#put in the tags what XY is short for wrong answers only

[adobe-outdesign]

Me explaining Pokemon titles: yeah the game names tend to be wordy so the fandom just abbreviates all of them. for example, HGSS is short for HeartGold and SoulSilver

Normal person: Oh I see! What's XY short for then?

Me, sweating: X and Y

[ofdreamsanddoodles]

if you don't mind me asking, how do you deal with consuming content with 'problematic' aspects? for example, i see you reblog posts criticizing things like racism in tma, and you can still make content while being able to recognize those things. it's hard for me to continue enjoying something when it has even 1 thing slightly bad in it, but i know that's not a healthy way to consume content. is there anything you keep in mind when interacting with a given series? u don't need to answer ❤️ ty

also a note on my ask -- of course you don't need to answer, and you aren't a therapist & etc. i just admire your ability to both recognize flaws in works but still enjoy them, and thought since you seem to have critical thinking skills you might have a perspective that you could offer. being on tumblr from a young age seems to have affected my ability to separate things in my mind, lol. thanks so much for reading even if you don't feel comfortable answering.

I mean... you’ve kind of answered your own question? The only way to consume media is to remember that everything has flaws. My brother came by while I was typing this up and told me the answer is to “just vibe” because everyone is more or less terrible in one aspect or another but obviously, that’s not the answer you’re looking for.

I guess the short answer is just... you have to learn how to trust your own set of morals and understand that you shouldn’t feel guilty if a story you like betrays you. And yes, that’s hard, especially when you grow up surrounded by very rigid rules on what’s “okay” to watch, but if you’re just looking for some tips, here’s a list that I hope will help:

Find people you trust and see what they think of the situation. Think about whether or not they’re coming from an informed place. A friend of mine asked me if I knew about a Jewish tradition a while back. I had no idea what they were talking about. Turns out, it was something popular with German Jews. None of my family is from Germany. Sometimes, just being Jewish doesn’t mean I’m the right person to ask.

Find people who are complaining & see why they’re upset. Think about who is annoyed by this and how many of them there are. Think about what they think the proper response is, if any. Think about whether you have the right to wave off their concerns. Think about how those concerns are treated, both in-fandom and by creators. I saw a lot of people in the tma tag complaining about twitter “overreacting” to MAG 185, but if Jonny felt the need to issue an apology and specifically say that he realizes he’s crossed a line, chances are, the complaints were probably warranted (a thing I’d like to add is that apparently, RQ also issued an apology for a fluff episode they released, which I thought was kind of silly, because the episode was essentially just joking about martin forgetting a word. But also, as a neurodivergent person who sometimes struggles with speech, I do understand why that might upset people. not all apologies have to about incredibly important topics, but even the ones who aren’t show a lot about the cast behind it. Alternatively, if RQ had only apologized for this episode, and not MAG 185, that also says a lot about where there priorities are, and what fans they care about keeping)

Think about what will happen if you continue watching/reading etc. It’s not so much “is it okay if I keep watching this?” but “if I continue to watch this, will I convince myself that this problematic aspect isn’t actually a big deal? Is it so ingrained in the show that I can’t watch an episode without seeing the problems in it? What will I say to others, if they want to watch this?” For example, if someone sees you’ve reblogged a scene from a show you like and asks what it’s about, how many excuses are you going to give? How many trigger warnings are there, and can you justify them? There’s a difference between a piece of media having a character say homophobic slurs, and a piece of media saying a gay person should have homophobic slurs thrown at them.  Also: If you think you cant justify getting someone else interested, you probably shouldn’t justify contributing to the show. This might be obvious, but there’s a very big difference in pirating a tv show and buying its merch. 

Think about the fandom. If you continue talking about this, who are you surrounding yourself with? Like, there are a LOT of weirdos making content for kids shows, but that doesn’t always mean the show itself is weird. What it does mean, though, is that you should be careful navigating your enjoyment. Sometimes, the only way to enjoy something is to talk about it with a select few friends. Sometimes, it’s to enjoy it by yourself. I do believe it’s possible to enjoy a show in spite of the canon, but at the same time, if you’re watching a show that’s attracting a lot of racists, think about why that might be. 

some more thoughts under the cut, because I already wrote them out before I realized I could just make a list.

The thing about consuming media is that it’s very subjective. I know a lot of people who have given up on tma recently and while that’s not wholly because it’s “problematic,” it definitely plays a part in it. People have different meters for what they can excuse in media. The important thing to remember is WHY they left, and if you’re able to keep that in your mind while also continuing to engage in contact with the media. Will you be able to remember that Daisy traumatized Jon more than any other avatar if you consume context calling her Basira’s hot murderwife? Can you talk about the Flesh and acknowledge the racism in the creation of the Haans?

Personally, I don’t think you can produce positive content about Daisy and also acknowledge the harm she causes. You can’t point at a character and say, yes, she has committed actual police brutality, but I think she deserves a cute lesbian romance anyway. That’s not really a thing tma has done wrong as much as it is a problem with the fandom, but like, at the end of the day, it’s all just a matter of critical thinking. Who is being hurt by these portrayals of the characters? How? Most of the problems with tma aren’t things that are, like, baked into the actual worldbuilding and for a lot of people, that’s enough for them to still justify making content for the show.

If your complaints sound like “oh, if only they didn’t do xy, this would make for a good show,” then you’re probably fine. But if it goes into “i like this, but only if I can ignore (major plot point)” think about why you feel the need to keep watching. There are shows I’ve stopped watching based on principle. There’s manga I read that I only talk about with my brother and no one else, because I don’t want to be exposed to the fans. It doesn’t have to be as simple as “well, this artist did a bad thing, so now I’m going to ignore it forever.” If you think the creators of something are bad people, don’t support them. You can still pirate it or whatever, but if it’s something like hetalia, where the point of the show is just “let’s put all these stereotypes in a room and see how they react” then yes, for your own sake, you should stop watching because this is how stereotypes become normalized, and no one should be consuming media where nazi germany as the protagonist.

Really, at the end of the day, it’s just a matter of becoming media literate and that’s a process that takes time. Remember that being interested in something that isn’t 100% doesn’t make you a bad person, and listen to the people around you. Try and be a safe space for the people who do have complaints and remember not to place your enjoyment of something over the comfort of others. Other than that, just... do your best, I guess?

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating:  T

Chapter Summary:   Luka doesn’t miss XY.  That would be stupid.  For @luxyweek prompt “Eye Contact” (with a little bit of style swap peppered in)

Word Count: 2404 | 3/4

XXX

Luka stared deep into XY’s eyes.  Well, the photograph’s eyes, from the back of the CD he held in his hands.  Of course he couldn’t escape the pop star here, in the middle of his favorite music store.  But he hadn’t needed to go directly to the end of the aisle and pick up the Number One album.

Ironic.  He said he couldn’t escape him, yet XY hadn’t crashed the Liberty in a week.  Since the sleepover at Nino’s house.  Had he just gotten his inspiration and left?

He’d kept Luka’s hoodie.  Luka had forgotten to demand it back when XY had woken up and rushed out of the apartment, yelping something about his dad.

“You owe me,” Luka said to the album.  XY’s melody had been beating under Luka’s skin for the last seven days.  “You can’t just take my favorite hoodie and disappear.”

Luka didn’t even have his phone number.  It was a stupid oversight, but he wasn’t used to having his own friends.  If he needed a number, he usually asked Juleka.

Nino said he hadn’t come back, which was strange.  XY always wanted attention; Luka had figured that if he wasn’t trying to leap onto the Liberty, he’d be at the other boy’s apartment.  What had happened to his original song?  Had he given up on it?

Had he actually stolen Nino’s music instead, like Luka had feared?  Was the guilt keeping him away?  Or did he just decide he had better things to do?  

Maybe he’d even left Paris by now.  He’d never mentioned how long he’d be staying.

Luka shook his head.  He didn’t know, and staring at XY’s Number One album wasn’t going to give him any answers.

His eyes glanced down to the price tag.  Not too expensive, but he still wouldn’t pay for it.  XY had probably stolen all those songs.  It would be wrong to give him and Bob Roth money for it.

So when he got home, he cracked open his laptop and pirated the album.

A few of the songs he recognized, probably from supermarket speakers or TV commercials.  Most were unfamiliar though, except in how they mimicked each other.  It was like XY only had one setting: repetitive pop beats.  His tracks barely even had lyrics to differentiate them from each other.  Along the Beach with You had the addition of waves and seagull calls.  Urban Night was so autotuned he could barely make out the words.  Was that even XY’s voice?  It didn’t sound nasally enough.

Luka was just about to give up listening to the album when I Miss You started.  Soft, not as energetic as the other tracks.  He strained to hear the words.

I’m going crazy for you

I’m lost, where can I find you?

You’ve got my heart torn in two

Please, I just miss you

Nothing unique.  Lazy, even; he used “you” in three of the four rhymes.  

Luka hated that it sparked something in him, something that his guitar still hadn’t been able to untangle.

His own music wasn’t helping.  XY’s music wasn’t helping.  Staring at his face wasn’t helping.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he sighed as he strapped his guitar across his back.

Then he crept above deck, rolled out his bike, and pedaled off towards the Grand Paris Hotel.

XXX

XY paced across his hotel room as the song was exporting, the loading bar slowly, slowly filling up.  Why did it take so long?  Making the song had already taken way more time than he expected.  He hadn’t gotten to see Lu in days.  What if Lu forgot all about him?  A few times he’d thought about going back to that dumpster boat, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist bragging about his new song, and it needed to be a surprise.

He told Lu he was gonna make the most cash money music he’d ever heard.  He hoped this track would be good enough.  It probably wasn’t Lu’s style, but Marmalade hadn’t looked like she was his style either, and he liked her.  He’d thrown a couple of her sewing machine noises into the track for good measure.

“Come on, stupid computer,” he muttered.

The door burst open just as he was thumping the monitor.  His arms pinwheeled before he caught himself on the desk.

“Oh, uh, hey Dad.”  He grinned too wide.  “What brings you here?”

“What?  I can’t see what my own son is up to?”  He laughed loudly, making XY cringe.  “I thought you were out with Andre’s girl again.  You’re too young to be holed up in here.”

XY tried not to groan at the mention of Cole.  She’d already tried to break into his room three times today.  He’d pulled up Lu’s hood and hidden under the legs of his synth each time.  Luckily he’d taken it off while pacing, not wanting to sweat too much in it, or else Dad might’ve asked why he was wearing something so ratty looking.

“I’m just trying to catch up on my music, Dad.”  He rolled his eyes.  

“Ha!  Searching for new tracks to steal?  Proactive of you, I like it.  You’re starting to think like a real star.”

XY’s stomach turned as his dad slung an arm around his shoulder.  He shrugged him off.

He almost told him what he was really doing, but the words dried up in his mouth.  Maybe Lu could spout whatever hippie crap came into his head, but XY couldn’t afford to.

“Yeah, whatever,” he muttered instead.

“Looks like whatever you were downloading finished.  Let’s hear it.”  Dad plopped down into the cushy chair in front of his synth, leaving XY to stand.

“Uh—I dunno, Dad.  It’s not—it’s nothing great, y’know?”

He snorted.  “Look, if you’re gonna steal, you gotta go big or go home.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Let’s just hear it.  I’ll tell you what’s worth ripping off.”  He folded his hands on the desk and waited.

XY didn’t let his nervousness show.  He was a star.  He didn’t get stage fright—okay, usually he wasn’t even on the stage, but still.  

Lu wasn’t scared of standing up to Bob Roth.  The least XY could do was play his own music.

He opened the exported audio file and hit play.

Smooth electronic beats came from the speakers.  Bubbly, upbeat, with an undercurrent of bass.  So far it didn’t sound much different from XY’s old music, the kind he’d made before Dad convinced him to steal instead.

Dad’s eyes narrowed, as if he realized this, but he didn’t say anything yet.  Didn’t say anything for the entire song, even when he heard XY’s lyrics.

Please ignore the lyrics please ignore the lyrics—

His face looked like he'd eaten something nasty.  Like pasta.  “You’ve gotta stop stealing songs from girls, son.  The pronouns are all wrong.”

“Uh, oops.  Forgot to change it.”  His heart fell.  Dad knew why his lyrics were like that, but he wouldn’t even say it out loud.  He’d been stupid to let him hear the song, not that he’d had a choice.  He would’ve finished it at Nino’s if the boy didn’t have to do dumb stuff like “go to school” and “do homework.”

“It’ll never be at the top of the charts, but you can use it to fill up space on your next album, I guess.  You always need a few songs no one will actually listen to.”

XY bit his tongue.  “Pshaw, yeah.  That’s exactly what I stole it for.”

“Keep working, but pick a more mainstream beat next time.  And on second thought, just scrap those lyrics.  They’re clearly ameteur work.  Who puts pigeons in a love song?”

Dad clapped him on the shoulder one last time before turning away, leaving XY numb.

You always need a few songs no one will actually listen to.

Just scrap those lyrics.

Clearly ameteur work...

The extraordinary XY did not cry.  But he might have sniffled a little.

“What are you doing here?  Scram!  I told you, we were just kidding about the record deal!”

XY jolted up, dashing for the door.  He peeked past his dad’s looming figure to see— 

“Lu!”  He grinned before he could help himself.

Lu was standing there, holding a flat cardboard box.  His muscles showed beneath the short sleeves of his Jagged Stone t-shirt.  The best part of stealing his hoodie was that XY got to see his arms.  If only it didn’t also show off his number one rival’s merch.

“What?  Xavier-Yves, did you invite this punk—”

“He ordered a pizza.”  Lu wiggled the box. 

XY frowned.  “Huh?  I didn’t—”

Lu’s eyes narrowed.

“Ohhhh, that pizza!  Pshaw, right.”

Dad still glared down at Lu.  “You better not try any funny business.  Or I’ll have my lawyers on you faster than that pizza grease sticks to your hair.”

Lu smiled pleasantly, a dangerous (and sexy) gleam in his eyes.  “Of course not.  I’m just trying to do my job, sir.”

Dang, he was smart.  And brave.  And hot.

XY tried very hard not to swoon.

“I’ve got to—uh—money!  Cash money.  I owe you.  For the pizza.”

“Well go grab it so this little snake can get out of here,” Dad said with a dismissive wave.

“Lu—uh, he can come in for a minute, right?  It would be pretty unsexy of us to leave him out in the cold.”

“We’re in a hotel, and he’s not some street orphan.”  Dad scrunched his nose.  “Even if he smells like one.”

XY thought Luka smelled amazing, but he wouldn’t admit it in front of Dad.  “Huh?  I can’t hear you, I’m busy thinking about how I’m gonna cheat him out of a tip.”

That made Dad laugh.  “Classic Xavier.  Ruthless instincts, but not that bright.”

With that, he whistled his way out of the room, leaving XY alone with Lu.  

His heart sped up.  Lu was in his room.  Even if he was just there because XY had ordered a pizza.

Wait.  He hadn’t ordered a pizza.

“Did your dad just—did he really just say that?  That was just… wrong.”  Lu glared at the space where Dad had been standing.

“Awww, you care?”  XY asked, leaning into his space.  He smelled like wood and water, probably from spending so much time on that garbage boat.  Or maybe it was just his cologne, but the first option sounded more romantic.

“No,” he snapped.  Huh, he looked a lot more tense now than he’d been even with Dad.

“What’s up, bro?  Marmalade break your heart again?”  he asked hopefully.  

Lu blinked.  He had gorgeous eyes, but he could really use some mascara.  Or at least eyeliner.  XY thought rockers were supposed to be into that kind of stuff.

“Also no.  I just… shut up and give me your phone.”

“Huh?”  His head tilted, but he dug his phone out of his pocket.

Lu grabbed it out of his palm before realizing it was locked.  He sighed.  “Will you open it?  Please?”

“Sure, ’cause you asked nicely.”  XY grinned and swiped his thumb in the “XY” pattern, then tossed it back.  Where this was going?  Was Lu going to take a selfie and set it as his home screen?  That would save XY the trouble of sneaking a photo himself.

Lu set the phone on top of the pizza box, typed furiously for a few seconds, and handed it back.  

XY blinked down at the screen.  Ohhhh, this was even better!  

“You know if you wanted my number, all you had to do was ask.”  XY pursed his lips, but resisted kissing Lu’s cheek again.

“I had no idea what happened to you.  You might’ve left Paris, or… something.”  He crossed his arms.

“So you did miss me.”  His heart raced, though he kept his cool.  He was XY, and Lu was just… the cutest boy he’d ever met.  Who’d missed him.

“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t take Nino’s music and run after all.”

“Pshaw, like I need his beats.  I told you I was gonna make cash money music by myself this time.”  XY rolled his eyes.  He thought Lu believed in him.  

Not that he should.  His music wasn’t good.  Dad didn’t think so, anyway.

“Did you finish it?”  Lu’s eyes widened.  “The song you were making at Nino’s?”

His eyes darted towards his synth and computer.  “Uh… nah, man.  I’ve just been… y’know, kickin’ back.  I can’t stay in your unsexy garbage heap all the time.”

“Just… kickin’ back.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Lying to Lu felt wrong.  Not like lying to his dad, or even to the paparazzi.  But he wasn’t about to admit that his song had crashed and burned.

And he’d really thought he understood perspiration this time, too.

“I guess I just thought you liked kickin’ back with me,” Lu murmured.

XY’s gut twisted, like he’d eaten a bad plate of mac ’n’ cheese.  “Pshaw, as if.  I was just getting away from Cole, remember?  You were the one who dragged me everywhere.  I didn’t even need your dumb inspiration.  I’m the extraordinary XY.”

He flashed his trademarked hand sign, but really he wanted to slap himself.  Even if it felt wrong, he was good at lying.  Too good.

Hurt flashed across Lu’s face for just a moment.  Then it was gone, and he was shoving the pizza box into XY’s hands.

“Thanks for getting us on the same page.”

Crap, crap, crap.  He wasn’t supposed to make Luka mad.  

“Wait, bruh,” XY called out as Luka stepped out of the room.  “I still didn’t pay you for the pizza!”

Luka rolled his eyes.  “What, you’re not going to cheat me out of that, too?”

XY chewed his lip and looked down at his feet.  He’d never been so embarrassed about cheating before.

“Forget it.  I don’t need money you made by ripping people off, anyway.”

And then Luka was gone, leaving XY with a warm pizza in his arms.  He opened the box, but the smell of fresh cheese just made him nauseous.  The last time he’d eaten a cheese pizza was with him.

Luka was the first person to believe in him, and he’d let him down.  He guessed he shouldn’t be surprised.  It was Luka’s own fault for expecting something more.

He left the pizza by his synth, where it slowly grew cold.

[lunaswondrousworld]

Salty fandom questions

Thanks to @darknesshadows @darknessp @malikaesthetics for sending in questions. I’m answering all of them together and putting my answers behind a cut because this turned into a bit of an essay. Because SOMEONE ( *cough* @dnteverdoubtme *cough*) said I should just answer them all (seriously, if I wake up tomorrow with no followers left I will blame this entirely on you). Also, well, salt. Quite a bit of salt.

Anyone following me for longer than 4 weeks shouldn’t be surprised by any of these answers (even though I’ve probably never spelled things out so explicitly), however for those of you who are new around here… beware some highly unpopular, possibly PROBLEMATIC™ opinions. Consider this your only warning and proceed at your own risk (or, you now, just don’t ;- ).

(I’ve done my best to ensure that this doesn’t end up anywhere near any tags, if it does anyway it’s not intentional)

All answers apply to Sh@dowhunters.

Disclaimer: when I talk about “The XY fandom”, this is obviously a generalisation. I know it doesn’t apply to everyone. Some of my mutuals are part of the xy fandom, and all of them are lovely people. /end disclaimer

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get? While I personally don’t ship any of the canon ships, I do get why people ship them. If we’re talking all the ships in this fandom that anyone could possibly ship, I’d have to say ClaIec. Or Alec/any girls really. Make no mistake, I’m not saying this due to moral or ethical concerns – personally I don’t give a flying fuck what people ship, even if its VaIentine x a Vetis demon, whatever floats your boat – but I just really, fundamentally do not get it. I mean that boy is as gay as they come, take that away and you’ve got an entirely different character. Beats me really.

Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP? All the canon ships, current and future ones.

Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? More than once. I usually live by “don’t like don’t read”, and I scroll past / blacklist a lot. But there’s a handful of things where my stance is 100% A and if yours is B or C, that’s not something I can ignore. In this fandom, it’s mostly when people post / reblog certain nasty anti opinions/posts.

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP? *looks at the camera like I’m on The Office* (for those of you reading this who seriously DON’T know, just continue to the next answer)

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you? (this one was sent in by ALL but one person, I would like to point out. So either you truly don’t know or you’re just here for the wank.*g*) Okay you might want to sit down and grab a bite cause this might take a while. You see (and that’s the part that usually surprises people) I actually started out as a pretty hardcore MaIec shipper in this fandom. Yep, me. Shocking, I know. I sort of migrated from the Teen Wolf fandom and everyone I followed back then was gushing about MaIec, I saw the first gifs on Tumblr (the show was already more than halfway through S1 when I started watching) and I thought hey, they’re cute, and actually canon, whee! So I pretty much fast-forward binged to 1x12 - through a pair of heavily MaIec-tinted glasses. My ideal version of the show back then, I’m ashamed to admit, probably would have been 90% MaIec, 9% Izzy and a little bit of Lydia on top (which was pretty much what a large majority of my dash was on about), I was totally ready to ditch everyone else for a short while. But thankfully, it wasn’t long before my brain remembered that I was capable of independent thinking, and I did a re-watch, and noticed that not everything was as picture perfect as it was made out to be, and I also actually noticed (and started falling for) the OTHER characters and possible pairings, most prominently Jace and JaIec (and honestly it will never cease to baffle me how anyone with a functioning pair of eyes will be able to look at S1 and NOT see that potential. Well, except for the MaIec-tinted glasses, probably). For a very short while, still blissfully oblivious to the nastier parts of this fandom, I happily multi-shipped (which was a first for me, I really am a ONE OTP kind of girl) both JaIec and MaIec pretty much equally, MaIec as far as canon was concerned (despite its many flaws - which where blatantly obvious once I cared to LOOK - but chose to ignore for the sake of happy shipping) and JaIec as a “God look at all that potential, in a different reality where xy had gone differently they totally would have been endgame” sort of way. And then that E!Online Shipping poll happened (the 2016 one where MaIec lost to CIexa) and that’s when got a first inkling of the truly ugly, rabid side of this fandom (back then I shipped both MaIec and CIexa so that’s probably what gave me a bit of a neutral observer’s perspective on these poll shenanigans, cause personally I didn’t care which of the two ships won since I loved them both). Around that time I had also started talking to a couple of JaIec shippers - who were lovely (looking at you fam) and refreshingly NORMAL compared to what I’d started to see in that other corner. Anyhow, from then on I was slowly distancing myself from the MaIec fandom as a whole. I still liked the ship in the sense that I enjoyed watching it in canon, even though, in terms of actual OTP, I quickly gravitated more and more towards JaIec (as I said I am a ONE OTP kind of girl so it was bound to happen). Long story short, during the long hiatus between s1 and 2a, (MaIec) fandom got exponentially nastier until, at some point – I’m still not sure when exactly - it just TIPPED (cause it definitely wasn’t like that back when S1 was airing, not to that extent) – and it suddenly started being “okay” to just outright attack and hate on everyone who dared ship either one of the pairing with someone else. With a level of vitriol and nastiness I have seldom seen (and I’ve actively been in fandoms since BtVS first aired, which was in the late ‘90s). Coupled with such a level of impertinent entitlement where everything has to be about or relate to MaIec, else there’s outrage across the entire fandom. And that, my friends, eventually managed to put me off the pairing for good. To the point where, if I’m entirely, brutally honest, I’d actually prefer to not see any Alec scenes at all to having to watch MaIec scenes, because this godawful fandom will find a way to ruin it one way or the other. If only by constantly whining about how it still wasn’t enough or “how dare that other character breathe while my OTP was about to suck face this is an OUTRAGE!!!”

Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated? I can’t think of one, no. I might end up hating something I started out liking (see above), but I don’t think it ever happened the other way around. What sometimes does happen is that maybe there's something I don't actually care about all that much and then fandom will start hating on it and in the end I'll like the thing out of pure spite. But if I actually hate something, that'll stay that way.

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now? See #5.

Have you received anon hate? What about? Nope, because I don’t have anon on.

Most disliked character(s)? Why? I don’t actually actively dislike any of the current main characters. I did Simon in S1 but I’ve learned to tolerate his existence (that’s as far as I’m willing to go here). If we expand this a bit to “characters I’m least interested in” I’d have to go with Luke and Simon. I’m just not interested in either of their personal arcs unless they are somehow relevant to my faves’. Also I’m not to keen on Maia or any of the other new characters they’re adding (unless they’re somehow relevant to my faves) for the sole reason that they will take up screen time I’d rather spend on characters I’m actually interested in. I did dislike Jocelyn, but, yeah.

Most disliked arc? Why? My knee-jerk reaction would be to say MaIec (bitter? Me? Naah!) but that’s only part of the truth. Actually it’s more “all the romantic arcs for the sake of romance while not contributing anything else to the greater plot or to individual character development”. Cause MaIec as a general development was an important part of Alec’s character arc in S1, and that whole “the girl who you’re falling in love with is actually your sister” an important factor for Jace’s, so I can appreciate them for that. But beyond that, I’m just not interested in any of the romance plots. At best, they bore me to tears (I’m not actually joking when I say that I signed up for a show where pretty people wearing leather jackets and fingerless leather gloves kill demons and are awesome together, not “the warIock and his shadowhunter and their epic romance”. I’m more of a “The Walking Dead” / “Supernatural” girl than “Friends” or “Gilmore Girls”, you know?). At worst, they make characters I actually like do increasingly stupid things to the point where I’m left wondering if they’re actually the same character I originally fell for.

Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why? VaIentine & Sebastian. I usually tend to like villains, and while VaIentine really often leans towards “ridiculous comic book villain”, I just love AIan Van Sprang and what he does with the little that the show gives him. And Sebastian (judging from what we know from the books) is just so deliciously fucked-up badwrongevilPROBLEMATIC™ that he’s inspired the keepers of this fandom’s moral purity to write up entire manifests why Thou Shalt Not Like Him Under Any Circumstances Cause He’s Bad Wrong And Evil™ back before it was even certain that he would be in 2B in the first place. So obviously I’m going to stan the shit out of him. Also, WiIl Tudor’s cute and British and I’m really looking forward to him and Dom having scenes together. :-)

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why? As for what has already happened, I didn’t actually mind Izzy’s Yin Fen plot. I wouldn’t say it was my favourite, but I certainly didn’t hate it as much as the rest of the fandom. I don’t have a particularly sophisticated reason for it though. As for what’s most likely / possibly to come, I hope the show will follow the book plot for Sebastian as closely as possible. (I don’t want to say too much for people who don’t know anything about it and don’t want to be spoiled.) Why? Because I like darkbadwrongnasty shit. Give me “darkbadrwongnasty shit where awful things and horrible people happen to good people” over romance any time. (Also, it would most likely piss large parts of this fandom off, that would be an added bonus.)

Unpopular opinion about XXX character? He’s not as flawless as you all like to believe. That’s okay though, flaws are what make characters interesting.

Unpopular opinion about your fandom? It’s the worst fandom ever? IDK is than an unpopular opinion? Probably, since around 80% ARE the worst people, and they would disagree with me so...

Unpopular opinion about the show? The writing really is rather subpar compared to some of the other shows I watch.

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? Age it up (have the characters be some of the actor’s actual ages, i.e. around their late twenties), move it to a network like HBO or Starz, and make it push the limits of an R-Rating. Also, put the main focus on the Sh@dowhunters, Sh@dowhunters politics, just all things Sh@dowhunters. Centered around the Lightwoods (including Jace). (And did you notice how none of what I would change would actually include “make JaIec canon”? Cause contrary to what large parts of this fandom seem to think, this is not all I / we think about. Wow what a shocker.)

Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen… Well take a look at my shipping and plot preferences and then you can probably guess my answer.

Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased? I don’t know, does it? If you ask the majority of this fandom, it really means I’m all sorts of –ist and just generally a horrible person. Or something. Do I get bonus points when I act like I care?

What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom? Pretending to do everything for a higher, nobler purpose (shipping for representation and the likes), refusing to accept that not everyone else will or has to adhere to your own standards of what’s right or wrong or PROBLEMATIC(TM), and taking everything that happens on the show too damn seriously. Refusing to grasp that this is primarily a fantasy tv show with a main purpose to entertain its audience, and to earn the network money, not to make the world a better place.

What is the purest ship in the fandom? CIizzy and CIimon, probably. But honestly, nothing in this fandom is even remotely pure.

What are your thoughts on crack ships? Whatever makes you happy, I don’t judge.

Popular character you hate? Nope.

Unpopular character you love? see #11

Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not? As a piece of trashy popcorn entertainment to pass the time, yes. To someone who actually asks for a rec for quality television, no. Cause it just isn’t quality television. (And yes I know it’s a fantasy show geared towards teenagers, but so was BtVS, and that one still managed consistent writing and character development, over 7 seasons. But anyways.)

How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX? With the Lightwoods / Alec running the NY institute. The very last scene would end like the very first one began: Jace, Alec and Izzy together, just the three of them.

Most shippable character? For me personally? Jace. Generally (though I personally don’t actively ship them with anyone except low-key with each other), I think Izzy and Clary are pretty shippable as well. Simon too.

Least shippable character? Luke? But just because he doesn’t really interest me so I personally wouldn’t know who to ship him with. Except VaIentine (past times, and probably present time also), but I’m sure that’s all sorts of badwrongproblematic. Ah well.