#now this one is OTP tier

[acacia-may]

Hi again Acacia! Could I please get a request in for Ed x Winry before you close your shipping game asks? 💜

Hi there, friend! Thank you so much for the ask and for asking about one of my all time favorite pairings. 💕 Ed x Winry definitely makes sense and is beyond compelling to me, but I'm going to put my ramblings under the cut because I specifically mention some spoilers for the ending.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was actually the 3rd anime I ever saw, and it will always be particularly special to me because it got me into the anime genre and to this day, is still probably my favorite anime of all time (though I love so many at this point). Winry was my favorite character, and I adored her relationship with Ed. That bantering, slow-burn friends-to-lovers dynamic is probably my favorite kind of relationship trope, so I was really invested in them and in their relationship throughout the series.

I adored their platonic friendship as well. There was just something so endearing to me about how they'd bicker but really had so much respect and admiration for each other underneath it all, and I think they way that they encouraged, inspired, and supported each other was really beautiful. There was something so natural about the progression of their relationship over the course of the series too, and it really so wonderful getting to see them deepen their relationship, fall in love and realize their feelings for each other. I remember literally screaming (in a good way) when Winry had her "feelings realization" moment, and their final love confession scene on that train platform at the end of the series is just everything to me.

As soon as I started writing these ramblings I had to get my out my manga volumes and just read through the scene again because it's one of my favorites in the whole series. There is something so refreshingly different about it, and it perfectly summarizes their characters and their relationship to me. I love how they so clearly expressed their love without saying the words "I love you" and instead used that equivalent exchange metaphor. Confessing in that way is just perfectly, perfectly Ed, and I found it really endearing, but what really gets me, is how he only asks for "half of her life" at first and suggests that 50/50 split which leads to this just amazing reaction from Winry.

That bantering is just so wonderful, especially when followed up by this sincere confession that she wants to give him her whole life and her whole heart. Her unwavering devotion to him is just beautiful, and I love that she finds the words to express that (when Ed, who loves her just as deeply and just as devotedly, struggles to find his words). I'm getting emotional just thinking about it. They are so in love!

When my friend brought over her dvd box set for us to watch the final 5 episodes together, I literally got up from my seat on the sofa, squealed, and danced around when there was this absolutely glorious flash forward photo of them with their kids at the end of the final credits. (Needless to say, it really shocked my friend because I do not get into shipping. She teases me about it to this day, but there is just something about these two, okay? They're too perfect together, and look they're married with babies!!! How else am I supposed to react to that?)

At this point in my life, I have seen this anime too many times to count and have read through the manga series several times as well, and every time I reach this photo (or the similar one in the manga) and see Ed and Winry together with their family, I still, without fail, get so giddy and excited. I love them so much! And I still can't get over how canon they are. If only all my ships ended up married with kids...they do in my mind, but to see it actually happen for real is everything and it's everything that an amazing pairing like Ed x Winry deserves.

Thank you for asking about them! They probably rank on my ultimate OTP list from anything ever! Just perfect and meant to be 💖💖

[mindibindi]

Amazon:

Me:

Seriously thought for a sec that they were asking for my otp and was like: ...which one?

[boyfrillish]

In case anyone cares to know, my progress status in Sword is I just got my 4th badge last night and am about to head off to Ballonlea next time I play. Those who are around my twitter may have seen me crying about Hop a lot these past couple of days 😹 among other yellings. I mean it when I say the game’s on my mind 24/7. The itch to write is strong. So is the wish to look for fanart (and rt it all but I’m nervous about rting ppl’s old(er) art lol) but I’m trying to at least finish the story first 😅

Also Hop and Victor have received THE highest honour: they’re assigned Speed of Love. aka THE song. I think that pretty much says it all...

[ladyloveroll]

(These are my ACTUAL notes from my friends birthday party full of people who absolutely did not know who the fuck Itachi and Kisame were or how pairing names work or what a ship is.)

Writing kisaita (on and off) for 15 years

Never get tired of the ship

Excellent, friendly people in the fandom to keep making content (Cynni)

Presentation is less about the specific ship and more about the general qualities that make their ship S-tier. You may find this echoed in your own OTP, IDK.

Powerful, badass characters who can kick anyones asses no problem, as depicted where they are casually taking a stroll after Kisame (who still has his little fo-hawk) casually takes down the four-tails

Kisame is noted as the ‘tail-less jinchuuriki’

Itachi is clearly a fucking powerhouse, we don’t need to debate that

Working with strong characters means you are more easily able to portray their weakness and explore that side of them since that rarely gets screentime

Auxiliary, not main characters

Main characters are harder to write because they spend a lot of screen time accomplishing their goal and doing Plot

Auxiliary characters are more malleable, and morally gray ones especially so

Depicted here are Itachi and Kisame, separately, being ordered by their villages to kill their own people. They carry this order out, but do not particularly like it. Nor are they particularly loyal to their own villages, despite carrying this order out. It’s hard to say where their loyalities lie.

The answer is WITH EACH OTHER OBVIOUSLY

Any ship that has a timeskip has LOADS of canon-verse material you can work with, especially if it feels like the characters have changed or their dynamic has changed.

For Naruto especially, WTF are Kisame and Itachi doing for three years? Clearly neither of them are out capturing jinchuriki. They aren’t seen lounging around Amegakure or Akatsuki headquarters. They are just traveling the world. Probably doing hits. Probably hitting on EACH OTHER WOOOOOO

Long time skips mean a few thing: 1) Canon divergence, 2) Canon compliant, 3) pre-time skip, 4) during time skip, 5) post time-skip; and that’s not even the AU’s

They clearly haven’t made any other friends during this time either so lots of relationship to explore

The Naruto franchise is notorious for retconning. Probably because Kishimoto (the writer) was pushed to create at a pace that was impossible for any sane or healthy man to keep up with.

Fanficition writers can take advantage of this poor writing by interpreting the character in a lot more ways than if the character was solidly written.

There are a lot of different ways Kisame is written, and accepted as so

Itachi less so but we don’t have time for that

Retconning allows you to take a writers mistake and turn it into utter brainrot that ten other people (me) will reblog every 3 years

This one is kind of specific, but if you like angst then OH BOY this ship has a lot of potential for it

Any OTP that involves an angsty edgelord and a sadistic tagalong can indulge in either EXTRA ANGST and be able to balance out the angst with humor

The KisaIta ship has 4 great themes about it:

Redemption

Acceptance

Forgiveness

And Existentialism of course

Dynamic:

Sharkboy / lava girl

Edgelord / goof

Leader / follower

Maybe old? / a touch too young

Respect for each other

S-tier OTP because of strong themes and repeatable dynamics

Kinkfest here we come

S-tier OTPs must be able to withstand an intense variety of smut writing

Powerful level = able to handle pain and dish out pain

Body things? = more positions

The Shape of Water was one of the single best thing to happen to the KisaIta 18+ fics because (even though it existed before the movie came out) a lot more readers were into it now

Also, Kisame makes this ship work more than Itachi. He is fucking DEVOTED

at this point I was running out of my 10-minutes (THEY HAD THE AUDACITY TO PUT ME ON A TIMER) so i just backfilled the rest of the presentation with fanart and memes i like

Why do I like KisaIta?

I mostly write smut

They’re great at smut

I also like angst

They’re always great for angst, either character

Also look at them they are hot AF

Beefcake service-top vs. ‘shaped like a katana’ masochist

Healthy dose of hurt-comfort

They’re extremely flexible to write and so there’s a lot of stories you can create

thank you for not reporting me to the powerpoint police

[chrysalis-the-butterfly]

My Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss Shipping Tier List

Hazbin Hotel Ships

Huskerdust - Angel Dust and Husk. My Hellaverse OTP! I've talked about them at length in my Huskerdust analysis post. Long story short: they're not perfect people, but they could be perfect for each other. They've both been through bad times and done bad things, but there's a chance they could change for the better now that they have each other. And that's why I love thinking about them together.

Chaggie - Charlie Morningstar and Vaggie. They're a sweet established couple, and it's cute to see how they'll take any opportunity to hold hands or hug or brush hair off each other's faces. Plus, I'm a sucker for pairings where one person is a grump and the other is a ray of sunshine.

Emilute - Lute and Emily. They're both angels, but very different in looks and personality. One is dark-skinned with pastel clothes and compassion for Sinners; the other is pale-skinned with black clothes and a dedication to eradicating Sinners. Emily would want to help Lute see the light, whereas Lute would try to make Emily cross over to the dark side... @carpp had made some great fanart of the two of them, which made me love the pairing!

Emilette - Emily and Velvette. I started shipping this thanks to @dallina17 and their posts on the pairing. I think it's interesting that Emily and Velvette both have musical moments where they stand up to authority figures (Sera in "You Didn't Know" and Carmilla in "Respectless", respectively), but go about it in different ways (appeals to morality vs. brash rudeness) and with different motives (concern for others vs. self-interest). That's got me thinking about what would happen if the two women ever met. Also, Black sapphic solidarity for the win!

MollyBomb - Molly and Cherri Bomb. I just think it would be funny if Angel's sister and Angel's best friend ended up dating. It's as simple as that!

CherriSnake - Cherri Bomb and Sir Pentious. Their shift from rivals to crushing on each other felt a bit rushed, but I'm intrigued to see where this relationship goes and what impact they might have on each other.

StaticNeedle - Niffty and Vox. I've talked a lot about my headcanon that Niffty and Vox were married in life. It stemmed from realising that they both died in the Fifties, and kind-of spiralled from there. It's probably the rarest rarepair I ship.

StaticMoth - Vox and Valentino. To be honest, I struggle to wholeheartedly ship Valentino with anyone, given his ... everything, but he and Vox would make a fascinating villain couple. One is camp and sexy and does whatever he wants, and the other is a sleek businessman who's obsessed with projecting the perfect image. Opposites attract, I guess?

Seramilla - Sera and Carmilla. Shoutout to @seramilla for getting me interested in this! I can definitely see the appeal of two mother figures on opposite sides of the afterlife finding common ground in their protective nature.

Zestmilla - Carmilla and Zestial. This ship is kind-of "meh" for me, but it is intriguing that Carmilla and Zestial seem so close with each other. I wonder how that happened?

Alzy (platonic) - Mimzy and Alastor. The way Alastor talks to and about Mimzy, and even the way he smiles around her, is different to how he acts around everyone else. The fact that they were friends in life and this friendship has carried over into death is really fascinating to me.

RadioRose (platonic) - Alastor and Rosie. I like how Rosie highlights a different side to Alastor compared to Mimzy, given that Rosie also seems to have a scheming nature. She's like a work buddy to Alastor, except they have a shared interest in eating people.

Lucilith - Lucifer Morningstar and Lilith. I'd like to find out more about their marriage and what caused it to fall apart.

Baximi - Crymini and Baxter. Neither have appeared in the show (yet), but a furry character and a fishy character falling in love has a cool star-crossed-lovers vibe to me.

Helluva Boss Ships

Owling at the Moon (platonic) - Loona and Octavia. Sarcastic Chorus made a really interesting video about how they differ and what they have in common. They're from opposite sides of the track, but both have daddy issues (to put it mildly), so they both could use a friend who understands.

Fizzmodeus - Fizzarolli and Asmodeus. I think the fact that I already love Roger and Jessica Rabbit made me more willing to accept another pairing with a clown and a sex symbol!

M&M - Moxxie Knolastname and Millie. I'm a sucker for married couples who don't completely hate each other.

Sallie Mayday - Verosika Mayday and Sallie May. One is a celebrity, the other is a country girl. It's another opposites-attract concept that I enjoy.

Marberry - Mrs Mayberry and Martha. This feels like "enemies to lovers" taken to the extreme, but hey, I'm here for it!

Stolitz - Blitzø and Stolas. I'm not sure how I feel about them as a couple, but I do enjoy reading and watching other people's analyses of the ship and of each person's shortcomings.

Colleenie - Collin and Keenie. They're both angelic sheep who seem like they're meant to be parallels to Moxxie and Millie, which intrigues me. If only Keenie treated Collin better...

Characters I Don't Really Ship with Anyone

Hazbin Hotel: Adam, St Peter, Odette Carmine, Clara Carmine, Arackniss, Travis, Katie Killjoy, Tom Trench, the Egg Boiz, Fat Nuggets, KeeKee, Razzle, Dazzle

Helluva Boss: Cletus, Deerie, Stella, Andrealphus, Paimon, Joe, Lin, Cash Buckzo, Barbie Wire, Mrs Knolastname, Crimson Knolastname, Striker, Chazwick Thurman, Beelzebub, Vortex, Mammon, Robo-Fizz, Glitz, Glam, Arick "Burnie" Burnz, Wally Wackford, Loopty Goopty, Lyle Lipton, Agent Two, Agent One, Ralphie, Counselor Jimmy

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

medic for the ask game? Alternatively, the eyelanded

I CANNOT answer all these damn questions about a talking sword you're getting Medic

favorite thing about them He's also just HILARIOUS like he's really really really funny and fun to watch and think about. His voice performance is so good he has so many top-tier funny moments. Also titties

least favorite thing about them Absolute fucking nightmare to play, which makes every single Medic main, yes, even you, an absolutely insufferable person

favorite line Where do I even fucking start with this guy. Who's ready to be a mother?

brOTP Now I don't think they would "hang out" but I think Medic would be like the Joker for the Administrator. Like Wheatley and Glados if Wheatley were smarter and also German instead of British. He would love pissing her off so much and that's funny. I also think he's great at hanging out with the whole team as a group, it balances out his energy a bit more and he's not as. yknow. Medic. as he can be one-on-one

OTP Sniper fucked that old man

nOTP Mediscout is boringgggg I'm so sorry it's BORING. There are ways to do it that I think can be fun but mostly it's just boring. I'm also finding engiemedic more and more boring the more time I spend here but you know. It's whatever

random headcanon Medic cannot read. More specifically, he's probably dyslexic, and has trouble with reading in any language. Also I generally write him as vaguely trilingual (German, Yiddish, and English) so that was probably a struggle for him, and I think he confuses the vocabulary and grammar of all three languages together a lot. But he's good at math

unpopular opinion Medic actually likes people. He's actually friends with the people on his team and they like him back. He's "weird" for sure, and he's definitely a sadist, but it's tf2 so that doesn't really matter and he's mostly just an Eccentric Scientist everyone finds weirdly charming in his own little way. The implications are astounding

song i associate with them Bubblegum Bitch dadada dadada

favorite picture of them

This one is just really top tier. I don't love this comic's art style and it's not my favorite way he's ever been drawn but it's just so fucking funny. He's even kinda doing the nerd finger point in this one

[ID: A Cold Day in Hell comic screenshot of Medic running through a door, a stack of papers in his arms, saying "Wait! Are we leaving? What about the baboon uteruses?" End ID]

[pokenoire]

My tier list shipping idk Dawn don't suits with a men, (if Ash beging Ashley/non binary maybe I ship) not sorry. I hate all ships with Paul being honest.

I don't know Satosere and SatoGou are ships that make me feel different from any other ship, all their content is very S2 for me OTP multi - OTP BL

I should post more Jellowshipping stuff

NGL Pokeshipping may not have been a ship that turned me off at the beginning but it was definitely a ship that got me after three rewachings and now it's one of my favorites

I didn't get along with KohaHika, I think it's the only ship I didn't get from her, much more because of Dawn's writing than Chloe's (hell Sppaming Daijobu was that one)

ALSO WHERE IS KOTOHIKA????? stockingsshipping I WOULD LIKE TO MARK THEM AS OTP

[infoglitch]

I'm utterly baffled by the fact people actually like my fanfics and I can't tell if it's because y'all are starved for content.. or I'm mildly decent... Or in the ridiculous case, I'm a god tier writer.

Neptune: many say love is complex. I disagree. Love is simple and I can tell you why. Gentlemen, ladies, everyone in-between, I have the answers. All on my Game show! I welcome everyone to the place where love is understood! Welcome to-

LOVE HYDRATION

Neptune: that's right everyone, I'm your beloved host Neptune Vasilias and this is my game show where one bachelor/bachelorette and five bachelors and/or bachelorettes try to whisk them away to a happily ever after. Now of course I'm the host so I cant participate but ladies-

Neptune winked at the camera as he clicked his tongue.

Neptune: I'm always available outside the studio. Now let's see what lucky somebody the waves dragged up today!

Neptune pointed to blue curtains with a wave of water crudely painted on them. The curtains part to reveal-

Jaune: uh.. hi?

Neptune: ah jaune my man! Good to see the waves brought you right where you should be!

Neptune walked up to the blonde as he rested an arm on jaune. Leaning against him a little with jaune whispering to him.

Jaune: remember. I'm only here because you said if I let you play a bard when I dm for GnG you'd pay me back for it.

Neptune would whisper back

Neptune: trust me jaune I am paying you back. Just have faith in Dr. Love.

Jaune would roll his eyes as Neptune walked away.

Neptune: now I'm sure you all know jaune arc, the up and coming huntsman on the rise and if you don't? Well now you do. Now let's see the bachelor and bachelorettes! Contestant one, come on up!

(this one is an actual functional imagine your otp post.. instead of boring reblog bait.. i promise this is the last one everybody.)

[aingeal98]

Cass or Tim for the ask game

Gonna do Cass because she gets favourite blorbo privileges

three facts about them from my personal headcanons

-The dip in the Lazarus Pit removed a few of her latest scars. She's still covered in scars, it's not enough that anyone would notice, most of them look at Cass and are horrified by the bullet exit wounds covering her skin. But Cass knows what each scar is from, and the loss of even a few of them hurts her afterwards for reasons she doesn't quite understand. She got stabbed through the chest by her brother and yet there is no evidence of it. Some nights she gets tempted to scratch at where the scar should be, digging into her skin until she catches herself and snaps herself out of it.

-Her favourite music genre is metal and rock. She doesn't care about the differences between the genres despite Stephanie as a fellow Metallica fan eagerly trying to explain it. Cass just likes "Mosh pit music."

-Due to being homeless as a kid she got used to sleeping anywhere and everywhere. Her favourite place to curl up and hide was inside a washing machine, normally ones that were old and abandoned. She stopped as she got older but the washing machines in the manor are huge so she started doing it again when she felt low. This has given Alfred several near heart attacks when he goes to put clothes in and finds his grandchild curled up fast asleep.

a reason they suck

Batgirl issue 37 is one of my favourite issues and highlights some of the reasons I find Cass a compelling character but it also does objectively show one of the ways she sucks. Projection can be helpful or it can make you too self absorbed so you end up making bad choices. In this case it was the latter.

a reason they are great

Literally everything that makes Batman cool and compelling but with none of the downsides. Her downsides are different from his due to not having the narrative protection of being the white male lead. Her downsides are also deliberately and competently written. For further information see my entire blog.

a reason I relate to them

Autistic, mentally ill, used to be suicidal, awkward socially but enjoys violence not for malicious reasons but purely for the fun of it (I like boxing and martial arts.) Just everything about how she expresses herself and thinks and interacts with other people it's like wow. For a character with such a ridiculously comic book fantasy backstory she sure is incredibly relatable in down to earth ways!

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

Stephcass. Steph is the Lois to Cass's Clark, the MJ to Cass's Spiderman. But Steph is also a vigilante in her own right and that adds extra flavour. If DC would give me one of those six issue mini runs they're so fond of I could do so much with it.

five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened

-Her Batgirl run should have had a proper conclusion not pushing her towards character assassination evil turns

-She should have become Batman.

-She should have been a part of the family from the beginning of the New 52 era. An essential part, closer to everyone than Jason and with more years in the family than Damian.

-She should have gotten to kiss Steph by now but I'll accept it if DC makes it happen this year.

-She should have gotten one final confrontation with David Cain where he comes back to life for 24 hours to remind DC of why her original run hit so hard and center her more on those themes than on being random Batgirl number 2.

five people that character never fell in love with and why

-Kon El. He's a good friend but she's a lesbian.

-Tai'darshan. He was a valuable part of helping her understand what she liked and didn't like romance wise but unfortunately he fell on the "didn't like" side in the end. Also she's a lesbian.

-Zero. He was her first fun civilian romance and while it wasn't serious it was nice while it lasted. It never would have been able to get serious though for multiple reasons. One of which being that she's a lesbian.

-Tim Drake. Shockingly being a lesbian is not the only main reason for once. Here it's also due to them being adopted siblings. While he loves Cass and was canonically mildly attracted to her at times during the early days, by the time they became adopted siblings they'd been through enough that any potential had fizzled out into pure platonic sibling menace energy.

-Harper Row. Being a lesbian is not an issue here at all actually. The issue is that in Harper's universe Cass killed her mom and in Cass's main universe she killed someone else and never met Harper until the world rebooted. Cass is not emotionally mature enough to wade through all that for a relationship. Especially when she can choose to wallow in guilt and stare awkwardly and painfully at Harper when Harper doesn't notice instead.

[silviakundera]

Dramas I watched in 2023

[Chinese Dramas]

My Journey to You - Wuxia. Spy games, badass ladies, subtextually homoerotic cousins. Gentle & sweet ML who melts the cold & calculated heart of FL assassin. Gorgeous setting and cinematography. Left me with a burning desire to see Zhang Ling He play more gentle babygirl MLs and Esther Yu to play more anti-heroes. Absolutely perfect to me.., if we just pretend the director didn't add a pointless cliffhanger in the last 5 min. Which is how I choose to live my life.

Story of Kunning Palace - 'rebirth' costume drama that I waited to air for like 2 years or something and then it... actually didn't disappoint? And was almost everything I wanted? 😳😲 This is THE couple for that post about the pair that need to be stuck in a neverending monogamous relationship with each other as a quarantine measure to protect everyone else.

A Journey to Love - wuxia perfection. The stand-out drama that I wasn't expecting. Murder mommy & murder daddy became an otp for the ages and all of the supporting characters were interesting and dynamic. I cared about so many more characters than I expected and never fast fowarded. Just immensely satisfying.

The Ingenious One - wuxia with a weak, scheming scholar protagonist on a revenge quest (yes, we've all heard that before!) who puts together a group to execute his cons, Leverage style. I love me a martial artist x weak scholar couple 👌. Some exciting twists & turns in this one. Both A Journey to Love and The Ingenious One are best enjoyed coming in with little to no information. Hell, skip the trailers and simply dive in!

Hidden Love - Modern drama. Top tier romance-novel-on-screen writing and acting. It felt honest and real. The coming of age arc for the FL was well done. Great brother & sister relationship that feels authentic. The ML's backstory was so heart breaking because it was never overplayed for melodramatics. Just a quiet pain, a distance and a burden he carried with him.

Road Home - Modern. "Do you remember who I am?" / "Yes. If I were to turn to ashes, I would still remember you." I am very weak for the "reunited exes", "second time around" trope when the actors are capable and the breakup wasn't a narratively convenient 'misunderstanding'. As a career woman who works very long hours, I also tend to appreciate modern drama relationships where the couple manages to stay functional & supportive while not having a lot of free time for each other. That's my version of wish fulfillment 😂. I felt like this narrative made me fully understand why they couldn't make a long distance relationship work as young adults but now they're ready and have experienced enough of the world to know that they are happier with their lives joined together than apart.

Love You Seven Times - xanxia. I wrote a whole review post (love letter) on this one, since it seems rather underrated. I feel like this one may actually end up one of my fav examples of the genre. I just sincerely bought into the couple and their mutual devotion.

The Last Immortal - xanxia. Terrible trailer but turns out to be a decent show. I'm a fan of the genre, so I'm enjoying it. (I think you do need to be, to enjoy it - it doesn't transcend or really subvert..just a solid representation of xanxia) I like both lead actors and they do a good job with the material. It's working better for me than Ancient Love Poetry and Ashes of Love. After being eager for Song of the Moon in 2022 but then being let down (I dropped that one quick), I'm very happy 2023 brought me 2 xanxia I liked.

Three Body - modern sci-fi. Book 1 of my fav sci-fi trilogy of recent years. As a novel fan first, I was pleased to see it on screen with talented actors. Eager for book 2.

Love Me, Love My Voice - modern drama with an unusual couple (2 introverts) and dubbing fandom hyper fixation. A laid back relaxation drama, to de-stress with. Minimal plot, no conflict. Just sweet slow burn relationship building, singing & audio performances. Supportive friendships.

Here We Meet Again - modern drama that suffered from sloppy editing. I mean almost incoherent editing in a couple places, like when they are counting down the days until getting married and then.. It's not mentioned again? 🙃 But I very much enjoyed the couple's chemistry. I can't say it was objectively good but it sure was compulsively watchable for some reason.

Royal Rumors - Costume drama that was so aggressively mediocre that I don't have any real explanation for not dropping it. Except I find the lead actress unspeakably alluring. Blame my hormones.

Dropped

Back to the Brink - xanxia. Great concepts but the execution didn't work for me. I'm not a fan of slapstick and wacky humor within serious subject matter. (It's the reason kdramas can be very hit or miss with me.) The amount of humor layered into AJourney to Love is basically my limit for tragicomedies. (Note: I did go read the book and it was very entertaining - the tone was much more to my taste.)

My Lethal Man - modern. Embarassing english name, but they had me in the first half, not gonna lie. Then after her identity was exposed, I wasn't feeling it idk. Sometimes it's just not that complicated.

Destined/Chang Feng Du - costume drama. idk really why I dropped. I watched about a 3rd of it and then was distracted by other shiny objects. I plan to come back to this one in 2024 and finish.

Romance of the Twin Flower - costume drama; unholy abomination of a great novel. I hope somehow, someday, the culprits pay for their crime. Need I say more?

[Korean Dramas]

Perfect Revenge Marriage - a modern rebirth tale. For the 90% of it, I was high on the love of a drama that is just what you didn't know you wanted. The camp, the dedication, the scenery chewing, the glorious evil step mother. It was magical. And then the last 2 episodes I found underwhelming. I can't really explain it, the climax just didn't hit for me. But that's very much a personal taste issue and I'd definitely recommend to all drama lovers who enjoy the genre. Seriously, the performance of evil step mommy was a master class.

King the Land - modern workplace romance. I've heard complaints that there wasn't much of plot. But tbh that was fine with me, because some dramas are simply character pieces. This was all about the personal growth of the FL and ML. I ended up invested and rooting for the ML to become a decent guy who isn't a gross classist like his dad.

Destined with You - modern reincarnation drama. I blame my lingering kdrama good feelings about King the Land for convincing me to keep powering thru this one. Such a strong start but then half-way in I began to realize it simply wasn't going to go into the direction I wanted it to. I still have no idea what they intended to communicate with that love potion subplot.

Vincenzo - modern crime drama. I was late to the party on this one. But after I got around to watching the delightful Kinnporsche, this was rec'd to me as another drama that embraced the bigger than life unreality of Fantasy Mafia™ and provides a rollicking good time. Absolutely ridiculous and compulsively watchable. 10/10.

[American]

House of the Dragon - Awful people doing awful things to each other, as a 1st act before everything goes straight to hell. Plus freaky dragon-riding fantasy incest. What's there not to like?

Fall of the House of Usher (YES i DO watch every horror drama by Mike Flanagan thx) - Was it as good as the first 3..? No. Did I still breathlessly binge it in 2 days? Yes. Awful things happening to awful people, poetically. 👌 👌

[roseandgold137]

We’ll go Cassie for the charecter ask <3

(prefacing this with im so sorry this took ages. I sent it to draft lands and unfortunately out of sight out of mind immediately kicked in rip

three facts about them from my personal headcanons

not quite sure what would count as a fact per se, but: curly mullet as a kid bc her hair wouldn’t grow as fast in the sides (a style she later resurrected for one of her later wonder girl looks); lesbian BUT thought she was bi until like 13/14 bc she had a crush on like westley from the princess bride; neither of them know this but Cassie and Anita used to get into drama on roblox but also both of them were pretending to be guys + they dated on roblox for like three weeks. To this day neither are sure if it was gay (two guy avatars) straight (they were girl with guy??) but it was in fact gay squared (two girls pretending to be two guys)

a reason they suck

id say her combination of recklessness and stubbornness with a healthy dash of hating finding out she was wrong about something. Definitely something that improves as she gets older, but like with constantly trying to get cissie back in the team, sometimes her stubbornness overrides clearly drawn boundaries

a reason they are great

in a way, also her stubbornness! The lasting conviction that she’s right, and the belief that there is right, even if everything is trying to prove that wrong

a reason I relate to them 

I too would like to maximise the amount of time I spend with cissie king-jones /j; but fr, her sheer desire to help (even if she isn’t necessarily equipped to) is admirable and I like to think I share that with her

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

now ik I kinda mentioned Cassie/Anita up there, and cissiecassie is always a classic, however I would like to propose Cassie/George (as in Georgia Redmond) hang on I’ll try to find a picture of her. Basically George is her civilian friend (though I haven’t the knowledge if she ever actually appeared outside of this one issue) anyways baby butches <3

five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened

she needs to kiss girls like yesterday. I promise this is crucial for her I think it would actually solve a lot of her problems even just indirectly;

I think she should have had more time before Zeus granted her powers. Like I get why and it did suit the story they were going for but I really liked how cobbled together her costume and equipment was, I would’ve liked to see that for a bit longer (this may count as something that did happen that I believe should have just taken longer, but oh well);

I think that she should get to graduate from wonder girl, maybe by being faced with whoever will succeed her and passing the mantle on at the end of that kind of arc (maybe harken back to how Donna gave Cassie her wonder girl suit? I think it would be cute) which, while I’m thinking, would have been a far better way to introduce Lizzie, imo. Still not gone on her needing to be Diana’s bio kid (bc it feels like they’re trying to invalidate the non-bio candidates for Wonder Woman in the future tbh) but if she was just some girl (we can still relate her to amazons and the gods, just not Diana I think) then I think she’d have been received far better;

not just her, but also for yj in general - I think she should have followed the trend of leaving (not at the same time as say, Tim and Bart, bc then we’re down too many members) but I’d like to see her grapple with the guilt of that + also realising why cissie wouldn’t be coming back by sympathising with her, but still eventually rejoining (and meanwhile the others realise that despite her stubbornness they still value her as a leader and theyre all very relieved that she’s back);

as far as I’m aware she’s yet to receive an animal sidekick (Damian has honestly been hogging like all the animal sidekicks as of late like c’mon sir please share) so I think she’d benefit from one. Since Kon’s had krypto and Bart’s had dox (Tim doesn’t seem to have any either) I think there’s already plenty of heroic dogs to go around. World without yj is obv like alternate reality but her connection to Dionysus did intrigue me. So, I put forth a bengal cat that transforms into a leopard during combat (think cringer -> battlecat from he-man)

five people that character never fell in love with and why

ok this was a difficult question but I think I have some answers hopefully

Cass Cain -> hero crush, but Cassie was too scared of her for it to go any further than that and she didn’t really believe she existed for a while either

Anita -> was too hung up on cissie leaving at the start, then they eventually found out that they were each others bitter exes on roblox and Cassie’s brain immediately killed the chance for a crush to emerge

Greta -> felt wrong to like her when she’d only just remembered who she ever was, and again, was too hung up on cissie to really consider the possibility

Kon -> the crush she thought she had did not live up to actually being around him and he was part of the reason she realised she actually didn’t like guys

Jenny Hex -> tried to hit on Diana right in front of her

[nyoomfruits]

lovin the landoscar content recently are there any other blogs or fics u recommend for landoscar content? thank u!!

there's currently 44 fics in the landoscar ao3 tag and i would recommend all of them actually BUT these are my personal favorites <3

Negative splits by leafmealone | T | 10k

So officially, Oscar Piastri, pretty good steepler and pretty bad pacer, was now a professional runner. They wanted him to steeple, mostly, though he’d be doing cross country in the fall, and Lando had pinky promised him, mid-distance guy to mid-distance guy, that if he wanted to get into the 3k flat indoor then he would get him in. Oscar didn’t really want to ask how he planned on doing that. Felt safer not to ask.

listen. LISTEN. this is so. oh my god this is so good i'm OBSESSED with this one. my landoscar otp tag is literally a quote from this fic i'm so. it has a very slow build and then the ending hits and you're like oh. OH. beautiful beautiful beautiful.

i'll kiss you first by venerat | E | 3k

“Uh,” Oscar says, when they’re in the car on their way to the airport. “I think you’re—um. Going into heat, mate.”

god this one is so. their DYNAMIC in this. lando being like a confident little shit being so ENDEARED by oscar makes me feel all goey soft every time. delightful premise, works SO WELL for them and everything about this is just so. AAAHHH

break my rules by venerat | E | 4k

Lando makes a considering noise. “A flirt?” He glances at the cameras, and Oscar can’t tell if it’s one of those we’ll need to edit that out later glances, or what. He looks back at Oscar. “You think I’m a flirt?” “You’re just, like…” Oscar flounders, flushing. “You’re very friendly.”

i promise this entire list isn't going to be just venerat fics but GOD they write the landoscar dynamic SO WELL it makes me feel a little feral every single time. the whole shag marry kill scene is so. GOD it's my favorite. a+++ i love this fic so much

askin' six days into june by peargasly (jamb) | G | 354

Lando almost flinches in surprise when there’s a hesitant touch to his waist.

i read this this morning and it fundamentally changed me as a person this might be one of the BEST lando/oscar characterizations i've ever read the DYNAMIC in this is top tier

sense and velocity by vertueusement | T | 11k | wip

“Well, alright, I don’t know if you lived under a rock or something, but Lando Norris goes here.” Uh, literally who? Oscar wanted to prod further but he could at least read the room and tell the one he spoke to didn’t want anything to do with him.

this is a wip so it is not finished yet but GOD i'm so fascinated by this whole thing. the premise is AMAZING and the author makes FANTASTIC use of the switching pov to show how we perceive situations differently all the time i'm so !!!!!!! DELIGHTED to see where this story will take us

[happyk44]

For the character ask- Jason Grace and Jason Todd 💌

Jason Grace

1: three facts about them from my personal headcanons:

Jason suffers from severe depersonalization and emotional disconnect/amnesia

He has chronic pain that he does not treat and ignores because he's had it so long it's become normal to him

He knows ASL

2: a reason they suck

He was not fleshed out as well as other characters - he doesn't really have a backstory and we never see him refer to his past the way the others do, even after TLH when his memories should've come back in full

3: a reason they are great

He's sees the best in people

3: a reason I relate to them 

I was definitely that kid in school was seen as a flawless overachiever

4. (what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

Lol, I don't write it very much, but my preference is 100% valgrace

5. five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened

His arc finalized with him realizing that he wants to learn how to be his own person. He does not go back to Camp Jupiter, but he also doesn't stay at Camp Half-Blood - he just leaves to go on his own journey

He and Leo confess their feelings because, look I love aroace Leo, but also I love gay Leo who falls in love with Jason and they get married and are happy together forever and ever

I also!! Really love the idea of Jason disabling Leo as a parallel to Hera disabling Hephaestus after she threw him off Olympus. There are two options I like: 1) it happens near the end of the book, Jason blasts Leo's arm off by accident in the middle of the battle, Hera is freed and patches him up before he bleeds to death, or 2) it happens during the fight with Circe. Jason pins Leo with heavy air pressure and readies to kill him - but killing Leo goes against his base morals and as a child of Jupiter, he is bound to little else but his morals and the rule of law. So the disconnect between that and with what he's being told to do temporarily frees him of Circe's influence and he's able to deviate and severe Leo's arm off instead. Afterwards, he and Leo use a combo of fire and lightning to cauterize the wound.

I would've loved to see Jason embrace or be more of a representative of Jupiter/Zeus's law and order side of things, the way Hazel and Nico showed the two aspects of Pluto/Hades. Since the Greeks appear to be more within the realm of nature and Thalia is shown using lightning frequently, it would've been cool to have scenes showing Jason using skills outside of lightning and wind. Manipulative Jason who can turn enemies on each other, diplomatic Jason who can convince people to help him so easily. Jason being able to enforce order and calm to a chaotic situation, Jason being able to force his rules, his beliefs, his laws on people. That would've been so much fun - and also a fun way to repel him against the other characters, like Percy, who may be put off by his ability to override someone's free will

Also bloodthirsty wolf boy Jason!! Like yes I get that he wasn't at the Wolf House for that long but who cares? Give me vicious Jason who is protective of his pack, give me starving Jason who rips the flesh from your throat and swallows it whole

6. five people that character never fell in love with and why

I don't understand this question tbh - is it like. who did they fall in love with in canon but I don't think they should have, or who I think they should've fallen in love with, or what.

---

Jason Todd

1: three facts about them from my personal headcanons

His white spot is due to vitilgo. Going through the pit just kind of triggered the gene, sort the same way getting a cold or the flu or severe stress can

He helped take care of Damian as a kid - I think this is canon in one of the animated series, or at least like, implied canon, but unsure about the greater comic network. As Talia was helping him recover and whatnot from the pit, he helped train Damian. He has conflicted feelings about this now, but he remains a safe space for Damian to disappear to whenever he fights with Bruce. Dick may be Dami's big bro now, but Jason was his big bro first.

Autopsy scar! I just like the idea.

2: a reason they suck

He hasn't ripped the Joker's head off yet :( Like I understand why - it has to be Bruce who kills him, it wouldn't be as comforting or satisfying and it wouldn't mean much, but like whatever, someone kill this fucking clown, I hate him

But, nah, on a serious level, I think Jason is a good character. I don't really have anything on why he's bad, other than maybe poor writing? I don't read his comics much tbh

3: a reason they are great

Shoots things and pisses off Bruce

4: a reason I relate to them

I also was an angry little nerd when I was young

5: (what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

I don't really ship Jason very much, but jaydami would be my go-to because Damian is my favourite. Otherwise, I would recommend either jayroy or jaydick. Or brujay, but only because of the angst potential. I don't really care for Bruce past that, lol. Maybe brujaydick if that's a thing. Little wing getting smushed between people he opposes but also loves a lot. That's hot.

6: five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened

I don't have a lot of thoughts on Jason because I priortize Damian and also don't read a lot of comics (so Jason and others get left out because I prefer to read the ones with Damian. Or Duke. Or Dick. The DDD trio lol), but I do get kept up to date by my friends who do love Jason. I'm not sure what never happened to him that I would've wanted to happen to him other than like. Him not dying.

Actually, I do kind of wish they would give Jason his own team. Like I know JayRoy is popular and everyone liked the teamups with Starfire, but I like the idea of each robin sort of having their own little group - like Damian with Jon, Maya, and sometimes Suren, or Tim w/ Kon and the others whose names I don't remember, Bart, Cassie and someone else I think? And then Dick w/ the OG titans. I do get the sibling experience of being friends with your older sibling's friends because they're around all the time and you don't have anyone

I know he had Bizarro and Artemis at one point as a group? I don't know if they sort of "belonged" to anyone else first, but if they didn't, then yeah bring 'em back. Let Jason have his own people to connect with.

Also I want him to beat up Bruce and win. Just for funsies. Doesn't even have to be about anything. Just smack him around.

7: five people that character never fell in love with and why

Right so. Yeah I still don't get this question. 😂 Sorry.

[theysangastheyslew]

Heyyyy, El!! Happy Valentines!! 💜💜💜

I was wondering here: which ships are in your Top OTPs? (and why, if you want to share the reason you love them!)

Hiii Happy Valentine's to you too!! ❤️💐🍫❤️

Oof sorry I don't have a ton :( For me, it takes a lot for a pairing I like to reach OTP status, even more so a top tier spot, so the only ones on that level are:

And Nanami x me lol.

Idk when it comes to romance I'm just a big sucker for trust, maturity, and duty before love. AND if it's grumpy x sunshine? *chef's kiss*

Honorable mentions:

Maiko (ATLA *pls don't come for me I disliked it at first too but it grew on me*)

Yutamaki (JJK)

David x Patrick (Schitt's Creek)

Benslie (Parks and Rec)

Trephacard (Castlevania)

Marshall x Lily (HIMYM)

Jopper (Stranger Things)

Thank you for the ask dear! Now I’m curious what yours are 👀 👀 👀

[salty-an-disco]

Yeah, sure, gonna do this too. Here’s a list of some of my ships and also just some dynamics I’m really fond of:

Gonna start with my explicit romantic ships, ranging from OTP (my personal description of an OTP is a pair I cannot imagine in any other relationship) to ships I’m just very fond of.

ContraHero (duh, my OTP of all time)

ParaCold (smth of a secondary OTP, I’d say, since I also can’t imagine them in any other relationship lmao [at least, long-term])

Foreign Body (Quiet/Stranger) (I can’t imagine the heart not being Stranger, tbh, and also, smth about the both of them having a ‘monstruous’ form aksmdjddj)

Skeptunist (it’d be a slooooooww and LOOOONNNG burn, but I think the progress would be so interesting and the eventual relationship so weirdly sweet)

Ghost Lily (Spectre/Witch) (reaching OTP to me, ngl, as I can’t bring myself to be invested in other relationships involving them lmao)

Sweethearts (Smitten/Damsel) (have no problems imagining them with others, but this is still my primary ship for them)

Eternal Challenge (Stubborn/Asversary) (same situation as above)

Aaannnnd that’s it for explicit romantic pairs I think, I’m. actually a pretty picky shipper akmaksmdjkdmd

Now let’s move to what I call my OTBesties. When you ship them, but in a ‘they’re besties!!!’ way :D

Dark Comedy (Contra&Cold)

Strategy Game (Skeptic&Cheated)

Shining Shield (Hero&Para)

Bare Root (Wounded Wild&Thorn)

Nightmare&Spectre

Witch&Hunted

Hunted&Stubborn

Mending Hearts (Smitten&Broken)

Prisoner&Cold

Spectre&Paranoid

Confined Minds (Prisoner&Skeptic)

Thespians (Oppy&Smitten)

Hunted&Stubborn

Those are the ones that actively takes up more brain space, and ones which I most rotate around my head. Here’s some general dynamics I like exploring:

North Star (Cold/Oppy): their toxic yaoi wouldn’t last a year and be horrible for the both of them (mainly Oppy), and I’m all here for it.

Smitten and Skeptic, while not in OTBesties tier for me, is also a friendship I’m very fond of. I think they’d have coffee in the morning together.

Nightmare’s possible dynamic with anyone would be so interesting to explore, but especially with Tower– just. imagine the chaos

Speaking of– also Tower’s dynamic with Razor. Put her in the same room with some of the most relentless and violent vessels, I wanna see what happens

Wraith and Cheated would be an interesting dynamic when taken out from their chapter’s context tbh– Wraith is resentful because of how she’s been treated and only resorted to those drastic actions because that’s what you left her with. I think Cheated would sympathize with that and realize the hand he played (if you get him in her chapter) to get her like this.

Oppy and Hunted feel like they’d have a weirdly close and strong bond. Not OTBesties or explicitly romantic, but a secret fourth thing

Oppy and Contra have beef at first sight to me. They either completely ignore each other, or swear to make the other day’s worse, whatever they feel like atm

Also– since me and the folks in the discord started headcanon that while alive, Narrator could’ve been groomed by a cult and that’s why he has such a deep fear of death, and think eternal bliss is the best alternative for that– I’d like to see more of his dynamic with Broken. In a what-if scenario where they both got over enough of their bagage to have an actual conversation together, I think they’d have a lot to talk about.

Also, shout-out to my Happily Single Tokens, aka, characters I hc as non-partnering/not interested in romance/‘just not in the mood for it, dude’:

Cheated, Broken, Thorn (aro hc for her caught my the throat and won’t let go, I’m sorry Modeus), Prisoner, Narrator (AroAce and romance-repulsed king, tbh), and Hunted

[alto-tenure]

For the latest character ask meme, can I suggest Inspector Cananela from Ghost Trick? :)

ask game

1) three facts about them from my personal headcanons

met Jowd and Alma both separately, but after they started dating

has an extremely light-hearted grudge against Missile for having chewed his scarf once

the most science-y of the named detectives in the game

2) a reason they suck

His style of speech is very difficult to get down. I think I've gotten it now, but every time I write him I start grumbling about having to do it.

3) a reason they are great

I love his sense of honor and his kindness and the fact that ultimately he wants to do what's right, even if he doesn't always succeed.

4) a reason I relate to them

perfectionism babey

5) (what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

I'm an Alma/Cabanela/Jowd truther forever.

6) five some things that never happened to that character that I believe should've happened

oh this is really hard. I really respect how tightly Ghost Trick is written, and it's hard to pull apart at the structure without things falling apart. most of these are post-timeline reboot, I think.

more references to dynamic with Memry (this would have helped if Memry died, I think, though there really isn't space for that)

I know this is a limitation of only having so much space but it would have been cool if his coat was different in the new timeline due to there being not as much of a need for his perfectionism like there is in the old timeline

honestly sometimes I just think about that one scene where they're all just talking in the Ghost World and then suddenly the Justice Minister pipes up IRL and I still feel really bad for Cabanela here though I know it's a little early for him to be let in on the ghost circle information LMAO

7) five people that character never fell in love with

Lynne. He's probably known Lynne since she was a teenager, with her ambitions, and he would definitely be a creep if he was.

Pigeon Man. Co-conspirators, certainly, but not lovers.

I'm not a huge Yomicabs person. Like I get why people like it and I certainly can't judge people who do on the basis that I've shipped worse but idk. maybe this is also in some part pushback against the idea of shoving Sissel (human) aside too -- even tho we don't know anything about her beyond the fact that she exists doesn't mean we have to exacerbate the worst parts of canon

but, like, that doesn't mean Cabanela can't fall in love with him. it just means that I think it wouldn't be requited.

meh. idk. we'll put Yomiel down for this anyways. uh

Rindge. I don't think anyone ships this but I'm running low on characters and their relationship is purely professional imo.

Memry. I see her as a couple years older than Lynne, and also they wouldn't have met when she was a teenager, but I think he has too much self-respect to fall for someone like a decade and a half younger than him who is also a lesbian