an item. They barely have any chemistry; in fact, almost every interaction between them suggests how terrible they’d be for each other:

In volume 2 Yang showed concern over Blake’s well being and winked at her while inviting her for a dance (we barelysee that dance btw) which is good, don’t get me wrong, but then everything starts going south after that. Blake was the only one on team RWBY who didn’t believe that Yang wasn’t going crazy, which doesn’t bode well for their relationship at all. Then Yang attacked Adam to save Blake, and Blake ran away after that without so much as a word, and Yang was rightfully upset and continued to be until volume 6. In that volume they do interact and Brunswick farms, and Yangs anger towards Blake briefly resurfaced. They then stabbed Adam and consulted each other after that. Then in volume 7 they complement each other’s looks (dating based off looks is never a good thing), then Blake’s introverted personality gets completely replaced into someone who likes to go clubbing (seriously, does Blake strike anyone as someone who likes to go clubbing?) and we don’t see that either. Then they talk in a van, and not even about each other, you know, something that would result in some good, healthy chemistry? And that’s it!

Yang and Blake barely have any chemistry together, and yet for some reason, almost everyone in the fandom thinks they’re compatible. They aren’t. They’re the farthest thing from compatible. Blake has more chemistry with Sun, and that is no speculation, the two of them spent two entire volume together for their relationship to flush out.

Look, I am not against Bumblebee, but this kind of nonsense needs to stop. We as a society need good, properly developed romance between LGBT characters (especially gay characters, ever notice RWBY’s lack of them?), but since people don’t know what that is, they settle for below subpar stuff. I believe Unicorn of war said it best: “we’ve been feasting on scraps when we deserve a banquet”

( something said around v7 )

All of the BumblBY moments, in my opinion you have to want them to be romantic and interpret them that way. There’s nothing inherently about them which suggests anything other than a close bond, unless you really want it to. The biggest BumlBY moment, when they hug after killing Adam isn’t romantic by nature. It’s simply two people comforting each other after killing a man who has caused the both of them trauma, and who at one point meant a lot to one of them.BlackSun on the other has many moments which you simply can’t deny are romantic. Blake blushes when Sun winks at her, Blake gets flustered when Kali says that she likes Sun, and the two of them go through an arc of opening up to one another and learning to trust each other, which is inherently romantic in nature.You can ship anything you want, but I’m getting a little tired of some BumblBY shippers claiming that ‘ the ship has been developing from day one’, when the truth is, no it hasn’t. If it is developing, it’s much more recent development, compared to BlackSun which now has several volumes to support it.

bb only reall began to be teased in story in v7  they might have intended for the v6 finale to be a romantic moment but it really wasnt

[dottyistired]

okay time for some dotty backstory. if you've been on my blog for all this you get a veteran's discount.

i am mabel at heart, i love shipping and will ship any two characters. i don't care if it's a healthy, positive relationship or a fucking disaster, if i see an interesting story between two characters, i'm there for it. but the ones that i find most interesting, my otps...i have not had the most luck with. i bet on losing ships. from my plucky beginnings in the mlp fandom, to my horrid experience in the voltron fandom...the less i say about THAT the better.

a ship becoming Endgame is not very important to me, in fact i ship many things i'd never want to see in canon, but it hurts doubly so to be snubbed by canon, and be scrounging for table scraps and batting away hate anons in fan space.

there have been a few times i've shipped the fandom juggernaut, like wrightworth or komahina, but they already were long before i joined their respective fandoms. they didn't feel like they were mine. i was never a successful Early Investor.

i started shipping billford as a joke in my head summer 2015, before the last mabelcorn episode that actually showed their backstory, because i figured the author of the journals and the series' main antagonist would have had some history, and it seemed like it had more potential for a dark, interesting, adult story than billdip, the gf fandom's biggest pair. but i didn't expect anything from canon.

and then the last mabelcorn happened. and then the finale with the bondage shit and piano serenade. and the journal. each one was like a punch to the solar plexus in the best way. i NEVER thought we'd get so much bait. but like...it's not Real real, right? some people in fandom joked about it, but plenty others were vehement in hating it, and it was never the number one thing being talked about. i was quiet about my enjoyment of it, would like posts about it but not reblog, or reblog without tagging the ship name, because i was 16 and terrified of being Cringe. i drifted away from the fandom and found other interests. i raised my eyebrows a bit at some of the things alex hirsch was saying in the big 2023 fan interview about their relationship, but again...skepticles.

and then i was vindicated harder than i could have ever imagined with the new book. not only by all the canon romantic language used, the angst, the compelling depiction of abuse, but by the fandom. it's not just A ship, it is the ship, not just in gf fandom but across the website. it has topped the tumblr ship rankings for two weeks, only behind poolverine, a blockbuster mcu ship.

they used the divorce gif as the post footer. i must be in bill cipher's lotus eater machine. i am having such a fucking ball you can't even imagine.

the only comparable situation i can think of, where i was an almost-prophet, was when i started crackshipping amethyst and peridot steven universe shortly after s2 started, and then we got all that interaction between them. but ultimately, lapidot won over in the court of public opinion, albeit neither ship actually became canon.

this, to me, is like if amedot got a whole lore-heavy canon story about their relationship and became the number one ship in the whole SU fandom. my little joke ship has gone full rags-to-riches. this is my roman empire.

sorry i'm back in my 2015 triangle yaoi phase i will NOT shut up

[wanderingnork]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

soft tag from @edda-grenade :3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

288 (good fucking lord when did that happen)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,547,194 (GOOD FUCKING LORD WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

at the moment, it's Baldur's Gate 3 and Dragon Age. There are plenty of others scattered around as the inspiration strikes, though.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Protector, in which I fused the Protestant Reformation with Dishonored

Everything Important in a Suitcase (Fantastic Beasts)

a better mirror (Fantastic Beasts)

Going Home, in which everyone survives the Battle of Five Armies and Thorin and Bilbo figure their relationship out

i am stretched on your grave, in which Loki doesn't fucking die at the kickoff of Infinity War and ends up breaking the timeline

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

As many as I can! Sometimes I don't have the spoons. But fandom is based in relationships with other fans, so...I do my best to foster those.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably blood and a black sword, a fic for the Elric of Melnibone series. Elric tries to kill himself and fails, and while the ending is somewhat hopeful...the last line is his evil sword Stormbringer, which will eventually kill him and everyone he loves, being satisfied that he lived to fulfill his fate. It's pretty grim.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I write a fair amount of postive-ending fics. Gonna give this one to "Are You a Boy or a Girl?" a wizard101 fic about my nonbinary wizard dealing with gender norms in the Spiral and finding their own place.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope. And if I did, I'd mute and block and move on.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, I do! What I write when left to my own devices tends toward the...unhingedly kinky? It's not safe, it's not sane, but it's always consensual! Which is also buckwild to me because I'm about as asexual as they (ha) come.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Oh this HAS to go to Task Force Winchester, a crossover between Supernatural and Suicide Squad. I have a few others that are right up there, but I don't write many.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! One of my FB fics, The Protector, and one of my SPN fics.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

YES!!! During my time in the FB fandom I did several, and now with Dragon Age I've collaborated on an entire au featuring my Inquisitor and Saar, @edda-grenade's Inquisitor. As well as a delightful merfolk au with the same cast and co-writer. :3

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

It's gotta go to Dean and Cas. Like, that was formative in many ways, but also...it just works. I love it. Always will. I was "out of the fandom" when it became "canon" and I still ran in circles shrieking with excitement, and promptly wrote a fic about it.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There are several unpublished AUs floating around on my computer. The big one is a Pacific Rim/Crimson Peak one. I poke it every time I watch one of the movies.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Worldbuilding, writing quickly, and "show don't tell" in regard to emotions, specifically. I went an entire 30k fic without saying the word "happy" or "sad" and got no complaints from my beta about it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Spacial comprehension, where human limbs go and how far they can reach and/or bend, using ten words when one would do.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Please provide a translation. I've got some of this going on with the githyanki language in my Baldur's Gate fic, and I ALWAYS have some kind of in-text translation or a translation in the author's note. It's a fictional language, people don't speak it. Make it easy on the reader.

Also...make sure it works for the fic and the character. Random interjections (just according to keikaku/keikaku means plan) are awkward. If a character speckles their dialogue with interjections in another language, go for it!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Maximum Ride! Unpublished, all of it, but I have SO MUCH FIC laying around. Some of it is pretty decent.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Overgrown. It combines horror, romance, worldbuilding, and one of my favorite pairings with some of the best, prettiest prose I've ever written.

[tea-and-la]

I see you have met the ATLA fandom's Dear Old Friend. (I'm officially calling him that 😆) I'm surprised you found him worthy of responding to. You know, the funny thing is, I don't hate the concept of KA as friends to lovers, what I hate is the execution, that's exactly why I couldn't care less if they are in a canon romantic relationship or not. (I don't even know what canon has to do with this conversation, but cool, I guess 🤷🏾‍♀️) All characters can be shipped according to each person's choices and tastes. In fact, I have found myself seeing romantic Ka/taang and Zvkka better on my Zutara AUs because (and I know this is pretentious) I like their friendship better in those stories. It's not about forcing anything onto anyone, it's about constructing relationships between the characters and interpreting them as you want

angel! i feel you. i don't vibe completely with the dynamic of ka that we are given (like you said it's about execution), but if certain things were fixed, i'd have less of an ick towards it. i actually like katara and aang's friendship and some of their moments (like when aang encouraged her to bend the ship into the water to get away from the pirates). it's bryke's decision wrt the shift to romantic that made things very murky for me, and the little effort put into developing katara's pov. i think for me, the thing with ka is that i felt i didn't end up with a why towards the question of "why specifically they like(d)/love each other." like for aang, he pretty much is smitten by her as soon as he sees her (practically love at first sight) which can only really be based on appearance since he doesn't really know her. plus ... the absolute lack of addressing things like EIP in a mature way (bryke dropped the ball on this), and i would've respected it a lot more if aang had this realization of "okay, cool. she doesn't want to be together right now and i'm content with that." that would've given me growth and maturity and now that his feelings were out in the air, that could've been developed in the comics. but ... instead we got the finale!kiss. i have a few hcs for how i would actually like kata/ang.

i got side-tracked lol. like you said, i also don't care what's canon or not. some people treat canon as the be-all-end-all as if break-ups don't happen, or AUs can't be explored. it's that sort of rigidity in thinking patterns that makes me think that these people are really .. boring. like you said, shipping is based on what appeals to a person's tastes. and in fandom, we're all individuals, so we shouldn't be expected to just blindly like the same things just because it's canon. we all have different life experiences and that may give us a different lens into how we see a ship vs how another person does. it's why i don't consider myself really an anti of any of the ships, because i'm not going to waste time harassing the shippers about something that makes them happy just because it doesn't appeal to me. you have to be pretty miserable as a person to do something like that imo.

[olderthannetfic]

I grow weary of the HP/JKR discourse.

Honestly HP - Dramione to be exact - is my first fandom, and my oldest. I’ve read for it for 20 years, over half my life. I used to be more involved, and when I was younger I bought some merch, but I haven’t bought anything new for HP in over 7 years, and I won’t in the future because I don’t want to monetarily support JKR.

But I bought the films 10 years ago. My books are older than that. JKR doesn’t get any money from me re-reading once every 5 years or watching physical media I have owned for decades. HP got me through some really rough points in life, when all I wanted was to escape. I grew up with Harry and the rest. My best friend, who is the 1 person in my life that I trust to share every part of myself with, we became friends at first because neither of our friend groups were into HP and we could talk about it with each other. We’ve been best friends for 20 years now, and I wouldn’t have her without all the bonding we did through our shared love of HP at first.

I get why people cut it out entirely, I can understand why some people choose not to engage with it at all. However, I don’t agree that creating or engaging with fan works means implicit support of JKR or her beliefs. Sorry not sorry, but me reading fic and leaving kudos and liking fanart of a non-canon ship gives nothing to JKR. The argument that free fan works are keeping HP alive and giving JKR money simply through “exposure” doesn’t ring genuine for me, not when there’s literal theme parks and public channels play the movies and businesses pay for licensing to make HP costumes, and mugs, and bedding, and dishware, and watches, and everything.

There are plenty of fandoms that survive and thrive that have no or very little merch available, it isn’t necessary, and people can really just stop buying HP stuff - like I did. And some companies have stopped their HP stuff, and I’m sure that trend will continue, but I doubt they will ALL stop, because in the end JKR isn’t the only person with shitty beliefs.

HP isn’t my only fandom, it’s not something I give 100% of my attention to, and I fall into new stuff all the time, but this whole idea of recommending other things to replace HP in peoples’ lives? Regardless of how many other books I read or shows I watch, HP is irreplaceable in my life. That ship has sailed. It sailed over 20 years. I don’t go on about it all the time or even recommend that people read them now, I tend to talk about more relevant media on a day-to-day basis (House of the Dragon, superhero stuff, Star Wars, Doctor Who, The Queen’s Thief books, All Souls books-and show, etc). But none of those can replace what HP was for me, and still is to a degree. I have to scroll down to see all the Ao3 bookmarks when I open a new tab because I have so many, but nothing else will ever comfort me like a fluffy Dramione one-shot after a truly awful day. Because they were the first ship I really fell in love with, and it’s been 20 fucking years.

I’m just tired of seeing posts about how people should read The Magicians instead (which, there was a rape scene and pedophilia - in the show at least - so not something I would put in the same category as HP) or Warrior Cats (please). By all means, recommend media you like to people, recommend new things and don’t engage with HP at all if you don’t want to. But please stop acting like it’s as simple as liking something new will make people stop liking HP, or that they’ll get the same things out of them. Sorry, this turned out way longer than I planned.

--

[aquaaquila]

Here joining the conversation that happens in the comments:

To each your own when it comes to the ships. Huntlow is cute and fine and realistically the best choice for both characters to end with romance as they complement each other well. It's also not often you see implied bi4pan, plus-sized girl x the most beloved guy of the fandom going this strong. I'm not going to spoil the ship any further but worry not, it won't take over their characters in The story, but further develop.

The fan base is problematic though. I'm in fact one of the original Huntlow shippers and I've seen this ship develop right before my eyes. Back in a day when it was a crackship, it was so wholesome and you could see nothing but positives about this ship. Imagine the joy when it would turn out to be within the canon. The joy didn't last long though as obnoxious Lumity shippers showed up and killed the original soul of the ship by doing the same thing they did to Lumity which was lowkey ableist.

What happens is that they took neurodivergent characters (Luz, Hunter) and both dumbed them down to a ridiculous level (in Lumity's case it was essentially heteronormativity that turned Luz into your typical himbo; in Hunter's case it was infantilisation because god forbid a guy actually shows weakness and thus completely ignores any actual power they have, more about Hunter later) while watering down the girlfriends (Willow, Amity) into brutes. It's essentially the "she's everything, he's just Ken".

I myself also stopped following Huntlow's tag after it also became flooded with sibling enjoyers butting in and devoiding any individuality Huntlow has by making it another Lumity and how much of siblings Luz and Hunter must be to have the same type. Ugh! The appeal behind Huntlow is the potential, what drags it down are obnoxious fans.

Now about Hunter: look, I love Hunter, you could say I'm his stan or whatever, but I have a special place in my heart for him. Thanks to him I went from Bi-curious to Bi-certain, and it's for a good reason. There are plenty of great things about Hunter. Sure he's not Luz and he's not the protagonist of this show, but other than King he's like one of the most important male characters (excluding Belis as he's the antagonist) due to how much potential, promise, and importance he has to the plot by being linked to the main villain. And the promise and potential I'm talking about is about him being good protagonist material.

I keep manifesting that if we ever get a spin-off for TOH, other than Eda's gory days, Hunter should take a lead (as Luz told her story flawlessly already and flash forward to new generation is pointless when there are so many loose ends within the present) as he at least to me is the best candidate for that. The story would be more or less about him healing from the abuse he went through along with the rest of the Isles, which is thematic, and Hunter's episodes often not only help flesh him out but other characters as wellwhen they're interacting with him. Hunter pushes others to grow while growing himself, and he has big level of empathy making him connect to others pretty easy which works in stories. He also has a drive and so many story ideas tied around him and by the end of the show he's probably the most of an open-book character. Of course he's not Luz, but he can pull off his own story.

(I didn't pick Amity as while she's great, over time she will grow a tendency to be a bit of the satellite to Luz's character mostly because of how much of her time she gives to Luz. Her being MC wouldn't change it; though Hunter being MC (or honestly anyone but her or Luz) can change it as now Amity would have to interact with him more often to stay relevant instead of only being Luz's awesome girlfriend and those two have the potential as great foils and Amity being the only one who can relate to Hunter on a deeper level, which is funny considering Hunter can relate to everyone one way or another through his sheer trauma)

Now I don't know much about Steve so I can't speak regarding this matter, but I guess what I will say next will be familiar to you. This fan base wasn't ready for Hunter, nor actually deserved him. Everyone lost his mind over him yet I feel like there's almost nobody that actually knows him. There are really only a few people who can see through his flanderisation within the fan base, and it's certainly not comforting that the biggest number of those people happen to be Lunter shippers 😐😑 Hunter is probably the biggest offense when it comes to mischaracterisstion in the fan base that is borderline toxic and pretty much exposes everything wrong with the fan base from internalised biases to lack of media literacy. Everyone got so invested in woobifying Hunter that they forgot Hunter while has tons of potential for stories of his own, is not in fact a blank character. He's not a background extra who can be whatever, he already has established capabilities and personality that are nothing like the one fan base gives him and it pisses me off as there's essentially a lack of good Hunter content that doesn't feel like forced propaganda with an OC wearing Hunter as a flesh mask. And people really shift the focus of the story onto him instead of following Luz. Luz already got her limelight in the fan base stolen by her white girlfriend and now said white girlfriend lost it to the white guy, and said the white guy is to being done dirty for this. Heck, his obnoxious fans even rewrite other characters to fit their vision, how Amity is jealous of Yandere because of him and hates him with a burning passion (that is not the case, even if he stole the key)

okay im assuming this is The Ship

[shipcestuous]

(submission)

So...I apologise in advance for the insanely long wall of text I am about to submit to you; like you, I am a long-time connoisseur canon incest, and also I just plain don’t know when to shut up even when I’m not talking about my interests, so this is going to be very detailed, haha.

However, upon looking over your lists, I couldn’t help but notice what to me looked like a big gaping hole: not nearly enough Fire Emblem!!! Growing up in the 00s, Fire Emblem was one of my first ever introductions to incest shipping, and boy is it a doozy! Back then, one of the franchise’s most well-known features was its bizarrely high amounts of incest, to the point that it became almost notorious for it; just look at its entry in some TV Tropes pages, or this comic right here! So, with all that being said, I wanted to give a run-down of the most important canonical blood-related incestuous relationships over the course of the franchise!

Edit: Ahhhhh I realised after I’d already typed all this up that some of these ships actually do already have write-ups, and I just didn’t see them before… But they were written like 5 years ago, so hopefully this is still okay!

Firstly, there’s quite a bit of lower-stakes incest or incest shipping across the franchise; there are quite a number of cousin or step-sibling pairings (either canon or optionally romanceable), as well as the requisite ‘noble girl so obsessively admiring of her older brother that it seems like she’s in love with him’ archetype that shows up often (see e.g. Priscilla/Raven from FE7 and Clarine/Klein from FE6). There’s also Fates, which allows its protagonist to date any of either their many blood- or non-blood-related siblings, but after the supposedly blood-related siblings fall in love it’s revealed they’re not actually related after all, so it doesn’t fit the strict restrictions of this blog! However, there are two games who are especially notorious for their blood-related incest content: Genealogy of the Holy War, and Sacred Stones!

First is Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (or FE4), which was released on the SNES. It’s actually the oldest game in the franchise to have never gotten a remake (but there are rumours that one is in the works!), and it’s actually a cult classic within the fandom, beloved for having one of the best stories in the entire franchise, as well as just being a really fantastic game! It’s also had a few adaptations and spin-offs, including a manga by Oosawa Mitsuki covering the events of the entire game, and canonising some potential pairings. FE4 is also known for having one of the darkest stories, and that includes incest. Warning that some of what follows will be heavily spoilery, and also that one of these ships is pretty dark and could be triggering.

Firstly, and least plot-relevantly, there is Eldigan and Lachesis! Lachesis is of the classic ‘noble girl practically in love with her perfect elder brother’ trope who refuses to marry anyone who can’t match up to him (no-one), while Eldigan himself is the picture-perfect image of the courtly knight. Except that in her case, she actually canonically is in love with him! This is confirmed by Lachesis’ daughter Nanna in an optional conversation between Nanna and her cousin Ares (and of course there are plenty who speculate that either of them could actually be a child of Lachesis and Eldigan together), right before she flirts with him, hahaha. Lachesis and Eldigan are half-siblings, though we never really hear anything about their parents; it sorta feels like that’s just to fit them in with the other half-sibling pairings below. Whether Eldigan returns Lachesis’ feelings is deliberately left ambiguous: a commoner woman in one chapter reveals there is ~scandalous gossip~ that the two are involved, but Eldigan never becomes a playable character, so his feelings are more mysterious. However, in the official manga – the one widely regarded as closest to canon – Eldigan eventually admits that he too loves Lachesis more than anyone, and we get this (mildly NSFW) incredibly romantic scene! <3 

(Also while we're here please include this very cute official chibi of Lachesis gushing over her brother~)

Secondly, and Extremely plot-relevantly, we have Arvis and Deirdre. Absolutely everything about this is a spoiler, hahah, but it’s all really important for understanding the relationship. Also, I want to give a Warning, because this is the really not-wholesome relationship. Basically: in this world, magical power is passed down along holy bloodlines. It’s said that by mixing two people of the same bloodline, the child produced will be even more powerful, but that is considered forbidden. This being Fire Emblem, one of the bloodlines is associated with an evil dragon god, so the world tried to destroy that bloodline, eventually leaving only one woman left with that holy blood. She however escaped from her exile and bore two children from two different fathers – Arvis and Deirdre. The former was raised as a noble heir, and must hide his dark blood for fear of a witch-hunt. Deirdre was taken back into exile, and doesn’t know she even has a brother. The dragon cult know all of this, though, and since those two are the only ones left capable of bringing about what is basically the anti-christ, they try to manipulate them into meeting and marrying. Arvis goes along with this because Deirdre’s father is the king, and he has his own reasons for wanting power. Deirdre is magicked into losing her memories (including that of her husband, to whom she had already borne a child named Seliph) and meets Arvis, who she soon marries.

It’s left deliberately unclear how much Arvis actually knows about all this blood-relation stuff – he doesn’t actually want to bring about the anti-christ, and is only going along with the cult because he thinks he can outsmart them. Instead, he insists vehemently that he and Deirdre are in love, and the two siblings have two children together – Julia and Julius. We don’t know too much about their actual relationship, but it seems that Deirdre does believe that she loves him, and cares very deeply for all her children. (Of course, due to the amnesia and effective kidnapping, it’s not fully consensual.)

So, now we have some children, here: Deirdre’s son Seliph, with her first husband, and then Julia and Julius, with her second husband (and half-brother); Seliph is half-brother to them both, and is the protagonist of the second half of the story. He looks much like his father, while Julia looks much like her mother, and they meet (not realising at first that they’re related) in very similar circumstances to Seliph’s parents, framed in a really romantic way. They immediately become very close, not knowing yet that they’re siblings, with Julia clinging to Seliph as her protector and Seliph being so adorably gentle and soft with her <3 Together, they’re sorta the main duo of the second half of the game!

And here is the controversy: in this game, it’s possible to pair characters up together romantically by having them end turns next to each other; do this enough, and they will be married, which causes some gameplay effects. Julia and Seliph actually can be made lovers this way! ...sort of. While there aren’t normally any restrictions on lovepoint-building, the way to make Seliph and Julia get together is very arcane and specific, making it seem like maybe a bug, or something that wasn’t properly removed from the game. Either way, the start the game with the highest lovepoint total of any couple, so they’re clearly meant to be extremely close! And in a conversation between Seliph and a different character, it’s heavily implied that Julia has a crush on Seliph regardless of who you pair them with! Which ads even more interesting subtext to the end of the game, where they become joint rulers of the kingdom together, to the extent that marrying Seliph to anyone else sort of makes it feel more like a polyamorous deal, haha! He and Julia can’t be separated <3

And here’s the other big point: Seliph and Julia are actually a canon endgame relationship in the Oosawa Mitsuki manga!! I haven’t read it yet, but apparently it’s really straightforward and sweet! :) These two are actually really cute together in general, and I love how romantic everything about them is! <3 Once again, a canon (sorta) and consensual pairing! (Though unfortunately I’ve struggled to find screenshots from the manga; I’m not sure the English translation has even reached there, yet… However, here is official art of them both – Seliph is front left and Julia front right!)

Oh, and lastly, the first generation of this game includes a pair of identical twins, and it’s possible to pair their children up together, making them also genetically the equivalent of half-siblings!

So, that’s Genealogy. Now onto a game that, at least while I was growing up, was sorta the face of Fire Emblem’s incest shipping: Ephraim and Eirika! They are from Sacred Stones (FE8), which released for the GBA, and was the second Fire Emblem game to ever be released officially in English. Ephraim and Eirika are the two protagonists and are twins! Interestingly, the very structure of their game already sorta hints at some incestuous subtext: the game is inspired by Fire Emblem Gaiden (FE2), in which the protagonists are a man and woman who ultimately fall in love, with the plot splitting halfway through allowing players to follow either of their paths; FE8 does the same thing, splitting Ephraim and Eirika apart in the plot before joining them together in the end, as though they’re (thematically, at least) equivalent to the other couple!

Ephraim and Eirika are close. Very close. Eirika also dearly loves her older brother, but Ephraim is quite a bit more teasing than previous brothers, and often likes to fluster or upset her, like a schoolboy pulling pigtails. Most infamous is their first Support Conversation (i.e., the conversations that can be unlocked in-game by raising their affection points with one another; unlike FE4, FE8’s affection points aren’t necessarily romantic):

in it, Ephraim offers to ‘stroke Eirika’s face’ like they did when they were children, says that Eirika was always the one pestering him to do it when they were young, and when Eirika becomes embarrassed and reminds him what everyone would think if they saw them, teases her even further and remarks on how often and easily she blushes. It’s suspected by many that this was actually somewhat of a translation, and that truly it was just about Ephraim patting Eirika’s head, which isn’t uncommon in anime between siblings. (Not so sure about real life.)

But there’s more than just that. Their weapons are named Siegmund and Sieglinde; in Vagner’s opera Die Walküre, those were the names of a pair of twins who were separated in childhood, and then fell in love when they met later on! Sort of like the whole separation and reunion structure of this game…? (Fun fact: also in the myths these names come from, Sigmund is the father to Sigurd, who in FE4 is Deirdre’s first husband and Seliph’s father! Does that mean anything here? Not really, apart from the fact that Fire Emblem’s interest in incest is probably inspired from the same mythology it gets so many of its names from, haha.) And finally, if Eirika and Ephraim have the highest support points with one another by the end of the game, they also end up jointly ruling the kingdom together, like Seliph and Julia!

And wait: there’s more! When all of these characters were first added to Fire Emblem Heroes (a mobile game where players can summon characters from various Fire Emblem games), for some reason they added in Julia, Seliph, Ephraim, and Eirika all at the same time, on a ‘sibling love’ banner, which of course many players memed about being an ‘incest banner’. And in the English translation, when Ephraim first meets the player avatar, he for some reason immediately starts talking about how there are people spreading ‘disgusting’ rumours about him and his sister, and how they’re all totally false?! All while Eirika is telling him to be quiet because this is embarrassing?! This wasn’t in the Japanese version, and it immediately became a huge meme because of how bizarre it was, haha – like, it totally sounds as if Ephraim has thought wayyyy too much about this, hahaha :’) (See, e.g., this meme with NSFW-ish text~) 

OH, and another potentially interesting thing about these two: another major character, Lyon, is heavily implied to be in love with either or possibly both of the twins! (They both consider him at least a dear friend, though romantic feelings are less implied.) So it’s pretty common for people to ship them all together, or at least let Lyon live out his twincest fantasies with them, haha!

Last of all, I almost forgot: there is a case of blood incest in Fire Emblem Fates (FE14, for the 3DS)! (And yes, I mean beyond the surprise revelation in the sequel game that the player avatar is the cousin of the main girl, who many people had paired together…) Leo, one of the main characters, is canonically in love with his half-sister (FE4 reference? FE4 remake confirmed???) Camilla! It’s probably meant to be due to their messed-up childhood, where their mothers were pitted against each other as concubines, vying for power. However, Leo’s feelings for Camilla are as far as I’m aware never directly stated in the text. Instead, it’s only revealed through supplementary material. And it doesn’t seem that Camilla feels the same way, as she’s generally too busy doting on her adoptive sibling, the protagonist.

Aaaand now I get to a much newer example of Fire Emblem incest: Heroes, the mobile game! The most important example here is Freyja and Freyr; the two are the keepers of the world of nightmares and dreams respectively, and refer to each other as brother and sister. They have known each other for a very long time, and Freyja has been madly devoted to her brother (of course!) ever since he protected her from being bullied as a child. (It’s unclear if they’re blood-related but the mythological deities they’re named after were also blood-related and incestuous soooooo) Unfortunately, she eventually becomes jealous of Freyr’s love of humans, and tries to destroy them so he will refocus all of his attention on her. He then sadly sacrifices his life to save humanity. It’s never explicitly said that her feelings for him were romantic, but pretty much everyone in the fandom assumes it. They later had a similar case of implied villainous incest with Otr and Fafnir (a very rare case of same-sex incest in Fire Emblem), but they’re adoptive siblings.

So that’s it! I think that’s all, as far as I’m aware of… Though it would not surprise me in the slightest if I missed out on a canon relationship or an extra piece of evidence or two, hahaha! And certainly there’s plenty to ship; I know that there are already plenty of tags on your blog from more recent Fire Emblem games with more active current fanbases, because hoo boy there are a lot of characters and a lot of siblings to pair up! <3

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Thank you so much for this great write-up! I have heard a lot about Fire Emblem characters over the years but this was such a fantastic summary of the bro/sis canon, with a few ships I hadn't heard about yet even though at least 20+ have already come up. Fire Emblem, you truly are amazing. There are a lot of Fire Emblem relationships that really deserve to be talked about a lot more. Thank you!

I'm laughing so much at the incest banner.

[fayoftheforest]

10, 12, and 19!!

(Ask is in reference to this post. Thank you for the ask!)

10. Do characters have to have canon interactions in order for you to ship them?

I used to be such a shipping purist where I wouldn't fully commit to a ship until I'd read a full 50k word essay on why two characters were so obviously meant to be together (although maybe that's just a symptom of having grown up in the v*ltron fandom ugh). But then I joined the SP fandom and became the multishipping whore that I am today, who will happily write an 120k angst featuring the pairing of two characters who have never ever interacted in the show, because one had just five (5) minutes of screen time back in the 90s and the other wasn't even introduced until over ten years later.

I think my change in perspective is largely due to the fact that I don't much care whether my ships become canon anymore, because if they did then matt and trey would probably do them wrong >:( Canon is my bitch and it will bend to my will and if two characters have never even said 'hello' to each other in the lunch line then I don't care because god dammit they're in love!

12. What drives you away from a ship?

Cartman.

Okay no lol fr I think what gives me the ick most is of all is how people handle "toxic" relationships. Now, I'm by no means a purist when it comes to toxic ships. In fact I love 'em!! Yum yum angst give me more!! But I really don't like when people try to pass off super unhealthy dynamics as "romantic" or a "cute couples squabble" or something like that. If you're going to write about heavy themes like manipulation, abuse, antisemitism, domestic violence, etc, then I think you should treat that with the respect it deserves, and not trivialise or romanticise these issues. There are also some tropes employed in shipping which I just personally can't stand, like "victimised minority takes it upon themselves to educate their abuser and in the process they ✨fall in love✨" Okay, I just reread that sentence and it sounds like I'm vague-posting about K/yman but I swear I'm not because I've just admitted that it's about them >:| Now, it's a free country, do what you want, yadda yadda, but there's something about people fantasising about victims falling in love with their abusers that's just! hm! not my thing! No hate to k/yman shippers tho I know plenty who aren't at all like this and paint their dynamic in a totally different way so pls don't come for me ily <3

19. Do you prefer fluff, angst or smut for your ships?

I wouldn't say I have a hard-and-fast preference for one over the other! I think my ideal fic is something that begins kind of fluffy, builds in angst throughout, until finally the conflict is resolved and we're rewarded with some wonderful smut for getting through it >:)

Thank you so much for your questions!

[dyed-red]

Not looking to raise any wars but, do you think if the actor who played Castiel was more conventionally attractive (re: Keegan Allen in a trencoat for ex) would people be more into towards destiel or samstiel or dean/Sam/cass pairings? (Ignoring castiels entire arcs post s6)

i'm a little ??? at this ask, considering that destiel has over 100k fics on ao3:

i get that not everyone is into misha collins but plenty of people find him attractive, and when he showed up in s4 he was standard cw-level cutie?

if he was shirtless with ripped abs (a la Keegan) in scenes with sam, then sure, there would probably be more sastiel, but i don't think the handsome-factor of misha collins or jared padalecki, or their mutual chemistry in a scene, has all the much to do with the dearth of sastiel content.

mostly the lack of overlap in content and the comparative lack of wincestiel or sastiel is because of bullshit shipwar stuff.

since you said 'not to raise any wars' it's under a cut, and mostly just repeating things that are said elsewhere.

as far as i can tell, there used to be a lot more multishippers, but that ship wars embittered people and that infighting led to "this is the Only ship" mentalities which deterred people from shipping cas with sam, or multishipping sam/dean/cas?

originally there was wincest, then cas hit the scene in S4, and for a while everyone was a-okay with adding more shippable characters to the milieu. actors (including misha collins) joked about wincest and shipping and the show and its creators didn't mind having fun with it.

over time, in fan spaces, more extreme voices gave rise to destihellers who were all too happy to bring morality and anti (fanpol) rhetoric into spn shipping spaces to prop up their ship and put down wincest. wincest(ies) responded in kind by basically saying fuck you to destihellers and multishipping declined as wincest shippers became more insular.

as it progressed, some hellers and misha stans started saying misha was the reason the show was still on the air and started more or less cutting sam out of the narrative and being dicks about him to prop up their ship, and sastiel never took off because fans who liked cas tended to end up in destiel spaces where the 'profound bond' between cas and dean was the rule of order, and where cult-like bullies didn't let people have divergent opinions or ships.

meanwhile, wincesties started calling hellers delusional for their opinions on the show, sometimes in ways that were earned (The Cult really is full of a lot of bullshit) and sometimes just to pick mean fights and put down people's headcanons.

and so it goes?

there's more to it, with extreme stans and their bad behavior and the rise of purity culture and sneaky radfem rhetoric into shipping (and leftist) spaces and the fervent 'everything is queerbaiting' stuff that took off that drove wedges people people and left a bad taste in their mouths over time. shipping became activism for some people and shipping stopped being a thing that was joked about at conventions or safe for the show creators to poke as much fun at because people were taking it way too seriously and demanding that things 'go canon'.

that self-righteousness was infuriating to others, especially wincest shippers (and sam stans). and when you can't stand the people shipping something, you're a lot less likely to ship it yourself, or to enjoy the content being made for it, regardless of what's on the screen. so that's another reason sam/cas didn't take off, and why this potential ot3 never got off the ground. also, ot3s tend to have a lot less content in general than ships with only two characters. fewer people in general are into poly ships, i think?

also, in all this, i'm certainly not unbiased.

i watched the kripke era as it was airing, shipped wincest from the pilot, and when cas came on the scene, my multishipping heart sat up and took notice and went "now that's fun". but i stayed out of ship spaces and fandom in those years and just read fic and mostly didn't know ship wars were in full swing until i came back to fandom almost a decade later and went... "ah, i see."

meaning that when i got back into the show, to my personal opinion, the heller side was deeply frustrating and it turned me away from shipping destiel, despite having enjoyed it fine enough before interacting with the fandom. now it's a NoTP for me. mostly because i couldn't stand most* of the prominent voices on that side except for a few people who were multishippers and also shipping wincest, and even then some of them fell into The Cult of Goob and i had to unfollow 🤷‍♂️

*also just as an addendum, i do still follow multishippers and at least one destiel (non-wincest) shipper, but those are specifically people who i've found to be lovely and non-assholes and who love sam and don't spout the type of entitled rhetoric that soured me off destiel.