#no actually i did have some solid reasons to hate the way she was written AND framed

[azaharinflames]

Can you give some examples of how OS spoke of the BuckTaylor relationship in S5? I wasn't around back then.

Hi! I received two asks about this, so I am answering both with this one ☺️

Now full disclaimer: I wasn't in the fandom to the level I am now back when Season 5 was airing. I did do a deep dive once I went into the fandom, because a deep dive hates to see me coming, and I found out some stuff from that. I am sure I am missing stuff because of that. But there is also the fact that I have seen fans that have been here since S5 (and before) that do also say it all feels very different. More under the cut, because it is a long one.

That being said. I did another deep dive just so I could pull some things for evidence, and here are some interesting things I noticed, based on interviews for Hello (several with Hello - I, II, III), EW, Decider*, TV insider, and Fox. My thoughts aren't exactly organised, and more things that I noted down while doing the deep dive (huge thanks to 911bts, they were incredible at their job and it's a shame they were run off the fandom because of them. I hope they're doing okay now)

Oliver was actually really excited about the cheating storyline, as he believed Buck and Taylor had stalled and weren't that interesting anymore (for the audience).

Overall, there were way less post morterms after an episode. And when I say way less, I do mean it. I don't know if 911bts just didn't post the blogs, but from what I found, not too many were posted.

Interestingly enough, the post mortems we did get back then were directly tied to the episode. Crazy, I know! And by this I mean that it wasn't Oliver, Tim, and sometimes Ryan doing an interview after every single episode. Rather, the interviews were with the actor that had something important happening to them during the episode, and that's it.

Again, I don't know if the account just didn't post them, but the interviews I found with Oliver were 99% from big outlets/official ones. That means that, as a result, they are very neutral, and do not dive into the Buddie of it all. The journalist would ask him about the episode and the show and about working on it. It was refreshing to read, ngl.

* Funny to note, Arielle and Oliver did a co-joint interview for Decider. Kinda interesting taking into account that Taylor was still very much in the picture, yet she was pretty much ignored during this whole interview. I cannot help but think that, had Arielle been received positively (perhaps she could’ve if they hadn’t introduced her by cheating), she could’ve been Buck’s LT LI (once they saw Taylor didn't work). Be it an on-and-off situation or something more solid, I can see how the show could have played the long game with them. It’s worth noting, too, that Tim wanted to bring back Lucy during Season 7, but Arielle was just unavailable. And then he remembered Lou, and the rest is history. But my point is - I do think there was an intention to make Lucy a more solid LI, and potentially the person Buck was going to be with LT by season 5b. It’s just funny they were given an interview.

(I wanna do a small note here to point out that it is funny when you remember Oliver and Lou also had an interview together. Only, with two main and very telling differences. 1. The Decider interview was tied to what had happened on screen - aka Lucy and Buck kissing -, whilst Lou and Oliver didn't really have a reason to do the interview. Their arc had been done episodes prior. 2. A written interview that not a lot of people were gonna read (GA, I mean), vs. a televised interview that a casual viewer can catch and go: ohhh, they're a couple! Yk? Very stark differences, no pun intended)

There was a weird way of approaching his interviews, and what is notable is that it was both, from the journalists and Oliver. And, sure, you can say: arwen, that's what they're doing now! But, the difference? Back then the interviews were done by neutral, official outlets (aka Entertainment Weekly and Hello). Ignoring Taylor and putting her relationship with Buck on the background whilst focusing on Lucy very much was intentional.

Overall, it feels as if, when the show hit 5b, it stopped caring for Taylor entirely, and starting making an effort to try and introduce a new LI for Buck (aka, Lucy). This is just my theory, and what I perceived after my deep dive. And, once it did not work out with Lucy, they got rid of her, too.

I think, in general, the not Buddie interviews we get now do not ignore Tommy, and do not pretend he doesn't exist. Even when we receive a world salad for an answer, he is not being ignored.

I think Oliver is more insightful this time as well. He is putting himself on Tommy's shoes and, in a way, making sure the audience is still feeling sympathetic towards him. Whereas before, he didn't care to talk about Taylor much, if at all.

I will also add there was some interesting SM activity (I tried to find the screenshots the whole day, because I remember seeing them more than once, but alas, I couldn't. If someone has them, please send them my way! So I can add for evidence). Oliver had either the worst timing ever, or purposefully posted insta stories just as the BuckTaylor scenes were airing, usually covering his face with an emoji that showed some disdain. I think he deleted them pretty quickly (which he usually does), but enough fans would see them. There was one time where he posted one just as Buck and Taylor had their ILY scene. So. Could have it been a coincidence? I mean, sure. I won't outright assume things here. But it was an interesting choice to post that, especially when it made so many people sure that he didn't exactly like their scenes together.

Anyway. Long answer, and I am sure I am missing lots, but I hope this was helpful!

TL;DR: Taylor was pretty much ignored during interviews during 5b in order to promote Lucy, and Oliver didn't care to dwell too much into his storylines with Taylor. Likewise, you can tell he makes an effort to make sure the audience still has sympathy for Tommy and still is a positive character, whereas he didn't do that when talking about Taylor (that I've personally seen).

My inbox is open for ranting, venting, giving your opinion (unpopular or popular, I'm happy to receive and discuss both), and even confessions! However if you don't want yours posted, please make sure to say :)

Take care <3

[espinosaurusrexex]

The Karens of the World

BuckyBarnes x Female!Reader modern au

summary: Aunt Karen is possibly the worst person you know. So when her annual Independence Day party arrives, you try to give her as little reason to pick on you as possible. Not being single for once should cover most of the topics she complains about. So you ask your friend Bucky to play pretend.

a/n: So I tried this website @nana1000night (make sure to check out their own chats) posted about and my ideas just started overflowing. I wrote this so quick, there may be some tenses errors, but the concept was so fun, I hope you like it.

word count: 4.1k

warnings: fake dating trope, grumpy!Bucky AND protective!Bucky, bullying, a Karen (this should say it all, really), self-doubt, body dysmorphia, mentions of violence, and sooooo much fluff!

･ﾟ✫* 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 ｡✭･ﾟ

↑ This movie altered my brain chemistry and also he looks so good OKAY BYE!

“Don’t do that. Don’t do that now, I really need your help,” you plead with a solid stare. But Bucky just broodily stares back at you with an unfazed expression. “Just answer the question, please.”

For a moment it seems as though he‘s squinting his eyes even more at you, trying to assess whether you are kidding or not. But you aren’t. You are in desperate need of help.

“Fine,” he finally breaks.

“Yes!” You exclaim before collecting yourself. “I mean: cool, cool... So, I’ll send you the details later and we can go from there.” You are a little nervous, but that’s what stressful situations do to you. And well, today definitely categorized as one. 

“You’re a great friend, you know that, Buck? The best there is!” A desperate attempt to save the situation, but Bucky isn’t having it.

“Yeah, kid. Text me, do... whatever.” He huffs before he stands up to leave. You just wrinkle your nose at the little nickname he frequently calls you. It is stupid, but you don’t want him to call you ‘kid’. You would prefer it if he called you 'doll' or 'sweetheart' like he does all the other women. Hell, you’d even settle for your actual name, but he never calls you that. 

You watch as he walks towards the door, but before he reaches it, he turns one more time just to send another annoyed look your way. Talk about being childish.

That was a week ago. And Bucky and you did, in fact, not ‘discuss the details later’. Bucky has merely stared at your messages, cursing himself for having agreed to the stupid plan you laid upon him. But he was committed to doing it anyway and the sooner it was over, the better.

You stare at your phone in silence, the simple text from Bucky making your stomach turn over and over. 

I’ll be there.

He has written. And now there is no going back. Which is what you had planned, right? But Somehow, you are still nervous about the whole situation. 

You stand in front of the mirror while tugging on the outfit you picked out for today. It is simple and light - perfect for a summer barbecue party. But you can’t help yourself when you look at your reflection. Your aunt Karen would have something mean to say about it anyway - she always does. And if it isn’t the lack of a partner (which is a problem you have temporarily solved for the day), it will be your body or your hair, or the way you speak, or the things you pursue in life. Karen is a textbook housewife, who has nothing to do all day but organize PTA meetings and condescend to everyone who doesn’t live up to her standards. And she has invited to her annual 4th of July party in her suburban family home in New Jersey. It wouldn’t bother you that much if meeting her wouldn’t always be connected to a huge amount of self-doubt and general mental chaos. It just bothers you that Karen makes you hate the parts about yourself you have never looked at critically before. 

Your phone pings again - Bucky is here. 

He just sits in the parking lot of your apartment building, his hands clenching the steering wheel tightly, and his eyes - as always - broodily staring ahead. He’s never done anything like this - He’s never pretended to be in an actual relationship. What if something goes wrong? What if they all see through this charade? Bucky wants to help you with your little ‘family problem’, as you have called it, but at the same time, he hates the situation he finds himself in because of it.

Bucky sits up straighter when he finally sees you running out of the door and towards his muddy truck. You look pretty, even if your hair is a little tousled from the small run you just did.

“Hey,” you greet with a smile after Bucky stares for a little too long. “Nice shirt.” 

Bucky looks down on himself. He is wearing a striped short sleeve button-up that fits him very well, and you have to admit, that your eyes linger on the strip of skin revealed by the two undone buttons a little too long before they sway back to the window when you get inside his car. You feel your skin go up in flames at the thought of it again. Hopefully, this will all go well. 

He isn't used to compliments, Bucky notes as he starts the car and backs out of the parking lot. This is just a courtesy; an easy greeting from a friend - no, actually his fake girlfriend for today - to loosen up the tension both of them feel. Bucky clears his throat while making a conscious effort to look away from the woman in his car, who makes him feel kind of... nervous all of a sudden.

The car ride is silent: no music, just the humming of the engine roaring in the background as you stare out the window and watch the trees pass by. Though when Bucky finally pulls into your aunt's neighborhood, you tense up and your hands become clammy - this feels like a really stupid idea all of a sudden. 

Bucky parks the car on the street in front of your aunt’s huge house and looks at you. He raises an eyebrow upon noticing how timid you suddenly look.

Crap. Had this been your plan all along? To get him to agree to pose as your fake boyfriend, to have to face your terrible aunt?

Bucky swallows thickly when he takes in your state. “Do we really have to go in?” He asks still hopeful that you would just allow him to turn around again, but that obviously doesn’t happen. 

“Unfortunately, we do.” You sigh after taking a deep breath to mentally prepare yourself. It shouldn’t be that hard, right? Just a little white lie to get you through the day. It will be over before you know it. “Thank you again for doing this Bucky, it really means a lot.” You smile one last time and then you get out of the car. 

Bucky just watches as you walk towards the suburban home, impatiently waiting for him on the sidewalk where the driveway begins. He isn’t ready for this, but he had promised you.

❁ ❁ ❁

Your heart begins pumping in your chest when Bucky straightens up and takes your hand in his, the other hiding in his pocket. This is actually kinda nice. A squeeze of a hand then the ring of the doorbell. Two times. 

“Oh, how wonderful you finally made it!” A slender woman with a blonde bob opens the door with a wide smile: Aunt Karen. “More than fashionably late, I see.” And then her eyes wander beside you where Bucky stands tall and steady with his hand still etched in yours. “Oh my, honey, is this the boyfriend you’ve been telling me about?”

Her eyes shine and for a moment it looks as though they were to pop out of her head from the way she’s gawking at Bucky. Okay, you get it, Bucky is good-looking. No need to think about breaking up your own marriage about it. Your roll your eyes before reminding yourself that you should restrain. The day has just started and you are ready to leave again. 

Bucky looks at you uncomfortably, but your hand in his grounds him a little bit. He can’t make you deal with it alone anymore. He agreed to help you and this is - unfortunately - his mess as well now. God, he should remind himself to not be this stupid more often.

“Yes,” he swallows, “we are... uh... seeing each other.” Great job, that definitely didn’t sound forced. Bucky looks between you and your aunt for a moment, trying not to cringe at his own words. 

You just send him an apologetic look before entering the house and let Karen pull you into a tight hug. 

“Well, you have certainly gained little since the last time I saw you, I can barely fit my arms around you, honey,” Karen jokes but it hits deeper than that. “Must be that relationship weight, don’t we know it, huh?” Unbelievable, not even one minute in and she is already going at it. 

You try to ignore the anxiety pooling up in your stomach as you watch Bucky squeeze aunt Karen’s hand a little too tightly. There’s nothing wrong with you, but these comments never cease to make you hate yourself a little bit.

Bucky smiles when he notices the discomfort on Karen's face after the handshake. She silently shakes her hand out and forces a bright smile, but he thinks the message came through. So, he decides against saying something just yet.

“Come on into the yard, the guests are all there!” The blonde woman rushes and leads you through the kitchen and out onto the porch from which you have a nice view of the party. There is a buffet set up, your uncle is at the grill, talking it up with his friends and the rest of the crowd is scattered across the lawn. Some people are playing corn hole and if the hostess weren’t such a pain in the ass, you could probably enjoy this party. 

Luckily, Karen disappeared into the crowd once she greeted you, now there’s only Bucky and you.

“Thank God you’re here! I couldn’t stand talking to Grandpa Stan a minute longer. He’s all about his World War Two stories again.” An annoyed redhead approaches you from the side and your mood instantly lightens. You turn and see Tasha greet you with open arms and a playful smile. “You look nice!” She says upon seeing your expression and her smile quickly falters.

“Oh, no. What did she do this time?” She watches intensely, her hands squeezing your shoulders, but now that your cousin is here, there is no need to dwell in the state of depression Karen has put you in. 

Bucky just stays silent as he watches you interact with the redhead. He’s trying to stay off to the side, as he doesn’t really know anyone very well. He’s not a social person, which was yet another reason why this whole thing had been a bad idea from the start, but now that he has seen why you needed a fake boyfriend, he is determined to honor his role for the day. He’d do anything to make Karen feel defeated and unsupported after what he has just witnessed. Because whether he likes it or not, you are his friend, and nobody messed with his friends like that. 

A sense of protection overtakes him every time he sees Karen pass by close to the both of you, And Bucky has to restrain himself a couple too many times from laying his arm around you. 

He watches people laughing and talking from afar, his face blank from expression, his hands in his pockets to keep himself from reaching out to you. 

“Tasha this is Bucky.” You suddenly say and pull him closer, your arm remains around him and he is kind of glad that you officially give him permission to touch in this fake relationship. He blushes a little startled at the gesture anyway. He’s not used to it, but it's kind of nice. 

“Bucky Barnes, right? Yeah, I’ve heard my mother talk about you.” Tasha says and Bucky just rolls his eyes. “And I see you’ve met her, too.” She laughs and Bucky knows she’s an ally. “I wish you good luck for today, our family is a menace.”

“Thanks.” Bucky looks over to Karen who is mingling with her guests and a wave of disgust overcomes him. “Hopefully she won’t ruin this holiday.”

“Oh, she will. You can count on it, actually. But with time you’ll learn to deal with it. We have Karen bingo cards at every event to cross off things she does or says. It’s fun if you make it fun. Don’t let her antics bother you too much. The suburbs are the only place she has something to say and she holds on to it for dear life... I pity her most of the time.” Tasha rambles on and on and Bucky takes a liking to her with every word. He smiles and so do you. 

“Anyway, I gotta get Grandpa a beer but feel free to mingle, and,” Tasha turns to you as she grabs your hand for a brief moment, her eyes staring into yours intently. “Come find me if she gets too much, okay?”

You just nod at your cousin. Tasha is amazing and she always manages to calm you down after yet another unpleasant encounter with your aunt. God knows why she was cursed with such a pain of a mother, but Tasha makes the best out of it. 

Bucky smiles and looks at Tasha walking away. He seems to have already relaxed with her somewhat, so he tries to take her advice and ignore Karen’s antics. Maybe this won’t be so bad. 

❁ ❁ ❁

It's about 30 minutes later when you are off to talk to some other family members who haven’t seen you in a while and Bucky has decided to check out the buffet. He eats in silence, his gaze swaying over the yard - people watching. He finds comfort in it every now and then. But unfortunately, his peace isn’t lasting long. 

“So Bucky, tell me. How did you and my niece meet?” Karen appears next to him and holds out a bottle of beer to him.

Bucky is a little startled but he swallows his hot dog and uses the time to come up with a story. What would you want him to say? Some romantic crap, probably, but Bucky would much rather tell her that you met at a burn-all-Karens petition downtown. Still, he can’t completely ignore his intrusive thoughts, so he simply takes the bottle and answers with a straight face as he watches Karen's expression falter.

“In prison.” Hopefully, this would shut her up.

"Oh? You are a prison guard?” She asks with intrigue, adamant that he is still the glorious man she makes him out to be, and Bucky just sends her a knowing smile. 

“Something like that.”

The blonde bob shakes in his peripheral. “Well, it was only a matter of time until she would end up there.” Karen shrugs but Bucky feels anger bubbling inside him. 

“What do you even mean by that?” It becomes harder to control himself now. 

Your eyes move over to Bucky as you let your relative’s speech about the perfect lawn mower pass by you in a breeze. He looks slightly irritated and uncomfortable, his shoulders are tense but he’s holding up well, and Karen doesn’t seem to suspect anything. Of course she doesn’t, though, she is shallow. 

“I just can't seem to believe that an attractive and interesting man such as yourself would settle for someone so... bland.” And just like that, snobbish middle-aged white women made it to the top of his blacklist. 

Karen sips on her cocktail with a winning smile, she must have known how insecure she could make you with the confidence that radiated off of her right now. 

The paper plate in Bucky’s hand crumbles at her words. His anger is clearly written on his features, turning solid by the second. “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

It just bursts out of him, he can’t stop it - it just feels right. How dare this bitch call you boring? You of all people and not him? The anger crawls up his neck with every second he has to spend close to your aunt and at one point he can’t take it anymore.

“Bingo!” Someone yells from the back of the yard, but Bucky just looks at Karen with his death stare.

“Your niece is the most wonderful person I’ve ever met. She’s smart and kind and courageous and so unbelievably goodhearted. You don’t know how lucky you are to have her in your life. And yet all you do is patronize her. The fact that you don’t see that is seriously pathetic. You are a grown woman, for god’s sake. I highly recommend that you fix your attitude or I won’t be responsible for what happens next,” he sneers into Karen's flabbergasted face. 

The whole party has gone quiet. People have stopped talking and are all turned to look at the disturbance with the potential to bring far more entertainment than anything else that they’re doing. 

You decide to intervene before something else happens. You rush towards Bucky after excusing yourself and drag him out of the yard with a solid ‘Can I talk to you, babe?’. Bucky just glares at Karen for good measure before he lets himself be led away by you. He’s tense, with his hands clenching in fists, he looks like he’s ready to strangle your aunt - as if there is a lot more at play than your feelings in his response to her. 

“I swear... that woman...” He grumbles with vicious eyes, he grinds his teeth in frustration and the muscles in his jaw pop a little. 

“I know, but... well, that’s just how she is.”

“How have you gone this long without knocking her over with a bat?” You need to refrain from laughing out loud at Bucky’s comment.

“I can’t change it. Punching her won’t help. But, hey,” you push a white paper into his hand and upon short inspection, he realizes it’s a bingo card. “We can make fun of it. New round just started.”

You hug him and push a quick kiss to his cheek before you step back and let him calm down a bit. Bucky has to smile at the card in his hand and he looks down to hide the small blush creeping over the heated spot on his cheek. His hand covers the place you kissed and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. When did he start feeling this way?

“Come on now. I want you to meet my Grandpa. I think you’ll get along well.”

❁ ❁ ❁

“Meet Stan, my grandfather.” You say once you reach the small circle of people that gathered around your grandfather. 

“Pleased to meet you, sir. My name’s Bucky Barnes.” You watch them shake hands and Stan’s eyes brighten at the additional listener.

“Pleasure to meet you, young man. Grab yourself a beer and sit down I was just about to tell the story of how a grenade ended up going off right next to me.” 

You exchange a short look with Tasha who has heard the story about as often as you have before, but when your eyes sway to Bucky, you notice the intrigue in his body language. He scrambles to sit down close to Stan with his hands folded over his knees.

“You’re telling me that you survived a grenade? A literal grenade?” Bucky’s eyebrows shoot up and it's like watching a child on Christmas Day. “You’re either tough as nails or incredibly lucky, sir.”

So, hooking Bucky up with your grandpa was a great success. He seemed to be the first person that was actually interested in Stan’s stories from the war. And while you had to not worry about Karen steering up more arguments with Bucky anymore, you watch him interact with the rest of your family with awe.

The day passes by and Bucky seems to catch a conversation with Stan every now and then. He’s interested in history and your grandfather seems like the perfect source for the answers he’s been seeking. But when the moon rises and the fireworks have died down, you decide it's time to go home. 

Bucky is talking to your grandfather again when you approach him from behind. In a weird shoot of confidence, you wrap your arms around him and place a gentle kiss on his shoulder. 

“Are you ready to go home?” You’re a little nervous but you don’t pull away, and Bucky is strangely content with the amount of physical contact he’s gotten today. Still, he tries to stuff the weird feelings in his chest away when he turns in your arms. 

“Yeah,” he looks at you with soft eyes, “I think I’m ready to go home.” But you can’t help but think that his statement holds a little more than the answer to your question. 

❁ ❁ ❁

You smile when Bucky opens the car door for you. You didn’t expect it, and it almost looks as if Bucky didn’t expect it either, but you’re not complaining. He starts the car in silence but this time, there is faint music coming from the radio. The street lights pass by the window as you look out until your apartment complex comes into view. 

Once the car is parked again, you turn around to Bucky. He makes no effort to move and it doesn’t bother you at all. It’s nice in the car. Cool from the AC and Bucky’s presence is a pleasant addition to the calm the car ride home has brought to you.

“Thank you for coming with me today. I know it wasn’t exactly what you expected and I am so sorry for my family. They are a lot... I just...” You fumble with your fingers before looking back up at him again. “I don’t think I would have survived this party without you. It really means a lot.” You finally finish and it feels like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. 

Bucky is quiet for a while, thinking about what you have just said. He feels weird thinking about how many of these family gatherings you had to endure without anyone stepping up for you before, and he has the strong urge to just cradle you in his arms and protect you from all the Karens of the world - let nothing ever touch you like that again. He had seen your heart break a little today and he didn’t like it at all. 

His eyes avert from the windshield when he turns to you and gazes into your eyes intently. There’s a lot going on in them, but it all radiates comfort to you. And then, almost like a button has been pushed, he grabs your chin and pulls you closer, his hand running down your cheek. There’s a moment of complete standstill. Everything is zeroing in on him and then, after a beat or two, he pulls you into him and kisses you. 

It's short and it's sweet but it holds more feelings than you have ever gotten from a kiss. When he pulls back, his eyes just run over your face. He doesn’t know what just happened and neither do you. It’s like a wild dream - a good one.

“What... what was that for?” Your whisper barely reaches his ears and Bucky struggles to construct a proper sentence with the way your eyes lock with his in awe.

“I... It’s... I just... couldn’t help myself,” he confesses while still shaking out of his trance. Uh oh. What if this was a mistake? 

He attempts to pull away reluctantly, but you stop him. “No, no it’s fine,” you grab his hand and place it back on your face, “do it again, please.”

Bucky’s breath staggers when you say that and for a moment, he freezes completely. Is this really happening? And how is he feeling like this when he didn’t even see you this way when this day started? 

The grip on his wrist is gentle, but he’s glued to you. Everything, every sense of his is pulled in your direction until you completely consume him. And he lets it happen. You haul him onto another kiss and this one is even better - more passionate, more... just more. He can’t get enough of you and he wonders how he has gone so long without it - this feeling of flying when you touch him.

Your hand grabs his shoulder and your fingers push into his tender muscles. It feels good, though and Bucky strives to have you even closer. The warmth is all-consuming but he doesn’t mind in the slightest, that the night outside his car is a hundred degrees or that just an hour ago this was all pretend. It certainly isn’t anymore.

“I really like you, Bucky. I hope my family didn’t chase you away. I know that they can be a handful sometimes, but you handled them so well and-“

“Doll,” Bucky stops you and your heart skips at the nickname. His eyes are shining in the dim light falling through the windshield, but you can still see every speck of grey in the deep blue. He’s trying to convey how he feels, but he believes it’s not enough. His nose nudges yours and then he whispers softly: “I really like you, too.”

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[zahri-melitor]

Recent Reads:

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I enjoyed it! It's worth seeking out.

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"I hate it when villains aren't just villains. Maybe it's not fair to the Dents of the world, but I like to think it protects me from the creeps."

Steph's whole thesis here is that they shouldn't be making an extra effort for Harvey, just because he was Bruce's friend, because villains are villains and they can't and won't change, and even when they do, they'll ultimately backslide. It's a very conservative view of criminalisation, and it's one Steph's had since her creation by Dixon, and which makes a lot of sense given her background and her problems with her father.

Bruce and Steph then have a fight over "Harvey isn't Arthur". What makes the fight particularly interesting to me is that Steph's arguing that if Harvey was committed to changing we would see it, and she hasn't, while Bruce still believes that Harvey can change and is trying to, because he's seen Harvey work on it. While Steph has absolutely no trust or belief in her father. And they're talking past each other here while having a conversation.

It's some great character work. Because Bruce at his core is fundamentally committed to rehabilitation and hoping that everyone can be saved. While Steph, for extremely good canonical reasons, thinks that criminals remain criminals, and that if they want to stop being criminals they have to show the work for people to trust them; because she was betrayed while growing up.

(The actual plot of this story was good too. But people like to say that Steph doesn't have any good characterisation post Flashpoint, and I'm here to point wildly at things like this and Tynion's 'Tec run and ask what their issues are, because this is another extremely solid congruent-with-pre-War Games-Steph story)

Batman: One Bad Day - The Penguin: I could definitely tell this was a John Ridley story. I think part of my discomfort with this was that it wanted to be canonical and non-canonical at the same time. It's very clearly set in approximately the 2022 present for Bat comics (Renee Montoya is Commissioner, Oswald has recently been kicked out of Gotham)...but it's also very much an alternate history, where instead of pretending to be dead, he's been replaced by "The Umbrella Man" who has stolen Ozzie's life. It's rather like a rerun of the Emperor Penguin plot except for the fact that The Umbrella Man is a random black man (yes, thanks Ridley) who points out a bunch of class disparity issues to Penguin.

It's just a very odd plot choice to run for an specific oneshot at this point in the storyline, because completely separately we are in the process of doing "Oswald vs his children who have killed all their siblings to inherit the Iceberg" in main continuity. Get a second Penguin plot please.

Mostly this is a parable about accepting who you are and not being a bully, or the Penguin will rip out your throat. Or something. It worked, it was just...really obvious nobody knows what to do with a Penguin plot. Just do mafia and black market stuff!

Batman: One Bad Day - Mr Freeze: I don't recognise Gerry Duggan? He's apparently done about 2000 Marvel comics and a whole 8 DC ones. Oh! But he wrote Arkham Manor! Oh my gosh so many things suddenly make sense, including the fact that the motif of this comic was Victor making snow angels.

I loved Arkham Manor and particularly the way Victor was characterised in it, even though that characterisation wasn't exactly standard Mr Freeze (it was comedy Mr Freeze). What we got this time was hmmmm a very self-absorbed Victor, where the plot specifically removed some of the pathos of Victor's devotion to Nora by showcasing a number of ways he was overly obsessed to the point of harming Nora before she passed away. It wasn't quite the direction of depth into Freeze we've seen other stories go recently, but it definitely committed to him being potentially quite harmless if you frame things around Nora in the right way to get him to focus how you want him to.

I have to say though, I don't think Duggan has a particularly good grasp on Bruce or even Dick. There were a bunch of moments where Bruce calls a completely random street thug an "irredeemable villain" and that "he belongs in the deepest hole we can throw him in". I'm sorry, did I pick up a Bruce Wayne comic or a Jason Todd one? Because uhhhh that's not standard Bruce personality. Alfred was even snarking at Bruce about how "Forgive me gentlemen, I must be suffering from a senior moment. I thought Master Bruce just said he though a criminal could change."

YES! YES HE DOES THINK THAT! THAT'S BATMAN'S WHOLE THING! HE BELIEVES HE CAN SAVE EVERYONE! HE BELIEVES THAT THEY CAN CHANGE! We literally just had the Two-Face story two titles before this be all about how Bruce is overcommitted to believing that Harvey can recover and trying to help him!

Okay poor Bruce characterisation aside, this was a fairly fun Year 4 setting for the story, and it was the requisite Christmas episode, which I did also appreciate as thematic for release date and chosen villain. Tiny Dick is highly amusing in how he thinks he might be about to get to drive the Batmobile for the first time...and then the autopilot engages. He really wants to drive and comments on how he doesn't have his learners yet (and 7ish years down the track he can end up amused and irritated that TIM got his learners at 14)

I assume Duggan got given a slot on the strength of his Marvel work, and that's fine, except...the off characterisation makes it pretty clear he doesn't have a particularly good or current grasp on at least one of the two main characters of the title. Which is just slightly important for a special high profile series on Batman and His Villains. And I'm saying that as someone who liked Arkham Manor, but enjoyed it for being a quirky offbeat, tonally dissonant story in the middle of the unending angst that was Batman Eternal.

Everyone else in this set has big set piece previous stories involving the characters to point to as why they got picked. Duggan seems to have scraped through on "Big in Marvel, has written one of the few focused on Victor Fries stories in the last decade".

[lakesbian]

okay, as i have been encouraged by the public (like 2 people) to go forward with this research, i present the very scientific Tier List of Blonde Wildbow Characters Ranked From Most to Least Likely to Have A Piss Kink. virtually no one wanted this post. i did not want this post. it is 2.1k words long. i wanted to inform you of that before you clicked read more in case you were just expecting a tier list image and did not actually want to read 2.1k words about piss kinks.

wherein:

the tier list exists because of this ask, which was written in jesting response to the subject of victoria dallon's canon piss kink (more on that below) and somewhat intentionally misrepresented by me as being contextless because i thought it was funny to crop it and reply with 'ok.' which led to a massive containment breach and several thousand people not realizing anon was trying to make a joke. sorry. my bad, anon.

here, "likelihood of having a piss kink" is defined as "likelihood of having a kink that involves primarily or significantly urine," and genre of piss kink shall be clarified for the characters where it's a possibility.

no pictures are included for the characters because not all of them have fanart and also there's a lot of them and the tier list is only so big and i'm lazy

characters i do not know well enough to vibe check are not included

rationally speaking it would make most sense to presume that unless a character has a canon or heavily implied piss kink it is heavily implausible for them to have one but this post would be boring and pointless if i went that route so i'm going to include some somewhat baseless vibe-checking/discussion of hypotheticals where it's not explicitly disproven or improbable. with my bestest attempts to remain reasonable levels of character accurate given the post circumstances.

our ranks here are:

canon: this character canonically has a piss kink

highly plausible: there is strong contextual evidence that could be used to argue for the presence of a piss kink

plausible: based on more vibes/less solid evidence than "highly plausible," but a piss kink is still possible

could go either way: there is a lack of evidence in either direction, there's no way to make a clear argument on the matter

not very plausible: there is decent contextual evidence or simply Character Vibes that could be used to argue against the presence of a piss kink

strong evidence against: it can be deemed nigh-certain that this character does not have a piss kink

The Chart:

the characters who were not included because i do not know them personally (opinions welcomed):

all three ashleys

bianca

The Analysis:

Canon:

victoria: stated by wildbow to have some kind of "preferred fluid" you shouldn't drink, knows what urine tastes like. canon watersports kink. i hate her. i hope she stands within 20 feet of fentanyl and overdoses and dies. i hope she goes down a slide too hard.

Highly Plausible:

citrine: we know that accord is certainly and without doubt enough of a control freak (<- said w/ deep affection) that he insists that his ambassadors refrain from Wanton and Unprofessional Bathroom Breaks, but also insists that they never indicate they have to pee (or engage in any other basic bodily function) ever because that's Icky and if they do he will want to Rube Goldberg Machine But The Machine Is A Saw Trap them about it. and we know that citrine gets off on him being a control freak. it can thus be reasonably extrapolated that she's constantly doing accidental omorashi w/ accord and is just as into that as she is all the other aspects of control. the piss is incidental--the main point is still whatever appeals to her about the control in general--but, like, The Piss Is There. extremely does not want to experience what would happen if she ever even remotely fucked up holding, but presumably enjoys the mortifying ordeal of attempting to politely excuse herself to the restroom and/or stoically holding so she doesn't have to excuse herself in the first place.

paige (pact): she textually, literally, canonically, For Fucking Real, is a lesbian who enters into the world of pactverse magic because she's tempted by a hypothetical dom/sub dynamic with a hot professor who is actually a sphinx. (if any of you who haven't read pact yet are reading this post. Please go read pact.) this extrapolation is less blatant than citrine, but it's by no means unreasonable to assume that there could be some bladder control going on here. she can go to the bathroom when she's a good girl and finishes answering all of isadora's questions. etc. hey do you think pactverse would have really hardcore RACK omorashi where you make a statement that you are NOT going to go until [x amount of time] and it's your karma on the line if you fuck it up. i bet people with executive dysfunction in pact do this type of shit a lot. they're like i am going to start my homework RIGHT NOW!!! and then they Have to. i digress.

Plausible:

peter: we have no information about his love life beyond him flirting with ainsley amidst a Serious Disaster involving Demons, so this is just vibes-based, but he's mean and manipulative and unpleasant in a specific way that could theoretically insinuate that he would enjoy accidentally-on-purpose preventing a girl from getting to the bathroom & watching her squirm. you'll have to trust me on this.

Could Go Either Way:

ellie: my consultant re the pelhams vibes-based ranked her higher than peter, but i don't see it. i could see her having one, but it'd be in a different and grosser direction than peter. i feel like blake's comparison of her to a weak, groveling dog in a pack may be relevant here.

rose (old): i don't strongly see it, but based on what we know about her sex life i wouldn't be surprised if she participated in any heat-of-the-moment watersports.

rose (young): somehow coming in with the exact right bizarre psychosexual complexes to score higher than both blake and pre-meiosis thorburn. i don't think it's likely, but i somehow don't see a reason to mark her down as entirely implausible. her theoretical psychosexual complex about blake is marked by a few facts: she says that he has a "hate-on" for her, she does that weird thing where she hugs him for comfort & lets him give her his jacket (what if the lamb you were leading to slaughter was the man you could've been, and for just a moment, you wanted to take kindness from The Man You Could've Been despite the fact that, because you are not him, you will betray him regardless), when he sacrifices himself to fuse with/bolster her the fusing is described in ostensibly sexual language (being Inside her, the two halves grinding, etc), and she does that whole noticeable twice-over to his almost-naked body. she would absolutely never admit to wanting to fuck her "clone," but were she to envision it, the scenario she would mentally craft would involve blake wanting to fuck her (he never would & she knows this) and, like, eating her out like he wants to kill her or doing some boot frotting with splinters. oh and she would give him the most awkward dry unpleasant handjob on the planet where she's very clearly treating him like a program to experiment with, press button A and find out if it gets result B. I digress. one could also imagine a theoretical rose thorburn piss kink which remains an entirely subconscious psychosexual fixation that she freudian-slips into conversation at least once a la "hate-on," wherein the ideal scenario for her earlier into the book would be wetting herself for reasons entirely against her control despite being so very brave and stalwart and stoic, and imaginary blake is like "wow you were so brave and stoic about that...it's ok everyone has gotten into an awkward spot once or twice in their lives. in fact, [personal recounting of relevant horrible memory]. here have my jacket i will tie it around your waist for you with a lingering amount of physical contact." and later into the book that would switch to just Making The Fuck Up that he'd be really mean and humiliating about it and then getting mad about her imaginary vision of him doing that even though he literally would not do that ever. (the hypothetical of him being mean about it would be a kink thing for her also obviously. Hate On, she says.) okay sorry for talking so much about rose thorburn's psychosexual fixation with blake thorburn i think it's really funny for her to be extremely abnormal about the clonefucking quandary.

fell: i don't actually know him well enough to postulate what genre it would be if he hypothetically had one but despite not Expecting that he has one i wouldn't find it wholly implausible if wildbow got up tomorrow and made an announcement declaring that he does. i think this could be utilized primarily for the humor purposes of, like. blake being like "hey i know we can't really pull over right now BUT could you pull over? i need to take a leak. should i say want to? is it technically lying if i say need but it's not an emergency yet?" and fell being like No. Do Not Say Another Word On This Subject And Also I Hate You. which is because he is desperately and fervently and furiously and with great and genuine anger and rage attempting to Not think about Blake Thorburn, A Conventionally Attractive And Very Annoying Man, having to pee. but blake interprets it as fell being an asshole for no reason and is like ohhh ok fuck you i guess should i just pee on your seat then. you want me to ruin your car seat? [accusatory, fully bluffing, would rather kill himself than piss in fell's car] you're a car guy who doesn't even care about your fancy white upholstery? and fell is like [desperately doing mental math on if blake thorburn, whomst is already covered in fleas and bloods and mysterious liquids, would be petty enough to intentionally piss himself to ruin fell's car] . I will make you walk. like you can see my vision right.

Not Very Plausible:

kathryn: i simply do not see it. she could have something weird going on but it's not a piss kink. the vibes are not being served.

sandra: also a simple matter of the vibes not being there. has probably been exposed to it at one time or another but sees it as undignified and so on

callan: not sensing it

lisa: bathroom shit is surely beyond mundane to her just like everyone elses private bodily workings thoughts feelings etc. i dont even think she has any kinks or interest in sex in general

crystal: this is the only interesting one in this section! she was described to me as "very laid back, but also kind of passive. she's a slob in her private life. sort of goes with the flow to the point that it led her joining a paramilitary force with no oversight." i think being in the dallon-pelham torment nexus sort of intrinsically adds +20 Not Likely points unless youre victoria but i can only assume from this description of her personality that if someone she was fucking was into it she would just roll with it.

neil: was described to me as "neil barely gets anything. he's kind of reckless? he trained victoria a lot. he cheated on his wife with her sister. he liked knocking toddler-aged victoria over as a form of 'training.'" probably not very likely at all but who knows. maybe "declines to fuck sarah and watches panty pissing porn instead" is on his list of secrets next to "cheated on his wife with her sister."

Strong Evidence Against:

carol, paige (worm) (this is canary in case you forgot like i did), cuff, theo, sarah: the club of generic respectable milquetoast cishets who would not do any of that shit and would probably judge someone at least a little for any amount of kink (or in some cases even vanilla sex <3), with paige coming on on the less-judgemental end of the scale and carol coming in at the high end of the judgement scale.

ciara: not generic milquetoast or respectable but the idea of her being into it is just like. silly to me. faerie queens aren't into piss that would be ridiculous. unless they're pactverse faerie queens, then it's a "got bored of it 31 centuries ago" situation, but ciara is not a pactverse faerie.

elle: already struggles with keeping up with hygiene and like...general Existence. surely would not associate any bodily function w/ anything but a task to complete or a mess to clean (<- other task). also presumably might need help going to the bathroom/being reminded that she needs to go sometimes so that certainly would not b anywhere near sexual to her

scion: uh. well. I don't think he knows what any of that shit is to be real with you. Does he even fucking count as blonde?

blake: is textually extremely triggered and distressed and disgusted by being dirty/unclean & losing control over his physical body, to the point where not being able to regularly shave is actively seriously detrimental to his mental health. his tragic character arc of having his identity degraded to the point where "is that still blake" becomes debatable a la ship-of-theseus question is viscerally represented by the fact that bogeyman-blake is just constantly filthy, to the point of turning snow into gray, stained slush when he walks thru it. struggling to deal with basic bodily functions & cleanliness while homeless absolutely severely traumatized him. he would react to someone else wetting themselves with, like, appropriately blake-like levels of kindness & concern, but he would still 100% find the actual piss disgusting. he would try to avoid showing it, but he would find it disgusting. we see him reacting with immense horror to conquest threatening to make him soil himself. if he were ever actually forced into a circumstance where he was genuinely worried about the possibility of pissing himself--let alone if he actually did so--he would have a Category 5 DEFCON 1 Mental Health Moment. all of which is a great reason he should have pissed himself at least once during pact! (<- i just elaborated on this point at such great length i had to force myself to backspace it all and move onto the next bulletpoint)

PMT: exact same trauma as blake. because you know. They were Blake before they got got. unlike blake, still capable of wanting to fuck people, but, like, We Know They're Not Doing Anything With Piss. leatherdyke piss kinkster pmt is a beautiful beautiful vision but its not true.

there you go. thats it. thats the tierlist.

[fizzyrodeo]

Updated Helluva Boss Tierlist (S1-S2)

Since quite a lot has happened with the characters since my first tierlist, I've decided to remake it! The old one is the third shown, for reference. The tiers are slightly different, and I'll also be explaining some of my choices below the cut!

(^^ includes my personal fanon ranking)

(^^ excludes my personal fanon ranking)

(^^ original tierlist)

'Superior in my Fanon'

> i feel like i don't need to say that in my version of hb the dynamics between I.M.P. would be very different. still found family, just a better depiction of it.

> best way to fix Mayberry is to NOT have her end up with the woman she tried to kill both in real life AND after death imo. or at the least, flesh her personality out some more before doing so.

> in my version of hb Paimon isn't different in terms of personality. he's just around more in the current timeline and has more definitive interactions with Stolas.

> i don't remember the name of the guy from the blitzø hate party episode, but while he serves as a good show of stolas' flaws and weaknesses, i'd have preferred if he stood as more of a positive comparison to blitzø, highlighting the latter's flaws. this would include a little more screen time and a show of what exactly led to im and stolas dancing and kissing.

'Win(ners)'

> I do NOT support Crimson's actions. However, he is one of the few solid villains we have left in Helluva Boss (and also I have a thing for villains).

> a lot of people take issue with Sallie Mae for reasons to her gender and how it's portrayed in merch + 'not portrayed sufficiently' in the show but I can't think of a single thing that's wrong with her and how she's written.

'Love'

> y'all are hating on Envy for NOTHING 😭😭😭 i mean hating the design is valid but why are we surprised that it isn't accurate to the sources viv based it on?? this isn't new? and at least Envy isn't an eyesore like some others... but i'm maybe people want more of that?? idk, i feel like they're overhated. i love their design, that's about the only reason they're ranked so high.

'Like'

> yes, i do like Stolas!! he's done a lot of things i don't like but it's part of his development. plus, realizing that he actually gets a lot of lasting consequences in canon (regardless of whether he ignores them or not) made me ease up on him. plus he's a crybaby twink. how could i not like a crybaby twink.

> a lot of the characters in this category are either here for their design or their defining moment. Chaz is a bit of a special case, and so is the hellhound adoption center lady. we're sleeping on Barbie Wire's rehab nurse, she did her job GOOD.

'Idrc'

> not much to say here. every character listed in this tier has failed to captivate my interest and for that, i simply don't think of them. a big point i thought of was "who are they without their defining drama?" and for most of them the answer was "little to nothing".

> there's a few random side characters in this tier. they are only present becuse they're side characters that i figured people would remember, and i wanted to state my opinion on them.

'I don't like them'

> all these characters are here because i either dislike the limited appearance they had, dislike their personality, or have extenuating beef.

> there's so much i dislike about Asmodeus- pretty much the same things i dislike about Beelzebub, but i decided to spare him from the very bottom of the list because he is one of the more actively kinder characters in the show.

[heartsmadeofbooks]

Fic writer 20 questions

I was tagged by the lovely @bitbybitwrites ♥

Not tagging anyone because I'm pretty sure she tagged everyone I follow lol. So if anyone sees this and feels like doing it, consider yourself tagged.

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

19 on AO3. Still need to move a couple from Fanfiction.net

2. whats your ao3 word count?

Right now, it's 1.756.021 (holy shit)

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Only Glee.

4. top 5 fics by kudos

Solid Gold.

Clear Skies.

Flowers in the Window.

Underneath it All.

Sing to me Instead.

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I try to answer them every week. It's nice to interact with the readers and a really great way to show your appreciation that they take time to read and comment after every chapter.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Flowers in the Window, probably?

7. whats the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All my fics have happy endings, so this one is hard to answer... probably Syrup and Honey or Clear Skies?

8. do you get hate on fics?

Not often, but it's happened.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

Yes, I write smut. At least a few scenes in every fic. I try to give it a purpose in each story, because I'm not exactly a fan of PWP, though I've made an exception once or twice lol. I like loving sex scenes the most, ones where it's obvious the characters are making a real connection.

10. do you write crossovers? whats the craziest one youve ever written?

I don't write crossovers. Never liked them, of any sort. Not even on actual TV shows (when I used to watch the DC shows and they blended Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, it was actually one of the reasons I stopped watching).

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Too many times lol.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, several times with my permission. It was really nice :)

13. have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No. I only ever worked with fanart artists for collabs before, but never with other writers.

14. fave all time ship?

I think it's pretty clear that it's Klaine :)

(But god, I love Stede and Ed, Lucius and Black Pete, and Carlos and TK)

15. wip you want to finish but doubt you will?

I never start a story I don't intend to finish.

16. what are your writing strengths?

Probably angst, I guess. I just love writing it, because it's what elicits the most feelings while I'm working on it (and readers react most strongly to it, too!)

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

I still struggle with some grammar or spelling. Thank goodness I have @christinejaneanderson ♥

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I don't mind but it has to be perfectly written - I always cringe when I hear Spanish spoken in TV shows and it's completely inaccurate (Glee did that a few times, and a few others). How hard it is to check?

19. first fandom you wrote for?

Maybe Lord of the Rings? But Glee is the only fandom I wrote seriously for.

20. fave fic youve written?

This changes all the time, honestly. My current favorite is Cause and Effect. But there are many I have a lot of love for.

[oathbreakerapologist]

so what would prompt ghost to Go Back to Orin..? and would Orin even accept him?

You know, it's really more of a question of what keeps him from going back to Orin during the standard BG3 canon campaign events, and the answer to that is that he doesn't particularly remember his past relationship with her, so he doesn't have any reason to want to get back with her. But if that were to change—if he did regain even fleeting memories of his life with her before the betrayal—he'd go back in a heartbeat.

I've written elsewhere about endings for Ghost if he were a companion, and in that post I talked about how I think there'd be an option to give him the noblestalk, and that this would trigger him to attempt to return to Orin early in act 3. I think that something like this, a magical or otherwise supernatural restoration of some of his lost memories, is the most likely scenario. But I think there's another possible way as well.

Gortash manipulated Orin into betraying Niro. If Ghost were to discover evidence of Gortash's manipulation campaign, it's possible that that might trigger memories to which he'd otherwise lost access, or at least it would allow him to begin to piece together certain layers of his history with Orin. In this scenario too, as soon as he understood what his relationship with Orin was like (and, in his mind, that Gortash took her from him), he'd want to restore his relationship with her.

He sees Orin as not just a lover or a companion, but also the only one in the world like him—his other self. In his mind, they were created by Bhaal for one another, the same in all the ways they needed to be, and different in all the ways they needed to be. Losing her was like losing part of him; the moment he becomes aware of what he's lost, its absence aches like a yawning void.

I think that whether or not she would take him back would strongly hinge on exactly how he approached her. She had been thoroughly manipulated into what she did to him, and in the time since, she'd had plenty of time to justify the betrayal to herself. If he led with an attempt to convince her that she had actually been manipulated, he'd have no chance in hell of getting her to listen to him for more than a solid 30 seconds. She's simply unable to deal with the possibility that the beliefs that led her to nearly murder the one person she ever truly cared about were wrong, which would force her to accept that she'd betrayed him for nothing. She couldn't handle being so badly wrong, so she'd never believe that she was. It wouldn't matter if he had signed papers from Gortash explaining his manipulation campaign in detail; if that was Ghost's strategy, he'd end up a head on a pike out in front of the Temple of Bhaal.

In a world in which he did successfully return to Orin, he'd have to take a different tack. (As an aside, I think I consider this world to be his actual canon. The BG3-adhering storyline in which he ends up with Astarion is great too, and I enjoy it quite a bit because, well, that's my BG3 run with him, but separate from the constraints of the game's storytelling, I do think he'd end up back with Orin.)

The winning strategy—not that he'd think of it as a strategic move, really—would be for him to go in with very little knowledge of what happened. Perhaps all he remembered was that he was powerfully, irrevocably devoted to Orin, and that something terrible had happened between them. Without a distinct recollection of the betrayal, unwilling to believe that Orin would attack him for no reason, Ghost assumed whatever had happened was his fault. He seeks her out hoping for forgiveness for some grave sin he can't remember committing.

His return would have been an overwhelming experience for Orin. She hated him still, for all the reasons Gortash had encouraged her to hate him, and she hated him more for making her need to do what she did. And she was frightened of him—he'd always been terrifyingly strong and powerful, and with the tadpole, he was weaker than he used to be, but absolutely still a threat. But there was a part of her that was relieved, too. Her brother, her love, her other self had come home again, even after all she'd done.

In his lack of memory, Orin saw an opportunity. He thought he'd done something to deserve her attack and the subsequent tadpoling; she was more than happy to let him believe that, because it meant that she could continue to believe that. It also gave her a distinct advantage over him: he was seeking her favor, her approval, her forgiveness. Their interactions would be entirely on her terms.

In the end, it was perhaps easier to reunite than either of them would have expected it to be. He felt directionless, without a sense of purpose greater than the gnawing need for violence. What greater purpose could there be than earning his place at her side? And when it came to how exactly he could earn her forgiveness, Orin certainly had plenty of ideas.

Their relationship was never like it was before. Before, he saw her as his equal, though the rest of the world barely looked beyond him. When he came crawling back to her, his body wracked by the struggle to survive the tadpole gnawing away at his brain matter, his mind dulled, his will sapped, it could never be like that again, for by that point, he was convinced she'd always been far superior to him, and he was ready to fall in line.

[ants-personal]

for zalty fandom azkz: 1, 7 and 9 you can pick fandomz :3

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

imma be real honest here amanda and adam like first off they are on just two different ends of the spectrum on so many levels and like amanda doesn't deserve adam anyways also those bitches gay wlw and mlm violence style

also the small hoffman x adam you really think someone like adam would date a cop especially a corrupt one HAHA

7. Is there anything you use to like but cant stand now?

Hmm probably the way the stories are told in saw lol past the 3rd one its sucks we spend so much time still in flashbacks it takes away alot from characters that are going through the movie now like hoffman suffers greatly from it. Even now we get finally a new story in thw saw universe with spiral and they go right back to heres john and aNother thing he did in the past we decided :P. Id rather explore spiral more or similar to it a rise in new jigsaws but each one being that meme thats like wow everyone else is insane good thing im the sane one and they are all thinking it each having new rules or beliefs and how that conflicts with the other jigsaws maybe or just bring back zeke and william please liongate im begging let saw 11 be something still attached to johns name only by association and not anotherr flashback movie to bloat the timeline I wanna see some of these charaters actually like be developed into more then barely 2d characters they did so well with amanda in the first 3 now do it again with others

9. Most dislikes character(s)? why?

1. Hoffman i cannot stand cops who think they are still good by doing bad also he just so pretentious and booooorrrrinnngggggg oh my goood i hate that the last three movies in the og 7 revolves around him so much like UGHHHHHH i wish i got to see his face get ripped im half by that beartrap instead of jill

2. LOgan theres not many reasons either mostly hes boring and barely a character like hes a solider???? and???? nothing another boring fuckin guy who thinks hs the beST and did not deserve jigsaws mercy over others he so easily let die really id love see him die just as boring as he lived

3. Amanda but really only cause she killed my boy adam and also cheated his game and kerrys but its not as much as the other 2 more like annoyance she can do a little cheat im just not happy with it. My feels towards her are like shes one of the only well written characters in this franchise but also my pathetic boy :(( so i guess its more love her character dislike her actions

[mouseratz]

anywho. also read asm 300 out of boredom and the fact I didn't have my physical books on me soooo. well. god I hate MJ and Peter. y'all should divorce for real. not because you guys are bad to each other you're just so goddamn annoying.

Mjs like "I'm a girl! I love shopping and I have friends who are also hot girls! and peter don't you want to take sexy photos of me! and I feel SOOOO bad that I'm better at your job than you and it makes you feel bad I guess I should just be worse at it so it doesn't insult your masculinity ❤️❤️❤️ loveee u baby" Like. sorry. she's just written as What Some Guy Imagines a Normal Nice Girl Is Like here. (obviously this is not representative of the entirety of actual decades of writing for a character but this issue is a rough introduction.)

and peter. well. he's Nineties Just Some Guy but I expected that so it's a little less grating.

the art is interesting because the action scenes and compositions are really solid and easy to see why they're iconic. but the faces......I don't like them. at all. they're jacked up for everybody. basically only the hero suits and dynamic shots look good.

Brock's heavy catholic bent did not make it into the movie characterization and I think that's fair but also really fucking funny. part of his revenge fantasy includes "dressing up as a priest to kill spiderman". also his backstory "I was really sad I lost my job so I got jacked because I thought it would make me less depressed but it didn't. and the more I thought about it the more mad I got and then I was gonna kill myself for real like I was gonna do it. but then an alien said hey let's go kill that guy you hate I hate him too and I was like awesome! and now life is also awesome" . which is just so....yeah That's Comics!

Brock and venom united by Being a Hater (to be fair in venoms case. I do actually feel bad for him how is that his fault imagine being like heyyyy I'm an alien who needs a host to live. and you're cool and we get along pretty well....we can help each other and it would be great. and then the guy doesn't just tell you Fuck Off I Don't Want to Do That, but Tries To Murder You Bad and the entire discussion around him doesn't really seem to regard him as a person but as just a thing who's life isn't as valuable as his, even after knowing he's sentient....)

(and peter's fine with trying to kill him Again, not just as defense, and only backs off because he doesn't want to kill the human he's bonded with). that's kinda fucked up. you don't even consider his life a life just because he's a people eating alien. wow. eyeroll. idk it's just weird to be like. I Can't Take A Life! But This Guy Doesn't Count Cuz It's Not Human. I thought we left that behind in the silver age with the old Bizarro stories and the like. at least DC kinda did. I can and I WILL get stuck on "how do you determine which life is valuable and worth saving versus not" because I like star trek. c'mon. it'd be different if he didn't care because venom was a threat either way and needed to be stopped; but that isn't what he said. he said, no, I can't take his life because it would mean also taking Brock's life, and I can't do that. which is inch resting. tldr what I'm saying is yeah he's got reasons to be a hater. )

[aaronymous9]

The WOF Love Interest slander has made me think about it. What would be my ideal love interests for each Wings of Fire protagonist?

Clay - Keep him without a solid one, he can have minor flings but honestly I like how the books kept him single and made it pretty clear Peril’s crush was one-sided. I don’t personally headcanon him as aromantic or anything I just think him not having a love interest is more useful and interesting to the character dynamics and the story than having one would be.

Tsunami - As I have previously stated, pathetic malewife ( gender-neutral as usual for the bisexual queen ) or equally as tough dragon who has a soft spot for Tsunami and she has one for them. I like how Riptide is the first person Tsunami meets but not in the way the books portray it, it shouldn’t just be “first male of the same tribe as her now they are dating” I feel “this was the first person I felt I could relate to on all the things I never knew why I did and you taught me so much but never used me for being a princess or forced me to be a certain way thank you”

Glory - Okay girlboss and her hitman bodyguard is cute, kinda reminds me of Yor and Loid Forger in a way but also the age gap has to go Tui how’d you fuck up the timeline that bad 😭😭 I don’t actually like how Deathbringer is written either I kinda would want more of a serious to outsiders but playful slowburn when alone with eachother. I feel like Glory wouldn’t actually get with anyone until she’s an adult because she would be so focused on her career BUT GOD GET A MAN OR A WOMAN OR WHATEVER IDC WHO IS YOUR AGE PLEASE DONT MESS UP THE TIMELINE AND IMPLY STRANGE AGE GAPS IT RUINS SHIPS

Starflight - Tbh… I love him and Fatespeaker nerdy quiet boyfriend and his bundle of energy nerdy girlfriend, just crank it up to 11 I want more I don’t care if she’s annoying it’s fun I just wish they did more with it it was so cute :(

Sunny - The aromantic queen.

Moonwatcher - Everytime I heard her worrying about “oh gosh oh me should I choose the nice funny guy who is nothing but kind to me or the nasty racist man who keeps telling me who hates me because I’m a nightwing” makes me want to rip my hair out. If you can’t tell love triangles are often poorly written and both choices are not equal. Solution: Give Qibli more apparent flaws and maybe don’t make Winter dragon racist it makes the bad boy character a lot less of a bad boy and more of “why are you giving this man the time of day Moon he hates you” energy. That was a rant and a half but basically balance it out more and in the end I don’t want her to decide. She can have some romance drama on the side but I feel like she could never choose, or she could go poly or open relationship but who knows. If I could throw Qibli and Winter in the love interest trash bin I would give Moon a quiet gf with an interesting backstory or something like that, someone who doesn’t have a bombardment of thoughts and is calm and peaceful and Moon can just chill with her. Or honestly if Arc 2 wanted to focus on plot more, discard love interest for Moon until Arc 3.

Winter and Qibli - Stated before. Honestly would prefer if Winter didn’t have a love interest at all and worked through his own issues with his friends where as I’m a little more open to Moon and Qibli personally I’m not the biggest fan. I think Qibli is another character like Clay that I can’t see any story reasons to actually give a love interest until after Arc 2.

Peril - Realize she doesn’t need Clay to love her to be worth anything and slowly come to realize to learn to love herself, maybe she gets to be with someone as an adult but after lots of healing and being able to separate her worth as a person from a partner’s love. <3

Turtle - I like how he has a crush on Kinkajou and how Anemone kind of ruins it but I don’t want it to go anywhere and I want he and Kinkajou to have more discussions about it and for them eventually decide not to get together. Or something like that I can’t really see Turtle with anyone but I liked that storyline.

Blue and Cricket: I actually really enjoy this ship and I want them to be happy, make it less sudden though Tui I stg they went way too fast but I do enjoy pathetic little boy x nerdy girl it is a very cute dynamic and made arc 3 tolerable in the first half for me.

Sundew: No complaints. Willow is amazing, I just wish she had more of a role in the story.

Snowfall: I think she and Lynx are cute but they do also work as friends, I don’t think she needs a love interest. Single girlboss.

Luna: I like Luna and Swordtail a lot actually Arc 3 had pretty good romance for Wings of Fire standards, I just wish it was fleshed out more before Luna’s POV book. Her thoughts and memories of Swordtail also made her book tolerable I’m ngl the plot was lacking but Luna and her awesome thoughts and mind and memories was super cool!!

I could also include the humans, the winglet characters and Darkstalker but I don’t want too!! Fuck the humans I hate them!!! Also I acknowledge I didn’t include any MLM ships in here at all but that’s kind of just because most male characters have pretty solid ships already which are primarily straight, which is sad that there isn’t a lot of LGBT rep in Wings of Fire besides Sundew x Willow and side characters Pineapple x Jambou(? He is so irrelevant I forgot his name help 😭 ) and arguably Sky/Peril. Maybe after Winter works through his angst he can get an emo boyfriend that would be my heart and soul.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Who are some characters that you think should've survived the killing games and why?

//Well, here’s how I’d put it.

//For Danganronpa 1, I think Taka should have survived instead of Hiro. Despite my complaints, everyone who survived in DR1 can stay except for Hiro for all I care. Despite my individual problems with Hina, Toko and Byakuya, all of them redeemed after they became stronger characters overtime. But Taka has probably the worst emotional arc out of every character that has one, since he becomes depressed over Mondo’s death, transformes into whatever the fuck Kiyondo/Ishida was supposed to be, and the FUCKING DIED. He deserved better

//Game 2′s surviving group are MOSTLY fine, and I wouldn’t change it much. If I had to pick one character to live to the end, it’s an odd choice, but I would say Ibuki. I know that sounds like a bad idea, given that Ibuki’s personality would really break away the tension in the game’s final moments (something that Hajime, Akane, Sonia, Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko as a group play really well to, which is why I think they’re a pretty solid final group) but bare in mind that every game already has one “comedic” character make it to the end (Hiro, Akane and Himiko) and also keep in mind that Ibuki is CRIMINALLY undervalued in that game. She doesn’t do a SINGLE plot-relevant thing throughout the entire time she’s alive for, and then she dies one of the shittiest deaths that the series has put out. She’s also one of the few Danganronpa comic-relief characters who are ACTUALLY funny, and consistently at that. And I don’t really see the ending of DR2 being much different with her there, even despite all this.

//Game 3, as in V3, I would say Ryoma, which I know most people in the fanbase agree with, since a vast majority of V3 rewrite fics have Ryoma survive (ITMLFY and TPS for example) He has so much potential for a good arc, but once again suffers from the age old problem of NOT getting one because it gets cut off by his death. While I do believe the order of events of Case 2 in V3 did make sense in the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t stop me from feeling a tad let down by them. Ryoma could have been something man.

//In case it wasn’t already obvious, I hate pretty much every member of the DR3 cast save Seiko, and I think she should have gotten out in the end instead of going out the way she did. I needn’t elaborate.

//As for the Another games, for Another 1, I would love to have seen Kanata survive for basically the same reason as Ibuki and Taka. She’s easily one of the best members of that game’s cast, and dies a crappy death that kinda shouldn’t have happened. I mean, looking at that game’s third case, Kinji had already killed Kakeru, and didn’t need to murder Kanata afterwards. There was no risk of her being a witness since she was unconscious, and not only that, but her death was brutal as well. She also deserved better.

//And for Another 2, while I would say it’s my second least favourite group of survivor’s, I don’t like any of the SDRA2 characters enough to claim that one or the other should have survived. If we’re going on which character I think didn’t deserve the end that they got and had the potential to be really strong later on, then my verdict goes to Hibiki. As sad as it is to say, Hibiki is TERRIBLY written. She doesn’t contribute a single thing for the vast majority of the game, playing second fiddle to fucking Kanade throughout the entire thing, and then dies in an execution that she shouldn’t have even been part of. The idea of having twin sisters in a DR game is interesting, but it’s horrifically wasted on the Otonokoji’s, when only one of them, the vastly more terrible of the two, is the one who gets all the attention from the fans.

-Mod

[smileyyoungchan]

Fourth of July + Bang the Doldrums - L.C.

Dino x fem!reader

Warnings: none I guess

Genre: Angst probably? With a slight hint of fluff

Inspired by: Fourth of July and Bang the Doldrums by Fall Out Boy

What is Fourth of July about: Fourth Of July” compares the sparks flying between two people to the sparks flying in the air on July 4th, American Independence Day.

What is Bang the Doldrums about: Scientifically, a doldrum is “an area of calm air”. To “bang”, which could also be interpreted as “disturbed”, a doldrum could be a metaphor for destroying the the simplicity, or calmness, of the relationship. This would make sense with the song as well because it says “better off as lovers” which would indicate that the people tried to be friends and that did not work out.

Author’s note: these two songs are rumoured to be about an hypothetical relationship the bass player of Fall Out Boy (Pete Wentz) had with the bass player of My Chemical Romance (Mikey Way). Being me the noisiest emo rat ever, I read everything about this (there are a shit ton of things on the internet) that’s why I also included some other details of their ‘relationship’ and used it as a sample for the one in the story; like the 28 of June and the ‘amazing New Mexico sunset day, totally back in love’. Anyway, tho, these two songs are probably my favourite songs ever by Fall Out Boy so I highly recommend to listen to them!

Per usual, italics phrases are directly from the songs.

Chan was walking down the street, his feet capable of dodging every hole on the street without him even looking down.

He knew that street by heart, he walked it every year, on the same day. The Fourth of July.

Actually, the most important days in his life were two: the Fourth of July and the 28 of June.

Both of them had the same reason behind it: his past love, that was the best love he ever had, he was just too silly to recognise it before everything ended.

He remembered when that little girl he fell for, joined their group of friends; took three solid months for Chan to properly talking to her, without embarrassing himself. Mingyu always told him they were ‘better off as lovers and not the other way around’, simply cause that there was no way they’d end up just being friends, there was too much romantic tension. He always denied it, but Mingyu continued his hypothesis, slowly joined by Wonwoo, Seungkwan and later on Vernon too.

When Vernon joined too, Chan realised that maybe it was real.

So, one night, at a little party the boys organised, where and Chan snickered on the roof to watch the sunset, on the 28th of June, with the girl he loved, they kissed. It was the sweetest kiss ever, where both of them poured they’re emotions.

And the soft wind caressing they’re bodies and maybe the little amount of alcohol running in them, made them fall asleep.

It wasn’t probably the best place to sleep, but in that moment, with Chan by her side, she didn’t minded it.

When the morning later she woke up, tho, she felt nothing beside her. Just a goodbye note on his arm, written with her lipstick.

Chan, tho, when he came back home, couldn’t bring himself to call, expect to call it quit, because the pressure he had for this relationship was too much. Everyone has their eyes pointed on them, everyone. But he knew it wasn’t really over, not for him at least, cause she was probably going to hate him after that. But that’s when on his blog, where he shared all his thoughts, appeared the post ‘amazing sunset sunset day. Totally back in love”. No one really knew what was the meaning behind that, but he knew.

When the day started to run after another and Chan and the girl slowly take the distances everyone knew it was over, they just didn’t knew the date. But they never asked, cause it was none of their business, nor the time to talk about it.

He realised his mistake, he realised that he was too scared of his own emotions that let her slip away, and when she moved to another city he would have loved to cast a spell over the west, to make her think about him the same way the thought about her, but it wasn’t possible.

Days went by and soon seasons went by too, the memories still fresh in Chan’s mind, he was able to describe them perfectly… maybe cause he never stopped thinking about them.

But he always wondered what one summer ever meant to her, he was left wondering how important he was to the other person, and if they could have been more than just a fling.

He had no answers, just questions.

But maybe not everything was lost.

When he received a text by her, asking to meet her at their favorite bar, he thought at first to not answer, too overwhelmed, but then he realised that was really a second chance the life had given him.

So there he was, walking down the street, with his mind running faster that his legs.

Sitting down on a spare table, he wished nothing but to see her, even if it meant quitting everything forever.

There she was, as beautiful as ever.

When she sat down in front of him, she smiled, and Chan melted.

They started to talk, but the torture of small talks with someone you used to love was the worst thing. They seemed like perfect strangers, even tho they had the cutest love they was too scared to share.

The hours passed and they parted, with nothing but a promise to meet again and a sweet mess in their mind. We’re they friends now? Where they just acquaintances?

While he was heading back to his house, Chan had just one wish in mind, he wished he knew how much she loved him, he wished he cared enough to know.

Then maybe, just maybe, he was going to be able to not waste the best love he ever had.

[shiraishi--kanade]

Exactly! Like everything else aside, this is such a boring turn and two of the most boring episodes so far. Starting off with unnecessary drama and finishing off with unnecessary fluff about it.

(my rant got way too long so I put it under the cut)

I think we can somewhat speculate on the topic of Nyamu so I don't mind that we aren't shown her backstory (she's doing it for her family I bet - she's shown to care about them a lot and they're most likely not too well of financially, fame = financial stability - it Makes Sense. Nyamu is extemely pragmatic and disillusioned about concept of being a celebrity, I don't think she'd go into it for the glamour of it all, she has more solid goals and I don't actually Mind that being up in the air/planned for the game content). What upsets me with Nyamu is that we basically get no resolution! Nyamu beyond everyone else has no reason to be in AveMuji. She was always in it for the fame it could bring her - after like, third redebut, it's a sinking ship of a pet project for Saki and everyone else, nobody's really going to care about them. The hype has died down in her own words. Obviously she's In It for Mortis at least in episode 10, but Mortis is... Well, we can almost safely conclude she's gone.

And that's the worst part, I genuinely think they went the fusion route. And I don't necessarily even hate the concept of fusion in DID rep (though we absolutely need more shows where it isn't), but the way it was handled also just... Okay so we spend like 7 episodes hammering in how a) Mortis is her own person, even though she's flawed and b) She REALLY doesn't want to disappear, only to finish it off with Mortis experiencing an ego death and by fusing "proving" that she's a symptom and not a person whose feelings mattered, because Mutsumi getting better is all that counted in the end?

And also like. There's no logic behind the fusion, too - Mutsumi still needs Mortis to suvive. She's still under the parent's control, under Sakiko's control, she's planning to redebut again and why on earth are we concluding that she's somehow better at handling pressure? Two alters with fundamentally opposing personalities and skill sets and goals can't fuse overnight, that's stupid. They were literally fighting the last time they've communicated, even if they wanted to fuse, that would be a very different process since Mortis was absolutely 100% sold on Mutsumi needing her to survive - for her to change her opinion and do a 180° essentially means that Mortis viewed herself as a barrier to Mutsumi's happiness, which is, ew. Not healthy in the slightest. But what can we expect.

Umiri just makes me so sad. They almost did something there. The potential was there only to be reduced to a one-liner comic relief. Her fear of not being trusted literally Never Went Anywhere. Nevermind the fact that her conflict was introduced halfway in, they literally could have written her Saving The Day to prove her worth, but the writers are literally just That Obsessed With Sakiko.

Also Sakiko is a pain of her own. I feel like I can't even fully appreciate her character because like... Listen, I fucking hate the term Mary Sue. I think it's an incredibly sexist + ageist term that's inherently degrading. However, this is the one case where I can't find a better term for this entire situation, because the writers love Sakiko and only Sakiko. This isn't a secret, they openly say in the interview that they purposely wrote Sakiko as someone you'd cheer on, a saviour - except it doesn't work!

For some reason, in ep12 the show (and a sizeable part of audience seems to buy that, too), we are told that Sakiko's #1 issue is going along with everything and being passive and accepting fate. Sakiko being passive and accepting fate has literally never been her problem? She started Crychic because she wanted to! Nobody forced her to start it! She chose to end it too (more on that later)! She chose to start Ave Mujica! She chose to follow her father into exile instead of staying with Sadaharu (which I WOULD count as her being passive/accepting her fate)! Literally MyGo + first half of Ave Mujica is not about Sakiko accepting her fate, it's about Sakiko Repeatedly Making Wrong Choices, but Making Choices Nonetheless! She's one of the most driven, hardworking and dedicated people in the cast, arguably her redeeming qualities. Her going against Sadaharu is not, like, character growth that nobody expected, it's within her character just taking it a step further which would have been nice if not everything else.

Everything else being that the Core of Sakiko's issues - self-sabotage and self-sacrifice - are never addressed. Her fatal flaw which almost ruined multiple lines was sabotaging herself by not wanting to share her plight with Crychic initially - then she's taking on all the workload in early Ave Mujica - she's literally just doing that again. She's painting herself as their saviour again. She's just personally invested in it now, but ultimately... She's just taking pleasure in being someone's sacrificial lamb. That's why she accepts Hatsune too. The narrative reaffirms and paints Sakiko's ideas of "forgetting" ones past as a positive development and that's like... Fucked up? Like I'm not saying that the show should be Morally Correct, but how come the consequences of that obviously immature, black and white thinking not bite her in the ass again?

Also the finale is incredibly Sakiko & Uika focused even beyond others not having screentime. In Sakiko's "god" speech she adresses problems that are only relevant to herself and Uika. Her "let's forget the past and pretend nothing happened" only applies to herself and Uika! Umiri can't "forget" her trauma because it defines her, Nyamu can't "pretend nothing happened" because nothing happened to her that made her dramatically change, and Mitsumortis is another thing entirely.

AveMuji had pacing issues before and I was full willing to criticise it but after Ep10 it fully went off the rails and off the cliff. This is imo what happens when the writers are in love with their own characters and are allergic to make them actually fail and grow. Holy shit, Saki still haven't apologised to Soyo, the one person she arguably hurt the most besides Mutsumi.

Does Mutsumi even want to be in AveMuji? Guess it doesn't even matter. Here's your corporate gacha tie in. Goddamn it.

If episode 13 makes me angry enough I'm rewriting everything from episode 10 in a 200k words longfic. Fml.

I think I completely understand what Wonder Egg Priority fandom felt like now. Btw

[thefirstknife]

your friends literally called fluxphage a zionist just because they're israeli, probably should make one of your callouts about that

This is really bizarre. These are not sources. If you want to claim that someone is sending antisemitic harassment, you will have to send me proof. Like, solid proof. I need to see a post, ask, discord message, private dm or SOMETHING substantial that shows the name of these people attached to antisemitic harassment. You cannot just CLAIM that they did it.

I posted the second ask as a screenshot and blocked out the name of the person because they asked me to do so because they were actually harassed over this and sent public death threats. For which I do have proof and I will provide it below.

I don't know Chuddy and have never spoken to them and I don't know what's their tumblr url, but I asked my other friends and they told me Chuddy is Jewish. So it's absolutely not my place to talk about the nuances of this interaction, especially since I don't know either person.

Faggocd is also Jewish. And falconschase is engaged to a Jewish person. So idk, if you want to claim that 2 Jewish people and another that is literally family with a Jewish person are sending antisemitic harassment.... You will have to bring some solid evidence. Otherwise it's incredibly grim to say that.

Misgendering seems to be an accident. I can't find where they were misgendered, but from what I've been told, both chuddy and faggocd have simply not checked the pronouns. Faggocd said he visited the blog once, to block Flux and that's it. There's a difference between malicious misgendering and a mistake.

Surely Fluxphage knows this because they did it to me literally right now:

"Their" buddies? My pronouns are she/her.

As an extra nitpicky sidenote, I don't go by "Bell." I go by "Bel."

I won't hold this against them because it's an easy mistake to make, but I was also just misgendered and had my name misspelled. I don't think it's malicious. I would ask Flux to employ the same standards to other people.

[Omitted the bits about zionism because it was overall apparently a misunderstanding and a mistake on part of Flux for not vetting people they reblogged from.]

This is literally not something I can or should comment on, it's just something that Jewish friends have told me as the reason for why they dislike Flux. There are other reasons that I also can't really speak about because I am not transmasc and it revolves around transmasc issues that these people (who are transmasc) disagree on with Flux. This is not my fight nor have I ever been engaged in it nor do I know any of the details.

The following is the only post made by falconschase that mentions Flux and it had the name written in this way to prevent Flux from seeing negative stuff about them in tags or search:

The other post from the person whose name I redacted is this:

I'm sorry, but this is not antisemitic harassment? It's literally just a note for mutuals to block someone. You don't know why. Maybe because they hate their tumblr theme. Nobody owes anyone an explanation about why they unfollowed or blocked someone. It is literally a one sentence post aimed at mutuals.

If there is something else that I am not aware of, you will, again, have to give me proof. Otherwise it's incredibly shitty to jump to conclusions and say that Jewish people and people with Jewish family are sending antisemitic harassment. Especially that they're sending antisemitic harassment because... of these posts? Is that what this is referring to?

I do have proof of harassment against the user whose name I blocked because they were incredibly upset and distressed over logging onto tumblr and seeing several posts mentioning them with violent threats involved. This is by Flux' friend, Unsaelig who was mentioned in the ask I am bringing this up only because she was mentioned and because we're talking about supposed harassment sent by redacted, when this is the sort of shit redacted was being bombarded with at the time:

This is over redacted making a post that said "block Flux and Unsaelig" which had 3 notes.

This person wants to avoid further harassment and further threats like these being made. This is gross behaviour. As of now, no one that I know has ever engaged with this further because nobody wants to be the next subject of threats of violence.

Are we going to talk about this harassment? The person most of these were about asked not to engage and not to make any drama so we stayed silent and hoped it would go away. We don't want anything to do with either of the people involved. Nobody did anything to them besides said "block them" to their mutuals. I don't know how antisemitic harassment plays into this or how it was connected to this. Flux being Jewish was never mentioned and it wasn't referenced in any way.

Some of these posts included transphobia directed to two transmasc people who were being harassed:

You do know this is transphobic? My transmasc friends were quite upset by a barrage of this crap while they were being actively tagged in those posts.

Calling transmasc people "he/they shaky repulsive purse-dogs" is really transphobic and vile. Multiple of my transmasc friends were incredibly disturbed and hurt by this. You can claim these are jokes all you want, but they hurt people. Jokes can be bad and these "jokes" were bad. Also a lot of them were straight up misgendered because not all of them go by "he/they." So if we want to talk about misgendering again, multiple of my friends were repeatedly misgendered for months.

This is the type of a source I'm looking for, btw. Unless you give me proof that the people you named have sent antisemitic harassment (two of whom are Jewish, one of whom is engaged to a Jewish person and all of whom are transmasc), you (whoever sent this ask) are an asshole and a liar.

I can provide links for all of these posts, if someone doubts they are real, I just really want to avoid revealing the redacted person's name because they asked me to do so. Example of a link for one of the posts where the redacted user isn't mentioned directly.

I don't know what's going on with Flux and I don't want to argue with them or for them to be sent antisemitic harassment. Neither do any of the people you mentioned. I don't care about Unsaelig or anything in regards to that group of people, we don't have to agree or be friends. I hope they find their peace and find out who sent them harassment. I don't wish any kind of harassment on anyone, definitely not of antisemitic nature.

But don't invent things? About people you know nothing about? Especially something like saying that several Jewish people were sending antisemitic harassment to someone.

This isn't a callout post. Everyone is free to make their own decisions from this information. These are the sources I have and was given to explain the situation. If someone wants to show me sources and proof that people mentioned here have sent antisemitic harassment to Flux, I am open to listen. I know that's not the case because as I said, multiple of them are Jewish, so you know.

Unlike these anonymous askers, I take time to investigate the situation and back up what I say with sources. It takes more than 2 minutes to compile a post like this. I apologise if you stood refreshing my blog for 2 hours while I was consulting several of my Jewish and transmasc friends and asking them about the harassment they went through.

Lying really isn't going to get you anywhere. It's just making things worse for you actually. The only note mentioning Flux in my post:

All notes as of me responding:

[serpenteve]

why we ship darklina

an essay literally no one asked for

Nobody needs a "reason" to ship Darklina. But considering this is a villain x hero pairing, it got me thinking about why we shipped it in the first place when the narrative and author so badly wanted us to root for the more sensible alternative pairing and why it became the most popular ship of the entire trilogy.

Personally, I find it really interesting (and low-key hilarious) that a lot of the reasons shippers gravitated towards Darklina can be directly traced back to how badly Bardugo bungled Alina's character arc, Mal's entire characterization and narrative role, Nikolai's wasted potential as an alternative love interest, and the noble intentions she gives the the Darkling.

Alina's Character Arc

Alina's character arc doesn't match who she is as a character. I've written more about that in this post, but a lot of readers were introduced to a passive and insecure protagonist who we were expecting to undergo a typical YA coming-of-age character arc where Alina acquires self-acceptance, confidence, and embraces the full breadth of her powers over the course of the trilogy. Instead, Bardugo gave Alina the kind of character arc that's usually deserved for power-hungry anti-heroines or tragic heroes with a fatal flaw to punish.

The plot offers a strange binary: either Alina suppresses and hides her powers and therefore stays away from descending into villainy OR Alina attempts to find Morozova's amplifiers in order to defeat the Darkling but then becomes corrupted by power in the process. Alina's journey to self-acceptance and exploring her own powers are unfortunately entangled with her relationship with the Darkling. The only way she is allowed to move forward through the plot is to succumb to the corrupting influence of the amplifiers.

For better or for worse, the first character to really embrace her powers instead of thinking she's a fraud or that she's weak or that she's an unholy abomination is the Darkling. He's the first person to recognize her power for what it is and accurately judge its potential and implications for the rest of the world. He advocates for her in front of the royal court, in front other Grisha who think she's weak, and even against Baghra who is initially a very ill-tempered mentor with little to no faith in Alina's abilities. He even rather ironically advocates for her even when the heroic person who's supposed to be supporting her (Mal) does not.

At the start of her journey, Alina is insecure and in constant need of assurance and validation. The Darkling's role as her mentor and guide into this unfamiliar world of Grisha makes him the perfect advocate not only for her powers but also to help Alina see her place in the world. However, once he is revealed to be the villain, Alina also fails to realize that it's time for her to advocate for herself and throws the baby out with the bathwater.

Mal's Characterization & Narrative Role

When Alina loses the Darkling as an advocate in S&B, Mal steps up to take this role. Alina is still rather passive for the majority of the first book and it's Mal who originally wants her to have Morozova's stag as an amplifier if it will mean being able to stand against the Darkling. Bardugo intended for him to be a heroic love interest as a foil to the villainous love interest and I believe she mostly succeeds for the first book.

However, because this is a story about punishing Alina's "evil ambition" (despite there being very little evidence of that) Mal is supposed to serve as a voice of reason in the narrative. Once Alina considers the necessity of acquiring more amplifiers to defeat the Darkling, it is Mal's role to warn her of the potential consequences, to remind her of her inner humanity, and to ward against the corrupting influence of Morozova's amplifiers. Mal's declarations that he wants back the old girl he knew without any power is meant to drive an ideological wedge between them, yes, but he's also meant to be Correct™ because, again, Bardugo is writing a story about a corrupted power-hungry heroine who goes too far and needs to be punished rather than the arc we were all expecting and the one that Alina's character needs: a coming-of-age story of self-acceptance and personal growth.

Some point after the backlash of Siege & Storm, Bardugo seems to have become aware of her mistake and attempts to scrub Mal's character to be more sympathetic. There is a bizarre exchange half-way through the third book when Mal finally declares:

"I wasn't afraid of you, Alina. I was afraid of losing you. The girl you were becoming didn't need me anymore, but she's who you were always meant to be."

This is an interesting line because it's a complete reversal of Mal's narrative role so far. He's supposed to be her voice of reason that opposes her at every turn but readers interpreted him as being resentful of Alina's powers and angry that she was no longer dependent on him. Bardugo is forced to retcon Mal's entire role in the narrative from being a voice of reason that opposes Alina's quest for power to a supportive friend who will fight by her side. But this was never her initial intention and I believe this change was brought on 100% by audience reaction because she failed to understand the arc her heroine needed and the kind of story her audience was anticipating for such a character.

Needless to say, having your heroine's main love interest actively resent her quest for power until half-way through the third damn book did not endear many readers to Mal. Because Bardugo failed to understand the kind of character development her heroine needed and failed to understand audience expectations, we hated Mal. He became the embodiment of every toxic chauvinist we'd ever met who can't stand the idea of his partner's success and feels entitled to be the center of her universe. He was not the voice of reason. He was an annoying gnat hellbent on dragging the heroine down and away from her destiny. We did not want to root for him. Even the villain was more sympathetic than him because he could bring her closer to achieving the self-acceptance the narrative was obsessed with denying her.

Nikolai's Wasted Potential as a Solid Love Interest

Nikolai plays several roles in Alina's journey but most importantly in our discussions for why we ended up shipping Darklina, his entire potential as a serious love interest is wasted.

When we meet Nikolai, we have hitched our wagons to the Darklina train because despite being the villain, the Darkling is the only one who will allow the heroine to accept her powers and come into her own. Her heroic love interest, Mal, is actively sabotaging her efforts and holding her back from her true potential. But then, in swoops Nikolai and we pause, wondering if there may be a better heroic alternative after all?

In a lot of ways, Nikolai and the Darkling alike: they are eager for Alina's power and see her as a solution to all their problems. They may want to use Alina to prop up their own agendas, but unlike Mal, Alina's summoning powers are a massive plus, not a burden. Nikolai is the heroic alternative to our villainous Aleksander. So we wait, wondering if Nikolai will be the one to fix this mess of a romantic subplot. His royal connections offer an easy path to upwards mobility for our heroine and we sense that an alliance between them (even if it's initially political in nature) may bring our heroine closer to obtaining more power, influence, and self-acceptance not only for herself, but also for the oppressed minority she is a part of.

But, again, Bardugo is still obsessed with that "punish the heroine for wanting power" agenda so while Nikolai exists as another mentor figure who offers Alina advice on how to rule, how to appeal to other people, how to charm, how to win people over, and Alina learns and applies much of what she learns from him, he is not treated as a real love interest.

Despite Nikolai being written as a fairy tale prince (handsome, charming, smart as a whip, brave in battle, etc) Alina never actually considers him romantically. They are friends and allies at best and the only time she considers kissing him is only when she's pissed about Mal.

Nikolai's proposal at the end of Ruin & Rising feels like one last saving grace, one last opportunity for our heroine to take control of her life and make a dramatic change to break from the past. But this too is rejected because Alina's arc will never let her access any power. She does not reject Nikolai because she wants to marry for love. She rejects him because she has been "punished" for wanting power and has internalized that she must not seek any more power for fear of angering the plot gods (and Bardugo). She must return to being nobody in order to remain a good and moral person.

(And, of course, we resent Mal even more because who in their right mind would choose him over Nikolai? Once again, he becomes a roadblock on our heroine's journey to power. We grow irritated that the heroine is failing to grasp an opportunity to elevate herself. We throw the book against the wall. Why are we even following this heroine?)

The Darkling's Motivations

Still, all of the above might still not have been enough to pull the reader to the villain's side. But the Darkling is the living embodiment of Villain Has A Point™. He is not pure unadulterated evil. He is not Lord Sauron or Voldemort or the Terminator.

He's more Magneto, Roy Batty, or Ozymandias---a man who is part of an oppressed minority who longs for justice and power but is absolutely unhinged in his methods.

Alina runs away because she does not want to be a non-consenting weapon in hands. But we always end up wondering what would have happened had Baghra not warned her. What would have happened if Alina gladly joined the Darkling's side? There's hundreds of fanfics written precisely about this situation because despite the villainy of his methods, we wonder if Ravka might not have been safer after all?

If the Darkling had used the Fold as a weapon against Fjerda and Shu Han, would any of the problems Ravka faces in the later books even exist? Would any Grisha fall victim to the khergud programs or be killed as witches? The Darkling wipes out Novokribirsk and kills hundreds of lives, but how many would he have saved with the Fold as Ravka's greatest shield and sword? 🤷🏽‍♀️

And therein lies the problem with the trilogy inconsistent moral landscape. The Darkling is an anti-villain that exists in a narrative that is very black and white, unlike the rest of the books in the Grishaverse where our protagonists are anti-heroes who kill, steal, and torture their way through the plot with nary a judgmental glance from the narrative. We long to see our heroine give in to her dark side and get her hands dirty because watching a naive, passive, scared little girl grow into a ruthless powerful Grisha would have made for a hell of a compelling story.

But that's not the story Bardugo wanted to tell.

The Greg Trilogy

Despite taking place in a fantasy Tsartist setting, the Grisha trilogy is oddly anti-Grisha. The narrative doesn't spend much time trying to examine the context or implications of an oppressed minority group fighting for power other than to say "magic powers = evil". Nikolai skates by on a throne of inherited wealth, privilege, and imperialism but it's okay because he's charming and witty and the only monstrous part of him is the Darkling's curse. Literally everything is worse for Ravka and their Grisha after the destruction of the Fold but Ravka must move forward into a new age without relying on Grisha power but putting their efforts into new muggle technologies. Alina must be stripped of her powers and returned to her "old self" in order to be purged of evil.

Basically, it's all one gigantic ✨ dumpster fire ✨ of mismatched character arcs, incompatible moral aesops, inconsistent characterizations, wasted potential, unexamined plot points but it's a a dumpster fire we lovingly and spitefully embrace in fanfic.

We don't ship Alina with the Darkling because we're stupid abuse apologists who somehow missed the giant flashing moral aesop of the books---and honestly, who could have possibly missed them when it's shoved in the reader's face every other chapter? We ship Alina with the Darkling because the entire ship is the embodiment of wasted potential (and wasted ✨aesthetics✨ tbqh 👀). We ship Alina with the Darkling because we're sick and tired of stories where female power is demonized. We ship Alina with the Darkling because the plot gave us literally no other alternative to see our heroine succeed except to give in to her alleged villainy.

But most of all, people ship Darklina because Leigh Bardugo utterly failed in writing the story she intended to write because had she succeeded, Darklina would not be the most popular ship of the trilogy.

[numberoneanika]

DRDT Secret Theories (Part 1 because Tumblr hates me)

My predictions about who has who’s secret. Please note a lot of this will be stretching, or what I feel will happen, without any real evidence. 

Spoilers up until Chapter 2 Episode 4, as this was written between the gap from Ep 4-5.

Let’s start with the secrets/clues we know for sure.

-Teruko has Rose’s and someone else’s

-Arturo has J’s secret

-J has Charles’s secret

If we also assume everyone was being truthful in episode four, Ace, Veronika, Nico, Arei, Arturo, David, Eden, and Charles all cannot have Whit’s secret. This leaves Hu Jing, Rose, and Levi, which I will get to later.

Eden has a boy’s secret.

Everyone knew whose secret they had, inferred from the fact that no one raised their hands to say that they had their own secret, meaning they must have seen the name.

Ace, Arei, and J seem to have the most emotional reactions to their secrets. David’s is sort of emotional, - he’s quiet and looks down, crossing his arms. We see two other reactions (Eden and Veronika), both of which are much less emotional. J’s reaction is explained by the dead-brother thing.

Presumably, no one has their own secret… except one person who I think does, so let’s talk about that.

David Chiem

Okay, I don’t trust this guy at all. I didn’t trust him from the start, and I trust him even less now.

In the scene where he was telling everyone his “secret”, his star eyes were up, indicating his fake persona was also up. Not to mention, as Whit said, there’s no way to know your one secret for sure. So I’ll assume he’s lying about that.

The only way he would be comfortable lying about his secret is if, you guessed it, he has his own secret. I imagine he’s trying to protect his actual secret by causing a murder. By telling people to talk to the person whose secret they have, he’s making a surefire way to get someone murdered. As for why he didn’t raise his hand when MonoTV asked who had their own secret… I don’t know, maybe he was already playing 4D chess?

Summary: David has his own secret.

Arei Nageishi

Well, she’s certainly got… a backstory. Yeesh.

I would’ve said her momentary silence after David revealed his secret meant she had his secret, but, well, you know.

In Episode 1, when Levi agrees with Arei that the motive is a big problem, she is quiet for a second and looks down. Along with her first reaction to the secret, it makes me think she has Levi’s secret. I’m pretty sure Levi’s secret is something about his family. Also, if she didn’t have his, there wouldn’t really be a reason to be quiet after Levi spoke. Of course, she could also be just thinking, but I think her having Levi’s secret makes the most sense. Especially because I’m 60 percent sure he kills her in chapter 3, but that’s another matter.

Summary: Arei has Levi’s secret.

Eden Tobisa

Hooray for clock girl. 

We already know she has a boy’s secret because she’s not watching her words (still love you girl), and I’ve already said I believe David has his own secret. Whit and Levi are also cleared. This leaves Arturo, Ace, and Nico. 

Personally, I don’t think her having Arturo’s secret makes sense. Not sure why, to be honest.

I think out of Ace and Nico, her having Nico’s secret makes more sense. Again, just feeling. I think it would some sense for her to have another softie’s secret. Plus, I don’t think Nico’s secret was that bad, because he’s just… Nico. Her reaction to the secret she received wasn’t too… dramatic? She just went “oh”. So I don’t think the secret Eden received was too bad. So I think it’s Nico’s secret.

Not too strong on this one, but what can you do?

Summary: Eden has Nico’s secret.

Whit Young

It’s the guy, you guys. It’s Him.

Okay, this one is mostly based on my predictions on this chapter’s victim rather than any solid evidence. I think he has Ace’s secret. While Ace cannot have Whit’s secret, Ace did not request that whoever had his secret share it. As Charles says, Whit is great for not sharing people’s secrets in public (looking @ you Arturo), so I imagine he would respect Ace’s privacy and, taking David’s idea, talk to Ace about his secret alone. The situation escalates, and Ace ends up dead. I just think Whit is gonna die in this chapter, maybe give Charles a bit of character development (or maybe I just really really want Charles to be the support), and I can’t see him being a victim. Sorry man.

Summary: Whit has Ace’s secret.

Nico Hakobyan

It’s him… the autism

In episode 1, Nico states that he was “really nervous earlier, but now I’m a little disappointed.” This implies that the secret he received was not very big. I imagine Teruko and Arturo’s secret would be very impactful, so they’re out. I think Veronika’s secret might be pretty shocking, so she’s out. I think Eden might be a traitor, so it could be that… but it also could be just a normal secret, because Eden is just… Eden. 

Summary: Nico has Eden’s secret. Pair #1

Ace Markey

He is becoming so unlikable it’s unreal.

In episode 1, Ace seems very shocked at the secret he received. I doubt a character like Ace would receive Teruko’s secret (no offense my guy, you just don’t seem very important), so it has to be someone else. The only other person I can think of that could have a shocking secret would probably be Arturo. I’m 90 percent sure he has some screwed-up secret like scars underneath his mask or what made him Like That.

Summary: Ace has Arturo’s secret.

Part 2