#my otp where i take that term somewhat seriously

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

Hey ya’ll, wanna see something SUPER COOL?!

This is a small, custom-made figurine I purchased from PopSculptureDesigns over on Etsy of Barbara and Nomura dancing like Beauty and the Beast 🤩 

(yes I asked for the colors to be different than the actual movie cause I’ve wanted to see Barbara in a blue dress for forever)

Anyways, I love it and it’s beautiful

y’all should join me in rarepair hell

[lady-plantagenet]

if you’re still doing those: edward iv / elizabeth woodville for the ship bingo 🕊x

I’m so sorry, this whole past week has been one massive mental breakdown and I have been finding it incredibly hard to do anything besides uni assignments and writing. Also, I have a lot to say about these two so I didn’t want to half-ass it.

Some Comments:

I don’t know if I told you this but this used to be my OTP, like years ago when I first got into this era and did not think/know much about Clarence and the others. But now it’s no longer the case and that’s not necessarily because it got replaced by gisabel per se but because I’ve always found it extremely hard to reconcile myself with the infidelity aspect. Even when I was more childish I felt a bit dissapointed in the fact that he didn’t appoint her (or Anthony) regent, like obviously now I understand why it was to an extent untenable politically, but back then my younger mind just saw it as ‘he trusted his brother more’, which kind of threw a wrench. So much for the ‘it’s complicated’ square. The problem with long marriages is that the delicious aspect tends to wane, and that can’t be helped in a 20 year long marriage! But obviously the 1464-1470 years taken into isolation... well... it was the epitome of delicious, sexual and romantic. You might find me pointing this out wierd given that I didn’t make the same remarks on Catherine of Valois and Owen Tudor who were also a pretty long marriage, it’s just that... in my mind they kind of stagnate age-wise even as they advance past their twenties because the whole narrative (historical and fictional) around them focuses on the first years of their union and the tribulations, whereas Edward and Elizabeth have a presence way past that as they were after all monarchs and never at one point left to live a quiet life and were no longer chronicled - so in that way they age before our eyes. And with that age you see the infidelity issue get worse, together with Edward’s greater promotion of Gloucester, his drinking, eating etc issues and it starts painting a sad image into my mind of like idk a love that at one point stopped being what it once was and could never again be - like the embers burning out? This turns the what could have been a obbsessive unhealthiness borne from passion into another caused by disillusionment? I don’t put too much stock into this, personally I feel the change in Edward was caused by other external factors and not Elizabeth herself eg Warwick and Clarence’s betrayals and deaths, the massive burden of fixing the previous administration’s mess etc. Nevertheless, Elizabeth on her own did not seem to be enough to drag him out of it and prevent some of his unhealthy habits. I do realise it’s a bit too much to ask for though.

Nevertheless, I do see them as soulmates, she seemed like one of the only people who could keep up with him in will and wit (though Jane Shore seemed quite a competitor in this regard) I’m not the type of person who thinks Edward was dominated by his lust, and I think based on that venetian letter (you know the Ziglio one XD) and the fact that it said that Edward loved her for a long time before marrying her, it was clearly a decision from the heart not the *ahem* codpiece. Also a part of the soulmate/star-crossed trope is the whole ‘they defied all odds, they withstood opposition’, and Liz and Big Ed are famously that. I would totally read fic for this but surprisingly there aren’t many! I honestly don’t know how come?? Like yes they do appear in a lot of histfics and the like, but apart from TWQ they are never the central focus, and even there we don’t get enough of them (which really irritates me). Some write me some!! I am intrigued by the pairing but extremely picky when it comes to how they are written because I have particular headcanons which I am fairly wedded to but do not expect they will be abided by. More in the pragraph below.

The Ship:

I absolutely can not stand portrayals of Elizabeth Woodville as a golddigger, much less some Marilyn Monroe type of bimbo. We know the type of beauty she had... a chronicler called her an excellent but solemn (or sthing like that) beauty where York in his letters to her for the marriage of Sir Hugh complemented her deep sorrowful look or such. She was a pious, economical woman who took her queenship extremely seriously and led a cultivated court, patronised literature and may have also written a poem herself (you know the one about Venus we spoke about). She was years older than Edward and on top of that a widow with two children of her own. I want to see that dynamic! I want to especially see how she drew Edward away from Warwick’s influences in order to put him on the path he was angling for: the statute of livery 1463 and the new sumptuary laws (that most famously restricted the length of piked shoes to 3 inches hhh) are very indicative of a king who (even before meeting her) wanted to install a strong centralised monarchy with a monopoly on violence and its laws. Not because of some rapaciousness on her part but because her and her family believed in him, experienced the exequies of war and wanted to put a stop to it. I want her to love Edward for putting an end to people like Warwick who caused all her family’s (and the gentry class as a whole) misfortunes and struggles, and in a way feel like she provided him with not only a circle of people who would help him realise this but also with a sort of family to soften the personal blow that he felt when part of his birth family betrayed him. I love the father-in-law becomes surrogate father trope (as I think you can tell) and I like to see Earl Rivers as that for him, hell you can take it even further and make Jacquetta as some sort of mother-figure for him as opposed to Cecily who apparently scorned the marriage and at that time seemed to side more heavily with George. I like to think under her influence she empowered him to act more ruthlessly in pursuit of his goal, but at the same time I think that while certain things were good in the long-term eg Clarence’s execution, (maybe Desmond’s??) they may have had a toll on the relationship later on. I headcanon Elizabeth as tragically hardened by the loss of her brother and father at Edgecoat and I think that may also have thrown a bit of a wrench into their love, given how she was faced with the violent consequences of being queen and afterwards with how Warwick and co. went free and she lost her chance of vengeance. I don’t think they were ever out of love though, especially judging by how she continued to be pregnant up to 3 years short of his death and the absolute trust he put in her. But I headcanon his attachment to Jane Shore as him seeking the light-hearted wit and lively banter that Elizabeth slowly started losing as the years went on and she became less vivacious and a tad more calculating and icy. I headcanon them as having a rift when it came to dealing with problems: she would keep on with her ministrations whereas he would just want to engage in escapisms. But the thing with the infidelity is that one should keep in mind that during that period relations would have to stop once the woman started showing, so Edward having affairs should not be read into too much tbh, perhaps it was more a type of addiction on his part like drinking and eating was - like all part of an excessive Epicureanism which he adopted to relieve himself of his stresses and sorrows (and boy were there many!), so not something that necessarily indicated he grew tired of her or whatever. Maybe she understood that and that’s why she didn’t make a fuss? But then again, the fact that there wasn’t complete faithfulness remains a personal impediment for me with this ship :// that’s just me personally.

Also the discussion we had about Mélusine and the alchemical elements and Edward IV’s own interest in such (which was used as ammunition for George when he accused Edward of engaging in dark arts to corrupt his subjects XD... yes I know très ironique)... made me headcanon him and Elizabeth bonding over this, and perhaps seeing their union as somewhat quite mystical. It would be something so interesting to explore and I think it’s a real shame that people nowadays recoil everytime they hear the word ‘Woodville’ and ‘Mélusine’ put together which is a shame because when handled delicately it could turn into something beautiful and it was certainly not a PG invention!

Also... those two have some bitchin’ fannart!

So yes, this was quite the stream of consciousness... but I do have a lot of thoughts for this couple! They were my OTP for the longest time after all.

[queenharumiura]

((H.A.R.U))

Taken from meme: [x] ||Accepting|| ((Oh Kiki, I see what you did, you beautiful bean))

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

[x] - Answered here ; As a bonus, i’ll answer A and R in regards to the Inuyasha fandom bc we’re both in it. He is coming into a friendly relation with Margaret (OC) which is great. IDK what he’d be with Elena, but realistically, I think it would maybe be a friendship of sorts? I think that covers that. I don’t have any ships that are official in threads. However, I do think our Kikyo and Sesshomaru would eventually get down to being a ship.

In fandom, I support Inuyasha/Kagome and Sango/Miroku as it’s canon. In regards to what I like, I do like Sesshomaru/Kagome and Sesshomaru/Kikyo (GET FUCKING REKTED INUYASHA! Don’t be mistaken, I love Inuyasha but I am biased). Sesshomaru and Kagura would be an interesting dynamic to explore more on. I think I’ve seen people state Sesshomaru already loved Kagura when she died and I just-- don’t feel the vibe tbh. I personally think he would’ve needed more time to come to terms with such an emotion. I think it was interest, respect, and familiarity at best at that time. Anyways, I think their dynamic would be very fun as a ship. I’ve seen Sesshomaru and Sango as well and i’m like LE KEK, SURE WHY NOT? Me casually making my muses a ship magnet in fandom? Yes. In RPC? LOL SHIP? Can I eat that? 

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Oof- Okay... uh... I’ll avoid the fandoms i muse for to try to make this more original. 

Trash of the Count’s Family

Cale- I am biased, I love the main character, obviously. I just really like Cale. He has some sassy thoughts in his head and I LIVE for that. Additionally, I just find him to be fascinating as a character. I can’t really go into it because it goes into severe spoiler territory, but basically, the way he was integrated into the world he was isekai’ed into is so fascinating to me, especially when you realize there is more to this isekai than we, the readers, are initially led to believe. In regards to emotions, he’s more stagnant than I’m used to in a lot of characters I like, but I don’t hate it? Rather, it fits him well. He’s an ‘unlucky’ dude and I laugh at his misfortune. When you consider angst material—Ohhhh CHEF KISS.

Alberu- BIG BROTHER CROWN PRINCE ALBERU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love him so much. AHHHHHH He’s such a fun character to me. This sly Prince. He really does care a lot about Cale and it makes me cry. He takes his role as a Prince seriously and puts so much care into the common-folk and he doesn’t discriminate against those of the dark species (Necromancers, dark elves, vampires, etc) which is almost unheard of especially since the most prominent religions are those of the Light. He has a reason for it which I won’t spoil. AHHHH I love him. //sob

Raon Miru- BABY DRAGON!!!!!!! The cutest lil thing who I love to pieces. He was introduced as an abused baby and it hurts me to think about. He hates humans but he sticks around Cale because he’s the human that saved him from being tortured daily. He slowly becomes acclimated to being around humans and grows to trust some. He still hates humans but the ones he’s close to aren’t ‘humans’. They are ‘his people’. I cry. This all-mighty dragon is amazing and can do everything. Bow before his might. I love him. Fite me.

-

Legend of the Sun Knight

(Lesus) Judgement Knight- Okay, he’s not the main character, but--!!! He’s great. Even though he’s supposed to be at odds with the Sun Knight as they embody different philosophies, they are actually the best of friends in secret. He deals with a lot of Grisia’s (Sun Knight) BULLSHIT, getting him out of trouble. His dynamic with Grisia is just hilarious to me. He’s a calm and collective type. Very serious, not very talkative. He’s the head of the ‘cold-faction’ and his role is to punish sinners in grotesque ways so many fear him but HE’S. A. GOOD. BOI!!!!!!! He just—is so dedicated to his role but mostly Grisia, his best-friend-who-is-not-his-friend. I’M CRY.

(Grisia) Sun Knight- The actual main character of the series. He’s so… HE’S AN INSUFFERABLE LIL TWAT—BUT I LOVE HIM. So sassy and just a lil shit in general. He’s very clever and he’s also what you could consider a genius. I love competency, mmm. He’s HELLA petty. To put it simply, he’s the Sun Knight, who is like the head of the Sun Church. You could say he’s the leader of an entire religion, who worship the God of Light. (If you ever see me type OMGOL, it’s bc I’m typing Oh My God of Light. Fax) There are select knights who are spokespeople for the church and he’s the head of them. All such knights are considered to be ‘brothers’ and he’s very protective of them all. Princess? King? Liche? The world? He don’t give any flying fucks. You touch his knights and he’ll get revenge. BET. I love that level of savagery.

(Neo) Sun Knight- I must say, he doesn’t show up much, but he is just //chef kiss. The special knights I mentioned earlier are roles that get passed down to a new generation. There are 12 in total, and the Sun Knight is the topmost knight. Neo Sun is said to be the best knight in HISTORY aside from the original. His sword skills are legendary and he raised Grisia, the… uh… ‘weakest’ Sun Knight in history. He’s the weakest in sword skill and horse riding skill, but Grisia is the strongest when it comes to magic proficiency. Just Neo’s name can send Grisia into a panic. He is somewhat of a Father for Grisia. A scary one, but one that Grisia cares deeply for. The sacrifices that Neo has made for Grisia is just //sob. He and Lesus both have done so much for Grisia behind the scenes and I’m just--- //cries harder.

-

The King’s Avatar

Ye Xiu- He is the main character of this novel and ughhh I love him so much. He too, IS A LIL SHIT!!!! He is so insufferable sometimes to his opponents and I LOVE IT. He’s very smart and skilled in what he does. He’s a professional gamer and I don’t understand a thing about games but I only need to know that he’s wicked good lol. He’s very dedicated to Glory, the game that he was a professional gamer for. He kinda… got ousted out by the team he FOUNDED. He says that he’ll get back into the professional association and take another championship. The novel centers around him and you watch as he sets out to complete a specific goal in mind in honor of a certain someone.

Huang Shaotian- A talkative dumbass. I love him. He is such PUPPY ENERGY. He bothers Ye Xiu a lot with his highkey energy. He’s extremely talented and he is known for his trash talking. He talks ridiculously fast and he’s just so--- insufferable in another way lol. I love him for it. He doesn’t always think before he talks and it gets him into trouble. Even though they are on opposing teams, he is quite fond of Ye Xiu and after finding out Ye Xiu suddenly retired (ie he was forced out of his team), he was very concerned for him. He even travelled to come talk to him and do him a favor. He was like: Old Ye, if you ever need anything, just ask! I’ll help! THIS. GOOD. BOI!!!!!!!!!! He’s really just a big idiot sometimes. “Hey, Shaotian, where are you?” “Oh, I’m xxxxxx.” “Oh? That’s where a boss spawns. I’ll be there.” Who just—he legit just gave intel to Ye Xiu about a boss monster spawn to an enemy guild. He is just too honest and ready to answer to Ye Xiu. You can tell he really respects Ye Xiu despite what trash talk he spouts. Ye Xiu IS the God of Glory, after all.

Han Wenqing- IN COMING YE XIU’S OLD RIVAL FOR YEARS!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH They just--- I’M CRY. They have such history with each other, constantly butting head with each other in game/tournaments. They don’t have a dynamic where they look at each other and just cuss each other out or what have you. They genuinely respect each other and wouldn’t mind hanging out with each other in private. They are both captains of their own respective teams and the fans of their teams are mortal enemies lol. Han Wenqing and Ye Xiu are both older players and you really get to see the struggles older players face in the tough gaming industry. He’s a responsible captain and he is so respectable. He’s so great. I love him too. The dynamic he has with Ye Xiu is--- //crying

[apsaraqueen]

For the ask: Love & Sleep. I started listing questions and then realised there were only 5 I missed out, so... ALL OF THE QUESTIONS PLEASE. I WANT TO KNOW ALL YOUR BRAIN THOUGHTS ABOUT LS.

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

There’s a lot of ways to interpret this question! In terms of substance, I wanted to write the kind of classic “the Shitennou come back” fic for Jadeite and Rei (my OTP, of course) that I’ve always wanted to read - something long and layered that deals with what happens after the initial shock, distrust, etc. of the return and delves into what the process of forgiveness and rediscovery might really look like. And to be clear, I’ve definitely read a lot of wonderful takes on this concept, it’s not new and so many other authors have done it better, but I haven’t found any that focused on my favorite couple (if there’s one I’ve missed, PLEASE SEND IT TO ME). And then stylistically, I just kind of wanted to write something...indulgent. For myself, really. Slow-paced, dreamy, gentle. I hope it hits the mark.

2: What scene did you first put down?

Boringly enough - the first scene! Where Jadeite, now called Junin, comes back, taking place on the grounds of the shrine. I had the image in my head for a long time before I started the fic.

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

I...have no idea. It honestly changes all the time. I’ll just pick a random one I like. It’s of Rei watching Junin (the reincarnated Jadeite) sleep. Not creepy at all, right? I like the level of comfort between the two it implies, and it’s just a tender, quiet moment with her thinking of him, and of what draws her to him.

Junin slept on his back, one arm tucked under his nape, the other tossed across his front; the length of his legs extended several centimeters past the rumpled sheets’ edge. A book propped on his chest bore an English title that made little sense to her. She knelt by his head, suddenly concerned he might be feverish, or taken ill. He wasn’t sweating, nor ashen. The priestess touched his forehead and found the temperature not dissimilar to her own.

Under her palm his eyebrows bristled, permanently arched where hers ran like the ties of train tracks. She felt fine sun-lines there that she couldn’t see. Against her fingers his hair was dense, grown now slightly off the scalp, lightened more from working outdoors. She took back her hand, put it in her lap. From time to time it still startled her, to be able to look at him like this, unrationed. Even here at rest, she thought there was control in his features, a kind of ruthless calm she’d never been able to help responding to.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

This is really hard because I wouldn’t call this a dialogue-driven fic. Why, you ask? Because I can’t write dialogue to save my life. A lot of this fic - maybe even the majority - exists between the spaces of what’s said, so the dialogue is pretty.........formless. If I had to pick, I’d probably go with this.

“I killed you,” she said, and couldn’t help but add, “twice.”

“You were right,” he told her.

“And I didn't want to,” she went on dully. “When you came I – thought you were a ghost.”

“You wish I were?”

“I wish I didn’t remember. What we did.”

“Them,” said Junin. “Not us.”

She said, low: “I wish we’d done – anything else.”

I liked writing this because while I definitely think there’s a part of Rei struggling to forgive Junin for what his past self did, I also think there’s maybe even a larger part that wishes none of it happened at all, that their history could be erased and they could start fresh, that recognizes culpability is often complex and not as one-sided as you maybe want it to be (this of course depends on how you headcanon the Silver Millennium going down - I like to imagine it wasn’t necessarily all Shitennou=bad, Senshi=good).

5: What part was hardest to write?

Urg. Writing the first Silver Millennium flashback was pretty hard. It took me forever to figure out the right tone that didn’t sound horribly stilted and Lord of the Rings-esque. Also hard trying to convey the differences between Mars/Jadeite and Rei/Junin along with the similarities. Rei, for example, is a lot more wounded and careful with her emotions, for obvious reasons, than Mars ever was. And while Junin is still capable of being somewhat morally ambiguous, he’s also genuinely a nicer guy than the more politically-minded Jadeite could be. I wanted to get that across without getting mired in irrelevant details about the past……….which I maybe need to save for another longwinded fic altogether. *bangs head on wall*

After the first flashback things fell into line, more or less, but I must have rewritten that first one, like, ten times.

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

It’s longer than 12,000 words! AND took me more than double that to get to any smut! In seriousness, I think this is the first multichaptered fic I’ve written since, like.............high school.

7: Where did the title come from?

From the poem of the same name by A.C. Swinburne. It’s quite sexy, and the woman described in it sounds very much like Rei to my mind.

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

Normally, with most of my fics, I’d say yes...but in this case, not really. Other than the food. I most definitely drew on real-life inspiration - delicious things I’ve eaten, particularly while in Tokyo - for the food. You’ll never find me writing a fic without some gratuitous food pr0n in there for good measure. The wagashi shop the girls meet at is based on one I visited while there, actually.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Not really. You could say this is in some ways an alternate version of another fic I wrote a while back, Tragedia? When I wrote that one I had in the back of my mind that someday I should write the same concept with a very different ending...and here we are.

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

Because I love them! And I feel like I rarely see them happy in fic (to be clear, I do love my RxJ angst, so that’s not a bad thing!). I wanted to write a story for them that felt realistic and for lack of a better word, adult - that progressed in a natural way. I wanted to challenge myself to do it in a way that was slow-burning and relatively low-drama but not boring. And I wanted to see if I could sustain the tension and intimacy that makes their relationship so interesting to write, without resorting to my usual go-tos of smut (at least not immediately!) and angst.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

I’m happy with the atmosphere it conveys - sometimes moody, mostly serene. I worked really hard on that aspect and I feel like it maybe, kind of, sort of paid off!

12: What do you like least about this fic?

I wish it was wittier, more humorous in some places - I feel like it would add a sense of balance. That’s my biggest failing as a writer, I think; I really have no clue how to do comedy. I am not funny in the slightest.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

I had just seen Call Me By Your Name when I started writing it, so a lot of the soundtrack for that. Mystery of Love in particular. Also a lot of Rhye.

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

Learn? No, I don’t think so. Just trying to put more of my OTP out in the world in hopes of inspiring more of it!

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

So much. Like I’ve noted above, this is the longest thing I’ve written in a long time and honestly I’m kind of amazed I’ve been able to stay motivated! Writing something longer requires, obviously, patience - you can’t just fire all your guns at once, you think of things you want to write RIGHT AWAY but then have to save them for later, you have to actually, ugh, have a structure………….this is all patently clear to a competent writer, but these are things I was pretty sure I’d forgotten how to do, so it’s been nice stretching myself this way.

Thank you for the ask, @coppercrane2 - this was so fun!

[pikapeppa]

Oh Mighty Word Wrangler, bestow upon me your wisdom!! ♥ What do you think makes your amazing fics so popular? Apart from your OBVIOUS talent and writing ability, of course ;) Is it frequency of posting? The pairings? Amount of smut? I'm curious :D

HAHAHAH THANK YOU FOR THAT COMPLIMENT YOU SNUCK IN THERE but also I’M PANIC at the thought of trying to answer this question lol?? I mean, this is the question for the ages, right? What makes a fic popular, and how do we boost the engagement with our own work?

Let me preface this reply by saying it is based just on my experiences and hypothesizing, and NOT on anything systematic. Trust me, I’d study this like a science if I could, but then I wouldn’t be writing. HAHA. Also, I’ll mostly focus on popularity on AO3 and not on Tumblr, since I would argue that I’m only “known as a writer” on Tumblr because people followed me here from AO3. 

First of all, I want to highlight the fact that popularity does not equal quality, and vice versa. I’ve read some fics that are AMAZING but have little engagement. Some examples are Last Call by @galadrieljones (Ameridan/Lavellan) and this very short Fenris fic that I just read recently. On the other hand, I’ve tried to read some fics that are extremely popular with tons of hits/kudos/comments, but my judgmental ass thinks they’re poorly written and/or poorly characterized. There really is not a clear linear relationship between the quality of a fic and its popularity. (Anyone who is discouraged by the lack of engagement with their work: please keep this in mind.)

Another thing to consider: what do we even mean by popularity? On AO3, is the most popular fic the one with the most hits? The most comments? The most kudos? Even then, a longfic that’s been updated weekly for a year is going to have more hits than a completed oneshot, just by virtue of its length. Frequently updated fics will show up week after week in search results, since AO3’s search results show the most recently updated fics by default. So when I think about popularity… ehhh, I guess I’m thinking about a vague combination of all three of these things – hits, kudos, and comments – while keeping the length of the fic in mind. Given all of this, in the grand scheme of things, my DA fics really aren’t that popular. I didn’t actually do a search because I didn’t want to make myself sad, but if you search my DA pairings (e.g. Fenris/female Hawke) on AO3 by number of hits/comments/kudos, I won’t come up on the first few pages of search results. We’ll come back to the topic of search results later.

ANYWAY. Let’s pretend I’m relatively popular, leaving out the Big Names™ in DA fanfic (whom I won’t tag here because I don’t want to annoy them with a random tag lol). What do I think make my fics somewhat popular? I can think of four things:

Frequency of posting

The combination of fandom and pairing: filling a gap

Varying lengths of fics for a single pairing: something for everyone

I have no idea

Frequency of posting

The most obvious factor that jumps out to me is that I post regularly and frequently. Currently, I update my two ongoing longfics weekly or every other week. When I first got really heavily into Fenris/Rynne Hawke, I was updating almost every day. As I mentioned before, AO3’s search results are shown by the most recently updated fics by default. So if I’m posting regularly, that means my fic is regularly appearing at the top of the list of search results when people search my tags or pairings, which means a higher chance of new readers seeing it and deciding to dive in week after week. 

Fandom and pairing: filling a gap

For this point, I’m going to call back to the fandom where I first became “well-known”, which is Horizon Zero Dawn. I’ve written a number of ships for that game, but my OTP is Aloy/Nil. My fic Stormbirds and Stalkers is the second most kudos’ed fic if you search for that pairing on AO3, and the #1 most kudos’ed fic if you exclude fics that are multi-ship (i.e. shipping Aloy with multiple people in a single fic, which is common in the HZD fandom). Importantly, this was a popular pairing in a very small fandom. There weren’t many fics for this pairing at the time, and there weren’t any fics that did what I was doing: a monogamous love story, with explicit smut, that was actually being updated. 

Funnily enough, though, my second most popular fic in the HZD fandom is my fic for Aloy/Ikrie. This is an extreme rarepair even within a small fandom, with only 19 Aloy/Ikrie fics on AO3, but my fic for this pairing is the one with the most hits/kudos/comment and is also my one fic with the most subscribers on AO3. Clearly people were excited about this fic and wanted to see more of this pairing. 

So what’s the logic here? A rarepair in a small fandom, a popular pairing in a small fandom… what’s the pattern? From what I can tell, a fic will be more popular if people are starved for that content. If a fic falls into that gap where people clearly want MOAR, but MOAR doesn’t yet exist, it’s going to get more engagement. Popular pairings in a small fandom fall perfectly into that gap, as do highly-coveted rarepairs with little existing content. A Dragon Age example of this is my little Cole/Lavellan romance fic. Colemances are quite rare, sexual ones even more so, and I think the reason for my Colemance fic’s popularity is because it fills that gap. 

If we return to the rest of my Dragon Age fic, however… [nervous laugh] the logic I just outlined above doesn’t really apply. That takes me to the third factor.

Varying fic lengths for a single pairing: a little something for everyone

Most of my Dragon Age work is for the most popular pairings for the games I’ve played: FenHawke for DA2, and Solavellan for DA:I. (Yes, yes, Cullen is even more popular, but I’ll leave my Cullen/Inquisitor work out of this analysis because I think it’s a special case.) I’ve heard that it’s notoriously difficult to get engagement when you’re writing a popular ship for a bigger fandom, since readers get inundated with choice and your fic can get lost in the shuffle. I would in no way say I’m “popular” for the pairings I write, considering that the most popular Solavellan fics have like… tens of thousands of hits and thousands of comments. Still, I have been surprised and thrilled by the engagement I have gotten in this fandom, especially since I’m kind of a noob to the DA world. 

One of the reasons my DA work might be relatively popular is that I write fics of varying lengths and types for my pairings. For Fen and Rynne in particular, I’ve got everything from non-smut oneshots to smutty oneshots to smutty longfics to AUs. There’s a little bit of everything for everyone, and I suspect that someone who was like “I just want a oneshot” might get interested enough by the one thing they read to check out my other work, even if they didn’t start out looking for more than a oneshot. Similarly for Solavellan, and also for Abelas/Lavellan, I’ve got oneshots and a multichapter drabble collection, so there’s something both for the people who are searching for a quick oneshot and for those who are searching for multichapter fics. In short: more variety means more potential to show up in AO3 search results. 

Don’t get me wrong; some of my Dragon Age stuff has fallen flat, namely my Blackwall/Lavellan work. That was actually the first DA ship I ever wrote for. The smutty oneshot collection has been relatively popular in terms of hits and kudos, but the two little multichapter mini-fics I wrote for Baewall have had very little attention, and I don’t really know why. Baewall isn’t the most popular ship in the fandom, I know, but it still doesn’t really explain the popularity of the smutty oneshots versus the mini-fics, which are also smutty. 

Which brings me to my final point…

I have no idea.

LOL. Seriously though. I’m sure there are other things at play that I’m not aware of, so maybe this can open a little discussion! What do you guys think? Any other theories on why some fics get more popular than others? 

Thanks for the interesting ask, Elvenybae! I definitely spent too much time thinking about this today, LOL!! 😂 😘

- Love from your friendly neighbourhood Pikapeppa xoxo

[thecorpulentbeagle]

P5 Shipping Round Robin: Final Thoughts

Here are my final thoughts/feelings for this entire experience. Feel free to read or disregard completely!

I will be posting this in a question/answer format, just so it’s not one huge block of text/word vomit. If anyone else who is completing this challenge sees this, I’d love to see your answers to these questions as well!

Why did you decide to do this challenge?

When I first saw this challenge, I thought it would be fun and would help me to try out different styles of writing. I have my favorite characters, as well as ones that I don’t like too much, and I was curious to see who I would write well, and who I would struggle to write.

I also wanted to be able to contribute something to the Persona 5 fandom, since I’ve seen such great artwork and fanfiction – on Tumblr, fanfiction.net, and a variety of other places. It has also been a while since I had posted anything on my fanfiction account, so anything to boost productivity there is a huge plus! In fact, with all these one-shots combined into one story, this is my longest piece on that site as of now!

Who did you think would be the easiest to write when you started? Was that character truly the easiest once you began to write?

To be honest, I thought it would be easiest for me to write my favorite characters: Makoto and Haru. Even though I hadn’t personally seen all ranks 1-10 with them, I had heard about them, plus I focused more on them during the main plot.

Were they the easiest when I started to actually write? Yes and no. I found that writing for Makoto was much more difficult than I thought it would be. She definitely was not the worst (see my answer to the next question for that), but I was surprised at how much I struggled. I found that it was easier to write her with someone more bubbly (like Ann and Futaba) rather than with more subdued individuals, like Akira or Yusuke. I suppose it’s because I see her as a calmer and more collected individual, so if there’s no contrast, it’s harder to make a compelling one-shot.

With Haru, I found that she was rather easy to write. I learned as I wrote that Haru is a much more complicated individual than I had originally thought. She can play the part of the excited and giggling love interest, as well as the more level-headed and rational love interest. It was interesting to see how many ways she could be portrayed, yet still retain the essence of Haru.

However, there were three characters I found surprisingly easy to write: Ann, Ryuji, and Futaba. I think the main reason it was easy to write them was because I have seen all of their ranks 1-10, so I knew a lot more about them than other characters. Futaba has a very distinct personality, so it was fun and easy to play around with that. Ann and Ryuji are both energetic characters as well, so it was easy for me to pair them up with more subdued characters (like Akira and Goro). In short, all of their stories were just really fun (and therefore, easy) to write!

 Who did you think would be the most difficult to write when you started? Was that character truly the most difficult when you began to write?

When I started, I figured that Goro and Yusuke would be the most difficult to write, for two different reasons. Goro is my least favorite Phantom Thief (not exactly the smartest thing to admit on Tumblr, but there ya go), so I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to write his one-shots without them turning nasty or unrepresentative of his true character. With Yusuke, I sometimes find it difficult to get a read on his personality, so I was worried that I’d struggle with making his interactions realistic.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy Goro’s character was to write. Though he was not the easiest, I found as I wrote that he can be extremely complex, and that makes for really great writing. I feel that I came to appreciate him more as I wrote stories for him.

I will say without a doubt that Yusuke was by far the hardest character for me to write. Every story (with the exception of Ann x Yusuke) had me sitting at my computer screen, staring blankly at it for ten minutes, typing a sentence, and then immediately getting rid of it because it sounded nothing like him.

The hardest story for me to write was Yusuke x Makoto, I think because they are both somewhat subdued individuals, plus they really don’t interact all that much in-game. Most of his humor and appeal flies over my head, so I struggled to write him because I wasn’t sure if I was doing his character justice.

 What lessons have you learned from this experience?

What a generic question!

But seriously, I think one of the main lessons I learned was that all characters from the Phantom Thieves are complex. This challenge forced me to focus on each character, to analyze his or her actions within Persona 5, and to then predict and write out how they would react in my made-up scenarios. It helped me see things from all of the characters’ perspectives, and, as such, I think it’s helped me appreciate all of the characters a little bit more, especially those whom I had previously disliked.

Another (probably obvious) lesson that I learned is that I have a couple new pairings that I enjoy. As stated before, my “Persona 5 OTP” is Okujima, but I found that I also like Ann x Makoto, and Ann x Futaba. This kinda shows that I apparently really like Ann, which I hadn’t considered before starting this challenge!

 Which story’s reception most surprised you?

I think I was surprised at how much attention the Ryuji x Haru, Ryuji x Futaba, Ryuji x Makoto, and Ann x Futaba stories received. I guess those were more popular pairings than I realized! To be fair, the Ryuji stories all had a ship name, which probably indicates that it’s a popular ship. Plus, Ryuji seems to be fairly popular on Tumblr, regardless of pairings.

It was interesting to see how popular the Ann x Futaba one-shot was. It was one of my favorite (and easiest) stories to write, but it’s surprising to think that there are a fair amount of people out there actively looking for this ship!

Also, anything with Yusuke seemed somewhat popular, which is interesting, since I thought those were my weakest one-shots. Interestingly enough, the Yusuke x Goro one-shot was pretty popular as well, and those are the two characters that I thought I would struggle with the most to write!

Something else to note: some of the one-shots that I put the most effort into (like Futaba x Goro, PolyThieves, Makoto x Futaba, and Ann x Haru) were actually on the lower end in terms of notes received. Meanwhile, some stories that I spent a lot less time on (Ryuji x Ann, Akira x Goro, and Yusuke x Goro were literally written the night I had to post) got a lot of attention. It might possibly be the popularity of the pairings, or maybe it means I shouldn’t think too hard about a topic and should just write!

Lastly, I was extremely heartened by the amazing response for the Akira x Makoto one-shot! I put a lot of thought and research into that story, so I’m glad that paid off!

 Any personal stories/reasons that helped you write certain one-shots?

Not really, my life is pretty boring (ha!).

I used my love of goats to write the Yusuke x Futaba story, as well as my fear of roller coasters for my Makoto x Futaba story.

I tried really hard to make the Akira x Futaba one-shot be dramatic and entertaining, since this is my sister’s favorite pairing. I made my favorite pairing of Makoto x Haru how I like romances myself, with quiet moments that show how strongly the two people feel for each other.

I also used plot suggestions from my family to write some of the one-shots. One example was the Makoto x Goro unrequited love one.

 Tips and tricks for anyone who would like to do this challenge?

Make sure that you have at least half of the stories written before you begin the challenge (if not more)! It really saved my butt some nights when I had no inspiration, and the random number generator would place two or three of my completed stories next to each other. Unfortunately, there were some stretches where it placed two or three stories that I had not completed next to each other, and I had to work really hard to write them quickly but with quality.

Also, I would suggest switching around to different stories when you run out of inspiration. Sometimes, I would be writing one story and start to daydream and get distracted, but it would lead to an idea for another story.

One thing that really helped me too was to have an outline for each story. I’m not gonna post my notes (because they’re a mess), but I would essentially have: title, what stage of the relationship the story occurred in, when in the main story it occurred in, who (if anyone) confessed, who had the romantic feelings, whose perspective the one-shot would be from, the main plot, and any significant details. It really helped me to figure out how each story should be written, from dramatic unrequited love to an established mutual relationship.

Take breaks! Do not try and write every single night. You will exhaust yourself, especially if you have work or school. If you’re exhausted, it’s extremely difficult to be creative. I would use the weekends to catch up if I was behind, but there were some weeknights where I stayed up way too late to make a deadline. This did not have a good end result, so make sure that you don’t repeat my mistakes! This is where my first piece of advice comes into play.

And the best piece of advice: Have fun! This experience can be as fun or as dreadful as you make it, so definitely have a positive outlook, even when things seem impossible.

 Final final thoughts?

Hope everyone enjoyed! Please consider doing this challenge yourself – I don’t want to be the only one who suffered through this (kidding… kind of)! There are so many ways that characters could be written, and I’d love to see other interpretations.

I’d also suggest trying this with Persona 3 or 4 characters, since there are a lot of possibilities there as well. I will not be doing that anytime soon (I have officially run out of plots), but I may do something like that in the future!

To sum up, this was a great (and exhausting) experience, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves Persona 5 and loves to write. It will really flex your creative muscles. I realized around one-shot number 17 that I was starting to run out of ideas. It’s hard to think of 29 different plots! It will also get you to really appreciate characters that you might not have before.

Goodbye for now, and have fun doing what you do!

[peaches-of-1]

Last Chapter

< Prev |

Before we get started, I just want to thank all of you who have been reading this from beginning to end. This will be a memorable set because of the OTP becoming canon and then mistreated but that’s another story. So thanks and I hope to write more Pentagon soon.

Competition day was finally here and everyone was busy warming up and doing their makeup even though you didn’t have to perform until later. As the lead, you were nervous. You weren’t the only one, so everyone had done a full run through before breaking for lunch.

Even though you Hyojong different meals, you both ended up sharing most of it, and everyone rolled their eyes when you fed each other. It was two hours until show time for the co-ed groups since the males and females performed tomorrow. You had so much built up entergy, so you wanted to get it all out in order not to overdo it on stage.

E’Dawn gave you a back hug and asked how you were feeling. You weren’t completely sure to be honest.

[3 Days ago]

After checking into the Lotte City Hotel in Jeju, everyone got ready to explore the city until curfew. You and most of your friends went to a nearby park to do some k-pop in public where a decent crowd formed. In the crowd was a guy who was like hella gorgeous who came to talk to you afterwards.

He bowed and greeted you, “I’m Woosung, but you can call me Sammy. You guys were all amazing! I wish I could dance like that.”

What was it with fucking blonde ass Koreans? He was platinum as fuck, and you were digging it.

“(Y/N).” You introduced yourself as Hyojong and the others looked on. “We’re just in town for competition.”

“Oh, really? Me too. Well, my younger bro’s competing, but I’m here to support him.” He removed a leaf from your shoulder. “You’re not from here, are you?”

“Nah, U.S.A.”

He switched to English, “Same here. Where from?”

You told him and you guys spoke a bit. E’Dawn said that you’d all better head to the mall if you wanted time to shop before tomorrow and get some practice in before it got too late. You rolled your eyes since you were still upset with him, but he was right.

“Wanna come with?”

“Yeah, I’m meeting my brother and his friends there anyways.”

Sammy was wearing a shirt covered in white roses that you really liked a lot, and he said that he’d give it to you if you won 1st place. You laughed. He was a really sweet dude and you liked hanging out with him even though you had just met. He got along well with Matthew as well.

Once at the mall, there was a lot of window shopping. You wanted to save your money for food. Hyojong told you to come with him because he wanted to show you something. Not wanting to go alone, you told the others that E’Dawn wanted to go somewhere specific.

“I know we’re not on the best of terms right now, but I still wanted to give you this. I ordered it ahead of time, so that it’d be ready when we got here.”

Half of the group and Sammy went with you to see what Hyojong wanted and you ended up at a Build-a-Bear. He went to the counter and showed a code or something from his phone, and the man smiled. He went to the back, and you were not believing this.

“Dawnie, did you really...make a bear for me?”

He nodded, “Yeah. I wanted something as cute as you but that I sorta made for you to have. It’s silly, I know, but still.”

The man came back out with a light blue bag. You took the plushy out yourself and couldn’t stop yourself from smiling. It was a Pikachu dressed up as Peter Pan.

“It’s Pika Pan.” He said.

“OMG, I love it!” You hugged it and then caught yourself. You still hugged it but loosened your grip, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Thanks, oppa.” You didn’t look at him as you put a receipt on the counter.

“I was pretty sure they were ordered for a couple, but coincidences exist.” The employee laughed and nodded, returning to the back.

Everyone was confused, and your cheeks were on fire. He came back with a green gift bag. Inside of this one was a Buneary in a blue dress with a blue ribbon tied around it’s ear.

“Wendeary.” You said.

“Just fuck each other already, my god!” Kino said, just loud enough for the group to hear.

Everyone laughed and Sammy asked why you guys chose those specific costumes, and you said it was your concept. It’s not like he was competing against you guys.

“Hyung!” A cute smaller boy with brown hair called out to the group. “We gotta get back to the main group now!”

“Ok, I’m coming!”

Sammy said farewell to the group and said the he couldn’t wait to see you guys on stage. You all then went to go eat, and the others were going to make you two air your grievances and finally talk to one another.

You went first. “How come you didn’t say I was your girlfriend when everyone was drooling over you? It had to be obvious what I was feeling especially with all the questions I was asking you.��

He shook his head, “Not really. Well, sort of because I know you, but I was nervous you’d loose interest. I wasn’t sure that you actually wanted to date me since you’re so amazing and--”

Everyone stared at him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jiwoo said. “You weren’t sure if she actually wanted to--” She was fuming.

“Dawnie, I swear to god, you’re adorable but stupid af.” Lisa added.

Matthew nodded, “Dude. Really? You’ve gotta be kidding.”

“But then when everything was done, instead of talking to me, you went to go party with Mr. LA and crew.”

You shrugged, “Well, yeah! You weren’t giving me anything, so I decided to go chill with friends. You didn’t even call me if you were so curious or concerned or whatever about me.”

“Cuz my phone fell onto concrete and the screen shattered!” He didn’t yell, but he was very expressive. “I couldn’t text if I wanted to, which I did by the way.” Hyojong pouted.

You pouted in return and played with your salad, “If your phone was broken, how were you able to call me the next day? Also, why not just get one of your friends to text me or in the group chat that it was broken?”

“I got it fixed the next day and called as soon as I could. I went to go watch your story, and it showed you having a good time. I called you to ask how it went and BM picked up. He said you were sleeping in his bed.”

“You saw my story! It showed all the other ones drunk as fuck! Matthew was the only one sober enough to care for a person. The others just went home and he was worried about me.”

Matthew added, “She doesn’t know Korea as well as the rest of us. It was safest for her to come home with me instead of trying to take a bus home by herself. Her friends were probably already asleep. I was only trying to help.”

“Well, I didn’t know all of that . The last snap didn’t load.”

Hui sighed, “So, is everything out now? Did everyone say what they needed to say?”

“Almost.” E’Dawn said. “I really am sorry that I didn’t try to talk to you properly. My anger and jealousy got the better of me.”

“And I was just being petty cuz you hurt my feelings, so I’m sorry too.” You replied.

Somin nearly jumped out of her seat, “Finally, omg.”

Amber agreed, “Like seriously, holy fuck.”

“So, titles?” You asked as soon as he had put food into his mouth.

“Soon.” He replied. “I want to make it special when we make it official.”

You rolled your eyes and the nine of you finished up eating before returning to your hotel rooms. There was about an hour left before it was time for curfew, so a couple of them decided to head to the pool that had a glass wall that was part of the gym nearby. Matthew went to the gym and pulled BamBam with him.

Hyojong, Amber, Hyuna, Somin, Hui, and you all went to the pool. Somin wore a tank top with her bathing suit as did Amber who was also in orange swim trunks and red flip flops. Hyuna went into the hot tub since she had slept wrong the night before and needed to loosen up some more since it still sort of hurt.

E’dawn jumped into the deep end while doing a cannonball. You had put your hair into a swim cap because you didn’t want it getting wet and taking forever to dry even after you washed it tonight. This way, you didn’t get any sort of water in your hair. You screamed as you were grabbed by the sides by an unknown source. Hyojong came up smiling and laughing.

You splashed him, “Oppa!” You called out, annoyed.

He started splashing you back and everyone got out of the way of the to playful lovebirds. Then everyone piled into the hot tub with Jiwoo. Even the boys came to the tub after washing off their sweat. Other teammates came out and the jacuzzi was able to fit 14 people into it total with nearly everyone sitting comfortably and two people in the middle. Then everyone dried off and went to their rooms before they got into trouble.

[Two Days Ago]

It was competition day. Everyone was doing warm ups and getting their makeup done. You were nervous as the lead, but you knew this was coming for months now. Luckily, even after the holiday season, everything still fit like it was supposed to. Before lunch, everyone performed the whole show real quickly and then the crew went out to eat on a ferry.

Hyojong and you ordered two different meals, but you two ended up sharing most of it. The others rolled their eyes every time you fed each other. Still, they were happy you two were still somewhat officially boyfriend and girlfriend.

Well, to clarify, this was competition day for co-ed groups. The boy and girl teams would perform at different times tomorrow. It was two hours until show time, and you were rocking on the balls of your feet to get out your built up energy. You didn’t want to overdo it on stage.

Hands slid around you waist and you almost jumped. You checked to see that it was E’dawn. He smiled at you and asked how you were feeling.

“Nervous. We’re the first group to go on since the team won last year, but being first is...I feel like my hands are shaking.”

He grabbed them, “I’ll hold your hands still for you then. We’re gonna do great, so don’t worry about it.”

You smiled as he came around and put his forehead to yours. He was such a huge comfort. Then he was called to go behind the small window set that was made for the show. You then got into the bed with Hui and J. Seph before being rolled out onto the stage.

Grown up Wendy and her children were waiting off stage opposite the bed. When the music started, they came on with Wendy holding a book. She was reading and began dancing with her oldest, a girl in a blue onesie. Then they kissed her cheeks and went “off to bed” passing the actual bed. Adult Wendy then looked at her Peter Pan book and slowdanced with it before looking at her bed and then going off stage.

Next song begins and there’s a knock on the window. the main part begins. You’re nervous, but you emote as you open up the window and get surprised by Peter Pan. You really are happy to see him. Hui and J. Seph are woken up by Tinkerbell Jiwoo who laughs at their surprise. The five of them dance together as the setting changes and the bed and window are taken away.

The story plays out with the Lost Boys being rowdy and lifting up the new guests and performing tricks for them to Skrillex. It was a great show that got a lot of gasps from the audience. They ain’t seen nothing yet. The scene soon changed to Hyuna Lily and girls in orange and turquoise hanboks doing their sword dance which allowed a break for the leads.

Lisa and the other girls looked so fierce with smiles on their faces and blades resting in the crook of their arms and somewhat on their forearms.They always had different practices until they got the hang of it. Then they had to perform in front of the others where proper spacing was learned. No once got sliced.

Then it was back on your feet for the battle with Matthew Hook and Somee. It was so much fun, but getting to do stylized capoeira was the best. After winning, more just wild partying and then it was time to go back home. Hyojong Pan helped your Wendy down and the two of you kissed even though it wasn’t part of the choreo.

You blushed and then waved at him as he jumped out the window and then you and your siblings ran off stage and past the bed. You were able to watch E’Dawn knock on the window and Adult Wendy wake up. Blackout. Everyone did a quick bow before running off stage and changing as quickly as possible to watch the other competitors.

It was over before you knew it. Ten groups were in this category, but only five stood on stage. The other ones didn’t make it to the top 3. Third place was given to a group that had done Hansel and Gretal.

A famous actor was calling out the prizes all night. It was finally time for him to announce first place.

“And coming in first, all the way from Seoul is Urban Shine! Applause!”

Everyone clapped and you turned to hug the person nearest you. Thinking it was E’Dawn, you were surprised when it was Vernon. In all the commotion, you had turned the opposite direction you had meant to for a hug. You both sort of shrugged since he had hugged you back. He motioned to Hyojong who you hugged tighter, and he grabbed the mic from the actor.

“I said I was gonna do this if we got first place here, so (Y/N), will you officially be my girlfriend? Titles and all?”

You nodded since this is what you wanted. You were his girlfriend. He was your boyfriend. The two of you were an official couple, and you weren’t going to miss this chance.

Amber leaned over into the microphone, “Fucking finally.”

Everyone laughed and he kissed you deeply. It was the greatest moment of your life other than getting accepted into college. First place and a boyfriend. That night, the whole crew went to go eat. Afterwards, it was straight to bed. You and your oppa were both very tired, and fell asleep texting each other.

[Today/Now]

After getting a tie for second place with the all girls team and the boys placing second alone, you all headed back to the hotel for the last night to get ready for the Dancer’s Banquet for all of the top five placing groups from every category. It was formal wear this year, but you said that you hadn’t brought anything particularly fancy.

It was more like you were nervous that the two outfits you had worn weren’t good enough despite what your roommies thought. Amber said she had you covered. From her suitcase, she pulled out several pink dresses and rompers since pink was the color picked this year. Everyone and their mother was confused as to why she had those with her.

“I like to be prepared, ok? Pick one.” A small blush was seen in her cheeks.

Her legs were badly chafed, so she wasn’t wearing going to be wearing the black suit she had brought. After you chose the frilly pink romper, she grabbed the longest dress and then realized she had a back up suit that was a lot looser. Then hair and makeup, jewelry and shoes. You undid your twists since you had kept them in so long for performances.

E’Dawn nearly died when he saw you and Amber as Jiwoo and Somin where whisked away by other boys who recognized them from earlier and had formed quick crushes. Hyojong was standing between Hyuna and Hui in the conference room where the banquet was being held. She nudged him and pointed to you. His heart wouldn’t start again but still heard the thumping in his ears.

A cutie by the name of Jimin got to you first in a pink pinstriped suit. He was in the boy group that got first place. He complimented you and said that he saw your performance yesterday, being a bit nervous.

You smiled and thanked him, smiling even bigger when you recognized E’dawn coming up beside you. He kissed your lips and you introduced Jimin to him. The two boys then started gushing about how talented the other was in the competition earlier.

“I literally do not know how we got first place.” Jimin said.

“Because you’re amazing, that’s how!” Hyojong replied.

“But we messed up so much! I messed up a bunch and you guys were so fucking clean!”

He shook his head, “I won’t have you saying you messed up. You talking about clean, and you guys were spotless.”

Jimin was then grabbed by the wrist from one of the other guys in his group and told about the chocolate fountain on the other side of the room. The two quickly scampered off to go see it.

Even as you two went to meet up with your closest friends in your groups, other people came up to praise your performances as Wendy and Peter. You also complimented them when you remembered who they were. If not, their outfit was the thing given praise.

Once you all got to the others, Hui smiled.

“Looks like everyone wants to be your friends.”

Hyuna smiled, “Or they hate your guts.” She pointed to a group of guys who were seething.

E’dawn had his hand around your waist, “It’s probably because I’m a drama queen. Asking you to be my girlfriend like that was really over the top. I’m sorry if it stressed you out.”

“It’s fine! I promise!” You said. “It was really sweet. A bit extra, but it made me happy.”

You kissed his cheek and he gave your lips a peck, holding you closer. Throughout the night, there were dance contests and fun things to do after eating the main meal. At some point, Hyojong asked if you wanted to go outside on the balcony.

It was getting hot inside, so you said yes. It was a nice view as the sea was right there and the waves were rolling beautifully. They crashed against the sand with a gentle roar. This side of the building didn’t have many lights other than a few lamps here and there.

You laughed.

He looked at you, “What?”

“I remember the first time I truly fell in love with you. It was when we were looking at the stars that night when I found Vernon making out with another girl. You didn’t tell me to just get over it but you comforted me.”

“Of course. We were friends first. Yeah, I had a crush on you ever since the first day I saw you walk into the library, but I still think your feelings should be cherished because they’re real no matter how fleeting.” He smiled softly. “Also, I was hella worried about you, so there’s that.”

You giggled, “I know this is gonna sound stupid, but I was actually thinking about leaving Korea because of that. I was just an emotional wreck but I--”

Hyojong kissed you and held your hand, “I’m really glad you stayed.”

Squeezing his hand, you replied, “Me too.”

Amber groaned behind you, exasperated, “Stop making out and come back inside!”

“Yeah,” Hyuna added. “You have some fans that wanna talk to you.”

She nodded towards the busy room. You and your boyfriend smiled and joined the party. You were glad you stayed, so very glad. It wasn’t the easiest life to have since it was just being made. Still, as you looked around at all the friends you had made you only had one thought.

So far, so good.

[mad-madam-m]

Songs and Sandwiches

(Another fic in the “I have to deal with a screaming baby, thus so do my OTPs” category.)

For the most part, Barnaby did not regret the decision to volunteer as a short-term foster parent to the orphanage. He wanted to help them out as much as he could, and they were willing to work with him and the limitations of his job. And usually, Barnaby didn't have the kids for more than a night or two, so the time commitment wasn't a huge one.

He had the means and the ability. It was the right thing to do to give back where he could.

That was what he told himself when he was holding an infant who was going into hour three of uncontrollable sobbing and showing no signs of slowing down.

Anna wasn't hungry, she didn't need to burp, and he'd changed her diaper twice. Barnaby had tried everything else he could think of—rocking her, bouncing her, telling her stories, swaying, humming, singing, toys—and the most it had earned him was two minutes of peace before she screwed up her face and started screaming again.

Finally, finally, her cries subsided from earsplitting to whimpering, and Barnaby had the faint hope that he might be able to put her down in the next thirty minutes.

The doorbell rang, and Anna's head snapped up and she shrieked.

Barnaby stalked to the door, fully prepared to kill whoever was on the other side.

It was Kotetsu. "Hey, Bunny! How are, uh, things?"

It didn't matter how long they had been partners; Barnaby was going to strangle him. "She's been screaming for two hours. I had just gotten her quiet. You rang my doorbell." 

Kotetsu winced, which told Barnaby he appreciated the gravity of the situation. "Sorry." He held up a white sack. "I brought food?"

It occurred to Barnaby he hadn't actually had anything to eat since that morning. He didn't stop glaring, but he did step aside to let Kotetsu in.

"So, she's...loud," Kotetsu said.

Barnaby walked to the kitchen, bouncing Anna as he went in hopes of soothing her some more. She was still crying, but she was somewhat distracted by the new person in the apartment, and so wasn't nearly as loud as she had been. "She's tired."

He had no idea if she was tired. He assumed she was. Anybody who had been screaming for more than two hours had to be tired.

Kotetsu set the sack of food on the counter. "Do you want me to hold her so you can eat?"

Barnaby hesitated.

Something must have shown on his face, because Kotestu huffed. "Hey, what's with that look? I'm not actually terrible with babies!"

"The last baby I saw you with screamed every time you got near and almost broke everything I own," Barnaby pointed out. 

"Those were special circumstances!" Kotetsu paused. "Uh, is she a NEXT?"

Barnaby shrugged. "If she is, she hasn't gotten her powers yet."

"Then you don't have to worry about her breaking anything." Kotetsu held out his hands. "I'll hold her. Unless you want to try to eat while holding a baby?"

Barnaby seriously considered it for about three seconds before he gave in and handed her over. "She's been kind of wary around new people, so—"

Kotetsu hefted her into the air. "It'll be fine." He made a silly face at Anna. "Won't it, sweetie?"

Anna screwed up her face and screamed. Kotetsu looked panicked.

Barnaby thought about taking her back, but his arms were aching from holding her for as long as he had and he was starving. He went and got plates instead. "Don't scare her."

"I'm not trying to be scary!" Kotetsu protested, and started crooning at Anna. "Right, kiddo? C'mon, I can't be that scary."

Anna continued screaming, apparently unimpressed by Kotetsu's reassurances.

Barnaby returned to digging food out of the sack while Kotetsu walked around the living room and bargained with Anna. Barnaby could only catch every other word between Anna's shrieks, a sign that whatever Kotetsu was saying wasn't working.

It didn't matter. Barnaby had ten minutes to eat; he was going to take it.

He found his sandwich thanks to the bunny head drawn on the wrapper and dug in. It was quite possibly the best sandwich he'd ever had in his life, although that may have been because it was the first thing he'd eaten in nearly ten hours and someone else was holding the unhappy baby.

Barnaby rubbed his thumb over the bunny head on his sandwich wrapper and smiled to himself.

In the living room, Anna's screams subsided to sobs, and then to whines. Now he could hear that Kotetsu was singing, though quietly enough he couldn't make out the words.

After another few minutes, Barnaby realized Anna was completely silent, and the only sound from the living room was Kotetsu's singing, which was fading.

He set his sandwich on the plate and walked over to see what was going on just in time to see Kotetsu return from the bedroom sans baby.

Barnaby was almost afraid to ask the question in case it wasn't true. "Is she asleep?"

Kotetsu grinned and hooked his thumb over his shoulder. "Out like a light."

Barnaby stared at him. "How did you get her to sleep?"

Kotetsu shrugged. "Maybe she just likes singing." He started toward the kitchen. "I hope you didn't eat my sandwich."

"I sang to her for half an hour." Barnaby followed him back to the kitchen and food. "It didn't help. What did you sing?"

"Maybe she likes my voice better." Kotetsu picked up a plate and dug another sandwich out of the bag. "Or maybe she doesn't like opera."

They'd been partners long enough that Barnaby could recognize it when Kotetsu was dodging the question, and he also knew when to let it go. He grabbed his own mostly finished sandwich and sat in the chair, leaving Kotetsu to stand at the counter. "Opera can be very soothing. It should have helped."

Kotetsu just chuckled into his sandwich.

They ate in relative silence, and Barnaby contemplated how wonderful silence was. Blissful, even. If he were lucky, this level of silence might last a full twenty minutes and he could finish eating. If he were really lucky, it would last an hour and he would get a nap as well.

After several minutes, Kotetsu finally spoke. "It was the song Tomoe and I danced to at our wedding. I used to sing it to Kaede to try to get her to sleep."

Oh. No wonder he'd been dodging the question. Barnaby should have guessed it had to do with his wife. "Did it work as well with Kaede as it did with Anna?"

Kotetsu didn't look up from his sandwich. "Eh, maybe half the time? It worked enough, though. I probably still have the song somewhere, if you wanted it."

Barnaby cleared his throat and went to get drinks out of the fridge. "Apparently I need to learn it, since it's the only thing that will get Anna to sleep and I'll have her for at least another day."

"Just as good as any lullaby," Kotetsu said. "I'll send it to you when I get home."

Barnaby handed him one of the drinks. "Thank you."

Kotetsu took it with a half-smile. "I'm surprised I remembered any of the words. It's been years since I listened to it."

Barnaby was not remotely surprised. There was a lot Kotetsu forgot, but never anything having to do with his wife or daughter. "There's an aria my mother used to sing to my father. I didn't hear it for nearly fifteen years, but the next time I did, I remembered every single word."

Kotetsu gave him a soft smile, one that said he understood what Barnaby was actually saying. "Did you sing her that one?"

"It was the first one I tried," Barnaby said. "I don't think she cared too much for opera."

Kotetsu's lips twitched. "Well, you've got to give these things time. She'll learn to appreciate it."

Barnaby sighed. "Somehow I doubt she'll learn to in the next twenty-four hours."

As if on cue, there was a hiccupy sob from his bedroom, which slowly crested into an actual whine.

Well, that hadn't lasted as long as he'd hoped. At least he'd been able to finish his food.

Kotetsu set his drink down. "I'll get her."

Barnaby shook his head. "No, I've got it."

"Bunny, have you slept since you got her last night?" Kotetsu asked.

"Yes," Barnaby said.

Kotetsu did not look convinced. "Uh-huh. I have a kid, you know. I remember this stage. Have you slept more than four hours collectively?"

Barnaby narrowed his eyes. He wasn't entirely sure he'd slept more than two hours collectively.

Kotetsu smiled. "That's what I thought. Go lay down for a bit. I'll get her back to sleep."

"She's my responsibility," Barnaby said.

"And I'm your partner," Kotetsu said, like that was relevant here. "I got her to sleep before, I can do it again. Listen to your elders for once, Bunny-chan."

Barnaby felt like he should argue. But a nap sounded fantastic right now, and Kotetsu had managed to get Anna quiet earlier.

"Wake me up in half an hour," Barnaby said. "Or if you need to leave. Or—"

"If anything worse than a dirty diaper happens, I'll wake you up." Kotetsu ushered him toward the bedroom. "Trust me, Bunny."

I do, Barnaby thought. You have no idea how much.

"Fine," he said aloud. "I'll leave her in your hands."

Kotetsu picked a crying Anna back up out of the crib, and Barnaby collapsed on his bed, not even bothering to take his glasses off. The bedroom door closed again, muffling both Anna's cries and the quieter sound of Kotetsu singing again.

I'm your partner, he'd said. As though that somehow referred to Barnaby's decision to foster, and not just their hero work.

Who knew? In Kotetsu's mind, maybe it did.

Barnaby closed his eyes. He had only half an hour to get some rest before he'd have to be up to take care of Anna again; he should at least try to get some sleep.

But he found himself focusing on the muted sound of Kotetsu's voice anyway.

[kateknowsdramas]

So the King isn't as bad as I thought? He probably likes the ML and especially him and his daughter together compared to the SL finally he's somewhat being a dad now he needs to step up more and maybe we'll change our opinion on him. What's Ba wu's noble status now? He was just an aristocrat right? What tropes did the writer subvert from what you watched so far? I'm sure there will be angst but I have a feeling the otp will stay together throughout the entire drama fingers crossed.

Well, he is kind of a jerk but at least he stepped up and tried to make things right for his daughter. I can sort of empathize that he's trying to play a huge game of chess and trying to keep the country stable. But, seriously, buddy, she's your daughter.

The character being portrayed is King Gwanghae who was deposed in 1623. So, the thing I'm curious about is how Ba Wu/Kim Dae Seok being restored to his noble status as a "Westerner" might impact the drama's story as the Westerners were the ones who deposed the king. They might not even go there in the story, but we've also got the historical figure Lee Yi-Cheom in the drama as an antagonist so we might see some push toward the king's dethronement by the end.

Anyway, I think Ba Wu is simply a noble at this point. He doesn't hold any political status but the king wanted him to take the military exam so he could promote him (I think, historical peeps please correct me if I'm wrong).

I guess in terms of subverting tropes, it's more subverting traditional sageuk characterizations and storylines. As much as I love historical dramas, too many of them have stereotypical male and female characterizations so when we get one that flips that script a bit, I love it (like Mr. Queen, Tale of Nokdu, My Country...etc.)

The Princess is not a fragile damsel in need of rescue all the time. Sure, there are times where she's in danger because drama but she also kicks ass and stands up for herself. And wields a bow an arrow like a boss!

The Princess isn't spoiled and isn't 'brought down to the commoner level' in a negative or insulting way. In the beginning, she genuinely doesn't understand some of how the world outside the palace works, but once she does, she contributes to the safety and well being of her little family.

We don't have noble idiocy and miscommunication going on in this drama which is so refresing.

Anyway...more people should be watching Bossam!

[lizacstuff]

7x04 Anons

I have a ton of asks so I’ll answer a few under the cut.  A lot of them deal with negativity over the ep and season so be warned and don’t click if you don’t want to read that.

Anonymous said:Liza, have you watched tonight's episode? What did you think of the Rumbelle send off? And of Alice being Roger's daughter?

I had zero emotional reaction to Rumbelle’s story in this episode. None. It’s been too toxic and gross and I have never really cared about it so it didn’t make me feel anything at all. I was curious what they were going to do. Now I know. 

As far as Alice being WishHook’s daughter. Eh. So they take the only interesting character and now she’s a fake Wish person too?  I just can’t with this nonsense. I’m having  a lot of problems with WishHook, so I’m not thrilled she’s tied to his story. 

Colin is still hot and an awesome human being and a terrific actor, but the plot... it’s a no for me.

Anonymous said:Sometimes I think Adam and Eddy believe they are the most clever people to ever write, and that everyone else are simple minded peasants. Like that one post-7x04 interview where the interviewer asked if Alice is wish Hook's daughter. "You're very perceptive." Uh, no, Adam and Eddy. You just have all the subtlety of a freight train. You had Alice and Rogers play chess. Wish Hook and his daughter played chess. It's obvious. Don't talk to people like they're stupid for figuring the obvious out.

This show has always been pretty obvious about some things, but they used to pull off some twists. I remember a time when fan speculation was way more wrong than it is right.  

However, season 7 is just really obvious in terms of some of the “big twists.”  Take Alice being the LGBT character, the entire fandom speculated that from the first second she appeared in shooting spoilers based on stereotypes. I have been hoping it’s not her because of those stereotypes, but nope! They had no surprises up their sleeve with it. Then most people immediately assumed she was Roger’s daughter the second we found out he had one... and apparently no twist there either. 

I guess the days of the entire fandom being shocked by finding out Hook is the Dark One and Dark Swan did everything for Hook... are over. 

Of course we should have known this reboot lost all subtlety in the second episode when everyone and their mother kept asking Henry if he was in love with the random woman he just met.  

Anonymous said:I know the promo pics didn't spell anything good for Belle, but I'm still surprised that they actually had her die. I kept thinking that there would be some twist to it.

As I was just saying... no twists, no turns. It’s exactly as everyone predicted. 

Anonymous said:I didn't watch the ep, but shit Henry and ivy have so much more chemistry than the other girl. Cinderella I think lol damn talk about epic romance also I saw comments that also agree with the Henry and ivy

If you haven’t watched how do you know they have more chemistry?  Seriously, that’s kind of ridiculous. What are you basing that on?

Anonymous said:ouat is a weird show, it requires you to pay really pay attention but not to close of attention or you will notice all the plot holes

100% accurate.  This reboot is creating so many more plot holes with all the magic mcguffins that are suddenly in play.  I guess you either have to accept it and go along for the ride, or recognize it for what it is. 

Anonymous said:hey liza, who are your favourite characters from the new cast? some of them don’t really impress me but i quite like ivy and tilly.

Both of those characters have some interesting aspects to them.  It may have a lot to do with the performers.  I haven’t been impressed with Gabriel, Dania or Mekia’s choices so far, but Adelaide and Rose have interesting screen presence. 

Anonymous said:Drizella really is a Mean Girls version of Regina. I'm between finding her general attitude annoying and finding her somewhat sympathetic considering she has to deal with Tremaine all day.

You mean Regina when she was a girl and under Cora’s thumb?  I could see that comparison.  Lets hope Drizella doesn’t follow in Regina’s footsteps and become the mass murdering rapist in town.

Anonymous said:Did Rumbelle build the house in Storybrooke?

Um... I’m not sure I understand this question.  In the show I believe that Up-inspired cabin where they were living isolated from everything and everyone else (do people really find that a happy ending?) was in the edge of realms. 

Anonymous said:I'm almost mad that we got to see more of Belle and Rumple's story than we did of Captain Swan. We all know they are living their happy ending but it would still be wonderful to see a little clip of Emma sitting on the beach with their daughter waiting for Killian to show up and join their picnic. Just some good ole domestic Captain Swan on scene would make me so happy. *sigh*

I have a number of anons like this, and just NOPE.  

First, we did not see more of Rumbelle than CS on this show.  Rumbelle was a backburner story that was most often characterized as a cautionary tale of abuse and manipulation and the pair were mostly apart and had very little focus through the run of the series. 

The showrunners decided that going forward they needed viewers to feel good about Belle and RB so after making them a gross, toxic mess for seasons now (it was just last year that Rumple was fucking the Evil Queen while Belle ran and hid for her life as he stalked and threatened her) they gave fans a bunch of twee scenes of her growing old (a life she lived isolated from everyone but two people) and dying in order to get rid of her and give Rumple motivation for this idiotic S7.

You’re jealous of that? Seriously? Fuck no. 

Also you need to understand that 7.02 and 7.04 were very different episodes.  7.02 was still really Henry's story and a moment in time where he called for help and got to see his parents for a few minutes and we all found out that Emma and Hook are doing great and gonna have a baby and living a blissfully happy life together.  It was just a check in where it was confirmed for us that Operation Happy Beginning has been a success and things are amazing. Also it spun off WishHook and completely separated the plot of S7 away from CS.  7.04 was 100% Rumple plot and his story. It explained why he's there and what is motivating him in Hyperion Heights.  Very different.  For 7.02, CS were not the focus because they didn’t need to be. Nothing in S7 requires knowing exactly what is going to happen to them minute by minute.  I'll take less screen time and my OTP being completely disentangled from this mess any day of the week.

Anonymous said:Lol my jealousy of Rumbelle having more focus than CS has dropped to 0%, that episode was eh. CS is expecting a baby, and Belle is dead after spending her life trying to fix rumple's. Nice.

Yep.  Look, I’m happy for any fans of Rumple or Belle that are happy about this episode and found peace in Belle’s life, but the writers did too much damage to this pairing over the years for me to care about it at all. 

Anonymous said:While I can't stand rumbelle I feel for the shippers. They did get some happy scenes but their ship is going to spend the rest of the season apart and in pain until the half alive dies.

Yeah... I would not like that, I don’t think. It’s just kind of creepy and icky and ew-ey. However, to each her own.  

Anonymous said:Agreed with that anon, there some good moments, but this was definitely not even close to one of the best episodes of the series. I have to respectfully disagree with Colin on this one. (Actually season 7 in its entirety lol)

Oh dear sweet Colin. Just trying to do his job.  So many cast and crew and media have shot their hyperbolic wad with this episode. Calling it the best EVER!!!!!  What will they say for the rest of the season?  “This is the second best episode EVER!!!!!” Or will they keep one upping every time they have to promote an ep?

No one with an economic interest in S7 can be trusted when talking about the quality of this season (and I include Mitovich and NA in that.) 

Anonymous said:I didn't watch the episode but I'm curious: are we supposed to believe that when Belle dies Emma and Killian are old too or was there some timeline glitch and Emma and Killian are still young in Storybrooke at the time of HH events? 

Who knows. Belle and Rumple were off living at the Edge of Realms for the last years of her life.  Rumple said something about time standing still there except for Belle??? I think. (my mind kept wandering duiring those scenes becuse they were so boring) Then after she died he opened a portal thingy to go to the time and place where the Guardian (the deux ex machina that is going to cure him of the Dark One curse) lives and Rumple was then transported to the newEF (that looks exactly like the old, I mean couldn’t they have given this new storybook’s fairy tale land some stylistic differences???)  on the night of Cinderella’s Ball and we see Henry drive by on his motorcycle. 

So yes, I think some of the flashforwards could have been from far in the future, and some could have been not all that distant because they were in a weird realm with weird time mechanics. 

However, I think Rumple and Belle left Storybrooke well before Henry did (they talk about it at Gideon’s first birthday and Henry still would have been about 14 at that time) so by the time this Hyperion Heights stuff is happening they would have been off in Fairy Tale land “traveling?” (ie living their lives in dusty libraries searching books for a way to cure Rumple.)

It hurts ones head to try to sort it all out. 

Anonymous said:After watching this episode, all I think is how sad it is how far this show gone from greatness. Going back 3 years, I would’ve never imagined ouat would be like this now. Sorry for being dramatic, it’s all just so jarring.

I think one of the most unfortunate things about this is that I really think OUAT could have been a valuable and viable franchise for years to come.  However, they tried to reboot it too soon.  As I’ve said since last spring, I think it would have been much better to let it rest a year or two and then come back with 10-13 episode event series for ABC.  

However, this experiment will probably negate any opportunity for that.

Anonymous said:I think it's a little sad that in real time, Belle died like 5-10 years after the s6 finale. I know it was longer for her but to everyone else that knew her, it'd be like she died young.

Yep. I’m not sure if in Hyperion Heights or Storybrooke in 2017 if Belle is dead, dead, or still living out her life at the edge of realms or wherever and Rumple traveled back in time???  

I don’t know. 

Anonymous said:Do you think killing Belle off is going to decrease the ratings more?

Nope. If ratings do decrease, I don’t think that will have been a factor.

Anonymous said:They lost viewers even with the episode they promoted the most wow 

They did and yes, other than the premiere, this has been the most promoted episode.  As I’ve said since the premiere, ep 5 ratings should be the most telling. I’m guessing that will be the baseline for the rest of the half season. At that point anyone in the audience who was just curious if they would preserve our favorites happy endings from the first 6 season will know and there won’t be a bump from that.  We’ll see. 

[kinetic-elaboration]

December 10: Thoughts on 1x08 Day Trip

Wow it’s been a long time since the last installment of my re-watch. That’s okay. I’m continuing now with Day Trip; here are some notes:

This is something I should have realized ages ago but Clarke actually says in her voice over that the Ark has kept them alive for “three generations.” So in other words they (JRoth et al) know, explicitly, that their timeline doesn’t make sense!!! Three generations means Clarke’s grandparents were Grounders. How tf did they get so many people so motherfucking fast?? Generation 1 must have had 15 kids each.

Netflix subtitles suck: “Earth is survival. Mankind if going home.” Thanks Jaha, that’s helpful.

The dual sides of Miller: breaking bad news to parents, then down for some murder. I wish we knew what made him turn around re: Grounders during the S2-S3 hiatus. Did he and Lincoln became buds?

Also speaking of Miller, before S3 I didn’t like him much, tbqh, and even now that he’s a low-key fave I still laughed when Lincoln head-butted him and he went down. Because I mean he really goes down, it’s hilarious.

So for some reason I remember reading that S1 is supposed to be roughly October and S2 is roughly November. And I live just a tad south of where the show takes place so I know something of VA winters (or as I like to call them “winters”) and, yeah, October IS probably when people who don’t know what seasons are should start worrying about the cold. So this episode’s story line makes sense in and of itself. But my question is: why was winter never actually a problem??? Like there’s been snow in the background on occasion but literally no one has ever been cold? It’s such a bizarre problem to just jump up front and center in ONE EPISODE and then, without being remotely solved, just disappear entirely from view. This has bugged me for years and will continue bugging me forever. [Actually ETA everyone forgets about winter about a third of the way through the ep so literally it’s not even an issue for a full 40 minutes.]

Kane: look at this supply depot I learned about from “civil defense plans from before the war.” First, later retconning says there was no war so what’s that about? And second and more importantly I get giddy whenever I hear “civil defense plans” because whoah-boy do I have a whole cache of trivia about those!!

“The 100 would die from exposure before help arrives.” They are really assuming exposure-death is going to happen like NOW aren’t they? That’s unrealistic, October is not that cold. (Fuck, October this year was like 80 degrees.) Also, again, no one is ever chilly, not in this episode or any subsequent episode. Please explain.

I had a semi-theory about Bellarke and leadership and here’s another data point for when/if I put that together: Clarke is seen as the leader from the POV of the Ark leadership, going all the way back to their first contact. This is somewhat understandable, given that Bellamy, still a fugitive, can’t be having one-on-one chats with the Chancellor. Plus, Clarke’s lineage makes her an obvious point person. So here we see the different spheres of leadership further dividing: Clarke still isn’t (I don’t think) really a leader to the kids but she IS a leader from the point of view of the adults. This paves the way for Bellamy to be side-lined in S2 when the Ark comes down, because he was never a leader in their understanding.

They’re even breaking up ice from the dropship seats--that’s an early frost right there. A frost we never see again!

I love the socialist delinquent collective. We needed more of this, everyone working together and shit. Could have sustained like 4 seasons on that.

ALSO THERE ARE JASPER AND MONTY I LOVE THEM.

As far as I know, Dax is the only delinquent with an actual violent past. And of course he doesn’t last long. Also interesting for my purposes how Shumway manipulates him: with favors, including a “choice assignment.” Fits my theory that one’s job is one’s life.

It’s been a long time since I watched a S1 ep but apparently Bellarke are still pretending they don’t like each other. Interesting. Man to follow the twists of this relationship requires watching more than one episode every six months. I’m just going to say this here but there is no way that it would make sense to have “I don’t want to be around anyone I actually like,” even said not-entirely-seriously, coincide with “Clarke run away with me” all within one 40 minute episode. Like honestly cutting that dialogue was SUCH a good idea.

Jasper and Monty are the best everyone else GO HOME RIGHT NOW. Here we see Monty having literally no idea how to actually cheer Jasper up because Jasper is legitimately terrified of the future and Monty survives on dry wit and nihilism. I do appreciate how that bit of disconnect grows and grows over the course of the next four seasons.

#Awkward love triangle alert. Honestly I don’t hate it as much as other people but the worst of it is that it puts Raven in this position where she just doesn’t shine as bright as we all know she can.

Miller is really not a great guard. Just wanders away from Lincoln and lets Octavia in to set him free. That’s the opposite of “guarding.”

Octavia’s like a totally different person in current-canon. She doesn’t even have the same voice anymore.

I don’t know if this is a fair criticism given that current-canon Octavia is hardly what anyone would call mentally stable but in a certain sense I wish she’d been...more explicitly fucked up? Like I can’t always tell if the ridiculous things she thinks are meant to be read as ridiculous. For example, “I’m sorry I freaked out when you kidnapped me, it’s because of my childhood” is deeply ironic. It IS because of her childhood--her childhood makes her incapable of understanding that kidnapping is wrong. But that’s not what she thinks she’s saying. But, like, is that what the writers think she’s saying? I’m not really sure. Are they on the same page as Octavia, or are they like me, on a plane above? Maybe I should have more trust in them, but did you see S4? Mmmmm hard to trust after that.

Speaking of O being fucked up, this story line would make somewhat more sense if Lincoln were actually a bad guy. It’s hard to reconcile the Stockholm Syndrome-y elements of their love story with him being, from like 1x08 on, basically a stand up fellow in every respect. Not that I don’t love Lincoln as is. It’s just that I kind of have to throw out whole episodes of characterization to make him make sense.

“I want you to remember me after I’m dead.... This only ends one way” could have been long-term foreshadowing except that we all know why Lincoln was really killed off. Plus there are too many twists and turns along the way.

Miller thinks he can give Lincoln a beating when Lincoln literally felled him with his hands tied, I mean, wow, glad you have some self-confidence at least.

Nothing will ever beat the aesthetic of Bellarke at the depot site. Also Clarke is so convinced that Jaha will be lenient on Bellamy when if she just thought about the events of her father’s death with some degree of care she’d realize that perhaps (and don’t get me wrong I love Jaha, but just maaaybe) he’s not someone to count on for forgiveness or rule-breaking. Possibly. He’s just too unpredictable. Also what is Clarke carrying, and where tf are they supposed to be? There’s like a...Colosseum there??

I think that by S3 Raven has a crush on Octavia but I also think that this Octaven scene is evidence that they were never actually friends and that Octavia, in particular, really honestly likes almost no one except Bellamy (partially out of obligation because that is NOT a healthy relationship), Jasper, Monty, and Lincoln.

Do they have furs??

Raven is so beautiful. She is the most beautiful.

Clarke has some kind of knitted thing on her ankle. The costuming on this show is A+. Wow.

I’m not sure what I think this “supply depot” is supposed to be. Why didn’t they just call it what it really is: a “bunker”? It looks sort of official (”Supply depot #22″) and it’s on the civil defense plans so it’s obviously a government site. But was it intended for government relocation (conceivable, Mt. Weather and Raven Rock are the big ones but there are others on the East Coast) or for civilians? My understanding is that the civilian shelters were mostly above ground. They were for re-location post-blast, away from the major cities. I’m also semi-confused as to why it’s in such bad shape. They built good bunkers during the Cold War, and that’s true in this universe too: Mt. Weather survived, and so did Murphy’s lighthouse bunker. Why is this one such shit?

Bellamy Blake/Guns: The true OTP. I know we all gush over Bellarke but has he ever smiled at Clarke the way he smiled at that firearm? I’m afraid not.

Jasper’s first words while high are “Earth is scary” and yet the jobi nuts are what he wants to ingest for fun during his last days on Earth. Not realistic.

“You’re acting weird.” / “I’m feeling weird, but in a good way.” WINK. BRING DEVON BACK FOR A FLASHBACK EPISODE THAT IS JUST JONTY ON SPACE WEED FOR FORTY MINUTES.

He says “Earth is scary” before he sees the Grounder hallucination so what prompted that observation?? Is that just his unfiltered thought all the time? Poor Jasper, so sad all the time.

The Jasper & Octavia friendship was so meaningful, and so beautiful, and I miss it. (Sidenote: Octavia does know how to sew, and sewing is one of her jobs in the camp, fits with my other theories, good.) I love that Jasper’s the sort of person who wants “I love you” to be the last words he says to someone before his certain death.

....Well I just realized something. FUCK EVERYTHING. We’re not gonna think about that.

(This is why I don’t want to watch S5, because I’m afraid it will distort even more my otherwise pleasant experiences watching the show’s first two actually-good seasons.)

“Here buddy, take this.” I know I point out this line every time I watch this ep but BUDDY. He’s the little brother of the group I don’t make the rules. Also of importance: “You’re bombed.”

I love sneaky-Octavia and frankly I don’t think she gets enough credit for being sly. I wish they hadn’t played up her great warrior prowess as much because it’s totally unrealistic, but that she has a natural head for low-level treachery is reasonable. Also she and Clarke could have teamed up for some Slytherin-y evil-plan fun times.

READY TO BE A BADASS CLARKE.

This learning-to-shoot scene, in all its cliche flirty glory, is officially the moment Bellarke became endgame, jsyk. They’re hot, he’s obviously attracted to her, they snark at each other, there’s touching involved, they’re bonding over a (newly) common interest....

Clarke at least obviously perceives them as co-leaders (following the “for now we make the rules” Charlotte story); she wants to talk about how they’re going to deal with the guns in camp. Those questions interest me a lot and, hey, do we ever find out how they DO deal with them, like what the rules for access to weaponry are? All that government-building stuff is of interest to me but w/e. Meanwhile, Bellamy sees Clarke as the obvious (sole) leader in his absence (he tells her to keep Miller close).

Bellamy’s experience with the glitter berries is ALSO negative, yet he also chooses to use them as a party drug. Maybe I just don’t have enough experience with drugs but is that not odd??

Jaha would definitely refer to the victims of the culling as “320 souls” who were “sacrificed” but is this also how Bellamy thinks of them? As SOULS? Or is he just really good at keeping his hallucinations IC?

Clarke playing with the bendy gun is the second most hilarious thing in this episode, second only to Lincoln knocking Miller out using his head. Clarke’s a riot. She would be so fun when drunk.

My entire Miller-is-a-drama-nerd headcanon comes from a post someone made about that 2-second moment he’s standing there talking to himself while high and I have NO REGRETS. It’s canon.

“Finn, babe, I know you’re grievously injured and need to stay lying down but the whole camp’s nutter-butter for some unknown reason so get your butt out here to enjoy the hilarity. This is priority one.”

Shame on everyone who doesn’t properly appreciate Stoner!Monty. SHAME.

Clarke is so efficient she uses her state of intoxication to do some problem solving.

She’s obviously a Daddy’s Girl. The excessive use of the word ‘kiddo’ alone basically confirms.

“Forgiveness isn’t about what people deserve” is a criminally underrated line. Especially given the running thread of forgiveness and absolution through the whole show. I agree with that meta from back in the day that Bellarke’s view of forgiveness in the first two seasons is shallow, that it’s harder than just “if you want forgiveness, I’ll give it to you” but I still think there’s something there in Clarke’s initial glitter-berry-fueled realization.

You know what I had always previously assumed that Raven was high when she said “You are the most beautiful broom in a broom closet of brooms” and I wondered, you know, why she chose to eat the nuts AFTER she saw the full effects of them, but now I think she was sober and that was her way of taking care of Connor (?). Because she doesn’t sound space-y when she says it, and at the same time Finn is dumping nuts into the fire and then he says “I got this one,” about another delinquent who is high, which makes it seem a lot more like they’re wrangling their wasted compatriots rather than getting wasted themselves. Which brings up the inevitable question: how did Raven and Connor get to talking about brooms??

Bellamy has explicit suicidal urges but also sees suicide, or death, as something he doesn’t really deserve. Which is fucked up but also...I wish that had come up more explicitly in S4 when so many other characters, including characters he interacts with, start talking about ending their lives. He tells himself (I’m assuming this is him and not Dax speaking through Jaha) that “life is a struggle.” Here he frames it as ‘the struggle of life is what you deserve as punishment for your sins,’ which is interesting enough though bleak, but perhaps he could find some slightly-less-bleak framing of it a (canon-verse) year later?

Bellamy’s confused face when he realizes his gun is a hallucination is the third most hilarious part of this episode.

The Bellarke story line in this episode (both in the sense of the Bellarke-relationship and the Bellamy and Clarke intersecting story lines) IS SO GOOD. Hot damn.

This scene by the tree is also why I still haven’t forgiven Clarke, like 10 years later, for walking away in 2x16. Because Bellamy didn’t run! She asked him to stay and he stayed! She offered him forgiveness and he knew, I’m sure, on some level, that it wasn’t that simple but he still came back! And she couldn’t do that for him.

“All I think about is how to keep everyone alive. But we don’t have a choice.” Already she’s seeing their leadership as pre-ordained (I think in part to alleviate her guilt for all of the things she’s already had to do as a leader, which we see in her convo with her dad weigh on her heavily), and this is the weakness Lxa exploits in S2. The hero/martyr complex.

Bellamy and Clarke walking into camp with the guns = the reason I’m bi.

Bellarke are so smart in this convo with Jaha: Clarke gives her speech first, and then Bellamy’s like “I see that doesn’t convince you, how about some of the coin of the Ark-realm: we make a deal. You live, I live. Everyone wins!”

Lol @ Finn thinking he’s a part of the leadership team.

I feel like one way of summarizing S1 was “how the first people back on Earth after the nuclear apocalypse set themselves up for another apocalypse” but then the show kind of...didn’t go there? Like they make their Oppenheimer references and there’s tons of stuff about accidental escalation and accidental war (a big fear during the Cold War irl btw), and Finn even lays it out here in this conversation with Clarke: bringing in guns is a first step down a dangerous road; this is how it starts. What happened to that whole theme?

I know I talk shit about this show a lot (probably more outside of tumblr than on, actually) but I really do honestly love it, at least in its first two seasons. Like this episode...that was some good shit.

[dreamsoffools]

What anime have you stayed the longest with and what are your top 5 ships/pairings from it?

Ooh lets delve into my dark and tragic anime past

I’m taking ‘stayed with the longest’ to mean I’m still a raging fangirl for, even if I haven’t actually watched it in a while/it ended years and years ago

SO my first anime, which I am still a huge fan of to this day is OHSHC... it is somewhat my slightly problematic fave. 

In terms of long term obsession, like super long term, it’s definitely Naruto. My very problematic fave. So lets go with that one.

Top 5 would be:

Narusasu - and I am VERY SPECIFIC with the parameters of the ship and the dynamics of it. I have very particular ideas about things such as character development that the manga did not take seriously at all... It’s my OTP because I’m a trashlord.

Naruto and Kiba - because it’s just so funny. They would be great together.

Gaara and Neji - because I read a fic in which they where a background couple and I literally have not stopped thinking about them since.

Sakura and Hinata - Because amazing. Both deserved better. Both deserve happiness together.

Kakashi and Iruka - I am weak for this ship. I think it was the first ship I ever read about/saw art of in the fandom. 

Unfortunately most of the ships don’t involve girls because the girls in Naruto are written... horribly interestingly. 

[the-cryptographer]

Screw it, I'm asking Malik Ishtar for the meme thing! (Only if you want to, of course...)

THANK YOU :D

How I feel about this character:

My secret favourite!!! I think I tend to likecharacters that are all about BIG UGLY EMOTIONS, and Malik is a lot of those,lol. For me, he’s an effective villain – both really terrible and really understandably so. I think the way he gets so energetic about pursuing the God Cards and the Pharaoh, and then gets in over his head and has to abandon ship on his own revenge, and then continues to see through his role as tombkeeper because he’s just so worn out from trying to fight it – aaaaagh! It’s so upsettingly believable.

In terms of characterisation, he’s floating around brilliant but lazy territory for me. He’s intelligent, but also an idiot, andalso all he really wants to do is ride around on his bike and sleep alone inhis room and live comfortably. He’s capable, but not very ambitious. Not much of a visionary, lol.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Ryou. Yuugi. Shizuka.

…well that was a very short list for me. I can also enjoy theifshipping to a certain degree, although I’m not really very interestedin it as a postcanon or endgame ship. And the potential for Malik’s torture ofMai to be sexualised is something I think is both interesting and not that farfrom its canon presentation – so I guess that may count as shipping them insome kind of messed up way. And I guess I also I find myself conceptuallyinterested in Ishtar sibling incest, but I haven’t run into any that treats thesubject matter with the kind of tone I’d like.

More on the ships though: Malik doesn’t directly interact with Yuugi or Ryou much in canon, but both ships seem to have the ability to be about softness and healing to me. Since Ryou and Malik have both experiences a violent and upsetting possession of sorts, them coming to move past that together has the potential to be pretty sweet. And since Malik has a kind of troubled relationship with ‘the Pharaoh’, and how he feels his life has been shaped by these ancient politics, I think Yuugi’s kind of in a unique place to be able to understand both the past and Atem’s journey and his ownplace in the present to be able to help Malik contextualise that in a waythat’s meaningful to him.

And Malik & Shizuka is a nice ship if what you’re going for is exploring Shizuka’s massivedisillusionment. Leaving aside the way that a nice trip to visit yourestranged brother suddenly turned upsettingly full of ugly complicated feelings and murder, I think Malik tends towards a frankness that doesn’t sit well with Shizuka's ideals. This is a fun ship~

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Ishtar Siblings!!! Malik’s relationship with Rishid is at once so lovely and so heartbreakingly upsetting. I think they struggle to find the balance between how they see each other as siblings and how they see each other in this hierarchy of master and subordinate – the way they come through for each other at the end of the story is just so touching. And Malik and Isis aren’t as close, but I like that their conflicting values, and understanding of their responsibilities, don’t compromise their love and the desire to protect one another. Ishtar Siblings!!!

I also like Malik & Yuugi & Ryou as a BrOTP. And I have a strange interest in Malik & Jou broing out or coming to realise they can’t bro out because he murdered you and tortured your best lady friend postcanon.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I’m not really sure what constitutes an unpopular opinion regarding Malik, but I have several that might count.

(1) The Millennium Rod only exacerbated problems hewas already having due to the effects of trauma and a shaky headspace. YamiMalik is the product of Dissociative Identity Disorder in relationship to Borderline Personality Disorder, and exists in a reactionary way to Malik rather than being a distinct person.

(2)  He’s about as culturally Egyptian as your standard Amish person can be considered culturally American. (Or, idk, I think the Hutterites are a more apt comparison in a number of ways, if I’m sticking to offshoots of Christianity. More research on different religions is needed but, in terms of daily living, you can take all sorts of cues about the tombkeepers from different isolationist religious “cults”.)

(3) He’s a deadly serious character really –cerebral and ponderous. His sense of humour is along the lines of dry andsarcastic, rather than laugh-out-loud.

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

I ALSO WISH THE ISHTARS HAD BEEN IN DSOD THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

I think it would have made sense to mention them in relationship to what Seto was doing in Egypt at the very least. Seto was rooting around in Ancient Egyptian ruins that the tombkeepers had the right too, yeah? I feel like it might’ve been an interesting political/business deal he struck with the Ishtars. Maybe Isis needed money to help in the process of reintegrating the tombkeepers into above-ground society? I don’t know, but I feel like there’s a story there~

Also, it might be obvious from some of these other headcanons, but I wish the conclusion to Malik’s story had been more on the side of ‘the hate you’re feeling is valid if completely toxic’, which is why I like the idea of Yami Malik running amok in his head postcanon, even though I think the manga leaned heavily towards a canon interpretation where he was freed of Him.

my OTP:

Malik/Ryou edges out Malik/Yuugi by a little, but not by much.

my happy ending for them:

Not part of this meme, but you made me realise I wanted to write it all down~

Given my incredibly depressing diagnosis for Malik, I think managing his life will always be somewhat of a struggle. Yami Malik is probably here to stay. Malik will likely always have outbursts, and always have a cruel and violent streak. At his worst, the most I can say is that he and the people around him will be aware of the warning signs and be able to restrain him ahead of time instead of having to do so in the middle of an episode. At his best, I think Yami Malik might appear once every month or two, and just kind of storm around the house/apartment being sullen. I don’t think Yami Malik has the same kind of emotional range or needs as one would expect a completehuman to have – so he doesn’t need much more than to be acknowledged by the others and then left to his own devices. I don’t think he likes being touched, but he may someday accept a hug from Ryou or Yuugi or Isis and take a small comfort in the fact that he isn’t hated. Rishid is a lost cause, and will have to stay away during those times, because Yami Malik will without question react violently to him. I think, in a way, a direct reflection of Malik’s own desires– for his hatred and pain to be acknowledge and accepted by those around him, by all except Rishid, who Malik would most keenly like to be less hateful person for. Malik does not want Rishid to see Yami Malik, and so Yami Malik pushes Rishid away with a lot of force… potentially lethal force.

In terms of the more mundane things, I imagine Malik goes through a period where he wants to travel everywhere and see everything to kind of make up for the fact that he was confined to a dark hall his entire childhood. I think he’ll travel Africa and Europe and see more of Japan at thevery least, but who knows where his travels might take him~ But eventually Iimagine him settling down somewhere, since I don’t think his affinity fortravel is about travelling as much as its about taking in the world’s breadth.As long as he can enjoy bike rides and the wind and open sky and the company of those he likes, I think he’s fine being anywhere. He and Rishid are veryride-or-die so they’ll definitely stick together, I think. Him and Isis is moreiffy, but I’d like to see Isis and him also remain close and live close together.

In terms of a job, he’s really not into forty hour work weeks, lol. He wasn’t raised under the expectation he’d be part of a contemporary work force. And he’d additionally have trouble balancing that amount of stress with his mental healths. He’d take odd jobs here and there, or work part time in something pretty low pressure. Depending on how lucrative the limited amount of work he does is, he may or may not need to rely on his siblings or lover for support. In terms of what he does…? Tinker around a souvenir shop maybe? Or he runs errands for or does translations for the museum, through his connection with Isis?

And I don’t think he’d want kids, or make a verygood parent for that matter. He’s satisfied with being the weird uncle to his nieces and nephews.

my cross over ship:

I don’t have one, sorry~

a headcanon fact:

Hasn’t everything I’ve said thus far been me taking my own headcanons way too seriously?

Coptic, Arabic, French, Japanese. Rishid is the same, except he’s not as fluent in the last two, and also not as well studied in Ancient Egyptian scriptures. Isis is the only one of the Ishtar siblings that speaks English.

Oh, jeez, he is pretty much universally hated by his tombkeeper peers. Even when he was little he was a divisive character with how harsh and cruel he can be at times. And then he was shadily involved in the bloody murder of his father. When he left to form the Rare Hunters with Rishid, he bitterly alienated most of his extended tombkeeper family, but some of them followed him to join his crime syndicate. And then those who had followed him took poorly to the way Malik abandoned the Rare Hunters, and followed Isis back home with his tail between his legs. Literally everybody he grew up with except his siblings hates him and Malik spends the time from Battle City to the Ceremonial Duel hiding out in his room having Rishid bring him his meals because the tomb keepers are done with him and he’s done with them. And he’s technically their ‘leader’, but Isis made a bid for being de facto leader when he skipped out years earlier and, disappointed but resigned, she continues to carry the position when Malik’s returned. “She’s a great leader (even though she’s a woman),” everyone says. They all love her, lol.Rishid is more polarising, since he’s generally so mild and polite. Some of the tombkeepers see what he did as betrayal, but a lot of them view him with a sort of condescending pity and kindness - poor boy, led astray by his association with Master Malik. This makes Malik even more angry. ‘We are brothers and equals!!’ he yells. Even though he isn’t completely free of blame when it comes to treating Rishid as lesser.

Also, it’s totally canon that somewhere along the line he makes some big fuss and his criminal record from being involved with the Rare Hunters gets dragged out of the closet, and the Egyptian Government tells him to gtfo of our country… right?

[fansplaining]

A reader letter from grace_adieu!

In Episode 42, we read a portion of this letter, sent to us by email from @grace-adieu. We wanted to publish the full letter as well, since we didn’t have time to read the whole thing, and she makes many great points that we didn’t cover in the episode!

Hi Flourish and Elizabeth!  

I was recently recommended your podcast by some friends from a community established during the wake of the dearly departed Toast and have basically spent the past week listening to the full back catalogue.  This has had the side effect of making me have all the feelings on fandom, so I apologize in advance for how long winded this is about to be.

For some context, I was first introduced to fandom at about 12 in the early 2000s via Harry Potter fic on ff.net.  Somewhat bizarrely, I was introduced to it by my dad, who had seen an article about fanfiction in our local paper and wanted to be supportive of his daughter’s nerdery.  The article was very positive and focused on how cool it was that teenage girls were writing stories for fun, so it is less weird than the current mainstream idea that all fic=porn would make it seem, even though I did end up spending an embarrassingly large portion of my adolescence reading angsty Snape/Hermione fic (I take solace in the fact that that even at my angstiest, I was at least never a fan of Pawn to Queen).

As an adult, however, my primary fandoms tend to be video game fandoms (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout, Life is Strange, Dishonored) and my engagement with them has been overall quite similar to my engagement with my non-video game fandoms (Harry Potter, MCU, Hannibal).  As a result, I was puzzled by the “Games and Fandom” episode’s framing of video game fandom as being separate from transformational fandom.  While the stereotypical video game fan is certainly thought of as male and involved in affirmational fandom (if they are involved with the work beyond the level of consumption/enjoyment at all), there is a sizable portion of video game fandom that does not align with either of those stereotypes.  Additionally, there is a significant amount of fanfic written for video game fandoms (AO3 has ~41k Dragon Age fics, which is several thousand more than the number of Doctor Who fics on that site). As a result, rather than comparing female/transformational fandom as a whole to male/affirmational video game fandom, I would say there there is a pretty distinctive split within the video game fandom between female/transformational and male/affirmational modes of engagement.

The two most obvious differences I see between transformative video game fandom and other transformative fandoms are the decreased focus on rooting for ships to become canon and the increased focus on OCs, both of which seem to stem from the fact that the most popular video game fandoms tend to be for games with branching narratives and customizable protagonists.  Being able to make your own player character and control their choices throughout the game (or at the very least, control who they romance) means that, unlike movies/tv/books etc., there is no one true canon, but a wide range of possible canons.  Thus, while people have plenty of opinions about which romances are the best written or the most emotionally satisfying, there is no motivation to push one ship as being “ the canon ship” since, in general, the existence of other canonical ships poses no threat to the status of an individual’s OTP.  I can’t imagine there ever being a Harry/Hermione vs Ron/Hermione style ship war in the Dragon Age fandom for example.

In a similar vein, I think that the structure of RPGs has led to the video game fandom being more interested in the creation of OCs.  While some people choose to essentially replicate themselves in the world of the game, it is common for people to take it as an opportunity to create entirely new characters.  As a result you don’t see the same kind of stigma around OCs that you do in other fandoms (no one assumes that fic featuring an OC is going to be an awkward author self insert because almost all of the fic for the fandom features an OC) and you frequently encounter people who intensely develop their OCs lives/backstories via fic/fanart/short headcanons etc.  You also see fans interacting with other fan’s OCs by submitting tumblr asks, creating fanart, and sometimes including them as side characters in their own fics.    

This next paragraph is a bit of an aside, but basically to see if I was talking out of my ass about the idea of there being a gender based split within the fandom in terms of modes of engagement, I looked at the video game franchises with the highest number of fics on AO3 and found that of the top 5 franchises (Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, Mass Effect, Fallout and Overwatch) only Final Fantasy featured primarily male protagonists/player characters.  The rest either had customizable protagonists (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout) or had roughly similar numbers of male and female playable characters (Overwatch currently has 9 women and 10 men, not counting genderless robot characters or the male gorilla).  Furthermore, when you compare games that are similar in many aspects, but differ in terms of whether or not you can play as a woman, the difference in the level of transformative fandom engagement can be quite stark.  For example, Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt are both incredibly popular, critically acclaimed games that came out in the past couple years.  Both are action RPGs set in a version of fantasy medieval Europe with a heavy focus on magic, romance subplots and player choice.  However, while DAI has a customizable protagonist, thus allowing you to play as a woman, TW3 has a set, male protagonist.  Correspondingly, DAI has ~21k fics while TW3 has only 273 (and while I don’t have sales numbers, there is absolutely no way that DAI is 100 times more popular than TW3.  If anything, TW3 is more popular).  Working off of the assumption that women are more likely to play games when they can play as a woman, it seems that the idea of a split based on gender has some basis?

I also was really interested in your discussions about the definition of fandom, especially the idea that a lot of people view “being a fan” and “being in fandom” as more or less the same thing.  To me, being a fan just means that you enjoy the original work, while being in fandom requires a level of further engagement.  I also don’t think that being in a fandom necessarily means that you are a fan of the original work.  While I have trouble seeing someone engaging in affirmational fandom without being a fan, I definitely enjoy transformative works for fandoms where I do not like the source material.  For example, I can’t stand the Star Wars movies, but love jedistormpilot fics.  Additionally, I entered the Harry Potter fandom as a fan of the original work, but as time went on, grew to dislike the books/movies while still loving the fandom.  I know you talked about this a little when you mentioned having read Teen Wolf fic without having ever watched the show, but I think transformative fandom’s ability to take aspects of a work I dislike and build it into something I love is really special.  

Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, I just really wanted to get my thoughts out.  I love the podcast, and while I don’t always agree with what is said, the discussion never fails to be engaging and informative.  I also wanted to thank you for doing such a great job on the Race and Fandom episodes.  I was initially a bit apprehensive about listening to them because I’m used to otherwise intelligent and sensitive white people having a big ol’ blind spot when it comes to race, so the fact that they featured so many really wonderful guests of color (seriously, I just want to listen to Rukmini Pande talk about fandom forever) meant a lot to me as a fan of color.

Looking forward to future episodes!