#the original opposites attract imo

[fluffypotatey]

Robraes bashed beast boy and starfire so much. I wish they had just done paired the spares (cause like BBstar is a ship that while i dont see lasting, would be fun and enjoyable in the moment) instead of character assassinations. LIKE NO starfire would not be violent or a bad friend, NO beast boy would not become an incel

omfg bbstar would be so cute!!!! and yeah, I agree, they would prob be a short relationship but a wholesome one nonetheless 💅

imagine assassinating a character just to benefit your ship :/ couldn’t be me

[discobiscotto]

Just Guys Bein’ Dudes: A Needlessly Huge TED-Talk About Luca & Alberto’s Relationship

Ready for some big-brain BS?

Well, ready or not, here’s a “little” dive into how I interpret/perceive Luca and Alberto’s relationship.

Note: I’m referring to them as my own headcanon versions of them as men. It can certainly be applied to them as young adults and teens for sure, but I’m diving into ‘Ciao Luca’ territory specifically. So, there, just being clear on the who’s who.

What’s their deal anyhow?

Are they romantic partners? Are they attracted to eachother, yanno 👉🏻👈🏻? Buddies? Buddies with benefits? Are they even a couple? Are they husbands? What’s their deal?

So, a couple years ago when I was starting to get really busy with the headcanons, I went on a tear about their relationship to lay down some kind of clear foundation for it. I felt alittle conflicted at the time about how their relationship was going to feel/act like.

To me, because I love ambiguity, I wanted to keep that energy going from the original source material…but with alittle “oomph”…considering there’s been time and maturity tacked on. They can’t just be Pallin’ Around forever, something’s gotta give with chemistry that strong imo.

If I’m being honest, them being point-blank romantic partners felt too cliched and predictable/boring. Courtship, wooing, marriage…snore. It just didn’t feel like ‘them’ to me. It bordered heteronormative somehow. I was just …PUTTING MYSELF TO SLEEP.

Not to say they aren’t romantic, because they certainly are in their own right! It just isn’t the defining Vibe of their relationship.

As a queer lady with a pretty open mind in terms of what defines a relationship and/or bond, I believe that love expression is on a spectrum. Different strokes for different folks, yanno?

I scooted myself over to that old filing cabinet in my brain with random Greek Philosophy tid-bits (that I was impressed wasn’t put thru the incinerator) and I got polishing.

I remembered a few terms, like storge (family love), Eros: romantic, mania: obsessive/stalkerish love, agape, philia, the list goes on.

We’re gonna focus on PHILIA, typically deemed affectionate and/or “brotherly love”, I think also falls under platonic love.

We’re going to come back to this later☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻

As a couple of seamonsters (first and foremost) the human concept of love may not necessarily compute to them. Not that they get confused or turn their nose up at it, but rather it’s more boxed-in and rigid than, I guess, fish love? Haha.

Example: homosexuality, bisexuality, and heterosexuality as concepts are human inventions to help humans navigate their life and their identity in the world, be part of a tribe, and potentially find mates.

They’re social constructs, like gender conformity, and Mondays.

Seamonsters really don’t have that. They’re similar to humans in alot of ways, but in terms of attraction, love, and social awareness, they just kindof ride the wave and go where the current takes them.

Opposite sex pairings likely happen more often because [gestures] instincts and Makin’ Fries. But just like humans, same sex relationships happen just as much!…but seamonsters have no concept of homophobia (strictly a human invention) so there’s no discouragement or imposed fear of the relationship…it just happens if it’s meant to and the world keeps spinning. [deep sighs]

Luca and Alberto are aware of human society and customs (especially now that they’ve been living amongst them for atleast 15 years). So, they still try to do-as-the-humans-do sometimes. They know that they feel a strong bond to eachother that can’t be ignored, and when humans sense a similar bond between each other they express it by being physically intimate, or giving gifts, or creating things for eachother, etc.

So, basically, it boils down to “I love my friend, so I wish to express that love for him like that [gesture].”

Now bringing it back to Philia up there!👆🏻

That particular source defines philia as brotherly love, both must be men (in the Greek system), they respect and take pleasure in eachother’s company, bond through exploring philosophical truths, and sexual intimacy or attraction is optional.

This other source takes it a bit further saying that we could be diving into “friends to lovers” territory which is the aforementioned “oomph” I was referring to. The bridge into Eros stuff without being completely rooted there (ie your usual romantic pair).

Their relationship isn’t based on physical attraction, but began as a close friendship that progressed into something more. Not built on lust, but on mutual affection and respect for eachother.

They are an “unlikely” pair. Where a hockey hug became alittle tighter, and the joined hands in a good old “Piacere Girolamo Trombetta” started to linger.

They feel safe with eachother, they love and prefer eachother’s company, they share eachother’s worlds and feel deeply connected in them. Alberto cooks meals for them because he loves Luca, and Luca gives Alberto [SPOILER] because he loves him back.

They share a “I can’t quite put my finger on it but I feel safe, warm, and happy with you, I enjoy your company and what we have, I love the feeling of you being close to me, exchanging warmth and heartbeats, and I feel like this is more than going out on dates or ‘picking out curtains’.” kind of thing.

They’re roommates who kiss and “play house”. They are in love…but express it in their own unique way. They are openly affectionate. They keep people guessing, they confuse the neighbors, they have an “inside joke”.

Alberto lays on the housewife schtick: straightening Luca’s tie and sending him on his way with a packed lunch.

They call eachother heteronormative terms of endearment, mostly to be cheeky. Sarcastic “Honey” or “Dear” followed by someone affectionately ending up in a headlock.

They love to play with the human version of “married life”, little do they realize they’ve grown genuinely accustomed to it.

They’re queer but have no name and nowhere they’d rather be except each other’s arms (that one place that makes perfect sense).

They aren’t married…they never can get married…but that doesn’t stop them from sharing their homes, their beds, and a last name written on their Christmas cards.

In conclusion, humans say they’re gay.

The Paguro’s say “They built a farm together.”

SOURCES:

[stanlunter]

Characters that I think are actually straight even tho a lot of people consider them as queer:

Bc I have the whole hour before Pride Month and I'm bored, lol

Rainer. Well, he didn't show to have feelings for any male characters (and no, I don't think he likes Bertholomulo, he litterally ships him with Annie), only to Historia, plus he just doesn't give me this vibes, so yeah

Bojack main five. All of them have shown interest only to the opposite gender, so there are no reasons for them to be anything rather than straight. The only exception can be Mr Peanutbutter with his interest in Bojack bc of which I don't mind people hc him as bi, but I think it was just a platonic admiration, nothing more. Also hc any of them as aro or ace (except Todd, obviously) doesn't make sense either, since we know damn well that all of them are very romantic and almost all of them are very sexual

Howleen. I can see her being bi, but I personally don't think she's actually interested in women. She was shown to have interest in men, but women? Just no. Twyls is her bestie, not a gf. I don't mind headcanons ofc, but I just don't see it

Denji. I mean, this guy is obsessed with women and never shown interest in men, he's straight as a line, sorry

Rika & Momoe. I really don't know where it even comes from, but a lot of people hc Rika as lesbian, while she's pretty much canon straight. She litterally says "I wish you was a boy" line and you still don't get it?

What about Momoe... This one confuses me even more. For some reason the whole fandom thinks Momoe is barely canon bi/trans, I have to fully desagree with this, cuz it basically goes against her whole arc

No, she wasn't in love with her friend that killed herself. That basically was the point that her friend killed herself bc Momoe didn't like her back (at least I read it this way). In fact, Momoe litterally was sad bc only women were attracted to her bc they thought she waa a boy. While she wanted a man to find her attracted. So it makes no sense for her to like girls.

Trans think is mb arguble, but I interpritate her story as an experience of being gender nonconforming: she doesn't look like a gender she is. I don't see any trans allegories here, especially considering the fact that we have a canon trans character there, Im pretty sure, if the creators wanted Momoe to be trans, they would say she is. Also the fact that she could get in this "magical world" , since only afab can go there (considering the fact that Kaoru, as a transman, got there)

Shinji & Kaoru. Yes, this one is super objectionable. Tbh, I can see him being bi, as everybody thinks he is. However, I do like another explanation of his character arc and his relationship with Kaoru, bc It's just much more interesting than him just being bisexual

Well, in the way I see it, Shinji is straight and basically can be only attracted to girls, however, Kaoru is the only person that showed "love" to Shinji and who "cared" about him. While everyone else were rejecting and just using him, Kaoru is the first person who said Shinji he loves him and the only one that basically didn't want anything from him. Who could give Shinji unconditional love he can't get from others. And I really do not think that Shinji loved him "back" in romantic way. Imo, he didn't love him at all, but since Kaoru was the only one who gave Shinji at least some love, Shinji had no other choice than take this love anyways. Just bc it was the only way for him to feel loved in general. And to me this idea reveales Shinji's character much better than just "he's bisexual, that's why he hang out with Kaoru" and "Kaoru exists only for lgbt rep" (also have to add that It's only about original anime, not rebuilds, bc I basically haven't watched it and mb It's different there)

What about Kaoru? Kaoru isn't a human to have feelings or love. In reality he doesn't care about Shinji, he just pretended to love him only to find out what love for humans is. So ofc I don't think he's straight either. He just doesn't have feelings bc he's not a human and not even a person. He's just an angel who pretended to be a boy to know humans better

Ramona (from the movie). I thought this one is basically canon, but for some reason some people still think she's bi. Yes, she had relationship with another girl, but she has litterally said that she was just "a little bi-curious" - which literally means that she's straight and just wanted to have this experience and that she's not wlw in any way, unlike Roxie. Imo, headcanoning movie Ramona is bi is kinda even biphobic, since it sounds exactly like this stereotype that bi girls only play with girls and always chose men anyways

Higuchi. This take isn't as strong, but I just personally don't see her as wlw. She's obsessed with Ryunosuke and has never shown any sign of being interested in Gin, so yeah, I think she's just straight and gives me these vibes tbh

Annie & Hitch. Again, both girls that have shown interest only to men. Annie loves Armin, and, even tho I don't like Aruani, It's litterally canon and even has some build up. And Hitch talks only about men as well. Also I really love her relationship with Marlo and their love was really so important. Yeah, both of them could be bisexual, but I just don't see this. The only hc Im really against is any of them being lesbian, bc it just doesn't make sense

Lute. I mean, she's litterally homophobic and It's basically canon. And she didn't show any signs of being closest gay/bi anyways and Imo she loves Adam. Idk why would she be anything besides homophobic straight. Like, I can see Adam being bi, but Lute? Nah

And yeah, if anyone thinks me seing some characters as straights makes me homophobic, I advise you to use your brain or smth. Anyways, that's just my vision which I'm not trying to impose on anyone, lol

[tabl3]

elaborating on the mm trio's relationship with each davenport family member

donald: they all despise him. he hates them back. that's about it lols

douglas:

skylar - skylar and douglas are good friends. he appreciates that she gets his dry humor and is approving of her and bree. at first he was apprehensive because the idea of aliens was whack, but she grew on him really quickly. he especially appreciates that she took on what had been adam's role in the original team, protecting his kids. skylar thinks he's a silly goofy guy that loves his children and reminds her of her own father (horace), so she likes him a lot too, and teaches him about calderan tech/biology

oliver - douglas likes oliver well enough because he's quiet and doesn't get on douglas's nerves 24/7, along with taking an interest in douglas's nerd science and being a good assistant when chase isn't around. oliver likes that douglas is incredibly blunt and doesn't ever hide his opinions, meaning he doesn't have to sift through whatever he says to figure out what he means. they aren't super close, but have a mutual respect for each other (and douglas is fatherly to him on accident a lot) even though oliver pissed douglas off a lot in the beginning because of his nasty attitude, once oliver got over it, they became chill

kaz - kaz drives douglas up the wall ALL the time lols. he doesn't trust him nearly as much as he trusts skylar, making him be more overprotective of chase around him. they started out with kaz being a general annoyance but just in a teenager way, to douglas approving of the way he treated chase, to decimation and flipping the idea on its head. douglas hasn't fully trusted kaz since. kaz himself tries his best to prove himself, as well as calls douglas sir/goes to attention if douglas addresses him which is very funny imo. they're a case of opposites do NOT attract. even though douglas isn't kaz's biggest fan, or a fan of chase telling douglas to fuck off about it, douglas still very deeply cares about kaz, and kaz respects him back and wants to show him that he's better now

tasha:

skylar - tasha adores her, and skylar pays that back in full. she never had a maternal figure in her life, so tasha does a similar thing to what she did with bree when they first met, having those mother-daughter relationship moments. tasha thinks skylar is a great partner for bree, a great friend to chase, and a great leader for the team. she also loves how good she is with naomi :)

oliver - complicated. (spoiler)oliver has lost three maternal figures at this point(end) and isn't comfortable around tasha most of the time. it's nothing that she's done, and they both know that. it's simply that oliver reacts very poorly to motherly affection because of everything that has happened. he thinks she's a very kind and warm person, but he tends to stay arms-length with her. tasha completely understands this, and respects his boundaries. the only time she will ever give him individual affection is when he expresses that he needs it

kaz - tasha is one of kaz's favorite people. he loves her like his own mother, has accidentally referred to her as mom before, and holds her in the highest regard. tasha also loves him very much, despite decimation-requite's events because she knew he was a lost child that needed some sense of stability in his life. he's also really good with naomi, and takes care of chase. all-in-all they have a close bond and he considers her more of a parent than either of his biological ones. she likes to tease him and skylar that it's okay to call her mom because they'll eventually be family through marriage, solely to embarrass her kids

adam:

skylar - at first adam was semi-wary of her because he's overprotective of his sister, but that faded quickly. they understand each other very well, being the only ones who understand their struggle of both strength and invulnerability and the fear that comes with that. skylar likes adam a lot because they click well and provide similar roles in their teams. adam likes skylar because he thinks she's fun and a good protector for his siblings. they have scheduled dates in the future when the chaos ends to be gym buddies :)

oliver - oliver and adam aren't particularly close. adam sees him as a friend of his siblings, and oliver sees him as bree and chase's older brother. that's about the extent. they don't have any animosity at all, but just don't hang out or interact enough to be friends. they're friendly, and adam still crushes him with bear hugs, but they're probably the least close of any pairings so far and ones to come

kaz - they started out rough. adam was chill with him until he found out about him and chase being in a relationship. due to what happened to chase on the island and adam's intense guilt over it, he immediately associated those feelings with kaz and straight up hated him over it. kaz didn't reciprocate it as much but was put off by chase and adam's unconventional dynamic with adam seeming physically aggressive (he isn't at that point in the story and stopped far before) and verbally aggressive too. read tension on ao3 for more in-depth stuff lol. after their catharsis moment, they're actually bffs and adam keeps complaining that he wants him and chase to get married already so he can have a new little brother

leo:

skylar - leo and skylar aren't super close, but they both get along easily with people, and transfer that to their relationship. leo was in awe of her for a hot minute because he's a nerd and there was a comic book hero casually chatting with him, but they're completely chill with each other. he is grossed out by her and bree though lol

oliver - leo and oliver have gradually become more friendly throughout the series. leo is very respectful of oliver's boundaries and his monophobia, which makes oliver more comfortable around him. they often have shared rooms because leo volunteers to do so to help ease his anxiety. oliver greatly appreciates that, especially because leo never makes a big deal about it. in summary they're very wholesome and leo slays :)

kaz - they're best friends. in an accidentally setting fire to everything they touch way. they have similar interests and hobbies and click well together. even though they don't see each other often they love it when they do because they're genuinely very close :) although once again leo gets traumatized by him and chase lmao

[crystallinestars]

Hello again, it's been a while! (since the last rants after the homophobia thing haha) I just wanted to send you and all the previous anons much love and support! I also hope that all these discussions will be seen as the humble brainstorming / sharing of experiences and ideas that they are.

As for all that was discussed before (loved the rants btw), I've said it before and I'll say it again: many people don't see stories as carefully woven threads / creative tools made by humans, they see it as tropes and mirrors. I feel like at some point experiencing stories has stopped being about "how do these things connect and what kind of interpretations can you draw from the source?" to become "what does this story says about / how can I make this story about me, myself & I?". And it doesn't help that this take echos one of the most common (but also very cliché ngl) thing that can be said about what a story is (I think we've all heard something like "stories help us learn things about ourselves").

If we go from there, what can you say to someone who sees their reflection in a story without looking or sounding like the "bad guy"? After all, how dare others question one's identity? Surely they must be some kind of puritan evil and a "x-phobe"!

I saw discussions on Twitter saying a few years ago that some people have cannibalized "leftist" jargons so much that they end up sounding like the very conservative they're trying to push back against and now "social justice" in many communities (esp in fandoms) is used as a weapon to police what everyone does in their corner, even if they're not bothering anyone else. It's too bad imo that in the court of social justice and its jargon, bullying and harrassment aren't treated as serious offenses, but I digress 🤷🏻‍♀️

Going back to the "people love tropes" thing, while I find it sad that it often seems they do not see anything beyond these tropes, a huge part of the blame definitely lies with the creators / companies providing this content. I agree with you 1000% that Mihoyo knew what they were doing with Alhaitham and Kaveh, what with how popular the phrase "and they were roommates!" has become. This is also why I hate when fandoms tell people like the bi anon for example that they should just "find other people like them in the community <3", because it essentially means "go be a killjoy somewhere else and spend your time dodging the content you don't want to see". I'm also not a big fan of popular fandom activties (shipping being at the top of the list, even if technically I don't mind hearing people talk about their hcs and interpretations, so long as they do it respectfully) so I understand how restrictive the experience can be.

And finally, the Kaveh situation. Both you and the anon made great points and frankly? Thank you so much for addressing all these things! Nothing irks me more than people going "omg x behaviour / outfit is SOO gay". I know it's supposed to be a facetious little joke originally and I'm also not here to bring justice to the pixels, but after hearing this so many times I'm starting to believe that many people genuinely think that you can identify a person's orientation just by looking at them. What happened to "traditional / straight men should embrace their 'femenine' side"? Idk, I think about this a lot and I've yet to truly gather my thoughts on the subject, but I do feel like this way of going about these things is a slippery slope leading straight into stereotyping territory.

Also, I feel you both when you say you don't think kavetham is a viable ship. It's of course a matter of taste and people are definitely allowed to play with different dynamics (healthy or not). I just think it's also a case of latching onto a trope (opposites attract maybe) and rolling with it. I've been friends with people whose personalities were drastically different from mine, and while it was fulfilling because we were constantly challenged by each other, let me tell you that this constant was also EXHAUSTING, to the point that it sometimes felt like having to walk on eggshells to keep the balance stable. So yeah, while I can see the appeal in a ship like kavetham, I'm not a fan. I could enjoy it if people focused more on the fragility and vulnerability that such a relationship can create, but alas. I suppose top/bottom discouse brings much more instant gratification.

Anyway, I think the girlies here (and all those who wish to join) should form an alliance and keep doing their things away from the drama. I'm really glad that your blog is a safe space to vent and talk about these things 💜

Glad to see you again, Anon! 💚

I never imagined that stating I'm not into BL in my bio would spark so much discussion on the topic of modern fandom culture. Not that I mind since I enjoy talking about these things, but it does make me wonder if there should be a dedicated space for it so everyone can talk about it together. In the meantime, I am more than happy to be a safe space for others to vent their frustrations and share their opinions on the topic 😊

We talked before about how people project themselves onto stories and characters, and you also made a really good addition to this that I haven't thought of before. It does seem like people stopped interpreting stories for their message/idea, and are now using it as a way to validate themselves instead. It makes me wonder what it is about modern Western culture that's pushing people to project so heavily onto entertainment media.

I won't comment too much on political jargon since I am not American, and oftentimes struggle to understand American politics. One thing I have noticed, though, is that a lot of Americans view everything around them through a political lens, even when said thing or person has nothing to do with politics. They jump to conclusions about where on the political spectrum said thing or person lies based on whether it aligns with their views, and then judge it to be either good or bad. No in-between.

And I also agree that the social justice camp has done a 180, and went from promoting equality and acceptance, to now policing everyone who doesn't adhere to their strict views of what is morally correct. It has led to a rejection of equality. I also wonder why these people feel the need to police everyone around them. Are they trying to make up for something deep down?

I am also very thankful to the anon for opening discussion on the issue of people assuming character sexuality based on physical attributes or behaviors. As we talked at length prior, the term "coding" is being thrown around everywhere to justify people's headcanons about characters. We've gone past sliding down the slope of stereotyping, because I've seen people use stereotypes to describe characters, and parade them as proof that the character is gay-coded.

For example, I saw someone say Kaveh is gay-coded because he whines and complains a lot, dresses feminine, and shows no interest in women (Said person also said a lot of other WILD things to try and defend their point. It was one of the most surreal conversations I've ever had). Some of this stereotyping started out as a joke, as you said, but lately it doesn't feel like a joke anymore.

Glad you are also of the opinion that Kaveh and Haitham wouldn't make a good romantic couple! Every time I see someone compile a list of how they're designed as a pair, and therefore meant to be lovers, I want to write a list stating why their personalities wouldn't make them work. Or if they do start dating, then why it would inevitably fall apart. But I digress.

I feel you when you say you've been friends with someone who is your polar opposite, and how difficult it can be. Though I wouldn't even call us friends because we are just too different to understand each other's point of view. It's frustrating and exhausting, for sure, which is why I commend you for being able to keep a friendship going.

Sorry for writing so much. I thought I would write less, but somehow I never can.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us! It's definitely encouraging and vindicating knowing there are others who share our views out there.

[kirbles]

curious about galezel and wyllach for that ship chart!

galezel i 100% ship, but i enjoy them as either an opposites attract type romantic ship, or two autistic buddies who like to infodump lore.

they're compelling and to me make a lot of sense, but not as much as other ships featuring the two of them. both of them are extremely studious and take pride in their prowess in both magic and swordsmanship respectively.

i think lae'zel would appreciate the fact gale would ask and want to learn more about githyanki culture, and would never make fun of her for not knowing common terms in faerun. in fact he'd be super eager to teach her abt faerun, and in turn she'd rope him into daily sparring. they'd be really fun and silly.

wyllach was probably one of the first ships i enjoyed!! it makes the most sense out of all the origin ships imo, their stories are both extremely intertwined. they have the most natural banter and dynamic. it compels me!

karlach being so shocked wyll is willing to go so far for her, a stranger at the time, that she ends up trying to make it up to him by being a loyal friend. but then realising how self sacrificial wyll is, and wanting him to do more things for just himself.

they'd love and respect each other as friends first, that it'd be unsurprising when it develops into something more.

[marciabrady]

May I ask why you dont like the 2015 live action cinderella?

I have answered this question before here, here, and here.

My main issues are:

The creative cast of 2015 outright condemning the 1950 film and admitting that none of them had ever been fans of the original growing up (which is painfully obvious given how much they misunderstood the story). I think a lot of them leaned into a lot of really problematic rhetoric regarding victim shaming in general. I think this was so harmful, because despite the fact that many people perceive the original Cinderella to be a victim, she really wasn't (if she would've been, that's fine, but the fact is that she wasn't and a lot of people perceive her as one anyone and I think it opens a HUGE can of worms). Lily's though was without a doubt more passive, less individual, and just didn't have substance to her imo.

They wiped away all of Cinderella's spirit and spunk and energy and made her a bland "smile and stare" soldier. She also falls into the Belle trap a lot for me. You all know I don't like Belle, and I just always get irritated that someone who's supposedly so intelligent in every way suffers at communicating effectively and Lily's character falls into that trap too imo. Plus, she's just not human to me or realistic.

I hate the saying "have courage and be kind."

The aesthetic is gaudy, I don't like the voices in this film, and all the stylistic choices are unsettling to me.

I don't like the way any of the characterizations are written and performed. Lady Tremaine was cold and calculating in the animated, while Cate Blanchett is cackling at the top of her lungs in a fashion nova cheetah print bathrobe...

What I liked about the original was the variety in designs, but this production was hellbent on "fixing" the beauty standards...by making the Fairy Godmother, Lady Tremaine, and the stepsisters all abide by it??? They're all thin, conventionally attractive young white women and are dressed in a way that's meant to be flattering to each. I think they were trying to flip the trope on its head like "look, the stepmother can be beautiful too! So can the stepsisters" but they achieved the inverse here and seemingly glorified eurocentric beauty standards by having every character look the exact same (meanwhile the opposite is true for the men in this film; who would say the King and Grand Duke or Prince looked the same?).

I genuinely find Lily James unstomachable. I don't like any of the live action actresses, but Lily is probably the worst to me, personally.

A lot of people prefer this one and a lot of the Cinderella content we get leans more heavily into this version (sadly). Also, I just think it's leading to more and more people misunderstanding the original Cinderella by thinking she's like Lily's, which is very off (I never would've liked Cinderella if I experienced her as Lily's).

This is not just one of my least favorite interpretations of Cinderella, it's one of my least favorite movies in general.

[caestoexist]

(excerpt from my film + lit analysis class essay on afab gender nonconformity in film specifically about she's the man 2006 and tomboy 2011)

"She’s The Man is a romantic comedy designed for an adolescent audience, and therefore starts with a high energy montage of the main character, Viola, playing soccer on the beach. It is overlaid with bright, colorful graphics showing the title credits, and set to the song “No Sleep Tonight” by The Faders. Viola, while not stereotypically feminine, is clearly a girl. She is shown to like sports, and is uncomfortable in dresses, but also wears a bikini top and short jean shorts in the opening montage, and has long hair. She only comes to the decision to present as a boy in order to impersonate her brother, Sebastian, so she can play on the boys soccer team, after the girls team is cut.

At the end of the film, she reveals herself to be female, wins the game, and goes back to living as a girl. In fact, the second to last scene shows her onstage, in a dress and makeup, making out with Duke, a fellow soccer player and her former roommate, who first met her as Sebastian.

She’s The Man has something I call ‘The Mulan Effect,’ where a film represents a character pretending to be the opposite gender without actually tackling transgender topics. In these types of films, the character has external motivation, usually hiding from, or impersonating someone, or trying to gain access to something. A key feature of films that demonstrate ‘The Mulan Effect’ is the crossdressing character returning to their original gender presentation after achieving their goal."

i think it's an interesting phenomenon because on the surface a film with the mulan effect seems to be trans or trans adjacent in nature, but when you think harder about it, it's usually not as related as it would seem. of course it's somewhat related just due to the feature of a character acting and dressing as the opposite sex, and often has loosely feminist undertones (woman just as good at fighting war as man!! gender win!) but it's about a mostly gender conforming, usually straight character (in fact, if the character isn't straight, it kinda falls into a different category than the mulan effect imo) simply putting on a disguise.

it doesn't touch on actual gender nonconformity or transgenderism beyond very superficial features of it, such as being considered strange, ugly, or wimpy by those around you. its much safer than a film actually about trans or gender nonconforming topics, because it can almost fully avoid homosexuality or transgenderism other than a sort of parody/joke on those things (this straight woman falls in love with a boy, but he's secretly a girl! must be awkward for her!). it's kinda like the bury your gays trope in that it depicts the undepictable but in a way that doesn't justify being gay or trans.

it's also like the bury your gays trope becsuse people will still identify with it when that's the only representation they're given. like if all the gay stuff you can read ends with the characters dead, you're still gonna read it just for the gay shit. if the media showing gender nonconformity and transness only shows it as either temporary (the mulan effect, the trope of a tomboy growing out of it as they get older, usually influenced by meeting a man they're attracted to and realizing they're a Woman and gotta Act Like It) or evil (all the trans serial killers, who are mostly trans women, sometimes trans men who are gangsters, mob bosses, or criminals) you're still gonna identify with the characters just because you don't have anything else showing someone who does what you do.

in a lot of media trans women are represented as evil and perverted and trans men are often not represented, or represented as a temporary issue, something done as a result of external pressures, or something that you grow out of. trans women are often ugly, strange, aggressive adults and trans men are children, also perceived as ugly and strange but overall more sympathetic. i think it's interesting and wonder how much this broad societal representation affects the way we perceive those groups even without realizing it.

it's also interesting how the way we see women vs men plays into this, as trans women are "too manly" making them adult, large, aggressive, etc. trans men are sometimes also seen as too manly, because nobody takes them seriously as a boy to begin with, so they're judged as a girl. if they are seen as a boy, they're wimpy, small, childish, and more likely to have pity taken on them. trans women embody "man traits" like thinking for themselves and making decisions, like an adult, whereas trans men embody "woman traits" by just not even being taken seriously on the same level as trans women (who are more likely to be portrayed as actually trans women, as opposed to trans masculinity, often portrayed as confused or traumatized little girls) and also being shown more often as children. they are then able to be saved by a man, and only then are able to be happy as a woman. the transphobia is just the first layer of these types of bad rep, the deeper you dig the more it seems to be misogyny. like "trans women are men so they're powerful and aggressive by nature, trans men are women and therefore they don't know what the fuck is going on, even with themselves. they need a man to come set them straight, it's not their fault". it starts to seem really fucked when you think about it.

i'm saying this after having gone thru every pre-2012 representation of trans characters in television and film (according to wikipedia) and finding Some Patterns.

i don't really know what the conclusion of this post is, but basically. trans women and trans men are both affected by misogyny. misogyny is at the root of so many things. if you're against misogyny you should be against homophobia and transphobia too. period.

[charlietikoobadiah23]

TALK: CLONE HIGH> INDIE VERSION UPDATE

Ever since I was watching Clone High reviews on YouTube, I checked on this and thought "Should I make them the 4 new casts instead of the official new main casts?" I mean that doesn't mean I'm discarding them, but the thought of this happening kinda just makes sense, imo.

(Shoutout to @/snowbunnie1113 for this)

I recently just sketched Jackie Onassis, Mark Antony, J.W.B and Giles of Rais/Bluebeard

•Jackie Onassis:

Jackie is labeled as an introverted Good-at (category of the teacher's pet or an overachiever) that would be reserved and nice but would be manipulative (not on a Cleo-level), an unintentional snob and, depending on the person and/ or situation, not so classy person. Her partner was Mark Antony until she was fed up of him showing off to everyone that Jackie is his girlfriend and she wants someone to get closer to her intimately and with care, which he failed to do. She at least has just a bit of sense of morality to know when she's crossing the line, but she never learns from her mistakes.

• Mark Antony:

Mark Antony was labeled as cool, athletic jock, but things will never be the same by the time he sees the Gen 1 beautiful and conceited, Cleo and he would go through limits in order to get her desire. Most teens see him now as a simping Jock or "a main character of a harem sitcom" (it never helped when he's stupid rich and Cleo was ready to manipulate the ish out of him[don't worry, tho. There will be a funny build-up between them]). Mark would be obnoxious, gets angry easily and is way too self-serving. His partner was Jacqueline Onassis until she was fed up of him showing off to everyone that Jackie is his girlfriend and she wants someone to get closer to her intimately and with care, which he failed to do. He at least has a sense of empathy to those whom he trusts (specifically to all Gen2 and especially Julius Ceasar for historical jokes and ish). Unfortunately, this guy rivals against all Gen 1 male.

• Johnny W. Booth:

Johnny is labeled as a Theater Floater (a teen that, despite not having a particular group to be with, everyone fw). He would be both relatable and humorous who babysits kids because of both cash and being kind to them but that doesn't mean he's okay. The guy's a superstitious and paternalist school acting mess. Ironically, when it comes to acting, he does it 2x better than the original John Wilkes Booth. For some damn reason, I made him friends with Giles of Rais/Bluebeard, a hot-headed kid-hating reckless bastard ( quite the opposite of him ), but y'know what they say: Opposites attract. He's way too close-minded to the point that would make an average close-minded person be open-minded. If you ask, yes, he meets Abe, but the silence is loud between their conversation. Johnny always had this...akward feeling and presence when Abe is around.

•Giles of Rais:

Giles is labeled as a popular hot-headed dumbass (he's not a bully, just a jerk) that would be surprisingly elegant but would be fearless, a worse handsome mess than JWB. For some damn reason, I made him friends with Johnny W. Booth, a close-minded theatre superstitious relatable floater ( quite the opposite of him ), but y'know what they say: Opposites attract.

● ● ●

That aside, I also found clothes for them

As simple as possible and as less contrast as well.

Here are the sketches:

(Jackie's pose is a very big inspiration from @spxgeth11, I hope the artist doesn't get mad about this I just love the sketches of the artist)

Out of all these 4,

Jackie's the most level-headed

Mark Antony's the most empathetic

Johnny's the most close-minded

Bluebeard's the most impetuous/impulsive

WORST "Friend Group" to Ever Conceive, lol

NOW, we can talk about the ideas...

I'll check some ideas and shoutout comments to not take ALL the credit, I'll be back...

11:33 IE pm: Okay! I'm back

Here are some comments that I would love to try and make as a scene:

Shoutout to:

@/balthasar6091

@/TheCasualGamr

@/minthemadnezz200

@/rockymac04

@/heath6802

...and I'll be thinking about jokes and plots myself when having to draw my Indie Version of Clone High

P.S: if anyone wants their Clone High OC to be a minor or recurring character, send me a message, I'll be happy to sketch, draw and design

👍🏾

~Charlie Tiko Obadiah

[emmalovesfitzloved]

Who are your fav characters, and why ? And favourit ship/s ?

Eeeeek finally getting round to this lovely ask by the smartiest @imabitchforjemcarstairs hehehe

I have answered this lovely q, and here is the link for the full unhinged answer for the "why" them, hehe.

But the TLDR just for fire rapid answers is:

Favourite characters:

Alastair

Will/Tessa (tie)

Thomas

Matthew

Kitty and Jessa tie

Malec (if allowed a sixth place)

Top Ships:

Thomastair

Wessa

Kitty

Jemma

Malec

(lots of cheating with the ties, but im going to be honest, i can't choose frfr)

Now to enjoy this read and not make and make this answer half assed, I will be original and give my two cents on the topic of Wessa vs. Jessa i haven't had the time to chat about until now. So technically you didn't ask for this lol but i feel like we love Jem and this is a perfect opportunity to give an essay responce on the whole shindig :)

So scooch in for me @imabitchforjemcarstairs we need a chat ;) .

On the topic of Jessa vs. Wessa vs. Herongraystairs in TID:

I think I liked them a lot especially in TID, but i think that the lack of Jem POV makes it hard to really understand what's going inside in his head. And i think the relationship as a ship in writing, suffers from it, especially when we have Will's POV. And that rather, the decisions that 'metamorph' in their relationship is out of Jessa's hands, but a response to the events CC convienently plops in, not allowing any of these three characters decided eyes wide open their fate. Which imo, is a cop out. Let's breakdown the sneaky manipulative writing CC did ;)

I recently reread TID (for about the 10th time now, as one does during the christmas season lol) and found that even during the Herongraystairs arc, it felt like the writing gave more bonding and more to Wessa than Jessa. I call this in romance novels the, "convincing period", where the author in those formative chapters has to convince the reader that these two individuals should be in a ship. CC convinced us on Wessa bc they were into each other since day 0 when Will saved her from the Twin sisters, had so many hobbies in common and shared the same common struggles of figuring out who they want to be in this world (Will struggling w/ his identity and curse and Tessa as a weird hybrid warlock who constantly gets gaslit her who life). So the convincing is done well there i think we can all agree on that pretty easily.

For Jem and Tessa, it seems as if Tessa always defaulted to him because he was a failsafe from Will. And i don't mean that negatively, but in that, he was brilliant, light, elegant, poised and studied and that is literally sexy as hell lol. LIKE COME ON, HE MADE MUSIC ON HIS VIOLIN FOR HERRR. THAT'S HELLA ROMANTIC. And is very "show don't tell" when it comes to his love, my fav trope. He is very clear, which at the time, was the opposite of Will. So that in of itself is attractive to Tessa. But it's a canon event, that she went into the engagement collaterally in book 2, bc Will constantly kept deflecting what they had. She wouldn't have explored a relationship with Jem, if it weren't for Will's deflections. This is literally a canon event. And Tessa wanted to explore what she had with Jem bc he was very decided and less flakey than Will. Which tbh makes utter sense to me!

But as you can see, later on, once Jem leaves the silent brothers, the way i interpreted this is that, Jem and Tessa became a thing bc of the history they have, the loyalty they have to the trio friendship group and bc Tessa doesn't have Will anymore. It's giving very much "begin again" by Taylor Swift Vibes (not too much but yk kinda that aesthetic). And what I'm trying to say, is that I read the Jessa relationship at a disadvantage when up against Wessa. I think CC would have benefited writing Jessa and Wessa independent, and not collaterally contigent on the happenings of what was going on with the status of the other relationship. And then, on Wessa's side in response to Jem leaving for the Silent Brothers, they didn't want to get together in Book 3, bc Will didn't want to take his best mate's girl away bc his best mate never asks anything of Will and he's also high key dying.

It’s unfair that Wessa happened bc Will felt like there was a curse which gave way for Jessa’s engagement, and conversely, it’s unfair that Wessa only got together once the silent brothers made Jem one of them. So again, the autonomy of these characters are not happening 'authentically' but are happening bc of circumstances.

There is also the accidental (ig) trope that Jem with his illness he was given which in political theory we call, “the children are dying” trope. Which means, you give blanket equity or veto power to someone irrespective of the context of deserving because they are “closer to death” than anyone else. This is THE DRIVING FORCE, of why everyone acts the way they do around poor Jem and it drives him, and us the readers crazy, rightfully so. Jem and Will become friends, not because Will at first fr liked Jem as a person or thought he was a talented shadowhunter, but “because he was dying”, blanket permission for friendship. Tessa was kind to Jem at first because, you guessed it, blanket permission because he is closer to death than she is. They get engaged despite not knowing each other for a long time, conveniently for Jem because, yes, he’s close to death. So much of autonomy is once again stripped from characters around Jem, because most of their actions are respective to his illness. Which is polite, lovely, but it rightfully upsets Jem because he is still a person. Not a a make a wish kid nor a charity case. This was touched on briefly when he said he didn’t want a nurse out of Tessa but a wife. This wasn’t morally delved into deeply save for Tessa’s answer “no I fr like u dude wdym” but than her actions proceed to default back to the “children are dying” complex around him. And we’re only freed from this trope finally once Jem has lived basically the immortal life and is a very changed person after silent brotherhood.

So WTF to do right? Seems like CC built up amazing grounds and complications in these characters, but what to do right? How can she wrap this up in a nice bow? Well CC went naturally via the occam's razor route, which is: Jem becomes a literal monk giving him 'immortality', so circumstantially, the only option JUST SO HAPPENS that Will and Tessa can be together. Again, its not a decision Tessa makes, its a problem that solves itself for Tessa. She goes with Will for now, and maybe in the future, she will go with Jem if he ever leave the silent brothers.

Which again, imo is a bit of a cop out. But CC didn't allow Tessa to put her big girl panties and choose a man. But one thing is clear, which is CC didn't write Will and Jem equal from the start. And it is very clear that Will was written from the beginning as the forbidden love and chosen one. Which is extremely unfair to Jem bc there is so much we could have learned and gained from a Jem pairing that DIDN'T happen bc of the circumstances of Wessa not working out. I truly think that Jem was written with an unfair disadvantage. Like i said, One bc his POV hasn't ever been explored that well. and Two, bc all of Tessa's choices weren't made bc she willed them, but bc CC wrote the circumstances in to take away the choice for her.

Now what I do think is right, is that Jessa, both being immortal are together later on in Shadowhunter Canon. I love Mina and I love what they can be for each other. They make each other happy. And for anyone who says that you can have only 1 love in ur life has a very romantic judeo-catholic view on things XD. U can have many loves in ur life, and each of them can be independent from each other. Love is not mutually exclusive. How is it that you can love unbundently and feel equal love for your multiple pets and children, but not find it in yourself to love more than 2 men? It is entirely possible. And so I do think there is room for Jessa, even if Wessa happened first. And I don't think it is disrespectful or cheating to remarry or find another love after one has ended.

I read criticism about them and how they don't live up to the same version as they were in TID, but i think living hundreds of years does that to you. And i don't think it's the fault of anyone in the pairing to 'bring out' the best in the other, but they can also be very changed people from when they were young. This criticism that they aren't great together later on in life is rooted in their own way of dealing with immortality AND THEN each other. I think what is a pity is that it isn't explored as well as Magnus's immortality has shaped his life which i think again, puts Jessa at a disadvantage. Magnus' continuity as I explained before is given a wider girth than Jessa which is why he is my preferred immortal. But then again, what would Magnus do, if he was immortal forever with his ship? He would be a very changed person he wouldn’t be his own comedic relief that’s for sure. In fact, Camille was not wrong when she said that immortality changes your relationship greatly. Where she fucked up was treating poor babygirl Magnus like shit just in general lol, and being immortal doesn't mean u have to be an asshole. I think immortality truly did a number on Jem and Tessa, irrespective of each other and has not a lot to do with Jem or how he treats her, but a lot about how how Tessa and Jem are quite literally a hundreds of year old great grandma and gramdpa hahahahaha.

But if Will were still alive or immortal like Tessa, would Tessa still be with him now that she has the option of being with Jem forever? Again, we are stripped away from that option because the circumstances decided over the characters. But I do think she would still chose Will.

Final question is, would Herongraystairs actually work? The answer in CC's eyes and again, the occam's razor answer is obviously 'yes'. In fact Tessa herself in Book 3 said it is entirely possible to be in love with 2 people at once and I think poly relationships are a beautiful thing. But is it the easiest and first answer, or is it the TRUE answer? Again, that we will never know bc Tessa's decisions on this matter are in response to the environment she is in, not because she truly believes it.

It is very clear that Will is written all across Tessa's mind in Book 1, and is what she thinks about 24/7. There were times where i was like, "girl just go up to him and JUST EXPLODE UR FEELS ON HIM UR GIVING ME A HEADACHE". But the plot just so conveniently every time they had a moment alone, would get 'interrupted' and the moment was gone. Only after in response to this mess of a situationship, did she go for Jem bc of his ease and what he represented (which we talked about before^) but it wasn't equally organic. It was in response to what happened with Will. Truly we all know, that Tessa would not have even considered Jem, if Will and Tessa decided to be a couple and engage by book 1. And I hate that Jessa read to me as second best, instead of a true, equal 1st place like Wessa. Which is would have to be, in order to have a Herongraystairs. I don't like that CC made Jessa collateral, but tbh i think she didn't know how to chose in the making of TID. So instead of choosing or rewriting the relationship so that both ships were dealt with equally, she made the events of the plot decide for the characters instead.

In defence of CC, a lot of our lives happens in response to our surroundings and circumstances instead of pure Free Will. Which might ironically make Jessa and Wessa and Herongraystairs even more realistic than maybe the idyllic cleanly chosen choices. Life moves fast and we can barely respond to it in time. And what matters most at the end, is that all three of these characters love each other dearly and would be there for each other no matter what. However, the way the plot was almost TOO conveniently choosing everything instead of the characters making hand on heart choices, swings us back to being a bit too unrealistic.

I truly, really love Jessa and I would marry Jem myself lol, but I really disliked the way it wasn't dealt with fairly. I am happy that they end up together at the end, I just didn't like the way they went about it. I would be more sold on Herongraystairs if it was dealt with more evenly instead of the other side of the poly v, instead of being collaterally contingent to the happenings of Wessa. Who knows, CC said that Jessa will re-encounter Will again and not in shadowhunter heaven so i wonder if there is any ability to clean this all up. But bc of the way CC wrote Jessa over how i WISHED she wrote them, Jessa is not in the top 5 ships for me unfortunately. It's def top 10 (and for sure over Clare lol) probablly like 7th place but not top 5. I think there are other relationships in the Shadowhunter fandom that are written a lot more cleanly where the characters are given by CC more autonomy in their choices which makes it easier to follow along. Not to mention get their POVs.

I cannot wait for your own lovely essay on our fav Jem @imabitchforjemcarstairs ! I hope my re-mentioning of it doesn't come across as antsy or like i'm trying to 'remind you' passively lol. Which would be awfully rude. As you can tell, I took my time to reply to this one :). My intention is one of pure excitement, fandom-ing over it and showing support.

art credit: @giannyfili on instagram

[whoredmode]

Question! Do you have any specific in-game songs you associate with each of the games? For example, "Workin' for the Weekend" by Loverboy always makes me think of the second game, since it was a song I heard a lot while playing and I felt like it matched the more upbeat parts of that game. "What I Got" by Sublime makes me think of the the third game, for obvious reasons. I'm curious if you have your own songs you associate with specific games from the in-game soundtrack haha.

I DO i actually think the radio is one of the strongest parts of the entire series. it’s incredibly atmospheric.

for sr1 “Get Shot Boy” by Grafh and “Time has Come” by Exile immediately come to mind. “Gangsta Party” by Joe Budden also comes to mind, maybe a little cuz it’s one of the title screen songs but also it’s just a good song. “Too Long Awake” by Idlewild too; it has a very final sound to it that i always associate with the end of the game. and it goes without saying but sr1 would not be complete without Sy Smith’s music as Aisha <3

sr2 is not sr2 without its 80s music. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears and “Out of Touch” by Hall and Oates are quintessential sr2 music. however i think The sr2 song for me is “Knights” by Minus the Bear. cuz it is THE troyteros song. holy shit.

for srtt i similarly think of “What I Got” by Sublime, however i’d say i end up thinking of “Ball and Chain” by Social Distortion and “Return of the Mack” by Mark Morrison even more. and i can’t not mention “Epic” by Faith No More, however this is less a srtt song to me and more just that Mike Patton is probably my favorite musician haha

while i dislike sriv i still think it has an alright radio rotation tho i have the least amount of an opinion on it bc i intentionally spend the least amount of time in this game. however! it still has some good songs. Paula Abdul’s “Opposites Attract” is a standout and the scene of pierce and the boss singing still gets a smile outta me despite it all.

and finally the srr radio. it’s not that bad imo? not sure what the general consensus on it is but i think it’s fine. i appreciate the different angle it went. honestly all the synthpop songs are super atmospheric and i think they did a decent job making it feel more modern. also all the original folk and country songs they made are fantastic imo. Onyx’s “Slam” will always be the song i associate with the game most tho, probably bc it’s just a song i love but also if i remember right it played in the prison breakout mission, which was my personal fave mission of the whole game.

[triviareads]

I am intrigued by pride and protest as an adaptation of pride and prejudice because I am a big Austen fan but I rarely see modern versions of Austen done well. They always make it enemies to lovers with a big misunderstanding in the middle (the proposal scene) and think that makes it pride and prejudice.

I can confirm it's a GREAT adaptation and I had a lot of fun reading it. I think the best modern Austen adaptations don't exactly stick to the plot points and progression of the novel— they can't because like, society has changed since the regency era lol, and shouldn't, imo— but they still get the same messages across.

For example, Nikki Payne wrote Pride and Protest with explicit sex in it, but she did NOT wait until the very end to give us sex scenes (if she'd followed the beats of the book exactly, she probably would have waited); she had Liza and Dorsey hook up once during the Rosings arc. And ultimately it works because when Dorsey delivers his "proposal" (not a marriage proposal; more of a live-in girlfriend situation) to Liza, Dorsey is all "I thought what we had means something" just like Darcy did in the og proposal, except he's not just working off of what he saw as Liza being amenable to his proposal (like the og), he's literally had sex with Liza, but that doesn't stop him from disrespecting her family and offering her a proposal she sees as degrading (the vibes were very "you'll be my kept woman" but like.... more classily delivered), just like in the original.

What the book does get right is that there is never any dramatic enemies-to-lovers arc (because remember, P&P is not actually enemies to lovers); Dorsey and Liza are on opposite sides of the gentrification situation occurring in Liza's DC neighborhood but their interpersonal dealings are more nuanced and you still see that thing where Dorsey fundamentally misunderstands the signals Liza is giving (which.... to be fair are a little more mixed here because they do act on their physical attraction beforehand) while Liza is initially uninterested in pursuing anything further with Dorsey until they each set aside their assumptions about each other and get to know the other person better.

The funny thing is, because I'm such a contrarian, I'm always sad when Emma adaptations don't lean into the weirdness (and possible hotness... if done well and if Knightley's character is changed a little bc he comes across as a fusty man in the book lol; or alternatively, just pull a Clueless and give us ex-step-siblings!) of Emma falling for her friend/mentor/father-ish (because god knows how much Mr. Woodhouse actually parented) figure who is approximately 17 years older and has known her since birth. Instead, a lot of Emma-inspired romances I've reviewed of late (Never Met a Duke Like You by Amalie Howard, Match Me If You Can by Swati Hegde) lean solely into the friends-to-lovers aspect of it and make the Knightley of the story the same age as Emma.

[princessmishaps]

I'm curious about who the wattane ship is that you tag some things with? (And I know I enjoy it when people let me loose to rant about my faves so consider this a green flag to do that! If you'd like too of course!)

so!! where to even begin! besides i love u for asking me about them because i would do anything to talk about them. wattane is wattson and octane from apex legends, which is a battle royale team based video game. they are the light of my life they are soulmates and the flirtatious lore they originally came from has been abandoned for new flashy storylines and new writers coming in and not caring about past stuff if it doesn't fit new ideas. so wattane doesnt get the respect they deserve imo and i do have alot to say about that. But i Wont. i do not know why they make me so happy but they do and everything comes back to them. they are the perfect opposites attract couple bc while they are so different they have quite a bit in common. both kind and smart and like goofing off, but wattson is a bit more levelheaded in certain ways that octane is not. she is more likely to think three times through before running straight into something where as he is like go now think later its fine (this man literally blew off his own legs with a grenade and was like Kickass i have robot legs now i can be FASTER). both have abandonment issues and a need for acceptance, but they can become one anothers safe space and heal together. ive been working on a longfic for them for a long time (writers block among other things have kept me from finishing it, but im working on it!) but its basically one of my dream plotlines i wish they wouldve been given and less of a fun fic bc i wanted to give them the story i thought they deserved and never got. the worst part is in canon they chose to pick the ships i hate the most for Both of them, and they dont even interact anymore. but its okay bc in my mind they are in love and nothing can change that. plus even separately they are so important to me. they really helped me have something to care about during a dark patch of my life and they made me wanna write again after years of nothing. idk where i would be without them, and thats so weird to say cause they are video game characters that dont even interact anymore but they make me So happy like giddy kicking my feet twirling my hair and thats everything honestly.

also i want to write this week and i finally!! moved my room around today! so now my desk is so comfy and i have a nice place to write new content for them bc its been awhile and im hoping the fresh space helps.

a neat bonus to all of this is the voice actress for wattson knows me and greets me by name whenever i pop into her insta lives and has said she thinks im really sweet and stuff in her livestreams so ive ascended basically.

[xtallin]

ACOTAR ASTRO

Feyre

Sun: Sagittarius (I know she technically capricorn in the books, but she gives more a late December sag feel)- brave, adventurous, literally an archer. Can also be lowkey thick thick-headed.

Moon: Aquarius- not good at expressing emotions/detached, scrappy, can think quickly when she's in a corner. Emotionally responds to people who are also stand-offish.

Rising: Gemini- honest, I really only think this cause she is hard to read for other people. Also would trine with moon, which I Def think fits. Her sun being in the 7th house would also fit considering her taste in men and how men see her and what type she attracts. Her lovelife gives such sun in 7th vibes

Tamlin

Sun: Taurus- the High Lord of Spring def has a spring sun sign haha. He is conventionally handsome, strong, and has a natural beauty about him

Moon: Capricorn- practical, calculating, loyal, and very business oriented especially in ACOMAF. His sun trining his moon is something I'd feel just cause he gives off very earth element vibes. His emotions are very in line with his life goals and purpose.

Rising: Leo- I feel this because his most noticeable features is his long golden hair (like a lions mane ahem) also this would make this square his sun, which I think fits him. Also moon 6th house fits.

Lucien (chose this pic cause finding someone with red hair and no eye is hard.)

Sun: Sagittarius- he's Autumn Court and he honestly vibes with Feyre the most out of everyone in the book imo. Need I also mention red hair?

Moon: Libra- he's got a sharp tongue and a soft heart. A secret romantic. Works more in the shadows than in the presence of others

Rising: Aries- I feel like his emotional side is always clashing with his emotional side. Also I feel like he looks for a sensitive, feminine partner (moon in 7th). Sun trine rising also fits. (Double red hair whammy)

Rhysand

Sun: Scorpio- the platonic energy is so so heavy here. Perfect fit.

Moon: Virgo- he has extreme level emotional control. Constantly able to adjust to any situation he's in and has a secretive caring nature

Rising: Scorpio- okok.. I was thinking capricorn originally because bone structure. But he is the epitome of darkness, dreams and he gives sun 1st/12th house energy. I honestly think his sun conjuncts his ascendant. Also leo would be in the 10th house. Fitting.

Amarantha

Sun: Leo- def evil Leo vibes. Has to be the center of attention, unnaturally beautiful, powerful, and again. How many characters gotta have red hair?? Forreal.

Moon: Aquarius- honestly her sun and moon being opposite is accurate. Especially the competitive, ambitious nature she has. I think the reason Feyre is able to keep up with her is because she is also a aqua moon. Both refuses to quit.

Rising: Scorpio- definitely drawn highly to Tamlin (sun falls in her 7th house) but gives off night court aesthetic (plutonic) I feel like Rhysand's sun would fall in her 12th (hidden enemies). Feyre's rising in the 7th would also fit because they're open enemies (it'd be at the end of the 7th house but still).

[karouvas]

top 5 characters with your zodiac sign (stolen from you), top 5 wlw pjo/hoo ships, top 5 tropes that you love and top 5 that you hate

top 5 characters with your zodiac sign (stolen from you), top 5 wlw pjo/hoo ships, top 5 tropes that you love and top 5 that you hate

5 characters with my zodiac sign I could only think of three canon Taurus chars I love so the last two I counted headcanons for, and neither of those characters has a canon birth date

canon taureans

•Hope Mikaelson (TVDu) ((I do see the arguments Ares sun fits her better but I think Taurus sun with other fire placements also fits her quite nicely and again I don’t have a lot of favorite characters with my sign let me have this lol)•Dan Wilds (Aftg) and we share a birthday!

•Emily Fields (technically in the Pll books she’s a Taurus and going off her show bday she’s a Scorpio but I do think that Taurus sun fits show Emily better overall too and Ik when we discussed this you agreed with me :))

And then two characters I’ve always seen as Taurus are Blue Sargent (Trc) and Marina Andrieski (The Magicians)

Top 5 wlw pjo/hoo ships

 Pipeyna

Pipabeth

Reynabeth

Rueguard

this could be one of a couple ships depending on my mood but I’m going with Thalia x Zoe rn because it’s very underrated imo

Top 5 tropes I love (didn’t want to agonize over ranking these so bullet points again) •enemies to friends to lovers or any iteration on these things (lovers to enemies, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, reluctant allies to friends to lovers etc.) •doppelgängers, shadow selves and dynamics between a hero and their shadow selves can be a romance can be enemies etc. •anything to do with parallel worlds •the overachiever girl from a seemingly perfect (and this mean different things) background who struggles to fulfill familial expectations, is actually very unhinged at times and has some sort of spiral where she ends up off her original path at least for a while, and part of the subtext is usually about her repressed sapphic ness a la Spencer Hastings / Annie Edison / Julia Wicker

•the mean girl character who is originally set against the protagonist but as the story progresses she’s shown to be sympathetic and layered in her own right, and her relationship with the protagonist is allowed to develop into at least respect maybe friendship that’s usually pretty homoerotic. honorable mention to this specific flavor of opposites attract dynamics that’s like ‘on the surface we could not be more different but we can relate/connect/are actually more similar than anyone else when it comes to very specific things that aren’t obvious. And not really a trope which is why I didn’t include them but I love fantasy stories about witches and/or vampires. Also I can’t lie I do love a magical school setting. Codependent relationships in general. Sister stories!!! LOVE those. Bottle episodes and bottle episode adjacent episodes my beloved!! I have a lot of favorite tropes actually Top 5 tropes I hate

insta love I have exceptions and these exceptions are like, reincarnation stories such as dosab where there’s a reason for it and Rue x Jules because they simply had the range/chemistry. But usually I hate it. Also combining this with any fated/pre-destined/other forces or people are always telling the audience this pairing is meant to be without doing the work of showing/developing the relationship to be appealing/seem to work well together

mystical pregnancy, most pregnancy and baby story arcs in general

media concerned with parental/familial issues where all the mothers are demonized while the fathers get to be complicated parents like tm tended to do. Something I found refreshing about watching pll was that it was a total reverse of this with all the fathers being irredeemable monsters and the mothers being more complex 

I ranted about this recently re: the va show but I really dislike when a fantasy work has this aspect of metaphorical bigotry as a theme and the characters who voice said bigotry are usually poc

Ik this is solely a fic thing but fucking hate abo lol

Thank you! (Ask me too 5 of anything)

[petalsmooth]

1. The Cute Meet-Cute

2. Enemies to lovers

3. Forced Proximity

4. Destiny

5. Childhood sweethearts

6. Forbidden Love

7. Impossible Love

8. Second Chance Love

9. I Have A Secret

10. The Bet

11. Fake Relationship

12. Love Triangle

13. Opposites Attract

14. Amnesia/Mistaken Identity

15. Instalove

16. Fish Out Of Water

17. Stuck Together

18. Just Friends

19. It Was Right In Front Of You All Along!

20. And The Biggest, Most Important One? Happily Ever After.

20 Powerful Romance Tropes (And How To Make Them Original) – Jericho Writers

I'd add crush/love for friend's sibling to list of tropes too.

Out of these not a fan of amnesia arcs though the end of Adam and Drew's film is nice. As established I HATE triangles. Forbidden romances is conditional on why they are forbidden. Sorry, well I'm really not, but if it's forbidden because married or underage then I'm a bit of a hardliner on this. Slight exception if it was a soap opera back in the day because if you stayed on that show for decades it was inevitable they'd manufacture a reason to divorce the couple everyone knew was the right one to marry other people just so they put them together again. But I have little tolerance for it for shows under a decade in age. And instalove I'm kinda ambivalent on. I think it really needs two actors with a special connection/chemistry from the start because otherwise imo you need an actual story/relationship we see evolve to convince me they belong together. Harvey and Sabrina on the 90's sitcom as probably one of the few I kind of buy the trope with and that is only after the fact when they had their stones meld together in the end. So you could kind of argue without the entire story arc I wouldn't believe in this trope for them either. You could also say it fits under the destiny arc too.

And that is one long running paragraph.....I'd also enemies to lover as conditional. If it is as clumsily conceived as Kate and Anthony's story was with the obvious purpose of it being to create filler for 6 episodes because you couldn't write a story with conflict that allowed them together sooner than I am not a fan. Really I will never understand it because the book handled it better, they could have used that material rather than pretend you came up with something better. Likely why the guy who oversaw that season is now gone.

But if you don't enter story saying...we want this couple to unite in episode 8 so we need a convoluted unbelievable (dull) plot to separate them and instead of a good reason they initially dislike each other and can track why and how events and the people change each other to end up together...that's fine.