#likelihood is they're a series stan

[blindtaleteller]

I agree with pretty much every word of this; though as someone who is an actual Loki fan.. and maybe to help give you an idea why this is repeatedly becoming a thing on more than your fic..

It's pretty likely that individual is a series fan, rather than an actual Loki fan. And there is, a very vast and documented difference; scientifically and otherwise.

The fandom in that Thor/Loki corner split as far back as Gagnarok being spat out as a clearly declared retcon of all films prior (including Avengers 2012, TDW, and yes Thor 2011 too) for both main characters, Bruce Banner, and a very poorly mishandling of Valkyrie's introduction as an unapologetic slave trader that; was never fixed or resolved in any way, shape or form: and instead lauded and made much worse between gen fans and the creators that followed in Taika's footsteps to do so.

As a result? The current "Loki" character in the MCU, has been turned into a literal meme of his former self: just as a start.. and the Loki fandom is split between actual fans who know and recognize that, and the anti-fans that the show was aimed to keep after taking our money, along with theirs.

So.. sorry you have to deal with that kind of snide comment; especially in a fic very clearly tagged as being in the Barnes/CA fandom (I adore the complexity and consistency of his character even pre-IW myself and agree the cap&rogers story got left on the floor with EG's crappy end production calls in particular.. ugh) but yeah.. with how some of the pro-series goons are especially, I do feel have to point out that their user name and claim being a Loki fan especially under this context is a pretty big red flag that they're -that- sort of "fan" who not only agree with the very similar narrative presented in the mislabeled 'Loki' titled series?

But obviously has no issues not thinking about what they did see in that series or the blatant on screen glorification of abuse, torture, and lack of accountability for any of that in that dumpster fire they slapped the character's name on to draw in viewers. Never mind apply facts over bullshit anywhere else.

Actual MCU Loki fans do still exist, especially around here on tumblr; but I can tell you that ao3 user very likely is NOT one of them.

"Loki" Series fans (or Bob: the Accountant as I often call it and some refer to it as the Larry Show if those examples tell you anything about how little current canon: including the insane take on what 'narcissism' and 'self-centered' is probably coming from) are for the most part a particularly toxic breed of pretenders in my experience.

Again, sorry you had to go through that; and the likelihood of that toxicity being spread and bleeding over into your fandom as a result of the BS Loki fans have been dealing with for 5+ years.

Believe me, actual fans of Loki as an MCU character (and Thor too for that matter) are just as annoyed, frustrated, exasperated, and irritated at things like this as you might be and probably are.

This rather unpleasant comment turned up on my recent meta and I don’t want to start a fight (with a guest account, no less) on AO3, so uh, sorry Tumblr mutuals, here's my 1000 word rant.

Like okay, maybe my writing sucked and gave you that impression. The whole point of that meta was to tease out why he said the "I'm invisible, I'm turning into you" line despite it seeming out of character. And the reason it felt jarring was because we don't expect Bucky to be someone who says that. As opposed to, say, Tony-Manchurian-Candidate-Stark.

Disregarding why you thought it appropriate to leave a comment bashing Bucky when the story has "Bucky Barnes" tagged all over it, and why you'd conclude he's self-centered when he spent my entire meta worrying more about Steve's safety than he did his own, how do you watch the movies and not see that Bucky is one of the least self-focused people in MCU canon?

During much of his very limited screen time he's either being forced into certain actions or has absolutely no autonomy, but the few times he's had the ability to choose, he's never centered himself in that choice.

Here's 15 instances Bucky put himself last. Because I'm that annoyed.

1) He waded in to fish Steve out of the back alley and fought off the bully, and it's suggested that this happens frequently -- like, are we just going to dismiss this because Bucky is bigger than Steve? There are plenty of people who would have stood back or would have waited until help arrived, by which stage Steve would be in hospital.

2) He spends his last night before shipping out setting Steve up with a date, then half of that double date chasing after Steve and arguing with him because he was worried that Steve would either get arrested or successfully enlist and get killed. He didn't ask Steve to make this night about him, while a more entitled person would have because it was his farewell and not Steve's.

3) His first words to Steve when Steve untied him from the gurney was to ask Steve "Did it (getting the serum) hurt?" Even when he was the one barely able to walk.

4) "No, not without you!" even when the factory was exploding around them.

5) Despite being captured, tortured and experimented on, he didn't even hesitate when Steve asked him if he was going to be part of the team. I even covered this in my meta, he's tired and he's disillusioned and he just wants to get away from the war, but he doesn't because Steve asked.

6) He picks up the shield when Steve was down and moves/shoots to draw the Hydra agent's attention away from Steve and towards himself, which results in him being blasted out of the train.

7) He offered to move in with Steve despite the stigma around tuberculosis (and being poor and Irish and sickly) at the time.

8) The line that made Bucky break out of 70 years of brainwashing. It wasn't when Steve called him Bucky, it wasn't when Steve said "Your name is James Bucky Barnes", it wasn't when Steve said "You're my friend". It was only when Steve said, "I'm with you til the end of the line" because that was the oath of companionship and service that Bucky had made to Steve. The line wasn't about Bucky, but about what Bucky had promised to do for Steve. Like. This alone should prove my point.

9) He pulled Steve out of the water holding onto Steve with his one good hand while his other arm was broken (how did he even swim), even though he knew every moment wasted would put him in danger of being killed or captured, even though for him everyone was now an enemy. Despite all this, he pulled Steve out of the water and waited to see that he was breathing before he left.

10) Faced with an entire kill squad in Bucharest, Bucky still stuck to his rule of trying not to kill anyone.

11) His first words when he came out of Zemo's control was a horrified, "What did I do?" Instead of, you know, self-centeredly focusing on how horrified and upset he deserved to be that he had his autonomy ripped away again just when he thought he had been safe for two years.

12) He willingly went back to Siberia with Steve to stop the other super soldiers, despite it being the place where he was held, tortured and mind-wiped, and despite it being the place where he was made into a training puppet for the other soldiers.

13) Even injured and with his arm severed, Bucky grabbed onto Tony's foot to stop Tony from blasting Steve in the chest.

14) Bucky choosing to go back into cryo because he's afraid someone else with the Code Words will use him to hurt people.

15) Despite being in retirement, he took one look at the vibranium arm and all he said was "Where's the battle?"

I'm stopping here because I refuse to recognise EG!Steve and I also have trouble accepting TFATWS!Bucky's arc as canon.

Like, I know MCU writers are pathetic at sympathy, but I never expected the same from someone purporting to be Loki's fan, of all people. To call Bucky's singular snide remark "pity party"? Bucky did not, for the entire CATFA, complain about his 2-3 years of war experience (and if you haven't been at the frontline then please don't even attempt to belittle how horrific it had been), nor did he complain about the forced labour they had been put through in Azzano or the experiments Zola did to him on that gurney. Bucky also did not, at any point after CATWS, talk about the horrific experiences he went through under Hydra, nor did he ever ask anyone to give their attention to his pain or his trauma. His "I'm turning into you" remark is literally the closest he came to making it a "what about me" moment, and my meta was about why he emotionally came to that breaking point. Not once since that moment did movie!Bucky ever try to take a moment and turn it into something about himself.

And just to finish off, acting in self-interest is normal human behaviour on the spectrum of self-preservation, but that isn't even the pattern for Bucky. Bucky has always focused his choices on making life easier or better or more right for Steve. Bucky is not self-centered, but he is most definitely Steve-centered, and on that point I will accept no objections.

[acourtofthought]

Another year, another shit show of Elain week. I'm sure you've been seen Elaingate go down and I know how much you love Elain. I'm so ready for SJM to drop a book and confirm Elucien because this is absolutely out of line. I can't wait for a year we can appreciate her character without Elriels gatekeeping her. For year's El/riels have implied Elucien's are wrong for shipping Elain A FICTIONAL CHARACTER IN A FATED MATES SERIES, so let's not pretend their shady AF response to clarifying their rules was not aimed at Eluciens. We are all adults here, are we not? The likelihood of Tamlin stans participating was low, but they know this, it's straight up manipulation on their end. They say, host your own week. Elucien's did and guess what the admins were harassed and bullied. The mods of Elain week are biased 100% and know they have never been welcoming, they only follow Elriel month, Azriel week, also hosted by Elriels, they repost/share Elain artwork that is Azriel coded, even though it is canon she never kept that necklace, that through the use of SYMBOLISM, black is not a color representative of her character, this is just another week/excuse for them to make more Elriel content and they know it, let's see how much they love Elain when SJM writes her choosing Lucien. At least by them her real stans can celebrate her without drama and Elriels projecting their purity/tradwife agenda. They loveeee to preach no drama but are the cause of it and to be honest, I'm so glad more and more of the fandom is seeing it and pushing back. You can't gatekeep a FICTIONAL CHARACTER.

That's just it. Now they're claiming Elucien's are welcome in Elain week. How it's Elucien's fault they've rarely participated in Elain's week before now this year they want to make a fuss. But for years they've been calling Elucien's abuse apologists so yeah, people are feeling a little triggered by the wording they used regarding Lucien and putting rules on acceptable ships and yeah, there's a reason people have been hesitant to participate. That's the exact reason I didn't really engage last couple of years because I KNOW they don't want an Elucien there. I know it always turns into E/riel Week after they already had E/riel month. For years they've been telling Elucien's we don't care for Elain yet suddenly this week they're an equal opportunity shipper and we're welcome? Suddenly it's not us but other ships that aren't welcome since now THOSE are the ones who don't truly like Elain? The real controversy doesn't lie in just Tamlain and Berlain, it's that it's yet another thing for them to use to steer the week to look exactly as they want it to which is to say E/riel, Elain and the twins, Elain as HL of Dusk. They don't want Elain interacting with Jurian and Vassa or Elain having any conversations with Tamlin because that means she might be in Spring with Lucien, or Elain ending up with anyone unless there's the possibility of it being a canon ship which is not the point of shipping? There should not be rules as to who you ship especially when the guy they prefer her with is the farthest thing from a saint. Just because he didn't accidentally explode a room with Elain in it (yet) doesn't mean he's healthy when it comes to how he acts with her. He in canon has just as bad of a temper as Tamlin so who is anyone to be pointing fingers?

[felikatze]

Could a Heartless wield a Keyblade?

Hello everyone, it's me, author of the "How many people has Sora killed" post, back with another essential lore question.

Throughout the entire series, we've never seen a Heartless with a Keyblade. And yet, is this because there was no Heartless worthy of one, or because they are incapable of wielding one?

To answer this question, we must lay out what the conditions of having a Keyblade are.

1) Being bequeathed one.

2) "The makings of a wielder"

2a) A Heart

2b) Sentience

2c) Strength of Heart

1) is the easiest to answer with a resounding yes. Anyone with a Keyblade must first have been in contact with one. Whether it be purposefully (like Terra and Riku), or accidentally (like Aqua and Kairi), this is a prerequisite. One a Heartless could theoretically fulfill.

2) Having "the makings of a Wielder"

This comes from Terra in BBS. "As long as you have the makings, through this simple act of taking, it's wielder you shall one day be."

So, what are the makings? From what we see in other games, it's "strength of heart." This alone sets two prerequisites of its own.

a) a Heart.

To have strength of heart, you need to have a Heart. This simple condition disqualifies pureblood Heartless as pure constructs of Darkness. However, emblem Heartless remain viable.

But like, do you need a Heart to have a Keyblade? Probably!

Roxas is the most interesting case study here. He's a Nobody, which means he shouldn't have a Heart, yet he is capable of wielding a Keyblade. Two of them, even. Even among Nobodies, Roxas is a special case though. As is commonly known, at the time of Roxas' creation, Sora had two Hearts. A popular theory is that Ventus' Heart ended up with Roxas, giving Roxas his appearance, in this case Keyblade-wielding privileges, and additionally really sped up Roxas' own Heart-growing progress. By the end of Days, this boy got his own Heart to wield Blades with, which is why he can do so in KH3.

Replicas like Xion are a bit of a gray area here. By all means, they should be born without Hearts, as similar beings all are. However, they also have the same capability to grow hearts in the case they are not born with one. Therefore, Xion, through her connecions to Roxas and Axel, as well as her memories of Sora and Kairi, may well have her own budding heart by the time she wields the Kingdom Key.

Thirdly, as an unrepentant re:coded stan, Data Sora is also capable of wielding a Keyblade from birth, and was explicitly born without a heart. Just as explicitly, we are later told his Keyblade was fake, actually, because Mickey hacked it in. This is why Maleficent was able to destroy it. Only when Data Sora declares himself to have a heart through his bonds with his friends does he obtain a real Keyblade. His own, the Zero/One. I love that boy he's just so good.

Here, the exceptions prove the rule, if you make... enough presumptions, as I love to do.

Next up:

b) Sentience

That's right, to have a Keyblade, you need a functioning brain. Your brain lets you have values to believe in, you see. Throughout all of KH, we have never seen a non-sentient being wield a Keyblade. I'm sure I don't need to explain this one too much? Therefore, most Heartless can't wield a Keyblade because they're all animalistic and driven by instinct.

Soooo.... we do know a Heartless with both a Heart and sentience. Why can't Ansem, SoD, wield a Keyblade? He's been in contact with one. Hell, he had one, before becoming a Heartless.

This is where we get back to Strength Of The Heart.

Specific Keyblades are capable of deciding their Wielders aren't good enough anymore. The first example of this is the Kingdom Key playing ping-pong between Sora and Riku in KH1 for strength of heart and succumbing to darkness reasons, respectively. (The thing switches wielders a whopping three times. At least it makes up its mind later [discounting Days]).

In all likelihood, Terra's Keyblade forsook his body when the whole norting thing happened, electing to stay with the Lingering Will instead. As for Xehanort's Keyblade... who knows where that is, honestly. Terranort does get it in KH3 though. Keyblades just think Ansem has rancid vibes. Same goes for Xemnas, probably.

Darkness is, very pointedly, not a dealbreaker for all Keyblades. (Maybe Riku should've went for the Kingdom Key D in KH1, who knows). Void Gear very pointedly sticks around a sentient glob of darkness out to cause problems (affectionate). Logistically, there's not that much separating Vanitas from a Heartless, actually. Just that he's like, half a heart.

For these very reasons, I conclude that a sentient Heartless is theoretically capable of wielding a Keyblade, as long as said Keyblade personally doesn't see being a Heartless as an issue.

When I stated we've never seen a Heartless with a Keyblade, I lied actually!

Thought I was done talking about coded, weren't you? Did you think coded has no plot relevance? You are wrong, in a lot of ways. Play re:coded. Installing desmume isn't that hard.

I digress! Re:coded's penultimate boss is dear old Data Sora's Heartless, because all moments in a recording exist simultaneously. This Heartless

1) has been in contact with a Keyblade. He's Data Sora's Heartless, so obviously he's been in contact with a Kingdom Key. Or, at the very least, has been created to have been in contact with it. Data, ykno?

2a) possesses a Heart. Is a digital Heartless born without a Heart? Doesn't really matter. By the time you fight it, it's eaten all other data Heartless you killed previously, and quite probably has a heart of its own, digital though it may be.

2b) possesses sentience. This guy's capable of speech, and out for world domination, or something. It wants to break out of the journal and eat real hearts, and it tells you as much.

2c) Does it have the makings? Does it only have a proto-keyblade, a summoned weapon like CoM Riku and Nobodies?

You decide ;)

In conclusion, be happy Kairi managed to restore Sora with Princess Powers, because he could've been the strongest Heartless in the entire series.