#like I need the same level of insanity about it and the canon (and non canon tbh) sam ships currently just don’t do that for me at all

[thepunkmuppet]

I know basically nothing about rowena, but I now finally get what people mean about shipping things aesthetically. because what do you MEAN love of my life sam winchester, 6”4, deeply damaged but lovely straight white dude-man, has a cute, interesting and disgustingly tragic relationship with A TINY GINGER SCOTTISH WITCH WHO’S THE MOTHER OF A RECURRING VILLAIN AND PLAYED BY AN ACTRESS WHO’S OLDER THAN HIM????? WHAT??? I NEED THAT IN MY LIFE RIGHT THE FUCK NOW

like what is this. I love it. I’m obsessed. enemies to friends to lovers, height difference, age difference, and just generally UNCONVENTIONAL AS FUCK for a straight ship??? spectacular gimme fourteen of em right now

[lover-of-mine]

it’s so interesting that with previous love interests, it was normal and fine to not ship them and to still want buddie in the future, but now, we have to sit down and shut up and accept that it’s never happening and B/T are forever

oh no wait, it’s not interesting, it’s annoying and confusing and frankly just weird. misogynistic and borderline fetishistic

shipping non-canon couples, especially ones with 6 years of history and love and shared experiences, is the norm in literally every fandom, but now suddenly it’s wrong and how dare we

a fair few of the people saying this are also, conveniently, the ones implying that B’s bisexuality is tied to T and T alone and if we don’t ship them, we don’t support bi!B

how. very. interesting! /annoying/confusing/weird

So interesting. Dude, I got called homophobic because I didn't immediately look at them in 703 and decided they were true love. In 703. Because I didn't look at the shoulder touch and immediately started shipping them. Homophobic with all the letters. I got yelled at. After 703. Legit almost deleted this whole blog over some of the things that got sent. I was legitimately crying with friends who are not in the fandom if I was being unreasonable or insane or whatever else I got called for not jumping in instantly and to ask if I was actually doing something wrong. People were saying we were being weird about queer storylines. That we needed to shut the fuck up and enjoy the way Oliver Stark was gonna make out with a hot guy. That not being on board the ship meant that we had an unreasonable and ridiculous necessity of making sure Eddie was the only guy for Buck. Literally every single person in this fandom hc Buck 1.0 also hooked up with guys. Most people never acted as if Buck needs to be guided through his queerness by this hot older guy. Oh, wait, no, they did. With T. People automatically decided that Buck needed a queer Yoda. That he needed someone to hold his hand and be a guide. They added a fucked up power dynamic from the get go. With no information, Buck was already a baby that needed his hand held through his own sexuality. And let me tell you one thing, I know for a FACT that if it was Eddie, the automatic reaction wouldn't be putting T in this idealized experienced gay guide position when that would've made more sense (not that I think any of them needs a guide) because Eddie is the one with the body count you can count with one hand and a weird relationship with sex. But somehow I'm the one who's weird about Buck's sexuality. I don't want Buck to explore. I need Buck to only have loved Eddie. Sure. Look, I don't wanna multiship. The same way everyone is allowed to ship whatever the fuck they want, I'm allowed to not ship whatever the fuck I want. If it was a woman no one would've been in my inbox basically demanding I make the same level of analysis I make for buddie for them (let me tell you one thing too, if I made the level of analysis I do with buddie with bt, no one would like what I have to say ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯) but I'm still getting asked for it for some reason when I never indicated I ship the two.

But I'm not allowed to have any critical thoughts about anything involving bt or else I'm being weird and that's the mild term that's being used. I can't point out the fact that T left Buck in a curb and failed to communicate shit properly even though it happened in canon. I can't say that I think it felt kinda callous for him to say "they had henleys in the 80s" to Buck being upset T didn't dress on theme (also, the job requires them to change into a uniform by nature, he could've put a colorful shirt and indulged Buck a little bit there without it interfering with the way he was on standby but I can't say that or else I'm a hater). There is no criticism allowed in the ship but somehow I'm the one being weird. I don't think Buck should be in a relationship. I think Buck is still exhibiting the same patterns when it comes to love interests. And yes, I would feel the same way if it was Eddie. Buck doesn't know how to be happy alone and he will never be happy in a relationship until he learns that. I was saying that when it was Natalia and getting praised for my understanding of Buck's character. Now I'm locking Buck onto Eddie. Buck's bisexuality is only valid if he's actively kissing a guy for some people but I'm the one being weird. BT have so many visual parallels to bucktaylor, but if I say that's a bad sign I'm being a hater. I need to sit my ass down, ignore six seasons of buildup, accept that it's over, and that now making Eddie queer and getting buddie together would suck because it would destroy the friendship they built so bt are endgame and gonna get married and somehow I'm the one who's being weird about queer relationships and attaching Buck bisexuality to a person. The fandom lost its fucking mind when they saw Oliver kiss a guy and, yeah, it does feel misogynistic and borderline fetishizing. But somehow I'm the one getting blocked by half the fandom when I'm not even pointing everything I want out. I lose at least one mutual every time I even suggest maybe we should look at things a bit more critically. I have to sit here and justify things to an insane degree while people's reaction to any of the criticism is "uH BuT T Is hOt aNd hE Is a gUy sO It iS DiFfErEnT oKaY?" Critical thinking skills went out the window because now there's a guy involved and that's fucking weird. People are straight up erasing Eddie, the actual main character of the show, Buck's established partner of years, Buck's best friend, the only person in canon who never left Buck in any capacity, because some guy kissed Buck and, he, uh *check notes* treats Buck as an actual human being? so that means he's perfect. It's nuts. The bar is hell.

Yes, I know this is not everyone in the fandom and I know this is not everyone who ships them but if what I'm saying feels like a personal attack to you maybe you should do some thinking. Anyone can ship anything, you want to ship them go off, power to you, the weird part here is the way some people are demanding other people ship it too. We could all be coexisting if people didn't get weirdly comfortable demanding shit from other people in the fandom and deciding their opinion is the only one that matters so they need to call out anyone who thinks differently, but alas, that's too much to ask.

[bilbobagginsomebabez]

people unfollow me for my misha collins opinions every single time because they perceive it like outing him or harping on about his ‘egg’ or “speculating on his sexuality” rather than a reflection that straight people are also part of the queer community and can joyfully participate. not only do gay parents have and raise straight children who aren’t about to be disowned, that’s the whole point of questioning. to make a gray space to explore in, no expectations and no time limit.

but because we can’t generally imagine that random straight or mostly straight people are full members of the community, we end up creating this pressure to firmly come down on one side or the other. come out of the closet or be straight and acknowledge there never even was one, ‘just’ a door you weren’t positive where it led. as if being non-normative enough that you need to question and investigate these things isn’t quintessentially queer, and as if they’re gonna be immediately booted out of the community and lose the relationships and understanding that allowed them to make sense of themselves if they come to the ‘wrong answer’ (straight).

the inability for our community to conceptualize straight (or mostly straight) people as ‘full members’ also creates identity conflict when your immediate sense of horniness seems to contradict queer identity. like you have to constantly have Significant Attraction to the same sex to ‘count’ and if it drops below a 50/50 your gay card is revoked—at least a 3+ on the kinsey scale to qualify and Be One Of Us. as if questioning doesn’t make you one of us. as if a ‘2’ and low level attraction isn’t ‘gay enough’ or even a singular experience of a same-sex crush or attraction is straight because it doesn’t happen with enough frequency. this is particularly crushing to bi/pansexual people whose attraction to same and different genders can fluctuate over time.

and part of this is because there is no clean line between straight and bisexual or anything else. someone could have had one single crush on their best friend as a teenager and no other same gender attraction for the rest of their lives but still consider themselves bi/pan because that relationship was so meaningful. and someone else with the exact same experience could decide it was a one off and isn’t significant enough to call themselves anything. in reality, there is no difference between them. just their perception of themselves and decision to assign a word to it or not

admittedly I do find his personal revolving door ass relationship to the closet hysterical, but I genuinely profoundly appreciate it for making that grey area so apparent. he’s discussed polyamory and same sex attraction in his book (nonnormativity & exploration), he’s come out of the closet and gone back in multiple times (QUESTIONING), and has seemingly dedicated the rest of his career to highlighting the very real homophobia that prevented dean and cas from a canonical relationship. he is a member of the queer community whether he’s publicly identifying as straight or bi at any given moment. and we can tell because of his actions.

I find it genuinely bizarre that people have turned his personal relationship with the closet into “misha just always wants attention” rather than recognizing real solidarity and community participation amidst a confusing identity journey. it genuinely feels like i’m back in middle school, with my friends bitching at each other that they only came out as bi “for the attention.” which was always and will always be a completely insane assertion. people do not come out of the closet for attention. but it was tied to ideas of bisexuals being “greedy” (greedy for attention, greedy for the attention of more than one gender just for the sake of itself.) and this outright homophobia would consequently force them straight back in the closet. which caused homophobes to feel vindicated and correct in the biphobic assertion that anyone would ever intentionally attract homophobia for attention or seek sexual interaction from genders they don’t feel attraction to. (wanting their attention IS ATTRACTION.)

it genuinely drives me insane that that old homophobic bullshit became the uncritical mass opinion of misha collins. that he did it for attention. he didn’t. he found his people (VERY UNSURPRISINGLY after being thrust into a gay spotlight) and that very spotlight made it almost impossible for him to find his place among them.

anyway i’m fully fucking right. stop saying bisexuality exists “for the attention” 2kforever and if you can’t find joy in queer exploration no matter how messy, keep your trap shut about misha collins.

[zmediaoutlet]

Oh Z go OFF why don't you ship Sam/John?

ahaha, anon starting off the friday night wine party by choosing violence <3

how don't I ship Sam/John? Let me count the ways --

first of all have you seen the sam/john content out there? I'm negatively interested in shitbird lolita sam with his crystal heart-shaped buttplug and the overemphasis on his pink lips and his mewling or whatever. like the puss becomes the sahara. I need a Great Wall of No between whatever's going on with that particular kink and the actual character. As always, a division: 'this is so hawttt omg' is good and fine, but please can we have a little moat between that and character-based canon-feeling stuff.

so all that stuff aside, on a plot level, John's Quest is based around protecting Sam, and like... way to not do it, bud. That is if you believe that John is ultimately flawed but kinda trying, which I do because 'pure monster' and 'hero daddy' takes are equally boring. Sam is left behind, is overprotected, is taught some hunting stuff but comparatively coddled -- in the wee!era, I see absolutely no way that John would go there on any kind of purpose, especially given the fact that Dean's also always there and it would be very embarrassing for your devoted older sonwife to stab you in the brain. (Caveat: I guess there are those times when John would "send Dean away" for disobeying, so that opens a window. But honestly, Sam was probably just abandoned in a motel room alone while John got on with work. I don't think it was a secret fuck-cation.)

on a sadness level: John wants something better for Sam. Dean's a lost cause, although John does super vaguely gesture at like 'eh he could have a house maybe' -- despite the college fight, Sam's untouchable in a way because John has this mad idea that maybe they'll actually win somehow, and Sam can have a future. That doesn't jive with bouncing him on the Dad D. And, again, if John's not purely insane, then--?

on just a vibes level: once Sam gets older, he and John are just way too much alike, and that's why they piss each other off so much. They're the thing of two magnets of the same polarity bouncing apart. Now there are ships where that can be fun, in the kind of slap-slap-kiss model, but in the specific (characterful) case of these two... no. I can see Sam losing his shit and throwing a punch; I aaaaabsolutely don't see him following it up with like, passion. Though I am literally loling here at my computer thinking about it. I'm doing my absolute best here not to compare to other ship options, but like -- this is not the son who'd fold and be like, aw daddy let me take care of you, you know what I'm saying?

on a taste level: like... can you see Sam actually wanting to? Any emotional/physical weirdness he has I feel like would get automatically turned to a different member of the three-part family unit. Non-con is blah, sex pollen is too easy (although with that said, I imagine a no-romance sex pollen f-o-d would be a good way to crack open those dynamics and see how they operated). Part of the massive issue here is that Sam has an oedipus complex, not an elektra complex -- he wants to fight his dad, not fuck him. He has daddy issues but they're of the tough masc black sheep son who goes off and has to get heroes' journeyed back into the fold; it's not 'oh daddy please say you're proud of me please let me be a good son,' unlike Some People We Could Name. It just doesn't have any entré into the kind of tangled up fuckery that makes vertical incest interesting for me. So...

That's probably enough, lol. That said, again: if you love to jill to babby Sammy slurping on daddy John's big meaty dadcock, go on with your bad self. Especially if Sam's inexplicably femme. But like. I'm good.

[snowflake-sage]

Something to help understand/interpret my art, also lore dump (if you care):

Mae and Sage both are my sonas, Mae is my MAIN sona, she’s literally ME, and Sage represents an ASPECT of me.

Mae uses She/her pronouns and Sage uses He/him, they are both non-binary characters that represent different aspects of my gender experience. Mae represents the more physical gender experiences Ive had, and Sage represents more so what my gender is. (This is sort of hard to explain, Mae represents the experiences I’ve had in relation to my physical body that I was born with, and the experiences I’ve had in society and how society has interpreted me and my gender. She’s still accurate to my gender, but her design is more surface level and obvious. Sage on the other had, represents my gender experience at its CORE, and how I actually feel as an individual, despite my body. I feel like I am simply experiencing a feminine experience in some ways because of my body and how society sees me, but I don’t feel like who I am at my core can be put into any box, hence me being non-binary. I feel very much like I’m sort of playing a game and this is just the avatar I have, and that who I am is neither male nor female. I just happen to have more experiences in one regard because of how I was born. Sage is the aspect that cannot be boxed. He is both masculine and feminine, and also neither male or female. He’s just SAGE.) (this is also extremely personal to MY OWN gender experience so if you don’t relate to this don’t think to hard about it, this is literally how I interpret my own identity, it probably doesn’t make any sense to anyone else)

Back to Mae representing my more physical life experience, she carries a lot of my trauma and bad experiences. She represents every part of me that has ever been hurt.

Sage represents a part of me that is less in the earthly experience. If you know what a “higher self” is, that’s basically what Sage is in relation to Mae. He is an aspect of me, and therefore an aspect of Mae, they’re part of the same character. He acts as a sort of “guardian angel” who loves Mae more than anything and he would literally go any length for her. Representative of the innate love that I feel like everyone has for themself until society fucks us over and makes us hate ourselves.

Sage and Mae are NOT romantic towards each other (any art drawn of that is non-canon, sometimes I’m bored) , they are more like a queer-platonic relationship. I wouldn’t say they’re “just friends” because their lore and story and relationship is pretty complex and doesn’t fit that box for me.

Sage is an angel in canon, that takes a physical form which is the form I always draw, I’m working on drawing his true form for lore but I’m still designing it.

Sage is an angel of healing, which is why he’s so tender and gentle towards Mae and in general such a honey.

Sage is an angel of healing, and represents the higher self, but he also represents the shadow self (if you don’t know what that is, google is your friend). He carries the pain and trauma from Mae indirectly. This is why he has a darker color palette, since he represents Mae’s shadow (I actually am contemplating a few other alternate palettes for him , a crème color palette as well a blue one, as I work through the lore I’ll decide when those apply). He is NOT a dark angel or an evil angel. His character is multifaceted and complex, and his color palette just represents what I just explained. There are evil angels in my oc lore universe but their color palette doesn’t represent that bc I think that concept is overused, also I like being ironic. Sage having a darker palette is again, linked to his relation to Mae and the trauma he carries from her.

Even though Sage is small and sweet looking he is literally insanely powerful, like CRAZY strong

Sage being the shadow self, and also being so close and loving to Mae represents that our shadow self is not a part of us that is bad and needs to be pushed away, but actually a part of us that is just hurt and desperately needs love and healing.

I draw a lot of art of Mae and Sage embracing, either lovingly or during times of turmoil. I draw a lot of art of Mae being physically or mentally hurt and being comforted or embraced by Sage, Sage having different reactions situationally. A lot of the time, Mae is representing the physical effects of trauma, and Sage is the inner self mourning/crying/ suffering the trauma. Sort of like how you feel terrible for your child self for being mistreated, or how you feel bad for yourself because of the experiences you’ve had. It’s like a depiction of self pity, but also in a way, self love. It’s like holding yourself and crying for how the world has hurt you, and wishing better for yourself.

It’s symbolism✋

[enconfess]

as an adonisP, i have a lot of mixed feelings on adonis' representation in canon... on one hand i think that a lot of adonis' writing is genuinely terrible, not out of malice on the author's part but ignorance and playing into stereotypes.

but if the alternative is not having any brown characters at all (like a lot of gacha games), then i want to force companies to try writing a brown character. because yeah, adonis is deeply stereotyped, but there are also the occasional glowing moments where i see the writers genuinely trying to go out of their comfort zones and it moves me. the feature scout story where adonis talks about how no matter what he does and in spite of the fact that he has as much Japanese blood flowing through his veins as Arab, people in japan will only ever see him as a foreigner... as someone who's also biracial but looks desi and is only ever treated as such despite having a closer personal connection with my other culture, it hit me hard. and moon viewing was a story that really hit home in that same vein -- so many fans forget that adonis is japanese, and seeing him show off his knowledge of tea ceremonies was so cool! people say to "write what you know," but i think authors do need to be forced out of their comfort zones and forced to write what they don't know as well.

and part of me looks at the way people scrutinize every aspect of adonis' writing and like... i wish brown characters didnt always have to be subject to this level of scrutiny. i saw someone once complain that happyele "made their only brown character share a birthday" even though rei and izumi, both insanely popular characters, also share birthdays. the other characters can exist as they are, but adonis can only exist specifically as an arab character, and his stories can only be analyzed through this lens... and i understand why it's necessary to read his stories through the context of his race, but it also means that a lot of the time he's not allowed to just exist as a character. and i think that this furthers the idea that a character being of the dominant demographic (i.e. being japanese in franchises from japan) is "normal" or "default." he's not even an arab character. he's arab and japanese.

you should 100% be critical of adonis' stories and aware of racial stereotypes. a lot of adonis' writing is terrible; his insane level of internalized racism is awful, and a lot of his inherent character traits are built on stereotype. but some his writing isn't bad. non-adonisPs are quick to only focus on critiquing terrible !!-era stories when it comes to stories involving adonis, or only bring him up when complaining about how bad his writing is, so fans have a skewed image of his representation. but there are a lot of stories recently where adonis is opening up and rejecting the aspects of the "scary foreign guy" image he had at the start. i can't think of a single adonis card lately where, either in the unbloomed or the bloomed (or both!) he hasn't had the biggest smile on his face. rather than being a one-note character who likes meat, we now have stories of him talking about his culture and his home country, talking about his love for his family, exploring his love for cute things, joking with his friends, and coming to terms with what it means to be a foreigner in japan. that's not to say that it's perfect, but it's something.

.

[oscconfessions]

To the anon who made the anti-ship ask, I agree with you on some level.. but also don't?

Now, I’ll give you credit. I do personally enjoy most wlw stuff from the osc. So I might have some baises here. I do get where you're coming from when it comes to shipping.

But at the same time, I think the reason you don't see that many anti shippers in the tumblr/twt community is because most antishippers in the osc (Who doesn't actually even use that title) are 10 year old boys on some big osc youtubers community tag.

And a lot of oscyt who do fall under the line of anti shippers are just very immature individual who are stuck in the echochamber known as the community tab of youtube who would most likely be as immature if they were shippers) but that still doesn't help out in the image

Basically most anti shippers in the osc don't actively want to critique and rant on ships like you do, most osc anti shippers don't really know how to even analyze the writing (Ex. "team that loses = bad writing")

TLDR: Anti-ship discoursein the osc, (FROM WHAT I KNOW) is very very stupid and usually very very petty

I do agree with you the more shippy sides of the osc are very allergic to non-ship dynamics, but

*Epic cowboy hat going down*

Look, I've been in the same situation as you, so many characters I like get stripped down to some basic garbage personality, tha lacks the nuance they have in canon. And then it’s all I see of them, I only see people portray them that one way and I can’t escape it. I feel it’s also shoved down my face.

But now, and this is where you might lose me, and where my take might become ass.

IF you want anti-ship osc content you need to make it yourself, even with all the haters.

I wanted more content that noticed the characters actual personality, so I started posting analises, I wanted to find people who shared my takes so I started looking around for people(THIS was actually way easier due to me making content, since those people KNEW my takes)

I'm sorry to say it, but people who like shipping all the characters together won't suddenly stop posting that content or posting more platonic content of osc characters because you don't like ships. Whilst it sucks that you feel like you have a place in the osc, a lot of the people came here wanting to ship stuff, a lot of people enjoy doing that just as much as you enjoy antishipping

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY

If you want more platonic osc content, if you want MORE anti ship content you'll need to make it yourself, if you want to stop having ship content down your tags then block as many ships you know of. (Again I'll give you credit this ain't fool proof), Your confession is true I do agree with it. I know you might feel forced to ship things, but I’m telling you right now as a person who's been in a lot of /fandoms that are big on shipping, no one is forcing you. And I think you understand that. But forcing yourself to like shipping isn't good. But then again I can't really blame you (god this is way to long)

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, If you want to have a space for platonic osc dynamics THEN YOU CAN’T EXPECT PEOPLE WILL MAGICALLY KNOW YOU WANT THAT IF YOU DON’T TELL THEM. I’m sorry to say this (because I’ve done this before) But especially on the internet people don’t know what you want.

And looking at the response your ask got, THERE IS A AUDIENCE FOR IT. Even if it isn’t big, people do want to see that!

YOU KNOW WHAT! If you make a blog or whatever about divorces and platonic osc dynamics, I will be your number one supporter! KEEP ON DESTROYING RELATIONSHIPS, GO FOR IT! HAVE FUN!

- a certified yapper (PS TO any people who are really into shipping who would attack this person for having a blog about antishipping, your as bad as the oscyt 10 year olds)(I sorry if this is mean I'm going insane, have a lovely life etc))

.

[magicaii]

Hello, if you don't mind, can I ask, who are your top favorite romantic relationship's couples in any media, like anime/manga, tv series, books, etc (can be canon or non-canon)? Feel free if you want to write the reasons or not of why you love them....Thanks if you want to answer....

Thanks for the ask! I have some ships that I’ve liked for years, as well as ones I’m currently really interested in, so I can talk about both I guess?

So in terms of ones that have secured a place in my heart, I would instantly think of meronia (mello and near from death note). It took me a rewatch of death note to warm up to them, and it's honestly hard to describe why I like it so much (look through my meronia tag I guess, I've been trying for years lol) but I'm a big fan of both slow burn and rivals to lovers and couldn't get the headcanon of Near having a one-sided love for Mello that persists years after his death out of my head. I like the way they work so well together on an intellectual level and the way they would both challenge and protect each other, and the grief and emptiness Near likely felt in the wake of his death not only resonates with me a lot but is also an interesting thing to dissect. They hardly had a real relationship with each other, and yet, Near must feel his vacancy all the same. I think I mourn the dynamic they could've had with each other had Mello come to accept Near as he is, and wonder what would've happened if they made up (the potential is unimaginable). I also think it's a fun challenge to imagine how Mello might ever reciprocate his feelings, since it's not very believable to me most of the time.

I've really liked oldrivalshipping (green and blue from pokemon special manga) for years but it's a ship I find hard to justify. They don't have a lot of interactions and a lot of fans consider them like a joke pairing? My appreciation of them is mainly based on the potential dynamic between them, taking into account them as individuals. Amongst their peers, Green and Blue are the more jaded, hyperindividualistic, "mature" characters, but while Green (guy) is upfront about it, Blue (girl) hides it very well. I think it's interesting to imagine what could happen if they got closer and how Green would handle Blue's capricious temperament, since I imagine Blue would have a hard time faking it in front of Green (he has a zero bullshit tolerance). In canon, Green has also shown signs that he genuinely cares about and values Blue as a comrade and person, so I don't think it's a stretch to imagine them at least becoming better friends and eventually coming to a deeper understanding with each other. I just think they'd have good chemistry.

I used to be like, really obsessed with dabihawks (dabi and hawks from bnha). As in, my real life friends were hearing about this shit. I don't think I'm quite as enamoured with them compared to before, and they haven't interacted in what, four years? So it's died down a lot, but I can still understand why I was so insane over them. They have really intersting parallels in terms of story, themes, character arcs, and aesthetics. The biggest sell on dabihawks for me is the ideological struggle between the two characters. It's not even so much about the romance, but: what would you do if someone important to you had the polar opposite view on morality to you? What if they fundamentally disagreed with how to handle the biggest issues in your life? They are so completely different in every way, it's definitely no wonder they're enemies, but what if they were not made enemies by the plot, what if they weren't the designated hero and villain? Would they still grow to hate each other because of their inability to see eye to eye? In essence, their conflict goes much deeper than a villain vs hero story, and that's very interesting to me. As for newer pairings:

This is so embarrassing, but, haikaveh (alhaitham and kaveh from genshin impact). This is a super popular pairing so I'm sure I don't need to explain why I like it, but again, it's the combination of slow burn and rivals to lovers. More specifically, I'm obsessed with the idea of someone caring about another person so much that they pay attention to and work around their flaws just to silently help them out as much as possible. Unlike a lot of the fandom, however, I don't headcanon them as currently dating. They have a ton of issues to work out and if they started dating in current canon it would not go well for them. Kaveh is unable to even entertain the idea that Alhaitham genuinely cares for and looks out for him, since he has firmly decided that Alhaitham is a heartless, self-centered egoist. For all his intelligence he has absolutely no clue that Alhaitham likes him beyond an 'intellectual equal' or 'house maid'. Alhaitham, on the other hand, has considerable communication issues and his inability to be kind is part of why Kaveh so stubbornly holds onto this view of him. I think their philosophical struggle is also a worthwhile point of contention since they are both obviously flawed (Kaveh is destroying himself, and Alhaitham is sabotaging the most important relationship in his life).

Gladnis (gladio and ignis from final fantasy 15) really took me by surprise. They seem to have a very deep and mature understanding between each other, and both take their lifelong duty very seriously, albeit in different ways. They've always been on the same side, but don't always seem to agree on the best course of action to take (think about the way they both treat Noctis). This is probably the best time to mention that I really enjoy relationships that hapharzardly border between platonic and romantic in nature. When you're a lot more than friends with someone, but you don't know exactly how to describe your feelings for them. Maybe you don't have time for love, maybe there's something more important at stake. Maybe you just can't bear the idea of having something so painful to lose. Whatever it is, those feelings remain undissected. That's pretty much how I see gladnis. I think the potential for something more is there if you squint, but it's a subtle romance. They already mean a lot to each other and are comfortable with their friendship, and I think their journey has brought them so much grief that they would ultimately seek reprieve elsewhere, just for some sense of normalcy. It's very tragic to me. I'm perfectly fine with a platonic reading of them too!

Lastly, I DO want to mention bkdk (bakugo and midoriya from bnha)... I was the biggest skeptic of them in seasons 1-3. But especially with all the ways Bakugo has developed in the last manga arc and the way he has come to truly understand Midoriya's importance in his life is very satisfying and feels well earned. I personally view bkdk as being most likely one-sided on Bakugo's part (that could potentially develop into mutual feelings when they're a bit older), and while theyre truly learning how to get along, I think they both have personal issues to work on, so if anything, it would be best for these feelings to be explored more when they're adults? I'm also a fan of the platonic interpretation of bkdk though, and I'm not really ride or die with them.

I'm sorry this ended up being so long!! I'm a yapper at heart, so I kept it to six ships hahaha. There are other pairings I like a lot such as sasunaru (naruto), kakaobi (naruto), nejilee (naruto), braime (asoiaf/game of thrones), kirimina (bnha), spinneraki (bnha). I enjoy answering these asks so ppl don't be afraid if you're curious <3

[paraemu]

ok like i said on twitter here's a bullet point list on my dragon ball yaoi opinions

Goku/Vegeta: i know this is most popular for obvious reasons but this is a classic case of fujos deluding themselves. im not gonna say vegeta hasn't experienced some level of attraction towards goku but like he fully does love bulma and i genuinely dont think goku is capable of romantic or sexual attraction. that said i think their relationship as it is in canon is pretty interesting even without putting on the yaoi goggles

Gohan/Piccolo: this one i kind of get. people want gohan to have yaoi and he does have a pretty special bond with piccolo but this bond is explicitly a father/son thing. piccolo literally says in the show that gohan is like his own son. "piccolo is technically around the same age as gohan" he was obviously mentally an adult when gohan was a toddler so dont even try honestly

Gohan/Dende: if you REALLY need to ship gohan with a man this is your only real choice. its cute and had a lot potential pre-saiyaman saga but after videl i can only see it being one-sided. poor dende

Gohan/Trunks: ok this one needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis so lets break it down

Future Trunks/Future Gohan: after everyone else died gohan probably had to help bulma change trunks's diapers and keep him entertained and stuff so trunks was like a little brother to him. for trunks though gohan was this really cool masculine ideal that he was chasing after and i think its not a stretch to say those feelings took on a distinctly non-plantonic tint during puberty even tho he knew gohan would never see him that way. its safe to say gohan was future trunks's first (and only?) love

Future Trunks/Present Gohan: the roles have been inverted, now trunks is the cool powerful adult and gohan is the kid trying to match his strength. i think if they had been able to spend enough time one-on-one gohan might've developed a similar crush but with how little they saw each other and how high tension the situation was he was just left with the feeling that long hair really suited him...

Present Trunks/Present Gohan: we know canonically gohan was on babysitting duty for goten and trunks both. they have a brotherly relationship and trunks thinks gohan is kind of lame for being a nerd but he still looks up to him at times. no yaoi to be found this time around

Goten/Trunks: NOW we're talking! this is the crowning jewel of dragon ball yaoi. they grew up together, they're best friends who spend all their time together, they're the poster boys of fusion, they're literally attached at the hip. its got everything you could ask for in a good ship. case in point: gt and super both tried to make them het and they still haven't managed to put a single dent on their popularity. i hope they get married and have full saiyan babies

Whis/Bills: i love this one. they're such old gay queens who have been married since the down of time. im surprised its not more popular tbh, i think their involvement is blatant. couldnt have picked a better duo to relaunch the franchise

Whis/Goku, Whis/Vegeta: ok the way whis keeps checking out goku and vegeta is INSANE. he's not even trying to be subtle. that said i dont think he actually wants to fuck them hes just a muscle fan and they both remain oblivious

Android 17/Piccolo: ???? this is popular on twitter and idk why. ik they fought each other but nothing remotely bait-y happened in that fight. im chalking this one up to 17 is the only twink in db and ppl are desperate to have someone to ship him with

Yamcha/Tenshinhan: another pair the spares type of situation. its valid ig i just don't give a fuck about either of them. also i think tenshinhan is married to chaoz

Mr. Satan/Majin Buu: I SEE NO DIFFERENCE LOVE IS LOVE!!! ok jokes aside this one is literally canon. look at this figure and tell me it isnt

[notquitejiraiya]

I want to ask! 3 - 14

Absolutely absolutely! I answered number 8 and 14 in my precious post (replying to the lovely @clumsydragon28) but I’ll answer the rest under here:

3) screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

Oh god, many many many. The first that comes to mind (if I try and keep this Naruto related) was something about Temari being forced to birth Shikamaru’s misogynistic son?? like mate, please calm yourself.

4) what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

I don’t often block, but the straw that broke the camel’s back with the most recent block was just someone’s persistence ignorance and lack of interest in learning and improving, despite pretending to. Not even just of a craft, just of being a better, more personal and understanding human

5) worst discord server and why

A server entirely made up of Paul McCartney stans I was invited to and quietly observed for like 6 months before being chucked out for being inactive. I sent like one message — I was too scared to speak — and I don’t even like Paul McCartney past a general appreciation of his music. Not the worst as in a bad place, but worst as in I didn’t belong lmao.

6) which ship fans are the most annoying?

I personally don’t think any fans are THAT bad anymore. Not bad enough to be mean about. Back in the day found a fair few shippers whose main ship has Naruto as one of the characters to be a right pain in the arse. But that’s only my memory of the old, bad shipping war days (from the sidelines) and honestly, it’s not that bad. Not bad enough to broadly label as annoying.

7) what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Not necessarily hate, but Sakura. I always found her just fine in canon but all of the pointless discourse around her absolutely drives me up the wall to the to the point where I see her name (outside a fic as a non-main character, which is rare for me, too) and I just groan.

9) worst part of canon

Do I even need to say it? It’s the fucking aliens.

10) worst part of fanon

Maybe it sounds dumb, but for me it’s just when people write Naruto himself. I can’t think of a single fic I’ve read where Naruto hasn’t annoyed me. He was already so precariously on the edge of bearable for me in canon that seeing interpretations of him is always bound to drive me nuts.

Alternatively, across various fandoms, bragging about how niche things are as if that makes them better. This always gripes me in fandoms: spaces that are supposed to bring people who enjoy the same things together. Of course please do like what you like and be proud; I’m happy for you that you like that thing, but the popularity or lack of popularity of something is no bearing on how much more nuanced, clever or deep your level of thought is.

11) number of fandom-related words you've filtered

Grand total of 6 muted words on twt if that’s what this means. 0 on tumblr because I can control what I see better :)

12) the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

I mean, I don’t think anyone in my fandoms is that unpopular. Maybe I just got good at not seeing bullshit, but nobody. My violence for this one is that there’s content for most things in this fandom to a level that reflects canon and that doesn’t make things “unpopular”. Less popular, maybe. But obviously your fave with 1 minute screen time or 3 lines in a novel isn’t gonna have an insane fandom following probably. Doesn’t make them unpopular, they’re just a nobody.

If I have to give a “proper” answer though, I say Rasa. Just cause I find him interesting and he’s perhaps not widely enjoyed.

13) worst blorboficiation

Think as of late it’s got to be Kankuro. But specifically the cat-boy stuff I see. I just don’t get it. The man might have a good and the capacity to be silly and soft and dorky, but the cat-boy stuff just doesn’t align with him at all for me. Not a fan.

[mr-nauseam]

alright ika for the ask game: when I'm out of faith he's my idol!

OH 10K OF PURE FAILURE <3

(My favorite scene) I think my favorite scene is actually the one I put in the summary:

Coriolanus doesn't understand her words, until the thing turns around and he doesn't need to see it closer to recognize that face. The same face that invades his nightmares and haunts him through the walls of the Plinth's old apartment. A face that should not exist outside the darkest corners of his mind. Sejanus Plinth. Alive. Not dead as he should be, although the emptiness in his eyes, and the piercing scream that breaks the silence make him believe that he died right there, in the reunion that should never have happened. 

There is some mystery very early on as to what the gift is that Gaul will give to Coriolanus, and then the nursery room appears, which only creates more confusion, the interaction with the gift is weird, the situation is unclear and then in one paragraph IT ALL MAKES SENSE!!!! I think I more or less managed to convey all that and I feel satisfied with this introduction. (Hardest scene to write)

I wouldn't say it was a scene as such that I had the hardest time writing, maybe the attack scene was a little more difficult than the rest but in general I think this fic was complicated because I had to dehumanize Sejanus a lot from Coriolanus POV.

Coriolanus was already dehumanizing him from before, like basically every person in the Capitol, he thought that Sejanus was not worthy of respect or dignity for being born and living in the districts before, and he was already doing it at a more extreme level than his other classmates because the Snows are a bit more racist than the rest of the other big families (although I don't doubt that most of them had the same ideas about district people drank blood or shit like that, they were just less direct about it) but even so there was a line that had to be crossed.

Because Sejanus become a mutt, a complete non-human at Coriolanus's eyes and I also had to break the idealized image that Sejanus gave to the reader in the other parts of Laboratory Au of Coriolanus, because well, his pink glasses are completely insane this time since he believes Coriolanus saved him and Jasper.

How to do it? I tried several things. For example something I noticed is that Coriolanus in the book dehumanizes the tributes a lot by comparing them all the time to animals, not only he says they remind him of animals because they have certain traits, but he directly describes them with animal verbs certain actions they do, something that considering again the ideas Snow has of the people of the district as savages is quite scary, hence why Sejanus is described SO MANY TIMES LIKE A RABBIT. Then there was the attempt to use the pronoun “it”, and even with everything, I can say that there were moments where I thought I was exaggerating. Only to go to reread the book and see that Coriolanus is SAYING WORSE THINGS ABOUT THE PEOPLE OF THE DISTRICTS. Quite sad and funny how my hardest tries of Dark Coriolanus can pale against Canon Coriolanus so easy. (Favorite character to write in the fic) It was interesting to write Coriolanus I won't deny it but the only scene of Sejanus has my little heart even if it breaks it that he has no idea what's coming <3 (Favorite dynamic to write in the fic) Coriolanus and Sejanus don't interact much in this ironically so I'll say Coriolanus and Ma Plinth!!! I didn't delve too much into their scenes because I didn't want to make the story longer but it was SO TIGHT AND ANGSTY. Like Coriolanus very early on thought he was getting away with it, you know? He really thought he was going to be able to steal the stuff from Sejanus' room without anyone noticing, then he realizes that Ma KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING, that she's letting him do it and yet he really believed that Ma Plinth would never mention it nor try to ask him why he is doing that AND THEN IT HAPPEN. I think it is fascinating the interactions between the two, because Ma believes that Sejanus is dead, and Coriolanus KNOWS HE IS ALIVE BUT SHE CANNOT KNOW IT, I would def like explore them more in another ocassion. (Why I chose that title & A fun fact about the fic) I think this answer is for both questions!!! So the title was more for the song that was my obsession of the moment than really a song that I thought would fit with the plot of the fic I must confess but this specific phrase always stood out to me:

Alibi - Sevdaliza, Pabllo Vittar, Yseult. When I'm out of breath, she's my vitals (ooh-ooh) When I need to rev, she's my ride-or-die When I'm out of faith, she's my idol

10k fail fic is a story that was made to directly complement the first fic I did of laboratory au: when he on me, I don't feel so lonely

Its title comes from a song I heard more for the vibes than bc I really thought was related to the plot and again I used a phrase that I found striking, the funny thing is that at least in my head the two fanfics have the titles crossed!

As I think "when I'm out of faith he's my idol" is a story that has Snow's pov, the title it's more a phrase that talks about Sejanus' pov in reality! (since Coriolanus has saved him just when he had lost all hope! when he had no more faith!) and the title of the fic with Sejanus' pov has a title that summarizes what Coriolanus felt in reality (he finds value in Sejanus only as a companion in his lonely life, exclusively to the sexual value he sees in him; he don't feel so lonely when SEJANUS IS ON HIM...) I'm finish by saying... I never asked you bby vicó. Did you make the connection that Coriolanus put cameras in Sejanus' room and then… that happened in the other story I did :)?

[leonardalphachurch]

conversation with @whitmanic about this… basically these men drive me insane

[whit:]

Dangling being fixed in front of north..... The thing is I think they'd just genuinely have a good time together too? Like north is very calm and unflappable, so there's this game for church of trying to get north to lose his shit (happens, it's scary, Church is delighted), but also he doesn't lose his shit for the majority of the things most people would around him for. Like. He can handle church. And Church, for north, I imagine, is often just a very funny and entertaining presence WITH the caveat of oh my god what's wrong with we need to fix this

[Chromatic Roses:]

i think church doesn’t know how to react to someone being genuinely kind to him (and for all his flaws north IS genuinely Nice) so north is like. genuinely disarming to him

[whit:]

YES!

North is so genuinely nice that it comes across as fake / almost mocking and I think that would be the biggest early hurdle, is church being unable to accept that he's. Being genuine. But the second he realized he was being honest? So disarming /novel

[Chromatic Roses:]

most of the time when someone is nice to church he can just be mean to them until they either snap back at him or leave, both states he is very comfortable in. but north does neither of these things forever

north has infinite patience to the point where i think it’s like. actually a flaw.

[whit:]

The amount of "Yeah, alright man" that north says to church when church is being obviously and blatantly mean for no reason lol. Doesn't get mad. Doesn't indulge church's mean. Doesn't diminish it, but does make it clear that it's like. Not necessarily Cool

Yep

Supremely so lol

[Chromatic Roses:]

north is like. church you literally could not be meaner to me than south has been

[Chromatic Roses:]

i think. this is something we write church with a lot. is that he really wants people to be mad at him. like if he’s fighting with someone then the emotions there don’t really matter. conflict comes so easily to him. this is why chucker is so good but also so bad because tucker will literally always rise to the taunts. tex too obvi. even with caboose like. obviously caboose doesn’t get mad at him but he does *make* church mad so it’s the same effect. church is able to fuel the little conflict gremlin in him and doesn’t have to deal with any real emotions because it’s all surface level arguments where things don’t really matter.

north is just. not rising to any of it

[Chromatic Roses:]

he’s not playing the game and church is like ??????

[whit:]

North voice : isn't this exhausting for you

The thing about north is he's really nice and genuinely a sweet person and good at conflict for the most part but I also think he has this really eerie and odd tendency to. Get really really really cold in a discomforting way

[Chromatic Roses:]

but he’s also. he doesn’t in such a way that it still riles church up bc he’s so bad at not being condescending. like. like you look at someone like. i don’t know. flowers.

flowers isn’t taking churchs bait either but he’s so. flowers about it that church doesn’t want to engage with him at all. but there’s something about north that’s so intriguing it keeps church coming back for more

[whit:]

I think it’s bc

Like north is niceys (funny how you claim to be....) but it's this tense sort of pleasant. There's this absolute shield covering everything up

[Chromatic Roses:]

originally i was doing this with weird toxic dynamics but actually i think church genuinely could help north be like. able to actually engage with his negative emotions

yeah yeah

[whit:]

And I mean in Canon that makes sense-- the guy is a sniper. How much more personal with your kills can you get? You're watching someone for HOURS just take their breath from them. There's a very concentrated sort of emotional play happening there. But even in a modern/non combative au, there's just.... This underlying feeling that if you got north to break?

Oh it's be a spectacle

Yeah! I think church would be drawn towards this for toxic reasons but something I like about church is like. He doesn't. Actually. Want to do things for toxic reasons

[Chromatic Roses:]

i don’t think north wanting to help people is an act but there is an amount of. ulterior motives there (need to feel needed and also thinking you know better than everyone else— okay wait cancel this thought i just realized they’re both SOOO “i know what’s best for everyone” oh god. oh god they’re horrible

[whit:]

Yep

Yep yep can't forget that Church also has had to develop that instinct huh

[Chromatic Roses:]

like it’s different in a way, church is like, everyone else is stupid and doesn’t know how to do anything and it all falls on my shoulders whereas north is like, i’m the Adult here who needs to Take Care of everyone like. it’s coming at it from different angles but it’s the same instinct. that’s so funny

they’re both like. what you’re doing is wrong and i know better and if you just listened to me you would be better off to each other but the joke is that actually both of them are wrong

[whit:]

Yesss

Church Def levies it as 'no one else will take this responsibility so I have to do it', north is like 'I have to do this' 'no you don't' 'I have to do this'

the reason churchnorth is driving me so insane i think is because. like. north really has very big “i can fix him” energy but the truth is as the late epsilontucker once said he doesn’t want someone who can actually be fixed he wants a perpetually broken baby bird. and so you’d THINK that church would be catnip to north since he’s all yknow. refuses to get better. but the thing is that like he IS catnip but in a really terrible way bc he also refuses any and all help. but he DOES love to be doted on. so church just dangles this idea of being one of north’s projects in front of him and north always feels like he’s SO close to getting through to church but it would never actually happen.

[artbyblastweave]

character bingo: Brian brian brian my friend brian

c

Brian! (Brian Brian Brian Brian Brian Brian Brian Brian)

Okay, so here are- here are some things I like about Brian. He’s an excellent Straight Man, and in the universe where the Undersiders kept getting to go on IASIP-style Hijinks-laden adventures where everything spirals out of control and they all scrape through by the skin of their teeth, it would be incredibly funny to watch his straight-faced meltdown in the face of total insanity. Worm proper cannot support that kind of story but it’s a role he was born to play. More AUs where the Undersiders know each other in a non-canon context should make use of this.

Okay, here’s another thing I like about Brian. The big thing.

Brian is nice.

 He’s a very nice person! He’s charming, he’s accommodating, he’s a perfect gentleman, he’s considerate of Taylor’s well-being and her needs. It’s what makes her fall in love with him, and it’s what makes his abrupt bursts of violent supervillainy- for example, assaulting Rachel after her fuckup at the Somers Rock Meeting- so jarring. 

Brain’s niceness isn’t a facade, but it’s something he’s actively working at. Part of it is an extension of his professionalism as a villain, and part of it is the put-together-ness he’s trying to display to CPS in order to get custody of his sister. (by the way, what was his cover job? I don’t remember.)

No, the thing about Brian is that Taylor catches him midway through his “unlearning toxic masculinity” arc; he mentions in... either his interlude or arc 15 that he used to be a real asshole until Aisha started calling him out on it, at which point he decided that he was going to get his shit together and stop being such a macho prick. He’s making a real, continuous decision to be better to people.

But!

This is not the same thing as making a real, continuous decision to be a better person, as demonstrated by the Dinah reveal; his stance is that he looks out for his people, and bad things that happen to anyone outside that circle are sad but ultimately not his problem (even if he’s benefiting directly from them, even if he caused them.)  And this very, very nearly makes Taylor fall out of love with him right there, when she finally has the hideous contrast between how he’s treated her and what he does for a living shoved in her face, and it’s really only due to Leviathan and the ensuing chaos parade that they wind up back together. 

This is a scene that I think would play incredibly well in a live-action adaptation of worm; this heartfelt belief radiating from Taylor that Brian, Brian who loves his sister, Brian who stood up for abused children, was an abused child himself, Brian is going to back her up,  and then.... nope, he shuts that shit down hard. But he’s so nice while saying it! So charming, so level-headed and matter of fact.

(More people should write Taylor/Brian. It’s a very compelling pairing. Layers. Like an Onion.)

[cyndavilachase]

I’m Looking Forward Now 💖Thank you and good bye

So, it’s been a little over a week since Steven Universe Future ended… 

I’ve been hesitant to write this, honestly, but I’m tired of holding myself back from properly expressing myself in fear of appearing overly invested in the media I consume, even in private. Writing helps me organize my thoughts and feelings, and I feel like these thoughts in particular may resonate with many, so I want to share them. I want to talk about what Steven Universe has done for me personally, both as an artist, and as a person.

I’ve been around since the day the first episode of the original series aired. I actually remember when Steven Universe was just a logo on Wikipedia’s “List of Upcoming Cartoon Network Shows” list, back when I was a freshman in high school. It piqued my interest, but when commercials finally dropped for it, I thought it was going to be bad because of the way marketing handled introducing Steven as a likeable character. There was still something about it that made me want to give it a chance though, so I went online and watched the pilot before the first episode's release. I was hooked immediately. I knew I was going to love it, and I did. I fell so absolutely in love with Steven as a character, and the world that he and the gems lived in. I became obsessed. I was always so excited for new episodes to come out. Little did I know what else it would do for me as I went through my adolescence alongside it.

As the show progressed, it was evident that what I wanted out of a western animated childrens’ cartoon was finally coming into fruition: this show was becoming serialized. There was continuity, there was plot, there was character development-- it was getting deep. It was pushing the groundwork that Adventure Time laid out even further (thank you, Adventure Time).  

I will give credit where credit is due: earlier western childrens’ cartoons I grew up with like Hey Arnold, and Rugrats, among others, also touched on heavy topics, but Steven Universe was able to take similar ideas (and even more complex ones, concerning mental health and relationships) and expand on them outside of contained episodes and/or short arcs. These themes, which were a part of the show’s overarching story, spanned across its entirety. Continuity was rampant. 

What did this mean? It meant kids cartoons didn’t have to be silly and fun all the time and characters weren’t just actors playing a part in 11-minute skits. Steven and the gems would remember things that happened to them, and it affected them and how they would function and play a part in their story. This was a huge deal to me as a teenager. I always wanted the cartoons I grew up with featuring kid characters to feel more. In my own work, I often felt discouraged when combining a fun, cutesy western art style with themes as dark or layered as anime would cover. I always thought it had to be one or the other because an audience wouldn’t take a combination of the two seriously enough, based on discussions I had with classmates, friends, and online analysis I read at the time. Steven Universe proved to me otherwise. This show was opening the door for future cartoons exploring in-depth, adult concepts. I felt so seen as a kid, and was inspired to stick with what I love doing.

I was actually very worried about the show’s survival. It was in fact immensely underrated and the fandom was miniscule. Then in 2014, JailBreak dropped, and it’s popularity exploded. Part of it was because of the complex plot and the themes it was covering like I mentioned, but also because of its representation. 

I remember when fandom theorized that Garnet was a fusion due to grand, tragic reasons. Turns out, she’s simply a metaphor for a very loving w|w relationship. This was huge. I cannot stress how important it is that we continue to normalize healthy canon queer relationships in childens’ media, and Steven Universe finally was the first to do that proper. Introducing these themes offers the chance for a kid to sit there and ask themselves, “Why is this demonized by so many people?” I asked myself exactly that. Ruby and Sapphire were my cartoon LGBT rep. They were the first LGBT couple I ever ecstatically drew fanart of. I was dealing with a lot of internalized homophobia at the time, and they showed me that I was allowed to love women and feel normal about it. The process of overcoming this was a long one, but they played a part in my very first steps into becoming comfortable with my sexuality. I could go on and on about it’s representation in general-- how it breaks the mold when it comes to showcasing a diverse set of characters in design, in casting, and in breaking gender roles. It’s focus on love and empathy. Steven himself is a big boy, but he's the protagonist, and the show never once makes fun of his weight, or any other bigger characters for that matter. It wasn’t hard to see why the fandom had grown so large.

Fandom was always a joy for me. It was a hobby I picked up when I was in middle school, like many of us here did. I would always cater my experience to fun, and fun only. I only started getting more deeply involved in SU’s fandom when I had just turned into an adult. During the summer of 2016, between my first and second year of college, I drew for the show almost every day non-stop when the Summer of Steven event was going on and posted them online. This was a form of practice for me in order to become not just more comfortable with experimenting with my art, but also to meet new artists, make new friends, and learn to interact with strangers without fear. I dealt with a ton of anxiety when I was in high school. When I was a senior applying to art school for animation, I decided I was going to overcome that anxiety. I made plans to take baby steps to improve myself over the course of my 4 years of college. Joining the fandom, while unforeseen, was definitely a part of that process. I started feeling more confident in sharing my ideas, even if they were fan-made. I fell in love with storyboarding after that summer, when I took my first storyboarding class, and genuinely felt like I was actually getting somewhere with all of this. I remember finally coming to a point in my classes where I could pitch and not feel hopelessly insecure about it. I was opening up more to my friends and peers. 

But this process, unfortunately, came to a screeching halt. 

My life completely, utterly crumbled under me in the Fall of 2017 due to a series of blows in my personal life that happened in the span of just a couple weeks. My mental health and sense of identity were completely destroyed. All of that confidence I had worked for-- completely ruined. I was alone. I nearly died. My stay at college was extended to 4 and half years, instead of the 4 I had intended. I lost my love for animation-- making it, and watching it. I could no longer watch Steven Universe with the same love I had for it beforehand. It’s a terrible thing, trying to give your attention to something you don’t love anymore, and wanting so desperately to love again. I dropped so many things I loved in my life, including the fandom.

Healing was a long and complicated road. I continued to watch the show all the way up until Change Your Mind aired in the beginning of 2019, and while I still felt empty, that was definitely a turning point for me with it’s encapsulation of self-love. I was hoping James Baxter would get to work on Steven Universe since he guest-animated on Adventure Time, and it was incredible seeing that wish actually come true. The movie came out and while I enjoyed it and thought highly of it, I was still having issues letting myself genuinely love things again, old and new. It was especially difficult because cartoons were my solace as a kid, when things got rough at home. I remember feeling sad because the show ended, and not getting the chance to love it again like I used to while it was still going.

By the time Steven Universe Future was announced, I was finally coming around. I was genuinely starting to feel excitement for art and animation again. I wasn’t expecting there to be a whole new epilogue series, but happily ever after, there we were! Prickly Pear aired, and the implications it left in terms of where the story was going did it. I was finally ready to let myself take the dive back into fandom in January of this year. My art blew up, something I wasn’t expecting considering my 2-year hiatus. Following this, I was invited into a discord server containing some of the biggest writers, artists, editors, and analysts in the fandom. I had no idea there were so many talented people in the fandom, some already with degrees, some getting their degrees-- creating stuff for it on the side just for fun. The amount of passion and productivity level here is insane, and so is the amount of discussion that has come out of it.

I didn’t realize it at first, but it was actually helping me gain back the courage to share ideas. I lost my confidence in pitching while I was taking the time to heal, and graduating meant there would no longer be a classroom setting I could practice in. This group helped immensely. 

I have made so many friends through this wonderful series, and I have so many fond memories talking to like-minded creatives, getting feedback and a myriad of sources for inspiration, as well as all of the memes and jokes and weekly theorizations that came about as we all waited on the edges of our seats for episodes to air. I needed this so badly, I needed to get back in touch with my roots, when I would go absolutely hog-wild over a cartoon I loved with people who loved it as much I did. Future has been a blessing for me in this way. I graduated feeling like I was back at square-one, but now I feel like I’m on my way again.

It’s 2020 and while I’m doing great right now, I am honestly still recovering from the total exhaustion that followed after graduating a few months ago, and finally leaving the campus where my life fell apart behind. Needless to say, watching Future was like looking into a mirror. Watching one of my favorite characters of all time-- one that grew up with me-- go through so many of the same things I went through not too long ago was absolutely insane to watch unfold. It’s such an important thing too, to show a character go through the process of breaking down over trauma and all the nasty things that come with it, and to have them go on the road to healing. Steven got that therapy. He wasn’t blamed. The gems were called out. The finale was everything I could have ever hoped for. The catharsis I experienced watching it was out of this world.

As I continue my own healing journey, I will always look up to the storyboard artists, revisionists, and designers that I have been following over these past 7 years, as well as the new ones introduced in Future. It's been such a joy watching these artists release their promo art for episodes, talk about their experiences working on the show, and post the work they've done for it alongside episodes airing.

Thank you Rebecca Sugar, the Crewniverse, and the fans, for making this such a truly wonderful and unique experience. Thank you for reminding me that I am, and always will be, an artist, a cartoonist, and a fan. Thank you, my followers, for the overwhelmingly positive response to my artwork. I have had so much fun interacting and discussing the show with you all again over these past few months. Steven Universe and it’s fandom will always have a special place in my heart, and it will always be a classic that I will return to for comfort and inspiration for decades to come. I am sad that the cartoon renaissance is over, but so many doors have been opened thanks to this show. I am so, so excited to see what this show will inspire in the future, and I hope one day I get the opportunity to be a part of that. 

Goodbye Steven, thank you for everything. I wish you healing, and I wish Rebecca and the team a well-deserved rest. ♥️

-Cynthia D.

[claymotif]

hi luna vitally important question. for all of your ocs if they were inexplicably youtubers what niche youtube subculture would they be a part of

the way u always ask about ALL my guys. i get to sit here and rant about them for 12 hours straight bc theres so many <3

(also im ASSUMING u mean like. a modern day au. like they live in our world. sorry if that's not the case)

aderyn: fashion vlogger. he'd be so annoying too bc the thing is his goal is to show ppl how to dress for their body type but also their level of comfort w/exposure, the weather, the occasion; like he wants ppl to rly think about what they're putting into a fit instead of just following trends. also he's constantly following keldan around like "let me give you a makeover next time ur in town" and keldan refuses. obviously. they have ongoing twitter beef about it so there's actually a surprising amount of fandom crossover

keldan: travel vlogger. like he lives out of a van/rv so he'd do periodic van tours, show off where he's staying, what he saw, etc. he always posted the videos like two weeks after he was actually there so no one could predict where he was going next. sometimes he does campsite reviews but they're all super vague like "the views were great! bathrooms were kinda gross if ur not a fan of bugs" and everyone's like "what does that mean. how many bugs were there". his viewership is all ppl who romanticize vanlife but would never actually do it.

melati: cafe reviews. luckily she lives in like... nyc or some other large city so there is no shortage of cafes to visit. she'll do repeat visits to cafes if she likes them or if they're the type to do seasonal specials or change their menu a lot. she's also active on tiktok where she does "what to order at starbucks" and it's those insane drink modifications that no reasonable human being would ever actually order. (except if you did for some ungodly reason actually order them, they'd be pretty fuckin good.)

seia: not actually on youtube. he shows up one day on keldan's channel and it's like... kind of extremely obvious that the two of them are traveling together but it's not like he shows up in every single place they visit (is keldan just not filming him? is he really not there? no one knows) and also the two of them never clarify their relationship (also true to canon) so comments are like "theyre dating for sure" "uh you can't just assume that" "theyre sleeping in the same bed tho?" "maybe seia has his own van" "it's homophobic to imply that they're just friends" "can't we just have rep for non-toxic male friendships?" etc etc. seia screenshots the best ones and sends them to the sky sea gang's discord server.

delwyn: daily vlogger, but it's clickbait-y shit like "i almost died doing parkour today" and then u watch it and he actually DID almost die and ur like. how did yt allow this to be uploaded. luckily he doesn't do any of the cringy prank stuff but he doesn't need to bc he's cringy enough on his own. the secondhand embarrassment is so real but he has a ton of followers anyway bc ppl are like "no way how is this guy still alive". it's like watching a train wreck or seeing a car crash. you just HAVE to find out more

chan: chan would have a cooking channel. he'd post recipes and tutorials and stuff and would have a long-running series where he invites other big-name youtubers and tries to teach them how to cook, except theyre always atrociously bad at it and it's funny. 90% of the ppl subbed to him don't cook, don't know how to cook, have never and will never try any of his recipes (even tho he'd make it SOOO easy for beginners) they literally just think he's funny and like to listen to his jokes. there's a small minority of ppl who do try his recipes and post rave reviews on their tumblr blogs about him. he never sees them bc he doesn't use tumblr

junhee: junhee would inexplicably have one of those asmr craft channels. i like to think he's really dedicated to those paper theaters (exhibit a, exhibit b) so most of his content is making those (he does a lot from scratch, zero pattern/template etc, but he also does requests for pokemon cards and stuff like that as well as theme requests. if someone requests like a ghibli movie or maybe a minecraft inspired one he'll take that into account. he's got a whole list he's working through). but he also sometimes does mini diorama stuff (exhibit a, exhibit b). those are extremely rare uploads bc theyre so time and resource intensive but ppl go crazy for them. he's got almost a million subs even tho ppl have never seen his face or heard his voice. he rarely even replies to comments. it's literally like he just logs in to upload a video and leaves again. no one's gonna say he's their fave youtuber or anything but no one hates him that's for sure

sasha: sasha would be a daily vlogger. just like here's my life etc. except they still work in a hospital/medical care so the vlogs are supremely censored bc of hipaa and other privacy policies and also bc some of the stuff they do on the daily is actually gross and would get taken off youtube. they have like max 6k subs but those 6k subs are dedicated. they love sasha's content and are like genuinely invested even tho sasha's extremely vague all the time

hana: hana would literally be one of those tech review vloggers. she gets free stuff and sponsorships etc from cutting edge companies and startups. microsoft sends her care packages. she has like a billion subs. it's like 63% male viewership so she says it's only bc they think she's mildly attractive but all the comments sections are ppl genuinely interested in her reviews and opinions. healthiest yt comment section on the planet no joke

kei: SUPER into astrology. she posts videos like "how to interpret your daily horoscope" and "what mercury in retrograde means for YOU". but she's actually more into tiktok where she does vids like "zodiac signs as vines" and "zodiac songs as hit 1999 singles" etc etc. has a cult following that takes everything she says super seriously even tho she herself is like "guys it's not that serious"

other fun trivia:

junhee has a tumblr that's totally untraceable to his yt account. the last time he reblogged a post was in 2016 and he only uses it to find the recipe reviews ppl post about chan's channel.

the tsh main trio have a weird poly thing going on. they're not out about it but junhee's guested on chan's channel ("this is my bf junhee", zero mention of said bf having a yt channel bc that's how junhee prefers it) and there are brief glimpses of delwyn's filming through the apartment where ppl see the kitchen and are like "isn't that....?" somehow delwyn always sees those comments and replies "idk who this chan guy is :/" and no one can tell if he's being serious

in this universe sasha and hana are madly in love because there's no "you literally killed my brother" "well he came back didn't he?" conflict to tear them apart. they're so gross and mushy about it. sasha catches hana in their vlogs, they do unboxing videos together, and every time they kiss or are generally in love on camera ppl post fan edits on twitter like "omg they're so in love" "get you someone who looks at you like hana looks at sasha" etc.

no one knows hana and kei are friends until they both show up in one of sasha's vlogs. the entire internet explodes bc the whole jokey rivalry their fandoms have built up ("theyre so different they wouldn't get along if they knew each other irl") just crumbles.

if seia DID have a youtube channel it would be asmr bullet journal/calligraphy stuff. also stationery-from-aliexpress unboxing videos. but his current lifestyle (driving across the country in a van with his not-boyfriend) doesn't really suit the stationery hoarding thing. so.

keldan finally agrees to let aderyn give him a makeover and then they DON'T FILM IT. keldan films exactly one video with the Look that aderyn puts together for him and then never does it again. everyone is freaking out about it

[tactiletelekonesis]

sir we are need desperate need of flash fam hcs. would you do the honours?

Ok I’m not as well versed in Flashfam content but I’ll try! I mainly know Bart, but I’ll give it my best shot.

First I’d like to start off with my favorite canon facts about Bart because I can’t NOT talk about him: 

He skateboards!

He once tried to get a Green Lantern tattoo but his healing abilities made it go away after five minutes and his friends knew it would happen but let him spend the money anyway lmao

He’s insanely popular at school, like, everyone loves him and he doesn’t get it

He once shaved his head because he was sick of people at school touching his hair, but Max made him wear a wig to school anyway

Ok now for the headcanons:

Bart has a skateboard that’s modified to not wear down at superspeed so he can use it at his own pace. He rarely uses it because he prefers to use regular skateboards cos it gives him time to slow down and think

On a similar note, Wally has modified roller skates! His kids want their own but he insists that they stick to non-modified roller skates until they’re old enough to control their speed more consistently

All the speedsters are pretty much geniuses but I like to believe that Bart is the only one who has a photographic memory (which, the memory thing is canon btw) because like... look, a lot of people make Bart the butt of the joke in the Flashfam but he’s special to me and I love him

Wally is the fastest speedster. Sometimes they wonder if Bart would have grown up to be faster, but they’ll never know because Bart has a prosthetic knee from when he was shot and it gives him a limp (also canon). This makes Wally the favorite of the speedforce (yes I’m stealing this from @damthosefandoms but look, she’s right, that’s why I’m stealing it)

Jai and Irey are almost as fast as their dad but not quite

The speedforce is an entity with a mind of it’s own and the speedsters are its favorite humans.

Barry Allen has so much love in his heart. He loves his family, he loves his friends, he loves his rogues.

On that note, Barry Allen and Hal Jordan are best friends (and sometimes lovers?) and I know that’s pretty much a given in the fandom but it needs to be said again because I love their friendship

Max and Jay are good friends but they can get competitive about “their” respective kids so despite the fact that Bart is literally Barry’s grandson, Max and Jay try to one up each other with Barry and Bart’s exploits on who’s more proud of their kid. When Barry gets involved he talks about Wally, and when Jai and Irey are born, Wally gets involved talking about his kids. It’s a mess.

All! Speedsters! Have! ADHD! It’s just a given. It can cause them problems, but they manage. The speedforce helps.

I’m on the fence about whether I want to headcanon Bart as having Tourette’s? There’s literally no basis for it other than the fact that I have Tourette’s and I want to project, but like. It would fit him well imo, and I think Tourette’s is best suited to superspeed out of all the powers because my body constantly feels like it’s not going fast enough.

Barry is defensive of his rogues. Someone tells him that his rogues are lame compared to another city’s and he goes off on them. People think he’s insane because he criticizes the rogues in one breath and defends them in another

Bart avoids VR games after travelling back in time because while it might not be the same level of technology, he doesn’t want to trigger himself with something similar

Listen, growing up in VR was traumatic for him because no one was real, he didn’t process death, he didn’t process danger

I ping pong back and forth on whether Bart is aroace or gay, so I’m gonna say he’s demi.

Wally and Barry are bi

I haven’t given thought to the sexualities of the other speedsters and I’m not going to lol

They all welcome Jess Chambers (not to be confused with Jesse, I’m talking about the one from Future State) with open arms when they come to this universe

Jess is canonically nonbinary, and I think that inspires Bart to be more open with his gender too

Jai and Irey are menaces. They try to get away with using their superspeed in little ways just to mess with their dad

When they’re old enough to join the Teen Titans, Jai is the leader. I don’t know why I just know in my gut that he is.

Having two speedsters on the Teen Titans is confusing but they manage and it actually works out well!

Irey likes to change her hair often and the fam makes her wear wigs as a civilian to not give away her identity

I want to include headcanons about Wallace, Avery, Jesse, and others, but I’m not as familiar with them and don’t want to do them disservice, you know? But what I’ve read of them they seem pretty cool! I just need to read more of them.