#so I secretly wish everyone in my fave fandoms could be like me and we could exist in a non-commercial state of suspended time forever

[hag-lad]

The pain, the despair, the unmitigated agony of seeing one of your fave fanfic writers move onto another fandom, seemingly never to return.

[incorrectolivia]

I think it’s time to talk about the real issue of why people don’t like Gina/Rina. We all know that half of the fandom issue with Gina still is her race and personality. I started becoming a hsmtmts/Gina/Rina fan back in 2020 but secretly been hiding it due to the drama within the show. I have seen a lot of racist things being throw toward Gina/Sofia/Rinas when the show starts in 2019 even though the show had three season comments such as (wishing her character Gina to be ****** off from the show,R*** fans spamming other Rinas accounts calling them rude and disrespectful names. We all seen the way half the fandom reacts whenever there’s a Rina scene on the show. When R***and p* would call Rina a toxic couple just because they don’t like that Ricky could possibly like or love Gina. So, they come up with different and really stupid comments that doesn’t make scenes at all.Or the way Ricky is shipped with anyone else who isn’t Gina. I’m a Woc myself. Sadly that upset me to see that woc characters are not considered to be good enough love interest for their male leads in shows/movies. Now Rinas actually have made such great points on why they ship Rina which i agreed with. Rinas are not the big bad that half the fandom thinks that they are.

there are many other reasons(at least the ones I have seen) why people claim that they don't like gina or rina. I don't really engage with antis so I don't get to see so much of the nasty stuff even though things like that inevitably ends up on my timeline somehow. I'm just encouraging everyone to keep hyping our faves as much as we can because the antis are sadly increasing by the numbers and constantly engaging them doesn't do us any good since they're already adamant with their dislike for rina and even gina.

[panharmonium]

@merlinobsessionist you understand me on a spiritual level

[putting the rest of this under a cut because it just ended up being me grumping at length about fandom trends - which, yes, i am well-aware is a silly endeavour in all cases, but sometimes you just gotta have your little grump regardless, you know, for health reasons. X)  and in this particular case the grumping is probably relevant/entertaining only to myself, and you, and one or two other people here, so, tucking it away to spare everyone’s dash :) ]

the other day i was exploring the mostly abandoned wasteland that is the merlin fandom on livejournal (since that’s my original fandom home and obviously i missed out on being involved in that particular niche of lj when merlin was active, so i was feeling nostalgic and kinda curious as to it had looked like) - i stumbled over a merlin fic-finders comm and looked up my boy william just for kicks, and surprisingly, a couple of the old requests sounded like maybe i WAS involved in the merlin fandom on livejournal back then and i just don’t remember it

i think i wrote this in a past life

this is an eleven year-old comment in a mostly defunct fandom community but i felt it in my BONES

oh, my dear commenter from 8 years ago, i WISH  XD

it made me laugh, and then it made me grumpy, because obviously there were very few suggestions offered in response to these asks - the fics just don’t exist, not in any numbers.

and like, the thing is, i don’t particularly care about the shipping side of things for the most part; i always lean towards gen and that’s mostly been it, for me; that’s always been my MO in every fandom i’ve ever participated in, but - look.  if i have to witness (*checks ao3*) 23,830 (twenty four thousand. twenty four THOUSAND!!!!) instances of merlin getting together with arthur hecking pendragon, over and over and over again, in every AU configuration under the sun, then you had better believe i am ready and willing to plead the case of the only person in the merlin-verse who did not think arthur pendragon deserved merlin’s entire life.  

and of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with arthur and merlin as an item, obviously (i mean, i can name a few things about it that don’t appeal to me personally, but that is not the same thing as a value judgment) and everybody should have fun with their own ships, always - but for me, personally, there is just...enough of that out there.  i have seen Enough.  it’s hard for me to even determine where the rest of the fandom is, under the ever-present spread of merlin/arthur content; a picture of merlin/arthur should literally be next to the dictionary entry for steamroller.

and of course, i knew it would be like this from the beginning, and i know complaining about the ubiquitousness of a particular ship in fandom is utterly silly, in the end, because it’s not like there’s anything wrong with something being ubiquitous - the whole point of fandom is to make what you love, and if that’s what everybody loves, well, hey, that’s just how it is!  that’s what people should be making - the stuff they love!  that’s what fandom is here for!  i only mutter to myself in the bubble of my own blog because the ubiquitousness makes it almost impossible for me to find what *i* love, because i don’t want to read about arthur/merlin in the first place, no matter who else appears in the fic, and also because my fave minor character, while he gets a pretty good amount of fannish screentime for someone who showed up in one episode, also suffers from the curse known as “virtually everything he features in is actually about merlin and arthur getting it on”

like - by the numbers, when you exclude merlin/arthur from will’s character tag, will retains less than 20% of his fics, some of which are already like...you know, he’s dead, or just mentioned, et cetera.  

and his poor ship tag...he and merlin have 136 fics in their tag, and at first you wanna look at that and be like - ‘hey, not bad, pal, that’s p. good for a rarepair!’  but in actuality, less than 20 of those fics are actually about him and merlin.  like...12% of his own ship tag actually belongs to him, and the rest is him being used as a plot device to get arthur and merlin together.

and i am sure that a lot of other side characters probably suffer from this, too, given the general fic distribution in this fandom, though the only person i’ve looked at for comparison purposes is freya, who is a (mostly) one-ep character like will.  she, despite that, doesn’t appear to get hit quite as hard - she seems to keep more of her fic for herself, which is nice (when i exclude merlin/arthur from the freya/merlin search, freya still retains about 65% of her fics, as opposed to will’s sad little 12%).  i’m glad for her, though - she of all people does not need to be losing fic to arthur; she has suffered enough. 

to put things in perspective, though - merlin and uther have more fics in their ship tag that earnestly focus on the tagged....hnhhmgnhn i can’t say it...relationship than merlin and will do - even filtering out every instance of dubcon/noncon.  

(and yes, i did in fact want to die when i had to actually click the merlin/uther tag on ao3 in order to check that factoid, thanks for asking.)

so, that said - i don’t generally read canon-era fic anyway, when i’m actively writing for a fandom, but since the merlin fandom sometimes feels like it consists solely of modern AU’s anyway, all i am trying to say is that it would be nice if i could pick up an AU including a character i enjoy without seeing him constantly reduced to:

merlin’s loser ex

merlin’s abusive ex (w h at)

merlin’s ex who’s kinda sorta tolerable-ish, maybe, if you squint, but just ultimately Not Right for merlin - holding merlin back, or being too overbearing, or too pushy, or Just Not Enough - or being someone who merlin stays with only bc he’s familiar and merlin’s settling for something safe and unrisky and stagnantly unfulfilling

the dude who merlin cheats on to be with arthur

the dude who cheats on merlin, bc the fic needed a reason to break up merlin and will so that white-knight!arthur could swoop in (cue me shouting ‘IN WHAT UNIVERSE DO YOU THINK WILL WOULD EVER - ’)

the dude merlin “makes mistakes with” when things with arthur aren’t going well

the friend-with-benefits who’s apparently chill with a casual arrangement, thus keeping himself conveniently out of the way of the oncoming merlin/arthur train

the friend-with-benefits who’s secretly NOT chill with a casual arrangement and who’s pining for merlin, except we all know that ain’t ever going anywhere because arthur exists, and in the meantime merlin only ever gets together with will to try and forget his problems

the friend-with-no-benefits who’s still pining for merlin (which situation, i might add, would be read completely differently if it were arthur in will’s shoes, because if that were the case then the audience would 100% be rooting for him)

the “best friend” whose only purpose in fic is to provide space for conversations/debriefs about merlin’s relationship/pre-relationship with arthur (like - i’m sorry, but there desperately needs to be some type of bechdel-esque test for will; e.g. do will and merlin have a conversation about something other than arthur pendragon?  if yes, u win, u may pass go, collect 20 dollars, congratulations)

the friend whose dislike of arthur always, ALWAYS ends up being framed as a mistake.  as will’s stubborn unwillingness to give arthur a chance, until at last will sees the light and succumbs to the irresistible beauty of merlin and arthur’s eternal love. -_-  there is vanishingly rare acknowledgement in fic of the fact that in the canon universe, all of the criticisms will makes about merlin and arthur’s relationship are not only accurate, but made in merlin’s best interests (and also, ultimately, proven right, by the end of the show - merlin tanks his whole damn life for a series of empty promises prophesying arthur pendragon’s future potential, and he gets NOTHING for his devotion.  merlin is more alone at the end of the show than he was at the beginning, when his only dream was to be loved and accepted by more than the two people who’d comprised his entire life up until that point.  and he spends at least half a decade in between the show’s hopeful beginning and its miserable end being told that he’s evil by the very person for whom he is expected to sacrifice his future.  

so what, exactly, makes will so wrong to be wary?  who among us wouldn’t be angry if we saw somebody we loved being forced to sacrifice themselves on an unforgiving altar like this?  

i don’t know the answer.  i’m not sure what it is that earns will his spot on the “destined to be shafted for arthur pendragon” list.  i don’t know if it’s an unconscious backlash to will’s refusal to hop on the arthur/merlin train, or if it’s just a superficial understanding/lack of genuine interest in his character, which, in that case, sure, i’ll give people that one, in all fairness; not everyone has spent a year picking his character apart (though i still don’t think it justifies tossing him in there just because the fic needs a random insert who can be positioned as inferior to arthur’s gloriousness).  either way, the end result is that we usually end up seeing a will who has very little in common with his source material, or who needs to ultimately step aside to make way for arthur - arthur, who never displays the same level of care toward merlin in canon that merlin shows toward him, and who actively oppresses merlin’s people for the entire duration of their relationship.  

like...it’s all just fic, obviously, and we can make characters as OOC as we want; have fun; go wild.  but at the same time, it’s impossible for me not to balk at how arthur in some of this fic is just - utterly unrecognizable.  in comparison with fic!will, arthur is the most Solicitous, Gentle, Understanding, Deeply Concerned, Invested-In-Merlin’s-Welfare-and-Inner-Thoughts creature you ever did see, and I’m just over here like - it is not like that!  it is NOT LIKE THAT!  IT HAS LITERALLY NEVER BEEN LIKE THAT.  arthur pendragon in fic sometimes interacts with merlin like - he tilts his head and listens like a therapist and affirms absolutely everything merlin says and tells him ‘gosh, i understand. tell me more. how can i help you’ - he goes about his day thinking about merlin and putting merlin first and i just - i literally have never seen this person before in my life.  who is this man?  who is this unbelievably attentive paragon of caring?  i’ve never met him before.

the entire running problem with merlin and arthur’s friendship in canon is that arthur, while he absolutely does care about merlin, tends to take merlin for granted.  merlin is just another feature of arthur’s landscape, until something dramatic happens and arthur has a little scare and saves merlin’s life, and then things go back to the way they were.  arthur doesn’t See merlin the way he should, not in the ordinary moments.  merlin goes home and spends his evenings thinking about arthur’s life; he ties himself in knots trying to help arthur develop as a person and to keep arthur safe and happy, but arthur just goes home and eats supper with his wife.  arthur does not go home and spend his nights agonizing over how he can improve merlin’s life.  he never once thinks, ‘my purpose on this earth is to serve and support my friend merlin.’  he never feels like he’s supposed to be half of some two-sided coin.  i know people like to give arthur this quality in their fic - and that’s totally fine, of course, it’s fic, have as much fun as you want - but in canon, that is just not something arthur pendragon does.  it’s not who he is shown to be.  

and yet almost every time when i go to explore fandom, i find that the person who does put merlin first in canon is perpetually elbowed aside for this extremely generous interpretation of everyone’s favorite prince.  

and i just...i always try to find the good bits in everything, and i am sometimes willing to overlook a ship i don’t personally enjoy if there’s something else about the piece that i think is great, but there’s only so many times i can read the sentence “merlin had never felt like this with anyone, not even will” in fics where merlin and will are supposed to have been dating or even married/engaged, or “will was merlin’s best friend, but he just didn’t understand” (not like arthur, of course, who merlin literally just met a week ago), or “will was great, but there was only so much of him merlin could stand in one sitting/will was great, but he was best enjoyed in small doses.”  there’s only so many times i can read a hundred different variations of that before i start to get real grumpy.  and that’s not even touching the fics where will’s portrayed less favorably than that, even.  

so, you know.  i feel grumbly about it sometimes, how this particular character is trapped in a perpetual net of always being less-than, when one of the nicest parts of fandom for me is that every character/ship can have an infinitude of possibilities, even the ones i personally think are unbelievably bizarre (which category merlin and will do not even fall into, like - it’s not an incredible leap.  merlin/mordred is a leap, okay; mordred is like seventeen years old!  leon/morgana is a leap - how on earth did that become so popular??? - but will and merlin?  that’s not a leap.)

what is it about will that makes him so tempting to trample over?  will’s only sin in canon was to look at arthur pendragon and pronounce himself utterly unimpressed.  his only crime was to tell merlin ‘this dude isn’t good for you,’ about which fact he was CORRECT, by the way - he is the first person who ever chooses to care about merlin, the first person merlin ever chooses to trust, the first friend who loves real!merlin without needing to be coaxed and convinced and taught that it’s okay.  he is the only one who ever tells merlin ‘you deserve better than this mess,’ the only one for whom merlin has always been priority number one and in whose eyes arthur isn’t even on the map.  merlin’s friendship with will (and lancelot, afterwards) is the healthiest one merlin ever gets to experience, and i wish more fannish material acknowledged it as such, as opposed to using will to set up merlin and arthur’s epic romance.  

all of this, i suppose, is just a very long way of saying that now that i am no longer avoiding spoilers and have actually started testing the waters of the wider fandom, i have come to the obstinate, utterly inflexible conclusion that will deserves his own collection of happy endings, and i don’t care if i have to write them myself.  i’ve already got the gen angle covered.  and even though i’ve never written ship!fic in my life, the fact of the matter is that spite can be a hell of a motivator, and i will bite the bullet and learn how to do it if i have to.  if people can really be out here tagging their merlin/uther fics as “schmoop” (YES. REALLY.) then by GOD, i swear, there are no excuses - this fandom can accommodate literally anything; there’s no reason it can’t accommodate stories where will wins.  let this kid have his good ending.  arthur pendragon can fall in love with merlin 23,830 times despite his and merlin’s ship flying in the face of canon, and that means will deserves his own tiny handful of stories to be actually about him, without his and merlin’s relationship being used solely as a stepping stone on the way to merlin and arthur’s 23,831st triumph.

i am just saying - if uther pendragon can fall in love with merlin and have it tagged as ‘fluff,’ then for the love of all that is good, we can give will his moment.  let will enjoy the respect he should have earned from us when he died saving both merlin and arthur’s lives.  let will be a person in his own right, instead of a plot device sacrificed to the (in)glorious altar of merthur.  let will have an inner life of his own.  let will have a best friend who doesn’t treat him like an accessory to The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.  let will himself live out The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, for once.  let will get his guy.  i may tend to focus on friendship in my own work, but there are a lot of universes out there, and when it comes to someone who has always been so alone, and so singularly focused on merlin’s wellbeing, i’m not entirely sure if friendship even feels anything different to “in love” for will at all, in at least some of these places.

let will have his happy tags.  he’s been on his own for so much of his life - let him have his simple ‘friendship’, his ‘platonic love,’ his ‘found family.’  let him have his lovestruck ‘pining,’ ‘friends-to-lovers,’ ‘angst with a happy ending,’ too, and let him keep those tags for himself.  let characters who aren’t arthur pendragon have their love stories.

i may not care much for shipping, and i would rather read gen any day of the week, but let me tell you right now, i would rather write will and merlin settling down in a haze of domestic bliss 23,830 times before i would ever want to watch merlin ditch him yet again for a dude who never matched merlin’s level of caring and investment in the canon ‘verse.

[runnfromtheak]

fanfic author’s tagging game (yay!)

Thank ya darling for tagging me!!!! @boyblunder-thedarkheir!!!!!

AO3 Name(s): LostandLonelyBirds aka RUNNFROMTHEAK

Fandom(s): Primarily Batfamily (so, Dick Grayson) and Young Justice (along with DCU obviously, but I also dabble into Miralculous Ladybug, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, and MCU (none of which I will ever seriously write for? Idk man).

Number of fics: 22 I will admit to (how do you have so many, my dear @boyblunder-thedarkheir​? What is your secret?)

1. Fic you spent the most time on: Are we talking writing or thinking about writing, cause those are two very different answers. I spent the most time writing this bitch of a fic I’m working on right now, and the most time thinking about the two latest installments of my main series, Death is But An Illusion (aka How Could He and How Could It Be). I agonize over every goddamn detail with Dick’s anger, Jason’s Jason-ness, and every person’s every move and word. I am a mess, and I’m going to be murdered if I don’t update them soon. I am not sorry about that XD

2. Fic you spent the least time on:  You Came Behind Me Secretly and Shattered Every Piece of Me (There's Blood On My Hands) aka my pick-your-own-canon clusterfuck of Dark!Dick Grayson and Dick Grayson being traumatized and tortured with no comfort (Some of them are so fucked up I question my own mind). I take less than an hour to write 80% of them, cause they’re short, and they very rarely take any time to plan. Fun and easy!

3. Longest Fic: At present, he had a chest full of heart and a body full of scars (pain became the only way that he could ever learn)  is my longest, but the fic I’ve been hinting at on my other tumblr, @lostandlonelybirds​ is easily double the length (why do I do this to myself? Why am I like this?) the long boi (named one, not the one I won’t shut up about) is easily my best fic at the moment, and I’m so excited to write a sequel whenever I get the chance.

4. Shortest Fic: With Bated Breath and Pain You See (We're Nothing More Than Memories) technically, I have one shorter than that, but it’s a collab that wasn’t my original idea so I’m not counting it :)

5. Most Hits: You Came Behind Me Secretly and Shattered Every Piece of Me (There's Blood On My Hands) why do you people like this trash-fire so much? I don’t understand

6. Most Kudos:  How Could He which does not surprise me.

7. Most Comment Threads: Technically, How Could He followed by the trash-fire AU title thing I’m too lazy to type again, but I’m gonna love on this one: Just Close Your Eyes (No One Can Hurt You Now) because it’s my baby, and it deserves it okay?

8. Fave Fic You Wrote: Ooo we are doing a top five.

             5. How Could It Be (Jason is precious and sad and Dick is oblivious, and I love one-sided pining wayyyy too much)

             4.  How Could He (I put my life force into this stupid fic, so ofc it’s here)

             3. I'm Scared to Live But I'm Scared to Die (I'm Numb Inside) (the suicidal boy, major trigger warning)

             2. I See Things That Nobody Else Sees (And It's Slowly Killing Me)  (the only fic I’ve ever written from Cass’s perspective, and definitely one of the creepiest and most fucked up. Bruce does not look good here)

             1. he had a chest full of heart and a body full of scars (pain became the only way that he could ever learn) (so ummm Bruce doesn’t look good here either? RHATO #25 if DC wasn’t cowardly and let Dick react how he actually would, aka fuck Batman is the new motto)

9. Rewrites?: Fuck. All my older ones? Everything? Who knows.

10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning:

Let’s do two. I’m nice.

First comes from How Could It Be:

“You loved him,” Donna says, ignoring his barb. “You loved him, and no one’s seen you or heard from you and I’m concerned, damnit.”

 She punches his shoulder roughly, and he’s reminded of her strength, no matter how small she seems in her dead best friend’s sweater.

 “I’m fine. Peachy-keen. Couldn’t be fuckin’ better. Honestly, you should be more concerned with Replacement, don’t think he’s slept in—”

 “Jason.” Her voice is firm, even as her eyes swim with tears and she holds her arms tight to herself, breathing in the well-loved item’s scent. Jason wonders when Dick wore it last, if Donna had taken it from his abandoned Gotham Penthouse or his Chicago Apartment. He wonders if he’d left it draped over the couch, like the natural disaster he was, or if it had been folded neatly in a drawer.

For someone who prides himself on not being sentimental, Jason suddenly wishes he had something of Dick’s too.

 “I’m here because I care, and because if Dick was here, he’d be doing the same thing I am.”

 “But he ain’t here,” Jason snaps, “Is he?”

 Donna’s head falls, and he feels like a giant jerk. He just… reacts poorly to that name, hasn’t heard it spoken since the transmission and subsequent funeral, since the guy he’d had the hots for since wearing the scaly panties had his mask ripped away and his life taken in front of Bruce’s eyes (who, to absolutely no one’s surprise, failed to save his son).

In the aftermath, no one said Dick Grayson’s name, always Nightwing, or some inane nickname the superhero community had for him. Last time he said it was to Damian, a failed attempt at comfort. But even Jason’s form of mutual grieving had been better than any of Bruce’s shit ideas. Bastard immortalized the ripped costume from his own son’s corpse (not that it had been the first time) and hadn’t even had the decency to give it a plaque (No ‘Good Soldier’ or ‘Good Son’, just a bare glass case with a bloody suit). Which… was weird. Jason was far from B’s best friend, but even he noticed something seemed strange, off, just not quite right. Like the funeral he didn’t speak at, like the breakdown none of them had witnessed beyond a one-off rage fit

“B, what the fuck happened down here?”

The Batcave was a disaster, dents glaringly obvious in several vehicles and a large spiderweb crack across the Batcomputer. Bruce closes the screen down, but Jason manages to catch a spiraling eye.

“Nothing, just…”

Bruce looks at the spare Nightwing costume none of them had taken down yet, still clean and ready for use (too bad its owner died and would never wear it again).

“Dick?” Jason questions, and the way Bruce’s eyes snap to his face is almost suspicious, almost enough to arouse concern.

“Yes. I—”

Jason sits next to Bruce on the desk, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I miss him too, Old Man. Don’t mean you need to be an ass about it.”

 A memorial next to Jason’s own, but Dickhead’s is empty and broken from Damian’s fists and grief, and Jason’s is just gone. No one told him why, it was just gone.

Kind of like Dick.

He wonders if Bruce would have told him if the video hadn’t been broadcast, if he would’ve told anyone. B did love his fuckin’ secrets.

 “No,” she whispers, and he can hear the tears in her voice, can feel her grief as keenly as his own. It’s palpable, tangible, “He’s dead, and I’m alive, and I don’t know how to handle it.”

 And then, to Jason’s mounting horror, she starts crying openly.

…..

Second comes from my one I’m working on rn with Stray!Dick called I See Sunset In Your Eyes (I Hate This Part Right Here)

“Come on,” Wally says with a pout, dragging an overly amused Jason and Dick with him through the karaoke bar doors. “Donna and Roy are waiting for us, and Dick had to take forever to primp.”

 Dick shrugs with a grin.

 “Beauty takes time, time I can tell you did not take.”

 Jason snorts, and Wally glares at him.

 “At least I don’t take five hours to finish getting ready.”

 “At least I can last longer than five minutes.”

 “Ouch!” Roy butts in, throwing an arm around Jason and Dick’s shoulders. “Claws are out tonight!”

 “Speaking from experience?” Jason asks, eyebrow raised.

 Dick smirks without comment, sauntering past the group towards the table Donna’s lounging at.

 “Hey gorgeous twin of mine,” He greets with a kiss to her eyes. She smirks, rolling her eyes at him.

 “You’re just stroking your own ego with the twin tacked on, Wonder Boy.”

 Dick bumps his shoulder against hers.

 “Can’t I stroke both our egos?”

 “You can stroke mine,” Wally mutters, turning red when Stray winks at his phrasing. Jason and Roy both facepalm, groaning. “Not what I meant guys!”

 “Why Kid Idiot,” Dick replies, hand on his heart, “I had no idea you could be so forward~!”

 Wally glares, waving over the waitress.

 “Round of shots, on this dick,” he jerks his thumb at Stray, offering up his fake ID. She doesn’t bother checking it, probably because this is Gotham, and they were all in uniform. “Whisky, please.”

 “Trying to get me drunk?” Jason jokes. It is, after all, his first big outing with the Titans for non-mission reasons. Stray had practically dragged him out of the Manor with a wink at Alfred and a middle finger for Bruce, saying that Jason needed to have fun outside of books.

Jason knows better than arguing with Dick Grayson-Kyle when he wants something, Stray trained him well.

 “Of course, Batboy,” Roy replies, “It’s not a Titans outing if Stray is fully dressed and everyone’s sober.”

 Dick shrugs.

 “You’ll have to get some real liquor in me if you want me to do anything like last time.”

 “Last time?” Jason asks, looking to Donna for an answer. Dick snorts. You get near naked one time…

 “Boy Blunder ended up in just his boxers in a dancing cage drunk of his ass. Everyone thought he was one of the strippers, and he made, what, three-hundred dollars in bills?”

 “Five-hundred,” Dick replies proudly, offering the waitress a twenty as she came back with their drinks. “Keep the change, darlin’!” He adds with a wink.

 She flushes, making Jason frown.

 Stray, of course, notices this and elbows Jason.

 “Don’t get jealous, Blue Jay, it’s not becoming.”

 Jason does not blush. He doesn’t, and that’s the hill he will die on.

 “I’m not. On an unrelated note, pass me a shot.”

Jason is the master of changing the subject, Stray thinks sarcastically, passing him a shot and downing one of his own.

 “Five bucks says alley cat blacks out,” Roy says smugly as Dick makes a face, the way he always did with heavier liquors. He glares at the redhead, who shrugs unapologetically.

 Donna eyes them both speculatively, taking a sip of her own drink.

 “Twenty says he gives a lap dance before he blacks out.”

��Roy snorts.

 “I’ll take it,” and to Dick, “Don’t do it, for me.”

 Dick bats his eyes innocently.

 “Lil’ old me? I would never do something so…” He trails a finger down Roy’s chest, making him swallow roughly. “Scandalous.”

 Donna grins victoriously as Roy groans, trying and failing to hide his excitement.

 “I hate you. I hate you both.”

 Tagging whoever sees this, I suppose? 

[hug-a-mermaid]

For the character ask, how about derek, Cora, and peter hale?

omg yay thanks for asking!! so first for derek:

Why I like them: he has this “I don’t care” attitude but he actually just CARES so much about everyone?? he’s family is dead, his life has gone to hell but he keeps trying to help everyone and okay, maybe he’s not doing it the best way, but he’s always trying. I also love his adorable smile and I spend so much time thinking about his loft.

Why I don’t: hmmm you know I love him but he can be really bad at dealing with people. look at the way he treated Isaac after boyd and erica were gone. I love him, but that was hard to watch :(

Favorite episode (scene if movie): okay I don’t know what’s my favorite episode so let’s go with scene. That scene with the kids trick-or-treating??? gold!! I also laugh so much in the scene where he’s carrying stiles in s6.

Favorite season: he has had such a diversity of arcs across the season, I really don’t know what’s my favorite season for him. maybe s3?

Favorite line: this one. the delivery just does it for me. his face, I can’t.

Favorite outfit: this is interesting because I don’t usually think about the boys’ outfits, but I really like his classic leather jacket.

OTP: ooh this is a good one. of course I love sterek as much as everyone else, their dynamic is amazing, but I also think that alisson/derek is SUCH an underrated ship that deserves way more attention.

Brotp: he and scott!!! I know scott has a pretty big fan club but I’m 100% derek was the one who founded it and organizes their weekly meetings.

Head Canon: ooh okay I have quite a few head canons for derek. my favorite one is that he can’t cook and he has burned so many meals. he’s also definitely a cuddler, and I like to think that he had a great relationship with laura.

Unpopular opinion: I can’t believe allison/derek isn’t more popular!

A wish: I know the show has already ended but my constant mood is wanting derek to be happy. but if we’re getting more specific, I wish that he had gotten to talk more with malia about being a hale without it necessarily being about peter. overall I think that it was a topic that could have been more explored on the show, how she feels about this, if she would even consider herself a hale and if she would like to learn more. i think derek would be the perfect person to talk with her about this.

5 words to best describe them: grumpy, only nice to like five people, secretly adorable, smile to die for – and I just realized it said five words so I’m gonna stop now lol.

My nickname for them: why would I call him anything but sour wolf

cora:

Why I like them: first of all I’m completely in love with her name! second, her eye rolls are priceless. and I like how independent she is, how she knows what she wants and she will get it.

Why I don’t: I do like her, but her backstory just seems so messy! sure, a “lost” hale was sure to show up one way or another, but the way they did it in the show just seems confusing to me. I don’t get why she just disappeared for six years and never tried to contact her siblings who clearly where not home during the fire?? as much as I like to wonder about her adventures in south america, this is all pretty messy to me. and then having her stay for just half a season and then dissapearing again… oh well.

Favorite episode: I don’t remember the number, but the first episode she was in is my fave.

Favorite line: “well, do you know any spirits?”

Favorite outfit: I was gonna choose the cute top she wore for training, but this one with the jeans jacket is actually my fave.

OTP: I wouldn’t necessarily call it an otp but I think she had a very interesting dynamic with lydia

Brotp: honestly it’s a travesty that she didn’t get to meet malia in the show, but going by the relationships that we did see, I’m gonna say her and derek

Head Canon: I don’t have one specific head canon but I think there’s a lot of interesting stuff to explore in the years she spent alone after the fire

Unpopular opinion: while I do like her, I think that there’s people in the fandom that are way more interested in her than I am

A wish: that she and malia had gotten to meet and bond! I think they wouldn’t have gotten along at first, since they’re usually closed off and defensive regarding new people, but would eventually realize that they have similar personalities and become really close.

My nickname for them: her name is so beautiful, I never thought about giving her a nickname, I wanna say it as much as possible.

peter:

Why I like them: peter. oh peter. have I mentioned I love peter?? he’s my trash fave and I love him so much. his snark is my absolute favorite humor on the show.

Why I don’t: I mean obviously he’s not a nice person at all, but I’m also mad about how the narrative handed him after s3? it really felt like they didn’t know what to do with him anymore. I liked his journey from the big-bad-villain to the weird, annoying but oddly helpful uncle peter. but then they tried to make him a villain again, and then locked him in the asylum for a while and then brought him back later and oh that was all really messy again.

Favorite season: he was so on point on early s4 and he was /fantastic/ on s6, but my overall favorite season for his is s3.

Favorite line: uhm hello?? there’s so many fantastic lines said by him?? but shout out to “former lunatic, I’m much better now.”

Favorite outfit: his classic v-necks!! specially the white one he was wearing when lydia and alisson visited him in s3.

OTP: okay I know this is bad but I actually ship him and lydia. there are writers that explore their dynamic so well!! and they have this sort of persephone-hades vibe that I love.

Brotp: oh I don't necessarily have a bropt for him, but I'm interested in his relationship with malia.

Head Canon: I love to explore all the dynamics he might have had with the hales! but I also think that he probably got some serious trauma after the fire, as in has-serious-anxiety-attacks-every-time-derek-burns-toast. I'm also really interested on his knowledge on all supernatural matters. of course it comes with growing up in a pack, but I think he must have had great interest in these matters, specially when the hales were still alive. I also like to think that he has a lot of books on supernatural topics at home.

Unpopular opinion: I mean, liking him is an unpopular opinion right? he's my third favorite character on the show, behind only malia and lydia.

A wish: that they had handed his arc(s) better!

5 words to best describe them / my nickname for them: my answer to both of these is the iconic "basic satan in a v-neck"

give me a character and I'll answer...

[jbuffyangel]

No More Julie Plec Shows

Warning: This is a rant after dedicating 9 years to Julie Plec shows.

The upside of The Originals ending is that I am free.

No more Julie Plec shows for this blogger, folks. You must hold me to this. If I even think about turning on Legacies then you must stage an intervention.

I won’t say The Originals series finale was the worst series finale I’ve watched. No, that title will always belong to How I Met Your Mother, but TO comes close! What a hot friggin mess.

Romance and Shippers Are Not Dirty Words

But let’s start with the PR blitz Julie did before the episode aired last night. After building her career off romance and the loyalty of shippers, JP declares 45 minutes before The Originals signs off that “It was never a show that was meant to thrive on romance.”

That’s just stupid.

The Originals has all kinds of shippy ships to ship and Julie Plec milked them for all they’re worth until she decided to kill off 50% of her cast, including the female protagonist of one of the largest Originals ships.

I am really tired of writers using romance to bait and hook viewers, but then arguing the show “isn’t about romance” (like it’s some kind of dirty word) because they don’t have the balls to make an endgame decision. Nor do they want to listen to the complaints of the fans they baited because, GASP, those fans want a happily ever after for their faves. 

Writers tell us to fall in love with the relationship, but then are angry when we fall in love. The Originals is about family and ROMANCE, so let’s not argue otherwise because it’s nonsense.

Also, if all you care about is the romantic storyline in a show THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT AND YOU ARE JUST AS MUCH OF A FAN AS EVERYONE ELSE.

I wouldn’t say the finale was without romance. Freya & Keelin and Marcel & Rebakah were allowed happy endings. This is no small victory because the way this woman torpedoes ships these couples were not a done deal by any means.

However, the three largest ships on the show were all but ignored (Klamille and   Haylijah) or had the rug yanked from under them (Klaroline).

The Ending

I was spoiled on the ending for The Originals before it aired, but that didn’t  make it any easier. It was still a disaster zone. Klaus decides to kill himself to save Hope’s life and Elijah kills himself too because... why not?

If you are a hard core Vampire Diaries fan like myself then you know the original ending Plec and Williamson planned was for both Stefan and Damon to die. They would spend their hereafter looking after Elena living her human life (and she’s married to Matt or someone other rando). So, I couldn’t help but feel this ending was spectacularly lazy and recycled.

I do not have a problem with Klaus or Elijah dying. I have a big problem with both brothers dying. Elijah and Klaus existed in a toxic, co dependent relationship for the better part of a thousand years. Julie decides instead of freeing the brothers from that toxicity, they’ll go all in on joint suicide because family.

The preferable options were:

Option 1) Kill Klaus and Elijah lives

I am not a huge fan of killing Klaus merely because I think it lets him off the hook too easily. Yes, there was character growth with Klaus, to say otherwise is madness, but one or two decent things doesn’t outweigh a thousand years of being a monster. Klaus even asks Elijah in the finale if his sacrificial death makes up for all the years he was awful and Elijah basically says, “Yeah you’re good.”

I disagree, but whatever Klaus dies. I do like the symmetry of Klaus wanting to kill his daughter in the pilot and dying for his daughter in the finale though.

This gives Elijah a chance to find happiness and purpose beyond redeeming his brother. Julie argued they already gave Elijah that story this season and he discovered all roads led back to Klaus. Uhhh... Klaus showing up on Elijah’s door asking for his help to find Hayley isn’t exactly Elijah finding his way back to Klaus, but okay.

This is what drives me nuts about Julie Plec. She acts like all of these choices just happened to her. YOU WROTE IT LADY!!!!! Stop acting like you’re an innocent by stander in all of this. THE CHARACTERS AREN’T REAL AND YOU CAN MAKE THEM DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.

Klaus argued against Elijah dying for Hope because what kind of man would he be if he allowed his brother to die for his only child? Well, I don’t know Klaus, the kind of man who always lets Elijah toe the morality line and do the emotional heavy lifting. Why stop now? (By the way, they could have easily magicked a way for Elijah to steal the Hollow and deny Klaus any say). But yes, I agree, Hope is Klaus’ daughter and he should man up. 

If Klaus is going to die then at least give Elijah a chance at real happiness with the woman he truly loves- Hayley. So, let’s not kill her Julie!!!

Option 2) Kill Elijah and Klaus lives

This is my preferred ending. After they killed Hayley, and made Elijah culpable in Hope’s mother’s death, I thought this would be a fitting end for Elijah. He saves Hope’s life, is free of the eternal torment of living forever, spends eternity with Hayley, and sacrifices himself for Klaus’ redemption. This would instill a deep desire in Klaus to be a good guy for the next thousand years.

Julie also argued immortality is it’s own prison and what were we expecting in a show about vampires (meaning - they are all going to die). I agree with that statement in terms of Elijah and Rebekah, but not Klaus. He reveled in his immortality. Klaus loved being the strongest creature on earth. So, death isn’t a reward. In that sense it makes his sacrifice more selfless. However, I would have preferred to see Klaus earn his redemption by using his immortality for good for as long as he used it for evil. And yeah, if Caroline wants to come along, and they make a stop in Paris, I have no problem with that.

Closure

The Originals writers introduced the afterlife just like they did on The Vampire Diaries finale. We were able to see Josh and Hayley in heaven and at peace. However, The Originals did not give us this glimpse with Klaus and Elijah, their two main characters. Julie instructs us to essentially imagine their peace. That’s like stopping at the 1 yard line and telling the crowd to imagine a touchdown. It doesn’t count. JUST CROSS THE DAMN LINE!

At the end of the day, fans want closure from a series finale. They want to know  the characters they love are going to be okay. This is why the Parenthood finale remains the best ever. You can have heroic deaths, but leaving the character open ended even after death is a little mean. I don’t think it would have been too much to ask to give Hayley & Elijah fans a scene of them dancing in heaven 

or reuniting Klaus with Cami.

But that would make the show too much about romance I guess.

Family

If you want to believe Klaus and Elijah were each other’s happy endings that’s fine, but that’s a tough pill for me to swallow. The Originals was about family, but for most of the series (and their time on TVD) they were people related by blood doing absolutely despicable things to one another. 

Yes, they rallied time and again, particularly when it was in service of Hope. I’m not going to say they didn’t love each other or their familial bond meant nothing. I too get warm and fuzzy about “Always and Forever” but there was plenty of toxicity to go around.

One of my beefs with the finale is it sort of glazes over a lot of that. It was more like The Originals: A Christmas Special than a finale. They look at pictures, make wishes and Klaus waxes poetic about how he secretly adored Kol (despite daggering him and generally making his life miserable for a thousand years). I mean... okay? Feels a little disingenuous, but maybe I’m soulless.

The two familial standout moments for me was Klaus saying goodbye to Hope and Klaus apologizing to Rebekah while making sure she can take the cure if she wants. Stellar all the way around. I felt all the feels and those moments were truly earned. 

Caroline

So… what was the point of having Caroline on the show other than baiting the Klaroline fandom and ensuring their viewership? Cause I got nothing. 

Klaus and Caroline didn’t need closure. They had plenty of that on TVD. Caroline made it abundantly clear she was going to live her life without Klaus, minus a hot up-against-a-tree hookup to get it out of her system. And that’s exactly what she did.

What made Caroline’s presence on The Originals so enjoyable (other than it’s Caroline and she’s sunshine) is it felt like the characters were going somewhere new. We’ve had seven years of Klaus and Caroline dancing around their feelings, but the finale offered more of the same. We get a couple more “if only” moments and a tepid kiss.

Yes, Caroline kept the voicemail. Yes, she enjoyed all the wonders of New Orleans Klaus wanted to show her. Yes, she finally confirmed she cared for Klaus (but anyone who didn’t know that is daft). Yes, Klaus finally earned her respect and had a legitimate shot at a relationship with her for the first time, which makes his sacrifice so noble.

Eh. Caroline already had her noble, sacrifice-it-all-in-the-name-of–family love story (looking at you Stefan). 

Everything with Klaus feels spectacularly redundant for her character.

And to not follow through on this line is criminal.

But that isn’t really the reason I’m ticked. It’s Julie Plec’s explanation for why Klaus and Caroline can’t be together.

It would dishonor Stefan.

Look, nobody (and I do mean nobody) loves Stefan Salvatore more than me. I subjected myself to an additional four years of crap storytelling just to make sure Stefan was okay in the end (yeah I know I could have just watched the finale, but I couldn’t abandon him) only for JP to kill my beloved in the FINAL FREAKING EPISODE.

But this “honoring Stefan’s memory” thing is crap.

Stelena Side Bar

Time to get real for a second. (D*lena and St*roline lovers now would be the time to look away).  Stefan ended up with Caroline because The Vampire Diaries did him dirty with D*lena and they couldn’t get Nina back for their planned (yeah you read that right) Stelena endgame.

Julie Plec loves to put all the blame for how TVD ended on Nina Dobrev’s shoulders.  Yes, Nina left the show and when she left in Season 6 I knew it was game over on Stelena and any hope of a reunion was lost.

I love Stefan, Caroline and their friendship. I begrudgingly got on board with the romance angle because sweet holy Zeus I needed something to be mildly entertained by in Season 6-8.

But let me be clear. Under no circumstances do I favor St*roline over Stelena. 

Caroline Dries absolutely could have put Stelena back together before Nina Dobrev left the show. In fact, that was the direction the show was headed. Elena lost her memories of Damon and suddenly she’s taken aback with the gorgeousness of Stefan Salvatore.

(BECAUSE WITHOUT THE FREAKING SIRE BOND SHE STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN WITH STEFAN SO WHY DIDN’T HER LOVE FOR HIM RETURN THE SECOND SHE FORGOT DAMON? OH THAT’S RIGHT IT WAS GOING TO UNTIL THE WRITERS SCREWED ME OVER). The memory loss storyline was going to be to D*lena what the sire bond was to Stelena.

Then all of a sudden the show turns on a dime. Stelena rebuild is over and it’s full throttle on St*roline. The episodes Dries/Plec would have been writing in January (right around the time Nina let them know she was leaving) put Elena rapidly back together with Damon. Then they dance in the street for some inexplicable reason in her final episode.

Kevin and Julie wanted Nina back for the final 16 episodes of Season 8 to put Elena back with Stefan, but she was unavailable. Guess what cupcakes? You had Nina for the same amount of episodes in Season 6. You had a half season, give or take, to rebuild Stelena. 

There was absolutely no reason why STEFAN couldn’t have been the one waiting for Elena to wake up. Quite frankly, Damon’s struggle to maintain control would have been a lot more interesting because he would’ve had nothing to lose. Stefan would have focused on saving his brother the final two years of the show, only for Damon to sacrifice himself in the end. Damon would have earned redemption, proved he was finally worthy of Elena, and gave Stefan & Elena their happily ever after, WHICH WAS ALWAYS THE PLAN.  

How do you not kill Damon after he says, “Because I am the big brother. I’m sorry I wasn’t better at it until now.” THAT’S THE PERFECT DEATH LINE. 

No one can anyone argue to me that Damon was the better man. (To be fair they were both terrible people, but Stefan was far less terrible IMHO.) Damon telling Elena Stefan is the better man before she wakes up makes a hell of a lot more sense than Stefan saying that about Damon, but whatever. The point is, the choice wouldn’t have been Elena’s but Damon’s (rather than Stefan’s) and it’s so freaking perfect I want to scream.

Anyway, back to yelling about Julie. So, she heaps all the responsibility on the ending for TVD on Nina because she loves to straddle fandoms and refuses to make a damn decision. Not that the D*lena ending was anything to write home about. Y’all got screwed over too. One crappy kiss and five seconds of holding hands isn’t exactly the glimpse into their happy life together that y’all deserved. Sweet mother of Moses, the Stelena fandom had a better glimpse of Stefan & Elena’s happy human life in 5x18.

Stelena side bar over. Back to talking about how ridiculous it is that Caroline can’t move on.

2) The Vampire Diaries had a big old conversation between Lexi and Stefan about how vampires have more than one great love because they are fucking vampires and live forever.

This was said after Elena chose Damon (for absolutely no reason other than it was Damon’s turn to get the girl) and Stefan was driving off to Cleveland or something. This was a difficult for me to accept in terms of Stefan’s character because he lived like 150 years without love until he met Elena. She brought him back to life. So TVD arguing that Elena was not Stefan’s only great love was kind of ridiculous, particularly since Elena was still alive. 

The only reason JP/Dries wrote this line was to smooth the path for a potential St*roline romance. And why? Because immediately after this scene with Lexi, Stefan drowns in a safe all summer while Elena bones his brother. So, yeah they needed to cook up some hope for his character and, at that point, Elena was SO NOT IT.

So, now that Stefan is dead VAMPIRE Caroline can’t move on? The same Caroline who was Stefan’s second chance at love? Is a basic level of consistency really too much to ask? No it is not.

3) It’s been a DECADE since Stefan died. Caroline can move on because it’s HEALTHY

What an abysmal message to send to widowers. Sorry folks, if you lost your spouse you are suppose to live alone for the rest of your life because falling in love again dishonors your spouse’s memory. 

If this storyline was taking place a year or two after Stefan died, then sure I can see the argument for Caroline moving on too fast, but that’s not what is happening here. There was an 8 year time jump. It’s been nearly a decade!!!

Let’s take the vampireness out of the equation as my friend @lipstickandwifi so eloquently said. A woman marries in her twenties and her husband tragically died the day after. She’s now in her thirties and someone from her past, who she always has had a connection with, is back in her life. And her children are almost grown. The answer is: GO FOR IT.

Also, Stefan would never want Caroline to be alone for her immortal life all in the name of his memory. He’d be the first one to say it’s okay to move on. 

He may not love her object of affection, but he’s dead so he doesn’t get a say. MAYBE NEXT TIME DON’T BE SO WILLING TO DIE FOR DAMON, STEFAN. I have some anger issues I am still working through.

So, once again Julie Plec is pulling some bs reason and blaming Stefan for the reason Klaroline can’t be together rather than have the lady balls to say, “I didn’t want them to end up together.” Instead, she plays out forty different scenarios in these interviews, each one pandering to a specific fandom and giving them their happily ever after, but “INSERTS NONSENSE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE.” And Julie deflects any and all responsibility in the choices she made.

The Spin Off

The real reason Klaus, Elijah and Hayley all died is because of Legacies. I’d also say that’s the reason Klaroline didn’t end up together too. Julie Plec wanted Elena 2.0 - Hope to be an orphan so she can rehash the same story she told on TVD (complete with love triangle). Julie blames all these deaths on the actors not wanting to reprise their roles. It has nothing to do with Julie’s need to keep collecting a paycheck. Nope, not at all!

Absolutely no one can argue Legacies did not impact the ending to The Originals to me because it did. It’s fact. Julie Plec admits as much in countless interviews. Anything argued to the contrary is a PR campaign to get jilted viewers to watch the next show. I refuse.

2 shows + 263 hours of television + dozens of ships = 0 endgame couples. That's my shipper maths for Plec shows.  Congratulations to the ships that survived. The rest of us got screwed over. I end yet another Julie Plec show with booze.

And to the sweet summer children anxiously awaiting Legacies, tattoo this on your heart “DO NOT TRUST JULIE PLEC.”

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Thus, this closes the door on both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. At least I can rewatch TVD S1-S3 (and 4x01 as the series finale). There’s always Season 4 of The Originals too.

[wittynamehere1443]

Question Thingie

So, the rules are: I answer the 10 questions @singaroundelay gave to me, and then whoever I tag has to answer 10 new questions that I made up/

1. If you could go back in time to any period in history, where would you go and why?

Either the 20s to go enjoy some vaudeville and a sideshow at the circus, or the 70s to enjoy the counter culture that fueled my favorite era of filmmaking.  Oh!  Or check out the late 90s comedy scene where a lot of my faves were starting out at different little clubs in LA.  MAN my answer is lame, all entertainment based.  But hey I like what I like, and I also like being allowed to vote so I’m not going too far back.

2. What is the last book you read and recommend it to others using 15 words or less.

The Daily Show Book, if you want an amusing snapshot of politics in that time.

3. What TV show/Film do you secretly love that everyone hates?

TV: I love Dollhouse, and I guess that’s pretty hated?  

Film: There’s like a billion, the one popping into my head right now is Death to Smoochy but there are a ton

4. Put your music on shuffle and list the first 5 songs that come up!

“Novocaine for the Soul” by Eels, “A Cautionary Song” by the Decemberists, “Devil’s Waitin” by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, “Marching Bands of Manhattan” by Death Cab for Cutie, “I Hope That Something Better Comes Along” from the Muppet Movie

5. If you could have any job in the world, what would you do?

I’d be a professor in film studies.

6. What was the first musical you ever saw live (doesn’t matter if it was community theatre or professional). If you’ve never seen anything live, what was the first show you ever listened to?

If you don’t count like Beauty and the Beast on ice and Sesame Street Live, it was the Lion King musical.  I liked it ok, thought it was neat.

7. If you could have dinner with any three people (living or dead) who would they be and what would you serve?

Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, and Lin Manuel Miranda.  I don’t need to talk, I’ll just listen.  If Quentin doesn’t let the other’s talk he can be switched out for Simon Pegg.  I’d serve pizza?  I can’t cook, and who the hell don’t like pizza?

8. A genie gives you three wishes. Assuming you can’t kill anyone or make people fall in love with each other, what do you wish for?

Trump isn’t president and we have somebody who can try to put things right, everyone I know is financially good for the rest of their lives, my mom and little sister are completely healthy

9. Who do you admire?

My mom, she deals with a lot of shit.  And Kevin Smith actually, like he’s not a perfect filmmaker, I don’t even love all his movies, but he makes what he wants with people he wants, he loves what he loves, and if he fucks up he admits it.

10. What’s your go-to Chinese food order?

I don’t like Chinese food, so fortune cookies.

My questions...I didn’t know what to ask clearly 1. If you had a billion dollars, what are the first three things you’d buy

2. Name a popular band/tv show/movie you used to love and now makes you cringe

3. Your first fandom

4. If you could have a tattoo that only lasted a week, what would it be?

5. If you could visit a fictional world where would you go?

6. A toy from your childhood you never got and still want

7. First concert, or if you’ve never been what do you wish was your first concert

8. Who you wish there was a funko pop figure of

9. First DVD you ever bought.

10. Name a fandom you’re not in but kinda want to be/are curious about

@lycanthropic-tongue-twisters @nevospitanniy @ald-fan-girl @acellura @vangoghfangirl

[xennariel]

11 Questions AKA Xen Screams About Royai, FMA, and Hellsing

I was tagged by @ladywiltshire Thanks. =)

RULES: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you.

1. Do you remember your first time watching or reading Fullmetal Alchemist? What was your first impression? - I think I first got into the FMA manga around late 2002. I loved Ed and thought he was great and that, plus the whole human transmutation thing got me hooked. I loved the 03 anime in its early episodes and I was such a big fan that I went out and bought the sweatshirt that looks like Ed’s jacket and the shoes that look like his. I wore them as often as I could in my junior year of high school. About midway through the anime I started disliking it, though, and I went back to reading just the manga and ignored the anime. But then the manga started taking too long to update for me and about halfway through that, I discovered Hellsing and that held my obsession for the next eight or nine years, making me completely forget about FMA until I heard the manga ended. I remember looking up the last chapter of the manga and thinking it was an awesome way to end it, even though I hadn’t read any of the manga since the halfway point. lol It wasn’t until I saw some royai art on my dash in early 2016 that I decided to watch Brotherhood, and boy am I glad I did because my initial impression of that was “AHHHHHH I LOVE THIS WHERE HAVE I BEEN FOR THE PAST SEVEN YEARS???” And whoops, this ended up being about how I went through my FMA phases instead of taking about my initial experience... Sorry about that.

2. Tell us about The Fave™. - I am guessing all of your questions refer to FMA? So Roy Mustang. I could scream about him all day and never get bored. He’s great. The best. So is Riza. They have so many layers and are so interesting and dynamic. I love them so much it hurts. And out of any media I’m a fan of, I think they’re my absolute favorites. Integra Hellsing is a definite runner up, though. Of course, my fav favs are my OCs Xennariel and Loki, but since they’re not part of an existing thing yet, I can’t exactly rave about how great they are because that would just make me sound dumb.

3. Do you have a favorite fan work? Fanfics? Comics? - For FMA, I have a few fics I love and I’ve mentioned them before so I’m not going to link them again because I’m feeling very tired and lazy today. And honestly, any art depicting both Roy and Riza’s scars are my weakness. As for other fandoms, I loved the writer Thess. Her Hellsing works were amazing. I also liked and kept up with a Hellsing fancomic called And Shine Heaven Now by Sailor Ptah. That was cute. But that was like, a long time ago. Thess hasn’t written anything since like 2009 and that webcomic ended in like 2007 or so. So yeah, it’s been a long time since I’ve been an active part of the Hellsing fandom, and I kind of miss it. I miss seeing what new stuff people are producing for that series, but a lot of the fandom on Tumblr seems a little...iffy. I see so much art reposted with no credit and I cannot support people like that so I don’t really follow many Hellsing blogs. It’s kind of sad.

4. Hit me with an analysis/opinion you have on the series or characters! - Again, I’m guessing you’re talking FMA, so uh... Jeez, I wish I wasn’t so tired, it would make this question a whole lot easier. Um, I think I’ve already written all the analysis I can think of though, which isn’t much. I’ve talked about Roy’s fight with Lust before, I’ve talking about how he looks at Riza during his fight with Envy in the manga, I’ve talked about how Roy is not actually drunk when he calls Riza to give her flowers, contrary to what many people seem to think. It’s hard for me to come up with this sort of stuff when I’m not prompted. lol I need to see something in direct contradiction of what I think or just general discussion about a subject before I have a lot of opinions. xD

I guess I could talk about the couple of reasons why Roy and Riza having a relationship in the manga could possibly be a thing? I am 80% sure that despite how clearly they loved each other, Roy and Riza did not have anything going on between them in the series. However, there are some points I want to make that lean toward them actually being together in a romantic sense throughout the manga.

My main point is how comfortable they are around each other. A lot of people say there’s a lot of unresolved sexual or romantic tension between then throughout the series, but I honestly don’t see that. I see two people who clearly care about one another a great deal, who, with one look, make it obvious that they’re in love. But I don’t see them really pining for one another or anything like that. They act like an old married couple. They don’t seem to act like they want to kiss or jump each other desperately. Which, to me says that perhaps it’s because they already do. (This could be because I’m Ace, though, and I do not go looking for sexual implications in my OTPs, so maybe it just goes over my head all the time.)

Case in point, I knew my husband for ten years before we got married. In the first four years or so, we definitely were a couple of teenagers in love. We pined for one another when we couldn’t see each other. When in public, we stared at each other silently wishing we could go somewhere to be alone, we made out as often as possible. After about four or five years, the feeling of “I need to touch this person because I have a lot of pent up sexual and romantic tension for them” pretty much died down and we became very comfortable with each other. If we didn’t hug or kiss for a while, it was no big deal because we had each other and we knew we could arrange to be together to do those things whenever.

My point is, Roy and Riza act like that around each other, which tells me that perhaps the reason they aren’t desperate to touch one another all the time is because they already do. They’re used to intimacy so why would they itch to touch each other 24/7? If they were as in love as they appeared to be, but couldn’t be with each other, I think they’d show more signs of yearning for one another. This, of course, could be because we just don’t see it since they were not the focus of the series and their relationship had no huge importance to the story (and Arakawa has said that she does not include anything that doesn’t need to be in the story), but I feel like, even with the amount of time they had been together, if they had never touched each other or kissed or hugged or whatever, they’d have a hard time masking the want they would have for each other. Their comfort in each other’s presence could be more than just them having spent a long time together.

My other point is the Barry the Chopper scene where Roy gets super jealous of Barry touching Riza and prepares to burn him to a crisp. Riza stops him and seems absolutely unfazed by his jealousy, which could indicate that he’s acted like that multiple times in the past and she’s used to telling him to calm the hell down.

The last point isn’t exactly evidence, but Roy and Riza did change clothes in a car together and didn’t come out of that flustered or blushing or anything like they might have if they were unused to seeing each other in various states of undress. I mean, yeah, Roy learned his alchemy from her bare back, but it’s not like he saw anything else. I feel like he’d still get flustered if he saw her without a shirt on, even if it was just her back, because if they weren’t together, if they weren’t touching each other on a somewhat regular basis, he’s just a guy in love and he’d want to touch her and blush about it or get embarrassed easily about seeing her. Think about Ed in that scene where he was in the room when Winry was changing. He was flushed and embarrassed because he was a kid in love who had never touched the person he loved intimately before. So this one kind of goes back to my ‘comfortable with each other’ theory.

Also, that scene where Madame Christmas asks why Roy doesn’t just go play with Elizabeth. What kind of ‘play’ is she insinuating? And why does she know this? And why do the other girls think they have a ‘chance’ now that Elizabeth has been taken by another man. What has Roy been telling them about her?

Anyway, that’s all. Like I said, I am super tired and this analysis probably came out sounding weird or not convincing. Maybe I’ll write it up better sometime later.

5. Tell us about a project you have going on! Or if you don’t have one, maybe something you’ve always wanted to write or draw? - I am still working on my super long royai fanfic that I started in, like, June 2016. It chronicles the series from Roy and Riza’s viewpoint, starting from when they first meet, going through manga canon FMA, and finally ending with what happens post series. (Though I really dislike where it’s gone and I’ve been considering scrappy the last ten chapters and rewriting them...)

After that fic is finished, I plan to write another one that goes through the canon FMA manga storyline, only with Riza being an alchemist secretly the entire time and where she is also a candidate for sacrifice. (Though I may end up writing this one soon anyway just because I’m not liking Through Eyes of Flame anymore. I’ve lost a lot of reader so it’s just not worth it.)

And I also want to write a fic that takes place after canon FMA where evil demons from the world in my original novel end up finding a way into Amestris and plan to kill off all the humans so they can take over because they already tried that in their own world and failed. A couple of my OCs follow these demons and team up with Roy, Riza, the rest of team Mustang, and others from the military to stop the demons from killing everyone. I’m a little iffy about this one though because it would have OCs and I never know how well received OCs are in fics...

6. Favorite opening/ending number and why? - For FMA? I love Chemistry and Rain. The songs are catchy and the animations for those have some of my favorite things from all of the openings and endings.

7. Tell me about a scene that really touched your or made you realize something about yourself. - In FMA, I honestly don’t know. I lot of scenes touched me or made me feel something like Hughes’ burial and Nina’s whole experience and subsequent death. Riza getting her throat slit and Roy freaking out. Roy losing himself in the fight against Envy, but having enough sense of self when he looked at Riza to still be soft to her like usual. Lan Fan cutting off her damn arm just to save Ling. I don’t know if I learned anything about myself from any of that though, other than I realized how much I love royai and lingfan and what badasses they all are imo.

8. OTPs! Who are they? Why are you WEAK FOR THEM?? - RoyxRiza, of course. Royai is the OTP of OTPs. They don’t even need to touch on screen or even say anything for you to see that they care about each other deeply. Plus, I’m all about that ‘forbidden relationship’ trope. But even without that, they’ve been together a long time and get along so well. Their dynamic is wonderful and interesting and just pulls me in. They’re not just in love, they’re best friends and that’s the best relationship to have. They protect each other’s backs, Roy knows when Riza is upset without even needing to see her, they just know each other so well and work so well together.

Same with AlucardxIntegra from Hellsing. I like them for much the same reasons and they used to be my OTP of OTPs until I got back into FMA. They’re another battle couple, and they never touch in the series, but it’s heavily implied and obvious they have a thing for each other. And that fucking scene where he bows to her on the battlefield surrounded by dead and impaled bodies? I died, okay. I screamed and raved when that manga chapter came out and I still scream about it whenever I see it. They didn’t even touch, but it was the hottest thing. And then when Alucard comes back to her after 30 years, he says himself that he could have gone anywhere, but he chose to be there. And then she fucking bites her right ring finger (the finger used for wedding bands in Romania) and makes a ring out of blood on it and lets him drink from it? End me. It’s canon.

9. Funniest headcanon you’ve ever seen. Go! - Uhm... I don’t know, actually. I’ve never really seen many funny headcanons go around.

10. What spurred you to join the fandom?

- I got back into Royai and it was around when Royai week 2016 was happening and I had been looking to get back into writing around then too so I thought it would be a good thing to participate in to practice writing. A couple of people liked my stuff and started following me for that and then I found a bunch of authors from FFNet that I liked had Tumblrs, so I followed them and kept up with the writing and before I knew it, I was deep in the FMA/Royai fandom. lol

As for Hellsing, it just kind of happened. And much like with FMA, as soon as I started writing for it, I started getting people that would talk to me about stuff, so that was fun. I’m not an active participant in that fandom anymore, but I never really left it. My love for the series hasn’t diminished, I’m just more focused on FMA these days. Roy and Riza are easier to write for then Alucard and Integra.

11. Definitely the same question… have a fandom meltdown here and tell me why you love your fandom or show/comic so much! - We’ll start with the FMA manga because holy shit it’s amazing and has such good characters and good ships and AHHHHH! It’s such an inspiring piece of work. The thought that went into it, the research, the fucking detail. It’s incredible.Hellsing is one of the best mangas too, if you like gore and horror. Awesome characters, great ships, fantastic plot about killing vampire nazis. What’s not to love, honestly? Alucard is such a complex main character. And Integra is just boss. She is Queen. I highly recommend the manga and OVA. Stay away from the first anime aka the Gonzo anime. It was terrible, much like FMA 03 was terrible, but honestly, I’d rather watch FMA 03 than the first Hellsing anime. That’s how bad it was. lolAnd The Slayers is legit the funniest anime I have ever seen while simultaneously being one of the coolest. The magic system in that is flawless and amazing and the humor is top notch. Go watch the series if you haven’t already. Lina is the best.Also, the book that spoke to me the most was Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. Go read it and the nits prequel and then the sequel. It’s well worth it. I read it at a time in my life when I was very low emotionally and I saw myself in R and what he says and does is so relatable.

[recentanimenews]

The 5 Most Loved and Hated Psychics in Anime

Whether mental freaks or gifted mediums, psychics in anime have it surprisingly rough. Reading the thoughts of everyone around you or the power to control minds may make it difficult to build meaningful friendships or a shady government entity might be looking to gather you up for a lifetime of experiments. Safe to say it's hard to live a normal life. Your powers may be convenient, but at what point is there no going back?

Love them or hate them… they can MAKE you love them. Our friends over at Anime-Planet spend day and night cataloguing these unique features and leaving it to the fans to vote on the best and worst characters with psychic powers in all of anime. A note before we begin, these are the result of popular votes that I can and will disagree with. Only your democratic will can determine who makes it on this list. With that out of the way, below are the 5 most loved and most hated psychics in anime!

Loved

5. Staz Charlie Blood - Blood Lad

Coming into this I guess I assumed the list would all be psychics rather than people with psychic powers resulting from weird stuff. I’m not sure if Staz’s abilities really count because they’re due to him being a vampire (vampowers?) but I guess I can work with this. I don’t really have much to say about Staz, but I feel sorry for Fuyumi getting stuck with him, which probably means I don’t like him. Sorry.

4. Accelerator - A Certain Magical Index

Are brooding, misunderstood malcontents obsessed with sex and violence (maybe at the same time?) gonna dominate this list? What’s the association? Have I made a terrible mistake? I guess I can understand the appeal. Everybody loves a good blood knight and Accelerator sure knows how to enjoy himself. It just occurred to me he laughs a lot like Zack in Angel of Death. Oh dang, they’re both Nobuhiko Okamoto. Ok, he’s cool.

3. Hiyori Iki - Noragami

Another one I’m not quite sure is exactly psychic but I’m gonna give this to you because you actually PUT NORAGAMI ON A LIST. You people are alright. Even better, you picked Hiyori! I have a soft spot for girls who are secretly martial arts otaku (you can guess who my favorite Prison School character is). I’m probably never gonna stop laughing about how she got her power either.

2. Yin - Darker Than Black

I’m actually so genuinely happy to see Yin on here. Darker Than Black had its day, but discovering a personal fave I believed to be obscure actually has a considerable fandom is a good feeling. Yin’s cool aesthetic and supercool ability using water as a medium for clairvoyance made her one of my favorite characters and I was super happy to see her get some character development later on rather than the series keeping her an emotionless doll. Yin’s cool. Watch Darker Than Black.

1. Mikoto Misaka - A Certain Magical Index

Where Accelerator’s vector abilities require some mental hoops to fully appreciate, Misaka’s are simple and satisfying. It’s not often you get to see electricity powers used to their fullest by taking advantage of electromagnetism so her fighting style is viscerally satisfying to my inner nerd. If you literally don’t care about stuff like that, she’s also a kind-hearted, awkward kid who does her best and would give you the clothes off her back or her precious DNA to cure muscular dystrophy.

Hated

5. Accelerator - A Certain Magical Index

For real though yeah this guy sucks. I’ve never been in love with “attaining ultimate power” as a reason for villainy. I don’t really buy his spiritual rehabilitation about him only wanting to reach Level 6 so no one would hurt themselves fighting him again since he killed over 10,000 people to achieve it. Even if you don’t consider clones people, that’s pretty messed up. There are plenty of bad guys who have switched sides already.

4. Tornado of Terror - One-Punch Man

This is just poor taste This is IN poor taste. How could you hate this sassy lost child? Tornado is one of the coolest of the A rank heroes and I’m honestly not sure what could even draw any ire toward her given the way some of her peers act. She's also likely the single most powerful psychic on this list, so maybe you shouldn't be putting in bad votes, if you know what I mean? Lotta Genos fans didn’t like her turning him into a wall ornament, I guess.

3. Kuroko Shurai - A Certain Magical Index

Nobody likes a third wheel, I guess. Kuroko’s goofy and her teleportation powers are cool so I’m assuming she’s here because she has a habit of getting “in the way”. Nevermind that most of the most epic non-combat scenes in the series are all starring hers truly. Pretty surprised, to be honest. Figured more people would be into her, uh, type...

2. Legato Bluesummers - Trigun

I feel this so powerfully. How can anyone love a nihilist whose only purpose in life is to robotically carrying out his task of emotionally scarring Vash for the temerity of having basic human compassion? I wish we’d gotten more time with the Gung-ho Guns. They had great aesthetics and abilities but you never really got to learn about why they were working for a punkass who called himself Knives and maybe possibly wanted to kill all humans because something about spiders and butterflies.

1. Chiaotzu - Dragon Ball

Don’t talk to me or my precious pasty unicorn son ever again.

What a sour note to leave off on. Gotta say, I have a new respect for the Index fandom. My only other takeaways are that I’m surprised that some names I was SURE were gonna make it on this list didn’t appear anywhere. Lucy from Elfen Lied, Mob from Mob Psycho, Hitomi from Escaflowne? Where are all the psychic icons? Oh well. Anyway...

Didn’t see your favorite psychic on the list? Are you sure you actually loved them or were they just making you think that? Want to know where they appear among the most loved and hated mismatched irises of anime? Head over to Anime-Planet’s list of characters with psychic powers to see where they rank, or comment below with your favorite! Tune in next week, where we will be exploring the most loved and hated characters with freckles!

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Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com