#my favorite article was the one that was like 'see these non canon ships? they suck. replace them with these canon ships'

[void-botanist]

i’d love to hear your answers for these for demon slayer actually too!

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

From this ask game.

Aw man this is gonna be a little hard because while I love DS to death I haven't actually been involved much with the fandom (and my memory of anything before entertainment district & swordsmith village is hit and miss). So I'm using your post + various explorations on the internet to answer these and remind myself of stuff. This is truly what "[character name] all moments" videos are for lol

Also high key did not realize Sanemi is Genya's brother??? Kinda forgot about him tbh but I guess it checks out that he's sir stabs-a-lot

What is your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn’t matter if it’s canon or not)

Uzui x his wives - it's probably the most obvious choice but they're extremely sweet and I like them a lot???

Tanjiro & Zenitsu & Inosuke - you're right about this one: platonic do not separate!

Nezuko x Muichiro - my entire impression is "it's cute, I'm in".

I tried to shake out my shipless brain and come up with something for Senjuro because he is my boy but no luck. But I do love his friendship with Tanjiro so much.

Likewise Genya has such Energy but I don't know where to apply that in terms of shipping.

What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Rengoku x Akaza - you are also right about this one like. they've got nothing imo. this is not a chemistry situation no matter what Akaza does or says. not interested.

Shinobu x Mitsuri - the thing that gets me about these two is that Shinobu has a completely different variety of cheerfulness than Mitsuri, and Mitsuri has a different kind of anger. Not that it makes it impossible that they would make a decent couple but I don't see the point of connection there.

Zenitsu x Nezuko - I love Zenitsu but he gets on my nerves so quickly when he's making a big deal about Nezuko. The more I think about it the more this one annoys me even though I don't Hate it, because Nezuko is also part of the Squad - in a different way than Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu, but still. In this case I don't like the idea of intrasquad shippery.

What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

Mitsuri x Obanai - I'm willing to give Obanai a chance based on the socks thing being cute. Otherwise he's kind of an asshole and if he continues being that way he can shove off.

Muichiro x Genya - I don't really See it but they at least have some measure of shared experience.

Tanjiro x Kanao - I agree with you that it is kind of boring. I think it could be more interesting, but I don't know. My vibe with Tanjiro is that either he's very aro or there just hasn't been anyone that's really brought that spark yet. They'd have to be pretty exceptional though considering how he treats everyone.

re: your list, I feel pretty neutral about Rengoku x Uzui and Giyu x Shinobu. If I see something good of them I would enjoy it but I don't care that much either way.

[illusory-torrent]

damn lol why did that person come on a random post and just start being an asshole about the characters you like? like literally they could've just blocked you there was no reason to just hop on and be like "ACTUALLY I think this ship is badly written trash and I'm going to tell you all about why"

[context here for anyone who needs it]

yeah it actually really bugs me, honestly.

like. korrasami is not my favorite tlok ship. catradora is not my favorite spop ship. in fact, i have issues with both ships and criticisms of how they were written.

but to say that "Catradora was well written and satisfying and korrasami was not" is fucking stupid because korrasami walked so catradora could run. korrasami was one of the first mainstream animated queer ships to actually go canon. korrasami wasn't as well-written as it could've been because nickelodeon censored the fuck out of it.

"If we want to see that paradigm evolve, we need to take a stand against it... We approached the network and while they were supportive there was a limit to how far we could go with it, as just about every article I read accurately deduced... Was it a slam-dunk victory for queer representation? I think it falls short of that, but hopefully it is a somewhat significant inching forward... It is long overdue that our media (including children’s media) stops treating non-heterosexual people as nonexistent, or as something merely to be mocked. I’m only sorry it took us so long to have this kind of representation in one of our stories." — Bryan Konietzko

like. it's very clear that korrasami could have been written well and written into the show itself if not for network censorship. to claim catradora is better without looking at both ships from the lens of how queer representation has evolved and how queer representation is more accepted now is disingenuous/ignorant at best, and intentionally harmful at worst.

i'm not saying korrasami is the best representation there ever was. and i'm not saying catradora is the best representation there ever was either. i just made a post to compare two ships i enjoy seeing content of, and got random assholes in my notes calling me a moron for not admitting korrasami is bad writing... for some reason.

but whatever, their stupidity and lack of nuance is none of my business.

[usuallydeepcoffee]

ohhh i loooove public opinion/outsider pov etc fic!! i think so much about how the avengers are perceived by the real mcu world!! if you have any recs I'd looove them! or if you have any other thoughts about that as well 💜

Oh, one of my favorite panels ever is this one here, so you bet I would've loved to see something similar in the movies!

For recs, I can think of a few:

one is United States v. Barnes, where Bucky's trial (it's canon until catws, goes AU from there) is told through a collection of fake articles, transcripts, tweets and texts. It's really well done! (it also gets points for the blink-and-you'll-miss-it SamNat)

the other one is Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film, which is a funny and brilliant look at how Cap could've shaped the film industry in the mcu.

(They're both stucky, even if the ship is not the main focus of either of those two fics).

And then there's Steve Rogers vs the Media, a series that I remember liking, where Steve has a PR Manager. You can guess how well that goes for the poor sucker.

I do have some thoughts, mostly about Steve (duh), which I will elaborate in the next post;

One, non-Steve related thing I will say is that I think that Nat's need to be perceived as a good person (see her convo with Yelena in BW, at the convenience store) has probably gotten in the way of her good sense, at least once. Like I can totally see her, post-aou, agreeing to shoot one of those Vogue "24hours with" videos that needs to be heavily edited because of the rest of the Avengers are involuntarily making things worse lmao.

[ghoulangerlee]

For the character ask!! I'll be self-indulgent. Secondo👁👁👉👈

How I feel about this character

I think Secondo is an interesting character, he's got some flaws and like what good character doesn't? (The partying thing, mostly.) Wasn't there an article that talked about how he was a sensitive sort of guy? I think there was and that's what I always think of. He's got the facade of someone who doesn't care but inside he does and that's probably what causes him the most strife.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

LMAO I have genuinely never thought of this but my friend writes Secondo/Special Ghoul so probably that!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Secondo/A Break or maybe Secondo/A Nice Vacation Away From The Nonsense (but seriously, I'd like to see more about the Secondo-Terzo-Primo brother hood actually.)

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't think he's an asshole. I don't think he's a hardass. I think he can be strict in what he wants, firm in what needs to be done. But I don't think he'd ever be purposefully cruel to someone.

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

In terms of lore, I'd like to have seen more Papaganda stuff. Maybe the non-party angle. I think my favorite part of the vid is where it shows him getting ready for the show, with the face paint and all. I'd like to see how he gets himself ready to perform.

Outside of lore, I think Secondo vocals with ghoulette backups would be fire.

[trutrustories]

Okay, this will be probably long and with many errors (my english isn´t very good) But I saw several posts here on Lokius tag, talking about this ship as result of gay fetish, and about non existing chemistry and  how this ship doesn´t make sense etc… And from what I understood there is tagged Lokius because of genuine interest to understand others point of view, so here is mine: I wil try to explain where my frustration comes from, and how I feel about Lokius, Sylkie, AND representation + some other things which I saw here somewhere. But first of all: I like Sylvie, I don´t hate sylkie shipers, and after so many years reading fan fictions, I don´t mind selfcest – I read weirder things. I have some issues with this ship (the mainlythe fact that it isn´t Lokius), but  this is not one of them. Also, I am not about to tell anyone, they shouldn´t ship sylkie.Ship whatever. And I LOVED the show as a whole. 

I just want to defend my standpoint, that Lokius does make sense, people shipping it does make sense and whether it will happen or not, (I don´t have my hopes very high, and I learned to be very skeptical in this regard ) it is more than just about crack ship, or fetish. I´m honestly blown away that people are still surprised that this ship became a thing :D First of all, let´s look at some romantic story telling and tropes: I mean the way they introduced them in the first two episodes set the tone for all series and how the heck this isn´t romantic? Somehow there are all these romantic tropes existing in a show. They´re just there. Just chilling between Loki and Mobius and large portion of audience can´t even see them. (and some of those tropes were used for Sylki as well, so you could actually see them side by side)

For example: 1) traveling to the apocalypsis 2) breaking law/rules for the other 3) literally changing for the better thanks to the other 4) arguing like old married couple 5) saying secrets, personal things to the other 6) sharing glances, touches, visibly being happy around each other - in case of Loki happier then we´ve ever seen him before 7) being completely themselfs around each other 8) One knowing everything (even the worst) about other and still accepting him completely 9) teasing, being comfortable and domestic around each other 10) one being literally enthusiastic FAN of the other 11) Mobius defending Loki whenever he has a chance 12) Freaking amnesia trope that they pulled of in the end??? (It could be different Mobius, but point is he suddenly doesn´t know him - and Loki knows more, in contrast with the beggining) 13) the jealousy in ep4 14) Misunderstanding - when Mobius thought Loki betrayed him and Loki (thanks to Ravonna) thought Mobius betrayed him... 15) witnessing death of the other and being absolutely broken afterwards 16) The goodbye hug with romantic music in the backround 17) Saving life of the one (even when it means problems for the other ) - like Mobius saved Loki´s ass at least three times when he was trying to stop others from pruning him. 18) sharing deep conversations about meanings of life, freedom and how it would be fun to make some chaos and ride that fucking jet ski!!! 19) Inspiring the other 20) looking for each other (Mobius didn´t believe for a second, that Loki would die in the Void and the way how in the last minutes of the series Loki run through all places they were together when he was looking for Mobius... and I could go on. Point is, even if they are not planning to make Lokius canon, all these things are used on a daily basis to describe romance in media and they are used here. On top of that it´s just very poetic and cute, that this drama queen and powerful god of Asgard who looked down on people would find his match in someone, who is so quiet, ordinary on the first sight, and basically is just human from 90s, who loves jet skis. Mobius can´t even fight. But is highly inteligent and he also happen to be as good manipulator, such as Loki himself. - That´s why they work together so well. Mobius sees right through him and once Loki understands that, he drops his evil persona. Almost nobody expected to ship it for real. But story itself and chemistry between them just made it probably the most exciting duo in the whole MCU. And I mean it genuinely. Third episode, even though it was beautiful and Sophie was great in it (and is literally dipped in bisexual colors), is the least favorite for a reason. And that reason being, there is no interaction between Loki and Mobius whatsoever. Lot´s of people though that series slowed down a bit. Even when in fact there was more action, then when we watched Loki and Mobius working at the TVA.

(and let´s just talk about evil!Mobius narative for a bit and how some people say he is manipulative and toxic for Loki: show itself explore heavy themes and one of them is in Loki´s line: no one bad is ever truly bad and no one good is ever truly good. And as a theme in a fictional world, it is working as it should, for the  story. When Loki and Mobius meet, one of them just killed lots of innocent people and destroyed almost whole city. The other one is a part of fascist organization – and in the beginning of the series they both believe what they´re doing is right. They´re both bad, they´re both good, they´re both broken. And they are changing with the help of the other.) From all reactions I watched - and there was many of them, lots of people actually didn´t see dynamic between Loki and Sylvie as romantic in the third episode. So it´s not like Sylvie and Loki had unequivocally love story right from the start.

The only difference is that lots of people won´t see romantic tropes, when it comes to two men in a mainstream show – show that isn´t primarily about relationships and problems that queer people has to face. Because in super hero story and science fiction we have to warn audience, that they´re about to watch two man in love, right? At this point It´s just frustrating really. There were many M/M dynamics that used similar story line, as for example Lucifer, or X-files, or Bone collectors. -  But unlike those M/M pairings, no one was making fun of people for shipping main characters in these shows. But when it comes to two men suddenly you´ll see from all corners of the internet: “why can´t it be just platonic?” “There is not enough platonic relationships” “why can´t two man just be friends?” (They can and they almost ALWAYS are) and “if you think there something romantic between them, you´re delusional” “fetishist“ “And for god´s sake just let them be friends, Loki needs a friend more then....” oh wait, but Sylvie is allowed to kiss him. Sylvie doesn´t have to be just friend. (And I must say, that I love Sylvie, I liked most of the interactions between her and Loki and I think she is a great character ((I hope we learn more about her in the future)) it just doesn´t work for me as well as Loki´s dynamic with Mobius. Maybe partly because of chemistry between actors, partly because combination of characters and they´re personality and also because I had two whole episodes to fall in love with the pair before Sylvie was even introduced.)

First of all: people can be friends and then evolve into lovers. Not only it is common romantic trope, but it is also the most realistic one. And those relationships are usually strongest. second: If people want to see Loki in a platonic friendship so desperately, why can´t it be a woman for a change? They were acting like chaotic siblings for most of the episode three anyway. The age gap aspect is also very funny. Owen is only about 12 years older (That is not that much. But I imagine, some people would get uncomfortable. But If it was man and woman, most of them wouldn´t even blinked. But two men, that has to be somehow automatically son and father figure dynamic) And If you want to dive into age of an actual characters, then good luck with that in a series about gods, variants and time travel. Almost nobody cares about age gap between Lucifer and detective Decker, or Bella and Edward. On top of that, it was heavily implied, that Loki slept with older, silver haired guy in Ragnarok, so it´s not like he would have problem with that.

Different standards are projected in a way how we see romantic dynamics between fictional characters depends on what we are used to, how are we perceiving world around us, what we are expecting to see and ALSO, what we would like to see, that much is true.  When people are used to make no differences between heterosexual and homosexual pairing, then everything what happens to the characters is measured with the same meter. (Even though I experienced queerbaiting many times (( Once upon a time, Sherlock, Supernatural, Good Omens – the last one hopefully is not the case, but I guess we´ll see)) I also saw lots of lgbt shows like Queer as folks and Sense8.) And when we are not used to see it the same way, well… then it looks basically like that one comment under Castiel´s “I love you” scene on youtube, that said  “what a beautiful friendship”.

If we forget about all that chaotic mess behind the scenes (all those articles and contrary messages)  What is happening in a show between Loki and Mobius can be objectively considered romantic and what is happening between Loki and Sylvie in a series can be objectively considered platonic (until the kiss) and vice versa.  And then to see comments about how absurd it is to even think they have chemistry, and about gay fetish - it´s hard to swallow. I read posts about absurdity of a ship and how there is absolutely nothing that would suggests romance.  Well there is, actually. But whether creators are going to work with it or not, that´s something we can only speculate. They already made Loki officially bisexual. So why should it be so absurd to assume, that there is an actual possibility of romantic subplot between Loki and Mobius? Oh right… it´s Disney and Marvel we are talking about.

So on a subject of bisexuality: Bi people can date whoever they want.  But It is a little frustrating, when there is so many heterosexual pairings in the mcu and disney but when there is a promise of lgbt character (speaking of endgame) we get one line about date from a man we´ll never see again. And when there is a promise of lgbt representation you can´t even blink during movie, or you´ll miss it (Star wars, Beauty and the beast). And then Loki said “A bit of both, I suspect the same as you”. And I won´t lie, I was happy. And I think creators made biggest step yet with this one line (which is honestly terrible, that “a bit of both” coming from Loki of all people, is the biggest step forward.) But they played it VERY safe. Obviously, both Loki, and Sylvie are bisexuals, and in three episodes, we had Loki flirting with female flight attendant, Sylvie talking about her relationship with POSTMAN and then they fall for each other. So the only thing that suggests they are really as bi as Lamentis 1 is that little sentence, that can be edited out, or easily overheard. It´s the bare minimum. And I think that frustration with how freaking slowly we´re moving into some progress is understandable. From all those great M/M dynamics I talked about, those, that could make great love story, nothing happened, because too many people “don´t mind gays but don´t need to look at them” or are scared for their children. In 2021.

It is not a fetish to wish for a gay love story in superhero movies/series. (But anyway, I don´t think there is anything bad about it. Some men like to watch lesbian porn, some woman like to read gay porn. AO3 wouldn´t be were it is today, without people reading and writing slash :D – but that has little to do with what we actually see on tv)

I´m not delusional. As much, as I love these two characters together, I know how little chance it has.  I´m not delusional. I´m just in the future, old and tired, waiting hundreds of years for at least one of my OTP to finaly become a fucking canon.

[sci-fi-pony]

Hey! For that "send me a ship" : Superman and Lois version of Clois? Thanks in advance! (I keep my promises lol)

Thank you! That's quickly becoming one of my favorite versions of Clois, so this should be fun to do :)

Who was the one to propose:

Well, we actually saw this one in the show, so definitely Clark lol. Although I have a feeling Lois would have done it if he hadn't.

Who stressed more over wedding planning:

Definitely Lois

Who decorated the house:

Lois picked out the colors and themes, but she would have recruited Clark with his superspeed to get it done faster

Who does the cooking:

Clark. I don't think they've actually shown them cooking yet in the show, but every other version of the couple has him being the cook, so it has to be a multiversal constant.

Who is more organized:

I feel like they'd be opposites on this one. Lois seems like the sort of person who'd be more organized around the house, wanting things just right; but when she's caught up in her work, the story is her sole focus so her desk, office, and every surface she can find turns into a disaster zone that only she can navigate. Clark on the other hand would be more relaxed around the house and not care too much about where or how things are sorted. But he'd want to maintain a professional atmosphere at work, so his desk is very clean and organized. He probably drove Lois crazy by trying to tidy up her desk every time she stepped away for coffee.

Who suggested kids first:

This feels like something they would have talked about together. Lois mentioned that they weren't sure they could even have kids, so it's probably a topic they'd discussed at least a few times before (most likely with Jor-El, so they could find out if human-Kryptonian children were even possible)

Who’s the cuddler:

I'm going with Clark on this one. He usually seems to be the one initiating contact with Lois, whether holding hands or soft kisses or cuddling on the couch.

Who’s the big spoon/little spoon:.

Both! Clark is usually the big spoon, because his body soaks up solar radiation all day, so it helps keep Lois warm at night. But when he’s had to deal with a particularly difficult Superman business, especially the rescue missions that aren’t successful, then Lois takes over that job.

What’s their favorite non-sexual activity:

Flying! This is more based on the comics, but even in the show you can see that special smile Lois gets every time he takes off -- she’s definitely gone flying with him many times before and loves it.

Who cooks:

Clark. There’s a reason Lois offered John take out food

Who comes home drunk at 3am:

Since Clark physically can’t get drunk, I’m going with Lois for this one, lol. It doesn’t happen often, since she hates the idea of losing control like that, but on the rare occasions when it does happen, Clark always makes sure she gets safely into bed with her favorite blanket and an aspirin for the morning.

Who kills the spiders:

Lois. Clark can’t bring himself to kill them.

Who falls asleep first:

Lois always falls asleep first. Clark doesn’t need as much sleep as humans, but he doesn’t mind because there’s nothing more comforting to him after a long day than being able to just lie still and hold his sleeping wife in his arms.

A head canon:

Writing isn’t only the thing they first bonded over, it’s always been a very central part of their lives. When he wasn’t saving the world or writing articles for the Daily Planet, Clark used to spend his time writing fiction. He got a few sci-fi novels published and has been desperately trying to convince Lois to publish that romance novel she vehemently denies having written. They also proof-read each other’s work and secretly each one thinks the other is the better writer.

Their relationship summed up in a gif:

^^^ They’re just so soft and caring and have such a settled married vibe and I love it so so much.

Do they have any “rituals”?

Every year, on the anniversary of Krypton’s destruction, Clark flies Lois up as high as she can safely go and points out Rao’s location to her. They don’t talk about it, but they float there quietly and Lois holds him close to reassure him he’s not alone and still has a family.

Who has the most patience?

Definitely gonna say Clark for this one. Lois does seem to be a lot more patient on this series than most versions of her, though, so maybe he’s starting to rub off on her.

[booasaur]

hiii i saw you were watching that kdrama "mine" and idk if you have seen this, the woman who plays suzy received backlash bc of her role, and she and her husband said that they're against gay ppl and that they think the writers wrote this story bc of marketing and that no one needs to worry so just a heads up bc this plot probably wont have a decent ending https : // twitter . com / npomvtt / status / 1397016498976198659?s=19

Clickable: https://twitter.com/npomvtt/status/1397016498976198659?s=19

I...don't even know where to begin, anon. I discovered this last night, through this article and it was such a slap in the face. "Go back to normal"? Ugh, the homophobia. And I was JUST saying yesterday, what a big step this was. We didn't even get a day to enjoy it.

And you know what, given how it'd played out so far and how big the show is, frankly, I didn't expect to get a very good ending in the first place, something open-ended or bittersweet most likely. But to see THIS unfold, god.

This is why I'm still happy to see supportive actresses because it may seem the norm or just the bare minimum now, just a little while ago, even in the US you'd see actresses uncomfortable with it and god forbid an actress get asked about a non-canon f/f ship. There can be a wide variety of reactions.

Personally...I think I'm still gonna watch because most of my favorite moments are focusing on Seo-Hyun and as far as I know, she's not homophobic. But thanks for the heads up, for sure! it's definitely a fair warning for everyone looking to get into it.

[rainbow-arrow]

For the character asks, Luka! <3

thank you so much for asking, allowing me to ramble about honestly my favorite fictional character of all time. It’s. a Wild ride, sorry in advance, it’s kinda how my brain works.

(oh warning there's a good deal of season four spoilers below)

How I feel about this character I love Luka Couffaine with my entire heart and soul. His character is the breath of fresh air miraculous so desperately needs but season four kinda even ruined him a little bit. (that's a post for another time) He, as a character, has so much potential. I honestly believe he was fully excluded from the finale bc if he was there he would a. reveal that wasn’t Adrien (as my comic showed lol), and then b. IT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. (also another post for another time)

I do have this problem though, with Most of the miraculous characters where their primary Character Trait is being in love with another character. I however, see this as a flaw of the show, and not of the characters lol. 

I absolutely love his balance in the Lovesquare 2.0:tm: and really really wished they spent more time on the Adrien-Kagami and Marinette-Luka relationship for development purposes (and so I could see him more lol). 

All the people I ship romantically with this character With the (correct) assumption of Lukadrien being endgame, I love the idea of him dating a number of other people, a recurring point in many of my fics, including, but not limited to: Marinette, Alix, Chloe, Kim, literally random ass people who aren't in miraculous, Kagami, uhhh, honestly anyone in the short term.

but god i could go off about how just *chefs kiss* Lukadrien is. Adrien deserves the softest love out there and if Adrien would open up to him about being Chat and then he’ll finally have someone to be truly honest with and it’s just. (I’ve literally written 450k words about these two check some of those out if you want more of an elaboration on how much I love them lol.)

My only active notp with him is absolutely him and Zoe. I hate it so much and I know it's going to end up canon so like, don't talk to me about it.

My non-romantic OTP for this character Luka and Nino or Luka and Chloe. Luka and Nino are nearly the same character, we all know that blog, right? /j i feel as though their dynamics would be pretty fun together. but as for Chloe? hear me out. I love the idea of Lukloe. they've never formally met in canon, which is wild and absolutely insane to me. i just feel as though out of everyone, Luka would be the one to give her a second chance. But also they haven’t even formally met yet so like. I guess.

Oh wait, I also love Lukanette as exes. esp with Lukadrien endgame jfklsajlfd

My unpopular opinion about this character I dunno how unpopular it is, but in anything i write, Luka and Juleka will not ever be twins. Also, he won't ever change his last name to Stone like the wiki article assumes, nah, fuck that. Luka was written to be the older brother. just bc in season four they say the word 'twins' with annoying emphasis like four times in crocoduel, doesn't suddenly make them twins imo.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. I JUST. I JUST WANT HIM TO TALK TO ADRIEN. TELL HIM HE KNOWS HE'S CHAT NOIR. OR LET ADRIEN TELL HIM. FUCK. The only time Adrien and Luka talked to each other in season four was wishmaker. Yeah, Chat kinda talks to Luka in crocoduel, and there's a whole lotta watching him in ephemeral like. we know how i feel about lukadrien. i love it with every fiber of my being. it's never going to happen in canon. so it's not realistic to even pretend. but! just a friendship! they're in a band together! of course they're friends! Let us see it ahhhhhhh.

[circumference-pie]

Yuletide 2021 Letter

Chihayafuru, Qihun, Elana Series, Nirvana in Fire

Hi Mystery Writer! Thank you for writing for me, you are amazing! I am sure I’ll like whatever you create. But in case you wanted more inspiration, here are some words:

AO3 name: circumference

General likes: angst, fluff, character introspection, worldbuilding, identity shenanigans, canon or canon divergence universe, in-world artifacts (e.g. a historical document, a news article, the script of a TV advertisement, an in-universe movie review, etc).

General DNWs: coffeeshop/high school/roommate AU, crossovers, pregnancy, porn without plot, non-canon dubcon.

Chihayafuru

Characters requested: Any (Ayase Chihaya, Harada Hideo, Komano Tsutomu, Mashima Taichi, Ooe Kanade, Suou Hisashi, Wakamiya Shinobu, Wataya Arata, Wataya Hajime)

Fandom-specific likes: character exploration and introspection, gen fics and fics focused on deep platonic relationships. My favorite characters are Shinobu and Arata. Romantic ships I like include Sudou (I know he's not in the tagset, *cry*)/Anybody, Chihaya/Arata/Taichi, Arata/Taichi, Shinobu/Happiness, and Taichi/Self-Actualization.

Fandom-specific DNWs: I'd rather not have any Chihaya/Taichi without underlying Chihaya/Taichi/Arata. (Sorry, it’s a ship I used to like, but fandom discourse rubbed me the wrong way.) Standalone Chihaya/Arata is fine, but please no Taichi-bashing.

I am up-to-date on the manga.

Optional prompts/ideas

The manga keeps reiterating that Shinobu is lonely -- but she does have people who care about her! Chihaya, Arata, Suou, her mother, Ise-san (in his own way -- I personally think he regrets isolating her). I want them to roll her up in a blanket and hug her (metaphorically, but literally is okay too).

I would also be interested for her to meet Kana. I think they might have things to talk about.

Again, I know Sudou's not in the tagset, but I'd love to see a day in his life. Other characters can come too.

I think Sudou interacting with Kana would be particularly fun; she’s unwilling to take bullshit, but can be flustered. Which buttons will Sadistic Sudou hit? (As a sidenote to this prompt and the previous one, I am pretty neutral towards Kana/Tsutomu and would be fine with Kana paired with other characters.)

We know playing Wataya Hajime affected Harada-sensei for the rest of his life, but what about Wataya-sensei? Harada has inspired a lot of people; did he leave a lasting impression on the Eternal Meijin? I don't necessarily mean this as a shippy prompt, although if that's how you're inspired, go for it.

Arata/Taichi, maybe with underlying OT3. I would be happy with any story featuring this pair, but I think a lot about the implicit pressure Taichi’s under to just not be gay, to marry a woman and be a respectable doctor and have perfect offspring, just -- ugh. I want Taichi to be able to go buckwild. Preferably for Arata.

Crack: The T-shirts in this canon are top-notch. Where does the cast get their shirts from? Is there a specific shop that sells clothing with pithy and absurd English on them? What is their process for deciding what gets printed on what? IS NIKUMAN’S SISTER INVOLVED???

More crack: I would love to know more about the Snowmaru and Daddy Bear franchises.

Qihun (Hikaru no Go)

Characters requested: Chu Ying

Fandom-specific likes: all the character interactions on this show are adorable. As for shipping, I’m partial to canon-typical Shi Guang/Yu Liang.

Optional prompts/ideas

There must be so much mischief you can get up to with an invisible friend, besides learning Go and cheating on tests. You can impress and confound your friends with your "mind reading" skills and apparent eyes in the back of your head. You could "pay attention" to two movies at once. You'd be invincible at hide-and-seek (at least once, before your invisble friend refuses to help you cheat again). Maybe Mom praises you for noticing things that you didn't notice before, thanks to Friend pointing them out. I'm curious about ways Shi Guang and Chu Ying could have leveraged their situation to do some interesting things. Bonus: Yu Liang watching from the sidelines, growing increasingly bamboozled.

It frustrates me SO MUCH that Chu Ying just disappeared. Was he able to go back home and live out his life? Did he become starstuff? What happennnnnnnned.

Any missing scenes between Shi Guang and Yu Liang. If you choose this prompt, Chu Ying doesn’t have to be in it. (But it’d also be funny if he showed up to tease Shi Guang about it!)

Chu Ying meets Yu Liang. I don't know how it happens, but it does.

Elana Series

Characters requested: any (Elana, Kari, Randil, Evrek)

Fandom-specific likes: worldbuilding, backstory

Optional prompts/ideas

I've always been dissatisfied with the way Kari needs to stay ignorant and on her planet. What if she pursued this case to the ends of the earth? What if she found traces of the universe beyond? What if she was also able to take to the stars?

Elana, in her waning years, takes a self-indulgent visit to Andreica to observe what became of it.

I want to know Evrek's take on the events of Enchantress.

What does the Federation file on our planet look like?

If you’re wondering what this somewhat obscure series is, it’s two short novels; The first, Enchantress from the Stars, is a YA book that asks the question, “what if we had knights and dragons and sorceresses, but the magic is just technology, and the sorceress is from a far-advanced civilization?” -- and tells it from the advanced civilization’s point of view. It’s great fun. 

The second book, The Far Side of Evil, features the same main character all grown up, and is considerably more adult, and grapples with themes of morality and human nature. It is very much a product of the author wrestling with the existential questions of the Cold War. For what it’s worth, I actually like this one more.

Both are available as e-books.

Nirvana in Fire

I’ve been crying over this show since 2018

Characters requested: any (Consort Jing, Fei Liu, Gong Yu, Grand Princess Liyang, Lin Chen, Lin Shu | Mei Changsu | Su Zhe, Meng Zhi, Mu Nihuang, Mu Qing, Princess Xuanji, Qin Banruo, Xia Dong , Xiao Jinghuan, Xiao Jingrui, Xiao Jingyan, Yan Que, Yan Yujin)

Fandom-specific likes: I really like explorations of character and identity in this fandom. I adore the Jiangzuo crew and their interactions with MCS. I am ALSO weak for the tension between Jingyan and Mei Changsu (his best friend! In more ways than one!). Prefer gen, but really could roll with any ship.

Optional prompts/ideas

The invasions of Ep 54 don’t happen, but MCS is still dying. Without the springboard of the invasions to let him reassume Lin Shu’s identity, how does he cope? Does he reconcile with Jingyan instead of keeping himself apart? Does he tell Nihuang the truth? Does he just run away to the jianghu after all? Does he stay in the capital and angst? How does he deal with the question of Fei Liu? Does he con the Bingxu pill out of Lin Chen in the end? You can surprise-save him at the end if you like, but I would like to see him resolve his self-deceptions and hurt he’s caused other people without the crutch of knowing he’s going to live after all. Also posted to NiF plotbunny farm here: https://nirvana-in-fire.dreamwidth.org/12917.html?thread=79989#cmt79989

It’s been six years since Lin Chen and his father rescued that foolish ingrate Mei Changsu, who also happens to be Lin Chen’s best friend. And the way Changsu is going, he won’t see another six years. Lin Chen devises a plan to stop Changsu from working away his depleted health: “That person you keep talking about? The emperor’s seventh son? Write to him.” Can be canon-compliant or canon-divergent. Also prompted in the Nirvana in Fire Exchange 2019.

I know he's not part of the tagset, but I find Gao Zhan fascinating. What was the Chiyan massacre through his eyes? How did he feel about MCS's plotting? How much did he know at various points? What tipped him off that there was scheming going on in Prince Jing's name?

Lin Shu, oh Lin Shu. The shadow he casts is so interesting. Anything about who Lin Shu was before Meiling. What aspects of Mei Changsu’s current brattiness/trollishness were present in his past life, what aspects of it came from... later influences (*cough* Lin Chen *cough*)? How much are Jingyan and Nihuang editorializing when they characterize Lin Shu as the best and brightest and most loyal and...?

I’d also like to see the problematic sides of Lin Shu (and by extension, possibly Lin Xie and Prince Qi too). I think the present hero-worship is very much a product of don’t-speak-ill-of-the-dead, but they must have had faults. The Hua genocide was too easily swept under the rug, for instance.

I would love character introspection/missing moments/more backstory for one of the more minor characters: Yan Que, Gong Yu, Banruo, Mu Qing, Liyang.

(Am I participating in the NiF Exchange this year? Yes. Do I want even more NiF fic? Also yes.)

[ao3gingerswag]

Characters! Sam and/or Mary and/or Claire

So I’m not gonna do Mary cause um confession time I have only seen SPN fully thru season 8 and like. Parts of the later seasons, with less and less as time went on….The writing just started to get too all over the place for me. So I know nothing about Mary really.

Sam:

How I feel about this character

Love Sam. Love him love him love him. He doesn’t get enough attention in this fandom he’s so angry and feral in early seasons and I LOVE him for that. I think the writers kinda….lost sight of what they were doing with him post season 5, and especially post season 8, and I think it’s connected to how they framed John and the narrative. Like a lot of Sam’s character in the early seasons is framed around this conflict he has with Dean about whether or not John is a piece of shit and whether they should just follow him blindly. And his complicated hero worship vs pity vs resentment relationship with Dean was a big part of his personality. And then post season 5 they kind of backed off that entire conflict? And so much of Sam’s personality was forgotten. But I still love him tho, he’s so valid, I love his anger in the early seasons at John and in defense of Dean and I think he’s the only reason Dean didn’t end up completely beaten down by his dad.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Eileen/Sam!!!! Eileen is the only one I reeeaaally ship with Sam. A lot of fics (esp before Eileen was introduced) had him with Jess (including mine), and that’s fine, but tbh we never actually got to know Jess soooo don’t have strong feelings. Then with Ruby, she was SUCH a fun character but like, ya know, evil. Like I do actually think she cared about Sam in her own fucked up way but like. They brought out the worst in each other lol. So I’ll pass.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Uhhh Dean obviously lol!!!! In my perfect SPN ending Dean Cas Sam Eileen Jack Claire and maybe their other friends too live together in the bunker forever. Found family baby!!! My asexual ass loves how much Dean and Sam mean to each other and how they seem to take for granted that they will always live together. If only the real world was more like that ;~; But yeah it’s kinda a pet peeve of mine when in Desitiel fics people either just ignore Sam or just kinda have him around but he’s not like. Really around. Like excuse me??? Sam and Dean are Bros 4 Life!!!!

My unpopular opinion about this character

Sam is more interesting than Dean. Like I love Dean and he’s my favorite but Sam is like soooo complicated and so interesting!!! Like this kid who grew up knowing that something was Wrong with him. His hunter upbringing vs society, his desire for normal vs the rest of his family, and then just the Knowledge deep down that something is really Wrong aka the demon blood. And then he has all this anger with nowhere to go, he can see clearer than Dean how fucked up their lives are and how awful John is but he can’t convince Dean bc Dean’s too brainwashed and ack!!! I feel like he has always felt so guilty for going to Stanford and felt so guilty then too bc he knew he was basically abandoning Dean to John, who would just continue to abuse and beat him down. But he Could Not convince Dean to wake up and smell the abuse so he left without him bc what else was he supposed to do??? But he’s still fucked up about it. He’s so interesting. All twisted up inside ;~; I love him!

On a less serious note, another unpopular opinion I guess is that Sam and Cas would def be friends but bc of the boring aspects of their personalities?? Like I’ve seen a lot of stuff about them being besties bc they both r crazy and they ARE but like. I see them bonding over ecological justice and academic articles about ancient Aramaic etymology lol. Like they’d go to the farmers market together!!! They would very earnestly consider together which plants would be best to plant in their garden to help the local bee population!!!! And like Dean is a dork and loves both of them but like. If the three of them got drunk together Sam and Cas would get caught up in a very passionate debate about the benefits/drawbacks of different kinds of green energy and Dean would fall asleep.

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

He should have gotten to run John over with his car. Ok but no forreal, I wish he’d had his anger at John validated. This is connected to how I feel about Dean but I wish Dean had explicitly grown past his hero worship of John and understood that he was abusive, and I wish he’d apologized to Sam for defending John throughout their childhoods. That would have been so great for both of them ;~;

Claire:

How I feel about this character

Ohhhh my god ummmm. U know how I said I didn’t watch past season 8 and only saw parts of the later seasons? Yeah um the vast majority of those parts are scenes with Claire in them. Her character has been the thing that came closest to getting me to watch the later seasons. She is So Fucking Cool. Honestly even besides her character, as like a rule I just LOVE it when SPN forces the characters to Actually Confront The Results Of Their Actions for real. Like morally I guess but also just practically like one of my fave episodes is where they get trapped at the bank by the FBI in like season 3 bc like!!!!! Consequences!!! To murdering all over the country!!!! So back to Claire I already just love the idea of having the characters have to Deal With this girl who’s life they fucked up and then forgot about. But then she is SOOO COOOL gay and dramatic and angsty ugh I love how she’s like actually a teen, she acts like a teen, like she rolls her eyes and is overdramatic and shit. Fucking awesome u funky little lesbian.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Kaia/Claire. I don’t know a lot about Kaia but she’s very pretty and seems very sweet. I saw the scene where the two of them compare scars and it was so cute. In other news I have no idea if they’re canon or not I can’t tell lol.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I didn’t watch the later seasons but I love the Claire and Jack content being produced now!! But I also love her relationship with Dean Sam and Cas. They’re very cute with her! :) Love how she seems to reluctantly grow fond of them over time. <3

My unpopular opinion about this character

Unpopular opinion ummm…maybe this is more about Dean but I don’t think Dean would be like happy to help her be a hunter?? Like he hates kid hunters he says that a bunch of times. I think she was on her murder hunting thing when she was filled with rage but I think she could be nudged away from hunting once she stops hating Cas, and I think all the adults but esp Dean would be very pro convincing-Claire-not-to-be-a-hunter.

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

Ok this prompted me to google if Claire and Kaia were together and I’m still confused. Seems like if they were it wasn’t made that explicit?? So I wish she got to kiss Kaia on screen!!

[forestwater87]

Tales of Fandom Past: Harry Potter and the Shipping Slaves

So, in my spare time I read a lot, lot . . . lot of fandom_wank. A lot. More than should be possible, considering it’s a dead website linking mostly to other dead websites, but I’m a woman addicted to drama who has the gift of long periods of quiet at work, so I’m working my way through almost 2 decades of fan history and it’s just fascinating.

Fandom, back in the ‘00s? Was so much more wild than it is now.

Plagiarism! Fake suicides! Fraud! Theft of real people’s actual money! Stalkers, both real and made up! Fanfic writers so popular they finagled it into mountains of free stuff and a book deal! Everyone was really gross and homophobic! 

There were no rules, and that made it a terrible and incredibly fun time to be part of a fandom.

And we’re not talking enough about it. I guess that’s where I come in.

I’m interested in telling these stories -- not in the incredible level of detail of the MsScribe Saga or the Cassie Claire Plagiarism Debacle, but enough for us to all have a moment to think: Hold on, what the fuck was fandom doing during the entirety of the Bush administration?

A lot, it turns out. Much of it totally wild.

Today’s topic: Shipping wars are as bad as slavery

Date: August 2005

Fandom: Harry Potter

Supposed topic(s): Shipping, canon

Content warning(s): Accidental and ironic diminishing of slavery, complaints about political correctness and free speech, racism in general, lots of hurt feelings and drama

"Now, I'm not black, but boy, do I feel for the black people. If I lived in the 1800's, I wouldn't keep slaves, and if someone has a difference of opinion than me now, that's fine, believe what you want."

Background

In August of 2005, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been out for a little less than a month, the film version of The Goblet of Fire wouldn’t come out until November, and the last Potter movie had been released over a year ago. In terms of shipping, fans had just discovered, to either their delight or horror, that Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione were canon; while some would continue to hold out hope that there would be a last-minute reversal of expectations, most of the fandom both on and off the internet was in agreement: 

The shipping wars were over, and the Harry/Hermione fans (a.k.a., H/Hr fen, or “Harmonians”) had decisively lost.

The Harmonians’ ire seemed to have been pretty evenly split between J.K. Rowling -- who they felt had let them down -- and the R/Hr and H/G shippers (a.k.a. “Herons” and “Chocolateers,” respectively, though I’m not sure anyone actually used those terms for themselves; they appear to have been given from without), who were taking a victory lap. Depending on one’s perspective, this was either a long-overdue celebration by two groups of shippers who’d faced the fandom’s ire for approximately 5 years and were now vindicated, or it was the tactless gloating of sore losers who were thrilled to get one over on their hated enemies. Either way, tensions were no lower just because canon had decided the victors, and the battleground seemed to shift from the books to the movies -- where shippers of all kinds were in debate over which romance would win out onscreen.

Enter Emerson Spartz, a teenager in charge of one of the most popular fansites at the time and king of creating controversy . . . who had very strong opinions about shipping, and Harmonians in particular.

The Inciting Incident

Emerson had already incited the ire of Harmonians by calling them “delusional” in an infamous interview with J.K. Rowling. The wound was still raw, having come shortly after the release of Half-Blood Prince, and in some circles Emerson was already Public Enemy #1.

Therefore, when Emerson was one of two “anti”-Harmonians interviewed in a San Francisco Chronicle article about the shipping wars, some fans cried foul.

More responses can be found in a summary of the incident here, but personal favorites include a letter sent to the author of the SF Chronicle piece:

The majority of Harry/Hermione shippers are not merely upset that we didn't get what we wanted in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. That makes us sound childish. While I'm forced to admit that there has been much bile and vitriol posted on various H/Hr shipping sites, the majority of us are reasonable people. What really hurt our feelings was the way the Mugglenet/TLC article made it seem as if J. K. Rowling herself felt we were really dense, missing her "anvil-sized clues." Emerson's subsequent "apology" for the harsh words directed at the Harry/Hermione 'shipper community was a non-apology, which you [the author of the SFC article] would have known if you had done more than just take his word that he apologized. He simply used the "apology" as an opportunity to issue another dig. I suppose not much better can be expected from a child of 18 who has suddenly become a bit of a celebrity. But I do expect better from a colleague; a professional writer. ...

You have assisted one side of the argument and failed to represent the other. Did you attempt to interview the webmasters of any Harry/Hermione shipping sites or did you merely cut and paste posts that were pointed out to you by Emerson and Melissa? Your article shows no evidence that you made any attempt to give the other side equal time, so to speak, and as a result, you have contributed to the perceprtion [sic] that ALL H/Hr 'shippers are irrational, bitter, spoiled brats. And that's quite unfair. (Hughes, 2005, paras. 13 & 18)

Or this comment in a Harmonian forum by a disappointed reader: 

History is written by the victorius [sic] (or something like that), isn't it how the saying goes?. I'm afraid we are witnessing it firsthand. Herons feel they are the winners on this war, and as such, they feel they have a right to treat us anyway they want to, and they think we have no weapons to defend ourselves since even J.K seems to have sided with them. Even if most of us are pretty reasonable people, at this point anything we say in regards of J.K's apparent disregard for our feelings (thoughts, opinions, whatever), will be gladly taken as the lashing out of sore losers. ::sigh:: I say, just ignore Emerson, he's just some lost kid desperate for attention. And how good can the guy who wrote this article be if he didn't bother to check the facts before he went slandering us?, not much me thinks. (Remolina, 2005, para. 21)

These responses, while perhaps silly or overblown, were not enough to make history. That honor belonged to a Harmonian going by the username Panther.

How, one might wonder?

The Blowout

Ya know, come to think of it, people like Emerson were probably the kinda people that started slavery. I mean, think about it, they thought the slaves were animals, just because they had different colored skin. Emerson thinks we're stupid and delusional for having different beliefs. Get the similarities here, people? Now, I'm not black, but boy, do I feel for the black people. If I lived in the 1800's, I wouldn't keep slaves, and if someone has a difference of opinion than me now, that's fine, believe what you want. (Panther, 2005, paras. 23-25)

The reaction was immediate and explosive from Panther’s fellow Harmonians. Some understood and empathized with Panther’s view; they saw it as a bit hyperbolic, but agreed with the underlying point being made.

I can see where they were going with this...a different analogy would probably have been better. Maybe the religious persecution during Mary Tudor's reign, or the Salem Witch Hunt/Trials, the religous [sic] crusades, the wars in Bosnia etc. We harmonians are being "persecuted" for our differening viewpoints/perspectives. (Anndee Granger, 2005, paras. 30-32)

The belief that H/Hr shippers were being persecuted for their beliefs was a pervasive one, and extended to fans, Emerson and other fandom “authorities,” and the author herself.

No, what we are experiencing is not at the same extreme level because of the world we now live in, but the base level is still the same. The base level taking us back to different beliefs and views without the ability to be heard in the correct manner, and yes it does feel like a form of persecution. (*Under your Skin, 2005, paras. 36-37)

While not on the same level as slavery, the intolerance of their ship did call to mind other examples of discrimination and bigotry:

Of course no one is dying because of this, but all in all we are being persecuted for our different beliefs. "Bloody" Mary Tudor, killed Protestants because she so hated their different views on Christ. This is an extreme indeed, but the mentality behind it, the vitrol [sic], is the same. (Andee Granger, 2005, para. 38)

This extreme point of view, while widespread, was not universal among the Harmonians. Many of them were . . . understandably appalled by the comment and those agreeing with it:

No wonder other people find it easy to portray us as reactionary and vicious. Some of you bloody well are. (jane99, 2005, para. 43)

I agree that it is very vicious and out in left field . . . Slavery was an oppressive movement for hundreds of years, resulting in the deaths of millions. I would hardly regard that with 'shipper treatment, nowadays. However, the schoolyard bully is a very appropriate analogy, in my opinion. Hopefully you understand the difference. (myrhlyn, 2005, para. 52)

The Response

NarcissaM brought the subject to the outside world by posting it in fandom_wank -- a defunct LiveJournal specializing in fandom drama, which now exists primarily in archives -- and the result was universally disbelief and amusement. The responses ranged from insightful, if crass, commentary . . .

Emerson did not kill your dog, tell you that Santa wasn't real, and touch you in your swimsuit areas. And the more I read the more I'm convinced that H/Hr fans aren't angry because what he said was insulting, they're angry because what he said was *accurate*. (iczer6)

I'm also wondering where keeping slaves was a matter of, y'know, people having different beliefs, and not the subjugation of an entire culture by another which had more money and more powerful weapons, and needed a lot of manual labor but didn't want to pay for it. (slackerbitch)

To good old-fashioned sarcasm and snark:

That's not the stupidest thing I've ever read, but it's in the top five. (Anonymous)

That's right. There is a conspiracy, Hermionians! The world is against you and want to take a shit on all your fan fiction! XD (Anonymous “Mary”)

QUICKLY! SOMEBODY CALL A WAAAAAHBULANCE! WE HAVE INTERNET PERSECUTION! (aerobot)

F_W, known for good and ill as a site that takes nothing seriously except the desire to laugh at themselves and especially others, took the slavery comment and ran with it:

So how much does a healthy H/Hr fan with good teeth go for these days? (xero-sky)

Which H/Hr's are in the big house and which ones are working in the fields? ... We didn't land on Plymouth rock, Plymouth rock landed on us! *throws up the fist* (prettyveela)

If we're going to start enslaving delusional people, I want to start with the scientologists. Who's with me? (ladybirdsleeps)

Big Daddy Heron:*hits the H/Hr fan with a whip* Your ship name is H/Hr, H/Hr! Say it! H/Hr shipper: H-Harmony (sewingmyfish)

Bully for the slaves! In fact they would have been sooo much better off if all we 21st century people could trade places with the whites that lived back then. Not only could we tell them to get a life, none of us would have kept slaves! (chief)

You know, just like slaves, they have to work out in the hot sun for no wages and be beaten and whipped and raped and sold like cattle deal with an author not writing the fictional pairing they wanted. (slackerbitch)

Mere hours after the controversy was reported to F_W, a user named ahiru created some icons to celebrate the controversy:

And with some more chuckles about the inherent ridiculousness of such a claim, the fandom and its onlookers dropped the subject.

For a few months.

The Aftermath

In November 2005, some users rediscovered the icons made by ahiru and found them insensitive and racist. This is immediately reported to F_W not once but twice, and the folks there were no longer entertained, responding with less amusement than outright hostility. A couple of F_Wankers understood to at least some extent why there might be people who didn’t love the icons, though they did generally come down on the side of parody and feel those upset were missing the point of the joke. A lot of F_Wankers were upset about political correctness and free speech, and were eager to point out the oppression faced by other groups of people.

Someone anonymous entered the fray with racist guns blazing, and was summarily eviscerated by gleeful F_Wankers.

After that, the dust settled, and all was quiet on the fandom front . . . at least, until the next inevitable disaster.

Further Reading

The Interview that sparked the Emerson outrage

An offshoot of Harmony that believes in Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson’s undeniable chemistry and romance

A collection of Harmonian controversies, 2006-2010

Other HP controversies

[timelesshonesttrailer]

The bane of many writers is that once you have birthed a story, taken the time to write, erase, rewrite, edit, scream at, and finally accept the words that you have written… you have to name it. 

Like people, or businesses, the name is everything. It’s one of the first things people see. It’s what they will use to communicate the story to others. So picking a good title is vital, which makes it all the more daunting. But like most things in life, once you break it down and examine its parts, see how it works, it becomes a lot less scary and a lot more manageable.

This is how I got pretty good at making titles, not only for my own works, but for others. And I want to share with you what I learned, and hopefully make the task of titling your stories a lot less terrifying.

To create a good title, you have to focus on two things: Structure and Meaning.

Structure

Quick, think of all your favorite books, shows, and movies. Now think of popular franchises that are household names. What do they have in common, title wise? They are short and to the point.

On average, these titles are one to two words long. This does not include articles or connecting words like “the,” “of,” “or,” etc, because they pretty much disappear.

The titles also average few syllables, about two or three. You don’t really want to go above four. English is a very lazy language and we like to keep things short. This is why a lot of titles get shortened anyway.

Examples of Titles (remember, articles/connectors don’t count):

Friends – One word, one syllable.

Cheers – One word, one syllable.

Lost – One word, one syllable.

Dune – One word, one syllable.

Timeless – One word, two syllables.

ER – One word, two syllables.

Twilight – One word, two syllables. Can refer to the entire series.

The Mummy (1999) – One word, three syllables.

The Simpsons – One word, three syllables.

Parasite – One word, three syllables.

Titanic – One word, three syllables.

Hamilton – One word, three syllables.

The X-Files – One word, three syllables. Though it’s debatable if X-Files is one word or two.

CSI – One word (standing in for three), three syllables (standing in for seven).

Star Wars – Two words, two syllables.

Good Omens – Two words, three syllables.

Game of Thrones – Two words, three syllables. Often verbally shortened to Thrones.

Lord of the Rings – Two words, four syllables.

I can keep going, but you see the trend.

But what about titles like the Harry Potter books? The answer is in the question. Each book/movie title starts with Harry Potter and then has a modifier. Harry Potter itself is only two words and four syllables. Then if someone talks about a specific novel, they typically would not say the whole title, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, they would simply say Azkaban. The same is done in other series. Percy Jackson for example.

There are, of course, exceptions.

Elementary is a one word, but five syllables. It’s also a very common phrase in both the genre and in everyday life. Use of common phrases is a way to get around the above formula because we’re already used to saying them, thinking them, etc. One Day at a Time is another good example. Three words, five syllables, but doesn’t feel any longer than Lord of the Rings. 

But the longer the title, the more likely it will somehow get shortened. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was changed to three syllable Blade Runner. My favorite book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, has a very long title. Technically it’s three words when you remove articles/connectors, but the syllable count is a whopping ten. It gets away with it because for one, it’s a rift on an already common phrase, and two, fans can call it Hitchhiker’s Guide which is only four syllables. 

Now, once you know the structure of a title, you can work on choosing one.

Meaning

The title of your story has to give the reader an idea about what they’re getting into. It does this by focusing on one of the following:

A literal Person/Place/Thing –  Percy Jackson, Cheers, The X-Files

The Subject Matter – Friends, Law & Order, The Sixth Sense, CSI

The Genre – Twilight, Star Wars, Friday the 13th, Altered Carbon

The Overall Metaphor/Concept – Game of Thrones, Parasite, Pride and Prejudice

Many of these cross over. The Sixth Sense and CSI could also be considered a literal thing as well as a genre marker. If your title fulfills more than one slot, that is neat, but not a necessity. You might feel like you have to come up with some complex title, but sometimes it’s really just as simple as it’s a show about friends and their relationships with each other.

Take the title Catch-22. The term Catch-22 is a major metaphor and concept that is universally known today. But when Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22, no one called that concept a Catch-22. The title was simply naming the military rule (a thing), which created the situation and therefore drove the narrative. People later co-opted the title to quickly express the concept that the book so masterfully discusses.

Whatever you chose, the title should match the feel of the story you’re trying to tell. It’s part of your promise to the reader, and must make sense by the time they get to the end of the story.  

But how to pick a title when you have persons, places, things, subject matter, genre, and metaphors in your story? You simply work backwards. Ask yourself what your story is really about.

What is the driving force of the narrative?

What do you want your readers to get out of the story?

Is it a story about a person?

Or about the people of a specific group?

Is the story a one-shot or the beginning of a trilogy/series?

Is there a specific name or line of text that sums up your story neatly?

Somewhere in the answers to those questions is your title.

Now, I can make guesses on how some of the above mentioned titles came to be. Cheers takes place in the bar of the same name, and it’s about the patrons of said bar, so it’s the story about a place named Cheers. But I can’t speak for the creators and what thought processes they might have went through in order to choose their titles. So, instead, I am going to give you some of the titles I have come up with and explain how I got there.

Copper and Gold Two words, four syllables. Genre: Urban Fantasy This is the first book of a series based around a singular character, Minni Masterson, whose motif is copper, which plays a large role in the story. Since it’s a series, I need a title that could be formulaic across each one. In the first novel, the “guest character” is a gold dragon (Aiden Drake). So when I say Copper and Gold, I’m really saying Minni and Drake. And in the second book, when I say Copper and Cobalt, I am saying Minni and the Kobolds. Copper and Mercury is Minni and the Werewolves. Etc.

Emperor’s Shadow Two words, five syllables. Genre: Star Wars fan fiction/Mystery/Character Study The story is about Mara Jade who was an Emperor’s Hand. It’s about her coming to terms with the shadow that looms over her from her past and what Palpatine did to her. Instead of going with something much bulkier like In the Shadow of the Empire, I merged her past (Emperor’s Hand) with her current conflict.

The Serpent and the Liar Two words, seven syllables. (This format of “The X and the X” is one that is an exception to the rule, so long as the syllables belonging to X remain low) Genre: Marvel!Loki fan fiction/Pre-Movies Canon Compliant The story is about Loki and the events leading up to the first Thor movie. It also brings in Sigyn to explore that ship, along with some Norse myths, and to explain why she isn’t in the movie. Loki, of course, is known for his serpent motif and as the god of lies. I play on this, giving Sigyn a serpent motif, something to match her with Loki. But on several occasions, I raise the question of who is actually the serpent, and who is the liar? Because the best way to lie, is to tell the truth. So, like Copper and Gold, I’m really just calling the story Loki and Sigyn, I mean, Sigyn and Loki?

Amehrana One word, four syllables. Genre: Timeless Food Truck AU/Garcy Slow Burn The story is about Flynn and Lucy, and the rest of the team, in an AU setting. I named Flynn’s food truck Amehrana because it’s a mix of the word American and Hrana, which is Croatian for food. So the title is both a thing (the food truck) but also another word for Flynn and Lucy because he’s Croat and she’s American. But unlike Copper and Gold and The Serpent and the Liar, there is the added symbolism here of Flynn and Lucy coming together.

Frankenstein’s Monster Two words, five syllables Genre: Timeless Mission Fic for Proposed Season 3 (non-movie compliant) The mission is Mary Shelley, but that doesn’t mean there *has* to be a Frankenstein reference. But you have Flynn who thinks he’s a monster, one created by Rittenhouse. I also go deeper and hint at Lucy herself being a Frankenstein Monster, i.e. created by Rittenhouse for a purpose she doesn’t want any part of. Once again, my title is basically just another name for my main characters.

I want to interject for a moment and point out that we all have our preferences in our writing styles, and titles are no different. If you realized you tend to do most of your titles a specific way, then own it. It’s part of what makes you unique as an artist. And if you occasionally decide you want to go a completely opposite direction for one story, then go for it.

Case in point.

No Accounting for Heroes Three words, seven syllables Genre: Canon Compliant account of the Fall of SHIELD and its aftermath This fic really takes a hard look at what happens to those living in a world with superheroes. The main character, an accountant named Rani, is giving an account of events. My cowriter suggested putting “accounting” in the title which made me think of the common phrase, “no accounting for taste,” which is a concept about how different people like/need different things, and applied it to the story. No Accounting for Heroes means that we all need a hero, but maybe not the heroes we think we do, and we can all be heroes in some way, to someone in need. But also, there is that underlying current that heroes are not held accountable for the destruction that follows in their wake. 

Never be afraid to ask for help with titles. And don’t be afraid to reject titles if they don’t fit. And definitely don’t be afraid to take the suggestion, turn it over, season it, put it in a waffle iron, and see if what comes out is edible.

I have helped others name their stories, and here are three examples:

Remember, Remember Two words, six syllables. Genre: Timeless Garcy Canon Divergent/Angst/Mission Fic The story is about Lucy trying to save Flynn after he goes back to 2012. Emma saves him instead. Eventually Lucy runs into him and she discovers he doesn’t remember her and only knows what Emma has told him. At the end of the story, they have a final confrontation during the Gunpowder Plot. When the author asked my thoughts on a title, well, the Gunpowder Plot has the very famous saying “Remember, Remember, the 5th of November” and the whole story is Lucy trying to get Flynn to remember…

Disavowed One word, three syllables. Genre: Timeless Luciana Canon Divergent/Angst In this Twitter story, Flynn is blocked from returning to the US from Canada because they still think he’s a terrorist. Basically, his own country, whom he helped save, rejected him. When asked for a title, I focused on the idea that this story is about Flynn being rejected/denied entry/etc. I basically flipped through synonyms for rejected until I came across disavowed which is a term often used in spy craft. It’s a heavy word which paired well with the angst of the story.

Only Our Stories Three words, five syllables. Genre: Timeless Movie Canon Compliant-adjacent/Angst/Mission Fic The phrase “only our stories” is said in the fic itself. Future-Lucy writes it down towards the beginning, once she’s returned from dropping off the journal post-Chinatown. All that she has left of Flynn is only their stories, which she writes in the journal. She is eventually able to change things to get Flynn back, but he doesn’t remember her. There is still a connection though… their stories.

Never be afraid to take a line from your story to use as your title, so long as you follow the structure guidelines from the first section. 

At the end of the day, coming up with titles is just as much a skill as any other part of writing. We suck at first, then we figure out what's good, what's bad, and look at the world around us to figure out how to make it better. And don’t be afraid to edit it as much as you edit your novel. Until you publish, no title is set in stone, so it doesn’t have be right the first time.

And now here is where I close out this reference guide by saying something inspirational. Instead, I’m going to name this piece. While I wrote it, the temp file name was “Creating a Title” which is technically accurate but has no umph or style. This guide is meant to be helpful so the title should inspire confidence that I know what I’m talking about. But I don’t want it to sound too clinical either. 

A synonym for “name” is designation which I like but too many syllables because I’ll have to add to it. Synonym’s for “title” don’t give me much either. Instead, I should focus on the concept of the guide rather than its direct contents. Using something like “What’s in a Name?” would be too cliché. “I Suck at Titles” is funny, at first, with it being the exact opposite, but my genre is more educational than satire.

Wait, if I’m not going to reveal the title until the end, as a way to show you the thought process in creating a title, then to the reader, the title both does and doesn’t exist at the same time. It’s what you might call a…

Schrodinger’s Title: A Guide to Naming

[scripting-life]

FFVII: returning to my first love

 *peeks out of the corner of my lurking spot*

Hello? Anybody out there? It’s only been, oh you know, four-ish years since the last time I’ve posted anything here. I apologize in advance for anybody who’s still following me from my Castle days. If you couldn’t tell from my extended absence, I’ve mostly moved on. Castle and Beckett were fantastic characters that let me to play with some deep-dive analyses, and Castle will always hold a special place in my heart as my comfort show and my first real and extended experience with online fandom. I’ll always be grateful to the community I’ve had the joy of interacting with (or, the community with which I’ve had the joy of interacting, as Castle would correct me my dangling preposition).

I honestly didn’t think I would ever have reason to come back to Tumblr after Castle ended. But the FF7 Remake has returned me to my very first love--when I was young and innocent and before I knew anything about OTPs or ship wars. I’ve been back lurking for several months now and seeing all the fanart/fanfics and fun theories and analyses has reignited my enthusiasm for the FF7 franchise. It’s also fun coming back to this franchise with a more mature understanding of the themes/concepts that completely flew over my head as a young preteen.

(This ended up being super long, so the rest is below the cut to spare everyone the pain of scrolling. Apparently, my rambling tendencies have not changed at all. lol.)

When FF7R was officially announced (five freaking years ago!), I was filled with apprehension. FF7 was my first taste of a “grown-up” game. I was 11 and played my brother’s copy of the OG on PC in 1-2 hours spurts on the weekends when I visited his apartment. It took me months, if not years, to finish the game (I ended up stealing his copy to play on our computer at home...lol), and I was so blown away by it. I remember the exact moment I finished it and how I was literally shaking as I watched the ending FMV.

Later, when I found out my brother had a copy of FF8 (my poor brother was so accommodating to his annoying little sister...haha), I was so excited to play, in large part because I thought it would continue the story of FF7. Young, naive me didn’t understand the numbering conventions of Final Fantasy titles. I was madly theorizing and breaking my brain trying to find connections between the two games’ plots and had literally played through more than half the game before I finally realized the storyline of FF8 had absolutely nothing to do with FF7. I was sorely disappointed, and I think that has somewhat tainted my appreciation of future titles. Not to say I haven’t enjoyed the subsequent FF titles, but I think a little part of me is always comparing them to that first experience of wonder and awe that I had with FF7.

I discovered fanfiction in my teens and starting writing FF7/Cloti fics in college. Aside from interacting with a few fic writers at the time, I was not involved in any online communities, so I kept myself pretty free of any ship war drama and the like. When I did research for my fics, I’d sometimes see shipping sites and theories where I didn’t always understand the logic of how certain conclusions were reached, but frankly, I didn’t much care and didn’t realize that Clerith vs. Cloti was such a touchy subject. I was peripherally aware that some sort great LTD war was waging, of course, but it didn’t really touch me. I stayed in my Cloti shipping/fic-writing lane and was probably a lot happier for it. And, to be honest, based on FFN’s listings for FF7, I felt like I always saw a bunch of Sephiroth/Cloud fics and thought that was just as popular as the more conventional ships.

Graduating college and entering “real life” pretty much ended my FF7 fanfic-writing journey. In the intervening years between college and the release of FF7R, I haven’t gone back to the OG too much. I’ve played almost all the Final Fantasy games since then, and I always enjoy getting my FF7 crew fix when I play the non-canon mobile games or the Kingdom Hearts franchise. But FF7 was a happy part of my teenage years, and I was content to think on it with sweet nostalgia.

Remakes, in recent experience (*cough cough* Disney, why?), have been hit or miss, with a lot of misses. It’s hard to strike a good balance between catering to nostalgia and delivering a fresh product, never mind the change in social mores through the decades. I was so afraid FF7R would screw up my memories, especially since I wasn’t the biggest fan of Advent Children. The graphics were great and the action scenes were fun, but the story felt like a let-down. Cloud, in particular, felt so different (and yes, moody) from where we left him after the OG. I understand now that a lot of his character motivation was better explained in the On The Way to a Smile novels, but back then, I just felt like AC came out of nowhere. 

Btw, because I see this question a lot on other blogs when I’m lurking, I’ve ALWAYS thought that it was very clear in AC--even without reading anything else--that the reason for Cloud’s depression was due to guilt and not because he was pining for Aerith. The only reason I didn’t like his characterization in AC was because it felt like it came out of nowhere since AC is set 2 years after OG and by the end of the OG, he seemed to be in a pretty decent place mentally and emotionally. That being said, I can absolutely understand why some traumas resurface years after the originating incident and how times of peace might actually be worse because he is no longer solely focused on saving the world, but I was just surprised and a little bummed that this was the direction the devs chose to take AC at the time. Now that I’m older, I do better appreciate the complexities of Cloud’s mental state and the fact that they depicted a hero with lingering mental health issues is actually pretty awesome. I’m drawn to characters that have flaws--sometimes serious ones--but try their best anyway. Hence, why why Tifa Lockhart and Kate Beckett are some of my all-time favorites.

Anyhow, that didn’t stop me from pre-ordering FF7R, of course. I avoided reading any reviews as I didn’t want my first impressions to be swayed, and boy, was I happy that I went in mostly blind. That sense of awe really almost felt like playing the OG for the first time again, but somehow more. The combat system is incredibly fun and the world-building is nothing short of incredible. The variety and abundance of NPCs gives the game so much flavor and the locations have been rendered so well. As I’m going through areas like the Sector 7 train station and Wall Market and Aerith’s house, I can almost superimpose the layout from the OG in my head, but now it’s in 3D and so rich and full. It’s obvious that a lot of attention was paid to details, and I love all the head-nods and homages to the OG.

And oh, the characters!

This is the Cloud I’ve been wanting to see in glorious HD and the Cloud I remember from the original game: all awkward, dorky trying to be cool, socially inept, mentally unstable, abrasive-at-times, reluctant to act depending on who’s asking, wannabe hard-ass who’s actually a big softie inside Cloud. I remember reading an article a few years back about how the devs basically redid Cloud for the Remake because they wanted him to go back to his dorky roots--which ends up making him closest to his personality in the OG than his appearances in other franchises--and I was SOOOO incredibly happy to hear that. I was so sick of the way Cloud was constantly depicted as this cool, broody McBrood in his cameos when he was a pretty big dork in the OG. (Anybody remember him doing squats in the Highwind when Tifa says it’ll be lonely with just the two of them and Cloud responds that he’ll make enough noise to make up for it? Like I said: cute, but a dork.)

I WAS surprised by how comfortable and sweet and touchy (so very very touchy) the devs made him with Tifa from the beginning. That initial scene of Cloud being such a smooth operator giving Tifa the flower had my jaw-dropping and every single flirty interaction after that (and there are many) had my Cloti heart overflowing in shock and bliss. Throughout most of my years as a Cloti shipper, even though I believed Cloti was supported by canon and pretty clearly together, I was also under the impression--mistakenly or not--that Cloti was the minority ship. So for Square Enix to make it so blatantly obvious that Cloud is really into Tifa at such an early stage has been an unexpected gift.

Also, they’re just really hot together. (Clotiscrew tunnel--be still my heart!)

As for Tifa...oh, what wonderful character development we’ve already gotten for Tifa. Tifa has always been one of my all-time favorite characters ever since reading her character blurb in the OG game manual. Initially, as a child, it was because I saw so much of myself in her. She was outwardly bright and optimistic, but tended to hide all of her stronger feelings inside. She fought with her fists, and for someone who was a tomboy growing up who liked playing contact sports with the boys, I connected with her in a way that I had never been able to connect with other female protagonists who were primarily back-row specialists. (I also aspired to grow to her listed height of 5′4″, which alas, did not happen...lol).

I love how the Remake delves into more of Tifa’s moral conflict between the destruction that she causes as part of Avalanche and needing to do something to stop Shinra, and yes, even seeking revenge. They touched on this in the OG lightly, but the Remake really hammers it home. She’s perhaps the most conflicted character in terms of motivation in Part 1. That scene with the Shinra manager on the train is actually one of my favorite scenes of her because it highlights that tension. The elevator scene, if you opted for it instead of the stairs (or if you did one, saved, and reloaded to do the other one, like me), is also underrated in terms of how much it reveals about Tifa’s inner struggle.

On this point, I also appreciate that the Remake has the characters reflecting on the damage they’ve both indirectly and directly inflicted--the Avalanche team all do this to a certain degree. In particular, Jessie’s constant inability to figure out what she’d done wrong with the bomb to cause such a massive explosion and her remaining feelings of guilt during her death scene (”they were my victims” ouch!) were heart-breaking.

Aerith’s depiction was another pleasant surprise. I’ll be honest; I didn’t much like her in the OG. She was too pushy and willfully oblivious to the point of being mean at times. In the Remake, much of her sometimes too in-your-face playfulness was kept--perhaps still a little too much--but I appreciate the nuance that they gave her. The train graveyard scene tells the player that she didn’t have friends growing up, and I think that partially contributes to her lack of social tact at times. The other factor that gives her personality more nuance is the hint of special knowledge that affects how she interacts with the rest of the group. It gives her additional hidden motivation and adds to her mystery for new players while simultaneously pulling at the heartstrings for old players who get the impression that Aerith is somehow aware--to a certain, unknown extent--of her own fate. 

I also appreciate that Aerith is more grounded as a real person than as some sort of revered being. I do blame AC for some of that. When you have the power to cure a fatal disease from the afterlife and send the dead back to life, it gets into some godlike territory. Maybe it’s a fair depiction of her powers as a Cetra, but I just get the feeling that Aerith herself wouldn’t really appreciate being made into this goddess-like figure. Remember that her character blurb in the original game manual implied that she was more interested in earthly things (i.e. the love triangle) than in exploring her own powers. I personally think that Aerith used the “love triangle” in the OG as a form of escapism from the weight of her burdens rather than genuine interest, and I just think she’d want to be thought of as a person rather than as a god. One of my favorite scenes for Aerith is when she and Cloud are traversing the rooftops and she slips on the ladder, letting out a simple, “Shit.” It humanizes her in a way that combats some of the ways she’s sort of been deified in the last 23 years. Also, Aerith wielding a folding chair like it’s WWE never fails to make me laugh. Overall, she just comes off as a more reasonably flawed and--as a result, to me--a more likeable character in the Remake, and I do very much like her now.

Barret is pretty much the exact larger than life character I imagined in my head, only somehow even better, and I really love how expressive and emotional his eyes and facial expressions are. His scenes with Marlene are truly the cutest thing ever. Red XIII is a big, furry ball of sass, and I need so much more of him in the coming parts (Cosmo Canyon still wrecks me to this day). The interactions between the Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie are incredible, and they really feel like people who’ve been friends and basically each other’s family for years. The Turks and Rufus are pretty much as cool as I imagined them in the OG.

There’s still so much more I haven’t even started touching on about the Remake, and I think that’s why I’m finally posting this now. I just can’t contain my love for this game any more, and I really really need a place to express myself. I don’t know if anybody is still reading, but I appreciate having the opportunity to finally gush about this game and franchise that I’ve loved so much for pretty much two-thirds of my life.

[hraishin]

001: Eastrail 177 Trilogy

Thank you for the ask!!!

Favorite character: Hedwig

Least Favorite character: Dr. Ellie Staple

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): I don't really have ships for this trilogy? Idk I see people shipping Casey and Kevin but I don't ship it romantically myself??? So I don't really have any dhajajd

Character I find most attractive: Dennis. I just really like when he goes >:(

Character I would marry: Patricia but only because I want her to step on me.

Character I would be best friends with: Casey

a random thought: Correct me if I'm wrong but there's a scene in Glass where Joseph is looking at some articles and there's one about what happened to Casey saying that it happened only weeks prior to what's happening in Glass, which is set in 2019, but Split happened in 2016, and they make it clear in Split that it was in 2016, but no one cared about this plot hole apparently and I always laugh when I remember it

An unpopular opinion: Unbreakable is bad and only the ending is good because of the plot twist.

My Canon OTP: None.

My Non-canon OTP: None.

Most Badass Character: Casey! I mean, she fucking shot the Beast with a shotgun dude

Most Epic Villain: Elijah Price

Pairing I am not a fan of: None.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I feel like Patricia wouldn't believe Staple when she told her that the Beast was not as powerful as she thinks and yet she doubted it after seeing everything they've done but go off ig

Favourite Friendship: Casey and Kevin.

Character I most identify with: Casey, for reasons I won't be discussing here ha

Character I wish I could be: Patricia because I WISH I had the energy she has and I wish I could walk on heels and not sprain an ankle......😔

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 3 Easter Eggs & References

https://ift.tt/3kFWI2V

This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 3. Read our review of the episode here.

As the USS Discovery starts to explore the galaxy in Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, the first stop is, understandably, to check-in on how the Planet Earth is doing. Unlike Battlestar Galactica searching for Earth forever, Discovery decided to get the whole Earth thing out of the way right away. In Episode 3, “People of Earth,” the crew returns to the home planet of the Federation and learns things are not remotely similar to how they left it.

Along the way, “People of Earth” references a long-running TNG-Douglas Adams joke, a quip from Kirk in The Wrath of Khan, a famous DS9-era alien species, and more! 

700 years after we left…

Burnham’s opening narration fills in new details we previously didn’t get about the Burn, including the idea that prior to the Burn, about “700 years after we left, dilithium reserves dried up.” This means that around the year 2957 or so, the Federation was “trialing alternative warp drive designs.” We don’t know much about the 30th century in the existing Trek canon, other than Daniels from Enterprise had knowledge about that era. To put it in perspective, this time period would still be 500 years in the future for Star Trek: Picard. The idea of the Federation trying to change the way warp drive operates vaguely references the TNG episode “Force of Nature.”

47

When Burnham talks about being a courier, someone hands her a sliver containing the Starfleet registry NCC-4774. We don’t know what ship this belongs to, but it seems like this is a visual joke which references the long, and intentional inside joke about using the number 47 (or 74) throughout all of Trek which began around TNG Season 4. There are literally hundreds of appearances of the numbers 47 or 74 throughout the franchise, so many that there is actually a “47 project” devoted to finding all the occurrences of 47 throughout the franchise. 

The origin of the joke references the number 42 from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In that novel, “42” ends up being the answer to “the life, the universe, and everything.” Burnham is searching for similarly vague answers in this montage. In the ‘90s, “47” became the “42” of Star Trek canon, and Rick Berman joked once that 47  was “42, adjusted for inflation.” The number “47” is also an Easter egg of sorts for alums from Pomona College, sprinkled throughout TV and film history.

Terralysium and Burnham’s mom

Burnham tells Saru that during the year she’s spent in this future, she’s connected the planet Terralsyium and that “they had never heard of my mom.” This references Season 2 of Discovery in which we learned Burnham’s mother, Gabrielle Burnham transported humans from the 21st Century to a planet called Terralysium in the Beta Quadrant. In theory, Terralysium was supposed to be the tether location where Burnham and the USS Discovery ended-up. In “Perpetual Infinity” Burnham’s mom was sucked into a time vortex, which, in theory, could have deposited her into the future version of Terralysium. So far, though, that’s not the case.

Captain Saru

Saru is promoted to captain in this episode. This is a long time coming for Saru. He’s been a First Officer for two captains thus far, Captain Lorca and Captain Pike. And, in the Discovery novel Desperate Hours, Saru was upset that Burnham was promoted to First Officer over him prior to the Battle of the Binary Stars. This 2017 book by David Mack is slightly non-canonical, but it did establish Detmer’s first name as Keyla, and doubled-down on Number One’s name as Una. Anyway, the point is, Saru has been working for a long time to become Captain.

DOT-7 Bots

We briefly see the outside of Discovery’s hull being repaired by DOT-7 robots. We first saw these little bots in “Such Sweet Sorrow” in Season 2, when they emerged from the Enterprise and effected some repairs. One of these bots, of course, was the star of the Short Treks episode “Ephraim and Dot.”

“Galavanting”

Georgiou mentions that Book has been “galavanting through space with Michael.” This could be a reference to The Wrath of Khan in which Kirk says, “galavanting around the cosmos is a game for the young.” 

Saturn 

Although the planet Saturn is famous to us here on Earth — not counting the opening credits for Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 1 and 2 — this is seemingly only the fourth time Saturn has appeared during an episode or movie of Star Trek. Previously, Saturn appeared in the TNG episodes “The Best of Both Worlds,” and “The First Duty.” In Star Trek (2009) Saturn appears when the Enterprise hides near Titan. 

“One aye”

When Booker sarcastically says “aye, aye” commander, to Burnham, she replies, “One ‘aye,’ we’re not pirates.” This might reference the original TNG episode “Lower Decks,” in which Riker tells Lavelle that “One aye is sufficient acknowledgment, Ensign.”

Georgiou pretends to be an Admiral

When the Discovery is inspected by the Earth ships, Georgiou dons an Admiral’s uniform to “make it believable.” This is the second time Mirror Geogoiu has worn a Starfleet uniform even though she is not really in Starfleet. The first time was in Discovery Season 1 when she was authorized to impersonate Prime Georgiou to lead the mission against the Klingon homeworld. 

Generational ship

Saru’s cover story for why the USS Discovery is still in operation in 3188 is the idea that they are a generational ship and are crewed by their own ancestors. This concept actually occurs in the Enterprise episode “E²,” where the crew of the NX-01 meets an alternate version of the ship crewed by their descendants. 

Synthehol 

Book is furious to discover he’s not drinking actual booze, but instead, synthehol. To be clear, in Trek canon, synthehol can get you drunk, but mostly if you’re an alien or a former Borg. In the TNG episode “Relics,” Scotty complained about having to drink synthehol in Ten Forward

Quantum torpedoes 

It’s briefly mentioned the Wen’s raiders have “quantum torpedoes.” This tech was first mentioned in Star Trek: First Contact, which, at the time, made it very new. 

Starfleet does not fire first!

After Georgiou suggests Saru take swift and aggressive action, Saru remonstrates her by saying “Starfleet does not fire first.” He’s actually quoting… Georgiou in the very first episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Though, in that case, the Georgiou who said “Starfleet doesn’t fire first” was the Prime Universe Captain Georgiou, not the Mirror Universe Georgiou who we’re more familiar with.

Titan

After it’s revealed that Wen (Christopher Heyerdahl) is actually a human, we also learn that he’s from the Titan. In real life, Titan is the largest moon of Saturn, and, unlike most moons, boasts an atmosphere. Trek canon has mentioned Titan a bunch. In “The First Duty,” Wesley was training near Titan, and again, in Star Trek (2009), Chekov hid the Enterprise behind Titan.

Adira’s revelation 

We learn very quickly that Adira (Blu del Barrio) is a human joined with a Trill; specifically a symbiont called “Tal.” Burnham and Sura discuss their general ignorance of Trill symbionts, but Saru tells Burnham everything he knows about the Trill comes from the “Sphere Data.” This references the giant alien sphere Discovery encountered in the Season 2 episode “An Obol for Charon.”

The fact that Burnham and Saru don’t know much about Trill symbionts makes sense. It’s not clear that in the 2250s that the Trill were open about being a joined species, but by the time of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine the Federation obviously learned about them. In fact, in the first TNG episode “The Host,” a human, Will Riker, was joined with a Trill. But, Burnham and Saru wouldn’t know about that because it would have been in their future back in 2257, and certainly, the Sphere didn’t know about that either.

Captain Georgiou’s telescope 

Saru unpacks Captain Georgiou’s telescope and puts it up in his new ready room. This telescope was presumably salvaged from the USS Shenzhou and given to Michael Burnham as part of Georgiou’s will in “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not For the Lamb’s Cry.” But, after that, Burnham gave it to Saru instead. Saru and Burnham both used this telescope for practical purposes in the first Discovery episode ever, “The Vulcan Hello.”

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Which Quadrant?

Burnham says that Book has “a fresh start, in a new quadrant.” We know Earth is located in the Alpha Quadrant, which seems to imply Book and Burnham were previously operating in the Beta Quadrant. 

Starfleet Academy and Picard’s favorite giant tree

Although Starfleet is no longer operational on Earth, the crew visits the grounds of Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. There, they find what seems to maybe be a huge elm tree. If so, this tree was actually referenced by Jean-Luc Picard in the TNG episodes “The Drumhead” and “The Game.” In theory, if this is supposed to be the same tree, it was tended by Boothby in the 24th Century which would imply it existed at least 100 years before that, in the mid 23rd Century, too.

Golden Gate Bridge 

The final shot of the episode pans out to show the 32nd Century version of the Golden Gate Bridge. The last time we saw this bridge chronologically, was in Star Trek: Picard in 2399. Though, prior to that, the bridge had been partially destroyed in the Dominion War in the 2370s. That is if you believe Changelings are real…

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Star Trek: Discovery airs new episodes on Thursdays on CBS All Access.

The post Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 3 Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[fawninthewinter]

8, 13, 21, 51

Yes! Thank you so much, Roch <3

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

I'm gonna do Mission Impossible/Tom Cruise Films. Ok, so up until a couple years or so ago, I of course knew the films existed like a lot of people and of their (sort of?) popularity (they weren't well known for the reasons they should be well known). I knew of Ton Cruise and his popularity. I had even watched a handful of his films with family before. I enjoyed them quite enough. But I was never hugely interested or invested as I am now. I was unfortunately one of those people who had just believed them to be the same action flicks I was used to. Not bad, but seen one you've seen em all kind of way. It wasn't until I began seeing them on my dash courtesy of you and other blogs you were reblogging from I though I should give so many of these movies a watch and learn more about Tom. I'm one of those people who are like 'if my good friends say it's good then it has to be' and end up checking their interests out. Best decision I had ever made. I was legit surprised at how much I ended up loving the MI franchise and how wrong I was to have dismissed it before. The emotion and strong sense of characterization and arcs was something I was not prepared for. That carries over into his other films. A handful of which have become my favorites. I have you to thank for this by the way, Roch. Don't think I would have become as interested in the franchise or learned about what a passionate and great actor Tom is if you hadn't introduced me to them and to the behind the scenes articles and interviews. I'm so glad I watched these and so many of his other films fully.

13. Any NoTPs?

Quite a few but I'll only mention the ones in my current ones right now. I've seen Ethan Hunt/August Walker before. Um...no. Just no.

In terms if the the slasher fandom, Michael/Laurie and Chucky/Andy. if you ship Michael Myers with the sister he has hunted down for all these years or Chucky with the guy he tramautized and gave ptsd to, while knowing him since he was a little six year old boy, what the actual fuck?

BillDip (actually too similar to Chucky/Andy above) and Reylo as well. Let's just say in terms of my fandoms, any ship that is incest, pedophilia, and/or abuse of some sort and leave it at that.

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

I wrote a My Neighbour Totoro fanfic when I was 15 called My Guardian Angel Totoro. A lighter take in the dark Totoro theory where I wrote the ending of the movie to be quite bittersweet. Not the best thing I have written at all but I got quite a handful of people saying they liked it so that was nice.

When I was a little kid I remember writing a Lion King one.

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

Ok, I love people taking their favorite characters and putting them in a situation not seen in canon, exploring their inner thoughts or feelings they had wished were explored more in canon, writing about that pairing with great chemistry writer non canon or canon, or writing an epic story of their own with these characters they love so much. Salty about how something was written in canon? Write that au! Have so many feelings about a character that need to be talked about more? Write that oneshot, write about what happened off screen! Have an awesome idea for a big story that would be great for the universe? Write it! I just love the creativity in the community so much.

As for what I don't like, I don't think anyone likes it when people write their faves so out of character. Like, not my favorite son/baby/little shit/bastard etc.

Sorry, I love to gush about what I love so much.