#me when the narrative foils r best friends….

[glockmonkey]

actually im elaborating on the tags of that last rb (post by @commsroom ). eiffel is really good at his job really uncomfortably while, vice versa, when minkowski is bad at her job she has to make herself be confident about it. thinking about minkowski having to justify her fear of the plant monster/fear of not being in control by hunting it restlessly and logging it like it’s Work, instead of just admitting shes afraid. minkowski liking Sunday In The Park with George because the idea that bad things can be made beautiful is “reassuring, maybe?” thinking about minkowski learning that she doesnt have to be perfect at everything she does. giving up control to lovelace when shes objectively the better commander, then regaining it when lovelace is like “actually, you’re good at your job, you just make mistakes sometimes and thats okay.” my control freak wife!!!!!!! i love her

[tfdtreasurer]

sorry for not asking about eridan but, why the feferi hate?

Don't worry anon I fully expected this question to be one of the first. Besides, Eridan and Feferi are foils to each other and thus any look at one is being done in the context of the other. Narratively, they're inseparable. My actual nuanced opinion on Feferi is that she's a bad person, a fascinating character, and yet one that I feel is so tragically misunderstood by everybody that it leads me to not liking how she's liked. If that makes any sense.

The short answer is she's one of the most casteist trolls out there. And not in the way Equius is, or Gamzee becomes, or Eridan claims to be. Her's is just a little too real and it kinda gives me icky vibes.

The long answer is... Well there's a reason a whole essay was in the works. If Eridan alludes to Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick of 1851, Feferi alludes to Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden" of 1899 (which in a semi timely way, was published to the context of the Philippine–American War). In her first pesterlog with Kanaya, "burdens" is the word used to refer to her responsibilities. Not really enough on it's own, but then you keep reading Feferi pages. Eridan being the best that alternia breeds, seemingly exiled from living in the sea to serve her captives' needs. The captivity of animals that she's associated with bolstering that. How she espouses a desire to unite the races, but mentions having plans for the throne, implicitly retaining imperial power. Her weapon being named after the triple entente, an alliance of colonialist powers. How she remarks royalty is so civilized, alluding to the colonialist projects of that era being referred to the West's civilizing mission. The way she talks to Jade and is quick to use the r-word, like she'd have to make her speech a hundred times plain. Just the way that she often has other people doing things for her that seems to emulate the delegatory voice of the poem. Eridan being the orphaner for her. In the Make her Pay flash (which is the best flash don't @ me), she has Sollux fight for her as she seems to sit back. Even her creation of the dream bubbles is something she asks of the gods to do for her. And if you think I'm searching for patterns in the clouds here with my ancient-ass 1800s literature: just take a look at the regime of Beforus Feferi. How casteism wasn't abolished, it just became patronizing the lesser and pretending that considering them lesser but in need wasn't the inequality is was.

Eridan is interesting in combination with her because they're designed to contrast each other. Eridan is so deeply associated with hipster inauthenticity, pretention, over exaggerated theater, and explicitly mentions that villainy is practically a performance for her. She calls comin off as a diabolical sort "showwmanship." But pay attention to the way that each frame dropping their quirk. Eridan drops her to become more genuine for a moment. Feferi has to be asked to drop hers and gets mad that she's had to peasantify herself. And the tragic part is that although Eridan is in the position of the audience in that poem, in essence the soldier sent to brutally occupy the Philippines, Feferi also sees her as one of the ones needing to be civilized. Eridan is to her half devil and half child, fluttering and wild, needing to be restrained by a moirallegience she seems to have never wanted from her.

I don't mean to let Eridan totally off the hook. I see her character as being under a dramatic form of siege mentality, perceiving herself to be the target of everyone's hostility. As she's the orphaner, I feel vaguely inclined to give it to her a bit. Like yeah, I can't imagine that job title comes with the perk of making friends. But her siege mentality xenophobia primarily makes her think that everybody that isn't Feferi must hate her, to the point where she only trusts people when her relationship with them is adversarial. The subversion central to Eridan's character is that while she may be genuinely xenophobic, she isn't a supremacist, nor genocidal in intent. The weapons she claims to be amassing to conquer the surface aren't military, it's just whaling equipment she uses to prevent everyone dying. The Brand Whaling Gun and Bomb Lance. Some derivative of the Greener swivel harpoon gun (that I have yet to 100% identify but I do have the original picture used for the Photoshop). Broken killing lance heads (as can be seen in my pfp being held by captain Ahab).

So why do I hate Feferi? Because she does think herself superior to others, in a way that is supremacist. She's a paternalistic casteist of the highest order and it is gross.

But here's the twist: if people believed in the Feferi I just outlined, I'd love the character. Because I still do fundamentally believe in redemption and rehabilitation of people with really shitty beliefs. Feferi could've been a character who narratively served to demonstrate how her beliefs may appear good intentioned, but actually warns the audience of the trap of real life paternalistic racism that justifies colonialism with a friendly face. A narrative where she had character development and evolved alongside Eridan. Symbolically, the orphaner killing the idea of paternalism would've been goddamned beautiful. But instead, what I got, what we got, was the fandom never picking up on the nuances, the comic itself electing to skirt around the problematic elements, all leading up to this strange quirk of Homestuck where once you're aware of all this, you really can't look at cutesy Feferi fanart the same way ever again because it never gets addressed. And I think that's sad. But, until the people that like Feferi are in the same boat as me in wanting a redemption arc for her, I'm gonna stay her #1 hater.

[wanderingblindly]

just read your vampire landoscar and died it was amazing!! but i am so curious - does charles ever realize he was such a shit friend and apologize? does he even know what he did wrong? does oscar hate him so much if he ever does come around? max and oscar interaction/tensions??? the whole time i was so sad for lando cause charles is a horrible friend i was really glad he called his ass out!!

(fic link)

oh my goodness I've genuinely been rambling into a million people's DMs about all the nuances of this fic so THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!! One of your questions reminds me of a scene that got cut, so scroll to the bottom to check that out!

Obviously, you're more than entitled to imagine your own answer to these questions. If things are left unsaid,, it's not my place to tell you how to read into it. But in my brain:

Will Charles Ever Change?

Probably not.

Charles is a foil to Lando. He's entirely sure of what he wants, he knows how to get it, he's self-assured, and he's obsessed with power. Because he's compared to where Lando starts in the narrative (introspective, quiet, placating, etc.), it's pretty important that Charles doesn't have the self-awareness to recognize that he's a prick.

In my mind, the relationship completely died that night in the club, and Lando buried it in the café.

But could he grow later?

I think that Max and Charles's relationship is inherently doomed to be mutually destructive. I don't think that they're designed to bring out the best in each other (despite it being implied that they're soulmates -- I suppose soulmates don't always have to be for the better). Because they're so absorbed in each other, I don't think that Charles will ever gain the perspective to understand Lando completely. Meaning he probably won't come around to being a real friend.

What Does Oscar Think About Charles?

I've thought a lot about this, since it's implied that Oscar was definitely... watching... Lando lol. Oscar probably has an immense distrust of Charles, if not just for the fact that he radiates a level of danger that triggers most vampires’ basal instincts.

(if you didn't read Excess -- Charles is almost entirely covered in vampire bites, meaning he should trigger Oscar's fight or flight like no other.)

That said, I also think that Oscar has an understanding that Lando and Charles's relationship is more complex than he can pick apart from the outside. I get the feeling that he wants Lando to be with someone safer -- if not just because he loves him -- but that he'd respect any decision he makes on the matter.

Max and Oscar Vibes?

Max is the type of vampire that Oscar loathes. He's blood-drunk and confident in what he is; Max has embraced the life as a gift (barring sometimes missing human sensations), whereas Oscar views it as a curse. Their perspectives on their eternal life is so fundamentally incompatible that it's unlikely they'd ever get along.

Do I think they'd actually full on fight? No.

But I do think that Oscar would be so tense the entire time they interacted that he could crack his teeth.

Deleted (Incomplete) Scene:

Originally, after the confessional in Oscar's flat, I wanted to keep going. The next scene actually had to do with the state of Charles and Lando's relationship, where we learn that Lando hadn't heard from him -- and that he hadn't reached out, either. We get the impression that the relationship was completely dead, severed.

"I haven't talked to Charles since I told him to leave," Lando says mindlessly, sliding Oscar's cup in front of his usual seat. He grabs it and draws in a deep breath, the memories of caffeine doing little to alleviate the blue under his eyes. "D'you miss him?" Did he really know him well enough to? Lando shrugs. "Y'know how you kinda, like… miss something because it's over, not because you actually wanted it to keep going?" Oscar nods along, eyes fluttering closed – relaxed. "End of an era." "Era makes it sound like a good thing," Lando chuckles, tilting his head when Oscar raises a brow in silent question. "Nothing good about it then? At all?" In the daylight, they slowly peel apart each other's layers, step gently into the shadows they carry. Lando hasn't asked how much Oscar had gleaned about his and Charles's relationship, if he recognized him as a riptide feigning gentleness. The wounds felt too fresh, the mistakes too recent, and yet. "I'm…" He starts uncertainly. Oscar doesn't open his eyes, doesn't move – like waiting for Lando is easy. The years in Charles's orbit feel like a blur, like watching events that happened to someone else. They're a book with ink that fades with each page – starting bold in its desperation, ending weakly in its passive acceptance. "Not good enough to remember," Lando finally answers, and Oscar drops his brow. "I probably wouldn't have been better without him, I guess. Like, I would have ended up somewhere… different but similar, just with someone else. Might as well have been him, if it had to be someone." Need you more than anything else on earth. Because at least Charles sometimes put a word to that cold, lonely spot between Lando's ribs. Or maybe prodded at it like a contusion, dark and hideous and violent. But he saw it all the same. Shaking his head, clearing it away, Lando changes the subject. "What about you? Do you still talk to anyone from…" He trails off, lips frozen around the word: before. Opening his eyes and putting down his cup, Oscar stares down into it. Pensive. But he promised to try. Lando can see the weary determination in the pressed line of his pale lips – maybe the same wherewithal that keeps his fangs tucked safely out of sight. "I text my family, so they don't think anything's wrong." It leaves a lot unsaid. Lando let's the unspoken fill the time and space between them, resting his back against the counter. Until Oscar looks up at him, eyes finding his own like how Lando always imagined coming home should be – easy. "But everyone else, it's…" A sigh, agitated fingers combing through flat hair. "Complicated." He aims for reassuring. "I know," Oscar averts his gaze anyway. "I quit my job." It's that same tone, that same pinched anguish that evokes memories of tears he can no longer shed. "D'you miss it?" "It's all I ever wanted to be, I –" His throat cuts him off, painfully tight. Lando wonders, not for the first time, how beautiful his emotions would be with the flush of life. And he wonders, anew, if Oscar can feel the difference. Shaking, small: "They were so proud of me." Between beats of his bleeding heart, Lando wonders what that feels like. "You're still the same person though," Lando tries, stopping when Oscar buries his face in his hands, elbows propped up on the counter. "'m not." "You are –" Fiery enough to burn, even muffled through his hands: "Would you want a fucking monster to help you?" "Already did." Lando smiles like a gotcha, flashing his wrist for emphasis. Oscar must sense it, peeking between his fingers. "Almost like you're still you, huh?"

[absolutebl]

Omg… i saw your analysis on Saint’s acting in LBC and Why R U? And it made me think if you can also analyse Nanon’s acting in Bad Buddy (vs his previous works if you have seen them?). I really really love the way you analysed Saint’s acting and was hoping you could do one for Nanon… still upset i discovered the BL community on tumblr a little late tho… Your analysis is greatly appreciated 🙌🏻🖤

Oooo, okay so hi and welcome!!! The bit I wrote on Saint is here and I’ll reblog it now. 

Why Nanon Korapat's Acting is FANTASTIC 

So Nanon is legacy. His dad, Co Khunakorn, is a very well known Thai actor who has an absolutely MASSIVE back catalogue since the early 90s. (You can see him in BL tangential I'm Tee, Me Too as the absentee father who shows back up and then pretty much out-acts the entire cast of very well established GMMTV staples. Sorry all, he just does.) 

Which is just to say Nanon clearly learned his craft at a very young age. And he is what I would call a professional grade craft actor. 

Nanon does a lot of his emoting with his eyes, slight tilts to his head, and judicious use of those all powerful dimples. In general, no matter what character, he has an innate softness and likability to his expressions that make him, even in interviews or on variety shows, very appealing as a screen presence. 

He’s charismatic. 

Also easy to cast as a the hero, because he can play good/decent human as not boring - which is a SKILL. 

He inhabits his roles in a really specific and highly professional way - with less physicality than Saint (Nanon’s body language is pretty uniform), but more expressive nuance to his face. He’s quiet but concentrated about the space he inhabits on the screen. 

A BL actor with a similar style to him is Taiwanese actor Sam Lin (We Best Love). 

But I should say Nanon’s style contrasts nicely to someone like Ohm, who always inhabits a lot of space on a screen. Ohm uses big gestures and expressions, and his whole body when he acts, giving his characters a certainly boldness (even with a character like Dew). Which is not to say Ohm can’t be subtle just that he uses subtlety to quite a loud character, where as Nanon is the opposite. Nanon is mostly quite subtle and then occasionally outrageous for contrast. As actors they foil each other beautifully, and because they are good friends have great established emotional chemistry, and I think this makes for a deadly combination. This is what watchers of Bad Buddy are primarily responding too.

Also they are both VERY seasoned. Consummate professionals. A lot of BL uses green actors for one or both leads, we rarely get this level of pro paired together on a BL screen. 

Back to Nanon.

So a great way to take in his versatility and range is to watch some of his back catalogue. And since he’s been at GMMTV for a while now, most of it is on YouTube. I actually know him from his early lead role in My Dear Loser: Edge fo 17. 

His character starts out as such a dorky loser (and being bullied) that I know a number of people on Tumblr struggle make it through this series. But he’s absolutely great in it. And while the series is a soft high school coming of age narrative it’s also a bit of a Pygmalion trope. He’s adopted by a biker gang and learns how to be cool and win the girl. So you get to watch Nanon act his way into a new identity through the course of the narrative. (Also it has a great enemies to lovers BL side couple of his bestie, played by Chimon, and Pluem AKA InSun. We’ll come back them.)

Something to know about Nanon that many other Thai BL actors universally fail at (especially the GMMTV stable) and which is another way he’s like Sam Lin, is that he’s not afraid to appear ugly or messy. 

A lot of Thai actors (and Korean actors for that matter) are clearly invested in appearances (which is fine) but that colors their acting with a lot of self conscious reserve (which is not fine). This feels fake or disingenuous to watchers. 

Nanon will get snotty and messy; he’ll fall apart and show a double chin; he gets all over raw on a screen. It GREAT. He entirely inhabits his roles and leaves his own ego outside of the studio. 

When I say professional, that’s what I mean. He’s clearly not work for his directors. I bet he’s a joy on set. 

So, after watching his performance in MDL:Eo17 I’d go for The Gifted and/or Blacklist. 

In both these shows, Nanon plays a slightly edgy but morally sound and driven outsider character. And in both of these he’s paired with Chimon in an enemy-to-bestie relationship. And yeah, both are bromancy enough to have feed some serious shipping. (I honestly have no idea if Chimon went out for the role of Pat or not, or if he doesn’t want to do BL anymore, or if he/GMMTV want to keep the PluemChimon pairing unsullied. I would love see PluemChimon anchor a show, and we all know Pluem would be game.) 

Anyway, initially a lot of BL fans were disappointed in the casting of Bad Buddy because of NanonChimon hopes carried over from these two prior shows (and also Ohm has been historically undervalued). Now, clearly, everyone is on board. 

So you can watch Nanon mature as an actor through the course of Gifted/Blacklist/Gifted Graduation series, but that’s more to do with the roles he’s being given. Frankly, I think he’s pretty great out the gate in MDL:Eo17, these ones just show his range. Gifted is a better show, but Blacklist is shorter and Ohm is also in that one, so pick your poison. Nanon plays a very similar character in both, so you don’t really need to watch it all.  

And there it is. 

That was a very long answer to get at the fact that what Nanon has (that other actors don’t) is an innate charisma and a freedom from ego. I would argue that as a result he’s genuinely one of the best Thai actors of his generation. 

We are incredibly lucky someone somehow persuaded him to do a BL. 

The kiss is going to be VERY interesting with these two. 

* Note: Nanon & Ohm talk about their different acting styles (and acting as a couple) on this episode of Safe House 2, kindly translated by a fan. Apparently Nanon is v Method. (thanks to a kind commenter for the link) 

(source)

[scalproie]

subscorp for the ship meme?

teeheehee :)

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

• When I started shipping them: hey did you guys know theres a chin tilt™ in the movie Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle Of The Realms (2021) that Ive seen this january of the year 2022

• My thoughts: I hate them so much. theyre perfect foils in almost every way you can think of. they have an extremely appealing enemies-to-friends arc. in fact they tick most of the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers dynamics in one way or another, in one incarnation or another. with the multiple timelines deal you can even sprinkle a little bit of soulmates trope in there. you cannot have one without the other in the general consciousness. theyre perfect opposites and so similar at the same time. their shared storyline is Romantic with a capital R, with its fair share of drama, revelations, guilt, duty, honor, and conflicted feelings, two assassin clans alike in dignity, in fair earthrealm where we lay our scene. theyre LITERALLY fire and ice and everything about them just bring you back to that point. AND theyre both stupid pretty on top of that.

• What makes me happy about them: they were grown in a lab for 30 years to appeal to me personally💙💛 literally tick every single boxes

• What makes me sad about them: if they werent two guys they wouldve been canon ages ago and you know it

• Things done in fanfic that annoys me: mischaracterization in favor of the author's personal fantasies, usually sexual. Sucks so much when a good fic or a good concept gets ruined by them being OOC during (sometimes uneeded) sexy times. I know thats like, 90% of the fics on AO3 but still, lemme mourn.

• Things I look for in fanfic: if we're going Legends or OG timeline, you can never go wrong with a good old devoted protector scorpion. If we're going current timeline, oooh babey gimme that grandmasters middle age mutual pining, sometimes keeping things simple is where its at.

• My wishlist: so fun fact, most of my wishlist already kinda happened, thanks snowblind but literally everything before it. So I guess I would really just like to see the two of them interact in a casual setting for once, see how theyd normally interact. Second would be cuddles and kisses ofc.

• Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Im a subsmoke enjoyer but ONLY in a tragic doomed teenage romance kinda way, two boy best friends in an extremely restrictive environment that forbid close bonds let alone intimate, come on. Other than that... kuai has stupid chemistry with a lot of characters but in the actual story i dont see a lot of potential candidates. As for hanzo, I like him with harumi ngl, if he manages to get his family back good for him, but just like kuai, the ninjas are pretty isolated otherwise and have the closest narrative bond with each other so if not with the other well I dont think Id see it :/

• My happily ever after for them: Legends/OG timelime wise, scorpy continues to play guardian angel with benefits while kuai gives him a purpose, current timeline is the two grandmasters accidentaly making their clans more and more alike due to them sharing a similar mindset, which could perhaps eventually end with them reuniting the clans as it once was, as joint grandmasters wink wink. but my personal favorite is the mk9 sub zero ending where both of them "disappear together into legends" and are just living together in a little house in the middle of nowhere when theyre not avenging the innocents. and disappear even more into legends when they both get to the netherrealm killing the shit out of everything in sight there.

[eevee-nova]

Oumota, but i feel like you already answered something like that for it so Kaimaki too

Lol I could rant about oumota all day but cuz I know I have I'mma keep it short!

Ship It: (obvs)

1. What made you ship it?

Chapter 5. Full stop. I loved Kaito's character from the beginning and Kokichi grew on me but seeing their team up was 😍. I didn't originally ship it in a romantic context until I looked at the fan content and saw just how well the pairing works in a platonic as well as romantic lens. Plus I love a good narrative foil/enemies to lovers dynamic and they have the best I've seen.

2. What are your fave things about the ship?

Narrative foils, the fact that they understood each other better than anyone else despite hating each other, chaotic energy, smart boi/"dumb" boi, height difference, P U R P L E. But mostly the potential the ship has for so many different relationship dynamics. They work in any AU or situation. They came together during their hardest times so it's possible that under different circumstances they'd work as well. Domestically or casually, healthy or unhealthy, whatever you want to explore with the pairing, you can, and it'll stay in character for them. They're two great characters that become amazing when played off each other. Even in a platonic context.

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

Idk what's popular and unpopular so imma just give a couple headcanons?? Lol.

• Kokichi is a very "show my love thru actions" type of person so he doesn't always say "I love you" or other mushy stuff (except in a teasing way) so he'll get gifts or show kind gestures esp if he accidentally (or purposely) pisses Kaito off, he'll do sweet things to make it up to him.

• Everything is a competition with them. Theyd do dumb shit like "who can give the other more kisses in a day" or "who can get the other a better gift". They're pretty even with who wins, but Kokichi is a much more insufferable winner.

• Kaito would propose first, he'd make it super romantic and perfect and just how Kokichi would want it. But then a week later, Kokichi also proposes in an even grander gesture because he "needs to make sure Kaito wants to marry him just as much as he does."

Kaimaki tho... It kind of teeters on the edge for me. I love both Kaito and Maki as characters, and their friendship is sweet and romantically it's cute, like seeing art and reading fics I always find it adorable but canonically... It feels more one sided than anything. So I'm gonna say

Don't Ship It:

1. Why don't you ship it?

Maki very obviously had feelings for Kaito, she literally says so. However, I relate to Maki in the sense that I've felt unwanted and unloved and struggled to love myself. And I've had people who come along and make me feel special, almost like a replacement for that self love I needed. I think Kaito is that someone to Maki. He cared for her, and saw the good in her when others seemed not to, and as sweet and romantic as that can be, it also has potential to lead to a misunderstanding and over idealization. So from I guess a personal stand point it's one of those "oh yikes this doesn't seem ideal" situations.

2. What would have made you ship it?

Probably if Kaito showed a bit more of reciprocation, but he doesn't. Also if maybe there was a moment of Maki realizing that Kaito kind of has a lot of issues too.

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

I think it still has potential. It's possible for them to grow and love each other in an equal way, but it requires a lot of effort on Kaito's part to bring down his walls for his friends. I think that Maki would need to also establish herself and understand who she is and what she truly wants because it's hard to tell if her feelings for him come from a genuine romantic love or if she simply loves the idea of Kaito. I just think it would end up very one sided without those things. Which, don't get me wrong, would still make for an interesting dynamic when it comes to exploring that part of their relationship.

This was tons of fun, thanks for asking!

Send me a ship and I'll tell you if I ship it or not! 😊💜

[carbootsoul]

anyway no one asked but: yue joins the gaang instead of becoming the moon at the end of season 1 hcs!!

- instead of giving up her life to replace tui as the moon spirit, she gives up tui’s blessing to give them the final burst of strength to escape from zhao. basically yue gives up her blue eyes, pale hair, and waterbending. she never (?) waterbends on the show, and the loss of her bending isn’t too devestating to her.

- also sokka gets a friend who can’t bend either... he deserves it.

- when the gaang leaves after the battle is over, yue decides to come with them and it’s a HUGE thing with her father and begins her main character arc, which is about whether her responsibility to her tribe and the preservation of their culture is more important than her paving her own way and also how those two things can coexist!

- she leaves her betrothal necklace on her bedside table and the last shot of the episode is just of it, lying there. 

- this got rly long so there’s more under the cut

- her traveling clothes are a thing shawl and a tunic similar to sokka’s with pants. she keeps her usual haircut but it’s tied with leather instead of the fancy hair things she used as princess. also she uses a hunting knife as a weapon

- she and sokka continue their weird not-dating-but-kind-of-dating dance for a lot of episodes and it’s generally awkward and easy comic relief. also more shots of yue blushing because she’s just so cuteeee

- there’s a scene of them stargazing where yue tells sokka the story of a pair of lovers who died and then remained best friends in all their future lives (because avatar friendships enduring through lifetimes and also friendship being just as important as romantic relationships)

- yue becomes friends with EVERYONE they meet IMMEDIATELY and everyone falls in love with her because she’s sweet and pretty and has a nice laugh.

- there’s a filler episode that’s just sokka and yue going shopping together and trying on lots of jewlery but the running gag is that yue keeps getting distracted with talking to other people and definitely flirting with every girl she runs into and sokka is always distracted with a pair of earrings or a set of rings and doesn’t notice. finally some random guy is like ‘man your girlfriend has been flirting with my sister this whole time... are you aware.” and sokka is immeditaly like ShE’s NoT mY GiRLfRiEnD and then like wait what

- so maybe yue is a lesbian. sokka is very distressed that he’s been trying to court someone who’s not interested so he talks with katara while she’s sewing or something and he’s like is yue gay?? and katara is like oh i don’t know. lots of people we know are queer. sokka: WHO??? katara: well, zuko. suki. sokka: ZUKO??? SUKI??? and this is when katara realizes her brother’s gaydar is nonexistent. 

- yue tries being a vegetarian (to be nice to aang) but thinks nuts are gross so she and sokka go on hunting trips together. she’s Very Good at archery.

- also the episode where they watch toph wrestle?? she and sokka are SO on her side. it made me angry in the show that sokka wasn’t on her side but yue would convince him very quickly and they are very loud together.

- she also stays to talk to toph on the estate because she doesn’t look as suspect as the rest of the gaang so the guards don’t kick her out immediately (read: she’s good at conforming to elitist ideas of how people r meant to act and passes the rich kid test). she and toph sit in the garden and watch the moon (because the moon symbolizes yue’s perceived failure to sacrifice herself to save her tribe) and talk about how sometimes to live as yourself you have to skirt your responsibilities to your family. yue leaves a few hours later firmly friends with toph.

- she continues to be the one firmly on toph’s side in the toph/katara disputes that are in the first few episodes with toph. katara can’t hold it against her though because literally who could hold a grudge against yue she’s so incredible

- (ok we’re skipping a lot of time here bc i frankly do not remember everything that happened in book 2) her ba sing se tale is her uhhh going to the market to buy herself an iced tea because she’s gay and just having a good time being a no one. a girl she runs into at the cafe asks her to go on a walk around the city with her and it’s very sweet but yue does Not know this is a date so when the girl gives her a kiss she gets blushy and says something dumb

- also at the end of another episode we have a short scene of yue on the roof of their house in the upper ring, staring at the moon and touching the place on her neck where her betrothal necklace isn’t. then the camera switches to zuko, on the other side of the city, looking at the same moon and absently running his fingers through his hair where his topknot used to be

- yue and jet hate each other but yue still advocates for him because she sees how he’s been hurt and thinks that he deserves a second chance. i don’t know the funeral traditions for any of the nations but she does a quick northern water tribe blessing over his body before they run away.

- yue and mai are like.. yes we r gay..... yes we do flirt with each other while fighting sometimes.... yes we r the two knife fighters.. yes we are ALSO narrative foils

- yue looks SO GOOD in fire nation clothes but she keeps her usual hairdo because she deserves it. the fire nation propaganda makes her very angry, as does the institutionalized homophobia. she starts arguing with some guy over it and katara is ready to back her up and start fucking screaming and get arrested and sokka is like.. now. now is when i should talk to her. 

- he drags her away and she’s like fuck dude i can fight my own battles and he’s like no i just.. what you were talking about.... i have something i need to tell you..... and she’s like you’re bi!! good for you, sokka, thank you for telling me. and he’s like :bi shock: no?? you’re a lesbian. anyway yes she is a lesbian they are wlw mlm solidarity. 

- there’s a filler episode where toph and yue rob a bunch of fire nation soldiers and when they get caught (after a While of these robberies) they get out of it by playing the ‘dumb rich kids’ card and run away with jewelry like.. dripping off their hands. katara makes them sell all of it except a choker necklace yue keeps that looks like a betrothal necklace but instead has an etching of a bird flying away.

- skipping again bc this is getting rly long. when zuko joins the gaang he and yue have a tentative conversation about their relationships to their nations and he’s like.. idk sounds like you needed to leave? that wasn’t an environment that you can thrive in. and she’s like but i can change it! i need to be there to change it, and i left. and he’s like well no. some things are just toxic. i went back to my nation and it was terrible. and she’s like i have a responsibility to my PEOPLE and gets mad at him and she and katara r like angry at zuko team. 

- yue’s life changing field trip with zuko is just them leaving on appa to go to a market and be normal teenagers. they both viewed each other as Fire Prince and Water Tribe Princess, but this lets them open up and realize concretely that that’s not all that they are. 

- zuko apologizes for implying that the nwt was irreparable and explains that the fire palace wasn’t something he could fix and that trying just hurt him more. yue says that part of the reason she was angry with him was because he was right and that she felt so much more herself when she was away from her home. they finally reach the conclusion together that they have to become themselves before they can hope to change their cultures for the better.

- yue comes along to boiling rock but is v much background to zukka bromance. she hangs out with suki some (lots more yue blushing oc bc suki is BUFF) and does some dumb gay fighting with mai but they’re both bad at it because yue is busy mooning over suki and mai is busy protecting ty lee.

- ember island players still say she turned into the moon >:(

[katierosefun]

can you pls pls pls tell me more abt your ocs (all of them!!) I want to know what they’re like!!! I can ask specific questions but I’d like to get a general grasp on them first!!! totally okay if you’d rather not btw I’m just super curious !!

hi anon! thank you for asking me about my oc's, because i love talking about them! there's a few different clusters of them, so here's a brief rundown of the oc's i have probably tagged under my blog . . . (and they actually have real names, but for privacy’s sake, i’ve just given them random identifiers) 

and oh . . . this got long, so hold onto your butts (i’ve got many more original characters than these, but these are the ones i think i can share the most of right now/have tags for):

black turtleneck slut & crew: an alternate 2020 - onwards

black turtleneck slut: about 20-21 years old. very grumpy, really loves black coffee. she may or may not have sabotaged some people in order to cross over to a place she really shouldn't be . . . but that's so she can regain some forgotten memories. (fancasted with han so hee but specifically her look in my name, lee ji eun, but specifically her look in my mister)

sunshine tol: maybe 19-20 years old. she's absolutely sweet, and like the title suggests, a ray of sunshine. i can probably best compare her to a rapunzel-esque figure--someone who’s very obviously sheltered but doesn’t really want to be, sheltered for reasons that she knows are important. (unsure who i would fancast her as. she’s just pretty tall, maybe 5′10 or so? and also hair that’s up to her waist. also, she likes to wear long skirts.)

scarf boy: 28-29. dark hair that’s dyed reddish-brown for reasons known only to himself and to his childhood best friend/work partner, girlboss but sad. has daddy issues and might be cursed/dying in 3 months. or maybe swallowed whole. we don’t know, he’s very private about it. something about a deal that he really shouldn’t have made. (fancasted with choi daniel, a cross between his look in school 2013 and jugglers, with the whole academic type look. usually wears a dark blue scarf and plays with it when he’s anxious.) 

girlboss but sad: 29-30. like the title suggest, she’s a girlboss--youngest ever to achieve the rank she’s achieved (at about age 16, making history in her world), although we don’t know what she’s done to earn that rank (well. scarf boy knows a little too well what she’s done to achieve that rank). insane guilt complex, like insane guilt complex. (unsure who to fancast her as.) 

ballerina lawyer: 22-23. think gifted child burnout syndrome + hyper perfectionist. might have grown up alongside turtleneck slut, somewhat of a narrative foil. someone play the plagues from the prince of egypt soundtrack, but specifically skip to the part where it goes once i called you brother. voted most likely to have a literal breakdown and then go to the next meeting looking like a porcelain doll. she’s . . . doing fine. 

ewan mcgregor (derogatory): probably mid/late 40′s. it’s funny that i’ve named him ewan mcgregor (derogatory), because i’ve changed the fancasting. he might have looked after ballerina lawyer and black turtleneck slut since they were kids. very coolheaded. also very cunning. can see right through you. literally. 

main relationships/tropes: 

black turtleneck slut/sunshine tol (r: i hate accidents except when we went from friends to this) -- i have a soft spot for them because they’re very much the “i hate everyone in the world but you, and now i’m realizing i want to love the world because you believe so much in it” + “lmao what a nerd. [pause] FUCK, THAT’S MY NERD” + hey, you know the trope of character a being bloodied and broken but staggering up to their feet and very quietly going, “if you want to get to her, you get through me first”? because that’s them. that’s them. some songs that come to mind when i think of them is paper rings by taylor swift + is there still anything that love can do? from the weathering with you soundtrack. 

scarf boy/girlboss but sad (r: when the sun came up you were looking at me): you want some childhood friends to work partners to co-parents to lovers? because that’s them, baby! they’ve known each other since they were little kids + pine after each other for so goddamn long, because part of it is “how can i love someone who i’ve hurt so badly” and “please don’t love me because i’ll be gone soon” and “i really wish we had more time, could we have some more time?” songs that come to mind when i think of them is funeral by maisie peters and out of the woods by taylor swift. 

spoiled brat (affectionate), anxiety gay, and the rest of disappointed sound’s silly children: takes place waaaaay back in time, thinking maybe the 14th century? heavily inspired by the korean joseon dynasty, but now make it fantasy.

anxiety gay: 18-22. a witchling who really just wants to keep living in the mountains/woods, but surprise, seems like she’s going to become some bratty princess’ . . . what? witch? what does that even mean? she doesn’t know. she doesn’t like that she doesn’t know. she’s worried about so many little things, but she’s also rather cunning, usually two steps ahead of everyone (probably because she worries about the worst possible outcome all the time).

spoiled brat (affectionate): 18-22. the said spoiled brat of a princess that anxiety gay is supposed to be a companion to. heart of gold, but has a rather, uh . . . fiery temperament. will casually flirt with anxiety gay, just to get her riled up. (it works way too well.) is smart, except she really hates academic life. 

shut up about the dragons: 17-21. another prince. smiley boy. smiley boy. knows way too much about dragons. terrified of water. he’s apparently supposed to marry spoiled brat (affectionate), but . . . he doesn’t really want to? he thinks she’s neat, but not in that way. he doesn’t really like the idea of ruling in general. 

my wife duh: 18-22. shut up about the dragon’s witchling adviser person. she’s probably the only one who can keep up with the prince’s rambling. very put together, very sweet. calmly braids other people’s hair and has a really good green thumb. 

disappointed sounds: 44-49. he’s basically looked after spoiled brat (affectionate) since she was a little baby. the type to accidentally adopt like a million children along the way. he’s pretty textbook in that he balances out his spoiled brat’s temperament, but he’s plenty cunning himself. he also knows how it’s all going to end, which gives him a particularly terrible burden. alexa play marjorie by taylor swift. 

main relationships: 

anxiety gay/spoiled brat (affectionate) (r: knew you tried to change the ending): rivals to friends to almost-lovers to enemies to lovers? it’s a windy road, but then again, love sometimes goes about that way. they get at each other’s throats at first, can often be found bickering and rolling their eyes at each other . . . until, y’know, a few life-or-death situations has both of them reconsidering their feelings for each other before they’re flung apart again, and then it’s . . . you know. the typical love as undoing type beat. anxiety gay is found crying into my wife duh’s lap because it’s unfair, that’s what this all is. also, something about two people training together and there’s a moment when spoiled brat absolutely rolls on top of anxiety gay, smiling wickedly and then her smile fading because oh god, feelings, feelings, feelings, GAY FEELINGS, and anxiety gay doesn’t even do anything because she’s just did she always look this pretty or am i going crazy and anyways, someone play cardigan by taylor swift, someone play betty by taylor swift. 

shut up about the dragons/my wife duh (r: so give me your two lips / and baby, i’ll shut up): friends to lovers, but i think unlike scarf boy/girlboss but sad, these two have a lot less angsty pining and a lot more . . . “you’re my best friend in the whole universe, and i understand you, and you understand me, and i guess i never really entertained the idea of you getting married to anyone else because in my head, it was always going to be the two of us” type of feeling. also, you know that trope when two characters run to each other in the middle of a battle and they’re all grimy but they scream and hug each other as soon as they realize the other is alive, you’re alive! and it’s the best and it’s also a messy “i love you so much, and i’m sorry i didn’t tell you that before, but you know, just in case we die, i wanted to let you know that i am so in love with you, and if you could just--” (and my wife duh kisses him very hard, because okay, i love you, please shut up. also, we’re not going to die.) 

and my newest children, who i haven’t really named yet, but i still need to kind of welcome them to the family: takes place right before the end of the world . . . (also i guess i’m going to make up tag names for them now) 

dear moon: about 22 years old? he’s not really . . . alive. but he has a very important job that involves dead people. i won’t go into much more detail than that, but it’s a very lonely life, and all he knows is that he needs to keep doing this before finding peace of his own. he only remembers a bit of who he might have been. isn’t scared of a whole lot of things except . . . maybe one thing. maybe that thing that creeps in the corner of his eye, maybe that thing that’s been following him around ever since he entered this line of work. he sleeps outside a lot because of it.

dear sun: also about 22 years old. he’s very much so alive. might have accidentally stumbled into dear moon’s work. doesn’t know who to trust, but dear moon is the first . . . not dead person who has extended him a hand, and so he takes it. he’s very sweet, and he has a mostly optimistic view of the world, even though he’s got so much of his own baggage. he also likes swimming, which is such a goddamn lucky thing. 

main relationships: 

because there are actually so many characters in this particular original work, but i guess we should cover r: a ghost story is a love story, because that’s what dear moon and dear sun are about: something to do with how do you love something that’s already dead and what does it mean to love someone, anyways and also what does it mean to live and honor both yourself and the ones you love? also, something about sun/moon imagery, also something about that one trope that’s just one person scrambling through a crowd to get to another person. also, peeling tangerines for another person. 

[ichabodcranemills]

re: D*rklina

@musical-chick-13 I’m putting this under a read more, because I have additions and, yes, it is long 😂

So, as far as I can tell from what show-watchers have told me, yes, he is definitely worse in the books. And specifically, the general idea in said books seems to be that just because someone is charismatic and attractive and “gets” parts of you doesn’t mean that they’re a good partner or even worth your time, which is a message I have waited FOREVER to see. Beauty (and to a lesser extent, magnetism) does not equal goodness. The Dark/ling (I have no idea if the names will show up in the tags so I’ll put slashes in the middle of them, wow this website’s features need revamping) always seemed…very entitled to Al/ina. There wasn’t any desire for them to become equals (even in a moral sense by dragging her down to his moral level or raising himself up to hers). His behavior and pursuit of her seems much more motivated by the idea of being able to congratulate himself on the fact that he’s “won” her. She’s more of like…a conquest to him? And maybe that’s a huge misread of his character on my part, but the Leigh, the author, HAS said in the past that some of the Dark/ling’s dialogue and actions were written as a way for her to make sense of and deal with an irl toxic relationship she was in during part of the writing period, so I…don’t think it’s a completely unreasonable interpretation? And that’s not to say that power imbalance ships should Never Be Shipped (because they can be genuinely compelling or even fun to watch under the right writer), and Leigh has even said that she Gets The Appeal herself.

But I think the reasons Tho/schei works for me where D*rklina doesn’t are because 1) Tho/schei have genuinely known each other for a long time (and even been on good terms for some of it) but the Dark/ling decides, despite being this all-powerful charismatic force who is hundreds of years old, to get pettily involved in a teenage love triangle in very little time which is a choice that makes absolutely no sense to me at all, 2) The Doctor is an extremely morally grey character, in a way that if they aren’t careful could easily match the destructiveness of The Master. They both are aware of this, and both of them believe themselves (in their own ways) to be “above” morality (The Doctor in the sense of “I know what’s best and my choices are law” and The Master in the sense of “My choices are law and I deserve to cause destruction and have complete control”. There are…not equal, but similar enough levels of moral ambiguity that it makes sense to me that they still Get™ each other. The Doctor also likes Intellectual Challenges and Foiling Grand Plots, to the point where it’s often the Most Important Thing, and The Master not only provides those, but enjoys the conflict as well, and 3) They actually are close to being equals. They’re both very smart, powerful, immortal. Obviously The Doctor has Much More Life Experience and a more extraordinary legacy because of the Timeless Child thing, but Missy’s primary goal was simply “I want my friend back” and Dhawan!Master freaked out because it was impossible to see them as equals anymore. The Doctor, as per Twelve, wants the Master to be good because they’re alike in a way no one else in either of their lives are. They kind of…want the same thing but in different ways, whereas The Dark/ling, while understanding The Burden Of Power, doesn’t actually want the same thing Al/ina does.

And that relationship between D*rklina could still make for a fascinating dynamic, and one that in another life I might even be into myself if not for the whole “reducing it to Good Girl Saves Bad Boy” trope that I keep seeing within a good deal of the fandom. Not that a general fandom reaction or misread should prevent anyone from enjoying something, but I’m so tired that it’s nearly impossible for me to separate them at this point, lol. Ultimately it boils down to the fact that they seem like such fundamentally different people that I don’t personally see how they could ever truly find common ground or genuinely appreciate their similarities. I think the most interesting exploration of a romantic bent to their dynamic would be in a context  where they are so different and recognize that they’re so different, and they might want to focus on their similarities, but it’s not enough. There could be this undeniable pull between them, but what does that really mean when held up against who they are and how they choose to interact with the world? And then having to deal with the necessary antagonism that results. I guess I see the existence of this ship as like…more of a thought exercise than anything I would ever want to happen in any way other than a one-sided attraction on his part, or that could ever truly be narratively justified. But also like…I hate him, so that makes it kind of hard for me to want to explore it in any way at all. Which that’s a personal thing. Other people like this character, and I’m genuinely happy for them that they can see something I don’t.

UGH, I’m sorry this got so long. This is what happens when I have an urge to Share my Thoughts.

I totally understand your feelings and I think the show did a good job on not only humanizing the D*rkling, but also making the relationship more palatable. I, mean, I’m sure we can partially blame Mr. Barnes’ soulful eyes, but I definitely got the impression that, while the D*rkling wants to use Alina for his own gains, he is very drawn to her as THE Sun Summoner, as in “we are linked and will inevitably be the only one for the other”, he basically tells Mal as much.

And I don’t blame you for losing interest in them because of the fandom, it can be very frustrating, especially if one of the characters didn’t appeal to you in the first place (I mean, I’ve been there, hello R*ylo, lmao)

I think I get what you’re saying about how this works out in the books and how what draws me to D*rklina isn’t necessarily textual. And I think I might have went in a little biased when I watched the show, because, before I did, a friend told me she was getting Thoschei vibes from it, but didn’t especify where, So I watched and there it was: M*lina… okay, school best friends, us against the world, but in general, eh, they were too “perfect” (as in, no real conflict between them). And then D*rklina with everything I said on my original post. I mean, I was looking for a thoschei-like dynamic and I found one 😂.

I’ve read some spoilers for the book, so I know my whole “200 years later” fantasy doesn’t happen, so I agree with you, this ship is more of a thought exercise. But I think the show sets it up in a way that is Just My Thing, whereas the book is more straightforward with how incompatible these two are, romantically. But the fandom will ship away, even in kinda blergh ways, it’s how it is 🤷

[utenthy]

uhhhmmmmmmm jotaro kakyoin joeseph. here u get multiple cuz ur epic

omg this is so many guys ok hold on this is going to get LONG

JOTAROOO 💜🦭⭐️

sexuality: gay gay homosexual gay

gender: he is EXTREMELY non-binary to me

ship: jotakak but please don’t own me for this guys like i swear to god i like it in a cool and awesome narrative foils way and not a dumb and bad way

brotp: i think him and polnareff are besties post sdc when they’re traveling together doing arrow stuff. i love them being besties very much

notp: if u ship j*tahan fr you’re very dumb and wrong and im not into jotaro/pucci which is another thing jve seen a lot

random headcanon: i think everybody and their mother agrees on autism spectrum jotaro but it is highly important to me

general opinion: i love you. i love youuuu. my favorite jojo. he has so many problems and i love him. i never stop thinking about the dio jotaro fight and the idea that he threw his life and future away just to get rid of dio. the fact that he cannot be calm and always has to be in danger still and haunted by the ptsd of being indirectly responsible for his friends deaths makes me nuts. aaaughhh. he sees himself as dangerous and a detriment to the people he loves

KAKYOIN 🍒🐸♌️

sexuality: FRUIT my GAY friend he is gay

gender: im very partial to genderfluid kakyoin but i can also see him as just gnc boy

ship: jotakak again

brotp: again polnareff cuz their handshake is awesome and they have a fun antagonism i really enjoy kak and polnareff as bestys

notp: k*kpol can go to hell and pretty much anything else. there aren’t a lot of kakyoin ships that are viable really

random headcanon: this isn’t so much a headcanon but rather it is something that’s really important to MY reading of kakyoin that you don’t act like he was some bullied helpless lonely child. he was lonely but it was self imposed. his weird ego complex around having a stand is like 100% necessary to get a good and interesting read on him imo. he didn’t have friends cuz he thought he was Above Them

general opinion: i love him SOO so much and his flaws r some of the best in jojo. his character is really really interesting to me. his arc was ALMOST perfect. jojo never quite gets there but it often gets really close and kakyoins is really stuck in my brain. i think by far the best depiction of kakyoin is done by simkjrs in he’s bad news but im no better. jotaro too really

JOSEPH 📷🟣🦾

sexuality: bad bi representation (cheater!!!!)

gender: cis man

ship: caejose i guess but i think josephs feelings about that were processed mostly posthumously

brotp: i don’t know if this is a good place to put this but ive been reading a lot of fanfiction that focuses on joseph building a better relationship with jotaro and i think their familial relationship can be done really really well and can be interesting and sweet

notp: t*mokosephs come ON. and people who make like very happy sweet suzis*ph content i just have to wonder what you’re thinking about like it’s not problematic per se i just don’t GET it like get her OUTTA THERE!!!!!

random headcanon: i don’t have much to say about joseph because he is like my least favorite jojo sorry mr joestar. umm i think senileseph is playing a prank he can hear everybody perfectly fine he just gets away with more if he acts like he doesn’t know what’s going on

overall opinion: EHHHHHH. if joseph is your favorite i feel like you’re watching a different show than me or at least getting something REALLY different out of it. i don’t mind him and i do feel some nostalgia towards him but overall yeah down there with jonathan in jojos idont really think about too much

[mothbug]

maggie i’ve been trying to suss out the plot of ur bug lesbians for so long please tell me abt them. somehow it got into my head that they were?? like jaeger pilots? please confirm or deny

i can’t do a read more on mobile so i’m sorry in advance (coming back here after i’ve written this: it makes no sense. it’s all rambling. sorry. and i just put things everywhere randomly so this won’t even be typed chronologically)

yeah there’s giant fun robots! most of them are normal and fine but like a few of them are very fucked up

so there’s four pov characters and at the start of the story three of them are on the same ship and the fourth is the target they’re chasing? only one of them knows they even HAVE a target and is trying her best to stall because she and the target were roommates in fucked up robot catholic school. the other two are playing crazy 8s and being romantic and also terrified all the time but also doing a lot of theorizing about things because they know SOMETHING is up they just don’t know what’s going on. Bc you know. their commander won’t give them any information. and also avoids them because she hates narrative parallelism

also the one stalling is also having her blood drunk by her giant robot. and maybe being mildly possessed by it? so it’s maybe The most fucked up robot. it’s also a giant dog and a good boy. and an heirloom of a fucked up family. which may explain some stuff but honestly i think nisa’s mom was just a bitch and it didn’t have anything to do with the robot she’s just like that.

and she’s stalling bc she Knows she won’t turn perovskia in she knows she wouldn’t let her get hurt she Knows it’ll change her life forever if she finds her and she’s just not ready to face that. but yknow she has to so it was all just very silly of her but when something will change your life dramatically it’s terrifying even if you know that things currently Suck.

somewhere in here Arkansas’s family is threatened and it’s. upsetting. and i’m not sure what direction to go in with it but it will be important because her family means a Lot to her. she has two very good kind dads and a little sister named Tinsel. basically she has the only functional biological family out of all the characters and they make me :’) I also think they eventually meet Idabel and ADORE her and since she grew up without parents it’s just a very strange and emotional experience and. h. they r Wives. and the Trust family is all very sweet and kind even if Arkansas struggles a lot w gifted kid syndrome like i think her dads did their best even if they fucked up sometimes yknow. idabel goes fucking wild at the arcade like legitimately bloodthirsty and arkansas is just like i love my furious and powerful wife

anyway there’s some (a lot of) homoerotic space fighting (which perovskia usually wins BECAUSE she remembers when she and nisa used to spar and can predict what she’ll do. nisa ALSO remembers this bc. ofc she does. but perovskia had to learn how to adapt after Events bc her physical health changed a lot and she had to learn to be more careful about overexerting herself and also now knows how to swordfight. and moves more fluidly and confidently. so what nisa expects to happen often doesn’t bc perovskia’s fighting style has changed so much while nisa hasn’t really bothered to refine hers. anyway) perovskia (the gay little target that does a gay little crime and makes fun of you to piss you off) is like hey. what if you all committed treason it’s really fun and sexy. and then her adoptive mechanic mom gives everyone spinal surgery so their bodies don’t shut down and they won’t die :) that’s a thing by the way i won’t elaborate bc uhh :( but it is why perovskia has all the. nerve damage and chronic pain. i can elaborate on the actual Pre-story perovskia stuff later bc i think about it A Lot and it has a lot of bearing on her character but it’s also. before all this. but anyway if she hadn’t been bleeding out on Slice’s front lawn specifically she Would be dead. and there’s some fun narrative foil character shifts that happen four years before the main storyline but i will not say bc i’m tired

after this is Vague in my mind but a lot of it is Perovskia and Nisa reconnecting and just. talking. but being weird and repressed and deflective about anything Meaningful. And I have written a Lot about this so there’s more than I can condense but it’s very fucking good and. Idk. it’s a big shift in the narrative at this point and they’re just Agonizing about their dumb little feelings and it’s good. and P doing some work to make their giant fucking spaceship more stealthy. and Idabel and Arkansas being really cute and also going THROUGH it because i mean. a lot is happening. And it’s nothing either of them ever expected to happen but they’re like. hopeful for the future or whatever don’t look at me. It’s just like. put all of these characters on a spaceship in the middle of nowhere in transit and they all Have to have conversations even if they don’t want to because it’s HARD. nisa is forced by slice to learn how to make pancakes

Slice makes stew. They’re good at stew and contraptions and having a mild new england accent somehow. also canonically back in the scrapyard they would make things like the knife wielding tentacle constantly and perovskia would just stumble upon them. slice changed the live laugh love sign to say die cry hate because perovskia made fun of it. they r her mom.

so now they do some fun fun robberies and various crimes and it’s so sexy and i don’t think N and P are like. fully caught up at this point or know where they stand, so there’s a lot of very fun banter and having to work together despite really being afraid but also yearning to get to know each other again and just connect with one another honestly and openly after four fuckin years apart. because they’re both so different now but also very much the same. horse staring out into sea MAN. the thing is there’s no direct like. reason for them to avoid each other (at first P was shocked and overwhelmed and felt a little bit betrayed when she found out who was chasing her until she found out WHY. oh i forgot to mention Nisa BEGGED to be assigned commander for this mission bc she knew anyone else wouldn’t hesitate to get Perovskia killed. Forgot to mention that it’s IMPORTANT she fucking loves her so much god DAMMIT) but it’s just. tense and there’s a lot happening and it’s just. Ghhhdhbnm and ofc I and A have picked up on it since P showed up but it’s like. ok so what is Happening here. OH AND ONCE THEY START WORKING THINGS OUT IDABEL DOES START BEHAVING LIKE NISA’S SHITTY LITTLE SIBLING AND ACTING FUCKING DISGUSTED BY THEM ITS VERY FUNNY. they’re like perovskia you’re pretty cool what’s up with this. nisa sucks and also is a bitch. and perovskia says SHE CAN GET IT. and idabel says GET WHAT? BANNED FROM OLIVE GARDEN? and perovskia fans herself and is like yeah~ and idabel was just joking around but now is debating between mercilessly making fun of her and hitting her with a cricket bat. but god when P and N just get to hold each other in silence and security and just be. it’s . they. god. fuck. man.

oh i know this is a space story but perovskia just straight up has a sword (and some knives and maybe a gun idk) don’t ask me why idk but it’s very lesbian of her and she does gay little flourishes and is just. very annoying and i like her a lot. she’s very dramatic like her alias was madame revenant when she was living in the scrapyard and just doing some petty crimes like. she embroidered that jacket herself nobody calls her that she’s just a goofball. also warrior cats exist and she makes warrior cat fan animations. that just has to be true so warriors has been preserved for centuries. also she was presumed dead for a while uhh don’t think abt it too much but she likes that aesthetic.

Idabel takes the best to this new life of crime they are fucking FOR it she gets a FLAMETHROWER and Arkansas is like. wrow honestly my favorite thing abt them is that they’re both fucking INCREDIBLE pilots. like they know what they’re doing. and nisa is really really bad at it btw she cannot pilot a mech well. but this block of text isn’t about her i’m talking about THEM. Their chemistry is so good they r just. 🥺. and they both become Fast friends with perovskia because she’s just pretty likeable?? and ofc nisa’s jealous bc a) you guys don’t even like me :( but also b) that’s MY friend. it’s very funny. honey of course they didn’t like you you were being very unpleasant to be around. but arkansas does rlly wanna be friends with her and she and idabel have so much sibling energy it’s insane. i think they’d abel and cain each other for a scooby snack but also kill for each other. because they’re tiny girls who will growl at you solidarity and also probably hang out and just destroy things with bats sometimes. they all become closer and get a rlly sweet found family dynamic it just takes a While. oh also idabel is basically the chosen one and can set things on fire with her hands but it’s barely touched on because i think that’s a really funny thing to just ignore. but i also think it does become important because it’s largely fueled by anger and emotion and. h. i think idabel has a lot of feelings ok. Arkansas and Perovskia bond over having fucking anxiety disorders and have caprisun drinking competitions. i think it’s just like. these people all have similar trauma and need people to lean on when things are hard so they stick with each other once they have the option to split apart because by then they’re friends and work well together and Care. auto tuned baby crying mp3.

Alia and Agent Variety show up somewhere around here? They’re Slice’s very cool wives and Alia has a Vechicle Collection and own fucking stupid race cars and stuff and I love her. perovskia is afraid of being in vechiles so she has to take a fucking benadryl every time they have to make a getaway. Variety isn’t actually an Agent anymore and I also love HER because she’s very fucking good. they started out as just contacts slice had but it turns out they’re all in love <3 alia is also actually a sports car racer like. unprofessionally. illegally. which is just very cool of them.

Also i don’t think it has. a very BIG end, yknow? it’s like, they’re doing very good things and are up against a lot, and I don’t think they like.. singlehandedly take down the government or anything because they’re only a few people. but i think they get a happy ending and get to grow old while making positive changes to the world around them. like i don’t think they’ll be able to solve everything but they’re sure as hell gonna do what they can. But idk maybe they actually do get like. some good shit done. but again they’re not. an army. they’re a bunch of 20-somethings and their rube-goldberg-machine-creating chaperone. but i think they should get a fun climactic moment so i guess this is all to say i don’t. have an ending planned. but there should probably be one at some point.

OH AND the giant evil blood sucking dog vineyard vines robot Definitely almost kills Nisa (or at least fully destroys her in some way) and. it’s very narrowly avoided and she’s very very weak for a while because it took a lot out of her. also the dog robot does make grape vines grow and uhhhh any grapes that show up are 100% full of the pilot’s siphoned blood. also i think there’s still some remnants of that bitch in nisa’s mind afterwards bc an old mechanical god is hard to get rid of. but it’s mostly ok.

Also the bug people are just. a thing. like every person in the most recent generation in this specific society are at least a little bit genetically experimented on because. it sucks there. and i think if your parents bribe the government you can be a little Less fucked up but yknow. everyone’s a little weird. this was an excuse to put bug ppl in here they’re just the folks who were probably the most fucked with and i have many bug people here because i think bugs are cool and i want them to look like weird little bugs. This was all also an excuse to give the main characters fangs bc i’m gay. i don’t think randomly fucking with your genetics will make you a bug in real life so do not try this at home or at all PSA

SPEAKING of the society ok it’s very much obsessed with earth nostalgia and stuff and very yknow. basic cyperpunk shitty capitalism you know the drill you’ve seen space operas whatever but it’s also weirdly oligarchical? and like? it’s weird and bad and kind of a corporatocracy?? and. fuck. idk man they’re a fucked up space catgirl greeble-y amazon with catholic imagery. The Academy is also a thing but. idk how to describe it more than i already have it’s just kinda shitty boarding school. And after a certain point ppl can get sent on like. missions and stuff? in their fucking robots? but again i’m not sure what For. an option could be that there’s nearby Shit and nobody can tell if it’s safe because space is weird? also it’s only about 3200 so i’d say like. whole societies out in space is a relatively new thing and there’s some weird shit going on. so they sometimes send teenagers out in robots to see what’s up and that ends SUPER well for EVERYONE. hmm something SHOULD be going on actually there should be some weird eldritch space stuff. it should be connected to the more fucked up robots. it should also be Core’s fault somehow because uhhh capitalism and lack of foresight? anyway here’s women kissing i don’t know things. WAIT FUCK I FORGOT TO MENTION HOW SHADY SOME OF THE STUFF GOING ON IS LIKE THE DEATHS OF THE CREW PEROVSKIA WAS ON UHHH JUST TRUST ME DUDE like they are NOT afraid to get kids killed which was IMPLIED but also like it goes a little deeper than that and uhh i don’t know exactly what’s happening. but i’m sure it’ll all fall into place eventually. basically it’s very fatt shitty faction vibes idk how else to describe it. man it‘s like. just. there’s stuff happening they have goals and ideals and there’s probably more to it than i know so far bc stuff happens but i don’t KNOW what i’m tired and have been typing this for a year i don’t want to talk abt the bad capitalists i want to talk about tenderness and girls but unfortunately the ways in which the girls are tender are deeply informed by the environment they grew up in so i do have to think about it even if they all deserved better.

i think they all get a cat or a dog or something eventually. like they all deserve it. i think the final home they build together is actually pretty reminiscent of the scrapyard house. i think they get to live there for the rest of their lives and. just build something small and wonderful for themselves :’)

also i forgot to put men in the story they exist i just forgot about them. there’s nisa’s one ex i already forgot his name but he’s mentioned i think.

[lizzibennet]

Percy for the character thing!

How I feel about this character HIM. i love him so much. this is a percy jackson love bot. he’s so GOOD like ugh his character arc is so SOLID. rick really nailed it. like idek how to express myself i just love him so much. he’s my childhood hero alongside annabeth i just UGH im gonna CRY i love this child

All the people I ship romantically with this character annabeth obviously. the pining. the drama. the nuance. the FLAVOR. the fact they’re best friends. the fact they choose each other over and over again when a big point of both their storylines is that they were both overlooked/ignored at points in their lives. annabeth tying his soul to the mortal world B E F O R E they have really gotten together. like hello. HELLO. i love them SO MUCH. i also really love jercy!! i’m a sucker for a opposites attract kind of ship and percy/jason are literal narrative foils so. i just think the dynamic would be so fun to read about. also they’re both huge bisexuals SO

My non-romantic OTP for this character i thought about adding perachel to the last answer but since i wouldn’t actually want them to be together in canon i’m gonna say it now lol. i have a post somewhere about how rachel is the only mortal friend percy has and how he needs normal teenage drama in his life. i love how they bounce off each other, their dynamic is very different from percabeth and i enjoy both. i just think rachel’s chill in a way not a lot of percy’s friends are lol. she’s good for him and i love them both individually so i’d love to see more of them together.

My unpopular opinion about this character idk if this is unpopular but he’s bisexual and afrolatino. i don’t make the rules. also boy really needs some therapy. i know people get kind of up in arms if you say percy’s gonna snap and level a city but that’s. what happens when you bottle feelings up. he’s angry and has a right to be. granted i do feel like he needs a good cry more than he needs to punch a wall but i’m not as opposed to a violent outburst in his life as other people seem to be.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. kiss jason idk i honestly just wish he would be left alone lol. like i just want him to be happy and secure. i wish things stopped Happening in the greek world because as long as they are he’s gonna be brought into shit and i just. want him to take a very long nap. i want to see him in the future, happy and healthy, helping kids like him in some capacity and that’s truly all lol

send me characters!!

[thehollowprince]

Teen wolf?

favorite male character: Scott McCall, obviously, and to this day there are people who are still really really mad that I liked the protagonist of the show.

I really loved Mason, too. I'm pretty sure that's where Jeff Davis channeled everything he wanted to give to Danny but "couldn't" because of his beef with Colton and the latter's exit from the show.

favorite female character: Oh, boy... that's a toss up between Kira and Lydia. I loved Kira from the word go, but I also loved the growth that Lydia went through, so I'm torn.

least favorite character: I have two answers for this. Narratively speaking, I'm gonna have to go with Jackson. I never really got over his douchdbag attitude and then he disappeared just as the show started to delve into his past and possibilities (I'm utterly convinced that he was supposed to be Peter's kid and that they had to rearrange things after Colton bounced.)

Just from a "I dislike them" standpoint we have Stiles. Not because he was a bad character (he was a great foil to Scott, they balanced out eachother very well) or because of any of the stuff he did ("Some of us are human!"), but because the fandom kept trying to convince everyone (even themselves) that he was the best character ever and that the show should have been about him. Whenever fandom tells me that this is "the best character ever" I immediately take a step back and am way more critical of them.

prettiest character: well this is just unfair, because have you looked at that cast? They're all ridiculously gorgeous. It was like watching something on The CW. Its impossible to choose just one, because I'd say Kira, but then I think of Danny, and then I think of Isaac and then I think of Boyd, and then I think of Scott and then... well, you get the idea.

funniest character: I don't think there was any just one funny character, because they all had their moments, particularly Scott and Stiles when they were together. Or when Ken very loudly gave Kira that research "for that boy you like" right in front of Scott, or Malia not understanding modern stuff, or Isaac's and Boyd's sarcasm. Oh, and let's not forget Peter's disney villain voice in 3B ("The huntress and the banshee." Seriously, what the hell was that?)This show may have lacked a bit in terms of plot cohesion, but it was pretty good with the humor.

favorite season: truth be told I liked at least something about all the seasons, but I'm going to have to go with season two. That was the last time there felt like any kind of actual thought went into the whole season rather than just an episode-by-episode basis, where the writers had no idea where they wanted to end it. Season five was pretty good, too. Not just because Theo managed to do what nobody else did before him: break up the back, but because the two halves felt connected by the plot as opposed to seasons 3A and 3B, and 6A and 6B being completely separate plots each time.

However, I will say that season six sucked balls. The first half being entirely focused on a character that wasn't there because their actor chose to go do something else, and the second half just devoted to senseless violence and to killing off characters for shock value.

favorite episode: Master Plan. We got to see what a brilliant strategist our lead was, and I loved it.

The Overlooked was one I just have fun watching again and again, with our heroes trapped in an abandoned hospital in the middle of a raging storm. It was just a fun episode.

favorite romantic ship: this is one of the few shows where I actually liked most of the canon ships. I loved Scallison, and then Scira. Stiles and Malia were great together and I would have loved to have seen what could have been between Lydia and Jackson before the latter's departure. Derek and Braeden... wish we could have seen more of them. Mason and Corey were adorable, as were Liam and Hayden.

And, of course, I have my crack ships that I would have loved, Scisaac ("Dude, I love Mexican") or Scanny ("Its Armani"/"Its nice."), or Scalia.

favorite friend ship: this might come as a surprise to people, but I really liked the dynamic between Scott and Stiles. They completed eachother perfectly, and that was how they were able to outsmart so many of these diabolical villains. Also, Liam and Mason being this cool combination of the Scott/Stiles and Jackson/Danny friendships was cool.

favorite family ship: the McCall Pack

worst ship: St*r*k, obviously. I've made my opinions on that pretty clear. I wasn't a fan of the whole Allison and Isaac thing, either. I feel like that was shoved in there to compensate for the unintended Scisaac feels as well as to capitalize on the fact that I believe Crystal and Daniel were dating at the time. Also, not going to lie, I wasn't a dan of the Stiles/Lydia and Scott/Malia stuff in the final two seasons.

[kyrieanne]

In which I try to convince another person to watch Parks and Rec

In a recent hangout, @elizabethminkel, @imaginarycircus, and I were trying to convince @flourish​ to watch Parks and Recreation. I made the argument that if they like Star Trek: Voyager they will like Parks & Rec. So Flourish agreed that if I made a post laying out my Parks & Rec is Star Trek Voyager in sitcom form argument, they would move it up on their watch list.

So Flourish, here you go...

KA’S GENERAL ADVICE TO STARTING PARKS & REC

Start with Season 2. You can go back and watch Season 1 later. It’s only 6 episodes and they were still getting the tone for Amy Poehler’s character just right. Starting in Season 2, all of Leslie Knope’s co-workers know she is good at her job no matter how out there they (for good reason) think she is.

Pawnee is a character. Kind of like how the Simpsons have all these secondary and tertiary characters that rotate through — so does Pawnee and the town as a character becomes a damn delight in watching the show. Treat yo’ self to this article on the fabulous murals in Pawnee City Hall. (For the record, my favorite Pawnee citizen is this man: 

It’s more serialized than you expect a sitcom to be. You won’t be confused by the story no matter what episode you watch, but the real gold of Parks is watching it as serialized television with real arcs. Assume you’ll want to keep watching once you start.

MEET THE CREW

JANEWAY | Leslie Knope - Leslie Knope is the sitcom version of a young Janeway — kick ass, smart, hardworking, and ambitious. The Leslie you see in Season 7 is probably closer to the Janeway you see when Voyager begins.  Both of these stories center on a woman leading, one at the beginning of her career and the other at the pinnacle of it (cause obviously Voyager made Janeway a damn legend). What they have in common all along the way is a literal crew. Janeway is in the wild, Wild West, without the bureaucracy of Star Fleet, and Leslie Knope is navigating the endless bureaucracy of local government. Both are rule followers until the rules fail to make sense; then they are willing to do anything to care for the people under their charge.

CHAKOTAY | Chris Traeger - They’re both in charge of things. They both principled characters who know what they believe. Often, they are both foils for other characters and they always come through.

TUVOK | Donna Meagle - Both bosses. Both totally who they are and if you don’t like it then that’s a you problem.

TOM PARIS | Tom Haverford - Obsessed with pop culture. Flirts. Got something to prove. Their stories veer in different directions, but they start in a similar place.

B’ELANNA TORRES | April Ludgate - Each woman is unique, but they were both young and savvy. Torres struggles with the two halves of who she is (Klingon/Human) and April, over the course of the series, struggles with apathy vs. earnestness. Like how Janeway gives Torres a shot as Chief Engineer, Leslie Knope will never give up on April and the show rewards the viewer with a great female-female mentorship.

DOCTOR | Ron Swanson - Iconic grumps who find people extremely irritating. The Doctor is a bit more naive than Ron, but both evolve into more than they could have ever imagined. The Doctor, like Ron, gets all the best one liners.

SEVEN |  Ben Wyatt - He’s a ‘numbers robot’ and she’s Borg. Both begin their character arcs a little traumatized by their pasts and without real human relationships. Overtime, they become emotive, hopeful people who show they care by taking action often at a deep personal expense. (see what Ben Wyatt does in “The Trial of Leslie Knope”)

HARRY KIM | Ann Perkins - A really damn good friend and person, both of them. Both have terrible luck in romantic relationships for most of their respective series.

NEELIX | Andy Dwyer - Andy is funnier than Neelix and Neelix is smarter than Andy, but both have a tendency to drop a piece of wisdom when you least expect it.

JOE CAREY | Jerry Gergich - He’s there! He’s got a family! No one can quite remember his name.

KES | Mark Brendanawicz - Kes goes out as a alien beam of light; Mark will have a similar-ish fate. 

SESKA | Tammy 2 - You will love Tammy 2. She is a sex-positive Seska — over everyone’s shit and completely insane.

THE BORG QUEEN | Eagleton - Pawnee’s rival town full of suburban automatons.

KA’S VERY SPECIFIC PITCH TO FLOURISH

First off, there’s that meme - “Be the Leslie Knope of whatever you do.” Janeway is the Leslie Knope of Star Fleet Captain. Trust me on this.

Second, I know you aren’t super into comedies, though you love Brooklyn Nine Nine and The Good Place. But hear me out…

Voyager is a sci-fi drama that is often the red-head step child of the Star Trek franchise because it isn’t dark and political like Deep Space Nine, philosophical like The Next Generation, etc. It had all the hallmarks of Star Trek — adventure, drama, an ethos of hope — etc, but it was also FUN.

Parks is a comedy — I won’t pretend it’s got the angst of a drama, but it is a comedy of IDEAS, a hallmark for any Mike Schur show. Where as The Good Place was about philosophy, Parks is about community. Voyager is about getting home; Parks and Rec is about making the place you call home better. Like Voyager, it takes people who owe nothing to each other and forms a community. Nothing will make you feel FEELINGS like the end of “End of the World” (Season 4, Episode 6) or the end of “The Trial of Leslie Knope” (Season 4, Episode 9), episodes where characters reach dramatic, but quiet life changing moments where they see the world differently than they did before. They change. I think that’s probably what I’m trying to say — Parks and Rec characters change and grow with as much narrative arch as any drama.

Watching that is a damn delight.

KA’S FAVORITE EPISODES BY SEASON

Season 1

“Rock Show” (Episode 6)

Season 2

“Hunting Trip” (Episode 10)

’94 Meetings” (Episode 21)

“Telethon” (Episode 22)

Season 3

“Flu Season” (Episode 2)

“Harvest Festival” (Episode 7)

“April & Andy’s Fancy Party” (Episode 9)

“Road Trip” (Episode 13)

“The Fight” (Episode 14)

Season 4

“The Treaty” (Episode 7)

“Smallest Park” (Episode 8)

“Win, Lose, or Draw” (Episode 22)

Season 5

“Halloween Surprise” (Episode 5)

“Leslie and Ben” (Episode 14)

Season 6

“The Cones of Dunshire” (Episode 9)

“Moving Up” (Episode 21 & 22)

Season 7

“Leslie and Ron” (Episode 4)

“One Last Ride” (Episode 12 & 13)

[realisticallycynical]

On Bakugou Katsuki, in the Context of My Fics

In the year or so that I've been writing Something Like a Star, I've gotten many (some less polite than others, but many nonetheless) comments about Bakugou and the readers' hope that I do justice to his relationship with Izuku, in the sense that they hope I don't romanticize it.

Let me be upfront about one thing: I love Bakugou, but I never have and never will excuse his actions towards Izuku. They were deplorable at best, unforgivable at worst. My fascination with him as a character does not equal my condoning his actions or words as a person.

However. If you are of the opinion that Bakugou cannot grow as a person, or cannot become a hero, let me make one thing abundantly clear: while you are completely entitled to that opinion, my fics, including and especially Something Like a Star, are absolutely not the fics for you.

Here is my interpretation, which is the lens through which I look at Bakugou and Izuku in every one of my works regarding the two of them. This isn't everyone's, and that's fine. But this is the way in which I portray them and will continue to portray them. What it is not is a) me defending Bakugou’s actions, or b) an invitation for quote-unquote debate (read: discourse) in the notes or my inbox.

Warning: Very Long Post Ahead. TL;DR at the end, trigger warnings for brief mentions of bullying, suicide baiting, abuse, and r*pe (no graphic detail but be safe)

Izuku's relationship with Bakugou is a deceptively complex one. To us as readers/viewers, it should be very simple: Bakugou is a bully (he is not an abuser; the difference is a subtle and intensely important one that I'll go into more detail on later) and Izuku is, in no uncertain terms, a victim.

The complexity lies here: Izuku doesn't have a singular, isolated feeling about Bakugou. Nor should he, considering how long the two have known each other. A story told from Izuku's perspective will always be one with an unreliable narrator, portraying his hatred of, respect for, fear of, and admiration of Bakugou. Before Izuku was diagnosed as Quirkless, and before Bakugou's quirk came in, the two of them spent their formative years as friends. Yes, Bakugou was a jerk, but no more so than any other Type A child would be at age 4.

Izuku absolutely loved Bakugou. Regardless of whether or not you ship KatsuDeku (which I don't, contrary to what people seem to expect of me sometimes), this is something that I feel gets overlooked far too often in fanwork. Midoriya Izuku worshipped the ground that Bakugou Katsuki walked on, even after Bakugou's quirk came in. It was only after Izuku's failed to manifest, and he was dubbed quirkless, that Bakugou's behavior toward him began to change. And consequently, so did their relationship. But the foundation of their relationship was always, on Izuku's end, one of adoration and respect.

Izuku may not have seen that side of Bakugou in years, but there is some part of him that still remembers it and vice versa; if there wasn't, not only would Izuku not call Bakugou "Kacchan," but Bakugou wouldn't let him continue to do so.

Now. As for the bullying.

It's immensely important for my own mental health that I make a sharp distinction between abuse and bullying. To do so, there's a very obvious parallel I have to make, and a take on it that I haven't seen anyone else share.

A reminder: this is only my personal view on these things, so if you disagree, that's fine. This is not an invitation for "debate" (read again: discourse) in the notes, in my askbox, or in my messages.

Bakugou is a bully. Endeavor is an abuser. Both terrible things to be, and similar in many ways, but not interchangeable.

Now, here's the thing. There are two characters with Very Obvious character foils within BNHA: All Might and Midoriya.

Izuku's foil is, of course, Bakugou. Whereas, to me, All Might's has always been Endeavor. Following that logic, then, Izuku has the potential to become All Might and Bakugou has the potential to become Endeavor.

I've seen people making that comparison before, but I've never seen (I'll be honest: I'm not interested in discourse so I've never really looked for) people taking that a step further.

The entire point of BNHA is that Izuku isn't going to become the next All Might. He's going to become better. He's going to take all of his potential and grow into it, to the fullest possible extent.

So why, I wonder, do people come into my comment section and say that Bakugou can't and/or won't do the same thing? Why is he any more bound to the path he was on in the beginning of the story than Izuku was?

Here's my number one issue with people comparing Bakugou in the present to Endeavor in the present: Bakugou has grown. Not only that, but he still has the potential to grow. Regardless of his crappy attitude, of his objectively terrible actions toward Izuku (that were, I always feel the need to reiterate, supported or at least not reprimanded over the course of his entire life so he never, until meeting Aizawa, got the message that his behavior was unacceptable), Bakugou is fifteen and still has a much greater capacity for changing his habits than Endeavor, a middle-aged man.

Yes, there's the infamous "just jump off the roof and die then" scene, and everything preceding and directly following it within the narrative, and no, I'm not discounting that. Izuku absolutely shouldn't ever forgive him for that, especially since Bakugou shows no outward sign of repenting.

But would the Bakugou Katsuki we know-- more importantly, would the Bakugou Katsuki that UA has helped to shape, ever punch a five year old in the stomach? Would he go out of his way to shirk a responsibility as huge as children? Would he ever rape a woman as a show of power?

(And yes, before you start that angry reply, I am of the very firm belief that Todoroki Rei absolutely did not consent, at the very bare minimum after she saw how Enji viewed her and whichever one of their children was born first.)

I find that very, very hard to believe.

Bakugou went out of his way to hurt Izuku because it made him feel big. It made him feel powerful and validated, and everyone told him that he had a right to act that way. But literally as soon as someone took the time to guide him away from that behavior, those habits began to change. Reading any of his more recent panels in the manga and then going back to the beginning is a pretty jarring experience, and that kind of growth happened over the course of half a school year.

For someone so sure of his own power and ability, Bakugou is a deeply insecure character, particularly when it comes to Izuku. Because Izuku’s most noticeable traits (his kindness, willingness to help others, generosity, etc) are simultaneously the traits most intrinsic to becoming a hero, and the traits that Bakugou doesn’t come across naturally.

And Izuku, for what it's worth, can see some of this. Which only adds fuel to Bakugou's fire.

Within the context of SLaS, my most popular ao3 fic to date and the one that has sparked many of these comments, Izuku is so deeply connected to Bakugou due to his empathy quirk that the line between love and hate is blurred almost beyond recognition.

This line being blurred is not a good thing; it will not be romanticized or overlooked at any point.

Let me make this abundantly clear: this is one of the main conflicts in Something Like a Star. Izuku and Bakugou's relationship is, no pun intended, the star of the show, and its development is going to be very, very clear by the end of it.

Izuku, in any canon, is not the most emotionally intelligent person, to say the least. The added context of an empathy quirk is a hindrance to that aspect of him, rather than the help one might expect it to be. Within the context of SLaS, Izuku's link to Bakugou is constant, unyielding, and an immense drain on his energy.

But, similarly to their relationship, it is something that Izuku can depend upon, however unhealthy that dependence may be.

Izuku's emotional growth with regards to Bakugou depends entirely upon his relationships to his other friends and enemies. It may not be the most obvious, in-your-face growth at first, but it will be there. With every new empathetic link and every new friendship Izuku forms, his understanding of the toxic relationship between himself and Bakugou will increase. Only then can he (and Bakugou, but 3rd Person Limited only allows for so much outside of Izuku’s perspective) begin to take steps to change that.

But as of chapter 13? Izuku doesn't have any awareness of that. All he knows is that his feelings regarding Bakugou are confusing and upsetting, and that his own hero complex won't allow him to see the worst in anyone, even someone who's been as terrible to him as Bakugou.

TL;DR- Yes, Bakugou bullied Izuku in ways that no one with a conscience can ever condone. But he isn't a hopeless case, nor does he lack a heart or the potential to become a hero. And I will never do his character the disservice of treating him as though he does lack these things. The amount of growth he's shown in half a year under proper guidance is staggering, in my personal opinion. Izuku is an unreliable narrator at best, and his feelings regarding Bakugou are murky and complicated. I will not romanticize this in any way.

So please, be patient with that relationship in fic. It gives more meaning to the payoff for Izuku in the long run, since the development of his relationship with Bakugou is directly correlated to his emotional maturation as he grows into his potential.

[lizabethstucker]

Asimov's Science Fiction (March/April 2017)

Digging into my backlot of science fiction magazines. A mixture of verse and stories. I've only reviewed and rated the stories. This particular issue is the 40th Anniversary one! 3.8 out of 5 "Soulmates.com" by Will McIntosh Daniel wants someone to share his life with, to love and be loved by. When he meets Winnie through a dating app, he thinks she could be the one almost immediately. Emily, his former girlfriend and current best friend, is more suspicious, doing a deep dive on who Winnie could be. Which, considering they never meet in person despite Winnie being in Atlanta and Daniel in Athens, not that long a drive, is valid. Starts extremely slowly, assumingly to establish the characters. Not my favorite way as most writers don't do a good job at it. I'm not entirely certain that this is actually science fiction, despite the use of Artificial Intelligence. As to Daniel, I found him to be incredibly childish, blind, immature, and boring. He learned absolutely nothing from his experience. I struggled to complete this novella. 2.5 out of 5 "Number Thirty-Nine Skink" by Suzanne Palmer It started simply enough, an expedition designed to bring life in balance to an empty planet. Then the humans left suddenly, leaving Mike willingly behind with Kadey whose programming makes the creatures populating the area. When Mike dies of cancer, Kadey continues her work. Until the night something changes. Poor Kadey, struggling with loneliness, possibly incomplete programming, and the knowledge hidden from her regarding why the humans left. Sad, yes, but with a more hopeful ending that is also a beginning. Lovely story, so well written. 4.5 out of 5 "Three Can Keep a Secret..." by Bill Johnson & Gregory Frost A convoluted tale of assassins, misdirection, love, greed, and con-artistry with an almost noir feel to it. It's almost impossible to give a synopsis that isn't chockful of spoilers. The first person narrator isn't totally reliable, but still intriguing in what he shares. I loved this more than I expected with this strange little story. FYI, in case you don't know, the title is from an old saying. Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead. 4.5 out of 5 "The Ones Who Know Where They Are Going" by Sarah Pinsker A child must suffer so the city can be happy, or so they say. One particular child is taken from her mother, locked away in the dark with no social interaction beyond the delivery of food. As time passes, language is lost and memories of a happier time begin to fade. Then one day the door isn't shut tightly and the child gets out of the tiny dark room. She crawls up the stairs, each step bringing back a particular memory, heading for freedom. But at what cost? Rip my heart out, why don't you? Two and a half pages of the most gut-wrenching narrative. The tightly woven writing is painfully descriptive. And the ending! Oh, the ending. I just cannot deal with it. 5 out of 5 "Invasion of the Saucer-Men" by Dale Bailey Teenagers have been foiling alien invasions for some time. After all, the adults are either locked in their homes consuming television or would dismiss the very idea of aliens. The newest landing of a flying saucer bonds together teens out at the local make-out point. Per the author, his idea was to take the cheesy sci-fi and horror movie titles of the 1950s and treat the core idea with some emotional and thematic nuance. Here we have a group of teen archetypes, from the football star to the nerds to the beauty. There are also the followers that are always found in high school. This brings back memories of too many cheesy nights at the drive-ins in my county. I've always found my sympathies fell with the aliens most of the time, faced with humans whose first response to the unknown was always violence. Horrible ending to this story. Horrible. CW: extremely graphic attack. 3 out of 5 "Kitty Hawk" by Alan Smale After receiving word of her brother's death, Katharine Wriht travels from Ohio to North Carolina to help her other brother. Instead of Orville preparing to pack up for the trip home with his beloved

brother's body, he is trying to continue with the flight experiments that killed Wilbur. Katharine finds herself engaged in helping, even learning to fly herself. This is a complete AU of the Wright Brothers and the birth of flight, through World War I and the suffrage movement. The writing is evocative of the time period and the dangers of experimental flight. I don't know why it didn't click with me, but I struggled quite a bit in reading this imaginative tale. I can see others enjoying this greatly, just not me. 3 out of 5 "Cupido" by Rich Larson Marcel is a genius at chemistry. He came up with a way to make pheromones specific to the pair he's paid to bring together, either by one of the potential couple or by a third party. The majority of the money he charges goes to pay for his grandmother's colon cancer treatment. As word gets around, he finds himself moving to smaller cities to avoid identification. As yet, what he does isn't illegal. He didn't expect to find himself attracted to his potential mark. Frankly, I don't consider this to be science fiction at all. The science is already viable. Add the consent issues which would be called dubcon (dubious consent) and I'm too busy cringing to enjoy. In my mind, Marcel is anything but a hero. 3 out of 5 "A Singular Event in the Fourth Dimension" by Andrea M. Pawley Olive was removed from the reducer pile, adopted by a childless couple to help stave off loneliness. Now that the second grandmother is living with them and Mama was pregnant, Olive is worried that she will be sent back to the pile, no longer needed. A loving, imaginative little android who believes in fairy dust, even if the fairies never seem to do anything magical like in the stories. Love doesn't have to be limited to just humans or blood relations. Sweet and touching. 4.5 out of 5 "The Wisdom of the Group" by Ian R. MacLeod There are theories and studies about group-think, how certain groups can intuit a trend or coming situation without any real knowledge. With the right group, the members could get wealthy or probably save the world, depending on their inclination. Samuel has been part of such a group since brought in by his professor while still in university. Now, years later, Samuel is wealthy, has a liv-in lover, three dogs with unfortunate names, and a gorgeous house in Washington state. But something is wrong, something that seems to be originating from Samuel. The response is usually to cut the wrong out of the group. A complicated basis for a disturbing story. I had to sit on this one for a while in order to determine what I felt about it. Definitely strong writing, could almost be considered psychological horror. I don't know if I would ever say that I liked it, but I recognize the work done and the uniqueness of the story. 3.5 out of 5 "After the Atrocity" by Ian Creasey Abu Hameed, the terrorist behind the attack that left ten thousand people dead, has also died during interrogation. The solution? A machine that can make exact copies, complete with memories, of an individual. Violet Ruiz, operator and creator of the machine, even made a duplicate of herself in order to work 24/7. As Hameed's copies die during the enhanced interrogation, more copies are needed. Soon Violet II wonders about the ethical implications. Well thought out consideration of just how far a nation is willing to go in search of revenge wrapped in the disguise of intel. Patriot Act, enhanced interrogation the Greater Good, dismantling both Habeas Corpus and the Geneva Convention, anyone? 4 out of 5 "Goner" by Gregory Norman Bossert In order to explore space, humans had to be converted from flesh into nanotechnology based creatures. The pilots call themselves Goners. Char's best friend's father is a Goner. Already fascinated with the idea of flying, Char uses a sliver of Pilot Clark to begin changing. While this is complete in itself, the story also begs for more. What is happening to Char? Will he be allowed to live his dreams despite his age? S fascinating a concept. 3.5 out of 5 "We Regret the Error" by Terry

Bisson A series of news corrections from the future. So many corrections, even some corrections of corrections. Taken individually, these are amusing. Pieced together, there is a much deeper story playing out. Oh, and a nice dig at Disney's well-known history of not paying some of their artists for their work. 3 out of 5 "Tao Zero" by Damien Broderick Teenagers, incredibly smart ones, have unprotected sex after winning $370 million in the Mega Millions lottery. The celebration leads to a child, the narrator, and the money to try to trap the Tao, the Way that cannot be named, inside a machine. I tried, I really tried to read this without success. After rereading the first two pages over and over in an attempt to struggle through, I put the story aside, hoping to pick it back up when refreshed. Didn't work. DNF