#sighs. anyway. yeah

[betweenlands]

feel free to ignore/delete this ask for any reason, but i need to ask someone because i can't tell if i'm imagining things or not, and i know you've sort of talked about things like this before, but has there been a large jump in... not always active arophobia, but in the amatonormativity in mcyt fandom spaces lately? it feels like things go untagged, there's a larger focus on romance and love, and the active aphobia that there is just goes quietly unmentioned by the majority, and all of these more than before. this isn't me trying to say shipping's bad or anything, i don't have a problem with it, just that this fandom has felt so alienating lately for some reason and i can't figure out whether it's because something's changed in the fandom itself or not

i think this is genuinely a really interesting topic to talk about so i'm giving this a kinda longer response!

(tl;dr -- it's not just you and things have changed, but it's also not what you might think; this is how most non-mcyt fandoms are)

so! to start with, more than ever i think the amatonormativity thing depends on the specific sub-fandom you're in. qsmp's a huge outlier; by virtue of having canon relationships it brings itself more in line with the average fandom in terms of how much people talk about ships (being in a non-mcyt fandom or two helps for perspective on this. i s2g half the tag for murder drones is just ship wars. nonstop ship wars. please stop i want to discuss lore).

with qsmp being such a genuinely interesting outlier (it's something the english mcyt fandom hasn't seen in a while in terms of a series with explicitly canon relationships being mainstream) i think that causes a lot of people to really want to post about these relationships, because like... people feel strongly about being able to express this aspect of their interests in a way they weren't able to before, i think? we've never personally been interested in shipping stuff (with like maybe 5 exceptions ever across all fandoms we've ever been in) but the attitude towards shipping used to be so INCREDIBLY hostile that i think people take their ability to post ship stuff very personally.

i'm not sure about other series, though -- this is where things get weird, because we're not really in mainstream mcyt fandom right now. we don't follow a lot of hermitshippers, but most of them generally tag their stuff? on reblogs it's a bit more sloppy but i also think a lot of people tend to just put "i post [server]shipping content" in their bios as like a blanket reminder and leave it at that

all that said, i don't think it's intentional amatonormativity, or even remotely malicious. i do think we're seeing a lot more ship content than usual/it's a little more difficult to find platonic stuff than it used to be in general mcyt fandom -- this VERY much varies based on series, though. we currently main dominion/adjacent and there's not shit for ship stuff there (to be fair, there's also not a lot of fandom in general, it's Mad Small), whereas with something like trafficseries there's a lot of focus placed on shipping partly because that series is Heavily About character dynamics.

am i tired of seeing ship content as like the main product of fandom? oh, absolutely, but that's nothing new -- that's been the case since before we had this blog, before we were even in mcyt fandom at all. fandoms are just Like This, which can absolutely be exhausting if you're not here for ship content, but this sort of thing is not uncommon for any more mainstream fandoms.

so, yes, it's not just you, there's more amatonormativity in mcyt fandom than there used to be -- because it's starting to act more and more like most fandoms, and therefore is reflecting the amatonormativity most fandoms have, whereas before there was such a hostile attitude towards shipping that this absolutely Could Not be the case.

it sucks in some ways, but at the same time it's very important to note: this is not a new problem. this is an old problem. this is a problem as old as fandom itself, and mcyt fandom is only just getting to a place where people have stopped tearing each other's throats out long enough to act like most other fandoms do.

anyway shoutout to jaidenanimations. aroace icon👍

[theoldkyokodied]

One wedding and three funerals

Background paintings under the cut

[weirdglassthing]

LOA Shiptober Day 4: How They Met

October content month was ambitious..

This one took me. Shockingly long. Whoops! I’ll probably end up jumping around the prompt list and it might extend into November 😋

I’ll try to do day 31 on the actual date of Halloween though 🫡

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

If I was in a lucid dream with a ghost, I would simply impress them with my blunt rolling skills

[knifearo]

ultimately when it comes to shipping and fandom space treatment of aspec characters i just don't accept "aro/ace people can still date/have sex" as an answer from nonaspecs. like yeah. mhm. okay. now i think we both know that you're not saying that out of real interest in the diversity of aspec experiences. so you can turn in your seventeen-page essay on why and how you plan to examine this character's aspec identity within the context of a romantic or sexual relationship complete with evidence from canon and peer reviews from multiple aspec people within the next week or i'm putting you in the pit from the edgar allen poe story

[tavysboy]

No other love can warm my heart, now that I’ve known the comfort of your arms.

Unedited version under cut 💛

[little-pondhead]

Day 2: Wish

“You should have stopped wishing for more after you got rid of me.”

Y’all remember Desiree’s backstory, right?

[justlikearat]

I got back into Percy Jackson… and by Percy Jackson i mean Leo Valdez (he is literally me) my middle school self is healing!!!!

Anyway for those who care have some sort of shitty doodles of him i did in like 30 minutes bc i love him deeply. Uhm… percy jackson fans does anyone want to be moots… i like valgrace and stuff… *kicks my feet*

[dipperscavern]

more thoughts about this.. a sinister grin has appeared on my face

you honestly don’t remember what it was about. something along the lines of the lannisters taking you by surprise during the night, or sending you sansa’s head in the morning. either way, whatever it was had you shooting up, a hand on your chest as you’re pulled from a dead sleep. fear engulfs you, tendrils crawling up your spine, suffocating as they enclose around your neck.

the room was dark, candles having been put out long ago when you both retired for the night, bodies desperate for sleep. it’s ironic now, you insisted on putting the candles out, saying something about how you’d both sleep better in the dark. and in this moment, you wish more than anything that they were here, illuminating the tent with a yellow-tinted glow. your mind is hazy with fear, as your instincts scream at you to get some light on — a primal urge to need to see your surroundings in case you weren’t really safe. the rational part of your mind that’s just waking up tells you there’s no need. you’re with robb, he’s right next to you. he’d kill for you- die for you. you’re safe.

it’s like he can hear your thoughts. a hand reaches out for you, bringing you out of your head as you look in its direction, forgetting you won’t be able to see its owner. his hand is blindly looking for you, a half-asleep robb doing his best to assess the disruption of your sleep. you swallow, moving to wrap your hand around his. his touch anchors you, your mind focusing on the warmth emanating from him, instead of the nightmare that had you awake in the first place.

“y’okay?”

his voice breaks through the thick atmosphere, slicing its way through the small bubble you’ve built around yourself. part of you wants to tell him the truth, that no, you’re not okay. there’s surprise armies & headless men haunting your dreams, and you need him to be a big bad wolf and chase them off for you. but the other part of you knows he’d stay up as long as it took to make you feel better, and he gets so little sleep as is. it takes a lot to drag him from his work, and actually have him sleep a whole night through- without waking up in the middle of it to fuss over his war maps. the rational side of you reminds you of his devotion, and how he’d never mind helping you — which is true, he wouldn’t, but rationalism doesn’t win this time.

“yes- yes, m’fine, go back to sleep.”

“you’re a bad liar.”

you dread him not believing you, but a small, guilty part of you is glad he doesn’t, that he knows you so well. that he knows your hurried tone, your irregular pattern of breathing means you are definitely not fine.

what would have made you roll your eyes any other time, has you huffing out a breath of laughter as he sits up. the hand of his you aren’t holding comes to soothingly rub up & down your back, mimicking when you & catelyn would do the same to comfort him.

“c’mon, talk to me pretty. what’s got you up, hm?”

his gentle coaxing does wonders to break your resolve, cutting through your “will of steel” like butter. you sigh.

“no- robb, it’s silly.”

“thats not what i asked,” his tone grows firm, authority dripping from his voice, “whats botherin’ you?”

“jus’ a nightmare.”

your voice is quiet, borderline guilty. you & robb are at war- you’ve killed people with zero hesitation, stood up to men twice your size, and a nightmare is your kryptonite? it makes you feel silly, and you don’t want to bother robb with it, he should be able to rely on his lady.

“they took us by surprise. while we slept.”

robb is quick to reassure you. “anyone that wants to get to you has to get past me.”

you hum in agreement, body relaxing at his words. you already knew this, but hearing him say it made you believe it. you take comfort in knowing greywind is laid asleep by the door- you sleep guarded by not one, but two wolves.

“how can i fix it?”

the silence is palpable as you search for an answer, mind mulling over all the solutions you could think of, trying to pick the one that would settle you most. you find one soon enough, hoping your request isn’t too much to ask.

“make me forget? please?”

robb murmurs agreement, and even with darkness coating the room- you can hear his smile. it’s no secret that robb desires you. every hour of every day he thinks about you, & his favorite thing to do is fix your problems. what better thing is there than doing both at the same time? and plus, you asked so nicely…

so he makes you forget. his lips trail all over your body, licking & sucking at any skin they can reach, making your brain mushy with his touch. he slides his fingers into the warm, wet place between your thighs, making you gush all over his hand to prep you to take his cock. all the while, he praises you, reassurance falling from his lips while he lines his cock with your entrance, making you squirm from the sensitivity.

“robb-“

“shh- i know, pretty. s’okay, i’ve got you. i’ve got you.”

& afterwards, when you’ve cum twice and lay spent in robb’s arms, sleep pulling you closer — you secretly thank the gods. you thank them for nightmares & wolves.

[necromosss]

Referring to the last post/reblog 🫶 ocs' physical traits that helps me be confident with mine own.

[lattesqueeze]

[nightmarearian]

blood dripped from Poseidon's mouth, red.

red.

the day they overthrew Kronos, child-eater (stomach acid crawling around them, after maw of teeth grazing his small, child body), his golden ichor bled red.

god blood, degraded into a mortal's.

the day Typhon, father of monsters (as big as their father was, as big as the Titans with sharp claws and teeth) ripped out Zeus' tendons, his blood was red.

Poseidon, god of the tides, son of Kronos, looked up at the dark shape stood above him, his own golden trident in his hand, the teeth like prongs drenched in red.

Odysseus is a mortal. was a human.

sharp webbed ears spread out on the side of their head, scales grew around their neck and arms, shining like a coral reef, illuminated by their growing red eyes, that were shrunken to slits.

Odysseus' teeth glinted in the lightning, showing their unnaturally sharp point.

monster.

[ghastlyaffairs]

for something as trivial and simple those feelings sure are hard to get rid of

also made a gif a version for fun + alt version with no tears under the cut

the gif is in very low resolution...this is a feature (i could make it bigger but that would require saving each frame individually and than glueing it all together. also i feel like low resolution suits it better. aesthetically and fits the mood)

[quibbs126]

I need to figure out how to draw Transformers at this point

I have this comic idea in my brain, where basically a post TF One Optimus sees Earthspark Optimus and Megatron, and he just goes internally “THE WEDDING IS BACK ON”, thinking that this means he and D will get back together (only to be disappointed when he meets the other Optimuses (Optimi I think is actually the correct term by Latin standards?) and realizes that this is the exception)

But alas, I do not yet know how to draw them, and I have a test and then work today, and also a thing I was supposed to do for a video game project I’m in that I haven’t, so I can’t draw my image yet

Which sucks because it’s infinitely less funny when I have to describe the scene verbally rather than just show it to you

If I do end up making it, I’ll delete this and post it instead

[bougiebutchbinch]

once again I am yelling - don't fucking send me bottom!logan content. seriously. I'm turning off this fandom entirely because of this. is it really that fucking difficult to respect someone's preferences.

[spider-man-2o99]

individual stills of miguel Scampering on all fours and showing off his more distinct individual movement style (that he has because of his spider-man's Similar-but-still-distinctly-Weird-and-unique powers as compared to the more-graceful Others) so that i don't have 2 keep rewinding the clip(s) to see it. im REALLY excited to see him scuttling and skittering all over the place in the film just like he does in the comics-- and, like, seriously, Miguel Specifically being just. made Massive for some reason in his atsv design will never NOT be funny to me hes SO freakin Bouncy why did they Do That.

don't be Weird on my post or i'll kill you for real