#ship that shit in spite of canon if anything

[quasi-normalcy]

Every "Nu Trek" (2017- ) Series Ranked from Worst to Best:

Very Short Treks (2023): There's really no words for just how terrible this series is. I mean, I know that it only barely counts because it's explicitly not canon and has a total combined run time of about 15 minutes, but *my god* is it bad! Only one of its episodes is remotely funny, and even that manages to feel like it's driven its main joke into the ground by the end of its 2-minute runtime. The only thing that I can say for it is that is that it gives me an easy, uncontroversial choice for worst Star Trek series, not only of the last 7 years, but of all time.

Picard (2020-2023): Listen; I know that this series is unpopular with the Tumblr Trek fandom, but it actually breaks my heart to have to put it so low on the list. It has, in my own opinion, the best dramatic acting of any Trek series and among the best directing, and almost every individual scene, in isolation, is compellingly watchable. More than that, it has fascinating worldbuilding choices, you can really *see* the passion of the writers for what they're creating (at least in the first and third seasons), and Agnes in particular is among my favourite characters in anything ever. It's got a lot of great moments, too! Picard and Seven bonding over shared Borg trauma; Soji uncovering the truth of her identity; Jurati hacking the Borg Queen's brain; Picard's final farewell to Q; Shaw's Wolf 359 monologue; Geordi's reunion with Data...I could go on. And yet, it just feels like so much *less* than the sum of its parts! Incredible ideas are introduced and then just shrugged off to pursue much more boring ones. Story arcs feel pointless if not actively offensive. Absolutely baffling writing choices are made throughout, with no indication as to why. And the nostalgia baiting , particularly in the final season, becomes so intense that it just chokes the plot to death. One comes away haunted by the feeling that this series should be so much better than it is.

Discovery (2017-2024): Really, this is two separate series: a twisty, grimdark, sci-fi war drama and a gentle queer coffeeshop AU about scientists who talk about their feelings. Both of them have their moments, but they each fall down in the same way: a focus on epic, high-stakes mystery box storytelling that undermines one's ability to really get invested in the characters, or even know who they are when they aren't off saving the universe. Without that, while I liked many of the characters and loved seeing them science the shit out of things using teamwork and the power of math, it's kind of difficult to get invested in this series one way or another. In spite of its absolutely gorgeous visuals, it comes off feeling weirdly...flat.

Short Treks (2018-2020): Not a lot to talk about here; just kind of an anthology series of short films adjacent to Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds. Mostly they're varying shades of mediocre, but a few of them are as brilliant as any episode of Star Trek ever made, so the series gets to be relatively high on the list.

Strange New Worlds (2022- ): This is the first entry on this list that, in my opinion, belongs on the top shelf with some of the best of the older series. And it achieves it basically by adopting the same formula as the original series or the next generation--socially conscious planet-of-the-week adventures with enough wit, cleverness and joie-de-vivre to keep it interesting. I remember in 2017, there was plenty of discussion of how it's possible to update Star Trek's formula for prestige television; how funny that the solution turned out to be "don't change it at all, just give it modern special effects and actual character arcs." That said, the series is a bit *too* beholden to the original, with focus primarily on a bunch of characters who aren't allowed to grow or change too much because we already know how they'll turn out. It would be even better if it were about a new ship and a new crew full of nobodies who we can come to love. Which brings us to...

Lower Decks (2020-2024): Above, I said that Picard felt like it should have been so much better than it was. Lower Decks, frankly, should have been so much worse. How is an adult animated sitcom with Rick and Morty style animation and constant memberberries this freaking good!?! Every episode is a master class in efficient storytelling, with 22 minute runtimes often feeling like they contain as much story and character work as episodes twice as long. And the characters are incredible--like TOS and TNG, they feel almost archetypal, and even though you've never seen them before, they slide so seamlessly into the Star Trek universe that it's hard to believe that they weren't just *always* there; that there was ever a time when you could imagine the Star Trek universe without just intrinsically knowing that Tendi and Shaxs and Mariner were off somewhere in the background. It's greatest success though, the reason why it's comedy works when it really shouldn't, is that it's only *slightly* sillier than the serious series. What we end up with a fantastic series with an ethos that is pure Star Trek, and in fact, if I had written this list a month ago, it would certainly be in the #1 spot. However...

Prodigy (2021-2024?): The first season of Prodigy is...charming. It's got some fun characters, some spectacular visuals, some interesting premises. And if the plots tend to be a little too simplistic to be engaging to an adult, hey, it's a kids' show. It's good. Solid. Above average. And if I had only the first season to go on, it would probably be in third position on this list. But then, a few weeks ago, it went ahead and dropped the best season of Star Trek in a quarter-century, and I really...I just cannot recommend this series highly enough. The sheer, ambitious scope of the narrative; the arcs it puts its character through; the cleverness of the writing; the fricking GORGEOUSNESS of it! And it does all this while redeeming deeply unpopular characters and plot points from other series, in a way that never feels forced or pandering. Not only is it the best Star Trek series of the 21st century, it's one of the best children's animated series since AtLA. Go. Go! Watch it! Watch it now!

[olderthannetfic]

I am so mad and disappointed in my fandom’s discord. “Waaaah why does Famous Author get ALL the fanart and podfics and translations and inspired bys?? Her writing isn’t all that great and her smut is shit and she only writes boring normie tropes. Why do you wanna give her even more attention?” (I'm a translator)

Like I don’t knowwwww maybe because she replies to comments and comments on other peoples fics and art? And maintains a list of resources for our rather scattered canon? And has themed reclists on which I know that at least several of you fuckers have been featured? And has a “so you're new to —— fandom” primer that I know at least half of you have read? And is one of the organizers of the big ficwriting event? And has advanced social skills such as “be nice to strangers,” “deescalate situations” and even wow “remembering who you are and the things you shared with her”? And never tells anyone what to ship or what to draw and write? And has commissioned at least once a translation of some lengthy additional canon material that she then shared for free? All that not enough for you??

Is it really all that mysterious that people who Possess Skills would rather make stuff for a sociable community-oriented person who writes shit smut (according to you) and not for a miserable grouch like you??

And when I tried defending my translation of her fic (bad decision, I know) by saying that there are many fics I like, but what really inspires me to translate for her is her attitude, and also that I think it’s normal for people who are nice, sociable and active in fandom to make more connections and receive more attention, I got hit with “must be nice not to be neurodivergent” and “well ackstchxually some of us cannot be nice and sociable” and “I shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get some attention!” ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELVES. I didn’t reply anything to any of those people cos what’s there to say but BY GOD I am going to translate for Famous Author even harder now. All of her backlog. Start writing just so I can gift her an inspired by fic. Learn to draw chibis so I can make fanart for her. Spite. SPITE.

PS: If any of you are lurking here, I said what I said.

--

[lovemyromance]

Why can't people just read the books without projecting their own ship preferences ???

Literally just saw someone say that Feyre questioning "Why not make them mates" in regards to Elain & Azriel was because - and you might wanna sit down for this bc it's so ridiculous - apparently Feyre now had an underlying resentment for Lucien and wanted him to know what it feels like to not be around his mate

Aside from the fact that that entire statement makes zero sense - ??? Huh??

I see this kinda shit all the time. People simply deciding things in the books. Like when people say Azriel's shadows vanishing = bad (apparently this is ONLY bad when his shadows vanish around Elain - but not Feyre or casssian or the other IC, go figure)

I see people say Feyre claiming Elain would cling to Azriel for peace and quiet was actually a NEGATIVE connotation. I see people claiming Azriel thinking Elain's hair glittered like the sun at dawn means he doesn't give a shit about anything but her beauty. That Feyre saying "how handsome they'd be together" is Feyre just being spiteful to Lucien.

Like what? None of these arguments make sense. They go against what is written in canon. Yall know you can't just DECIDE a something is negative because it doesn't suit your headcanons right???

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

Hey bestie, dropping by with a mea culpa. When Peaceful Property started, you expressed concern that GMMTV was inching toward a model of using bl pairs in shows that would avoid being explicitly gay but still draw on shipping fandom to be successful. Coming off The Trainee, which was not a bl but did have expIicitly queer characters and romance subplots, I wasn't sure the intentions were quite that dark for PP, but having now finished it and seen the way some in the production have interacted with shipper fans, I have to call it: you were right to be concerned. At no point was this show ever a bl and none of its principal characters are canonically queer, but they successfully leveraged the TayNew ship to have fans interacting with it as if it was in fact a gay love story, that idea and fan commentary was explicitly encouraged by the creators, and the show has been quite successful despite never actually delivering on all the TayNew bait. I'm definitely concerned that we might have somehow swung back around to queerbaiting being seen as acceptable and good, as long as it features popular branded pairs. I don't have any bigger thoughts to offer about how this should be addressed, but just wanted to come back and say you were valid for naming that!

Thank you. I didn't want to be correct. And I am still hoping to wrong about what this says about where GMMTV is going.

But I am not gonna lie, seeing the posts about the finale did regnite the massive fury I had at this project when it was first called a bromance. So I am going to use your ask as an opportunity to vent.

FOR THE RECORD: I am not mad at you, or at the people and mutual on my dash that have enjoyed the show and are claiming as gay out of spite. My anger is at GMMTV and at GMMTV alone.

THEY DID THIS SHIT TWICE ALREADY!!! Back to fucking back.

I know High Schoool Frenemy is being watched by like 5 people on tumblr. But it's doing well outside of tumblr. They are using bl style fanservice with the 2 main boys of that show. I have seen the shippy content and compilations along with the other bl couples. Not to mention people like Jojo saying those characters are the his new favorite ship on twitter.

AND I AM SO PISSED!!!!

I am glad you brought up TayNew because there is no doubt in my mind that they used TayNew for Peaceful Property as a test. They knew there could be backlash. They knew the bl fandom could have rioted. But they also knew that if it that rage would have been directed at TayNew not at the director, not the company but TAYNEW.

And I think TayNew knew this. Because they spend weeks on social media doing preintive damage control, I have seen the posts of them (or at least New) saying it wasn't going to be romantic. I don't think the two of them forgot how they were left to eat the shit alone over the bullshit backlash during the TayGun kiss situation with GMMTV doing fuck all for them.

And what pisses me off is that BL audience didn't even give a backlash. They eat that shit up like it was fucking icecream.

The BL audience is literally doing their job for them. They are taking a show with some gay subtext and running with it.

They are showing up for the fanservice (again broder audience outside of tumblr), and gleefully closing their eyes and ears and saying well I Think It's Gay.

What do you think Mega Corporation GMMTV is going to take from the success and no backlash? If the answear is anything but: We can produce half of the BLs as usual and make the rest Bromances, you have more faith in corporations then I do.

Because Bromances can be watched by non BL audiences as well. The BL niche is a big one, but it is still a niche.

And now they won't even have to bother inserting arguable quality gay commentary or struggles or homophobia. Or any gay kissing, no more workshops. No more worries about how effective these potential straight boys are going to be at playing gay. All they have to do is making them do fanservice, and they are great at training people for that. Or better yet, actually use one or two ships that have kissed before and done actual BLs.

Will they stop doing BL at all, obviously not, you gotta give the BL audience something to remind them they can still show boys kissing, and we have the Ex Morning and Jojo that will never actually stop making BLs and some gay shit. But if in the next line up we will more bromances, and eventually we get half BL and half bromances I wouldn't be surprised.

Of course maybe I am just pessimistic and cynical. Maybe the proto bdsm in the heart killers is enough to persuade people that I am totally wrong. I guess we will see about that.

Thanks again for the ask and the oppurtunity to vent a little. Again I don't fault anyone for enjoying this, it was design to get the BL audience watching.

I will personally be keeping with my own resolution and never watch another gmmtv show live ever again, maybe binge the few that sound interesting and that's it.

At least I can find comfort in the idea that that other companies do not have the same level of BIG cast of boys and big budget to do the same thing and follow in the bromance trend.

[crushedsweets]

what is the relationship between Nina and Toby? and what’s Clocky’s reaction to it

OK SO. in Creeped(my au) "canon" they arent romantic or anything, the Ninatoby ship art i posted is just cuz i like the ship LOL ...

BUUUT in my AU, they are really close and have a pretty confusing, but mostly positive, friendship! Honestly a lot of this is me sorta just rambling off concepts about them in my AU but. What am i if not off topic. i wrote liek 35898 pages

to begin, Toby met Nina through Jeff. Jeff would be hanging around the area, arm around Nina, showing her off like she's some trophy. so toby didnt really think much of her at first, just one of jeffs chicks - not really her own person. He’d not think twice when jeff would tell her to get the guys a beer or tell her to fix her clothes or generally being shitty to her - until jeff raises his voice at Nina, then toby is more likely to Sit up and watch a bit more carefully cuz he doesnt know what to expect and hes not gonna just watch jeff scream at her (although she’d be quick to scream back). 

I like to think that’d be one of the tuning moments for their relationship, jeff starts berating nina and standing up, toby perks up and is getting ready to intervene cuz it brings back bad memories, and nina starts screaming back cuz she DGAF. she dgaf. So toby would be like oh. Okay. so she does think for herself. an d the next time jeff tells nina to go get them beers, toby might be like “nah its fine i can get my own” rather than nodding along. FIX HIS BRAIN A LITTLE BIT. 

BUT because nina was coworkers with Natalie for a while(and friends), he eventually started hanging around nina more often casually. it sounds shitty but he used her for ego boosts cuz she was so quick to fawn over him ("you're so strong!! oh, that scar is so cool! i looove this haircut on you toby, let me touch!"). And i think its pretty nice for both of them, sort of passive bonding? Cuz toby grew up with a sister and a mom always smothering him and hugging him and lyra would ask him to braid her hair, and nina is just filled to the brim with affection spilling over in everything she does. MUTUALISTIC RELATIONSHIP. THEYRE THE ALIGATOR AND BIRD

AND they're both naturally pretty touchy people (toby wrapping his arms around shoulders, patting backs, picking people up, messing with hair. nina leaning on people, holding hands, tracing shapes, sitting on laps). i like to think that was one of the things that reaaaaallly got on jeffs nerves, which is part of the reason jeff and nina become so toxic with nonstop cheating on eachother, screaming matches, and his eventual stabbing. and part of why jeff and toby went from being pretty good buddies, to getting physically violent with eachother at the drop of the hat. And nina is really, really appreciative to have someone do that for her - cuz she’s the type to sit on the fence between friends, play both sides, not be assertive about who was right/wrong, etc and she’s used to everyone around her brushing off her feelings and how she’s treated. so toby firmly being like “he hurt you, i care about you, so i dont fuck with him anymore. Simple” would make her feel very like Wow. i feel important.

HOWEVER, they’re both really emotional, and really, really sensitive. It presents different, with ninas emotions being more like a breaking dam of tears and screaming and drowning in it, while toby is explosive shouting and burning and aggressive and just wants to suffocate the fire. Toby is a hypocrite though, and views Nina’s emotions as weak and pathetic just cuz she’ll cry and babble. He doesnt quite grasp that theyre both sensitive, he just validates his own anger as a ‘useful’ emotion that ‘gets shit done’ while nina is a whining babbling mess who wallows in it… AND HE’LL TELL HER THAT LMAAAOOO. And nina is mean and spiteful and will be crying while going off about how he’s a virgin loser little bitch with mommy and daddy issues and this and that and toby would just be like You fucking know what. Get the fuck out nina. (I DREW A COMIC OF THIS I WANNA REDRAW IT SOON). But nina will text toby and the convo sorta goes. “3: r u mad at meee” “ya” “v_v dont be mad…” “why” “cuz >_< i just bought pink lemonade Smirnoff and i got nobody 2 drink it with” “come over” then they dont actually dissect why they blew up on eachother. 

WHICH BRINGS ME TO YOUR LAST QUESTION ON CLOCKY…

She dgaf. Ok im joking. Im assuming you specified clocky so i can talk about if it upsets clocky.

She gets worried, actually. I dont want it to be interpreted as romantic jealousy, but she sees the way they connect on touch, being emotional, opening up, etc - meanwhile she’s sort of stuck in the middle of them and she struggles to open up, she bottles things up, she can be cold and quiet and distant. She’ll ignore their texts for days because she’s just not doing well and is trying to focus really hard on work(and her whole “getting better” thing), only to find out that instead of them harassing her like usual, they just hang out together and wait until she’s ready to reach out. And something about that irritates her. Cuz they were HER friends first 😒…LOL. But another part of her worry is the fact that they are both so emotional and they feed into eachother’s bad habits and is pretty blunt with telling them that.

BUT ASIDE FROM THAT!! She does love that her friends get along. It feels really good for her to have a close-knit group of friends who really care about her. Nina and toby will both make a shitty cake decorated in an ungodly amount of sprinkles and bring it to her. They’ll put her in a groupchat and blow it up with useless conversations. Theyll buy her concert tickets and make her come along. They get her out and are good for her in their own ways, even if theyre all very flawed. and she's not the type to give a shit about romantic jealousy

[mechina]

At the end of the day, your dislikes are not my problem. If you don’t like Charlastor, okay, but why are you SO pressed when others do?

“You’re taking away their sexuality!” Charlie is bi and it was not confirmed that Alastor is aro. He is asexual, but that does not mean he can’t be in a relationship? **Edit: Alastor is aro, but my point still stands lmao.**

“You’re taking away representation!” First of all, I can’t take anything away if it’s fanon. FANON. Charlie is canonically with a woman, and good for her, but I have FANON choices I can do without your permission? I can’t change canon. At the end of the day, it’s not my show lmao.

“Charlastor is dead! Take that! We won!” Want a cookie? Charlastor was never going to be canon to begin with, so what did you win? It’s also very much alive. I’ve seen people joining to spite ship because you sound so stupid. If Viv did this on purpose (rumors, but I’m not 100% sure of its credibility), then she doesn’t care about you either. She isn’t going to thank some user for bashing the ship. And I’ll lay my head down peacefully even with you screaming about how much you hate it because no one cares.

“Charlie is with Vaggie!” Again, good for her. I do not have to ship canon just because it is. Ship and let ship? It’s not THAT serious. If you’re making this your whole personality then you don’t like chaggie because it’s representation, you like it to bash Charlastor and shit on the people who like it.

“Alastor thinks of Charlie as a daughter. It’s incest!” Y’all are stupid. They aren’t related. 😂😂 and don’t take him seriously. As soon as he noticed it bothered Lucifer that he was close to Charlie, his entire portion of the song was to piss him off. Now replace dad with mentor and that’s something I can see. Charlie looks up to him, but I do not believe for a second she sees him as a father figure. Mentor, yes. Dad, no. She has one, she doesn’t need Alastor to fill that role.

Honestly, it’s JUST a ship of two characters. We are not harming you with it. Block the tags and cater to YOUR experience on the web. We’re going to do our own thing regardless if you like it or not.

“You’ll have to try harder than that, old pal!” Words I’m going to live by.

[acurlyhobbit]

I'm not sure if this will land anywhere or not. As a disclaimer I'm a fan of the show first, shipper second.

The thing I see a lot of, when it comes to people who are very anti buddie, or anti bucktommy, or anti anything in this fandom, are two things...

1. They really love to pull from the real life side of things.

2. They like to be mean.

Point 1 + sprinkles of point 2 –

"this actor said or this actor didn't say, or this extra or that extra said yadada.

This writer said such, or the subtext!!!

The subtext!!"

- this is sort of wild to me when it comes to shipping??

Because I've been around a while.

In and out and around so many fandoms for a good 17 years.

Shipping two characters together that have never even had a scene together, or who weren't even in the same universe, was and is still very common?

So the fact there are people in this fandom that hate on a ship so much because "insert inane reason here" is like so laughable?

And the discourse on the *actuality* of the ship means diddlysquat?

Like buddie fans are hopeful because there happens to be room for hope.

Bucktommy fans are hopeful because *checks notes and sighs* there happens to be room for hope.

Why, other than wanting to feel superior, would you spend all your time and energy into hating a ship and it's group of fans?

Like instead of rooting for something that would be so crazy amazing to witness and be present for, they would rather demean people who see the possibility of a ship becoming canon/a ship staying canon?

I'm saying we have the freedom to not ship the same thing, and if you can't handle people disagreeing with your ship we have a lovely ability to use the block button or flag tags.

I'm not a personal fan of bucktommy or buddietommy, but those guys are allowed to like their ship and have a space to ship it on this site.

I might make a post about how I think that particular ship was doomed from the start, or reblog a post that talks about why Tommy is a character I can't relate to/dislike, but I would never spend hours of my time trying to make them feel like absolute shit for liking the ship they like, or wanting it to stick around.

When they got that hookup scene most recently I was like "the bucktommys are gonna lose their minds!".

And like, that was that?

But instead we have these massive sections of the fandom that just spend what feels like all their time spiting and cursing at each other??

And they mean it? Like they want to make other human beings on this platform hurt and it's disgusting to see.

I don't know I just find it really sad.

That's it, that's the post.

[mamawasatesttube]

Are you still accepting asks for the ship ask game? Bc if so what are your thoughts on TimSteph?

oh sure, i'll take it!!

Don’t Ship It (gently)

1. Why don’t you ship it?

so when i say i don't ship it i mean like... i like what they had in canon vis a vis "childhood sweethearts driven apart by The Horrors and they can never go back". i love divorce.

but also if i'm being honest, a lot of chuck dixon's writing of steph was really grating to me - the way he bashed ari and later zoanne to prop up steph as the Correct/Better tim love interest (she's Quirky and Fun and #NotLikeOtherGirls!!!) left a kinda bitter taste in my mouth, and made it a lot harder for me to actually like steph or tim/steph as a ship, tbh. and it's really not steph's fault she got juggled from misogynistic shithead writer to misogynistic shithead writer, but it did mean that plotlines like "steph becomes robin in order to spite tim because she saw darla kiss him against his will and didn't stop to ask any questions. this is how teen girls behave right?" made me so tired in robin '93. i honestly enjoyed the times she got to appear without tim more than their relationship, for the most part, but ... oof.

2. What would have made you like it?

lewis getting to write more than like 20 issues of the run before fucking willingham showed up lmao. lewis run was the first time in robin '93 that i actually liked seeing tim and steph together or felt like steph even had much of a character. which is wild because dixon is the one who created her! it's just that dixon only knows how to write two kinds of women: "the old ball and chain" and "quirky whitegirl who throws herself at robin do you like her do you like her do you like her you have to like her!!!!"

as opposed to lewis, who actually gave her depth, like... explained some of how her dad made her childhood shit, went into her complex feelings on him and her relationship with her mom, and made it actually read like she and tim enjoyed spending time with each other, not just "he was a boy. she was a girl. can i make it any more obvious." if he'd stuck on the book i probably would like tim/steph way more than i do.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

oh sure! i think tim and steph have a fascinating dynamic. when you pick through all the issues with dixon and with willingham and with war games and all the writers that could not stop hating steph for the crime of being a girl (which... is a pretty tall order because jesus christ so many of them wrote her so shittily), you can kinda piece together a narrative that is really juicy.

my possibly unpopular steph take is that while i know her post war games and resurrection writing was not very good, i do actually find it compelling that she set assassins on tim at bruce's orders. i think having such a demonstrable and visible example of bruce being the driving force behind every single nail in the coffin of their relationship is fun. like, to me, timsteph is a formative relationship, but never an endgame one. there's a lot of fun stuff to say about them! i just unfortunately struggle to really enjoy picking through the mess of how steph has been written, so they don't compel me all that much.

[saveahorserideaneddie]

just a caual reminder that eddie does not need to kiss, date, or sleep with anyone other than buck to make his queerness any more valid

queer characters don’t need to hookup a bunch of times and date around before settling down because queer people irl don’t have to do that either

there are other ways a character can “let loose” and blow off steam than just throwing them into a hookup plotline, and doing so with eddie would just rehash the buck 1.0 plotline and would be lazy writing

not to mention it being yet another roadblock for buddie canon

like ik it can be frustrating to see the writers refusing to give eddie any care within the story and giving him some sort of happy arc, but that doesn’t mean that the only way he can be happy is by simply dating a man… just like how bt isnt narratively satisfying, eddie dating a random man isn’t going to be narratively satisfying either… i want queer eddie as much as the next person and honestly, if it had been a few seasons ago maybe i wouldn’t be as apprehensive to this kind of arc, but this show isn’t going to last forever… i don’t want them to keep dragging buddie out convoluting the plot by bringing in more li’s for both of them just because the fans are “okay with stepping stone relationships”

we’re entering season 8. we’re entering the 7th year of buddie being a ship. we don’t have time nor need for stepping stone relationships anymore. i know that jealousy and mutual pining arcs are enjoyable, but atp anything prolonging them getting together is just risking us never getting buddie… i don’t want a repeat of s6 where they wind up with shit engame li’s bc they wasted too much damn time dragging their feet and giving them these rando love interests

we also run the risk of fans jumping ship again if eddie were to get a male li that isn’t buck because there are so many people out there who (like w bt) just wanna see eddie kiss a man and once they get that, they’ll ditch the buddie ship, and we’ll once again find ourselves struggling to stay afloat

yes ik this show is a drama, ik slowburns thrive off drama, but this slowburn has been building since s3 (arguably s2 for some of us) it has been beyond enough time for them to keep it a slowburn; they need to actually go through with it now rather than continuing to bait us bc Ryan and Oliver both deserve better storylines to play than that.

i am obviously trying to remain cautious and will not trust the writers to handle things well until they do, but it doesn’t help our cause to be suggesting storylines this late in the game that will only serve to convolute the plot even more than it already is at this point. these tropes are amazing in fics that have no set end date, but 9-1-1 as a show is not going to run forever— we don’t even know if we are even going to get a 9th season yet. This could very well be our last opportunity to get buddie canon, and cheering on plotlines that would push buddie canon even further back on the roster is only going to dilute our chances even more.

i say this with love, not with spite, but i have seen a lot of people wishing for/posting about how they hope to see these storylines play out and i’m here to say we are not in a position for any of these anymore, and that’s just the unfortunate reality of a show entering its 8th season in a television environment where shows are lucky to get past 2 or 3 seasons.

[just-an-elf-with-the-socks]

I've never really talked about any of my other LoTR and Silm ships on here, but I definitely have them and I also thought it would be funny to just make a comprehensive list of why I fucking like them at all

Aralas (Aragorn x Legolas)- This one is so goofy to me but I love it. I enjoy the "childhood best friends turned lovers during the middle of a war" aspect of it and the fact that it's pretty much two horse girls in a romantic relationship. It was mostly dredged up when I saw the rerelease of Fellowship of the Ring in theaters and was like "huh some of this shit looks a little more gay than I remember." Its one hundred percent the least angsty ship of them all and that's saying a lot considering they're one hundred percent not canon. They're cute, simple, and traveling together across Middle Earth as lovers makes me smile.

Angbang (Melkor x Mairon)- Oh boy. If you already follow me you knew this was coming. A lot of this ship revolves around me loving Mairon and his story and also the fact that my heart breaks for him. I love writing them and exploring the dichotomy of how to write them. Canonically they're both terrible people, so it stands to reason they didn't have the healthiest relationship (Mairon got the brunt of it). I love writing about they're doomed from the beginning, about how the people they already are guarantees that they'll crash and burn. But at the same time I like the cheesy, if not a little out-of-character fics of Melkor genuinely caring for him or missing him or realizing he fucked up by treating the only person he's ever loved like shit. I love the fics of Mairon taking care of Melkor, and even the angsty ones where Mairon isn't worth to Melkor half of what he thought he was, that it feels like he was never worth anything to anyone. I also adore the community of Angbang shippers, they're so tightknit and one hundred percent unashamed of everything they write/draw.

Russingon (Maedhros x Fingon)- I represent the duality of shippers that loves Angbang but also adores Russingon and wants to kill Sauron when it comes to the latter ship. Maedhros actually is my favorite Silm character and a lot of that revolves around personal reasons and also the fact that I have a lot of intense feelings about him (as we all do). Russingon is the closest you get to a canon ship beyond Beleg and Turin and the deliberate statements of "they were married" concerning other characters. I'm absolutely not normal about Fingon rescuing him from Thangorodrim, I'm not normal about the Helcaraxe or the First Kinslaying, and I'm sure as hell not normal the mourning that comes with Fingon's body not being able to be brought back. I also legitimately cry at the fics that write Fingon as waiting in the Halls of Mandos for Maedhros to join him because god.

Barduil (Bard x Thranduil)- I saved this one for last because they're my favorite across both mediums of Tolkien works and Thranduil is my favorite character (you wouldn't guess by this blog). Everything about Thranduil as a character breaks my heart once you look into him deeper (I have a type) and realize that the motivations behind most of his actions aren't a result of greed and spite, but a result of intense trauma and grief. And I love Bard because he's literally just a guy. He's just some guy who lives on a lake town with three kids and has a simple job as a bargeman. There was never anything special about him until he became a Dragonslayer, and even then in the Hobbit (the book version) he doesn't kill Smaug with anything special, it just happened to be his last lucky arrow. The two of them couldn't be more different on the surface. But they both lost their wives, they've both raised kids on their own, they were both forced into a position of power before they were ready and they've both seen the horrors of war. I love every fic about them, especially the ones where Bard sees Thranduil's wound for the first time and the ones where Thranduil realizes it's not so scary to let himself love again, even if it doesn't last forever. Also every modern AU is so fucking cute, I can't even deal.

I have other ships but these are the big four and the ones I'm least normal about and have the most vague ramblings of.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #8154:

Harry Potter Fandom: We're making the franchise more diverse to spite JK Rowling!

Also Harry Potter Fandom: And we're doing this by ONLY writing Drarry and Wolfstar fics and ONLY making them all gay trans men!

What pisses me off the most about this, is not just how fuckin' performative it feels, but also the writing potential they're actively ignoring. Including...

Trans Ron Weasley (remember how Molly allegedly wanted a daughter? imagine the angst of a young Ron struggling to tell his mom that he was never the little girl she wanted.)

Hermione Granger just... in general (remember when all of you were making her black? Well now it looks like you're just ignoring her. Make her black, make her trans, make her neurodivergent, make her crusade to save the House Elves actually work! Do SOMETHING with her! ANYTHING!)

Neurodivergent Luna Lovegood (so many "quirky" characters frequently turn out to be neurodivergent in some way; why not Luna?)

Neville Longbottom in general (these days he's just ignored unless someone wants to start Snape discourse, but consider: he and his wife never had children. Ace power couple? Is one or both of them trans? ACE T4T POWER COUPLE????)

Trans, nonbinary, genderfluid, etc. Nymphadora Tonks (gender-nonconforming shapeshifter who hates her traditionally feminine name????? Seriously, y'all were headcanoning her this way for years back in the day and now all of sudden she's being ignored????? OF ALL CHARACTERS, TONKS SHOULD'VE BEEN THE FIRST CHARACTER YOU USED TO SPITE THE TERF!)

Gay Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas (again, y'all were shipping these two for years, but now that Rowling's a TERF suddenly they stopped existing. make them gay! make them trans! make them gay AND trans!)

Charlie "more interested in dragons than women" Weasley (HE'S LITERALLY AROACE! IT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU GUYS AND Y'ALL AREN'T ACKNOWLEDGING IT!)

The massive wasted opportunity that was Dumbledore and Grindelwald's backstory (hey guys, here's an idea: ACTUALLY WRITE GAY DUMBLEDORE FICS???? y'all were whining about Rowling not doing anything with that because she's a queerbaiting piece of shit, but why don't you guys actually do something about it???? Write that old man yaoi! Be the change you want to see in the world!)

Neurodivergent Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne confirmed he's autistic -- which I'm sure Rowling was pissed about -- but why not do something with that? Also, MAKE HIM TRANS TOO! Rowling did that shitty condescending take on how autistic trans men are "too stupid" to know who they really are, spite her by making her one canonically autistic character trans!)

Like, these are just the examples off the top of my head. I'm sure there's plenty more. But for some reason, Drarry and Wolfstar get all the love instead and it annoys me.

[olderthannetfic]

i'm kind of getting really tired of people acting like they're so ambivalent to who tops or bottoms in a ship. like at a certain point it just comes off as arrogant and sounds like "i'm so much better than you because i don't have a preference for top/bottom and i think it's badwrong to treat fictional characters like this because top/bottom is just a position and not personality trait and blahblahblah" and like. sigh. what are fictional characters if not our play things to do with as we please? having a preference for who tops/bottoms is normal, there's nothing wrong with liking whatever you like. shaming people for having a preference is actually crazy and it feels a little purity culture adjacent? it's also very annoying that people like this refuse to tag their fics with who tops or bottoms, like out of spite of hating people who have a preference. like i've literally seen in the notes of a fic "if you care who tops or bottoms this fic isn't for you. i'm not tagging it." and fine, that's fair, i won't read it... but why not just tag for the people who have a preference? what's the big deal? and just as a side note, i have noticed that in certain fandoms the people who behave like this are the ones who tend to characterize their bottoms a certain way. they will parrot "top/bottom isn't a personality trait" but then they are incapable of writing a bottom who isn't characterized *like that*. iykyk. (referring to mostly over-feminization of a very masculine character in canon, or automatically making the smaller/shorter/younger the bottom). if that's what you like, fine! great! but (for example) if you make bucky barnes the bottom of your stucky fic, and you've turned him into this frail waif, or made him completely interchangeable with a woman, i would appreciate a tag so i can avoiding reading it, because in opening a stucky fic, i came here to read about two big beefy masculine men (unless tags stated otherwise), you know? 😂😭 and i don't think there should be anything wrong with wanting that! i don't think there should be anything wrong with wanting to read whatever characterization you want! i just wish people would stop judging or shaming people for having a preference, and would tag their shit accordingly. sorry for the rant!

--

Not judging and knowing what to tag are very different things.

[derseprinceoftbd]

This is a rant I've been meaning to get off my chest for a while, but the conception on Tumblr, AO3, and sometimes here, that Jake is capable of "teasing" Dirk, and all that implies, irks me deeply.

Let me be clear: Jake English is not self-aware. He, in Canon, never does anything resembling self-awareness, maturity, emotional boldness, or anything else that requires a spinal column. This includes apologizing to anyone, talking about his problems in a way that doesn't end up being selfish, teasing someone, particularly Dirk, or transitioning. (I maintain this especially; he does not have the boldness, maturity, self-awareness, or nerve to have transitioned his gender presentation pre-Act-6.)

He has an *understanding* of pranks, if we allow Paradox Space as evidence, but that's it. He makes *Tavros* look like a fully-roleplayed-into-Class-shift Lord.

You know what the popular Fandom perception of Jake, as a member of a DirkJake relationship, lines up with? *John*, before his main writing trait became a deep, all-consuming depression and repression thing.

Like, John’s original Act 5 and earlier characterization before his underreaction to his dad's death and the spiral that sent him down towards his current "transition would not save her" characterization is what people use for Jake (charming, funny, actually seems to have his shit together enough to maybe be transmasc (man, remember *transmasc John*?), and, most importantly, seemingly capable of dealing with the levels of vaguely sociopathic bullshit that an even-close-to-accurate Dirk would throw at him), but DirkJohn/JohnDirk is less popular, to the point of not having a consensus order, simply because Jake and Dirk are *coded* as liking each other.

I think a lot of people miss that DirkJake is fundamentally the Equius of relationships; Hussie isn't one of those writers that feels pride in finding pathos in the ridiculous, but spiteful glee and humor. He genuinely does not care if he accidentally touches people's hearts in a way that doesn't involve Dave, or *maybe* Vriska. The fact is, DirkJake is a joke relationship, which is spelled out very clearly in their conversation.

You know, their conversation. The one they have together. The time we see someone who is actual Dirk Strider, not Hal pretending, not Aranea co-opting a memory, not a Brain Ghost, talking to Jake. That time.

Yeah, that doesn't exist. DirkJohn has as much conversational basis as DirkJake.

Edit:

LESS! GAME OVER! "I FAILED"! LESS!!!

DirkJake is a joke, a long, subtle one being made on everyone who saw Dirk's affections and immediately wanted him to get together with his disabled(?) ongoing harassment victim. Hussie was having a lot of fun making it seem like Jake found it important in the Masterpiece, I'll tell you that much.

@thelifetimechannel/@geejaysmith/@clonerightsagenda did magnificently wringing blood from this stone, I really do mean that, their Alphas are genuinely written better than Canon for 3/4, but that's all it ever was; every DirkJake writer is the YouTube comments under [this video](https://youtu.be/B7bpv5xyrOY?si=wYTCFDHM5ZzOY8fp) saying Equius could ever have been more than what he was.

TL:DR

1, Jake is pathetic, and we should remember this.

2, Hussie is a jackass who hates us one and all for the sin of caring and everything he has done with this franchise since maybe EOY2 has had an ulterior motive, and we should remember this.

3, Most people who write longfics set in SBURBless AUs, whether normalcy or fantasy, and want to ship Dirk and Jake should really be shipping Dirk with John, since now that history of Dirk-Jake interactions that justifies the ship in-Universe is gone at the Author's leasure, John would have the dynamic they want, and they talk *exactly as much*.

4, If you want to trans Jake, [there's a sensible way to do that](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8619856), but there's no in-character way to make him transmasc.

5, Read DDOTA, I beseecheth of you. Like yeah the Striders are emotional to a kinda weird degree but apart from that they really got everyone down right.

[averyangrypossum]

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the

Flowerbroadcast AU!

Based on the two drawings I did of a fankid for the ship radiostatic.

The full-body one

And the one with both Vox and her

And now, I’m gonna tell you all about it and exactly who the fuck this little kid is.

Lotus is the daughter of Vox (as you can tell) and Alastor and is six years old. She was created shortly after Vox and Al broke up, oh yeah I should probably talk about their relationship status. Vox and Alastor, unlike in canon, weren’t only close friends but were dating at some point, mostly because Alastor wanted to manipulate Vox’s feelings to where he’d be more compilable but accidentally took it too far, and since Vox is a piss baby Alastor decided to entertain Vox for a while.

Was this relationship healthy?

NO!

Would Vox say these were the best years of his afterlife?

Yeah.

But anyways, in this au when Vox asks Alastor to “join his team” he was actually proposing and Alastor finally realized,

“Shit maybe this has gone out of hand” and breaks it off with Vox which leaves Vox heartbroken and with an incel breakdown. Now instead of trying to move the fuck on, he has our little darling Lotus, who he has trying to fill the hole that Alastor left.

So obviously having a child for that reason isn’t going to make you a good parent.

Lotus’ relationship with the Vees are as follows in the particular order.

1 Velvette: She does Lotus’s hair everyday and picks out outfits for her to post on her social media before Lotus immediately undos everything that Velvette does and just goes for pigtails and her nightgown. Velvette has wine aunt energy and is probably the only one of the Vees to know how to talk and get through to Lotus.

2 Valentino: Surprising I know, but Lotus doesn’t know what he does to his workers, she knows what he does for work but grew up with thinking that was just something normal since Valentino was never hush hush about his job around her much to Vox’s dismay. Valentino isn’t a big fan of children and doesn’t hang around her often, but sometimes he’ll draw along side her while bitching about a particular show she’s watching even though it’s literally made for kids.

3 Vox: Wow, how bad do you have to fuck up for a pimp who hardly spends time with her to be ranked higher than her own father?? Vox, despite making the conscious decision to have her, he isn’t around like at all. Hes a workaholic through and through, and mostly leaves her with nannies and Velvette. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t love her. Au contraire he loves her with all his heart and soul. Will give her anything except quality time. He uses her more of an accessory than a child.

Now how exactly Lotus was made is up to you.

A robotic creation Vox made? Sure!

Some voodoo magic shit? Yeah!

Some weird magic thing where she kinda just poofed into existence? Why not!

Mpreg? I mean, do what you wanna do ig?

Cuz it really doesn’t matter!

This whole au starts with Lotus running away from the Vee tower to explore hell since she's basically Rapunzel. She gets lost and terrorized by sinners until our deer Alastor rescues her. Seeing his chance to promote the hotel he takes her there where she is offered to stay there by Charlie when Lotus complains about how bad her dad is. She graciously accepts because shes only six but is going through her ��My dad hates me and I hate him” era. Which I mean…I would get that impression too if I didn’t see my dad that much.

Wait my dad lives across the country…don't talk to me rn I’m busy dyeing my hair black and becoming emo 🖤

But anyways she stays there while Vox is loosing his fucking mind, and becoming more mentally unstable.

Meanwhile! She's having the time of her life with the hotel's residents and a new father figure who treats her well and pays attention to her! Alastor! Now Al doesn’t know she is his kid, but that doesn't stop him from being a better dad than Vox out of spite!

Anyways, thats all I have, for now! Stay tuned my friends~

[marytunno]

- play Jacob and the stone -

I felt inspired by this quote from the writer Lena Karla, in its heartbreaking simplicity it made me think about a lot of stuff...

But since in here I post mostly about Arya Stark and Gendrya I'll use my emotions to write about that.

No one asked me in particular but I am a yapper anyways... I wanted to answer, mostly for myself, about two questions about this paring.

1 Why do I personally ship Gendrya

2 Do I think they'll be endgame (spoiler I'm losing hope on twow ever being published yey)

I can count on one, ok maybe both, hands the ships in books and general media that I care about. I like most canon ships and the ones I dislike don't interfere much with my viewing experience, but I rarely feel a connection. Gendrya is an exception, I really, really care about these two. Without getting too personal... I love Arya's character so deeply, I started reading the books ( and watching the show) when I was very young, too young heheh, and so, the characters I could relate to and really understand were few, Arya being the main one. I can't say I have been through the same traumatic shit she has, but I know too well what it means to watch your family slowly die, suffer, disappear without being able to do anything about it, feeling just like the helpless kid I was. I know really well the anger, the self doubt, the fear, the numbness, the confusion that Martin was able to write in Arya's and other young character's chapters. I wasn't drawn to Asoiaf as the "wine and tits" thing, or for the over the top violence, I still feel like it's kinda well balanced and never too much btw, but because I saw deeply human characters experiencing loss like I was and I couldn't look away. What I always looked for in these pages, in this story, were the moments of light, of warmth, the moments that proved that even in the middle of the horrors of war and hate and manipulations some people care, some people get up every time they fall, some people come back for you, always. This to say that Gendrya, as a friendship mainly, is one of those moments of light in these books. I relate so deeply to the feeling of being alone, on the run, angry... and the way these characters find in each other a safe place, the way they trust each other, they fight, they speak the same words at the same time, they come back to each other... has me truly invested. They work very well together, have opposite upbringings and yet similar ideals, different personalities and yet the same temper... They have a way to challenge and bring out the best in each other. He is always there in her chapters, a presence almost given for granted until the harsh world they live in pulls them apart. I feel like the only stronger relationships Arya has are the ones with her family, mainly Jon, and I can't wait for her to be reunited to those who are still alive (or half alive hehe)... but I feel that there is still space for Gendry in her life, Arya had so so so much love to give, not per se in a romantic way, and we know our boy definitely needs some. All this to say I once was an angry and lost kid ( kinda still am haha) and I love seeing two lost and angry kids, in spite of everything, taking care of each other.

Yey so it's time for answer n2. As I have spoiled before... I kinda don't believe in Asoiaf to be ever finished, I sure hope, but ya know... So to me we will never know and Gendrya will stay as a great connection and friendship that could have turned romantic in some future... to me not knowing if they will ever be endgame doesn't spoil what we already have... I sure hope, if the books ever get published, that Arya gets to meet again most people she has left in westeros... From a narrative stand point it makes sense for her to cross paths again with the brotherhood (LSH yey) and having someone she can trust on her side wouldn't hurt. I don't rule out a romantic development, rebuilding their friendship to me would be more than enough, because I feel like Grrm could really easily go that way and most experiences Arya is having in essos are about her growing up into a woman. I mean we have to face it she won't be a child forever and I feel like she would love having her own family, her own pak to love fiercely. Even if one of them dies or they part ( I don't see them doing that easily after meeting again but who knows) I feel like the end of a relationship/friendship doesn't make it less beautiful and meaningful. For sure Arya could have other love interests but, I'm not into incest and actually having a brother that I love so so much, incest is kind of unthinkable to me (not sorry hehe) and in general most men in Asoiaf are not that great ( at least as partners let's be honest) and I want Arya to be with someone that loves and respects her for who she is and doesn't want to force her into standards that shouldn't even exist.

ok... I feel like nothing I said was coherent but who cares haha... at least the edit is kinda nice... in my mind it takes place while they are separated and think they'll never meet again... but if someone ( cough cough George) decides to write maybe that separation won't have to last forever.

An update: I'm writing something right now that I would define as a "what if" in the og asoiaf universe... I hope I'll be able to post it soon...

Byeee <3

[eliotquillon]

House/Stacy

Cuddy/Wilson

HOUSE/STACY: Ship it

1) what made you ship it?

oh look i don’t like being told what to do and also saw a female character being treated like shit by fandom. shocker. i promise i am fuelled by more than just spite. actually what really pushed me over the edge was rewatching s2 with my mum and her being VERY pro house/stacy in a way that made me re-evaluate the whole thing and really root for them. and i mean…house and stacy get each other, y’know? she is explicitly his longest canon romantic relationship. it’s so easy to see how what can sometimes feel like mean-spirited jabs in s2 would’ve been playful teasing back before things went wrong. and also they really do have amazing on-screen chemistry

2) what are your favourite things about the ship?

the HISTORY!! five whole years unaccounted for. how we see shadows and spectres of what they were in s1 and s2, but it’s never quite the same. and also the camchase parallels drive me fucking bonkers in the best way possible. i think it’s so so interesting in particular how stacy is kind of defined by what we don’t know—she’s mrs warner, we never know her maiden name. she’s hinted at and outlined WELL before she ever appears, but never in detail. it’s such a tender spot. and i imagine on the flipside—for mark hearing about house from her—it’s the same. the whole relationship is like a bruise. makes me SICK!!!!

3. is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

i also like and ship huddy, but stacy really was the [romantic] love of house’s life. if the infarction hadn’t happened it is difficult for me to picture them breaking up otherwise. also controversially while they were together i don’t actually think it was a super tumultuous relationship—passionate and maybe a bit a little tempestuous, but never truly rocky pre-infarction. ok word

CUDDY/WILSON: Don’t ship it

1) why don’t you ship it?

quite frankly because with the exception of amber wilson is awful to his romantic partners and cuddy deserves better. also cuddy is a workaholic who is notoriously bad at having a personal life. i just think they’re a bit too unevenly yoked for it to be fun for me even in a doomed toxic way

2) what would have made you like it?

IRONICALLY. if there hadn’t been that weird courting dance between them in s3. i like them as friends, and as part of the messy Adult Trio with house; i think that desire had remained unexplored in canon there’d be more places for me to go with it. but it is explored, and it is…sweet but kind of pathetic and emphasises why they wouldn’t work as a duo. keeping it vague and tangled would have left it to the imagination and that is where i Cook :)

3) despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

see above: i like their platonic relationship, and the broader house/cuddy/wilson relationship triangle. and i do like that there’s a bit of vulnerability they reserve just for each other; cuddy hugging him during wilson’s heart, wilson keeping the secret of her deciding to adopt (even from house!). even wilson being her (rejected) first choice of sperm donor…the subtext here is really really lovely. i just wish it had stayed sub, because it’s more interesting to me than the more explicit expressions of romantic interest imo