#maagi3

[maagi3]

Fandoms and Characters

Because it's so relevant in the purview of my current fandom obsession, I wanted to put my thoughts out on fandoms and the characters that people latch onto.

When someone latches onto a character, there's usually a reason for it. Whether it's their physical appearance, their personality, their aesthetic, their voice, their story -- there are so many ways someone might attach to a character. And the creatives of the fandom will, of course, create.

What I don't get, and something that continues to baffle me especially with characters I like, is how someone can claim to be a fan of a character (or characters) and yet strip every single identifying feature of said character in their creative work. What part of the character do you like if you're going to entirely change their personality and their interactions with other characters? Especially in the written word, what is the point of writing a story if the character no longer resembles their namesake?

It becomes even worse in the shipping part of fandoms. People are, of course, allowed to ship the characters they want to ship. I can happily block or mute the tags associate (which, of course, requires the creative to tag things properly). But that doesn't stop me from questioning how someone can like a ship when they completely change both characters and erase every identifying feature they have from the source material. I suppose the superficial idea of two people that someone likes physically and doesn't care about any other trait could explain it, but it just feels like you should be writing OCs at that point. When the character is tagged as coming from a source material yet doesn't look, act, or sound like said character, why bother tagging them at all? And it isn't necessarily a case of characterization preferences -- many characters have clearly defining features that, when removed, make them seem very unlike the character they're tagged as being.

It's particularly relevant now with my current obsession/ship. Anyone that looks at my blog or my AO3 would, of course, know what I'm talking about, but for the sake of keeping this more general I won't post them here. I simply cannot read almost any fic written about my current obsession because the characterization of these characters is so thoroughly botched that if I see them in the tags, I just assume that they aren't the characters that I'm looking for. And I won't sit here and say that my writing keeps them in character any better than others, but I do actively try. I want them to sound like they're supposed to sound, be who they're supposed to be, not some idealized version of them from a source separate from the canon. Even for AUs, I want the characters to still be recognizable. And regardless of opinion, I like to think that I'm successful.

I don't really have anything else to say, it's just something I wanted to get written out somewhere. It can be cathartic to blog about it somewhere that isn't just private, that is open for others to read, even if I'm not really looking for a debate or responses from anyone. At the end of the day, the only person I can control is myself and the content I create. Which I will happily continue to do.

[deadgirlwalking91]

you have one of the best guardrock fics EVER! what are some of your personal favs to read? 🖤

Hey Anon!

Thanks so much; that is honestly SO sweet 🥹 It's been a hot minute since I've done fic recommendations, here's an updated list of some recent fics I have adored reading (my list is a LOT longer so it was super hard to narrow it down to just 5!): Angels Make Mistakes by @branded-rose After Adam's death, Lute is left to deal with the aftermath of a series of mistakes they've made. There's No Use In Trying To Fight It by @a-dose-of-comatose A canon compliant take on the events that take place in Heaven in the lead up to episode 8 of Hazbin Hotel. 🌶️ Vile and Blasphemous by @mistystarshine

Adam's alive in Hell but under an unknown curse. Lute sets out to try and find him with the help of an oddly familiar amnesiac sinner named Eve. A Quick Bite by @maagi3

Vampire AU; Adam's a vampire hunter and stumbles a certain vampire who takes him by complete surprise. 🌶️

First Date by @sloanedestler Human AU; Lute asks Adam out but it doesn't *quite* click that they're on a date.

I could go on forever but these are all so different from each other and amazing reads that I fell in love with <3

[mistystarshine]

what adamsapple fics would u recommend?

I'll be real, I mostly only really read Adamsapple fics from VagrantWriter, @procyonloser , and @maagi3, and two of those people are primarily Guardrock or OT3. Sorry! Send me recs if you have any though!

[focusontheheart]

Meet the Team - Maagi

You can also find @maagi3 on: Twitter @ magus3

Hello! I’m an amateur artist and writer, obsessed with Horizon yet new to the fandom (finally finished the game in early 2023). Horizon has done wonders to inspire me to write more, and to participate more in a fandom for the first time.

See the Q&A with Maagi below the cut!

Q: What is a favorite piece of work you've done (completed, working on, in concept)?

After finishing Forbidden West, I wrote a short piece to try my hand at writing Aloy. It’s probably one of my favorites that I’ve done. It's called "Aloy, This is For You", where Aloy visits Hidden Ember to see Erend.

Q: What are some of your favorite tropes to write, draw, or read?

I enjoy a bit of trauma with cuddly soft comfort after. Always believe the more you love a character, the more you want to hurt them.

Q: What is an unexpected thing or fun fact about you?

I graduated college as a Biological and Chemical Engineer and did absolutely nothing with that degree.

Q: What has been your favorite thing about working on this project so far?

Seeing the passion from all walks of the fandom has really helped me enjoy my first deep dive into a fandom interaction. I’ve been a fan of a lot of the artists and fics, so to be able to work alongside them is an honor.

[mistystarshine]

Hello again! For the Ask Game: (a-g-a-i-n, I love to annoy authors by sending questions)

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

🤩 What's the most meaningful comment you've ever received?

39. If they could end one thing—be it a person, ideology or misfortune—what would they choose to eradicate

Star face - Already answered!

39. For the OC meme? I need you to give me a character to answer this one!

Ice Cream.) ...Emily. This honestly isn't very hard, because it's the fandom that made me hate her. On the flip side, I would have put Valentino here a while back, but the fandom made me warm up to him as a character. ANYWAY.

Read more here due to leak spoilers.

She does provide some variety against the number of villainous angels, she can actually be pretty useful and versatile when writing fic (although I won't touch anything focused on her other than @maagi3 's stuff), and I honestly think that I will end up liking her if she ends up being a bit of a self-righteous know-it-all willing to run roughshod over people and their desires to do what she thinks is better, as the leaks seemed to hint. It's sweet cinnamon bun no flaws other than naivity Emily that I can't stand.

[maagi3]

I was told to start posting my art again, and to link it to my YouTube videos associated with it! I’m really starting to enjoy lineless, and I feel like I’m starting to improve from that first comic I did when I started learning how to draw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5_kTjs47WQ&t=1031s

Here’s the associated video!