#she is his DAUGHTER there’s really people that subscribe to that version of canon

[spirkbitch]

listen i do not care what book said it or what was intended to be in the movies i absolutely refuse to believe that Spock and Saavik got married

[ten-cent-sleuth]

4, 5, and 30? For the fic writers ask?

Yayay, thank you so much for the ask!

4. A story idea you haven’t written yet?

Well. Most of them. xD But I’ll talk about the third WIP on my roster: my post-“Grace” angsty fic, as I call it in my pinned post. (The first and second WIPs in line I’ve technically started writing for!)

I don’t want to go into specifics since I am really excited to hear people’s reactions to The Reveal, but basically the story will explore my take on who the little girl is / what she symbolises to Carter in “Grace”. Because of course I’ve read the common perspective that Grace represents Carter’s wish for a child and stands in for her future daughter with Jack—but it’s never sit perfectly right with me, so this fic will be my alternative two cents.

And also an excuse to have Sam and Jack meet another mirror version of themselves! (This is what I was referring to in my tags on this post, actually!)

Ngl, this just might be the WIP I’m most excited about right now. But ah! I have my “48 Hours” fic and my “Moebius” fic to finish first. xD

5. First sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished WIP?

This is from Old Thorns, a canon divergence AU for Sense and Sensibility that I will never give up on.

Major General Ashby subscribed to that rare but forcible conviction that all good things are worth not waiting for.

I cheated—this isn’t quiiiiiite the fifth paragraph—but oh well, the real fifth paragraph’s first sentence was not very intriguing. Ashby is an OC who is a friend of Colonel Brandon’s. He facilitates Brandon’s spending time with the Dashwood sisters while they’re all in Town, a plan by Marianne to surreptitiously console Elinor.

Because the canon divergence I mentioned? Yeah, it’s that Marianne finds out about Edward’s engagement much earlier but believes Elinor is unaware and thus takes it upon herself to protect and prepare her. If this sounds convoluted and contrived, trust me, my outline Doc is way worse.

But I love this WIP. I love it so, so much, and I really hope it won’t be an “unpublished” one next year.

30. Share a fic you’re especially proud of.

Sometimes I feel like “Inextricably” is when I peaked and everything I write from now on will pale and tremble in comparison, but I’m not going to share that one here. (Although you’re free to check it out on my AO3, ofc. xD) Instead, here is my one and only—as of now—X-Files fanfic since @agent-troi recently made me think about it so I just reread it last night.

I am proud of how many threads I pulled through various episodes, scenes, and themes to weave together this fic. And still there was one major parallel I didn’t get to include because it didn’t end up fitting into the flow of Mulder and Scully’s conversation. (It was about Scully’s grief about her father.) I also didn’t get to include several scenes near the start because they were dragging me down while the deadline was approaching, but I’m proud of all the now-unused research I made into cross-species influenza and immunisation science for those scenes, lol.

Some of the emotionally wrought lines (in particular I think of “See? You knew what to say to her after all” and “like he was holding his own beating, bleeding heart” – quoted from memory so might not be exact) took me by surprise. Like they came out of me without planning, without preconception, and whenever I revisit the fic, I genuinely still cannot believe I came up with them. In general I just think this is one of my most emotionally charged fics, and I’m proud to know I’m capable of it!

And of course, I am forever proud of my courage in signing up for my first gift exchange and in vanquishing my anxiety about a) posting in such an intimidatingly big fandom as TXF and b) writing for one of my favourite authors in the fandom who also happened to be quite well known?? Ig ultimately “Nature’s Impossibilities” is just very special to me, although I definitely don’t think it’s perfect. (Some of the aforementioned weaving is kind of forced-sounding in the text, agh!) But yeah, quite proud of it. :P

Keep the fic writer asks a-comin’! 👻

Thank you again for the questions. :)

[mfpeace]

@justbeingedgy @weird-colombian-gurl You asked me to elaborate on the "Ches already has a kid" theory in the notes of that one mf analysis post (which I really liked, go check it out!!), so that's why I'm making this one, cuz notes are a bit too restricting for what I want to talk about!

Though next time think twice before asking me to talk about something I'm interested in, because you never know when you're gonna wake up lovecraftian horrors!! :DDD you'll see what i mean when you press read more :))

So, I'll say it right now - this post is largely inspired by the second story highlight of this Instagram user (sorry, I don't know their name, only that their Instagram handle is dee_girl_metalfamilyfan), it's in Russian though, so keep that in mind

Alright, so I'll break this theory into two parts: the first one will be all about Ches, and the second will be about his potential child (spoiler: you might've seen her!)

Without any further ado, let's get to the Ches part:

1. The creators said that they're gonna explore Ches' character in the second season. Obviously, it doesn't mean anything on it's own, but just wait.

Dima: Let's talk about the second season a little. Of course, the seconds season will show development of the old characters, as well as new ones. That's in short. As you see, Ches looks a bit different here.

Alina: Yeah, we'll show a bit more about Ches at the ages of 18 to 20. His past. We'll reveal a bit more about his complex character, as much as it's possible.

(The source of the translation) Also I think they also said at one point that adult Ches will get some character development too? But that's probably a given, considering that we wouldn't see his youth if it wouldn't have affected him in the present, flashbacks without any relevance to the overall story don't sound so good

2. Not sure about this one (we don't know how much in character it was) but I can't not mention it.

Alina: Actually there was this one fanfic that I really liked. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was about Ches having a daughter, which is a cool topic. It was relatively in character and truly interesting. It’s great when people focus not just on sexual relationships of the characters, but also try to look at their development. That was a really interesting one. That’s it.

(UnityCon '19)

3. This one's a pretty big one, in my opinion. So, this is what they said on ArtWave '19:

Dima: Ches also has flaws.

Alina: [to Dima] Don’t spoil stuff.

Dima: His flaw is that he's very... irresponsible, let’s say.

So, maybe, just maybe, Ches does have a child but he, you know... left them? As the Instagram highlight from the beginning say: "he might be irresponsible enough to leave his child, and he's probably irresponsible enough not to use any contraception" (rephrased, not the exact quote)

4. Alright, so, the only mention of this one I can think of right now is the aforementioned Instagram highlight. The Metalfamilyfan says:

I contacted Korg/Корж, (admin of @ metal_yama [and I believe one of the organizers of the Metal Family Meetup in Moscow]) and she asked Alina on one of the meetups: "if Ches were to be a father, what kind of father would he be?"

And she said: "The kind of that would say "kid, look at that birdie over there!" an then he would run away"

Someone's words are not the perfect source, but they did tag Metal Yama and from what I know they didn't disagree with what the author of the page said. if anyone has anything to say about this (disprove or definitely prove what I said) feel free to do so in a reblog, notes, DMs, send me an anonymous ask, or in any other way you feel comfortable with

5. Ches has literally been through the same thing, and we know how important the theme of the cycle of abuse is in Metal Family (or, in this case, the cycle of neglect? Abandonment? Idk)

You managed to hide your PREGNANCY from me! AND you've been hiding the child from me for a whole year!

YES, because you would've insisted on aborting him!

AND NOW I'M INSISTING ON PUTTING HIM UP FOR ADOPTION! OR I'LL LEAVE RIGHT NOW!

6. Here we can see Ches with a blonde girl. Nothing too special, probably just a one time hook up. He doesn't seem to be interested in her, and she seems to be annoyed with him.

But wait...

What is this?

Like, it doesn't even matter if there's actually a punk/rock/whatever band named MOM or not, I just think it's pretty weird to put it in this particular drawing of Ches and this random woman who is implied to have slept with him. It's not integral to Ches' character as, for example, Korol i Shut is. It's just... there. For some reason.

------------

Alright, now, finally let's get to the second part of the theory: who is, exactly, his child?

The short answer is, according to this theory, her:

First, let me list every single instance of her appearing in canon (and by canon I mean everything made by the creators. Even with this definition of canon it's not much, I promise): The screenshot you can see above on the left (it's a screenshot from the second season and it appeared here), an instagram story posted by Alina (above, right), and two drawing with a lot of characters where you can spot the girl which I'm gonna call her PinkHair or PH for short, I'll mention them later I feel like I should mention this, comparing the sources of the images and the dates when they were posted, it's safe to assume that the screenshot in the classroom has the latest and final version of her design. The red hair most likely doesn't mean anything

1. Alright. So. we've seen Dee and PinkHair in a classroom together, so they're most likely related in some way, or at least they know each other. Their exact relationship doesn't matter here, because all that matters here is that they're related story-wise

Let's look at the first image. This is the banner of the main Metal Family channel. Ches is near Heavy (they get along quite well and I'm sure Heavy aspires to be like Ches in many ways), Dee (we can see his classmates/friends near him, they're all about his age), and we can see people related to Glam on the left side of the image (including Ches!), and Vicky's - on the right side (notice how the hell sign is also there)

Now, I'm not absolutely sure about this one, but it's still kind of weird - look at the image on the right (it's from ArtWave 2021 btw) - wouldn't it make more sense to put PinkHair near Dee? Also, Curiously enough, not only is she not close to Dee on this image, but she's also standing next to Ches.

Though this whole thing could be explained by art theory (too many small things in one corner of your drawing isn't great composition wise lol sorry PH) but I still can't quite skip this point

2. Remember the "MOM" lady? Fun fact, she has the exact same pearl earring that PinkHair has on the screenshot.

3. I'll put all similarities with her supposed parents in this point: Mother: * She's also pretty uh.. glam? for the lack of a better word? Or feminine in a traditional sense, yeah I think that's a better way to put it. Like colors they prefer to wear for example, and jewelry. Characters like that aren't common in Metal Family * She's gotta be a blonde. I can't imagine her being anything but blonde. If she manages to maintain that hair color as a brunette I'm just straight up assuming her character arc is gonna be killing God because these kind of people are capable of anything. I fear them with every fiber of my being. * I can't say for sure because of the shading, but it seems like they both have gray eyes, and she also has darker skin compared to most MF characters. Though, it's likely that Mom just applied a lot of fake tan Ches: * We know that Ches for sure has darker skin * AND grey eyes * There's also some possible personality similarities but I'm not sure if you can compare a child to a parent they've never really known in this way

That's about it, I suppose, I hope there isn't that many grammar mistakes and logically unfinished parts and whatnot in this post I forgot to edit lol x) I'm not sure how to end this post other than to remind you guys that almost all the points in this posts are inspired by the "тупая теория" highlight on the dee_girl_metalfamilyfan's Instagram page, so go check them out and subscribe, they post Dee x The Quest Girl fanart and and always credit the artists. Without them this post would be much, much shorter.

Thanks for reading this post, please feel free to let me know your thoughts on this post <3

[kashuan]

I don't know if it's bc of my reluctance to think of aga as a rapist, but I have a difficult time imagining that Aga ever slept with Cassandra or even intended to make her his mistress. Cass as a POW/slave was a status symbol for him, and he seems so broken after the war that I can't easily seem him as some gross old guy ready to sleep with spoils of war in the palace he associates with the ghost of a happier life (Iphigenia was alive the last time he was there). Does this seem naive?

I mean, personally I agree. We already have a canon precedent for that with Briseis, who he doesn’t sleep with, that it’s believable that war prize doesn’t necessarily = sex slave for him. I think it’s fairly in accordance with his general character to be more of a status symbol like you said. I’ve brought this up before but: conversely, when he mentions Chryseis, he talks about wanting to keep her for reasons that include her intelligence and character (in other words, not just because he physically desires her). Because we never get any dialogue or insight from Chryseis herself I think there is definitely room for interpretation there… but in my personal hc at least, I’ve always liked to imagine it as a more complex relationship. In one variant of her myth, Chryses even gives his daughter back to Agamemnon because she had been treated so well by him, and having seen what lengths he goes to to get her back in the first place, I doubt he’d give her back to a cruel rapist tbh.

So in general I’ve just never interpreted his character as that type? And I think there’s some evidence the same could be said for his treatment of Cassandra. I’m on mobile so I can’t look up exact sources right now but I think in at least one translation of the Agamemnon he insists she is treated kindly (not just because she’s His prize, but because of how difficult her life has been). In his Trojan Women characterization, he is shown as regretful for his past actions, and the fact he agrees to lend Hecuba his aid in ‘Hecuba’, because of that connection they have with her daughter, when he could easily be written as arrogant and rightfully feeling he owes her nothing (she is a prisoner at that point after all), also contributes to my characterization in that regard. With all these character points added together, I personally hc he intended to give Cassandra (his idea of a) better life in Greece than he believes she could have had if left behind in a destroyed kingdom or as a slave of any of the other kings. I see him as viewing Cassandra as a (rather selfish) way to make amends with his past sins at war with her people. Like ‘I’m partially responsible for a lot of your family dying but from the bottom of my heart, my bad. I’ll take care of you now’ kind of thing. This was obviously, for a multitude of reasons, a Bad Decision, but aga making Bad Decisions is basically his brand. You could also argue it adds another layer to why Clytemnestra can’t accept her in her house, because not only is bringing home sex slaves a no-no, but to be someone he considers Special could be perceived by her as an even greater insult (being potentially in competition to her status as queen on an additional level).

There’s definitely multiple ways you could interpret it depending which canons you place together; there are certainly some which could support that kind of hard evil take so I get why some people read it that way. And I really don’t want to seem like I’m apologizing for those versions because I’m absolutely not; whenever modern media goes with that take, I’m outtie. Also, idk if this needs a disclaimer, but jic bc this is tumblr: I’m not arguing just because you’re decent to your captives that makes it okay to have them, lol. Obviously not true. This is still Not A Good Man. But I just don’t subscribe to him being outright Evil either; I tend to prefer my stories with more gray areas (for max tragedy) so I definitely prefer this kind of interpretation more.

[franki-lew-yo]

Dastardly: Into the Dickieverse - a headcanon breakdown

I told you guys this sniveling twit was a recipe for heartbreak oh myyy. But please let me break something down to both the laymen of this and the Wacky Races fans that have followed me since I made my Scoob! script rewrite -

I don’t get/don’t care about the precise continuity the 2017 reboot has!

You see, the 2017 show was made after a 2006 pilot called “Wacky Races Forever”, which made it very clear that the main characters we’d be following in were the children/descendants/inspired by the original drivers. The reboot series kinda dabbles with this concept for it’s cast in Season 1 before throwing that out in season 2 and devolving into metajokes. Season 2 is better in every way. 

But, back in season 1 there’s an episode where new!Dick Dastardly’s mother holds up a stock photo of OG Wacky Races Dick and says it’s his father; later on Dick’s grandfather comes onto the show but he too is based on the OG WR Dick Dastardly only sporting the diggs from Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines.

If the show had a more serious in-universe continuity like Wacky Races Forever I’d assume (like I’ve seen a few fans already doing) that this means Flying Machine’s Dick is actually the father of Wacky Races Dick, who is in turn the father of 2017 Dick - ((seeing as how Flying Machines might place around WWI and the timeline would align for them to be family.))

BUT the reboot does not have that in-universe continuity throughout.

Like I said, the rest of the series is VERY tongue-and-cheek about how it’s a reboot and how the cast knows they’re cartoons being written by commission. Assuming this is going off RogerRabbit-universe rules of metabutalsonot characters, Flying Machines Dick can’t be the 2017Dick’s grandpa because Flying Machines came out AFTER Wacky Races, and I assumed it’s not ACTUALLY WWI in that show; just Dick and Muttley being repurposed into a new setting but still being the WR’s Dick and Muttley. 

The other 2017 contestants are not the children/grandchildren/whatever of the original cast. I see people insisting that reboot!Penelope Pittstop is the daughter of the OG, but when her mother makes her appearance in the show proper that doesn’t seem to be the case. Her mom really doesn’t seem like the original Penelope. If she is, why WOULDN’T she reference it like how Dick’s mom mentions his father - whoever that is! Compare this to WRF which made it a little more clear despite only being a 5-minute pilot.

I really wish I could watch the show Wacky Races Forever was going to be. Not that the 2017 show was bad, but the pilots’ interesting ideas were filed down and I think it’s obvious the fans are trying to connect the dots more than the writers were for the reboot.

Point being, my headcanon to all this nonsense: 

Original Wacky Races Dick Dastardly is the same character as he was in Flying Machines. He and all the other Hannah Barbara bunch know they’re fictional ala the old CN-city bumpers and deal occasionally with their rebooted versions of themselves. Anyway, OG Dick Dastardly had a son, who was used for promo material shadowing for his father and he in turn had a son who is the Dick of Wacky Races Forever that got a redesign for the 2017 show.

Whatever canon you subscribe to however it’s 100% canon that each Dick Dastardly named their son after themselves because of course they would. 

> although...I don’t know why each Dick kept the same middle name ‘Milhous’. You’d think Dick III would be ‘Richard Muttley Dastardly’. Maybe that’s the middle name Dick III can give to his daughter who I definitely haven’t thought about while musing with @ben-the-hyena.

This ‘meta-but-also-in-character’ concept of toons is totes inspired by Hasani Walker’s wonderful “Doris Doodle” comics. Consider this cross promotion! That webtoon definitely bases itself off the CN-City/Roger Rabbitverse and explores toons dealing with getting redesigned, meeting rebooted versions of themselves and hints that toons are able to have children. <<<---This is the universe I subscribe the 2017 WR as taking place in, which means that the reboot WR crew is probably enjoying retirement at the moment while simultaneously shunning the Scoob! cast on the basis that they’re ‘new’ and ‘cg’.

While I’m here I should mention, Scoob! Dick is definitely a reboot and not related to the original Dastardlys. I’d like to imagine him and Scoob!Muttley wanting to make friends with the other Dicks and Muttleys.

*passes out*

[mattelektras]

hi jessie! I’m getting into elektra stuff very late in my career and enjoying it a lot, but sort of noticing that her origins don’t necessarily match up with each other (something else to thank miller for? lmao). is there any one that you personally subscribe to (specifically irt growing up/her dad)? ty in advance! love your creative works and your blog ❤️

oh youre definitely not wrong about that there are a solid 3 different versions before u even get to alternative universes. i think the best way to look at it is to take bits from all of them SO how i see the first 20-25ish years:

assassin had her mother killed (possibly by her father or her brother FOR her father via hiring people to do it) because she was having an affair or whatever and was this harlot woman alive for half a panel. dont like that so its not canon. (i like to think maybe elektra’s mother was kind of a shady figure who had maybe some involvement with the hand or something like them and they came after her of their own accord) she was probably killed as a way to get to her husband

i DO however like the idea of her being born whilst her mother was dying/dead like in assassin. being “””born of death””” is very on brand for her 

when she was a child she had a dog called agamemnon (root of evil)

she does have a brother and he’s a lot older than her so they never really had anything to do with one another. i would even go as far as to say elektra was a little scared of him since he was exiled due to involvement in her mother’s death

she grew up alone with her father going to fancy diplomat parties and travelling with him for his work. there was no abuse or assault like in assassin. miller took the perfectly normal father/daughter relationship he wrote in daredevil vol 1 and thought hmm. she isnt traumatised enough. lets make it rapey and turn it into some sort of freudian obsession. it isnt. next!

root of evil her had her grow up kind of plain and nothing anyone particularly noticed looks wise. which i like because the man without fear’s Sexy Daring Risque Seductress. she was kind of quiet and awkward and had no real confidence in herself. also the looks thing. both the redeemer and assassin have her as more STRIKING than beautiful. w like harsh features and not traditionally ~~~ feminine 

hence why she was a little distant from everyone else in college (daredevil vol 1). she was initially unwilling to date matt and let him down gently until he persisted. she made no active move for him until they were dating

in college she studied political science (dd v1) and a side of women’s studies (ultimates)

she started late in the term, possibly had a gap year before starting due to travelling  her father

i like to take her ultimates college times as 616 canon where she WAS awkward and offish w people but had a few close female friends who helped her grow into a more social, confident, i WILL kick the shit out of you kinda gal 

her and matt dated for a year and were stable and happy until it all went downhill 

[shadowsong26x]

EPIX/Rise of Skywalker Reaction Post

So, I got back from seeing EPIX this morning, and I figured I should get all my thoughts down!

Everything spoilery is behind a cut, and this post is also tagged with the spoiler tags I’ve listed here. If you want me to add any additional tags, let me know and I will to this and any future EPIX posts.

Okay, so, before I really get into this, I should mention two relevant contextual things that probably strongly impacted my feelings on this movie.

I’m not super-invested in the sequel trilogy. I love (most of) the characters, I’m not really into the story that’s being told with them.

Given where TLJ left us, I went into the theatre expecting something between A Trainwreck with Some Delightful Moments and A Delightful Trainwreck. Basically, it was going to be a Hot Mess and I knew it, but I was pretty sure there was going to be something to love, even if the film as a whole didn’t delight me (which, honestly, is even where I stand with TLJ, which remains my least favorite film of the series). And, you know what? I got exactly that. A Sometimes-Delightful Trainwreck. I’d say it’s even towards the upper end of that Delightfulness scale.

All right, moving on to actual thoughts. I’m trying to focus on the positive here, mostly because I did overall enjoy this movie, but I also had some Problems with it.

I’m gonna talk about Kylo Ren first, mostly because I want to get this out of the way. I will say that--when I first saw TFA, I thought I could be interested in this character. I thought they were gonna maybe go the burnt-out gifted kid route with him, which would be hella interesting to explore for the child of Heroes like Han and Leia, and the Legacy he had to live up to. Obviously, they didn’t, and while the direction they went is certainly topical, it’s not super engaging, at least to me. I know it is to some people, and far be it from me to harsh anyone’s squee, but he basically doesn’t do anything for me. I personally don’t find him particularly interesting or intimidating.

Basically, I don’t particularly care about Kylo Ren. (I don’t know if I’m quite at the point where, as my roommate puts it, I aggressively Do Not Care, but the Not Caring is definitely a thing.)

Anyway, that disclaimer aside--his arc was okay, I guess? I mean...I think my general feelings on the subject are not that it felt phoned-in, exactly, but that it was mostly there because the writers thought it should be there, rather than it flowing organically from the character(s) involved. It also felt rushed, but that goes back to a problem with the movie as a whole that I will get into later in this post. But, given that, the actual beats that were involved in said arc I thought were effectively done. The bit with Han in the wreckage, in particular, was nice.

As for that Kiss though.

...I mean. I’m actually kind of pleased that the end of the film left the romantic threads dangling? It gave me plenty of OT3 feels (though I felt like, especially in the first third or so, the film was leaning more towards Rey/Poe and Finn/Rose, but there was some later stuff that seemed to hint at the full OT3 with a question mark on where Rose stands.)

But I do have a problem with the fact that the only on-screen kiss between Major Characters was between Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. That being said, I can backfill/justify it in that...you know how some people headcanon that Luke’s initial crush on Leia was some sort of “There is a Connection Here that I Cannot Name and it’s probably supposed to be Romantic given our ages and genders and presumed lack of other relationship so let’s go with that?” Between something like that and the fact that he just gave up his life for her in a very literal way (side note: the Force has always been New Powers as the Plot Demands; but the healing thing was a) if not actually in a canon novel at least strongly implied and b) ALL OVER fanon so even if I had a problem with Random Force Powers suddenly occurring I wouldn’t have an issue with this one; the Force Diad thing was ~handwave plot device~ sure fine whatever). ...anyway, given all of that, I can backfill it to a way where I don’t hate it (i.e., if he’d lived, I don’t think it would’ve been followed up on very much/they would’ve settled into a non-romantic relationship of some kind, whatever that might’ve been). Except that it’s the only one, which kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Then again, he did immediately die, so...yeah, I can live with this. I don’t like it, and I don’t think I ever will like it, but I don’t hate it either and it’s not a dealbreaker for me.

Most of the other problems I have with this film come down to structure and pacing. In that, thanks to where TLJ left us, this move had to do so much to bring the story to any kind of cohesive end, and not enough time to do it in. Trying to squeeze too much plot into too small a space.

(I actually had the same problem with ROTS initially--although that was more due to the PT having pacing issues as its Primary Narrative Flaw; TPM was way too slow; AOTC actually had good internal pacing but couldn’t quite make up for it; and then ROTS was as a consequence of that really rushed. Meanwhile, with the ST, I feel like the writers are relying on “it’s all there in the manual” a little too much, so not really...trying as hard, if that makes sense? To make it all connect within the film, I mean, as opposed to depending on people going into other/outside/supplemental material to connect the dots (still not as bad as the Prisoner of Azkaban movie on that front, but it’s still Bad; and, like, all film versions of novels leave some stuff out, just look at the LOTR films; but POA left out a key plot point and that--is a rant for another post. Back to EPIX). It’ll be interesting to see what kind of deleted scenes come out, or if it’ll grow on me in future watchings. Not that it’ll ever become a favorite, I don’t think, but it might improve in my eyes.)

Anyway, basically, a lot of this felt rushed or like...introduced but not really addressed/wrapped up in any kind of satisfactory fashion? Kylo Ren’s arc in particular, as I’ve mentioned before, plus the Threepio stuff felt rushed and non-consequential, and also with Rey’s arc to an extent (it...again, all the beats worked for me/I thought it was fairly effective, but it really needed two movies to pay off as well as it could have). ...I mean, there are more plot threads I could probably mention here, but those are the three that stuck out the most.

Also, this movie needed More Rose :( I LOVE HER and she was barely here!!!!!

Another thing I would’ve liked to see is...okay, I really liked the Overlapping Voices bit, but it would’ve been nice to have more Presence from the ghosts? Like...there’s a bit at the end of season 1 of Sailor Moon where she’s in the Final Battle, the other four have died (or just been left behind, if you’re watching the English dub), and their ghosts show up and place their hands on hers and lend her their strength? A visual cue like that would’ve been great and helped the arc feel more complete. Especially since Palpatine had all of his predecessors/Sith ghosts backing him in a more visible fashion. But, then again, that’s a Personal Taste thing and while it would’ve, IMO, made that moment better, not having it doesn’t make it worse, if that makes sense?

(Also, the credits moved too fast for me to track, but I definitely saw Qui-Gon Jinn listed, though I don’t recall hearing him, and I definitely recognized Anakin/Hayden Christensen and Mace/Samuel L. Jackson and Obi-Wan/Ewan McGreggor (and Alec Guinness I’m pretty sure?) and obvs. Yoda/Frank Oz when actually listening, but I couldn’t identify the other voices--anyone have the full list? Was Ahsoka and/or Kanan and/or Ezra involved, or was it restricted to movie-only Jedi?)

But...yeah. Apart from the Kiss being very ....:/ for me, most of my identifiable problems with the film is stuff like this.

I think the other thing I want to talk about in detail is the Rey Palpatine reveal.

So, up until this movie, I was actually in my corner flying my tiny but determined Rey Kenobi flag, and the more I think about it, the more I like Rey Palpatine for some of the same reasons? Like...I don’t remember everything I’d thought through about Rey Kenobi, but it had to do with the cyclical nature of Star Wars, and bringing it back where it started--and we get that with Rey Palpatine, in a nice arc, healing some of the damage her grandfather did, both to this family and to the galaxy as a whole.

That being said--those of you who know me and my fic projects know I’ve been writing a child (daughter) for Palpatine for quite some time now, and I have no intention of stopping, lol. Am I going to take this/Lavinia’s (presumably) half-brother into account in future projects? ...probably not. But I am looking forward to/hoping we get a novel or something about him and Rey’s mother. Because that is actually a story I’m interested in--why canon!Palpatine chose to have a kid, and how said kid managed to break away and got to this point. [...y’know, I actually think Rey Kenobi’s background/thread of descent would be less interesting to me? Since I subscribe to the idea that a) Korkie Kryze is Obi-Wan’s biological son; and b) Obi-Wan had many Friends With Benefits throughout the galaxy and figuring out exactly which one Rey descends from carries less weight for me.]

...okay, I think that’s all the Detaily Bits I want to get into, so here are some bullet points of things that really stuck out to me, in no particular order:

Bawled like a baby re: everything involving Carrie Fisher. Just...yeah. Miss you Space Mommy.

LANDO! I loved his entrance, I loved him adopting Jannah at the end, I loved all of it.

Chewie’s fake-out death was also actually pretty good/well-handled. I mean. First Boom happens and I’m like DDDDDDD: but then I remember how people reacted to his death in Legends and I’m like would they really do it and then DELIGHT.

HUX. Okay. I never really cared about this dude before, and honestly I still don’t really care about this dude but at the same time, those of you who know me know I have a Thing for double-agents and defectors and I LOVE THIS WHOLE ENTIRE PLOT THREAD. I LOVE THIS SHITHEAD TURNING TRAITOR FOR THE MOST VENAL REASONS AND STILL BEING A BAD GUY/EVIL/AN UNREPENTANT JACKASS. THIS WAS PERFECT.

(Also Finn shooting him in the leg instead of the arm as requested was DELIGHTFUL)

SPEAKING OF DELIGHTFUL gotta love Zombie Skeev Palpatine Unliving His Best Afterlife. Was he as Delightful as he is in ROTS or ROTJ? No. Did I still enjoy every minute of his scenery-chewing nonsense? You bet your ass. So happy, Ian McDiarmid looked like he was having tons of fun and honestly what more could I have asked for?

The whole scene on Ahch-To was just *chef’s kiss.* Use of Yoda’s theme with the rising X-Wing, Luke being snarky and kind and beautiful, him emerging from the fire with the saber...just loved it.

LEIA HAD JEDI TRAINING AND HER OWN LIGHTSABER. BB!MARK HAMILL AND BB!CARRIE FISHER’S FACES.

LEIA TRAINING REY. REY CALLING HER ‘MASTER.’

USING THE BOND TO ARM KYLO REN okay like I said I have Mixed Feelings about the arc as a whole but that moment was SO COOL.

Poe’s ex-girlfriend was pretty great, ngl.

JANNAH AND EX-STORMTROOPERS YESSSSSSSS

HINTS OF/SHREDS OF EVIDENCE FOR FORCE-SENSITIVE FINN GIVE THEM TO ME NOW.

D-0 was pretty cute!

All of the Badass Finn.

Also that MOMENT where Finn runs up to Poe like “I NEED TO TELL YOU A THING” and Poe is all “I NEED YOU TO FIGHT WITH ME” and Finn just interrupts himself to thank Poe and they have that “General” “General” moment and it’s SO CUTE I’m love it.

The entire thing at the Lars farm at the end. Just. Burying the lightsabers, seeing the twins’ ghosts, claiming the Skywalker name, Rey having her own saber now. This movie was a Hot Mess but it definitely ended on a high note.

...that’s pretty much what I have for right now. I will probably have more thoughts after discussing it with other people/seeing it again (because I will be seeing it again). But overall...do I like it? Well, it’s Star Wars, which I love and which frankly always has some Super Dumb and/or Frustrating Stuff, and the things I disliked weren’t bad enough to Ruin It for me, so yes, I liked it. Is it my favorite Star Wars/good for a Star Wars movie? ...not really, no. It did have some gorgeous moments, but it doesn’t really hang together. Like the rest of the ST, it relies way too much on It’s All There In The Manual and, between that and the fact that TLJ didn’t do the work necessary to set it up, the movie felt rushed and a little bit...I don’t want to say hollow, maybe shallow is a better word? I mean, I know this is Star Wars and It’s Not That Deep (but the ground is soft and I’m ready to dig or however the quote goes), but this felt particularly shallow even for Star Wars. Like...cotton candy, fairly good/tasty but a little bit prone to melting away and with very little substance holding it together. On that level, I’d actually probably rank it around Solo (which, let me say, I really like)--so, better than TLJ, but still A Hot Mess of a movie. But I enjoyed myself, and I think overall my feelings are middling-to-positive on it. Even if...honestly, even like less than four hours after the movie ending, I’m already forgetting like half the plot points...? Like I said. Cotton Candy.

What did/do you guys think?

[tomfooleryprime]

I love Sarek. But he’s really not that great.

Sarek and Amanda are my favorite couple, not just in Star Trek, but ever. I’ve written more than half a million words of fanfiction about them. I’ve watched episodes featuring them so many times I secretly worry Netflix will put me on blast.

But I am not a Sarek apologist.

I’m pretty sure what draws most people to this couple is the age-old romantic notion that opposites may attract but the power of love can overcome anything. Cue cheesy instrumental music and a torrid kiss in the rain at a train station. I imagine a lot of women see themselves in Amanda, a seemingly regular woman with a regular life. Then they see a successful guy like Sarek, a dude who’s physically fit, well-educated, powerful, and absurdly intelligent, and it’s only natural that a recipe for hotness is born.

Because I’ve devoted literally years to dreaming up various ways this couple might have shacked up and vomiting the results all over AO3, I’ve also been forced to examine the personalities of both characters in great detail, and the only consistent conclusion I come to is fanon (myself included) gets it wrong most of the time.

Their marriage can’t have always been smooth sailing. If you’re not willing to believe me, then believe Amanda. 

Oh sure, there are tons of one-shots where they have little spats, but they almost always end with both of them making heart eyes at each other and jumping into bed. I get that Star Trek originated in the 1960s, but that doesn’t mean Sarek and Amanda had one of those “golly gee” wholesome relationships that could put Ward and June Cleaver to shame. 

Whichever version of Sarek you personally subscribe to, be it Mark Lenard, Ben Cross, or James Frain, it’s entirely possible to find the actors attractive but still think the character of Sarek could use some improvement. It’s also possible to love a character and admire their good qualities while being disappointed in their shortcomings. Maybe it makes me a shitty fangirl. Maybe it makes me realistic.

Literally decades of fanfiction and fan art have polished over Sarek’s unprettier bits, often portraying him as a hopeless romantic, a tender lover, a devoted father, and a man fiercely dedicated to his wife. I’m not going to argue each of those is patently false—hell, as a fanfiction writer, I’ve bought into some of those tropes myself—but I think some are truer than others. Let’s examine the canon.  

When we first meet him in “Journey to Babel,” he’s callous and aloof. He’s Vulcan, I get it, more on that later. But seriously, the guy has a habit of summoning his wife and acts like he doesn’t even know his own damn son. No one should be standing up to enthusiastically applaud and hand the man a husband or father-of-the-year trophy. Even Amanda seems pretty resigned to the arrangement.

I already know what the pushback to this assertion will be. He’s Vulcan! You can’t judge a Vulcan by human standards! Well, his wife is human and one of his sons is half-human, so I would argue that it should at least be an option, but I wrote a whole other essay on Star Trek’s moral relativism problem. 

Long story short, Star Trek glosses over a lot of moral and ethical dilemmas by using the argument, “Who are we to judge a culture we’re not part of?” I can’t answer that, but I will say someone once gave me a great piece of advice that I think applies to this idea of moral relativism: no person’s belief is inherently worthy of respect, but every person is. Maybe to understand Sarek as a person, we should look first at Sarek as a Vulcan.

Obviously Sarek subscribes to Vulcan philosophy, and while Vulcan philosophy seems pure as hell with its pacifism and its belief in embracing Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC), I’m going to assert the Vulcan adherence to that philosophy seems to be a little lunch counter in nature. Yes, they take two scoops of resting bitch face and they’ll pass on the extra helping of tolerance. Sarek hails from a culture that is ostensibly exclusionary, sexist, and xenophobic in its practices.

When we encounter Vulcans in Enterprise, they’re people who mock humans for being too volatile, go to war with their Andorian neighbors, and aggressively purge the Syrranites for wanting to get back to the true meaning of Surak. But you might say, but that was before the Federation! They got better when they put T’Pau in charge.

Really? When we meet them next in the chronological timeline in Discovery, they’re telling Sarek they’ll only admit one of his weird social science pet projects (or as Sarek calls them, his kids) to the Vulcan Expeditionary Group.

In the Discovery episode “Light and Shadows,” Amanda reveals that Spock had a learning disability as a young child, which clearly embarrassed Sarek. Sadder still? Amanda explains there didn’t seem to be any educators on Vulcan willing to help a half-Vulcan child with a human learning disability. 

In the alternate timeline, when Spock applies to the Vulcan Science Academy, the admissions folks give him a pat on the back for achieving so much, despite his great disadvantage of having a human mom. Replace the word “human” with any religious, racial, or ethnic group, and see how you still feel about that sentence. 

Yes, Vulcans have racists and nationalists just like the rest of us and it doesn’t seem like they’re a rare breed either. Sarek is clearly attempting to be a better Vulcan, so kudos to him. However, not being an overt racist is not synonymous with sainthood. 

It’s pretty obvious throughout canon that while Sarek loves his wife, he’s uncomfortable with humanity, and he’s doubly perplexed with the humanity she imparted in their son. She even directly accuses him of never truly respecting humanity, to which he replies:

Which, let’s be honest, sounds like the rough equivalent of the “I can’t be racist because I have a black friend” defense. So many things in canon point to Sarek being utterly baffled by humans, not cutely intrigued by them as so often seen in fanon. The only time Spock and Sarek seem chummy with each other is when they’re mocking Amanda’s human emotionalism in “Journey to Babel.” Whether or not he meant to (and he definitely meant to), Sarek raised a son who saw his human half as a thing to be overcome.

Discovery has also hammered a lot of nails into the affectionate father coffin. Up until the final episode in season 1, he never called Michael his daughter and instead referred to her as his ward. It’s nice that he finally got over that technical distinction, but it doesn’t exactly conjure up the image of him tucking her into bed and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

He seems to accept her humanity because, well, she is human, but his own son’s humanity isn’t ok? Not like it matters, because his plan was to mold Michael into a Vulcan-like human anyway, which is pretty weird when you think about it. At one point, Michael tells Sarek she knows he must have considered the effect a Vulcan education and lifestyle might have on a human child, but she wants to know what he wanted Spock to learn from the experience of having a human sibling. His reply?

Which is... nice? He doesn’t say the only reason he took Michael in was for her to be his son’s empathy tutor, but he does essentially admit he was worried Spock was becoming too much of a momma’s boy. So the theory that Sarek was just scooping up orphans all over the galaxy like some kind of Vulcan Angelina Jolie doesn’t seem accurate. It gives the distinct impression that even Sarek thought of his hodge-podge brood as an experiment, at least to a degree.

Now, some may argue that Sarek never told Spock that he had to follow Surak’s teachings, which is true-ish. But that’s like telling a kid, “You don’t have to believe in Jesus” and then sending them to a Christian school in the heart of the Bible belt. What decision did he imagine his son would choose when he decided to raise him on Vulcan and stand by when other kids beat him up for not being Vulcan enough?

Seriously, Spock was almost guaranteed to turn out one of two ways: either he would just try harder to out-Vulcan everyone, which he did, or he would give logic the middle finger, which, well, is the option Sybok chose to run with. 

Despite fanfiction and fanart imagining him as this really hands-on parent who changes diapers and decorates baked goods (yes, I wrote a story like this and I’m calling myself out), he admits he’s the kind of dad who works late in the evenings, not the kind that reads stories at bedtime. 

It’s also no secret that as a parent, Sarek holds grudges. In “Journey to Babel,” Amanda confesses that Sarek and Spock haven’t spoken as father and son for eighteen years. In “Brother,” Michael asks Sarek when the last time he spoke to Spock was and he concedes it’s been years. In “Light and Shadows,” he’s clearly [Vulcan] pissed that Amanda is harboring a fugitive, who also just so happens to be his own son.

Is Sarek just that logical that he believes in justice even at a high personal price, or is he embarrassed that his own estranged son has been accused of murder and appears to be in the clutches of a mental breakdown? As far as I can tell, it might just be a little bit of both. 

Then there’s the idea that Sarek is a caring and devoted husband. Is there actually any evidence for this in canon, other than he was married to Amanda and had a family with her? Lots of people are married and have kids and don’t have a relationship that would rival that annoying couple on This is Us. 

Their relationship doesn’t seem like an equal partnership based on compromise, but rather one where Sarek does what he damn well pleases and Amanda follows along as a dutiful wife. 

Amanda gave up a lot of things to be with him: her home, her culture, and potentially even her own son’s well-being. The woman went to extremes for love not even witnessed on the Bachelor, and why?

In some contexts, that sounds like the powerful kind of love and devotion that epic-poems would be based on. In other contexts, it sounds almost like a pathological self-martyrdom. Did Sarek ever fully appreciate her sacrifices? It’s hard to say, but if he did, I doubt he ever voiced his appreciation. 

In his later years, when Sarek is losing his mind due to an age-related degenerative disease and he mind melds with Captain Picard, he tearfully muses (as Picard), “Amanda. I wanted to give you so much more. I wanted to show you such tenderness. But that is not our way. Spock? Amanda? Did you know?”

He's strongly implying he never told Amanda he loved her out loud. I’m sure he did love her, but it hardly bodes well for the idea that he’s a flowers and handmade cards kind of guy. And as for the notion that behind closed doors, he and Amanda had a super intimate relationship that would make even characters in Harlequin romance novels swoon, please, point me to an episode that makes you think that. I will watch it every day for the rest of my life. 

In summary, between his first chronological appearance in Discovery to his death in The Next Generation, Sarek had a lot of improving to do as a person and we see evidence that he most certainly did. He came to accept Michael as his daughter. He started speaking to Spock again after wrecking his childhood and turning him over to Section 31. Even though it clearly exasperated the hell out of him, he occasionally gave into his wife’s emotional needs. 

But that’s still a pretty far cry away from galaxy’s best father, husband, or lover. I think that’s what draws me to this couple so much. Sarek and Amanda didn’t live happily ever after: they did the best they could and made it work, just like the rest of us non-fictional losers. 

What little we have of canon depicts them as a couple who likely got married before they really knew each other, probably should have spent their first few years of marriage in counseling, eventually figured one another out enough to raise three kids who could all probably benefit from some therapy, and loved each other no matter what, even if it wasn’t out loud.

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing 10-16 February 2019

Here’s this week’s roundup!

Remember to give your content creators some love! And join in on the events at the bottom!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@anaranesindanarie​

Happy Not Valentine’s Day https://archiveofourown.org/works/17776349

Trowa Barton/Duo Maxwell

Valentine’s Day, Gundam Boys use Heero as a pain measurement scale, Teasing, SO MUCH TEASING, Just do it already - Freeform, tiny bit of smut at the end, fluff?, gw valentine event 2019

Duo doesn’t see the point in Valentine’s Day.

@burningwreckage​

Lucifer https://archiveofourown.org/works/17777351

Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner

Cats, Sappy Ending, Valentine's Day, Post-Canon, GW Valentine’s Event 2019

For Valentine's Day. Duo wants a pet, but Heero is hesitant.

@doctormegalomania

Eldritch Holiday (Creature of the Night) https://archiveofourown.org/works/17802668/chapters/42002303

Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton/Quatre Raberba Winner

Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei, Lady Une, Sally Po

Horror, Body Horror, Occult, Comedy, Eventual Romance, Post-Break Up

There’s something wrong with Happiness. Duo doesn’t know what, and he’s determined to find out. The rest of the Gundam Pilots tag along to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.

@duointherain​

Beneath (Ch. 2) http://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/182706019769/beneath-2

disclaimer: I don’t own ‘Gundam Wing’. I also don’t own ‘Beneath’ which is a Syfy B movie I just watched and this story really doesn’t go with that one much. Monster in the water… it’s a common B movie trope.  Corvis is mine though. He gets a copyright date of 2018

Note 1:  So it’s a get together. There are elements of 1/R, ¾, and ½, there might even be a 2/R kiss in there, but in the end it’s ½, cuz that’s where my heart is.

Over a bullhorn, ancient ass technology, someone asked, “State your name and intentions!”

Beneath: An L2 Girl http://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/182780760504/beneath-an-l2-girl

Notes: This was just a sudden thought. As will all my work… canon? What canon? Though I hope my characterizations are good.  And I think I need a bowl of ice cream. I’m nervous to write a female pov. Also! I got up to 51 subscribers on my favorite original work today. So… Let’s see if I can do this thing! And now that I’ve done it… I hope it’s okay :)

Warnings: Graphic violence and death

Notes: beginnings of 1x2, this is set at least half a year after Beneath

She crouched behind a file cabinet, heart racing, her phone pressed to her cheek, a hand over it to hide the light. “Come on, come on! Answer the phone.”

Small Thing based off of clip http://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/182754323059/optimysticals-lyrangalia-tflatte

Oh man.. this is going to be a story.. .and it’s Duo in a prom tux and Relena in that pink confection of a dress that are going to do it!

Then I can see them sitting on the roof as he teaches her how to smoke and they talk about Heero’s ass…

Beneath (Ch. 1) http://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/182702825024/beneath-1

disclaimer: I don’t own ‘Gundam Wing’. I also don’t own ‘Beneath’ which is a Syfy B movie I just watched and this story really doesn’t go with that one much. Monster in the water… it’s a common B movie trope.  Corvis is mine though. He gets a copyright date of 2018

Note 1:  So it’s a get together. There are elements of 1/R, ¾, and ½, there might even be a 2/R kiss in there, but in the end it’s ½, cuz that’s where my heart is.

Note: If  you want to see my original stuff, it’s at www.themoonspermission.com

“This isn’t a ship,” Duo said, staring down at the rowboat. “It’s more like one of Q’s tea service bullshit things.”

@gundayum​

Courage https://archiveofourown.org/works/17776919/chapters/41945657

Duo Maxwell/Hilde Schbeiker, Relena Peacecraft/Heero Yuy

Duo Maxwell, Hilde Schbeiker, Heero Yuy

To Catty her father is a legendary hero, at least the version of him in her head. When war breaks out in her own backyard she defies her parents wishes and joins the rebellion, forcing Duo and Hilde back into combat to try and get her back.

harotype

Hearts In Space, Mk-II https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788157

Quatre Raberba Winner/Heero Yuy

GW Valentine’s Event 2019, Snark, Tea, Canon Compliant, discussion of consensual violence, references to things that happened elsewhere, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Empathy, Newtypes (Gundam Wing), Newtypes, Newtypes (in general)

On the first February 14 after the formation of the ESUN, and having very little awareness of Valentine's Day on a personal level, Quatre R. Winner receives a few things even he had no idea he was getting— all courtesy of one visitor.

@helmistress​

Curious Quat https://archiveofourown.org/works/17804942

Quatre Raberba Winner/Heero Yuy

GW Valentine's Event 2019, Cocktail Friday, Valentine's Day, V-day dates, Fluff, Snark, really bad jokes

Quatre takes his new boyfriend on a date for Valentine's Day.

@lemontrash​

If It’s Raining https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788334

Trowa Barton/Duo Maxwell

GW Valentine’s Event 2019, Sex, Kissing in the Rain, Friends to Lovers, Sex Is Fun, Accidental Relationship, Emotional Warmth, Fluff and Smut, Feel-good

It was not that they had intended to sleep together, it was just boredom and, in part, the weather. Interminable rain. Days of it, ruining the holiday. It makes the trailer a claustrophobic little tin but going out is too much of an effort.

Sprawled out full length on the couch, the resources of their four magazines and the deck of 51 cards exhausted, Duo says, as a by the by, “Hey. Do you wanna fuck?”

@lifeaftermeteor​

Saturday Snippet https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/182857318662/winner-family-compound-l4-v05001-30-december-210

Winner Family Compound

L4-V05001

30 December 210

@miss-m-muses​

Why Duo Does Not Like Valentine’s Day https://archiveofourown.org/works/17814422

Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Duo Maxwell, Hilde Schbeiker, Heero Yuy

Valentine's Day Fluff, Cliche, Drabble, GW Valentine's Event 2019

“...it’s just a pointless commercial holiday designed with the intention to sell chocolates, greeting cards and flowers,” Duo complained as he picked at the remains of the crusty cheese on his plate.

@offspringchick29​

An Imperfect but Perfect Valentines Day https://archiveofourown.org/works/17790569

Duo Maxwell & Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell & Original Character(s)

Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, Single Parents, Heero tries to be a good dad, Father - Daughter bonding, Valentine's Day plans fall apart

It’s Valentine’s Day and like most people, Heero has plans for the evening. But, what happens when your plans get thrown out the window because your child gets sick at school and you need to play the part of dad while your “date” made plans elsewhere because she felt you were taking your dad duties too seriously for her? You take it in stride and spend it with who actually is the most important girl in your life.

Fanart:

@cedesdraws​

http://cedesdraws.tumblr.com/post/182693915575/that-moment-when-you-suddenly-find-yourself

Duo Maxwell

http://cedesdraws.tumblr.com/post/182744044895/did-anyone-ask-for-modern-versions-of-the-gundam

Trowa, WuFei, Duo, Quatre, & Heero

@chemicalcrush​

https://chemicalcrush.tumblr.com/post/182821076715/now-i-am-become-death-the-destroyer-of-worlds

Deathscythe, Model

@christianmswanson​

http://christianmswanson.tumblr.com/post/182418492074/heavyarms-build-pt-1-saying-bye-bye-to-the-red

Heavyarms parts, Model (WIP)

http://christianmswanson.tumblr.com/post/182703653579/heavyarms-build-pt-2-i-havent-touched-this-thing

Heavyarms build, Model (WIP)

@duointherain​

http://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/182862729059

Duo Maxwell

GW Valentine’s Event 2019

http://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/182755273884

Beneath - Duo & Relena

@gundayum​

https://gundayum.tumblr.com/post/182773919146/youre-gonna-regret-giving-her-that-pop-tart

Duo Maxwell & A Kiddo

https://gundayum.tumblr.com/post/182793650851/uh-happy-valentines-day-i-guess?is_related_post=1#notes

Duo & Hilde

https://gundayum.tumblr.com/post/182841289551/so-im-writing-my-fic-with-the-intention-of-having#notes

Duo & Hilde

@heytherechief​

http://heytherechief.tumblr.com/post/182713562646/operation-meteor

Quatre, Duo, Heero, WuFei, & Trowa

@noartificialfruitjuice​

http://noartificialfruitjuice.tumblr.com/post/182855375886/zechs-is-not-a-consistent-man-by-anymeans-but-he

Zechs/Noin

GW Valentine’s Event 2019

@seitou​

http://seitou.tumblr.com/post/182749381130/heero-fidgeted-with-the-box-behind-hind-his-back

Heero/Trowa

GW Valentine’s Event 2019

@vegalume​

http://vegalume.tumblr.com/post/182835162485/clear-picture

Duo/Heero

Cosplay:

@lifeaftermeteor​

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/182852730504/yeah-motherfucking-gundam-wing-skit-at-katsucon-to

KatsuCon, some random lovelies LAM saw.

Photosets/Screenshots:

@ransomedbard​

https://ransomedbard.tumblr.com/post/182775984828/incorrectgundamwingquotes-zechs-look-noin-you

@incorrectgundamwingquotes​

Zechs & Noin

https://ransomedbard.tumblr.com/post/182751527088/incorrectgundamwingquotes-hilde-manga-lied-to

@incorrectgundamwingquotes​

Hilde & Duo

Head Canons:

@lifeaftermeteor​

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/182835578194

Quatre Raberba Winner

@offspringchick29​

https://www.pillowfort.io/posts/497749

Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Serena Yuy (OC)

Chats/Discussions:

@lemontrash​

https://lemontrash.tumblr.com/post/182707931319/ms-gundam-a-different-side-of-the-story

MS Gundam: A Different Side of the Story

World building things.

Quotes/Dialogues:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes​

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182702396231/sally-lets-talk-about-wufeis-birthday-i-think

Sally, Quatre, Duo, Heero, & Trowa

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182715086566/duo-leaving-for-a-mission-i-got-a-mission-wish

Duo, WuFei, & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182720770959/quatre-nudges-trowa-awake-at-3-am-pretty-messed

Quatre

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182730050777/wufei-duo-can-i-speak-to-you-for-a-minute-duo

WuFei & Duo

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182787161965/quatre-i-mean-its-one-banana-duo-what-could

Quatre & Duo

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182799667168/trowa-looking-at-his-wedding-photos-i-remember

Trowa & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182809255131/duo-when-he-first-stayed-at-the-maxwell-church

Duo & Father Maxwell

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182820926110/trowa-im-mysterious-but-not-on-purpose-trowa

Trowa

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182698431287/wufei-so-is-this-thing-between-barton-and-winner

WuFei & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182838526620/zechs-walks-in-on-heero-and-relena-making-out

Zechs

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/182851855808/trowa-i-might-have-depression-and-not-function

Trowa & Catherine

No Idea What To Put This Under:

@idkmybffflamingo

http://idkmybffflamingo.tumblr.com/post/182864441940/gundam-wing-episodes-re-titled-in-the-style-of

Gundam Wing episodes re-titled in the style of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – Episodes 41-49, plus Endless Waltz

There are 5 parts in all, this is the first one. (Hint: don’t try to actually go to their tumblr, tumblr hides it. Just use the ‘dash view’ thing if you can. You get the option to view it there.)

@lemontrash​

https://lemontrash.tumblr.com/post/182846384084/radio-meteor-episode-six-party-night

Episode 6 of Radio Meteor

Calendar Events:

@acworldbuildingzine​

FANDOM ZINE: RHYTHM GENERATION is accepting contributor applications through February 22!!

The collection will include a wide array of world building meta, articles, art, and graphics focused on science, politics, socio-economic matters, as well as art, aesthetics, and edits from the fandom’s resident experts and enthusiasts which highlight the creative dynamism that underpins the A.C. universe.

@gwcocktailfriday​

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday February 22nd! https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/182846644749/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday-february

For those going to Pillowfort, find us here.

@our-summer-of-zechs

Summer of Zechs 2019 Ideas https://our-summer-of-zechs.tumblr.com/post/181628092091/we-appear-to-still-be-up-and-running-folks

Come let us know how long this summer’s event should last!

What Month is it? https://our-summer-of-zechs.tumblr.com/post/182355135746/what-month-is-it

Come vote on a month for the event to be hosted in!

Here’s the Pillowfort discussion.

[sxpiosexualx]

why do you ship jonsa? my best friend is a hard core jonerys shipper but lately ive been really critical of daenerys, so i cant really hop on that train. i dont really have a preference for jon either way so i wanted to know why you ship them

Oh hello! What a lovely question to ask, though I must warn you this could most likely get draggy and long because I’m so passionate about these two and this ship, they’re my OTP. Actually I only started reading the books last year, before then I was a casual watcher until up to Feb 2016 before season 7 aired. Jon and Sansa had just reunited on the show and I came across this Jonsa instagram on my explore page and I thought, what the fuck is this? It was such an absurd ship to consider - and this is coming from someone who was crack shipping Tommen and Sansa! But I kept scrolling through, the captions in the post came from posts on Tumblr(with credit) explaining the parallels and the ways in which Jonsa could go down and it was sort of like… this strange theory that I subscribed to and was soon convinced of. I tried bringing it up to my friend but she was a casual watcher and didn’t really pay much attention to it so I was craved of my need to discuss this. So come season 7, I rejoined Tumblr and the Jonsa tag was SO rich in content and meta, detailing all the parallels, how it could happen, why it makes sense and how it would wrap up up the narrative in the most satisfying manner. I’ve never shipped something so hard and wanted it to be canon more than with Jonsa(though canon or not I’m not fussy lol).

I’m gonna outline to you some of the main reasons why I think Jonsa has a strong chance of happening in canon, because they’re really why I ship them so hard, they complement each other perfectly though it’s very easy to miss this. I’m keeping this under a ‘Keep Reading’ tab because I know this will get lengthy. Also, any of my followers/people seeing this, do add on in the comments why you ship jonsa or perhaps leave some links to some of your fav meta’s in the comments for OP to screen through if they feel like it!

This will be lengthy but remember I am trying my best to be brief, hopefully the other Jonsa’s will link some metas/parallel series to give you a better idea - I’m only outlining the backbone of the ship!

The Ashford Tourney Pattern

So it actually began when I came across this theory: The Tourney at Ashford was held in-universe, and I wont go much into detail except to mention that all of the 5 champions in that tourney coincide with the houses of the men Sansa is betrothed/married to (i.e. Sansa’s suitors). It goes

Lyonel Baratheon

Leo Tyrell

Tybolt Lannister

Humfrey Hardyng, and,

Valarr Targaryen.

Now, granted the show’s made some changes but ultimately they’re coming to the same conclusion, and as for book!Sansa(i.e. canon) she’s first betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon, then is promised to Willas Tyrell(changed to Loras on the show), marries Tyrion Lannister, is currently in the works of being betrothed to Harry Hardyng(in the Vale - the Ramsay plot is not hers), and so the logical conclusion would be to complete the pattern by marrying her final suitor, the endgame - a Targaryen. That makes Jon the only candidate viable to her, and yes that sounds ‘out there’ but if you take a look at the narrative, it could make complete sense, so let’s go into how this could logically happen.

Logic

Given the story began with the Starks being the heart of the series, you can only anticipate that the final installation, initially named A Time For Wolves would promise a continuation of the Stark line, and that could come about through Jon and Sansa. They are the only Starks left who’s storyline touches on ideas of fatherhood and motherhood - the only Starks left to ever consider having future children(and weirdly enough where Sansa wants to name her children Bran and Rickon and thinks of a girl who looks like Arya in her dreams of children, Jon wants to name his son Robb - even their dreams complement each other, they’d be rebuilding the Stark family with themselves), the only Starks left to think of restoring Winterfell(and they already go on to do this on the show) etc. When you think of Sansa and how she’s had to fight hard to retain her Stark identity and reclaim it, I cannot imagine GRRM marrying her off to some random lord at the end of the series, when she’s just made it back home. For Jon too, he’s wanted Winterfell, and dreamed of that domestic life as Lord of Winterfell, as a Stark, and Sansa, the Key to the North, could give him that - the same way her marrying Jon who’s actually a prince would be fulfilling her childhood dream as well. They both get what they want in the way they least expect it, something very GRRM-esque. There’s the narrative convenience of R+L=J that would allow for some catharsis once Jon realises he’s not her half-brother, and the convenience of them being the only Starks to not have an established relationship beforehand. But despite that, whenever they do think of the other in the books, it’s never with any resentment, contrary to popular belief, they don’t hate each other(they think of each other fondly, even). It’s something that could work politically in show!verse just as well, say word gets out that Jon’s a Targaryen, the Northern lords would never accept him unless Sansa brokers a political marriage to tame them.

History would also be repeating itself in a poetic way, but done right this time. Jon and Sansa marrying would parallel Ned x Cat, they each parallel them so much and S7 has hammered those visual parallels more than ever. A Stark would be wedding a Tully. And if you embraced Jon as a Targaryen, then they would parallel Rhaegar and Lyanna in a sense too by having a Targaryen prince wed a Stark lady. It also nicely twists what happened to Cersei, where she was supposed to marry a Targaryen prince(Rhaegar) but ends up marrying a Baratheon(Robert) - Sansa was betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon, but would be marrying a Targaryen prince in Jon, which only adds another layer to her being the YMBQ from Cersei’s prophecy if you subscribe to that!

Complementary Storylines

If you take a closer look at Jon and Sansa’s arcs, they tend to echo off of each other, always linking the two through themes, yet the author does a great deal to ensure they’re the last two Starks we ever associate with each other which honestly, would be something he’d do if he meant to pull them marrying as a huge plot twist no one would expect. But thematically, both Jon and Sansa:

 start their arcs as naive,

are the Starks most interested in leaving WF - Jon goes to the Wall where he assumes the men are ideal knights, and Sansa journeys South with romanticised ideas of court, and both characters are quickly disappointed. 

Jon gets dubbed “crow” for most of his arc, the same way Sansa gets dubbed “little bird/dove”. 

Both characters at the same time, have to pretend to be something they’re not around their enemies - Jon going undercover as a Wildling, while Sansa had to blend in with the Lannisters. 

They both get dubbed traitor around the same time too, Jon’s seen as a traitor for leaving the Wildlilngs while Sansa gets dubbed traitor/murderer once they thought she poisoned Joffrey as she leaves KL. 

Jon who starts off as a bastard, rises to the title of Lord Commander at the Nights Watch the same time Sansa, who starts off as a Lady, gets forced to pose as Littlefinger’s bastard daughter. 

It’s the same case on the show, and there’s reason enough to believe Jon and Sansa will be the first Starks to reunite in the books and reclaim Winterfell as well(though the circumstances may be different, it’s heavily foreshadowed in Sansa’s final ASOS chapter).

Complementary Dreams

GRRM has a weird way of connecting these two through their shared dreams. Where Sansa’s final chapter in ASOS heavily foreshadows that she’ll come to rebuild Winterfell with Jon(and she already goes onto do this on the show with Jon), Jon is also the only other Stark to think of reclaiming and rebuilding it, and this occurs in the same book. They’re both weirdly also the only Stark kids to be referred to as the Blood of Winterfell. ASOS(the 3rd book in the series) is also where both these characters start to undergo a sexual awakening(Ygritte’s attempts with Jon, and Sansa coming into her own body and developing). 

It’s the same book where Jon considers having a son of his own, thinking he could name him after Robb, and Sansa thinks of giving her betrothed children, noting that in her dreams her children looked like the brothers she had lost and that she wants to name them Eddard and Brandon and Rickon(after the brothers she’s lost). So yes, while that sounds very odd, these two coming together would actually be giving each other what they long for in a family, children who look like named after their pack. Once you remember that book wise, Jon looks like a carbon copy of Ned and Sansa looks like a more beautiful version of Catelyn then you could only assume their children would look very much like the siblings they grew up with too.

It’s actually strange how alike they are and how their arcs tend to echo off of each other but it even comes down to the same romanticised idea of courtship. Sansa remembers the rose Loras gave to her during the Hand’s Tourney, and when met with the prospect of marrying Willas, starts fantasising of sitting with her lord husband in a garden. Lo and behold, a couple chapters later Jon thinks of showing Ygritte Winterfell, and plucking a flower for her from Winterfell’s glass garden. In other words… they would be perfect together.

Their first loves are stand-ins for each other

Ygritte could actually be seen as a foreshadowing for Sansa, namely because so many of her traits are things we’ve come to associate with the latter but GRRM makes a point to keep this out of Jon’s subconscious in his POV chapters. First in the choice of words in her description, her red hair, her blue-grey eyes(sansa’s eyes are blue), but people tend to stop right there and use it as an excuse to mock the idea of Jon x Sansa immediately which honestly, is lazy. It goes deeper than that. Ygritte weeps when she sings and hears the song of the last of giants, and she’s known to favour songs and tales - things we again associate with Sansa. There’s also the instance of her telling Jon Snow that she’s “half a fish” which seems to nod at the fact that Sansa’s basically half a fish too(Half Tully). Strangely, right after Ygritte words out her famous line “You know nothing, Jon Snow,” in Sansa’s chapter, Sansa sees Margaery’s cousins and comments that “they know nothing,” on their naivety. When Jon gets stabbed, the line is again associated with Sansa in his final thoughts:

“Of Sansa, brushing out Lady’s coat and singing to herself. You know nothing, Jon Snow. ”

In Sansa’s case, her first love(crush, really) was a man of the Night’s watch named Waymar Royce(“She had fallen wildly in love with Ser Waymar,”) - who is described as grey-eyed, graceful and slender the same way Jon is first described in AGOT as having grey eyes, being graceful and being slender. The connection between Waymar Royce and Jon Snow is further strengthened in the fact that Waymar(who appears in the very first prologue of the first book) death foreshadows Jon’s death.

Other parallels and easter eggs

There are other ways GRRM’s linked the two in his novels through easter eggs too, for e.g. Sansa calls out for the heroes she knows, calling for Prince Aemon the Dragonknight(from the songs), and then we get a flashback of Jon remembering how he’d play with Robb in the field and pretend to be Prince Aemon the Dragonknight. Sansa also wishes someone would behead Janos Slynt, and Jon goes onto do this in ADWD, unknowingly being the literal hero she asked for. 

They both have a strong connection to the pomegranate symbolism, tying them both to the greek mythology of Persephone. And in terms of actual history, Jon and Sansa share heavy parallels with Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York(who ended up joining their houses through marriage after the War of the Roses of which one of the main conflicts of GoT was based on). 

There are plenty of other parallels throughout their chapters, one off instances of both characters put in the same environment or situation, more than I could count really. But what I personally find most odd is how some of their chapters completely mirror each other’s in terms of environment, theme and situation. Look to Jon and Sansa’s first and second ASOS chapters(that come right after the other’s) and you’ll find it’s almost like reading the same chapter twice. GRRM’s a man with words, it’s strange how similarly he words and crafts the environment he puts them in, unless he meant for their chapters to echo each other.

It’s not beyond GRRM

We know from his original outline that he intended for Jon and Arya to be the first Starks to reunite at the wall and struggle for non-platonic and very inappropriate feelings for each other which would torment them until Jon’s parentage is revealed in the final book - sounds not that far from what’s happened with Sansa tbh. Again, you have to remember that yes things have changed from the outline, Sansa was meant to choose Joffrey over her family, bore him children, then die, and none of that happened. Arya was also supposed to do a heck lot more in her storyline but what seems to happened is that GRRM knew he could never have Arya accomplish that much plot in so little time and so he might’ve split initial Arya into a fully fleshed version of Sansa, thus why Sansa and Arya are two sides of the same coin. It would also explain why while Arya looks like Lyanna, both sisters possess her traits and parallel her in their respective ways.

With Jonerys… listen… it’s just a doomed pairing. I was open to the idea but there are one too many kinks in it to have it be endgame not to mention Jonerys on the throne would completely go against the anti-war message ASOIAF has established. Not that doomed pairings have ever stopped me from shipping but they’re just so fundamentally different at this point that the idea of them just doesn’t work anymore(season 7′s rushed tryst was problematic and didn’t sell it to me either).

Additional Thoughts

I could drag on but these I think are some of the main points for me. There are a plethora of other reasons backing this up but yeah I think they have a solid chance. Points aside, I guess I also ship them because there is literally no man who’s a viable suitor for Sansa and her status, that could treat her how she deserves - show!Jon has proved himself worthy, and Sansa has fed him with the well deserved validation he’s needed and craved, acknowledgement of him being a Stark. They work so well together. 

Jon is the only man in her arc who canonly has acknowledged that “Winterfell belongs to […] Sansa.” i.e. the only man who wouldn’t marry her for her claim. For a girl who came to the realisation that “No one will ever marry me for love.”(which was followed by Jon’s chapter right after btw), that’s a huge deal. A JonSa endgame would be done so out of political reasons but love would no doubt follow. He is the only man to respect her boundaries and treat her as a human being, to see her for more than just her beauty. You can comment a suitor in her arc she was involved with and I will be able to point out how it’s problematic and wouldn’t work for endgame, how Sansa deserves better. JonSa is my OTP because they genuinely and effortlessly are perfect for each other :)

Trust me I could point out more and more, but hopefully people who see this post link some of their metas/own reasons in the comments in case you want to learn more! Thanks for the ask, this was lovely x