#my ships can have a little codependency. as a treat

[sammykisser]

live footage of me interacting with a wincest anti

[sammysodatime]

do you have any “controversial” opinions on wincest?

i've been letting this ask sit because i'm trying to find a place between "not actually expressing my real opinions" and "sounding too mean and pissing off my mutuals" lol

that said: i'm not really sure what's "controversial" in larger fandom spaces because i've tried very hard to only be around other samgirls/samgirl-adjacent wincest shippers thus far. i can think of two opinions that may fit the controversial bill, however, that i feel pretty strongly about:

sam and dean are not "equally codependent". i like requited wincest/to think of situations where they could actually be together, but i think it's equally if not more likely that it's a one-sided pining thing on dean's end. he is sooooo weird about sam and not to say that sam isn't a little weird about dean, but his behavior pales in comparison to the way dean treats him (read: like his little baby brotherwife). dean sees sam as an extension of himself. as the seasons go on sam kind of falls into that mindset too, but it all goes back to dean. to sum this up, dean wants to fuck sam so bad it makes him look stupid, and sam may be into it too but not in the possessive way dean is (there are wincest shippers who seem to bastardize both sam and dean in order to make them equally obsessed and truly romantically in love with each other and i just.... disagree, personally. whatever's between them isn't "romantic", it's possessively familial and sexual. lol)

dean would literally never allow sam to top lol. i don't think sam would even want to (with dean specifically. this is about wincest, not about any other relationships that sam may be in). and i'm usually one of those "people who are super rigid with their top/bottom headcanons/preferences (for ships) are annoying" types but w/wincest i literally cannot see it any other way. i'm told other parts of the fandom have a raging hard-on for wincest w/dom top sam and it makes me fucking laugh.

i know i said two opinions but on a semi-related note i truly believe dean is straight. (dean speech bubble) it's not gay if it's your little baby brother. also pointing at dean's feminization of sam (on my mind on account of some Posts i've seen lately)

these feel pretty lukewarm for "controversial" takes but i feel like i've seen people disagree even in my limited circles. anyway everyone is entitled to their opinion but these are mine<3

edit to add that, this isn't really an opinion but it's important to note (to me) that i greatly prefer early-seasons wincest. and many of these beefs have spawned from seeing what i feel is a misrepresentation of how later-seasons wincest could function. unfortunately i have started to become quite jaded watching people on all sides misrepresent these characters lol

[catboythanatos]

chat am i cooking something here or

cake songs are only about divorce and global warming so they dont really get to feature on my ship playlists but "take it all away" is such a fun song for a stobotnik divorce arc where stone snaps so listen

more explanation under the cut

^ stone re: how much robotnik relies on him and how little credit he gets for any of it, and how he treats him as disposable and replaceable, locking him out in favour of other new allies on a whim [knuckles in s2, gerald in s3]. "parting the waters" being biblical imagery also delicious, mix a little bit of 'robotnik is stone's god' stuff in there yes

^ again with the religious stuff a little bit,, this is interesting because it could be either of their perspectives; either stone feeling that robotnik treats him like hes unworthy and it could be a little sarcastic/bitter,, OR as robotnik like realizing that he loves stone but thinking deep down that hes not actually worthy of love, hes just a machine with no heart and no love, and stone has this saint-like patience for him that he is kind of in awe of and can't accept.

^ this is a very funny song to me even tho it is about a messy break up, i think its very, the toxic yaoi is toxic-ing. less like their canon scenario but more like an imagined scenario where stone gets ANGRY which is juicy to me. let stone SNAP dude. "youve been pushing me around in spite of what i do"!!!!!! this "better come with an army" is pretty dark, idk,, if stone was toxic back to robotnik sometimes that would be fun.

"your psycho little dogs" being the badniks and robotnik would be extremely offended by that wording so stone would have to be REALLY pissed off to say something like that lol

other songs on the playlist so far, i dont have as much detail to go into but heres a short explanation for why theyre on here-

never there [just more stone being mad n sad 🥺]

perhaps perhaps perhaps [same as above]

aint no good [stone has known all along that robotnik is gonna chew him up and spit him out basically. maybe this could be him trying to convince himself that its not worth it but obviously he doesnt listen to that. have a slice. but watch out!]

where would i be? [they miss each otherrrr...they both need each other they are codependent as hell]

whats now is now [stone still loving him unconditionally despite it all... "i know it all, and we can still begin again"🥺]

and a bonus feature, for when they get back together - never, never gonna give you up

people have said cake's version of this song sounds sarcastic but to me it is DEAD serious. he MEANS that shit. this is not said dispassionately, it is spoken with conviction. an oath. and stone takes his duty to rob very very seriously. also theres something a bit sexy about the matter-of-fact intonation on some of the lyrics "ive got to keep you pleased, in every way i can" like it RULES and its soo stone

ok thank you *bows and exits the stage*

[epiphainie]

Hey, I know you said you don't wanna get into fandom discourse so feel free to ignore this but I wanted to add something to you metioning yesterday how people talk about Bucktommy always bringing in bvddie/eddie somehow. I feel like a lot of people also expect this from canon including Bucktommy fans? like all the posts about which one will feel like the third wheel or which one's gonna get jealous over the other two spending time together and I find that kind of weird. I don't know if I got my point across but you know what I mean?

Hi anon,

Yeah, I think I get what you mean. Gotta say what I saw in my little corner of the BuckTommy fandom, people are usually having fun with those situations/headcanons than actually expecting something out of canon. But I can guess how a certain part of the fandom really thinks how Buck's relationship with Eddie in the context of BuckTommy must be addressed by the show. And I agree with you in that I find this expectation odd because why must they?

Is it because Buck is into men now that his significant other must address how he is/isn't okay with his friendship with another man? This was never an issue or even a topic of conversation in the narrative for Taylor so I cannot think of any other reason for why it would be for Tommy. Or on the flip side, is it because Buck is dating a man now that Eddie will feel like his time with Buck is being limited? Buck has been in a relationship for the most part of their friendship, why would this one be different that the narrative would need to address it?

I think in general in the fandom, regardless of whether people ship them or not, there's this sentiment that Bvddie has such a special relationship that needs to be addressed by their romantic partners / lampshaded by the narrative which strikes me as odd. Not because they don't have a special relationship - they have a very special relationship - but because the perception and related expectations over how the canon should treat this relationship is very different from something like say Hen and Chim. For every very intense Buck and Eddie story beat in this show, you have an equally insane Hen and Chim one. But you don't see anyone reading that relationship as something that needs to be acknowledged (as a threat or something they're okay with) by their spouses. It's an emotionally codependent friendship between a straight man and a lesbian. Not that sexual compatibility matters but they are not interested in each other that way and their partners don't even think about that.

So why would this be any different for Buck (a bi man) and Eddie (a straight man)? Like, even the idea that it must be acknowledged differently by the narrative kinda brings me back to negative stereotypes about queer men and their straight friends even though I know most people don't mean it that way.

Honestly, I kinda think it just comes back to fandoms' urge to read the intensity of relationships as romantic when it comes to two attractive men in a way we don't do with other characters. I say we because I've had my share of fandoms and almost exclusively shipped the two guys who were not canon; we just read more into these relationships regardless of whether we actively ship it or not. Like I said, Hen and Chim have some of the insanest relationship moments in this show. Like, can you imagine if something like Jonah happened to Buck and he thinks he's gonna hurt Tommy to get to him but he actually has Eddie and tortures him in front of Buck? Or if Eddie opposes Buck and Tommy getting married like Hen did with Maddie, for example. They would most certainly be read as romantic even if we had the same textual explanation as we did with Hen and Chim.

But the truth is, there is no relationship hierarchy. Platonic relationships can be as deep as romantic ones, what sets them apart is not the degree to how intense they can be, it's the flavor. And as it stands, I don't think the show treats Buck and Eddie's relationship with any different flavor than it does Hen and Chim despite how we treat it in the fandom. And sure, this does not mean realistically no love interest would be weirded out by their friendship (and negative stereotypes about bi people exist in the lgbtq community as well so that could happen too) but I don't see why the narrative would need to go there with Tommy. Like, what would be the purpose of it in-story? The acknowledgment of it would just further perpetuate the queer man in love with his bff thing that we know they said they don't wanna do. They should (and imo will) treat it as they do treat the other platonic relationships on the show.

I'm sorry, this got derailed at one point but whatever, send.

[ressioo]

can i ask for your thoughts about sunstone as a ship and their dynamic 🥺

Sorry for taking a while, words hard

God. Sunstone. Both in regular canon and SolarFlare they're absolute cringefails to me. The latter just hide it better. Gonna be talking about canon for the most part here

Under the cut because wall of text lmao

Honestly canon sunstone is pretty tragic? Its two flawed people making every single bad decision, and eventually losing eachother as a result. By the time they actually Think and realise what they both did wrong, its much too late to apologise and make things right

I think that if the circumstances were different they'd be able to have a really good, wholesome relationship

Maybe if Pebbles was less desperate to find the triple affirmative. Maybe if the situation before Moons collapse was less tense, if Suns contacted him earlier. If Suns had thought a little harder about the consequences of sending that gold pearl, if they were a little less weak for him, less indulgent. 

I suppose that hindsight is everything. They both regret what happened between them. Especially at the end there. 

Okay now for less depressing shit lmao

Their relationship was purely mentor/mentee for a little while and slowly turned into a very close friendship. They both enjoy art, poetry and music and share many views, which they bonded over. And while Suns might not share the same love for history that he has, they're more than willing to listen. And maybe go out of their way to find out new tidbits for him if they can

They never confess, i don't think. They both develop feelings, but Pebbles is too busy to pay much attention to it and Suns just doesn't quite have the nerve to do anything except hint at it. Though this Does end in them sending him a personalised ring via Spearmaster. Which. Is basically a marriage proposal. At least by Ancient standards.

Pebbles doesn't realise this, mostly because that is a tradition practiced purely by the People. And since he's not exactly aware or paying attention to his own feelings he doesn't clock it for what it is.

He does send them back a ring though. Basically treating it like exchanging friendship bracelets or something 💀 Suns about has a heart attack. From what they know he doesn't share their feelings, and they're too much of a coward to inform him about what the gesture meant, so. They end up unofficially officially married. And then unofficially divorced once the second pearl reaches him in Spearmaster's campaign

Pebbles finally gets his shit together sometime during Arti's campaign. She brings back a pearl about marriage traditions and it suddenly clicks for him. Not really the best time to find out, honestly. What with everything going on. Not even truly Finding Out, since he can't actually ask them if thats what the whole thing meant. 

They never speak again, and neither gets closure about it. They both keep their rings though.

-

Now a little bit about SolarFlare specifically because they actually get together and meet in person in that! Wont be able to say too much without brain getting on my case for revealing too much though lmao. SF sunstone are Extremely exaggerated in their everything, so obviously not saying canon compliant off the string would be quite like this 🙏

They dont become a thing until they've actually met in person, though the line between being close and being Close was blurred for a bit before this point

Pebbles is the one that says something first, and they become official after that

They're like,, really abnormal about eachother. Like its genuinely obsession for them. They be jealous and posessive and codependent as hell. Both of them. Its not healthy, but they are genuinely really happy with eachother. Kinda made for eachother in that way. They're eachother's favourite people and they Will make it other people's problem

End up marrying at some point (after having an actual conversation about it this time), and its both because they wanna show love and devotion but also because they're very about it being a way to claim eachother. And that being visible to others

I love them and their weird relationship

[bloodraven55]

my fav sapphic ships can have a little codependency. as a treat

[sculkshrieking]

dude your hoffstrahmdon is changing my life! have you ever thought about including adam in the mix for the au? ship thing or not i'm just curious about if he gets to live :-)

teehee i'm glad you like them :D!! I had to think about this for a little bit. Adam generally stays dead in my head because i love the guilt and haunting and also because i don't think John with his barbed wire grip on all three apprentices would ever allow his freedom. HOWEVER we love to self indulge in this house and throwing Adam into the mix sounds so chaotic.

Maybe Hoffman plays a part in getting Adam out which is what makes Lawrence feel indebted enough to come and warn him not to go after Jill (which just makes me think of Lawrence and Adam in the makeshift jigsaw hospital room getting tended to by Hoffman while John and Amanda are off getting bloodboarded).

Lawrence and Adam are insanely codependent because I wouldn't have their post-bathroom relationship any other way. They will bite, kick and scream like frightened dogs if you try to separate them.

With Hoffman, Adam probably has some mixed feelings in a "You're horrible and I can't stand you, but you saved me" type way. Mostly the first part, really. Meanwhile, I think Hoffman just finds him annoying and grating as hell, he wants that twink obliterated and all that.

The Strahm and Adam roasting matches are insane. It's a constant PvP zone in there and absolutely no one is safe. There are parallels between them that they're both doing their best to ignore. Also they can smoke out on the balcony together as a treat <33

I don't know what kind of situation would force them all to have to spend a bunch of time together but i personally would love to see the resulting carnage. I also would love for them to kiss, i just have a hard time imagining all of them liking each other </3. Hate sex is absolutely still on the table however <33. Adam how come your mom lets you have THREE big hot middle aged men around you etc etc.

In conclusion:

[shinygemstone]

HERE IS A LIST OF THE 30 MAIN KIPO AUs I WANT BUT WILL NEVER HAVE BECAUSE THE FANFIC COMMUNITY IS TINY IN ORDER OF SPOILERINESS (FEWEST SPOILERS FIRST OBVIOUSLY)

1. An AU where Kipo doesn't end up on the surface in the first episode, and has to go through the events with the mega monkey still looking for her

2. An AU in which all of Kipo's people are actually dead, and she's the only survivor. Depression for everyone!!

3. An AU where Margot never betrayed Wolf, and the two have a very close and codependent relationship. Bonus points if Wolf gets kidnapped by Scarlemagne

4. An AU where Wolf's wolf parents never actually betrayed her and raised her alongside the other children. Wolf girl wolf.

5. AU where the protagonists end up separated after Ratland, with Kipo and Benson trying their best to escape Scarlemagne's place without Scarlemagne realizing they're there while Wolf, Mandu, and Dave try to save them

6. AU like #1, except Lio fucking dies and Kipo's body now assumes it is in danger a lot more. So now she's dealing with the mega monkey and turning into the mega jaguar

7. Kipo gets along a little too well with the timbercats, and they kind of adopt her. Parental Yumyan and Molly. They're not surprised to find out she's part cat and teach her how to properly kitty

8. In which Lio turns out to be the mega monkey, somehow.

9. In which Kipo was raised on the surface, and is kind of known as the local feral half cat creature. Naturally, Scarlemagne kidnaps her for weapon usage and oops. Guess he has to teach the feral out of her

10. In which Jamack joins the protagonists (if you didn't think my man would be here you're wrong)

11. Let Kipo get upset about the whole mega jaguar thing PLEASE

12. Song and Lio raise Kipo, while Song is suppressing the mutagen and struggling more and more as she gets older.

13. Song turns out to fill Dr. Emilia's role, and is actually trying to end mutekind.

14. Emilia gets her hands on Kipo, but mistakes her for a normal human (somehow) so Kipo grows up in the science burrow believing mutes killed her parents and that what Emilia is doing is justified. Bonus points if she's Emilia's protege/assistant/intern

15. Emilia gets her hands on Kipo, knowing that she's Song and Lio's daughter, and decides she can use Kipo as a weapon. This would involve a lot of dehumanization and likely good brother Scarlemagne/Hugo. Also Lio? Totally dead

16. AU where Lio manages to yoink Hugo. That's the AU. Hugo and Lio and Kipo as family.

17. AU #16 with angst: Lio gets captured, so it's just Hugo and Kipo. Bonus points if Kipo grows up in Ratland

18. For even more angst, Scarlemagne kidnaps Kipo, raising her in his blooming empire. Except Scarlemagne has no idea how to raise a child, especially not one who's half mega jaguar.

19. Where Mulholland doesn't help Kipo, and Scarlemagne's coronation goes as planned.

20. Where Emilia kidnapping the mutes was a trap, and it works as planned. Kipo is in for such a bad time.

21. Where what Emilia did to the mutes she kidnapped mutes is a lot more horrific than in cannon.

22. WOLF BOTHERS TO REPLACE STALKY

23. Margot changes her mind about betraying Wolf sooner, and Emilia never captures any of the protagonists. Consequently, Emilia sneaks into timbercat village to conduct her evil plans.

24. Instead of Yumyan, Kipo gets hit by the cure. Consequently, the decision is made to have the mega jaguar deal with all subsequent human incidents. This prevents It's a Trap from happening.

25. Kipo gets hit by the cure, except it works. No more mega jaguar, but she gets back to timbercat village.

26. Kipo goes through with sinking the cruise ship. Insert huge crisis (and maybe Song, Lio, or both of them rejecting Kipo/treating her like a monster. Please. I live for angst)

27. AU where Dave kills child Benson, and is a reoccurring side character who's literally just a bastard

28. Fun Gus Monster Emilia. Like just IMAGINE if she took Gus' DNA instead of the mega walrus. Sludge monsters are underrated imo, and she could do so much fucking damage.

29. Emilia gets stuck as a half mute, and gets shoved in prison. Maybe with Hoag.

30. SCARLEMAGNE LIVES

[rosesradio]

so I never finished Heroes of Olympus but also I never liked Percy/Annabeth in PJO (……. which makes me an outcast I know) my reasons were silly but I was like 13 when I read the first series. (something something she was too mean to MY Percy and he deserved better) ALL this is to say, I’m curious on your opinion of HoO Percy/Annabeth:

“was not a fan of the amalgamation they became in HoO, but that’s another post”

would love to hear your thoughts as to why it was better in PJO or whatever you feel like sharing!

so first off, you should definitely finish HoO !! i'm not a huge stickler for "you have to read all of the source material" (because i haven't read past the first ToA book), and HoO is really only Peak Literature if you're like 14 (not to say adults can't like it obv, i do, but when you get older you notice some glaring flaws lol). that being said, you should still finish it, it has its rises & falls. i for one have been rereading son of neptune (very very slowly) & listening along to the newest olympian podcast. but anyways

i honestly can relate to your take on being young & having a book boyfriend & feeling overprotective of him lol. when i was like 14 & first reading HoO, i felt that way with leo when calypso was treating him like absolute garbage...like that's my little guy lol

so my take on percabeth is kind of a, "like it more than i don't, not overly invested in a fandom sense, take it or leave it" on the tier list. i enjoyed their development in PJO despite the moments where annabeth did give him a bit of a hard time, etc. they had a close friendship & trusted each other & i think it developed into a nice relationship (i will say them getting together the morning after annabeth's older brother figure/childhood crush/war rival Died is some Unhinged romantic timing on Richard's part, but i get that ya gotta wrap up the book & the underwater kiss was still cute, etc).

that being said, i understand how they were seperated in HoO & circumstances were desperate, but obv the judo flip scene was just...ick. i think i saw a post somewhere that rewrote it to where she pulled her knife on him, he pulled his sword on her, the romans got freaked out & then they just kinda half-play sparred with no winner, and that helped percy gain back some of his memories, which i think was a sweet rewrite. but anyways.

in the rest of the HoO books they're just kinda...wildly codependant with no individual personalities. annabeth needs percy to save her in battle because it's not like she's been training Longer than he has, and percy needs annabeth's wisdom because Obviously he has none of his own, Right?? (someone save percy from the stupid allegations i can't do it in these conditions Richard—this is all your fault Richard & the fandom Is Not Helping—)

all in all i think Richard's just...not good at writing established relationships as opposed to build up, which is funny because he pairs so many ships off-page & then we gotta see the amalgamations for the rest of the books (someone save solangelo i can't i need a cig—)

also for the record i think perachel is underrated. i think there was a point in tlo where percy admitted in the narrative that hanging out with rachel was more carefree than hanging out with annabeth, and that's kind of the ideal you would want in a partner.

so i'll take them or not, i like fanart & cute hc's with them & having them as a background pair. i don't see myself writing anything with them unless it's like a request or something though. i ship both of them with other people more in a Fandom sense, remaining a casual fan of percabeth. i know there's a niche group in the pjo fandom that are anti-percabeth & say annabeth is abusive—i'm not gonna say that's a lie or the truth or anything, i can see where they're coming from but i can see the other side of it too.

so yeah, that's pretty much my unorganized ramblings on percabeth ! thanks for asking !!

[cyberdragoninfinity]

giving you dennis for the ask meme if you havent gotten him already. gotta get that daily dose of poodle

:) thank you tam i would love to talk about him.

Why I like them/why I don’t: god. Guy Who Burrowed Into My Brain So Fucking Bad. Help Me. i love this jackass. he's a fucking LOSER!!! HE SUCKS!!! i LOVE that dennis is a spineless pathetic liar and massive coward and an unhinged asshole more times than once!! type of guy who's just masks all the way down and i KNOW his identity issues are fucking lethal back there. his dub voice is an absolutely top 10 favorite for me!! he is one of the BIGGEST war criminals in yugioh to the point that he had to spend his duel links event apologizing to the rest of the cast!!! HE KILLED HIMSELF IN FRONT OF A CRUISE SHIP FULL OF PEOPLE. AND HE TALKS LIKE THAT. AND ACTS LIKE THAT. HIS GUILT IS GOING TO EAT HIM ALIVE. REBLOG TO MAKE IT EAT HIM FASTER.

also if we're always talkin about like. jesse and yugi and joey's dock duel as yugioh's gayest moments and characters we need dennis on that list right fucking now. borderline canon gay character to me he is so deliberately gay coded to like. 1930s Hayes Code Movie Degrees. fucking insane. slash pos.

What I like about their appearance: it is so fucking stupid. <3 the like??!?! jacket + vest combo in polymerization colors??!? his little purple bow that's matchies with yuri for some reason???? HIS STUPIDASS HAIR THAT LOOKS LIKE EASTER FAKE CRINKLE GRASS?? RIDICULOUS CHARACTER DESIGN. SLASH POS. CARROT BIT ME.... AGAIN.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names? cannot believe he came like that (named dennis.) i think i like 'macfield' a smidge more than mcfield though. dawg why you got two always sunny characters in your name.

OTP: siiiiiiiighssss through my teeth. i will not. be beating the Losing the Yaoi War allegations. dennis/yuri truthism blowing my entire brain up this summer and fall and Now. as if it's my fault dennis's duel links lines for yuri Sound Like That. i know they had a little gay thing only the way toxic codependent middle schoolers can have. yuri's convo with dennis in DL might make me insane. sorry in advance.

NOTP: obviously i cant make people Not ship something but whenever i see dennis shipped with a girl im just a little bit like. are you sure about that. are we sure. 🌈

OT3: i actually dont think i really have a 3+ ship for dennis. born 2 be monogamous i guess. i dont think he could handle having multiple partners i feel like he'd date them separately and be too skittish to break up with one of them and then it blows up in his face. lol

Favourite card they use: ive grown very fond of Performage Trapeze Magician after using it in DL for months now.... Flame Eater is also Really sillycute

i also. do like chaos ancient gear giant and its big fucked up dog pauldrons. dennis and his hunting hounds…okaaaayyyy

Favourite moment they were in: GODDDD IT'S SO FUCKING HARD TO PICK JUST ONE. I NEED TO MAKE A DENNIS DUB COMPILATION SO BAD. EVERY TIME HE'S ON SCREEN IS A TREAT FOR ME i think i have to go with his duel with gong in synchro. i love his dynamic with gong i wish we got more of it.

Least favourite moment: i Like the dennis/yuya duel (it's like. one of the few things i actually like about that 8 episode final stretch from hell) but i gotta say i dont know how great i feel about having dennis become the dueltaining teacher to all these kids who got war displaced effectively due to. uh. his actions. yugioh i dont know about that one.

Something I associate with them:

i dont want to talk about it.

[liedownquisition]

Hi there! A E O Z?

A - Your current OTP

Definitely JayRoy atm, if my drafts are anything to go by lmao. Roy can have a little non-toxic homoerotic codependence, as a treat. <3

I just, hm, a lot of Roy ships don't do it for me endgame, and definitely not as a healthy endgame. As much as I've loved toxic ships over the years, and still hold it out for doomed/bittersweet ships, sometimes I want something softer that doesn't make me cringe so bad lmao.

E - Have you added anything stupid/cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what

Hmmm... not recently, I think? But back when I used to RP I did draw 90's Superboy as a Carebear (copied the pose from Grumpy Bear specifically iirc) for one of my partners:

I also ran, like, an 8-year-old Phil Coulson blog for a little while.

O - Choose a song at random, which OTP does it remind you of

I kind of went to my big liked song playlist and had it shuffle one at me at random. THIS one I'd originally gotten from my Jasico playlist, but you know this could be a pretty good one for Jason (Todd) ships.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go

There's a lot of tropes that are very fandom-y that vary in popularity from fandom to fandom, or ship to ship, or niche to niche. Silly premises and whatnot. It's REALLY interesting to see where the appeal is stronger or less from fandom to fandom and in different eras.

Like, for example, while I've seen a decent bit of civilian AUs in batfandom, not many of them fit the formatting of, say "coffeeshop AU" or "flowershop AU" or those similar job-specific AUs, which are often seen as such a staple of fandom that they're the prototypical example that someone might use as an example when explaining fandom tropes. I think... College AUs might be the most common? and even then they're not college-centric in the same way that I'd expect.

Otherwise, De-aging, Time travel, and omegaverse (especially the last one) seem to be the more common "general tropes," while most of the time it's a lot of fandom-specific tropes that tend to cover the majority of works. I have no hard data on this I haven't exactly been counting and someone out there probably could and might prove me wrong, but it's just kind of fun to observe.

Of course, in the name of diversifying fandom, I feel it's my duty to attempt to drag at least some of these "general" tropes into this fandom, assuming I can ever actually finish the works with them.

[chaikachi]

Speaking about tension and conflict to build romance:

Bumbleby's conflict was Adam stalking Blake,and Yang upset by her leaving because Blake was scared,but gradually more relieved as she proved that she would always stayed by her side and fight together

Renora's conflict was Ren being stubborn and almost risking his life to a grimm that killed both his parents and Nora stopping him,leading them to a better strategy attack

~

We already saw Oscar suggesting Ruby to tell Ironwood the truth,maybe Oscar will struggle to 'share her burden' because she's like her sister and doesn't like being vulnerable? Or maybe it will be about the merge and we'll have a parallel to Blake in V1 talking about "the man with two souls fighting for control" ?

Of the main three ships, they all had a big tension and conflict leading up to V8, and then had a secondary one just by virtue of the separation in Atlas.

Yes BB's conflict was Adam plus Blake running away while Renora's was Ren's tunnel vision in v4... but then in V8 Yang is worried that Blake thinks less of her for prioritizing Mantle over Amity. And Ren and Nora are having a conflict of ideals AND miscommunication.

For Rosegarden, their conflict started with not agreeing on how to handle Ironwood and then became stretched out by ending up on opposite teams while Atlas was falling. The difference between RG and the other ships is that eVERYONE ELSE GOT TO STAY REUNITED AT THE END OF V8, BUT RG DIDN'T. 😭😭😭

I have a feeling the rest of their conflict in the Vacuo arc is going to have multiple layers and be very personal to their individual characters. For starters, there's a matter of how to sort out leadership. Ruby used to be head of the team and became the symbol of hope for All of Remnant after her broadcast... but in her absence, Oscar will have stepped up to the plate in her place. There's going to be some fumbling to get them back on the same page again to a point where they are properly sharing the weight of their burdens together.

Then we know that Oscar probably thinks she died! :'D Which, in tandem with his attachment, admiration, and protectiveness of her in the past, sets him up perfectly to not want to lose her again. Be that struggling with sticking too close, keeping his distance from not wanting to get too attached again (too bad boy, you can't run from this), or a mix of both... it's anyone's guess how he'll handle it.

We also know, thanks to Neo, just how important Oscar is to Ruby and that the thought of losing him is something she literally could not handle. So there is almost certainly going to be a mutual protectiveness going on there. they can have a LITTLE codependency, as a treat. /lh

We also have VERY SOLID SETUPS for their individual character arcs mirroring each other so strongly. And it's impossible for those themes to not be explored at this point.

From their very introductions, they both address each other's core conflicts with their first words to each other.

Oscar: Woah, you... have silver eyes.

Silver eyes being symbolic of her burden as Salem's adversary and the mirror that reflects humanity's hope back onto darkness.

Ruby: Who... are you?

Oscar being the next (and likely final) Ozcarnation who's entire character arc is a struggle of identity.

Oscar's "I always knew I wanted to be more than a farmhand... but this? Who would ask for this?" to Ruby's "I wanted to be the hero, like the stories that my mom read to me."

Oscar's "I thought the idea of falling through Remnant into a new world was... exciting. I never understood why she was so sad when she finally made it back home." to Ruby's "I don't want to be me anymore."

Ruby's "What if you could be anyone?" to Oscar's "I'm just going to be another one of his lives, aren't I?"

god the way they've written this story... i sincerely don't understand how people can watch ALL of this, all the moments i didn't mention cause i'm too lazy to turn this thread into another essay, and still say they don't see it. 😭

however their conflict is handled, i know i'm going to be very not normal about it every step of the way and i'm so freaking excited

[zorilleerrant]

For the ask game, ship you’ve unwilling come around to!

Oh, I have so many NoTPs in every fandom, and, unfortunately, a ton of them tend to be canon or popular in fandom! The ones that bother me so much I had to block the tags are Dick/Babs, Tim/Kon, and Spike/Buffy. I think those are the only ships I currently have blocked, but some of that is just because the other ships are less popular (or fewer people I follow care one way or the other).

With Dick/Babs, it's that I love their dynamic as childhood friends or as young superhero friends, and if they have romantic entanglements on top of that it feels like it's invalidating the friendship. There's a lot of 'this boy and girl are friends so they have to date' (see also: these two queer boys/girls are friends so they have to date) and it gets its ick on ships, even though generally I do enjoy a friends-to-lovers arc. It's also a little creepy to me that Babs was originally Bruce's love interest, and then infantilized to be Dick's love interest - the same reason that Kori/Jason and Raven/Damian bother me so much. Also, Babs is a lesbian. I really just prefer them as mlm/wlw solidarity and not in a bi4bi way.

Tim/Kon and Spike/Buffy are more a problem with the fans than any of the canon material. (Which is why I ship Tim/Kon in the HBO Titans universe, which I haven't seen many people being mean about.) I see a lot of Tim/Kon fans hating on Bernard and Tim/Bernard and also hating on DC in a way that honestly feels pretty homophobic. I don't think that's their intention but it really sounds like the same arguments people who just don't want canon queer characters at all make. I also see them hating on Steph and Tim/Steph sometimes in ways that are pretty misogynistic (and also biphobic) and I just don't like it.

Spike/Buffy is like... I enjoyed the dynamic on the show, where they were both unhealthily codependent and toxic to each other. Two people who think they're in love or have the potential to be in love because they won't address their own problems is my jam! Of course, most of the shippers seem to want to treat it like a real (or especially a healthy) relationship instead of a toxic situationship. There's also the problem that, like, they keep defending why Spike 'deserves' to still be in a relationship with Buffy after assaulting her, sometimes with pages long essays, and never once mention how Buffy might feel about that. Completely ignoring Buffy's opinion on the whole thing feels, to me, even more nonconsensual than the original incident (which I was willing to chalk up to bad writing and ignore). So now the merest mention gives me the creepy crawlies. This is most canon ships on BtVS, tho.

Most ships I'm open to, tho! I especially enjoy hearing about rarepairs and anything that couldn't happen in canon (crossover ships, etc.) because I can roll it around in my head until I understand it. Which is why even stuff that squicks me at first I'm willing to give a chance if the story sounds interesting enough.

[areuils]

Me shipping kongjian be like (unexpectedly long post and just general retrospective about what I like about it):

Introspective me (20% of the time): The strange blend of different myths, legends, and books that establishes the characters is my favourite version of them. I find the versions who have achieved their goals successfully and become stablised characters more interesting than them rebelling, especially when the stories that do so don't acknowledge what will happen to the three realms. It's very old adage "Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs; the sage is ruthless, and treats the people as straw dogs."

Wukong actually become a great sage equalling heaven who has achieved true immortality (a buddha is equal to the jade emperor) at the end of jttw after losing his arrogance and viciousness is a nice conclusion to his character arc. Taking away the lotus throne from him makes his character progression unsatisfactory and makes buddhism cruel while breaking buddhism own tenets. Also it's just unfitting for him to call himself great sage equalling heaven constantly when he stops doing it after getting humbled. Victorious fighting buddha is a higher title anyways. Also I just find it more romantic that even after letting go the five senses, love still lingers in the heart.

My preferred version of Erlang Shen will always be the two faced bastard heavily based off of fengshen's version of him. Due to acknowledging fengshen Yang Jian as Erlang Shen, the whole rebel with monkey who is actively causing harm in the three realms is something I don't particularly like. Fengshen's main theme is after all "If the king is not upright, his ministers will defect to foreign countries; if the father is unkind, his son will follow his example" (google translate of 君不正，臣投外国；父不慈，子必参商). He would've rebelled a long time ago instead of serving as a tributary state to the jade emperor. Also the ruthless arrogant young man who enjoys incense from the lower world and is too proud to acknowledge his family in heaven is much more enjoyable of a character to me than a serious guy who suffers internally yet serves heaven loyally. Side note, monkey really got scammed by being destined for buddhism when daoism is just objectively cooler than buddhism.

Them being equals who don't need each other and parallels is just fun. Also strays away from my love for codependent pairings for once. Though it does feed into my corruption kink with the little golden flower prince seducing the pure innocent monkey.

Nonsense me (80% of the time): Alcohol and meat pass through my gut, Buddha remains in my heart baby; Wukong just a young monkey he can't be expected to resist so deeply Tathāgata. Now go little monkey, plow the little sage into the ground! [cheer]

Ah lore, version, characterisation? What's that? As long as it's hot, I acknowledge it as a version that has some merits that can be eaten. It's all just different versions of the same pairing :)

With both parts combined, I somehow don't explode due to cognitive dissonance.

I don't reverse this cp due to a lot fanworks drastically having different chracterisations than kongjian. Realised this after I realised I could tell in 80% of arts who tops without looking at the tags. I don't think it's a universal thing but I also don't care for jiankong enough to looking into it further outside art that floats across my feed. Some adaptions that reverse works for me but overall it isn't to my taste and also I just like pretty boys getting fucked.

[mushroomslovesyou]

Care to tell us about any ocs you have?

oh boy would i!

*unfurls a scroll about a mile long*

in no particular order i have;

Arthur Owens, troubled cowboy with a heart of gold that i love to beat the shit out of (emotionally)

Heulyn, a knight who gets sent forward in time to cowboy times via magic who i love to beat the shit out of (physically) ((because Heulyn in pain emotionally harms Arthur))

Jack [last name tbd], a 1920s noir detective who encounters elderich horrors and bisexuality

Clayton Howell and Theodore Karter, two authors in 1960s western Mass who have to battle winter themed horror and also repression (they loose)

Gabriel Crowe, a whaler who breaks the hell out of his leg and gets stuck on land for a while as a result

Siobhán, a selkie that Gabriel helps to get back home after her pelt was stolen

Henry Booker, the physician/surgeon who treats (and falls in love with) Gabriel

Unnamed werewolf who works as a printers apprentice in early modern London. He falls for a playwright and his poet sister, but in a pleasant twist it turns out they are both the same genderfluid person

Dr. Nathaniel Lattimer, a ships surgeon onboard a ship that definitely isn't just the USS Constitution during the war of 1812. I have done very little with him and feel bad

Dr. Augustus Muir (can you tell I like medical men lol), A Scottish surgeon who, after a period of time with the fae, gets sent from the Victorian era back a few decades to the 1820s where he and his nephew Robert (who definitely isn't his son and definitely isn't half fae) move to Boston. Augustus then gets ensnared by @blue-spectors 's oc Eaton and I could keep writing because these fuckers have been throughly stuck in my brain, but I will spare you

Oh and also The Scribe and Ned, technically DND ocs but they have kinda taken on a life of their own. to keep it brief; immortal warlocks bound to their patron and each other. they have know each other for a minimum of 900 years and are absurdly codependent while refusing to admit that

[mapsofnonexistentplaces]

do you take your ocs for that ask game .. isel

WHY NOT itd be funny to do that

favorite thing about them

i like that hes jsut like the worlds sluttiest oldest 30 year old man who talks in the most obtuse overdone way and everyone loves him for it. except that some people hate him for it. hes a funny guy

least favorite thing about them

hmm hard to say because all his flaws are like. specifically very interesting to me. like the way hes pushy with others and secretive about very basic details about himself are technically things to hold grievances with and he does kind of eat shit about it sometimes but its like. yuuup dudes traumatised and has very underdeveloped coping skills it makes sense....

uh actually i do have an answer. i hate how much he lives in my mind like literally if any of my friends ever ask me like "oh name a character" my first thought will indubitably be ISEL "oh who should i draw" ISEL i dont like him and i hate him actually. for being so handsome and nice

favorite line

ones at the front of my mind come from a play scene i edited last night. i like it when hes mean

brOTP

i think his connection with freya is sweet. codependent guys with god complexes, isel acting as a sort of dying ringmaster directing freya and also protecting her.... theyve got some baggage between them but they do care for each other so much

OTP

sigh him and olzhas will forever be famous to me their arcs are so entwined and they were very precisely designed to like. complimentary to one another. ive written so much about the meta between them its complicated but theyre annoying and they love each other and it rules

mazin and isel is also very personally funny to me because it feels like basically the only humorous "guys who hate each other" ship and also because i think the idea of isel of all people being mazin's introduction to bicuriosity would hurt him

i also think the hypothetical isel olzhas thuyết polycule is worthwhile. pretentious old men who will argue with each other about anything. its fine

nOTP

hmm aside for like. evidently weird ones. i dont think i can call any hypothetical pairing between him and anyone else bad i think theyre all funny in some way.

random headcanon

hmm treating this as an opportunity to think of my favorite trivia about him. i think his hobby in like. maintaining old music for himself and being all old-fashioned about record players and the genres of music he likes is cutes

unpopular opinion

i think hes ugly or something

song i associate with them

so many.... found this specific song earlier today so ill share this one

favorite picture of them

i think he looks cute here i like his expression a lot.... i like pictures of him where his like. a stupid little joker facade is lessened