#like it’s one thing if it’s one character egregiously OOC but when it’s all of them?

[carelesscuriosity]

Fanfics where *all* the characters are OOC are lowkey so fun actually

[kelbunny]

❤ 🧡 and 💚 for Triangle Strategy and Octopath, for the unpopular opinion ask game!

Ack sorry for the wait asdfghjkl

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

For Octopath? Probably Temenos at least at of ones I'm probably more able to talk about. It's gotten better, but I've never liked the whole "crimenos bc crime haha" deal. It's definitely gotten better though.

For Triangle Strategy, Roland is an obvious one, but I'll talk about him more down under 💚. Though these might be older as well, but I've also seen some Benedict takes that are off. "Benedict is better than Roland bc Roland is making a dumb decision out of wanting revenge, unlike Benedict, who is being rational" as though Benedict's desire to overthrow the Royal Family is fueled by a desire to get revenge for Destra via her son.

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

I can't say I know of any tristrat theories I disagree with, but for Octopath, I've never really been a fan of the "Temenos is a child of Claude theory". It's largely based of a misinterpreted line from Arcanette directed at Throné and the fact Temenos has white hair (which like. It's a jrpg. That's like par for the course for a jrpg). The only "solid" evidence I've seen is the fact that Temenos has a night based passive.

To me, it's simply less of a theory and more of a fun headcanon.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

So, I am going to put a cut here haha. Roland Glenbrook, my beloved, your chapter 17 decision is horrible but man I've wanted to do a full little rant for it for a while

So, Roland's chapter 17 decision "To give up the Kingdom and side with Hyzante, despite this dooming the Roselle". A horrible decision that leads to the most "bad" of the bad endings. But, it is not a decision made because Roland hates the Roselle, nor did it "come out of no where" not be "ooc" for Roland.

Roland is established as the "champion of Morality" so to speak. He cares deeply about the safety of his people and friends, and dislikes when the strong try to overpower the weak for gain, as shown by his second character story. He explains this point himself if you do the Liberty Ending, that he can't abide with Aesfrost for that exact reason, as Gustadolf is the embodiment of the strong crushing the weak for their own gain.

If you visit Hyzante, you see Roland comment on how if everyone's needs are met, there's no need for war, a point initially brought up in Chapter 3 if you visit Hyzante, and elaborated on during chapter 10 if you smuggled the salt.

When he shifts to Utility at the end, it's still done out of wanting to protect his people, but that ideal has been tainted by his (cowardly) belief that Glenbrook is too far gone to be saved, caused by the low self worth of himself first shown in chapter 2 growing due to everything that's happened. The corruption you learn about if you report Sorsley. His chapter 15, where his attempts to clear out said corruption in the Royalists leads to a child trying to kill him, and his own people viewing him as a tyrant.

It's a decision made out of desperation and cowardice one he rejects to various degrees in all 3 other endings. And the thing is, as far as Roland knew, he was stripping away his own power along side Glenbrook, as there was no way he could have known Idore was going to execute Tenebris and offer him a position as one of the Saintly Seven.

It's still a hypocritical decision as are Benedict's and Frederica's, but this ain't about them rn, but he realizes that himself during the Golden ending especially, both during his apology scene with Serenoa, as well as during various mid-battle conversations.

[cdroloisms]

I feel like in general c!sbi got butchered in most common fanfiction trends because writers tended to forgo their canon relationships for much more...cookie cutter ones I guess? There's the bio family fics where Techno, Tommy, and Wilbur are all Phil's kids, the dark fics where Phil is a violently abusive parent to Wilbur and Tommy, the fics where they're portrayed as a seemingly evil group of 'good guys', etc. And there's nothing wrong with people writing these fics, I don't have issues with the individual authors, but it's tiring when these ideas become large enough that they tend to overtake works based off of their actual dynamics. Like. Phil's attempted kindness but complete lack of understanding or connection to Wilbur is interesting!! Tommy, bearing no relation to Phil, being the one to try to bridge the distance between them and being the only person to seek out his advice is interesting! Tommy and Wilbur not being biological brothers who weren't raised together adds layers to their dynamic! Techno's shifting relationship with Tommy over the course of Pogtopia to Doomsday was interesting!!

I also may be off base on this, but I feel like more often than not when an author cracks out 'The Dream Team' as the main antagonists, they're much more likely to have completely different characterization than if an author chose one of them to focus on. IDK. I think many people try to look for tropes to slot characters into, and having multiple characters with complex relationships treated in that way tends to make the results more egregious.

mmhm mmhm -- i'd say that the cc dynamics kiiiiiinda influence a lot here shrug. the idea of "sbi versus dteam" has its roots in conflicts that are decidedly not based on the dream smp roleplay, honestly, and a lot of that carried over into the fanworks that were supposedly based on the dream smp but really took a lot of creative liberties dabbling in elements of both rpf and fic about the server itself.

not that that's a bad thing, or anything! people can write what they want, etc. but it sure did lead to a lot of err misleading? i guess? "advertising" when it came to people's "dsmp AUs" -- maybe confusing is a better word. like, look ooc-ness is something that every fandom has to deal with, but in most fandoms fanon isn't so obviously based on what is still the fandom, but like. a part of the fandom that's technically kinda separated from the fiction of the fandom. most of the time with actors they don't necessarily have a whole career founded on their playing a persona with other people in a context that ISN'T acting yknow? or maybe there is it's not like id know lmao

but yeah the phenomenon of bleedover from cc personas is all too real in this fandom, for better and for worse

[dc-polls]

DC Comics "They Would Not Fucking Say That!" Poll Tournament

Tournament & Submission Rules

Hello and welcome to our very first tournament! By popular demand, the theme of this competition is "They would not fucking say that!"

This means we are looking for dialog or an action from official DC source material that is painfully, woefully, egregiously out of character (ooc). Let's call this the "Incident". You will need to describe the incident, provide the in-universe context for it, and make a case for why this is ooc.

How and when can I submit?

Enter by filling out this Google form: Click Here

Submissions open as soon as this post goes live, which is Saturday August 12.

Submissions close Wednesday August 23, at 11:00pm EDT (same time zone as New York).

What kind of incident can I submit?

You may submit any single exchange of dialog or single action that occurred in official DC media by a DC character. It must be specific and concise, and not a general overarching way that a character or storyline is handled. You will have a whole "go off" type of section to explain, so save the context and arguments for that. The incident itself should be fairly specific!

Dialog doesn't have to be one single sentence, but do your best to keep it to only the ooc part and be as brief as possible.

Even though the theme of this tournament has "say" in it, we are allowing actions, decisions, etc. Again, keep it to only the ooc portion.

Can I submit more than one incident?

Yes! Just keep in mind to submit only the most heinous of ooc situations.

Note: Multiple entries for the same incident won't affect its standings. But I will do my best to combine the info so that each submitter's voice is heard.

Is this limited to print comics?

No, any DC property is allowed, but keep in mind that you should be clear when making your case if the incident was ooc for that particular incarnation of the character, or if it's relative to comics canon.

You will have to specify what medium or universe they are from. Examples include Arrowverse, DCAU, Webtoon, Post-Flashpoint comics, etc.

How is the bracket handled?

It is very likely we'll have a preliminary round to help with seeding. This would be an opportunity to let the community weigh in on adherence to the theme and interpretation of the incident.

If there is not a preliminary due to low number of entries, and if the submitted incidents seem about evenly weighted, we will go with random seeding.

The tournament will be single elimination. If we somehow get an exorbitant number of submissions, we may do a multi-armed bracket with round robin for the finalists. More detail will be provided here if this happens.

At the moment there is not a set schedule, and pacing will depend on number of entries. So your best bet on catching the next wave of polls is to follow this blog.

Polls will run for seven days each so that there's plenty of time to vote, share and discuss in the reblogs.

Voters should only consider how much of a character assassination the incident is. This means your love or hate for a writer, story or character should not be the deciding factor for your vote.

Can I send in propaganda for an incident once polls are live?

If you want to bolster the argument for an incident being ooc, put it in a reblog! This way it stays with the poll and everyone knows where to look for some extra info.

It is not recommended to send asks with propaganda, as these end up getting buried.

Is there a tag for this tournament?

Yes! All polls for this tournament will be tagged with #dc-polls-twnfst

What if I have more questions?

Chances are if you have a question, others may be wondering the same thing, so don't hesitate to send an ask! If something in this post needs clarification let me know and I will edit it.

With how tumblr works, if you'd like to ask something privately you will have to do so off of anon. Be sure to request a direct response so I don't post your ask.

[skaruresonic]

Honestly I think that the best way to describe Shadow's relationship with Sonic is "general annoyance mixed with begrudging implicit respect"

He does not like the blue guy, he certainly wouldn't shed a tear for him if he croaked, but at the same time he is also the only other person in the world who has proven himself capable of keeping up with the Ultimate Lifeform and even best him on occasion and Shadow, even with all of his pride and arrogance, can't quite deny this on an internal level. To others? Yeah he'd flat out say that Sonic is nothing to him, but keep in mind that he also explicitly admitted to Sonic that he exceeded his expectations in SA2 by learning to use Chaos Control with nothing but a fake Emerald. In an earlier scene, upon seeing Sonic seemingly die in the capsule, he even sounds disappointed at Sonic dying so easily. The fact that Shadow went from not being interested by Sonic's mere existence to asking the guy his name during their final battle should say something

This doesn't change the fact that he'd perfectly try to kill Sonic should he deem it necessary for his mission, but I feel there's a part of him that harbors some small degree of respect for the closest thing to an equal he has in the world

I'm kinda on this teeter-totter about it. On the one hand, it sounds like Shadow respects Sonic for much the same reasons Eggman "respects" Sonic: for his tenacity, for the challenge he presents, for his abilities which reflect Shadow's own skill when he matches them. Sonic is Shadow's equal in the sense that Tails might be Eggman's equal.

On the other, this respect doesn't always suggest pulled punches. Despite whatever he may think of Sonic, there's simply something about Sonic's face that he doesn't like; it's just that Sonic takes it all in stride because, well, there's Sonic for you.

What I'm trying to saying here is Shadow really can't win. People dislike seeing him be a tad prickly towards Sonic when he's done way worse in the Adventure era.

Rivals 2 is an especially egregious example because all Sonic was doing was standing in Shadow's way. And Shadow was like

This is what I'm getting at; we've reached the point where "Vegeta!Shadow" means absolutely nothing, if it meant anything at all, because even Shadow's most core and consistent traits are being cried OOC.

To be fair, there are traits of his that are genuinely unpalatable, like the machismo. (Although I kinda think it's unfair to knock Shadow for his arrogance when Sonic and Eggman largely get away with it, but w/e) Certainly these traits can be exaggerated to extremes, but when you're slapping "Vegeta!Shadow" on portrayals that decidedly lack this so-called flanderization, it begs questions of what you even want from the character.

If Forces!Shadow and Rivals 2!Shadow both get labeled "Vegeta!Shadow" even though, you know, Rivals 2!Shadow threatened to beat Sonic's ass and Forces!Shadow didn't, then it's kind of like... are you just making shit up to be mad at

[emeraldspiral]

We all know and love Zib here, but I feel like we’re sleeping on other possible Irken fusions. Like, what if Gaz got Tak or Zim’s PAKs stuck to her? One comic had Zim and Gaz switch bodies and supposedly inherit each other’s traits, but it was so egregiously OOC it didn’t feel like a legit exploration of what Gaz would actually be like with Zim’s personality bleeding into hers.

With Zib, we had Dib’s drive to prove himself and protect the earth pushed to the extreme by Zim’s recklessness and narcissism, leading him to destroy his entire universe and attempt to destroy even more in the name of “protecting” people. But Gaz is kinda defined by her apathy and lack of drive to do anything but play games, eat pizza, and spend time with her dad. The only time she really becomes passionate is when she feels slighted and wants revenge, and that may be the only thing she has in common with Tak or Zim. So maybe a fusion with one of them wouldn’t motivate her to conquer/destroy the earth, but it could maybe amplify her anger and lose the inhibitions that hold her back from more extreme revenges. Where her character is pitched as someone who would ultimately relent before going too far, a Gaz with an Irken’s lack of conscience or respect for life would probably try to straight up murder Dib and anyone else who crossed her. She might not go full genocidal maniac like Zib for reasons of ambition, but she might if maybe her anger with the rest of the universe was so great she just wanted to destroy everything so no one could bother her anymore and she could play her games in peace.

[echotunes]

17 26 36? 🥺

(ask game)

17. Past or present tense?

present! because I prefer writing it lol. although I do occasionally have moments in present tense where I go "this feels wonky and would be easier in past" (when I want to use the past perfect. I think that's what it's called in english. like. double past. "had seen". you understand. plusquamperfekt. and you have to use the simple past instead because you're writing in present tense and it feels mildly awkward)

having said that: I do write ASOIAF AU in past tense because I'm mimicking the style the books are written in and that's fun too. but asoiaf AU is generally a separate beast regarding writing styles lol

As for reading: I do not care I will read whichever. both are cool

26. What would you describe as OOC?

hm. well generally anything that makes me go "he would not fucking say that" which is. a lot of things admittedly. I feel like I'm a bit hyper-aware of dialogue patterns (gestures at. The Google Doc. nobody is surprised) so there is a certain level of things I am willing to forgive (don't set your standards too high etc etc) but some things are just like. egregious to me. I talked about this before on a different ask game but I do not like how certain people write qmike especially. he would not fucking be allo. stop that

and there's also certain things where it's like. I don't know. Bell talks about this sometimes but there's a certain phenomenon with AUs where people will write whatever and I'll be like "okay but are these still the same characters or did you just write a story you wanted and slap their names on it. because that is what this feels like" and it's just. feels a bit soulless. idk. I don't like AUs very much in general and this is part of the reason why

(this is also why writing asoiaf AU always feels like a very delicate line to me too lol it's always "okay they can't talk like they do in canon because it doesn't fit the setting but they have to still be recognisable as themselves" and it's. difficult. but I do try)

36. How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

hm well usually it's either "fitting song lyric that randomly pops into my head while writing" or "single lowercase word that encapsulates the vibe I'm going for" (I especially do this with drabbles because like. idk they're drabbles. drabbles feel like they should have single-word-titles to me) or "capitalised two word phrase that feels relevant". but sometimes it's also just. idk I'll finish a fic late at night and then go brush my teeth and something fitting for a title will pop into my head and I'll go yes that works. doesn't happen often but the two fics I wrote for kinkmeme that I actually titled myself happened like that and I did like those titles. (the fics themselves too I think they ended up underrated but that's all I'm gonna say about it here LOL)

finding one I'm the most proud of is. difficult? I liked que morrer é da vida because I was like "well I would like to have the title be in Portuguese" and then I did actually have a fitting song lyric for it from a song that I did actively listen to. that was a fun moment. and I also like too much, too late (or just not enough of this) because it feels very fitting and the song itself does actually relate to the fic/characters too. as opposed to being a fitting lyric from an unrelated song. so. :D

[mymanyfandomramblings]

i love ask games too bro

can you do Rachel and Finn for the breakdown thing

yay! my Beloveds!

RACHEL:

How I feel about this character:

I love her. She's insufferable, she's sincere, she's funny, she's most definitely autistic, she really is The Character. She's not my absolute favourite, but she's up there, and Glee would unequivocally not be what it is without her.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

To be honest, Finn is my first and main choice for her. I just love Finchel...

otherwise, none of the other canon characters really call out to me as a partner to her. Maybe an OC.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Kurtchelcedes for the win! I love the divas being besties. I reckon they watch all the major award shows together, and make predictions and be delightful.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Both popular fandom interpretations have correct elements; she's a double-edged sword. Yes, she's a passionate, ambitious and quite possibly autistic young woman who has been a victim of constant and often vicious bullying, and I think she's also an self-serving, insufferable theatre kid with egomaniac tendencies and occasionally extreme reactions to being upstaged. Both are correct. She's complicated.

ALSO, my unpopular opinion is that I don't hate Season 3B for her. A lot of people complain about her being willing to defer her application for Finn and Kurt, or consider somewhere other than New York to study, because 'oh, she's acting OOC, she cares about Finn more than her dreams, what happened to crackhouse!Rachel', and while I do think that Rachel throwing away her dreams for a man (which she wasn't really, she still had every intention of being a star) isn't necessarily a good thing, the disappearance of crackhouse!Rachel is. Rachel learning to take other people's feelings into consideration--especially the feelings of the man she plans to marry--is a GOOD THING. Rachel being willing to be adaptable is a GOOD THING. Thank you.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Of course, I wish that she'd managed to have an ending with Finn--not necessarily RM's ending, but an ending, maybe in one of the non-Manhattan New York suburbs.

On a side note, I wish we'd seen her participate in more community theatre--maybe do local productions, or something.

FINN:

How I feel about this character:

Finn is one of my absolute favourites, along with Mercedes. He's a very realistic teenager, and I think he's honestly the main character of Glee.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Rachel mostly, but in the reality where I can't ship any of my main ships (I once worked out what my Glee ships would be if I couldn't ship any of the OTP's) would honestly have to be Finncedes. I think they'd hit it off.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Honestly, Finn and any of the guys. I love when the guys are just hanging out doing guy stuff--like helping Puck study, or ambushing him on a pool cleaning job.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Very little that he does falls out of the realm of 'things a teenage boy might do'. Sure, that might make him a jerk at times--and he is a jerk at times--but he's not an extra-special form of Super Jerk Worst Character Ever

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

aside from the tragically obvious, I really wish that he'd just apologise to Santana for outing her. That would have been so easy, and I think it would have made the whole thing feel so much more natural--you can see already that he's already aware that he did the wrong thing and is attempting to make it up to her, and it would be much better if he'd just apologised as well. Especially since he's apologised for most other egregiously wrong things he's done, usually immediately after the fact.

[aintgonnatakethis]

❤️🧡💔 ?

Thanks for the ask! 😄 I'll give both SGU and SGA a go too!

❤️️: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

My kneejerk reaction is Telford. People make (or made rather, when there were more people writing for the fandom) the actions he takes have malicious intent behind them more often than not. I reckon while the things he does might appear cruel to other characters who don't have all the facts, actually making him do things for cruelty's sake is massively OOC. He's completely goal-orientated, which means he will do awful things in order to achieve his desired outcome (e.g. I don't believe he slept with Emily because it would have been counterproductive for the message he was trying to convey, but if sleeping with her had given him the outcome he wanted he would have done it without thinking twice) but he's not going to just hurt people for the fun of it.

For SGA I have to go with Keller, with the stereotypical 'this woman is getting in the way of the popular m/m ship so it's character assassination time!' I was surprised even the Legacy books got in on it with her banning Rodney from seeing female friends after a certain time of day??? Madness. I agree with the popular opinion that she and Ronon had more chemistry and her reasoning for choosing Rodney was a bit dodgy, but it's always the same when the main m/m ship is threatened and I'm tired of it, ya know?

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

Been trying to think of a non-Telford answer, but I'm afraid I'm as just as focused on the prize as he is. 😂 I was hugely surprised to find the majority of the fandom believed that Telford slept with Emily. As I said above, I don't think it's a moral problem - he would have 100% done it if it served his purposes imo - but it seems so obvious to me watching the show that he didn't? He's trying to convince her that Young is still cheating on her, so if he waltzes in there and tries to seduce her she'll just put him in the same category as Young and he won't be trustworthy. His whole approach is to prove to her he's 'not like other men' and then she'll feel safe enough with him to believe whatever he says.

Off topic, but I wanna gush about something. Imo sleeping with Emily wouldn't have been the line the brainwashing was unable to break through, but very clearly the baby was the line, as Kiva had no clue that was Young's kid TJ was carrying while she was holding them hostage, as she was about to kill them rather than threaten Young with their deaths (which would have immediately brought the situation to a close lbr). She said she'd read extensive reports on everyone aboard Destiny (which is why she knew Greer wasn't a medic and it was a trap), but Telford clearly hadn't told her about the baby's parentage! Not even the brainwashing could make him do that!

For SGA, I can't actually think of one? I'm not as involved in the SGA community so maybe I'm missing something obvious?

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

Have to admit I'm not terribly keen on Eli. Big 'ah yes this character will be a favourite amongst our Target Audience' energy, because even when there's every recorded statistic to the contrary, many writer's rooms will absolutely flat out refuse to stop feeding themselves the lie that their show is being watched by a majority audience of men. *cough cough* Supernatural

This isn't going to be popular at all, but I guess this is the unpopular opinions game… Michael. I never clicked with him, sorry. 😭

Unpopular opinion ask game

[beevean]

Let's do this: top 10 most hated NFCV characters counting both shows

As a bonus, if you're willing to: top 10 worst episodes

I think I did a top 5 worst characters for both shows but I can do it again :P

11) Drolta. She doesn't do anything egregious, in fact she's kind of tolerable, but she stole Isaac's drip. And for that, I will forever be salty :) (also yeah I couldn't decide for #10 so I added one, whatcha gonna do about it)

10) Sumi and Taka. Ah yes, these two Japanese people who look identical are most assuredly not related, they are just Japanese! Aside from that, they are the emblem of S3's utter failure: they add nothing of importance except for a gratuituous (and OOC) rape scene that is supposed to send the message "humans suck, trusting is for fools"... that in on itself doesn't change a thing, because Alucard is fine afterwards. But hey, you got your bi rep! Aren't you happy with this show's representation? :)

9) Emmanuel. This guy is just stupid. Just because you lampshade how absurd it is to ally yourself with vampires because you think the Revolution is "godless", it doesn't make it any less absurd. We're still at this level of shallow, childish CHURCH BAD.

8) Sypha. You're not cute when you insult Trevor. Stop it. I remembered her being nicer than she actually was :( during the rewatch she was painful, constantly complaining, defending Alucard from Trevor rather than the other way around (but still ditching him when he needed company because yay adventures!!!), and acting bossily with her bf because that's the only kind of character they can write here. Also she's OP af and that's not fun.

7) Maria. Does she even have a personality beyond stereotypical Twitter communist teen? Good god girl shut up you are nothing more than useless backdrop!

6) Carmilla. In theory, she could be an interesting unapologetic female villain who reacted to her trauma with rage rather than sorrow, a female Dracula but even pettier. In practice, she is the parody of a radfem written by a man with zero respect for women, so you can imagine that she isn't exactly nuanced. I hate that Dracula and his boytoys were made to be absolute dumbasses for her to win, only for her to conclude effectively nothing. villain.exe

5) Alucard. You absolute cunt. Am I supposed to like, or worse being attracted to, this piece of shit who spends his time insulting Trevor and treating him like dog shit under his shoe? He has zero of the effortless charm of the real Alucard, but I'm supposed to root for him because he's hot when he cries all boobily. Fuck off with your disingenous fanservice. (also his design is atrocious and the artstyle doesn't flatter him at all)

4) Erzsébet. Literally an OC made by a 5 yo. Look at her! She's so cool and special! She's older than Dracula, stronger than Dracula, more evil than Dracula, more dangerous than Dracula, and she turns into an invincible Sun Thundercat! Yeah good job, but you forgot to give her a personality.

3) Annette. She is not a character. She is nothing more than accurately engineered discourse bait. I refuse to acknowledge this shallow attempt at "badass representation" that I am supposed to like on the sole basis of her race and gender. I am so tired of Stronk Women that are actually giant assholes, all flash and no substance.

2) Isaac. I will concede that he has the most coherent character arc of all characters, but aside from that, he pisses me off something fierce for how overrated he is. Forgettable design, pretentious as fuck, spouting faux-philosophical quotes to hide how petty he is, basically a jihadist in S3, wakes up one day in S4 and suddenly he's Muslim Jesus, disgustingly OP because the narrative finds every way to suck his shiny dick... and his amazing arc that everyone praises him for, the thing that makes him "better than that stupid gay joker from CoD"? It's just a worse version of Hector's from the mangas, which left him Hector here with no arc to speak of. Get him out of my sight.

1) Lenore. Her concept is great. She is an intriguing foil to both Carmilla and Hector, and incarnates an unique type of villainy: she is amoral, kind for her own selfish purposes, with understandable goals but willing to do anything to achieve them. I want to like her. Too bad she is a disgusting, repulsive, inconsistent, bratty rapist that I am supposed to feel sorry for because oh, she's not so bad after all :) she did everything for Hector's own good :) she's not actually evil :) she deserved to smooch the man she raped into slavery, don't you feel bad that she sunned herself like a selfish coward :) Lenore begs to be rewritten by someone who doesn't jerk off to abusive dommy mommies, but in her canon state, she makes me ill.

Now for the episodes :P

10) The Great Work (S4E7): I never watched it because it's boring as shit, which speaks of the terrible pacing of this show and especially S4. I know it has the infamous "vampires dislike crosses because their vision is fucked up" scene lmao

9) The River (S2E6): It's the episode where the zombie bishop resurrected by a dark necromancer who is now working for a vampire with plans of enslaving mankind is apparently favored by God to the point of being able to bless water. Do I need to say more? Well, it's also the episode where the heroes suddenly remember they are supposed to do shit and hack into Dracula's castle, and the episode that fully cements Dracula as an ineffectual pathetic antagonist easily manipulable by the real villain, no I don't care that he's kinda cool in For Love. (at least the scene with Carmilla avoiding the river and the castle is fun to watch)

8) Bless Your Dead Little Hearts (S3E1): The beginning of Alucard's and Trepha's plotlines, two utter mindnumbing wastes of time, and Hector's plotline, which is the show beating me over the head with a nail bat while screeching "LOOK HOW PATHETIC HECTOR IS! LOOK AT THIS PITIFUL WET CAT! LOOK AT HIM COWERING NAKED IN A CELL EATING MOLDY BREAD! FEEL SORRY FOR HIM!". Just unpleasant for all sorts of reasons.

7) It's Been A Strange Ride (S4E10): Trevor miraculously survives Death! Alucard is happy to live with his new bossy gf as if nothing ever happened! Lenore suns herself just for a final kick in the balls to Hector, whose character will forever be remembered as "useless simp"! And most importantly, Dracula and Lisa get to live again as if the dude didn't just try to exterminate mankind, and they will have endless kinky sex until she dies while Alucard will forever mourn his parents but no one gives a shit about that because we love to piss on the games! :D

6) Old Homes (S2E2): It has the double combo "Alucard being the biggest moistest cunt to Trevor while we're supposed to laugh at this hilarious banter" and "Carmilla girlbossily girlbosses all over Dracula who can't even punish this vampire who insults his wife in front of everyone, establishing herself as the cooler villain"! Joy!

5) The Good Dream (S3E6): "Walkies! :D"

4) Back In The World (S4E5): It's the one with the infamous "Oh, shush, you were having fun" :) and all the Lenore apologism that follows :)

3) You Don't Deserve My Blood (S4E6): I get it. Isaac is Jesus and I should drop to my knees to suck his entire dick. Good thing this is his last appearance. Other than that, this episode is the last nail in the coffin for what was left of Hector's character, who is revealed to have been working to resurrect Dracula (a complete spit in the face to everything he stood for in S2) and also chooses to stay with his rapist instead of seeking true freedom.

2/1) The Harvest (S3E9)/Abandon All Hope (S3E10): It's hard to separate the two, and I wouldn't know which one is worse. The Harvest is infamous for being half boring fight scenes, and half "hot" sex scenes that are actually rape by deception: the entire episode is simply uncomfortable to sit through, not helped by the shoddy editing. Abandon All Hope is the season finally dropping its final message: "the world sucks, and you will be betrayed". Everyone except babyboy Isaac is left traumatized and cynical because we are so fucking edgy, we are just like Berserk fr fr. And, of course, in retrospect, Alucard and Hector's endings piss me off even more as all of their pain was for fucking nothing :)

(Nocturne is completely forgettable and doesn't reach the peaks of NFCV so it deserves its own ranking)

[llycaons]

Section One: The heart of it all

I. The name of the song: that sweet sweet postcanon getting-together content

II. To be in the world again: wei wuxian (or others), relearning how to live

III. From then on, he was unable to look away again: postcanon wangxian

I. The name of the song: that sweet sweet postcanon getting-together content

*I hope that you will come and meet me* by feyburner

summary: a classic. one of the first postcanon getting-together fics I’ve ever read. although not without its flaws, this is sweet, reliable, romantic, and has lovely writing. it remains a staple in fic recs for good reason work issues: lwj’s dialogue is very awkward, edging towards caveman speak in some of the more egregious lines author issues: genderbends, fuck or die

*And Yet Here You Are by cosmicmilktea

summary: a wonderful postcanon work. wx’s parallel goals for justice are heavily featured, lwj truly cares about and does well in his cc role, wwx addresses the pain his actions have caused in the past with actual nuance, there’s some excellent teaching going on, the characterizations are great, and it’s one of the only fics that I think really understands how lwj relates to the rules work issues: none author issues: A/B/O

*second person* by theherocomplex

summary: this is one of the most stunning and beautifully written fics I’ve ever read. in one timeline, wwx is grappling with being in mxy’s body, slowly healing and coming to terms with his traumas while traveling solo after leaving CR. in another timeline set some time in the future, a wwx reunited with lwj races to save his life after an assassination attempt both parts of the story interweave with each other; at times aching, at times terrifying, at times introspective. with a wonderful ending after an intensely compelling showdown. the second person pov was so engaging and unusual. cql for most things except wwx being in mxy’s body. I dislike when the post-temple travels are longer than a year, but the characterizations are so good, and the writing is so gorgeous, and the time for healing is needed so clearly that I don't mind see author notes for warnings. wwx's new body is written as if it's a discrete entity from him and they are both talked about as if they have their own desires and goals. there are some allusions to wwx’s suicidal ideation early into his travels, as well as a semi-graphic description of torturing a character to death work issues: none author issues: xicheng, 3zun, dubcon, and sex pollen

how you hold my name by detention_notes

summary: a nice and gentle postcanon getting-together work work issues: none author issues: none

*This House of Ill Repute* by Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle)

summary: postcanon wwx and lwj seek shelter from a storm at an inn they quickly realize offers more services than they expected. honestly, the setting really just made their getting-together very…sweet? all the original characters were so lovely and the atmosphere was very friendly. this fic makes me a smile a lot. work issues: none author issues: has written fuck or die

*this must be the place by here_perishing

summary: a four-part get-together series starting with a sex scene just after the fade to black in ep43. it fits beautifully into canon because they just. don’t talk about it the next morning and do everything exactly as they did in the show. the characterizations were excellent in this one, and I loved how tender and funny it was. cql only, and easily one of the smoothest transitions from canon to fanon I’ve ever read. maybe lwj calling wwx an idiot is ooc but I thought it was very funny in context and it made sense for their dynamic here the grammar was a bit shaky, but the writing was otherwise good enough that I could ignore it work issues: none author issues: none

everything you think you had by gusuvibes

summary: post-guanyin temple, wwx and lwj go back to gusu and yearn. it’s a bit sad because it does follow cql canon and wwx leaves anyway, but I like the writing and atmosphere, and I find the ending satisfying in the way the promise at the end of cql was work issues: their first kiss is when lwj believes wwx to be drunk, but he stops them and feels awful when wwx wants to escalate things. wwx isn’t actually drunk, but it was a bit of a weird choice imo author issues: has written genderbends

In the Cold of Spring by dollydoodledoo

summary: absolutely lovely character introspection/getting-together fic that grapples with wwx’s self-worth issues while remaining very positive and warm. I love the style and atmosphere, and the dialogue is realistic and engaging. lwj in particular was given lines where he actually says things and doesn’t just repeat the same three or four sentiments over and over again. work issues: none author issues: none. this is a mutual’s fic, go read it!

*Linger in the Sun* by etymologyplayground

summary: postcanon getting together casefic! the lwj and wwx in this just Know each other so well and love each other so much, so even though they take things slowly you can really feel the romance and tenderness. lovely, humorous, and satisfying work with a nonbinary oc. firmly cql characterizations I find the jc and wwx relationship here to be very obnoxious, in the sense that wwx feels the need to tell lwj not to be so protective of him and jc being rude and aggressive towards him is just…brotherly bonding. sigh. I skip his scenes. work issues: none author issues: has written genderbends

*Wearing Down Every Bone by CSHfic, VSfic

summary: getting-together casefic with a time loop twist. there was a lot of drama and emotion in this one, the worldbuilding and plot were well-crafted, the characterizations were on point, and the conclusion was deeply satisfying in a way most fics on here aren’t (having its own plot helps). the ending made me want to cheer and I thought the wwx was just wonderful work issues: none author issues: none

let me hold it lightly by Phlogistics

summary: that brief interlude of wwx realizing lwj won’t travel with him in ep50, and what comes after. cql characterizations, and I really loved how thoroughly the author understood them and the show’s finale. the imagery and style were also lovely. a little wistful, but sweet and hopeful as well. work issues: none author issues: none

*awake for the sunrise by occultings (microcomets)

summary: half of this is just smut but honestly it’s a really lovely postcanon get-together. short, but their chemistry was just so natural and their joy together was just palpable ahh I love this one work issues: none author issues: genderbends, allusions to cnc, sex pollen

flowers boldly blossoming over withered grass by LilyMaxwell

summary: a lighthearted, loose narrative describing wwx’s life postcanon. not much of a plot besides wwx traveling and then returning to lwj, but a really lovely romance and a lot of writing about flowers work issues: none author issues: idk if this counts are rpf but they wrote a fic of lwj/another character wyb played and tagged it wyb/wyb so???

a safe pair of hands by occultings (microcomets)

summary: I don’t usually like fics with physical curses that lead to get-togethers bc I always feel weird about like, freedom of choice but this one is really good! pretty straightforward - postcanon wwx and lwj are traveling together, lwj gets hit with a touch-starved curse, and things go from there. it’s really sweet and tender and yeah these are definitely some good sex scenes imo work issues: none author issues: genderbends, sex pollen, allusions to cnc

the hidden source is the watchful heart by o_honeybees

summary: lwj pov post-cql get-together. somewhat corny, but very sweet. they're in love, they come together, they ease into intimacy. low-drama and very tender. I like how thoughtful and responsible lwj is in this one work issues: none author issues: none

my heart skips a beat (so my gut can feel the punch) by seularen

summary: postcanon get-together for cql. wwx finding the balance in his life and what he really wants was really nice to read, and I thought the characterizations were excellent work issues: distressingly faithful to novel sexual dynamics, so this one has a few lines that vaguely reference cnc. not graphic or even really explicit, but only read if you’re prepared for that. author issues: cnc (see above) and xiyao

Devoutly to Be Wished by yunitsa

summary: a short collection of wwx’s fantasies about lwj in chronological order from CR schooldays to the jingshi snow days. not all of them are sexual. I think it tracks his state of mind really well at different points of the story and the finale was just really tender and sweet. I feel like we get a lot of young lwj Yearning but not wwx so much. cql canon

work issues: none author issues: none

I’m Going Out (Gonna Make A Name For Me And You) by cosmicmilktea

summary: postcanon, wwx travels and works as lwj’s legs on the ground to enact change for the world and help people in need. fun and interesting character and political work exploring wwx’s recovering reputation, concept of home, teaching, and relationships with others sect disciples. the romance was in the background, quiet but nice. technically a getting-together work, but less focused romance than other fics on here jc was kind of annoying but not terrible. the juniors shipping wx were honestly a little funny. a few of the names sounded off because the author sometimes didn’t use honorifics for the disciples work issues: none author issues: A/B/O

small mercies by mellowflicker

summary: wwx stays postcanon and takes care of lwj during his tenure as cc. the intimacy is mostly unspoken but nice and very physical. no big get-togethers or confessions are needed, because they simply know. the sex is rough and a little undernegotiated but honestly really well done. a nice read overall

work issues: none

author issues: a/b/o, slave AU, age difference, student/teacher relationship, niyao, consensual somnophilia

II. To be in the world again: wei wuxian (or others), relearning how to live. healing and recovery from grief, suicidal feelings, loss, trauma. etc.

*the earth remembered me* by remux

summary: my very first fanfic 🥺 still unfinished, but this beautiful and contemplative work follows wwx on his travels postcanon as he comes to terms with what happened, works with his hands, offers aid to any who need it, experiences the kindness of strangers, and begins to think about his future. his travels are so lovely to witness, and his coming back into himself is so…tender? he does some healing. idk what else to say. he needs this. this is one of the few fics that’s pure cql and I love it so, so much. I don’t even need it to end, tbh, I know he’ll get back to lwj eventually. work issues: none author issues: none

*fish & wild geese* by impossibletruths

summary: loosely based on the film little forest, this fic follows modern AU lwj through four seasons after he returns for a visit to his mother’s home in the countryside. he finds a grounding and peaceful escape from his busy and empty life as a law student and he reunites with his old friend wwx, who had moved back to help on his grandmother’s farm. lwj’s connection to his mother is so beautifully explored, and I also loved how lqr and mama lan’s relationship was portrayed wwx’s unique family unit of himself, bssr, sl, and xxc is also warm and wonderful, and I enjoyed the background songxiao. the writing is gentle and evocative, and includes poetry for each season. a worthwhile fic full of food, family, grief, home, romance, and closure. technically either canon but I feel cql for it work issues: none, it’s such a comfort to me author issues: none

*总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near)* by yiqie

summary: ah, this fic. I LOVE this fic. modern AU - wwx’s nearly successful suicide attempt, and what comes after. emotionally rich, well-crafted in language and character, accurate to culture, thematically resonant, and faithful to canon characterizations, this has been one of my favorite fics for a long time. I like how all the characters are written, especially lxc, jc and jyl. I love what a good person jxz is here, too, although he’s not a major character. I appreciate the emphasis on continuous and enthusiastic consent wrt the sex scenes. the author is chinese so the details and atmosphere feel very grounded and realistic. strictly cql characterizations on the flipside, it does have quality issues. it sometimes gets caught up in its own flowery language and the lines end up nonsensical. some of the sex scenes are a little goofy since lwj is so formal, and there’s a slightly annoying emphasis on wwx being panicked about being a bad partner and needing reassurance from a saintly lwj, which he immediately believes with no other hangups despite his terrible sense of self-worth and not thinking he ‘deserves’ anything good. also, there are a few characterization choices that made me go “no!” for example, wwx is DEFINITELY a crier and this fic claims he isn’t. but yeah I love it anyway lmao the suicide attempt is described in detail at the beginning of the work, so check the notes if you want to skip it. suicidal ideation and chronic depression comes up later in the story. there’s canon-typical emotional and physical child abuse in flashbacks to wwx’s childhood. there are also flashbacks to lwj’s mother’s death in the hospital. implied to have been from cancer work issues: not a huge issue, but at one point lwj brings wwx flowers and someone asks lwj if they’re for his girlfriend and he says yes which like??? nothing close to that happens again but why was that a thing author issues: has implied jl/lsz in one of their fics (To the Yiling Laozu, the Great and Powerful)

*feast and famine* by luckymarrow

summary: a rape recovery/aftermath work. I took a long time deciding to add it in, but it’s really good, I think it could be cathartic for people, and on a second read it’s strangely comforting. modern AU, NYC. leaning more towards novel characterizations. wx are married. wwx is roofied and violently sexually assaulted at a party, and then deals with the aftermath with the support of his friends and family. check author notes for specific warnings, but obviously it’s rough. this is probably the least fanficcy of any work on my list. it is unflinching in its depictions of survival after horrific violence in ways other fics tend to mine for angst or romance points, or gloss over for hurt/comfort. but this depicts not only the immediate before and after of the assault itself, but the continued pain and humiliation of medical examination, homophobia faced by victims of rape even from supposed supporters, caregiver fatigue, homophobia from the assailants, and effects of lifelong trauma. there are also brief references to sinophobia. imo it also has good politics in validating a survivor not pressing charges, which I think is really refreshing. unlike others I’ve read, it takes into account social/cultural forces at work, and things like class and privilege that can really matter in the context of SA despite the premise and the very dark scenes, there were many legitimately joyful parts of the work, and as wwx starts healing in more significant ways, the breakthroughs he makes in his journey are so touching to read about. this is a painful story, but it makes so many beautiful points about how life is worth living after a violent trauma, and how things can still be good afterwards even if they’re different. this was a huge theme in the show and I enjoyed seeing it resonate here as well. it’s a slow journey, and one not finished by the end of the work, but it does have a gentle and hopeful conclusion I don’t really like how this author writes them pre-assault, but the way wwx and his relationship with lwj is explored the rest of the work is amazing, and the way they renegotiate their relationship in the aftermath is genuinely very interesting and even romantic to read even if it’s painful why they have to do so. the side characters also have a lot of richness to them - I love jyl in particular, she gets a ton of screentime and pov scenes, and her chronic illness matters without being her only character trait. lwj is pretty good; his backstory with his mom is one of the scariest I’ve ever seen and I think it’s really compelling. jc is written really well! wwx and jc have their adolescent playfight banter that goes a little far sometimes, but wwx gives just as good as he gets and jyl and lwj always back him up when jc goes too far, so it didn’t feel unbalanced or unfair to wwx while letting jc off the hook like other fics do. jc grows as a person during this work, becoming more selfless and closer to his siblings. and I really liked how jxz was handled at the end finally, this fic has, bar none, the best jfm I’ve ever read. he clearly loves wwx but he doesn’t treat him very well - he’s foolish, ignorant, self-centered, weak-willed, delusional. absolutely perfect. but they all love wwx and they work together to support him in the aftermath in very gratifying ways reclaimed q slur is used a few times, including by a straight character? she was referring to a gay character and not using it as a slur, but it was a little odd anyway work issues: references jgy and nmj potentially hooking up, mentions of xy and ‘his boyfriends’ (sl and xxc), and references to cnc (which is discussed, but not shown in the fic itself). pretty mild on the whole and it’s only talked about to I moved it to this section author issues: cnc smut and A/B/O

*places under the sky by narie

summary: during his travels after leaving gusu, wwx stumbles upon a village where he meets his paternal grandmother and learns more about his lost parents. this fic is raw and tragic, but it was in-character and so beautifully written and offered a realistic, if bittersweet measure of healing and closure for wwx. the way the romance was handled was lovely, even though lwj wasn’t present. cql canon work issues: none author issues: none

the work of spring by wrrms

summary: modern AU wwx tries to grapple with his grief over jyl’s death, jc’s estrangement, and lwj’s absence by starting a garden. the wx in this was long-distance but their relationship was super sweet, as was the nhs and wwx friendship. it did make me cry a bit but it was also really cathartic and lovely. lwj was genuinely hilarious and I loved his personality and dialogue in this one. either canon warnings for depression and heavy grief work issues: none author issues: none

how the body can be both greenhouse and graveyard by molerein

summary: postcanon, wwx drags lxc and himself into a better place through his very determined visits to the hanshi. sort of a character introspection/relationship study. I like their dynamic, and the background wx was very comforting as well. the style was lovely. either canon works, tho tags say novel verse check notes for references to depression and suicidal ideation work issues: none. the every day thing is mentioned, which continues to piss me, off but it’s not like an actual issue author issues: none

*come for a while by Joana789

summary: a meandering, plotless little introspection from wwx about being alive again, and how he handles the joys and sorrows and changes from his previous life. very gentle and satisfying. I feel cql for it work issues: none author issues: none

*the soft animal by cafecliche

summary: postcanon wwx, learning to live in his new body and be kind to himself as he adjusts. this one gave me all sorts of disability feelings. novel canon work issues: none author issues: none

*a kind of emptiness by ScarlettStorm

summary: wwx works towards gaining weight postcanon after his lifetime of food insecurity, with the support of lwj and the lans. it’s nice to see him take one step after another as he relearns how to have a healthy relationship with food, and progressively feels better and stronger as he puts on weight. a really lovely, affirming fic with a solid and satisfactory ending. either canon, but characterizations lean towards cql. unfortunately the author's attempts at eroticism are about as unsexy and painfully generic as they come warnings for disordered eating and references to starvation work issues: none author issues: this author has written some really weird things feminizing wwx

*somewhere they live, somewhere they multiply by perilously

summary: one of the few horror fics I’ve enjoyed. postcanon wwx struggles with his past and some parts of his life in CR, and the gift of a large, creepy mirror exacerbates issues. the quasi-argument between himself and lwj is quite raw and feels well grounded in their characterizations, and the atmosphere is extremely well-crafted work issues: none author issues: none

*grow* by cafecliche

summary: wwx is hit by a curse during a night hunt with the kids that reverts him to the physical, mental, and emotional state of his six-year old self. the juniors take care of him while trying to find ways to undo the curse, which is really cute because they just adore him and they want to make sure he has a nice day. a character study for both wwx and lsz, with supporting roles from jl, ljy, and oyzz, and later on, lwj and lxc. the writing was wonderful, the relationships well-crafted and very sweet, the commentary on wwx as a child was straightforward but rewarding, and the characterizations as a whole were just excellent. I really loved seeing little wwx getting all the care and affection and protection and validation he so desperately needed back then, so it’s a bit of a comfort work as well. novel-verse, but imo it doesn’t matter expect canon-typical child neglect and everything else that comes from being a homeless 6 year old. lwj does interact with de-aged wwx but I promise it’s not weird I have age regression blacklisted because I don’t trust anyone, so many thanks to my mutual who specifically recommended it :) work issues: none author issues: none

there was no night by everythingispoetry

summary: an engaged wwx's unwilling year away in europe as lwj struggles through a significant depressive episode back home. switching pov. deeply introspective with a grounded and substantial relationship - wonderful characterizations. weight gain as recovery, with a bit of dysmorphia as lwj adjusts to that. beautiful poetry towards the end. satisfying and well-done - not so dramatic or plot-heavy as A Place to Hide, but in some ways its spiritual twin, being a longish modern AU heavily focused on one character’s mental health. however it’s not a getting-together work, and doesn’t depict the partner of the depressed character as some kind of savior or saint, but a flawed and complex person with their own struggles doing their best. more mature in a lot of ways, too - the characters are self-aware about their issues, and work to overcome them together

suicide is briefly referenced a few times

work issues: while he’s otherwise an extremely empathetic and supportive partner, wwx internally calls lwj ‘broken’ a few times? what? author issues: A/B/O

touch like a river, smoke by autoclaves                

summary: lwj pov. atmospheric reflections postcanon, about grief and love. just so tender and full of gentleness and healing. cql specific. I love how easily wwx cries in this one work issues: none author issues: song lan/xue yang

here comes your ghost again by yuer (vintageblueskies)

summary: wwx mourns wen qing postcanon. that’s all work issues: none author issues: dubcon

take the words by phnelt

summary: an angsty postcanon oneshot set immediately after wwx rescues an abducted lwj. I really like the interpersonal drama between them, and the ending makes my heart hurt in a good way work issues: none author issues: has written genderbends, cnc. A/B/O, and sex pollen

a heart (i forgot about) by pink_fluff

summary: meandering little postcanon work about wwx settling into his body with lwj's help. gentle and tender and romantic. either canon for characterizations, but wwx in mxy’s body work issues: none author issues: none

III. From then on, he was unable to look away again: postcanon wangxian

*after night by detention_notes

summary: a peaceful postcanon work depicting wwx and lwj’s married life over the years as they run their own sect and grow older. not very flashy, but comforting and gentle, and I think it offers something close to a perfect cql postcanon life for them. see the previous works in this series, from season to season, for more work issues: none author issues: none! this author is one of my alltime favorites and many of their works are on this list. I’ve followed them on twitter for years and read all of their fics, and I can confirm they’re a safe author to read.

*Close Your Soft Eyes* by timetoboldlygo

summary: even after they’re married and settled in the jingshi, wwx occasionally gets restless at night and leaves to wander around CR. lwj gets jumpy if he wakes up alone, so wwx starts leaving him little gifts to reassure him. no other plot, just a meandering and really lovely fic about growing older together and becoming closer and communicating and letting old hurts heal. they’re so respectful and caring of each other in this 🥺 I love it so much work issues: none author issues: none

*Where the Lonely Ones Go by CSHfic, VSfic

summary: casefic where a married wwx and lwj work on solving a mystery surrounding a seemingly abandoned, universally distrusted, and definitely cursed toddler. the wx in this is very sweet, the baby girl is adorable, and while parts of this story are sad, it’s a lovely work and I really enjoyed seeing them as parents. cql canon work issues: none author issues: none

*Gardens and Fields* by Ashura

summary: wwx and lwj, newly together and very happy and sweet, are asked to investigate a demonic cultivation case by lqr that is not what it appears to be. spooky, fun, compassionate, really cute, great characterizations, lots of love, had me kicking my feet and smiling so so big. I really like how positive and confident wwx is about lwj and his choices and wwx’s role in lwj’s life wwx is happy!!! they’re just happy!!!

in one scene lqr uses the silencing spell on wwx very briefly which had my eyebrows raised but given that wwx was trying hard to behave it kind of made sense in the moment. STILL THOUGH. I don’t think either wwx or lwj would take THAT with no comment

work issues: none author issues:  none

*梅雨 | rain month by astronicht

summary: a very gentle, no-drama little cursefic. wwx and lwj are in love. the young kids get a lesson on water divination. it’s raining, and wx are cozy in bed together. the atmosphere in this was so rich with love and comfort and safety and tenderness I could have cried work issues: none author issues: genderbends

*lost my fear of falling by thefireplanet                

summary: wwx and lwj, newly together, and wwx is still a little skittish, opportune time for a summoning gone awry - now hua cheng is bodyswapped with lan wangji!observe the terrible time they both have as they try to get back to their husbands. some fighting, some tears, some heart-to-hearts, and a beautiful reunion in the end

this one is a lot about wwx being skittish about marriage, but I like to think of it more about wwx being skittish about being loved. the characterizations were excellent, including for hua cheng, and the romance was so good…I was trembling like a leaf by the end

work issues: none

author issues: none

in all my dreams i drown by idrilka

summary: pretty classic h/c smut. postcanon wwx struggling with nightmares and guilt and all the things that followed him into this life, and lwj comforting him through it. it was really sweet. made me smile. it’s also really nice to find sex scenes that don’t incorporate any cnc at all. cql canon work issues: none author issues: sex pollen, genderbends, jl/lsz

And all the ways we meet (and meet again) by Aerlalaith

summary: wwx and lwj try to get into roleplaying for sex reasons and fail for one reason or another, and honestly most of it was just very funny. it’s so charming to watch them try to pretend. lighthearted, not much more of a plot, and overall a fun time. either canon, but cql leaning there is a sex worker rp midway through that doesn’t go anywhere because one of the characters is uncomfortable with it work issues: wwx and lwj are each jokingly referred to as 'brides' at different points in the story author issues: has written dubcon

Set my sail straight, bridge the sea by feyburner

summary: essentially hurt-comfort boiled down to its most basic essentials, in which wwx is non-fatally injured on a night hunt but must endure an incredible amount of pain, and lwj is there to comfort him. this is so self-indulgent, but since I really love hurt/comfort, I enjoyed it a lot. some of the lines of dialogue really hit home for me so I consider it a good work for characterization work issues: none author issues: has written fuck or die and genderbends

Soft Arrangements by Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle)

summary: wwx and lwj are together, yay! now they must learn how to sleep together. literally. work issues: none author issues: has written fuck or die

Talismans by brooklinegirl

summary: this one doesn’t rly have a plot it’s just postcanon wwx being really good at talismans and lwj being horny about it and then they fuck and it’s really fun? I like the style a lot work issues: there’s a couple of vibes to some of the sex scenes that are a bit weird iirc but overall nothing major author issues: age gaps, lsz/jl, and sex pollen, also sex worker wwx tho idk how it’s treated

shadows in the sun rise by Yuu_chi

summary: postcanon casefic where lwj is cursed to slowly lose his senses while on a night-hunt with wwx. I really liked the atmosphere and how their relationship was written here work issues: some of the lines in this were ableist. like one went something like ‘oh he wasn’t his full self' like ??? author issues: none. I read their other fic and it’s fine. nothing remarkable imo, though it’s pretty popular

to you I offer my hull and the tattered cordage of my will and *let him find honey (let ruin end here) by dustbottle

summary: not much plot, just some well characterized, atmospheric, and romantic married smut. the opening scenes don’t feel like a setup to porn, it just reads like a natural day in the life. full of imagery and emotion. more cql than anything else. really lovely. these two aren’t technically in the same series, but they’re basically two sides of the same coin - both postcanon married smut, one wwx pov, and one lwj pov. work issues: none author issues: none

ordinary bodies by messier45

summary: a moody and introspective fic where postcanon wwx dwells upon his dissatisfaction and grief involving his new body, and the things he never got to do with his old one. not very warm and fuzzy, but cathartic and very raw and I really liked the way it handled wwx’s body issues. the romance in this was not the main focus, but it was excellent - even though the grief and discontent there was a lot of love and gratitude, which feels more realistic and honest than ‘wwx is married and everything is happy forever!’ trans author, which tracks work issues: none author issues: none

friendly fields, open roads by queensmooting

summary: postcanon wwx and lwj come upon a mysterious, ghostly toddler, and must solve the mystery of her life and death. this is one of the only fics I’ve read that really take the massacre of the wens seriously, and is therefore quite upsetting and difficult to read. I definitely cried reading this and I don’t know if I could read it again, but it was very good this fic deals with child death, cannibalism, and mass murder/genocide work issues: none author issues: A/B/O

every word a love song by milkcrates 

summary:

work issues: none author issues: none technically, but their ‘magical uni AU’ feels perilously similar to the harried podder setting

As You Like It by cosmicmilktea

summary: wwx realizes that lwj never got a chance to develop any real preferences for teas, books, foods, etc. and embarks on a quest to discover what he actually likes. the characterizations were really good for this one. wwx sneakily introducing lwj to all sorts of things he’d never seen before and then collecting data about it was really sweet either version of canon works - plenty of references to lwj’s golden eyes, which I always find jarring and unappealing, but also to things that happened in cql. they do talk about what lwj likes in bed and it’s somewhat based on the novel but there’s no reference to cnc or rape fantasy. overall I’d say more novel leaning though work issues: they dropped the pronoun “I” from lwj’s dialogue in one of the scenes, but it’s not as bad caveman speak as I’ve seen in other fics author issues: A/B/O

the low sky, raining over by chibilwj (thelogicoftaste)              

summary: an unique postcanon kid fic. lwj and wwx become close with a curious, stubborn new member of the lan sect, a foundling toddler. wwx’s worries about his suitability due to his reputation make sense, and lwj’s interactions with all the young kids, especially the new baby, are really neat. in-character, engaging, and nuanced. light on plot, but the mystery is compelling the wx is somewhat annoying, but not the worst. individually, wwx and lwj are really good. jc has a new wife and baby. which is weird, but he's not sanitized or glorified. the toddler had to do a minor penance as punishment which was definitely strange to read about but didn’t come off as cruel. and the author dropped in a ton of ocs that no reader would know about, so the passages are at times a bit confusing work issues: sex scenes vibes were a bit weird author issues: none

Far away on the cold mountain by chajatta

summary: for all the wwx-making-CR-his-home enthusiasts out there. a beautifully domestic and peaceful work about their nighttime routine work issues: none author issue: RPF

empty as the sky by incendir                

summary: lwj and wwx investigate a cursed pot, which sends wwx into another reality in which he holds a powerful political position, retained his golden core, and is still in the lives many of his loved ones, some of whom don’t even exist in his old life. his subsequent dissatisfaction pushes him to reflect on his original life and where his true happiness lay.

I really like stories where canon wwx interacts with alternate versions of his story, and this is a nice examination of a world that wouldn’t be out of place in a fix-it fic, but with a balanced and thoughtful portrayal of what that would still be lost in that world as a result. there were joys and sorrows in both lifetimes, which imo follows the themes of canon well. cql verse, except wwx is in mxy’s body. lwj isn’t actually there for most of this fic, but their relationship is ever-present work issues: bit of ableism treated poorly? a wheelchair user’s chair is grabbed without his permission in the style of wwx’s boundary-pushing in CR. other than that..wwx is nicer to jc than he would be in canon imo but this is years after the temple showdown and they appear to have reconciled author issue: nhs/nzh, sl/xxc/xy (get him OUTTA THERE!), jl/lsz

the evenings and the inbetweens by occultings (microcomets)

summary: a short and quiet little anniversary fic. the celebration of the day wwx has been married to lwj longer than he’s been dead. ft. peace in aging, tender morning sex, references to yunmeng bros reconciliation, the adoration of young children, and the juniors all grown up work issues: wwx playacts and calls himself a wife, and there's a bit of a weird vibe to the sex scene but nothing major author issues: allusions to cnc, sex pollen, genderbends

Back to Start || Section Two

[zmediaoutlet]

Hi, last night I read "one on, two out" and I am in shambles!!! It was sooo well written and beautiful. I love the characterization. I was hesitant because of the pairing but you portrayed them so well, it really works. The whole premise of Dean needing someone to just care for him, and yet when they do he is so out of his element... *chefs kiss* I'd love to hear about your thought process/inspo for the story :)

aww, bud! happy wincest wednesday even if that fic is about another ship! (but lbr, there's really nothing I write that doesn't get back in some way to the Main Ship.) That's so nice, I'm so glad you liked it. <3

The inspo for that story goes back... years and years, actually, but it started with joking about how John would sell Dean to his hunting buddies if it'd get him a good deal on ammo -- and then realizing, while obviously that's OOC, if you pull it back from that most egregious place it doesn't... end up feeling all that out of character. John uses Dean as bait, as a distraction, as a weapon, as a wife [platonically or not, ahem]; that next step... wouldn't necessarily be a bridge too far. Then it was, man, Deacon sure had a weirdly close and affable relationship with the boys, didn't he? But especially with Dean. As always, Sam's standing very slightly to the side while Dean has his relationship an older man. (Over and over and over.) Then it was -- what if you combined those two ideas.

Except -- in the actual writing of it, I couldn't actually make it all the way into a sale or a trade, haha. Not just for John but also for Deacon, who just seems too entirely decent to actually engage in such a thing. So then it was -- well, maybe John's just tired of having Dean sadsacking around with Sam gone, and he's got a job he needs to do solo, and he sends Dean to his good friend Deacon for babysitting. Whether John knows about Deacon's proclivities or not is a bit of a mystery but I suspect it falls, for John, into the 'don't ask, don't tell' category. There's also something roughly tender in the idea that John realizes that Dean needs someone to look out for him, but John also knows that it can't be him -- and Deacon, his old buddy, is as good a person to do it as anyone. (Especially since Bobby already threatened to fill him with buckshot.)

After that it all just kind of... fell into place. Nothing better than giving Dean someone who can just hold his face without expecting something in return: not loyalty, or sacrifice, or even thought. Just let the kid be. It's really astonishingly easy to cast him as a sub. And boy, does he deserve a nice long vacation into subspace. So... that's basically the whole fic, lol.

[vikingnerd793]

Do we still need spoiler tags because if so, spoiler.

Everyone keeps talking about how the last chapter retconned Eivor’s entire base game arc, which is entirely true. She was so OOC it was insane. But as someone who played every single DLC and defended the DLCs of year 2 as building up to something, I am also really upset.

Let’s start with Dawn of Ragnarok. The entire lesson she learned from that 40 dollar premium DLC we had to pay for was that Odin was apathetic and selfish (literally was the caution of Valka that Eivor said she understood and SHE is the one who said she felt emotionless as she did so many bad things, this was actually her lesson in Asgard when she let Tyr lose his arm in base game!!). She saw how Odin caused Ragnarok and she saw the light she brought down that started the end of the world. Her behavior in The Last Chapter not only was like she never learned her lesson about how Odin’s legacy was actually really poor, she acted in the EXACT WAY she felt so alarmed by in base game’s Asgard arc and in DOR because it was so foreign to her!!!!And Valka acted like she never warned her and also like she didn’t work with her to actually understand her memories already. Did she fully understand? No. But she took lessons from her memories. She already learned. It’s like I never even played Dawn of Ragnarok because it didn’t matter. And like I never played the other arcs in base game that set up DOR. Oh, and it’s like the fireside stories never happened, as she took zero lessons from those, and the monologue at the end where she swore to give her life to protecting her people from the wolves coming for them never happened. It’s legit like the DLC didn’t even exist.

And Forgotten Saga was an even more obvious cautionary tale. Odin was seen as darkness. Verbatim. Something to be left behind to make way for light. Baldur’s own words. So you’re telling me she sought out darkness….?! To learn from DARKNESS?!

The most egregious thing they left out of the two DLCs is she learned she had a son and she didn’t even mention him at all. She was so upset by her son’s death in her past life she said “my son” and she just acted like he didn’t exist in this last chapter. What was the point of introducing him and then he doesn’t even exist as a character in this? Not even a mention?

It’s not just the retcon of it all, it’s the feeling like so much she learned meant absolutely nothing over the last two years of content. Nothing feels as connected anymore as it did prior to the last chapter existing. How could someone have done this. How did someone write this. I am convinced no one cared about her story at all in the end and the story had to be about her and Odin and Basim to set up the next game. I’m just horrified by the feeling that my time was genuinely wasted by Year 2. They should have stopped at year 1 if none of year 2 even mattered.

EDIT: confirmed they excluded this entirely from consideration for the last chapter to not alienate people who didn’t own the content. So unfortunately, yes, everything above was meaningless for me to play.

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

🔥unpopular charles opinion

The thing is, it’s not an opinion, really. The question isn’t meant to be a complaint or a rebuttal or anything. I just genuinely don’t get it! The question goes something like this.

So Charles/Klinger seems to be the one actively disliked ship in the fandom, discounting the h*nn*hawk vs p*erc*ntyre gang war and that one rabidly anti-hawnk person (lol). Most nobody has any love for the ship, because it’s stupid and OOC, of course, but mostly because it’s egregiously obviously racist and gross, which is the critique that seems most common, and to be of most importance to people.

And to be clear, for the purposes of this post I am wholly agreeing with all that! It’s distasteful and immoral and people who are into it are insane, including me. I’m not arguing against this line of thinking, I just wanted to look at its inner logic. Because when I first heard people saying this, I thought, “Yeah, makes sense, Charles is truthfully a terrible person with abhorrent opinions. Nobody watching this already unfortunately bigotry-riddled show is obligated to try and look past that! It is Always valid to hate Charles’ guts.”

But it turns out most of the fandom (I assume it must be most, given how shockingly few people here have blocked me) actually don’t hate Charles, in general. It’s the specific ship, not the character, that’s distasteful. (Not to say any Charles ship is anything resembling popular, but like with most ships, that’s just a result of the general population’s Hawkeye BJ Laser Focus Gaze. I’ve never seen anybody actively dislike these ships when they’re brought up.) And the more I think about it, the more I wonder why, because well. to put it bluntly. It’s not like someone stops being racist when they’re not actively interacting with a nonwhite person.

You know what I mean? I feel like Charles’ bigotry would be a turn off for all of our generally morally sound protagonists, not just one who happens to be personally affected by it. But it only becomes an issue when it involves Klinger. I’ve heard people say that any Charles/Klinger ship fic would obviously have to go out of its way to address Charles’ racism, but I’ve read a few Charles/Hawkeye and Charles/Donna (and Charles / other strange and varied choices too, because of course I have) fics–really, REALLY good fics, that captured the characters very nicely and are very beautifully written–and I’ve yet to find one that discusses The Bigotry In The Room with any degree of seriousness.

(Pssst this is everyone’s chance to absolutely dunk on me by sending me fics that do this if there actually are a bunch and I’ve just never read them because I would in fact LOVE to read some fics with that topic regardless of ship!)

And to be clear, that’s fine with me! I truly do not care. When I read Charles running away to Maine or romancing Ms. Parker and I don’t see his love interests stop to ask “Hey, um, so any updates on the fact that you and your whole family are eugenicists?”, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest, because I just assume that Charles has already gone through the cult deprogramming step of his character development at some point prior to this, and either the love interest in question has already confirmed this off-page, or they are making the same assumption I am. After all, at least in Hawkeye’s case, the mere act of admitting romantic interest in a Democrat from the back of beyond would necessarily imply a shift in values, right?

(Admittedly, for all we canonically know Donna could be a fashy scumlord herself, so this reasoning doesn’t wholly apply there, but it obviously does to her fanon background/personality.) (Which is adorable, by the way. Everyone go check out the collective oeuvre of AO3 user onekisstotakewithme.)

So that’s all cool! It’s just that the same thing applies for me when it comes to Charles/Klinger. If anything, it applies even more, because you can have a fic where Charles’ whole family attend his and Donna’s 2nd wedding (Everyone go check out the collective oeuvre of AO3 user onekisstotakewithme!!!) but if Charles gets with Maxwell in any capacity, his father is at the very LEAST never going to speak to him again, ever. And personally I think that is SO fun and sexy, because Charles’ father is a white supremacist and I want him to die painfully forever and ever amen. <3

I got sidetracked a few times here and I just realized I never actually asked the question, which is, TL;DR: If it’s immoral–or at least gross and nonsensical–to ship Charles/Klinger, because Charles is bigoted, shouldn’t the same also apply to shipping Charles with many other characters too, given that they should logically also have a problem with his bigotry?

For what it’s worth, I have a bit of a theory about the answer to this, all to do with the incompetent way Charles’ bigotry (and other characters’ reactions to it) are portrayed in canon and the deeper Doylist factors that I think forced the showrunners into writing it like that, but I wanted to stay strictly on the topic of fandom attitudes for now, because it may be niche and silly, but I find it interesting. And I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on it!

[cabeswaterdrowned]

solangelo* and also spoby haleb and spemily 🧘🏼‍♀️

I’ll do solangelo in the other pjo ask you sent and just answer the pll ships here

Spoby

This one I did start out shipping a little in s1 and it soured from there so I combined the first question

What made you ship it / Why don’t you ship it?

I initially liked the dynamic when it started up in late s1, I liked the way Toby and the relationship was being pitched as a place where Spencer could be her authentic self and have support independent from her family and the idea that she would find it with someone who was an outsider who also had a very dysfunctional familial life was a compelling idea to me at the time. I didn’t even mind him being not super interesting at that point because I figured his mellowness was what she liked about him and Spencer finding that charming charmed me a bit (and it supported my Spemily shipping at the time too<33 (not that I still think of Emily as the most mellow person but I’ll cover that further down)).

Really soon after that though I found myself liking them less and less and resenting Toby as a character a lot at points. In s2 they were dry and the least interesting part of Spencer’s narrative, although I didn’t hate it at that point. Early s3 there were a couple scenes I wanted to like, I knew what the story trajectory was for them or the main idea of his A reveal and I kind of wanted to be effected by the angst but… he was just so irritating early on in the season and when the reveal to the audience happened Keenan’s acting just… Could Not carry that storyline At All (ik people on the internet can be pretty negative about Shay and Lucy’s acting in pll and compared to the other main actresses they have more weak moments but they never once flopped like he did constantly :///) and his behavior from then onwards in the show (in retrospect this even started a little in late s2 with his whole “pretending to hate Spencer for her own good/to protect her” thing) was constantly so manipulative and mean-spirited and made Spencer feel terrible about herself in a way i couldn’t stand. And the show would always backtrack to co-sign his behavior and support the narrative of Toby is in the right and Spencer is an awful person who should be grateful to have Saint Toby around (and Spencer hates herself sm so she believes this narrative too! It’s pretty depressing, and I can sometimes get on board with shippy dynamics for my favs with guys who don’t treat them well if the dynamic is contributing to their narrative in a way that I’m on board with (and I do love Spencer’s arc in 3b when she thinks he’s A … everything except the conclusion where he cries once and she forgives him for everything instantly booo (not boo @ Spencer I think this moment really did track for her characterization I read some arguments that it was ooc it’s really not like I said my girl my hates herself sooo much and mistrusts that people will love her for her authentic self/not abandon her because of her family and that just unfortunately leaves her vulnerable to bs from men who are like this :(((, boo @ the writers for subjecting her to this) but what I like about it has little to do with Toby or the dynamic and also for me to take that stance on a ship it needs to be interesting, helps if there’s significant chemistry or an actor who’s really good and makes the dynamic work or the char is developed enough to be either likable or at least hold some weight of his own and not one of those things was working nearly enough here and ultimately I resented how the dynamic effected her both personally and narratively (although narratively it never displaced her in an egregious way that was never an issue for Spencer on this show or really any of the liars except Aria with her showt) way more often. I especially couldn’t stand them together in s4-6a (with the exception of 4.19 which is it’s own thing). Post time jump I mostly just don’t care… with the way they were written in S7 I don’t even think Spencer cared at that point in regards to who she was most into in the love pentagon her preferences definitely read consistently as in her heart it was Hanna>Caleb>Yvonne>Toby then at the end Hanna and Caleb cheated and are together now, Yvonne dead, Emison’s happening so Emily’s off the market, Sparia’s relationship is in a not great place and Aria’s married that demon, it really feels like she’s only contemplating/implied to get back with Toby because she needs Some kind of win so she’s settling lolz. So overall not a fan no. And even in the early scenes of theirs I liked where I thought they worked pretty well together I never got like explosive chemistry from them

(it’s interesting to me that apparently Troian and Keenan’s on-set chemistry was the reason they decided to go with Spoby and not kill Toby off in s1, especially since I’ve now read the first few books and his death was so early he was such a throwaway villain there. Comparing this to other shows where something similar occurred like Veronica x Logan on vmars,… the level of chemistry and the potential of the relationship in question isn’t like explosive or enticing or even that strong the way it was for that example, or other character/actor pairings that weren’t initially planned but happened due to chemistry? And I love like Logan/Veronica Spuffy Ness but this has also happened with plenty of ships I’m not a fan of like Ch**r and J*ffannie but with those examples even though I hate them I do see the chemistry/understanding why they went that way for viewer appeal. Spoby being in this category… perplexes me)

2.What would have made you like it?

If Toby had stayed in that s1 mode of mellow loner-boy balancing out intense ambitious girl and not become so passive aggressive/angry/annoying with Spencer or done so many things out of “protection” for her like the A plot or the police academy or other examples, that clearly actually only hurt her… basically I think the shows attempts to give Toby depth really ruined the ship actually. When they give male chars actual storylines they always come off toxic and horrible and like I said Keenan can’t even act so what’s the point. Generally if Keenan could act and the actors had better chemistry maybe I’d have continued to find something of value there. Also maybe if Toby were a woman he’s be a good char and they’d be a good ship lol

3.Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

What I said about their late s1 scenes working for me pretty nicely, I especially dug the scrabble hotel scene generally the idea of a couple playing scrabble is romantic imo it’s definitely the nerd in me talking there. I also found their dynamic in Shadow Play where Spencer projects certain parts of herself onto the version of him in her head pretty interesting, but not romantic.

Haleb

Why don’t you ship it?

It never engaged me personally, for a starters. In the first couple seasons they’re objectively like cute enough and work well together but I never had feelings about the dynamic like honestly why would I pay attention to Caleb for Hanna when Mona and Emily (and Spencer but I got more into Spanna in the later seasons) exist yk? and then starting in s3 the dynamic and Caleb generally irked me more often than it didn’t and ngl parts of this were motivated by my Mona/Vandermarin staning because the way he reacted to her and it and his dismissiveness towards Hanna when she’d assert her feelings on wanting to take certain steps with Mona like ‘I do want to visit her at Radley’ ‘I don’t want to talk to her at school but I also don’t want you to antagonize her’ I did not care for it at all. Objectively he can distrust Mona (and I adore her but I definitely don’t take a position that the liars and especially Hanna are obligated to forgive her for everything / are unjustly terrible to her, I do have an issue sometimes with the treatment/framing of Mona’s most villainous actions and her overall character compared to a lot of the men who are redeemed at the drop of a hat or presumed to be capable of no wrong but /=/ the liars being the bad guys or something stupid like that) but the way it was played as him having always disliked her and been jealous of her and then as soon as he has an excuse to not want Hanna around her he gets sooo possessive of Hanna in regards to Mona and seems to get off on like being Hanna’s white Knight who protects her from the likes of Mona and in s5 Ali… like yes you could argue that Hanna should be wary of them because of what they’ve done to her in the past but that’s her decision not Caleb’s and I’m biased towards their chars over him so I found it annoying lol. As the show goes on there are more and more instances of him just not seeming to like or respect Hanna to the point where in the finale they’re like married-divorced, + that season I disliked it more than ever as a Spencer stan (and a little as a Mona stan because Caleb giving Hanna an ultimatum in the finale where she has to choose between them grrr).

2.What would have made you like it?

Honestly if Mona didn’t exist I might have had an easier time getting attached earlier on. And then if they hadn’t been ruined. Generally I feel like if I’d watched pll when it originally aired I would have more love for them in early seasons but as it stands I don’t have that nostalgia.

3.Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Like I said they were cute enough in the early seasons and Ashley and Tyler work well together, and both of them can act unlike poor Troian being opposite Keenan all the time. And popular girl x outcast is a good trope and these actors were good for conveying it.

Spemily

What made you ship it?

Well I started shipping this one really early on lol I think this and Emaya were the first things to give me shipping feelings in pll (and I started the show fully expecting to be all in on a lot of liar x liar ships and was not disappointed or surprised there) at around the same time I remember really liking the introduction to the dynamic with Emily introducing Maya to her and Maya drawing a line between Emily and Spencer’s competitive drive, ambitiousness, perfectionism and then Emily commenting on why they are different in how they approach those qualities. I got even more into it later in the season when Spencer was shown to be really protective over Emily and they had interesting conflict over Paige and Alison and their own personalities but ultimately made up in a way that cemented their trust and care for each other and that established a pattern for the run. Really after that the more I saw of the dynamic throughout the seasons the more I loved and shipped it.

2.What are your favorite things about the ship?

There’s so much I love about these two together… I love ships where two characters seem like polar opposites at first glance but are actually really similar in far more ways than you’d expect, like at first glance Emily is the soft sweet loyal girl and Spencer is the intense ambitious leader but they really have a lot in common in terms of how driven they both are, how that comes from them both having families that demand perfection but the way that functions is different for both of them in their specific situations, I love scenes where they get to bond over this in subtle ways, they’re both very loyal and leaders scenes between them tend to show Spencer’s protectiveness and tenderness and how Emily can sometimes be very firm and abrasive, I like that when they have conflicts they feel nuanced and their sweet moments of protecting each other fiercely always hit very hard. There’s this whole thing of recognizing parts of yourself in another person and feeling antagonistic towards those qualities but also feeling protective of them that I’m really drawn to. I also love all the moments of what you can read as jealousy on Spencer’s end in regards to her reactions to a Paily and especially Emison I think they’re so interesting and have fun angst potential. Emily’s unwavering faith in Spencer is another thing I really love about their dynamic. Also part of it might be that they’re the two most attractive chars/actresses on the show to me so I just always love seeing them on screen together for shallow reasons lol, and would be very into them making out for the same reason.

There’s definitely more I’m forgetting or just can’t articulate rn

3.Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Well it’s my favorite core four liar dynamic which does seem outside of the popular opinion, I see a lot more love for Sparia Spanna Hannily and I love all those dynamics very much and ship them romantically too but Spemily is like… It for me for some reason. It’s also probably my favorite pll ship overall the only dynamic that really challenges it in terms of levels of love is Vandermarin which I love in a pretty different way for pretty different reasons. I think part of what makes it such a stand out for me in terms of just the liar dynamics is I almost always end up feeling very divided about their conflicts which make them more interesting to me. When they fight it’s so intense and messy but you also get the feeling that they don’t pull punches with each other the way they would with Aria and Hanna because they respect that the other can take it in a way, and for all those scenes where they fight with each other most intensely they also have so many scenes of being the person to comfort and be there for the other two n the most tender way when they’re most vulnerable. And they work so well as a team .. Basically in the words of M@rlene they’re “soulmates” (the one time she was correct!)

Anyway thanks

(Send me a ship and I’ll answer these questions based on if I ship it or not)

[sebastianshaw]

read an I.ron Man story from 2010 where it’s a team-up oneshot with L.ogan and and Shaw is the villain and what’s funny is it’s mildly OOC imo, certainly for my portrayal, not egregiously but enough for me to not use it for my blog but also like...I don’t care? Like it does NOT bother me AT ALL, I’m just like oh meh. And I wonder if that’s because I just know anything after 2008 is never gonna be good Shaw content, or because it’s not really Big Deal stuff, or because there’s no sense of authorial animosity, and honestly I think it’s the latter. When I read bad Shaw stuff from Duggan or Williams, I really feel a hatred for the character and a desire to make him as nasty as possible. And when I read it by, say, Gillen, I see a desire to get him right but also a disregard for his history that doesn’t get done to other characters like Exodus. But this is just...oh, the writer knew the base notes of Shaw and did an ok job, they just didn’t know the character super deeply so wrote some things I wouldn’t but are sensible enough interpretations too. And he’s just a random one-shot villain here, he’s not a longterm series baddy whom the writer clearly really looked into in one capacity or another and then just decided to portray in a way that goes against what we saw before anyway. like idk I’m so used to being So Pissed but here I’m just like “well I wouldn’t write him this way but it doesn’t bother me” it’s almost weirdly refreshing