#please say other people also like this ship

[strawberryangelx08]

i’m late to this post but fr it doesn’t have to be a proship post but when on tik tok when someone is simping for a fictional character the comments will be like

“hard drive check”

“okay drake or diddy”

“kid diddler”

“pedo”

like bruh!? stfu it’s a damn character it’s not real and yes you can find it weird but don’t compare it to a crime and a mental disorder

and when others tell people on the internet that pedophila is also a mental disorder while being a crime as well and you shouldn’t be saying that to anyone without actually prove they did something to a real minor or have possession of child exploitation

some of them will be like “well they’re a pedo”

buddy them making a ship edit or drawing fan art or posting art of a character is nowhere near the same as a crime/mental disorder

if they don’t experience this behavior then leave people alone and go after actual predators since they want to be Chris Hansen so bad

also this proves right here that the word pedo has become like an stupid insult you can throw onto someone

okay for context:there is this proshipper who was a minor and had made an intro post and their dni was literally reasonable it was adults dni and pedos dni

tell me why did this dumbass here said

“uh why is the dni something you attract” something like that

and when i told them it would be reasonable for a minor proshipper to not want adults interacting with them if they’re uncomfortable with

and especially pedos!

like so basically what you’re saying you want adults or actual predators to interact with minors because they’re doing stuff within fiction?

do antis think sometimes before they type

(clearly not)

and when i told them fiction can affect reality but only if someone is weak minded to believe fiction is real and gave them examples all they did was replied with “yap”🤓

if this was an minor who was an anti had an dni list like that then the comments wouldn’t be questioning their dni list

literally double standards it’s so stupid

if you’re questioning why proship darkship comship minors don’t want adults or actual predators interacting with their page then please stay away from kids

let’s be real here most of these people only care about minors if they’re anti and as long as they fit their standards.

anyways i saw this post and immediately wanted to rant.

the word "pedophile" doesn't alarm me anymore.

sounds very bad I know, but it's not like I don't find that in itself alarming!

pedophile is the new "freak" or "loser', it's not taken seriously anymore, it has become just a new word to call people you don't like even when they didn't do anything

yknow the story of the boy who kept yelling "wolf!" to prank the rest of the village, so when an actual wolf came no one listened and he was mauled? that's what that is.

by reducing such a serious issue to "erhm i dont like this person or their content so they must like kids!", you're actually harming victims and making it harder for them to be taken seriously

[littlestarbigsky]

been thinking long and hard abt soda and what it did to him to drop out of high school (i also feel bad bc somehow the only fics i have abt soda are all ships and i know i can do better for my boy)

so here’s a quick lil thing abt darry and soda after soda dropped out :p

darry couldn’t remember the last time soda had been this upset. even after their parents died, there were moments when the gang was all together and soda could laugh and feel the littlest bit normal again, but this felt like it was never going to end, and there was no reprieve. there was no end in sight, and darry couldn’t do anything to help him.

his grades had been going downhill for a while. it wasn’t his fault, or at least not entirely. it had been years since soda had done alright in school on his own instead of barely scraping by, and at some point the class had left him behind and it was like they started speaking another language.

and then their parents died.

soda already had enough trouble missing one day of school, let alone missing a week while they tried to throw together a funeral.

a month after their parents had died, after far too many nights at the kitchen table crying over math homework, after screaming matches that shook the roof over his grades, after darry had yelled so many times about how failing out of school was a surefire way to get them sent to a boy’s home, soda finally said that he was dropping out of school.

he could barely leave his room after telling darry, he couldn’t even tell ponyboy himself. he didn’t know what to do with himself, battling with his own mind every hour of the day. thoughts bouncing around his head of feeling like a failure for not even being able to graduate high school, bullying himself over not being able to joke around about it or making other people happy, which felt like maybe the only thing he was good at anymore. he knew that he was going to fail out eventually, so what was the point?

“soda?” darry cracked the door open, his eyes landing on his little brother where he had been for the last three days: curled up in bed, his back to the door. “do you want some dinner?”

soda silently shook his head.

darry sighed, “you can’t stay in here, forever, pepsi. we miss you out there.”

soda didn’t give much of a response, just gave a half hearted shrug.

“listen,” darry let himself into the room, sitting down on the bed and bringing a hand up to rub soda’s back. “i know you feel lousy, and i know you’ve got a lot on your mind, but you’ve gotta get back to living, soda. you’ve just gotta. we couldn’t get along without you.”

soda rolled over and sat up, and darry had to swallow a gasp at the state of his brother. soda’s eyes were rubbed raw and angry red from crying with deep shadows stamped under them, his hair was sticking up at all angles from the grease he hadn’t washed out in days, and his clothes were wrinkled and hanging loosely off of him.

“soda…”

darry could hardly get the word out before soda had thrown himself at his big brother, tears starting up again. god, he was so tired of crying.

“i’m so sorry,” he cried miserably, clutching to darry with everything he had in him.

darry felt the tears hit his shoulder and his heart ached for his little brother, “i know, i ain’t mad at you, honey.”

“mom and dad just wanted me to graduate and i couldn’t even do that! how am i supposed to do anything if i can’t do that?” soda sobbed.

“they’re not mad at you either, baby, don’t say that,” darry could feel tears prickling in his own eyes.

“listen, i don’t care if you’re lyin’ to me,” soda leaned back, his eyes not meeting darry’s. “but can you please tell me it’s gonna be okay.”

darry felt like he had missed a step going down stairs with the way the words made his stomach drop. he grabbed soda’s face in his hands and forced his brother to look at him.

“it’s gonna be okay, baby. i don’t know when and i don’t know how but i promise you, we’re gonna be okay. i’m gonna make sure we are.”

he wasn’t sure soda believed him, and maybe he didn’t even fully believe himself, but he had made a promise, and he had every intention of making good on it. some of the tension soda had been holding in his shoulders seemed to melt away, and darry knew he would be okay with saying everything over and over again if it meant soda didn’t have to be so scared.

“thank you… i know you hate lying to us.”

“i wasn’t lying.”

[janesurlife]

Normally I'd see tweets like this and move on but Today I have my day off so I'm gonna deep dive into this "carlando has ruined f1" narrative and the particular part of fandom that's behind it. Spoilers alert it's charles fan aka lestappies

This bitch has the audacity to say this about carlando while posting this shit..ok sure ma'am, carlando is the one ruining the sport and not a fictional ship which has made it to top-65 of ao3 tags...sure it's carlando yeah

I mean I could be generous and say "enjoy your ship but don't be annoying" but I am not in a generous mood so I'm gonna spit facts. Carlando although is a ship that people like, it's actually a real friendship between two people who have been teammates with each other, know each other's family very well, went to family weddings together and have celebrated each other's wins without any malice (unlike sour puss). Meanwhile lestappen exists only and only in certain people's imagination and on ao3.

So tell me, dear viewers which one of these two is ACTUALLY the k-popification of f1 and ruining the sport? I think we all know the answer and it's not carlando.

saying "carlando was a mistake" as if that's something fans have "created" and not an actual friendship between two grown ass men (lestappies can dream).

The reality of the hate behind carlando is the fact that Charles fans LOVE to blame carlos and Lando for everything and anything that goes wrong in the sport. They hate those two drivers and go to stupid lengths to justify that hate. Bitch grow some balls and own it!

They have this delusion that "everyone loves charles cause he earned it" and I'm gonna tell you a very harsh but true fact and it's that most of you like Charles cause he's a decent looking white man who drives for a prestigious f1 team. If he wasn't in ferrari his fanbase would be half of what it is now or maybe even less. Although it's not a crime to like someone for their appearance but trying to say that it's not what it actually is, that's the problem. So please go ahead and write lestappen fics on ao3 and leave Carlos and Lando out of your delusion.

I would also like to address something here that's been bugging me for a while. These people in their attempts to make carlando the big bad evil of f1 take the conversation away from the real evil of f1 that's fia and liberty media. Fia being inconsistent in their penalties and trying to control very personal aspects of drivers like what they wear and what they speak, is doing more damage to f1 than two men being nice to each other. The rich countries throwing money at fia to get a grand prix without caring about the fact how dangerous it could get for drivers like Qatar was. And fia continuously allowing more and more GPs to be held in US even after the absolute cluster fuck that miami and las vegas was last year. The increasing number of street circuits even after knowing how unsafe they are IS THE REAL EVIL not carlando you fucking dufus.

[seangardnerxiv]

Shadow and Maria's Complex Relationship

FOR DISCLOSURE: this thread is going to be discussing the complexities of Shadow and Maria’s relationship based on many different factors. Though I will be including the romantic interpretation (NOT a sexual one – I do not support nor condone sexualizing these two, nor any of the characters in Sonic, as they are almost all minors) as a potential, I will not be arguing to assign a definite label to their relationship – I will, in fact, be doing exactly the opposite (I am also not interested in engaging in shipping discourse over Sonic the Hedgehog characters). I would simply like to disclose that that will be discussed in case the topic upsets you and you would prefer to stop reading now. I accept this post may not be received well by some.

SPOILERS FOR SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS

So I've had to break out my Tumblr for this - my usual haunt is Twitter/Bluesky, but those don't really allow for longform posts. This is also a major departure from my usual FFXIV posting, so apologies to anyone who follows me for that.

Sonic x Shadow Generations recently dropped, alongside the short animations “Dark Beginnings” as well as the (non-canonical) manga “The Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog.” With it, discourse surrounding Shadow and Maria’s relationship has kicked up again, largely in two parties – that Shadow and Maria held a sibling relationship, or that Shadow and Maria held romantic feelings for one another (some people have also argued that Shadow is her uncle, or Maria is his mother, but I won’t be discussing those views). There are arguments for both drawn from a variety of sources – I will do my best to present both (if there are others I've missed, please feel free to comment and I will add them).

For siblings:

This Twitter post of artwork for Dark Beginnings has the following alt text: “Shadow and Maria reach out for one another in an infinite abyss (as long-lost siblings would) with the Moon and the Space Colony ARK in the background."

The manual for Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) describes Maria as “like a sister to Shadow.” I have also seen another screenshot of a different manual that states that Shadow as "like a brother to Maria," but I've been unable to find which manual it is.

Gerald refers to Shadow as “son” during the climax of SxSG.

For romantic:

Maria saying “I love you” in the Japanese version of SxSG uses the kanji “ai shiteru,” whilst her “I love you” in the Japanese version of the manga uses “daisuki.” Whilst it can be used for familial relations, it is apparently very uncommon for both of these to be used outside of romantic intent.

Shiro Maekawa – the original creator of Shadow and Maria – based them (or at least parts of them) off of a romance manga known as “Please Save My Earth” (with Maria sharing the Japanese voice actress for the female lead from the anime), and has frequently supported them together, often retweeting romantic art and posts of Shadow and Maria.

In a recent interview from Sega, Maria touching Shadow’s face in Dark Beginnings was equated to Beauty and the Beast.

For Tanabata – a Japanese festival celebrating the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, and the separation of them as lovers – Sonic Channel posted artwork of Shadow and Maria reading the story beneath the stars. Sonic Channel has also published fanart for Valentine’s Day relating to Shadow and Maria (although they publish a lot of fanart).

Before I go any further, when the topic of Shadow and Maria in a romantic lens comes up, many of the same criticisms arise that I do not believe are fairly levied – namely accusations regarding their age, species, and familial ties. I would like to address – and debunk – these three before we go any further. Keep in mind while you read these – this is not meant to convince you that their relationship was one thing over another, but only to provide validity to a subjective point of view I feel is unfairly stigmatized.

“It’s incest because Shadow is Maria’s brother/uncle(?).”

While there were notions of family stated by both Maria and Gerald, Shadow was grown in a tube with alien DNA and has zero blood relation to the Robotnik family. Whilst there are abstract labels of “like a sister” or “sibling coding” that are only ever applied in a meta sense, neither of them define their relationship in such a way within the lens of the universe. And it is not as if the topic never arises - in Shadow Generations, Maria herself likens young Abraham Tower as akin to her little brother, but she makes no such distinction with Shadow.

“Sibling coding” is ultimately a nothing statement, and unless a proper adoption is made, it does not magically turn romantic feelings towards the two involved into incest. Frames of reference are often informed by what young people are familiar with, and they sometimes lack the proper tools to acknowledge that their feelings towards each other are more complex than they first believe - to say that this is something that potentially occurred with Shadow and Maria is not outlandish, and not a concept unique to Sonic as a series.

Similar examples to this include Clive and Jill from Final Fantasy XVI (Jill is accepted into the Rosfield household and raised alongside Clive and his brother, only to later enter a romantic relationship with him as an adult), Nero and Kyrie from Devil May Cry (Nero is fostered by Kyrie's family and considers Kyrie a sister initially, only for her to become his love interest as adults) and Sidon and Yona from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Sidon grows up perceiving Yona as a sister, only to realize his feelings for her are more complex later on). None of these are incestuous relationships, nor is Shadow and Maria’s were it to be romantic.

“It’s bestiality because Shadow is an animal.”

Bestiality is applicable to regular animals that do not hold human sentience of thought, as they are unable to consent to a relationship, like a dog or cat. Shadow is not this, nor are any of the anthropomorphic characters within the Sonic games - were you to change the anthropomorphic animals in Sonic into humans, basically nothing about the series' content would change. All of them are completely sound-minded beings that are essentially just people who look different. Shadow is not Maria’s pet, he is her fully sentient friend that holds the same degree of thought as she does – given that Shadow’s entire arc is about finding his purpose in life, degrading him to simply a lab animal rather than acknowledging he is a person defeats that entire arc (something the manga also touches upon).

A lot of people also cite Sonic and Elise from Sonic ‘06 (namely the scene where Elise kisses the deceased Sonic) as a reason why Shadow and Maria should not be done - while I think it’s valid if you didn’t like watching a human girl kissing Sonic the Hedgehog, I maintain that a good chunk of that disdain stemmed from two major reasons:

Elise was very poorly characterized in her game. She existed to constantly get kidnapped and be saved by Sonic, and so both the relationship and the kiss came off more like pandering than something earned.

Sonic '06 had a bizarrely realistic artstyle for the human characters, whilst all of the animal characters retained their cartoonish appearances. This clash of artstyles looked its worst when Elise kissed Sonic at the game's climax.

Maria, however, does not fall into these pitfalls. She does not exist to be purely a love interest for Shadow - she’s certainly not someone for him to save, as the entire inciting event of Shadow's character is his inability to save her when she saves him.

For a frame of reference, Shadow is more akin to an alien from Star Wars – a setting where humans also exist. It is not bestiality for a Human to hold a relationship with a Twi’lek, as both races are fully anthropomorphic and sentient. On a similar note, Beauty and the Beast is not considered bestiality either, even though the Beast bears obvious animalistic traits. Some people have also entertained the notion of Rouge and Topaz from Sonic X, even though the latter is human. This is all the same principle, and none of it is bestiality.

“It’s creepy because Maria is young.”

Shadow – while said to be ageless – is not an adult, and to imply that he is one is a fundamental misunderstanding of Shadow’s character – whilst there are many instances where he demonstrates maturity on some levels, he has shown much immaturity since his inception in Sonic Adventure 2 (his desire to destroy the world out of revenge for Maria), and his most recent storyline in Generations involves his naïve desire to change Maria and Gerald’s fates (or rather, an initial indifference to what it will bring). Not only that, but his time on the ARK was mired in confusion over the point of his existence – Maria was the one that helped him field through his confusion, and was arguably the more mature one between the two of them. We can safely say that Shadow is not an adult character, nor is he ever presented as one in the lens of the game.

As the closest thing Sonic likely has to an equal in both body and mind (Sonic holds his own immaturities similar to Shadow), he can likely be placed mentally close to his age of fifteen. This is reinforced by the leaked transcript of Sonic ‘06 that refers to Shadow as 15 (the red squared text in this image).

Maria has no canon age established in game material, but Sonic X lists her as 12. 15 and 12 is the same age gap as Sonic and Amy respectively.

In addition to that, many people have claimed that Shadow is over 50 years old, but this is only true of his chronological existence, not the time he has been conscious and aging. He spent 50 years stuck in cryosleep, and awoke exactly how he was when he was placed in there.

A similar example would be Aang and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender - Aang was frozen at the age of 12, and awoke 100 years later. Nobody, however, tried to claim that he was 112 years too old to kiss the 14 year old Katara, as Aang was physically and mentally still a 12 year old upon awakening - most people who watched the show were also actively rooting for these two characters to kiss, which they did at the show's finale. It's the same principle regarding Shadow - he is 50 chronologically, not 50 in mind or body.

If we’d like to really get into it, I would point out that nearly every character in the lens of Sonic is in and around Maria’s age range (according to the Sonic Channel). As stated previously, Sonic is 15. Amy is 12, Knuckles is 16, Rouge is 18, Blaze and Silver are 14, etc. Nobody bats an eye at notions of romance between any of these people (not that I’m saying they should inherently).

Romantic intent between minors is not inherently viewed as a bad thing - see the examples of Aang and Katara or Clive and Jill above, or for an in house example, consider the canonical (to Sonic X at least) relationship between the 8 year old Tails and Cosmo - yet for some reason when it comes to Shadow and Maria, a relationship is stigmatized.

To reiterate in the wake of the last point, my discussions of romantic intent ARE NOT SEXUAL IN NATURE. As I acknowledge these are minors, any notions of that are completely off the table, and I do not agree with anyone who would imply their relationship was a sexual one. I want to make that unmistakably clear.

My major takeaway from observing both the Sonic fanbase and those on Sonic Team seems to be that in western circles, Shadow and Maria as siblings is the popular perception, whilst in eastern circles, they are more commonly perceived romantically. But ultimately, Shadow and Maria’s relationship seems to have many contradictory signals that makes it hard to pinpoint a concrete definition, especially in the most recent releases – and I believe that this is fully intentional.

Shiro Maekawa has stated in DMs has stated this regarding their relationship when asked if he saw them as siblings or love interests (translated from Japanese):

“I think they have a special bond that is unique to them that doesn’t fall into either of those categories. Just my personal opinion.”

From the way that the two are written post-Sonic Adventure 2, this appears to be a sentiment that is fully carried forward – their relationship is more nuanced than a canonical label would make it. Maria was the only person who made Shadow feel loved, and Maria unquestionably loved him back. What kind of love that was is up to the viewer, especially given that Maria died when they were both young, before they even had a chance to expand upon their relationship, if that was ever on the table – not that they needed to, given that their bond seems to have transcended both labels. Maria was the only one who acknowledged Shadow as more than an experiment or a weapon, and Shadow was her rock in an environment where she was isolated away from her family and home. Maria was Shadow's person, and still remains that in death.

To disclose for me personally (in case it was not obvious), I have always interpreted their relationship as romantic - or at least having romantic implications - ever since playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog when I was a kid. I have both a fiancé and a sibling, and the way they treat each other is far more evocative of how I treat the former than the latter (especially in Dark Beginnings – I do not imagine my sibling through a shoujo filter while I wistfully think about cuddling them in a field of flowers). I do not take the awkwardly placed alt text verbiage from the Sonic Twitter account, used to fake-argue with the Wendy’s Twitter account, as gospel for anything, and I think that treating it as a damning disproval is silly. Had she lived, I believed the complex feelings they held would have been identified as romantic down the line. The relationship always just read as too intimately charged for me to perceive as siblings (it still does especially in the wake of seeing how she touches and speaks to him), even before I had a serious relationship. I think that arguing the nitty gritty over Twitter alt text and translations is silly, as all it took for me to takeaway that the relationship was still romantic was to play the game, watch the animations, and read the manga for Shadow Generations - but that's just me.

That said, I will concur that if you are weirded out by romantic notions between the two of them, that is completely understandable, and I would never argue that you should not feel what you feel for yourself. The sibling viewpoint is also wholly valid an interpretation, with or without word from a meta source. Though she had her grandfather and later Abe, she was largely alone on the ARK away from a family that she clearly loved and missed, and it’s not unusual to presume that Shadow filled in the role of a brother for her. I will also acknowledge that many things I have not mentioned - such as Shadow blushing at Maria calling him cool, or her saying "I love you" in general - are not inherently indicative of romantic intent, and can be read as fully platonic interpretations, and I find those that try to state that the romantic interpretation is the objective one just as irritating as those that state the sibling interpretation is the objective.

My intent is only to dispute the idea that romantic interpretations, and the people who hold them, deserve to be scrutinized. The pairing is completely innocent, and the treatment people have received for believing them to be romantic is obscene. Sweeping blanket statements have been made to insult all who do (some going as far as to wish death and harm upon them), all just based on subjective viewpoints held by people who see them platonically. The fact that there is so much discourse surrounding this topic, and that there is evidence enough on both ends to make an argument, means that Sega has intentionally left the relationship up to interpretation - including the romantic take.

Everyone unclutch your pearls.

But with all that said, I will reiterate that this post was not meant to convince anyone of one thing or another, but rather that both interpretations of their relationship are valid, as it is essentially a secret third thing that transcends both labels and is special only to them. Strictly defining their relationship as “siblings” or “love interests” (even as someone who perceives them romantically, I would never want that to be definitively confirmed for this reason) is deconstructing what is perhaps the most nuanced part of a series that does not always tend to be terribly nuanced, and a definition matters far less than acknowledging what Maria means to Shadow in the present – he is who he is because of her, and because of that, he is now living a life for himself. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) ended in a way that had Shadow let Maria go, and Shadow Generations ends with him carrying her forward with him after accepting her loss. She was, and will always be, the person who loved Shadow - however you define that love is up to you.

Nothing has ever been hard confirmed by Sega, no matter how much either side wants to pretend it has been.

In summary, both points of view regarding Shadow and Maria’s relationship are simultaneously true and not true – it is a matter of interpretation according to the viewer what their feelings towards each other were, yet their relationship in the lens of what it is now after the tragedy of their existence (even before Maria died) is purposefully indefinable, and it should remain that way. Nobody should ever try to say that Shadow and Maria are definitively something - that goes for both points of view. I doubt it will, but I hope this goes towards removing the stigmas towards one of the more nuanced parts of this series, as nuance in Sonic the Hedgehog - frankly - does not come along very often, and it would be nice if that were encouraged rather than smothered.

Thank you for reading.

[austenpoppy]

Guys, I love both Dickory and Dickbabs. Everybody hates Annual 2 because, 1) it spits on Dick's character, 2) it spits at us in the face, 3) it makes a mockery of all ships, 4) the timing doesn't make any freaking sense. If you read New Titans, there is just no way Dick would or could have cheated in that moment in time, not after what happened with Mirage, when he was blaming himself for being raped and not recognizing Mirage was posing as Kory, when he was holding on to his relationship with Kory so tightly as his last source of happiness after losing Joey, Raven, Danny, Arabella, Vic in many ways, and there was also something going on with Clark (was he believed dead ?).

But let's not stump on poor Dick during that time in New Titans. Please. Let's not make up things that weren't there. And let me convince you there was no domestic abuse involved.

The images I put below are, at least the way I interpreted them, a dream sequence imagined by Kory in her sleep, which we know because right after, before the scene itself ends, there's an image of Kory waking up in her bed in the middle of the night due to Dick's incessant ringing. Plus, the very tone of that sequence seems off, exaggerated - like a dream would be.

New Titans #99

And if you're wondering about Dick's tattered costume when he comes in Kory's flat, let's just say the art is inconsistent - Dick had, as you can see, no visible hole in his costume after Kory blasted him if that sequence were real, so I don't see why we should consider this a real scene on that basis alone.

As for the random strangers, they're...not random strangers ? The guy Dick punches in the face is a paparazzi who was photographing him along with other paparazzi right after Kory broke up with him, and were harassing him and taunting him/making fun of him - they heard Dick shouting after Kory.

New Titans #97

Yeah, if you look at it I guess it's still assault under US law, but frankly you'd have to be a saint not to punch one of those slimy buggers in the face after everything that went down. Also, Dick doesn't seem to like paparazzi much - years later, he was less than pleasant to the people harassing Alfred in the Vesper Fairchild murder.

Part of the Bruce Wayne: murderer ? story arc

Do I hate that Kory broke up with Dick that way and blamed him for what went on with Mirage ? Heck yeah. Do I hate that Dick proposed to Kory as a last resort not to lose her ? Also yes. But I wouldn't say those issues were worse than Annual 2. It goes downhill after (you can guess I'm still fuming about many things that went on after that wedding, including but not limited to Kory's character progression being erased, and Dick shouldering the entire blame of their relationship's end and thinking he was too "self-absorbed" in the whole Mirage episode).

Thinking about shipping problematic pairs from last night…

Something that really annoys me is how everyone goes off on Nightwing Annual 2, but mention Dick and Kory’s wedding as a shitstorm of epic proportions, and you get crickets.

I own Nightwing Annual 2. In print. I paid above the cover price for it. (And I read comics digitally. I don’t own single issues in print much at all - couldn’t even fill a short box with my collection. Trades, yes, issues no.) Yes, it is heinously out of character for Dick to have cheated on Kory with Babs, no question. And the scene when Babs comes to the door to see Dick and is lied to by Kory, and leaves in tears and then Kory lies to Dick about it? Also very out of character for both of those women. Both of those moments are really serious missteps of writing, that is for sure.

Aside from those two parts, which I pretty much skip over when I read it anyway, I really like the book. Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson’s art is beautiful. It always is, but Bennett’s Babs is extra stunning and an A+ to them for remembering how tall Kory is. (Their run on Birds of Prey is also my favorite art on that book.) In terms of story, I love the rest of the memories Dick and Babs recount - getting locked in the safe together, Babs POV of when Dick tried to tell her how he felt about her, and the ending is heartbreaking and beautiful.

But, I mean, really. To like this book publicly is to rain down a storm of fandom haterade on yourself. Which, to be honest, fine. That kind of thing doesn’t really bother me in and of itself. It’s just the hypocrisy of it all. New Teen Titans 97-101 is at least as bad - worse, IMO - in terms of characterization for Dick and Kory and no one ever says boo about it. Dick hits total random strangers because fighting with Kory makes him angry. He gets physical with her, and she blasts him with starbolts. Straight up domestic violence. And still, crickets! I have a 13-page NOVEL about how many problems I have with the way DickKory has been written, at least half of which revolves around that engagement/wedding… (a lot of which is really angry and I hesitate to publish but had to write out for myself.)

But why? Is it because - other than TT!RobStar - there aren’t many real DickKory shippers left to either excuse or renounce it? Is it that DickBabs is an “actively sailing ship” and all of us shippers feel like we have to trip all over ourselves to make an exception of Nightwing Annual 2 so that people won’t hate our ship?

Like, what’s the deal here?

[onhersleeve]

jonsas were hating on emilia saying godawful things about her after season 7 so it’s only natural the hate is doubled and returned for kit and sophie now

LMAO please!

even if the hate you mention is true (and fyi i don't condone hate sent to the actors as i find it unjustifiable, unlike you anon) from my point if view i find it hardly improbable because from the circles i am in the fandom anything remotely "hate"-like aka negative that could have been sent to emilia was not actually towards her, but her character, which is not the same thing.

and the only thing i've seen some jonsa be towards emilia is critical, me included, due to her comments post the finale as it incentivated the hatred and attacks towards her cast and crew. also to dislike someone's performance/acting does not mean it's hate.

because that is what happened - aka stans felt validated by emilia's comments to actively hate on got's cast and crew- and it still does happen. her fans (who aren't even fully her fans, but 🦎 stans who often shit on her whenever she does anything they dislike) have been hating and attacking not only sophie and kit, but isaac, gwendolyn, nikolaj etc. since the show ended because they liked their endings and weren't pro d@ny.

fuck it, i have even seen people people weaponize her illness - which was a devastating thing she went through and which she now uses her platform for good, to speak up and help others that go through something similar - to attack people.

we jonsas are a minority (in size) when it comes to this fandom, people genuinely make shit up about us and hate on us even when are minding our business, and kit and sophie have been getting hate from that side of the fandom for years now, especially sophie who has been hated since she was nothing but a child for playing sansa, nothing justifies that shit, so fuck off.

also if there were so called jonsas that actually were hateful towards emilia and were being vile towards her because of ship reasons they can fuck off as well.

[potcconfessions]

"In response to the comments and reblogs in my previous confession (367), first of all I’m queer (trans and acearo), I wont apologizing for thinking your pirate jesus isn’t fruity, also death threats are inacceptable. 1) Some of your answers confuse gender expression with sexual orientation, which is wrong, just because someone wears makeup or gesticulates “weirdly” doesn’t mean they’re queer, you’re stereotyping, this can fall into racist territory too, as not every culture has the same way to express themselves of white people and a good portion of the fans (me too) think of Jack as at least mixed. 2) Actors saying shit during interviews (Johnny Deep “all my chars are queer” and Crook and Arenberg “Pintel and Ragetti are uncle and nephew”) are at best soft canon, if not outright non canonical as there is no evidence in the actual movies, it’s at the same level of the wizards terf saying their magic school principal is gay on twitter. 3) If we look at the factual evidence Jack ONLY FLIRTS WITH WOMEN and, in DMC, when he thinks a disguised Elizabeth (calls her "lad") is flirting with him, he immediately makes up excuses and doesn’t look too pleased by this perceived amorous interaction. 4) Jack is a master at pushing people’s buttons, as shown in the franchise (minus the shitty fifth movie), his interactions with James are like that because he knows that he hates that behaviour, due to his strict nature, also he invades people’s personal space all the time, no one is safe from it (even the governor receives this treatment), because he knows that it can make people uncomfortable fast. 5) There are plenty of examples of people fighting for certain rights but then shitting on other minorities (some gays being trans/acephobes for example), so him being against slavery isn’t a valid point, also he might fight for the freedom of other people because he knows it’s the right thing, but still being icked by certain things, it’s the human nature, it’s full of contradictions. 6) I’m an extreme multishipper and ship Jack with both Barbossa and Norrington, but shipping discourse is as canonical as my takes on everyone’s sexualities in the previous post and aren't a valid counterargument. 7) To conclude, thinking about it he could be considered aromantic, due to a line of dialogue about Angelica in OST (him having caught feelings for her and no one else), but due to the way he behaved towards her I can't think of him like that, for me he's simply an asshole towards women he wants to fuck and can't stand the idea of being vulnerable with them (due to OST storyline) and is squeamish about gays (due to DMC's dialogue)."

[smallishzine]

Just a small heads up, if you include shipping you may wanna make it clear that there are ships and what ships are there. A lot of people aren’t comfortable with shipping, especially since I’ve seen people say Joel thinks it’s a bit weird to be shipped with anyone other than Lizzie (needs to be fact checked, this is just what I’m seeing in boat boys comment sections). Maybe consider making the ship stuff a separate section or just telling people in advance (pinned post, bio, anywhere clear works) that it includes shipping so those who don’t like it can walk away.

important info about the zine plz read even if you didn’t send the ask:

thank you for the heads up! We’re about to get super rambly and vaguely off topic but we promise all your points get addressed. This is actually a great opportunity to clarify, because I realized I didn’t explain myself particularly clearly, if some one does choose to include shipping, its all going to have to be subtext (as always except for shadowbeans whose alternate ship name I still refuse to use), but that is for non-canon ships. Regardless of how people feel about it, c!Joel and c!Jimmy did in fact kiss in Real Life smp, and c!Joel and c!Sausage did in fact have a child together in esmp2, so we’re not gonna rewrite events. Basically when I say shipping in the context of this zine I mean taking relationships the c!Joel had with other people and creating moments that didn’t necessarily happen but feel plausible for the characters that are able to be interpreted as romantic as well as platonic. Also, everyone’s definition of ship art is different, so the level that I was thinking is pretty mild (and btw I’d like to interject here that this is not me dissing on shipping or ship art love shipping so much that I found a ship called the relation and I never left it, but I also know that people have all sorts of comfort levels with different things so this zine is going to be dry docked but I assure you that out there on my super secret personal blog we are very much lost at sea). Like, to give some examples of what would be okay versus not okay for the zine: kissing is pretty much off limits, honestly mostly because that’s a pretty boring zine piece, there’s nothing going on except the ship, but anything where any sort of romance is up to the interpretation, such as hugging, handholding, spending time with, these are all normal things, but also this can’t be the focus of the piece. Please no one just draw like Joel and someone hugging and call it a day. Implied shipping is allowed to feature in your piece, not be the main focus of it. That’s just not an interesting zine piece. Valid art/writing, still amazing stuff keep sharing it on the internet it’s very interesting, just not in the context of this zine. Anyway, you are correct about not everyone being comfortable with that stuff, so if any piece comes off as really shippy without violating the guidelines we’ll make sure to label it correctly, but also, I should make it clear, I’m really hoping that shipping doesn’t become the focus of this zine. It is a Joel zine, so Joel should remain the focus, and any shipping would be subtextual and not central to the zine. There are many great Joel ships out there with lovely content to consume, but that’s not really the focus of this zine. Also, that aside, if Joel doesn’t want his character (because we are talking about shipping cs here. Cc!Joel is a lovely person, but this zine is going to be in-character. Also while cc!Joel should absolutely be respected in what sort of fan content he wants people making about him, his character is, well, just that: a character. Its like saying you can’t ship two characters from an animated tv show because their irl voice actors aren’t comfortable being shipped. It’s just two different things) shipped with characters who don’t belong to his wife, he should probably stop making his c! kiss all those men. And have children with them. And send them love hearts in the mail. And call them babe. If he did it in canon it’s probably safe to say we’re good having them do it in fan content. But again shipping should be an extremely small part of the zine if it’s there at all and should be subtextual enough that even people who don’t ship can still positively engage with the zine!!! If it needs a warning, it’s probably too shippy.

also all this aside if I’m handling this wrong guys I’m sorry I’m only one person and it’s really stressful trying to please everybody I promise I’m trying my best but I just wanna get together with a bunch of other people who share this strange fascination with the bean man and make art and writing about it I don’t wanna get canceled or something I promise I’m trying my best. I’m really struggling to balance my love of creating shipping fan content and realizing that not everyone is comfortable with that and it’s really difficult and stressful I just can’t we all just draw and write what makes us happy I just want this to be a fun experience and being yelled at on the internet for drawing two characters who’s ccs aren’t in an irl relationship being something other than friends is not my definition of a good time. I’m not accusing you anon of doing anything like that the ask was very respectful but I’m worried this post will prompt less polite people to come and yell at me.

-mod Dinn

[fiona-fififi]

Okay, I am not trying to be mean, and I am NOT looking for anti comments or shipwar bullshit here.

I am looking to ask a genuine question.

But I will say that what is below the cut is probably going to read to some as anti Tommy/anti bucktommy, so if you are on the extreme end of either side of this shipwar, please look away.

Can someone please explain to me, based on canon evidence, what in the actual text of the show has possibly implied that Tommy was an endgame relationship for Buck?

Because I understand getting attached to ships and to minor characters, but I also try very hard to see the multiple ways a text can be interpreted. I have studied literary and pop culture analysis for over twenty years and taught it for ten. I am more than willing to try to see multiple sides and acknowledge different interpretations when they are supported by actual canon evidence, even when that evidence is minor. With buddie, for example, I do actually believe it is happening, but I am also happy to acknowledge that it might not, and there are ways that the show could turn around what we've seen and make it work for other purposes.

But also, while there are always multiple potential interpretations of a text, and therefore, no specific right answers, there ARE wrong answers, and interpretations that just are not sufficiently supported by the actual text.

And I truly, truly do not understand how so many people—many of whom are very intelligent and generally very good at textual analysis—are convinced that Buck and Tommy’s relationship was ever anything other than temporary. I am not trying to be mean here, but I keep replaying their scenes and trying to look at it from that perspective, and I genuinely cannot understand how this interpretation became popular or what it is based in in terms of canon.

I legitimately feel like I am going crazy because I actively cannot see it at all, but so many people seem so very convinced of it, and I just cannot make heads or tails of that.

[thelamentknight]

Ellis Vinter

18/Male

Norwegian 

Gay

Aquarius 

Hometown is Snowmist Mountains

Twisted from Elsa

Ignihyde

3rd Year

Best Subject is Conjuration

He’s in the Horse Riding Club

His Favorite Food is Hot Chocolate Tart

His Least Favorite Food is Reaper Pepper

Dislikes Spring

Hobbies include Reading, Stationary, Studying, Journaling, Puzzles, Calligraphy, and Ice Skating

Talents: Memorization

UM “Beware the Frozen Heart“:

When Ellis points at someone and says his UM, an ice shard shoots out of the finger and into the victim. In a short span of time, the victim’s hair turns white, their cheeks lose color, their body becomes cold and frosty, and the victim d!es as their heart turns to literal ice. Ellis despises his UM, and has only used it as a last resort for self defense.

Like many Ignihyde students, Ellis is a cautious lone wolf who doesn’t socialize much. He is elegant and graceful, which is to be expected of a prince like him. Due to his quiet, lonely, and somewhat reclusive nature, along with his wealthy background, many students interpret his shyness as arrogance and haughtiness. So Ellis isn’t very popular among the students. While he tends to hide it, Ellis is quite anxious and nervous 70% of the time, and is actually quite touch starved.

Backstory (Accidental m*rder and Ab*se warning):

Ellis is the heir Prince of Snowmist Mountains. He had a younger brother and was very close with him. But one day, when the two were kids, assassins came during the night. The assassins managed to grab Ellis’ younger brother, so Ellis used his UM on the thief holding his brother. However, the thief used his brother as a shield, so the UM ended up hitting Ellis’ brother and not the thief. Soon after his brother was hit by the UM, he was d*ad. In fear of what they saw, the assassins scrammed. 

The King, Queen, guards, and other royal staff arrived to where the heard the ruckus, and were horrified by the sight of the younger prince’s lifeless c*rpse, and the older prince sobbing on the floor. Everyone blamed Ellis for the d*ath of the younger prince. His parents locked Ellis in his room, where they beat and screamed at him, calling him a monster. 

Ellis was forbidden from leaving his room, and if he did, his parents would beat and scream at him again. The maids had to bring him food, but they would leave it in front of the door, knock, and run before Ellis opened it. His Tutor needed guards in the room before being okay tutoring Ellis. Everyone at the castle despised the older Prince.

A few years later, the King and Queen d!ed when the ship they were on sunk, leaving Ellis with the throne. However, many were against Ellis being the Ruler, due to how young he was…and also because they despised him, so Snowmist Mountain is now currently ruled by the Grand Duke, and he rules the kingdom well.

He ordered Ellis to be released from his room prison, and he let the Prince know that he can leave the room whenever he pleased. Ellis was gobsmacked by this, and was even more gobsmacked that the Duke wasn’t expecting something out of him. The Grand Duke treats Ellis as if he were his son, something Ellis hadn’t experienced in many years.

Fun Facts:

+ Dislikes Spring due to pollen allergies (it only gives him sniffles, but it’s still annoying)

+ It’s noted how Ellis got his UM at a much younger age compared to most people (who tend to get them at 16)

+ Once a day, the Grand Duke messages/calls Ellis to see how he’s doing

+ He has a cold body (if you touch him, you can feel that he’s cold)

+ His nightmares consist of the ab*se he went through and about his brother getting k!lled

+ Loves a good cup of Hot Chocolate with marshmallows 

+ Ellis’ favorite thing in the morning is to hear the icemen passing by and singing. At NRC, he has a music box that plays the songs the icemen would sing

+ Seems to always wear gloves

+ His spice tolerance is non existent

+ Keeps his things tidy, clean, and organized

+ He’ll take his horse, Olaf, for an evening walk every day

+ Ellis has very high As, and is actually good at math. He would be very willing to tutor other students despite his shyness…but most other students would rather fail than be around him (this bites them in the butt during Chapter 3)

+ Winter is his favorite holiday. Loves building snowman and ice skating

+ Has a sweet tooth

+ Is VERY skilled in ice magic

+ Dating Ángel Iglesias

+ The only one that knows that Ángel has a fear of bells

[aethon-recs]

Themed Rec List | 11 Tomarrymort Necrophilia Recs 💀🤍

What an amazing theme for a fest! In honor of this upcoming fest, here are 11 Tomarymort necrophilia + snuff recs that I greatly enjoyed. It goes without saying that this is an extremely dead-dove rec list, so please read at your own risk 💀

Hopefully these delightful and twisted fics will spur some inspiration, and we'll get double the number of corpsefucking fics in the ship tag by this time next year 🤣

*

Tomarrymort Necrophilia Recs

Ad Infinitum Mortis by anonymous (E, 4k, complete)

Voldemort can't seem to stop himself from killing Potter. He also can't stop bringing him back from the dead.

Anabiosis by @lee-bella (E, 4k, WIP)

In their final moment together, they had eyes only for each other as was ordained—it was love at the final sight.

Be Still, My Beloved by @just-a-whorecrux (E, 2k, complete)

Voldemort loves no one and nothing but himself—but a part of his soul resides within Harry Potter, so he can't help his attraction. He's determined to enjoy himself before he gets rid of the boy once and for all.

Beach Episode by @crowcrowcrowthing (E, 4k, complete)

Scarcrux needs a vacation. He wants to get out and see the sights. Featuring: beach sex, dream sex, and lots of blood and gore and mutilation.

Don't Speak by @dividawrites (E, <1k, complete)

Harry talks too much during sex.

From your cadaver flowers will grow by @themothatyourdoor (M, 2k, complete)

You still killed him though, didn't you?

Heartbeat by @phantomato (E, 24k, complete)

Harry, dumped into the past, communes with dangerous men.

Lingering Warmth by anonymous (E, 2k, complete)

In the aftermath of Harry's death, Voldemort admires Harry's corpse, and when Harry comes back to life, he finds himself in a perplexing situation.

the thing lay dead by @duplicitywrites (E, 7k, complete)

In the end, there was one body that all refused to touch. It unnerved people to see even the corpse, though it remained still and silent. Harry tended to him, this man made mortal. Smooth, alabaster skin and thin, brittle bones. Peaceful in death as he had never been in life, his harsh features softened by Harry’s fingertips. Creases smoothed, muscles relaxed, jaw unclenched. No longer a monster. Now a body, just like everyone else.

Violent Delights by @katsitting (E, 5k, complete)

Harry was shoved against something hard and unyielding. It scratched along his back, chafing the skin. Harry didn’t so much as flinch, refusing to make a sound when more jeers sounded in the clearing, the words cutting through the rush of blood flooding Harry’s ears— “Fuck him, m’Lord.” “Defile his corpse.”

WTF, Potter?! by @dragonaireabsolvare (E, 4k, complete)

Harry gets a boner right after the Battle of Hogwarts, an unfortunate after-effect of casting dark magic. As luck would have it, he stumbles across an old man lying amongst the rubble in the annex chambers of the Great Hall.

*

Announcing the Tomarrymort Necro Fest!

A place to explore all forms of necrophilia and our favourite soulmates, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort. Prompting opens in the New Year. Works revealed on the ides of March.

For fest info and to join in on brainstorming, writing sprints and more, join the Magical Menagerie Server, or visit the A03 Collection page.

[jeckilon]

long ass rant about that one show and fandom experience and some other stuff feel free to read or skip or whatever

everyone that follows me here probably already knows my feelings about andor since I don’t even hide it lol but let me tell you that I wasn’t always a hater bitch

I literally had a news account on twitter (that it’s still there btw but it’s run by someone else since I quit), I was super excited for it that I read everything you can imagine about this show, I knew every new thing, every interview, anything. I woke up every week 4am to watch the new episodes and mind you I worked all day and studied at night. I literally ruined my sleep schedule for this so I guess I have the right to be a bitch if I want okay

so why such sudden change you ask. first of all I started doing therapy and finally realized that hypertixations like that are harmful as fuck and ruin your mental health. it was a good point to start and get away from it. it wasn’t easy at all lol if it was easy people would be suck on that stuff but it was making me sick and I’m glad I left that hole lol

second thing, the fandom experience after this show aired started to be SHIT in ways it waned before. I know star wars fans are definitely not know for being civil or decent people or whatever but our corner was safe. until it wasn’t. people started to get over here and try to dictate how we should feel or make fun of us for liking rogue one or shipping rebelcaptain and it really started to ruin things for me. don’t even let me get started on the fucking asks lol wtf was that. unfortunately I was not in a good mental state so I answered those and wanted to pick fights but don’t worry I now realize it’s stupid and we should let these people choke alone

and well, those two things combined kinda woke me up from this obsession and the result of seeing all this left a super sour taste in my mouth. that you can see from all my salty posts from my alt account lol I apologize for that also

after 2 years in, I just decided want to ignore all this the best I can and honestly pretend this show doesn’t exist if it’s possible. I love and respect everyone here that I consider a friend and I hope y’all have a blast with season 2 but I’ll do my best to pretend it’s not even there. maybe I’ll find other interests to keep me busy, maybe I’ll take a break from here or whatever but it’s not worth it

I’m really NOT looking forward for all the dumb takes and posts taking shit about rogue one and jyn and rebelcaptain shippers or whatever lol this is beyond pathetic please these people need to get a life. I know I’m guilty of finding these horrible shit and I apologize, I promise I’ll definitely not look for them anymore

I love rogue one with all my heart, rebelcaptain is literally the most important ship for me and I’m so grateful for everyone I met here but if I need to just leave for a while then I will

and if I’m allowing myself to be a massive bitch for the last time while we’re here… no I’m not doing this. whatever. it’s not worth it. jk im gonna say it these annoying people are super jealous about rebelcaptain because their “canon” ship is boring as fuck and will never have 10% of rebelcaptain’s relevancy lmaooo keep being pressed and irrelevant mwah

[sayurinn]

Hello tumblr pls accept my gionara musings :3 I hallucinated this ship because I need to always ship the most niche and delusional thing ever and also I just think they’re silly… raya if u see this no u don’t

[sneeb-canons]

I WASNT SURE ABOUT THAT BUT I APOLOGIZE

I have a couple of reading problems so I misunderstood what the asker meant so thats my fault

BUT genuinely this is important for a lot of you

While i did misread this one, there has still been asks similar to this that i did catch. against both Heart AND Mind. I usually just delete them since ive already stated i was against that [it IS in the rules btw & some of yall need to read that again before submitting. including the shipping and suggestive rules]. But there been quite a bit over time & it still keeps happening even now, along side some other things. [im not good at writing down & explaining my thoughts but i'll do my best]

One being the entire part stated above

Second being how people deal with/handle aspects of depression & the main idea with the album.

A lot of people treat it either as if its for a joke, downplay or ignore it, or even infantilize parts of it [mainly toward Heart]. The last being an especially horrible way of talking about depression and portraying it. Theres a lot of people here [including myself] who struggle with that and its just harmful or annoying to see the main part of the album get horribly misinterpreted for many many reasons.

Which semi goes into the third point being that, for Whole especially, these characters are no matter what connected to CJ himself. So I will repeat that I do not want ANY shipping headcanons, suggestive/nsfw headcanons, and no headcanons about Whole that are too closely related to CJ. That mainly being pronouns or any other sexuality for Whole.

And not only have I stated this but Jash himself has said that Whole is basically just him. Even saying that with HMS; he has his own ideas for them but lets the public decide & choose their own for them. While for the other, he says "He/Him for ‘Whole’, though, seeing as it’s just me."

While yes there are ways to go about HMS being Whole or Whole as a character, he is still connected TO Chonny. This also goes for the other versions of him like the Power Hours. They are, to me, too closely connected to CJ that I don't feel comfortable giving headcanons to a Real Person.

Again there are ways to go about it where its more from the idea of the album/single itself. it being a headcanon about the content but not the actual person. Especially when he clarified it already that at least Whole is just him, so likely the the other albums are as well.

While all of that is not ALL the submissions, a good majority of you are chill thankfully, its happened enough to where it needs to be stated again. Either way just take caution when sending something in and just PLEASE read the rules before doing anything.

Mind has Bluetooth hearing aids. Soul had got him them so he could hear and be able to enjoy music. Yet, neither it nor Mind knew that they could connect to *anything.* Even if he didn't want them to. Heart found this out and connected them to his phone, just so he could play random ass sounds in Mind's ear.

Headcanon #895

[the-way-astray]

hi, hello, yes, if you ever use the word "deserve" with regards to romantic relationships between fictional characters (and real people, honestly) then i kindly invite you to go fuck yourself

[altocat]

Okay. I feel like I have to say this because I saw this argument earlier. Zack and Sephiroth WERE friends. They were friends caught up in a strained, stressful situation beyond their control. With this said, there's some understandable tension between them during the game. But Zack is NOT cruel to Sephiroth during CC, nor is he at any point responsible for Sephiroth's trauma or actions. When Zack gets annoyed at Sephiroth during the story, there are VALID reasons for him feeling this way. And, moreover, Sephiroth is not the ONLY victim of CC compared to the OCEAN OF TRAUMA Zack experiences.

For starters, Sephiroth is technically dumping all his responsibilities onto Zack, causing him to bear the emotional burden. Sephiroth is also aloof and not always communicative. Zack was mad at him in Junon because Sephiroth was not returning his calls. Zack being pissed at Sephiroth because of Nibelheim? He just murdered a ton of civilians there's realistically no way you can be nice and gentle with someone after that. Zack not checking in on Sephiroth? Well he actually MIGHT have been. How else does he know what Sephiroth is doing in there? How does Cloud have memories of Sephiroth telling him to go away? Zack likely DID express concern for Sephiroth's wellbeing and WAS rebuffed. Zack even expresses concern at the Nibelheim reactor by trying to physically comfort Sephiroth, only for SEPHIROTH to push him away. Zack was also the one telling Genesis to shut the hell up because he could see that Sephiroth was getting upset. Zack DOES care and DOES emphasize with Sephiroth. The game just isn't dwelling on it.

Sephiroth is not the only person in pain during CC. I think Zack had to deal with the MOST shit since he's the one who had to kill Angeal. He got to watch Genesis seemingly die in front of him. I think Zack has MORE THAN A FEW valid reasons for being occasionally upset and angry at Sephiroth. But even AFTER what Sephiroth did in Nibelheim, Zack still chooses to honor him at the end. Sephiroth is shown in Zack's memories of people he loves during his last stand. AND Zack stands in Sephiroth's place when he fulfills Genesis' wish to share the apples. In Opera Omnia, Zack is very clearly upset with what happened with Sephiroth, and doesn't seem to be able to truly hate him. And Sephiroth killed innocent people and tried to destroy the world. I think if Zack can still pity Sephiroth afterwards, it wasn't just an unempathetic relationship.

Also, and this is something that the game tries to convey but doesn't do a good enough job, Sephiroth and Zack spend pretty much 2 years in each other's company. The DMW cutscenes explore this idea as it shows them training together. What you are seeing are only a handful of moments in what is otherwise a period of them actually befriending each other and forming enough of a bond for Sephiroth to have grown some level of fondness for him. Nomura himself has said that Sephiroth really trusts Zack, and appreciates that Zack treats him like a human being and not a hero. He LIKES that Zack calls him out, likes that Zack challenges him. He is THANKFUL for that.

Crisis Core is a flawed game. But Sephiroth is not the only victim or the only one suffering throughout. Genesis and Angeal suffered. And god, Zack MORE than suffered. And no one was nice to HIM throughout. No one cares about HIS mental health. No one gives HIM special treatment. He has to kill his friends and deal with it. And then he dies. I love Sephiroth, you all know that. But part of loving the character is accepting the very real truth that he is STILL a villain and that he is NOT the center of suffering. His pain does NOT invalidate the pain of others.

Anyway, Zack and Sephiroth were still friends despite all this. They weren't as close as they could have been, but they were. It was a relationship with occasional bitterness, drama, and heartache, but they were still good enough friends for it to count. But we need to take into account that Zack is NOT to blame for anything related to Sephiroth's pain and actions. If anything, he is completely blameless.