#there’s probably not a lot of overlap for these two fandoms lmao

[procrastinating-falcon]

I was just thinking about how similar two characters I really like are. It’s a wild comparison, I know, but wow, Marco from Animorphs and Carol Peletier (TWD) are like two peas in a pod.

“People don’t understand the word ruthless. They think it means ‘mean.’ It’s not about being mean. It’s about seeing the bright, clear line that leads from A to B. The line that goes from motive to means. Beginning to end. It’s about seeing that bright, clear line and not caring about anything but the beautiful fact that you can see the solution. Not caring about anything else but the perfection of it.”

Take that quote from Marco and tell me it’s not Carol.

[prismatoxic]

you get it. dont mind me, but this has been nagging for a few days when i saw mentions of chilaios has no 'canon basis' or along those lines or dont get why its even a thing and its really not that hard? like theres a ton of reasons why someone would gravitate this ship and for myself while i enjoy the height difference alot, its their deep mutual trust and respect that has me vice gripped. idk it seems like more ARE catching onto chilaios and its steady rising so its weird to still insist on its 'crackship' status

right??? it drives me insane. i don't know what the hell happened in modern fandom for people to dismiss ships with plenty of material to work with as having "no canon basis".

i guess it has something to do with fandom's increasing gravitation towards canon being necessary for shipping. in this fandom specifically you can certainly ship farcille by that metric, and like... god, i dunno what else. i assume they're just making shit up about how their ships of choice have a canon basis to make themselves feel better about it. bc at the end of the day, dunmeshi is not a romance, and the only kiss we ever see is from a relationship where one is in love and the other is like "aw, you're such a good friend." (kabru was real mean for that.)

either way, back to chilaios--back in my day (shakes cane), what they have was more than enough for a "valid" ship. so much so that no one would have questioned it except people who hated it. which... is probably true here as well, a lot of the time. like, dismissing a ship you don't like as being meaningless probably feels pretty good if you actually believe yourself.

you know what an actual dunmeshi crackship would be? (throws a dart at the wall) mithrun/dandan. makes no sense, right? they were in the same room maybe once, never interacted, and have no reason to interact. that's what a crackship is. it has no canon basis whatsoever.

crackships and rarepairs can overlap, and often do, but a rarepair can also be something with real canon interactions that just didn't take off in the fandom. chilbell probably still counts as one, though it does have fics and art, so your mileage may vary.

chilaios, then, with an entire fucking 14-volume-manga's worth of interactions, several of which were important specifically to the two of them, is not a crackship, and god knows it's no longer a rarepair either, if it even was back before the anime. (i know there was like, 1 fic on ao3, but the manga was being published for like 10 years so i assume the general fandom was just a lot smaller.)

calling chilaios a crackship is straight up just not true. not what that term means. they have the same amount of canon basis as multiple other popular ships, and imo they have the chemistry to back it up, but even that isn't necessary. all told it's a pretty standard ship. they're friends, there's tension between them but there's also a deep mutual trust, and there are very few chapters where they don't directly interact (either because the chapter isn't about the touden party or bc one of them isn't present).

sorry for rambling. i feel passionate about this, lmao... not even just because it's my otp but because misuse of fandom terms drives me up the fucking wall.

[lollytea]

Okay but consider the following: Hunter becoming fandom-famous takes place in the same timeline as Movie.

People don’t really notice who this is at first. His account takes a bit to really get off the ground, and the overlap of people who could recognize the actors in Movie and cosmic frontier cosplayers is not that big but eventually, someone points it out in the comments of his latest pics with Willow. They’re mostly ignored beyond a few comments like hahaha weird or a plain lmao by someone, but the thought is out there now. It’s started.

Someone else notices too. Someone puts a screencap from Movie next to one of their group cosplay pics. More people notice the resemblance. It’s a small group, granted but they sure as hell do exist. Someone even dm’s keikos_husband like “Hey, look at what i found! [Image attached]”. They never get a conclusive response.

The scar thing is the one everyone keeps debating about because spaghetti guy doesn’t have them to the same extent that keikos_husband does. Until hunter posts that pic of his first cosplay. Which, if he’s really that age, matches up perfectly with the timeline of Movie.

Hunter just watches this whole thing like, gus, get over here it’s your fucked up movie again. He’d clarify, but Luz keeps insisting that he not and she thinks it’s really funny, so he doesn’t say anything.

Gus's Fucked Up Movie haunting the narrative more more persistently than Caleb Wittebane is extremely funny to me. Especially considering that these are two different semi-niche Internet corners.

YouTube essayists are like "After years of dormant activity, we've gotten a new lead in the Gus13 case in the form of a micocelebrity in a 90s sci fi book series fandom. Many have theorized that popular cosplayer/writer/prominent voice in the Cosmic Frontier community, Hunter Noceda, also known by his URL Keikos_husband, is the infamous "Spaghetti Guy" in the even more infamous "Movie" But does this theory hold any water? Let's dive in. But first, let's talk about today's sponsor, Hellofresh,"

Gus definitely cosplays a lot too and him and Hunter have done a few O'Bailey and Avery shoots. So Gus has a good chunk of Internet fame of his own. However he probably uses an alias so suspicion is initially nonexistent. Until somebody digs up an old reel Willow posted of their behind-the-scenes process (cleverly editing out the whole part with illusion magic). There's this one bit where the camera focuses on Hunter and Gus in an immature squabble as Willow's voiceover speaks to the viewer. It's hard to decipher and nobody has really cared until now. But now, with the new Gus13 buzz, that little moment has been studied under a microscope and people are now theorizing that Hunter says something along the lines of "Shut up, Gus,"

GUS??

The guy who does the insanely realistic special effects is named Gus???

Hmmmmmmmm.....

The conspiracy boards go crazy. Craft stores all over America are running low on yarn.

Luz keeps reblogging Gus13/Spaghetti Guy is Keikos_husband memes on tumblr and its driving people insane. Like is it a joke or not girl, is it a joke or not??

Willow makes it a million times worse when she posts a selfie of to her story, with Hunter eating dinner in the background, which she captions as "Made my man some spaghetti 🍝 💀"

[desib717]

After V9 ended I kinda semi-left the fandom as I got into other shows and whatever, but recently the rwby/nnd brainrot (affectionately) has returned, and as I rewatched v8/9 and then watched the post-v9 shorts I was just hit with this wave of confusion once again

Like, the scene with Penny and Winter seems quite Definite in terms of it seeming like the end of her run as a character, but then v9 just kinda shoved that off the table? And like what do you mean the last time we’ll see Penny is when “she” talks to Ruby in Neo’s house (which is just obviously such a significant scene because it’s the first time we’ve seen that kind of distress on Ruby, literally I can’t get that expression out of my head)?? And there hasn’t been a single mention of Penny afterwards, other than Winter showing regret in the V9-epilogue

I feel like CRWBY had the perfect opportunity to tie up the loose ends with V8/9. It would’ve probably been at least partially unsatisfying anyways cuz of that whole turn-human-and-die-20-minutes-later-thing (with emphasis on the turn-human part which I have Very strong opinions about), but instead they go out of their way to have Penny be referenced several times in V9 with no explanation??

I can get Jaune seeing Penny in the punderstorm, but what about her swords?? What about Penny’s reflection in the blacksmith scene?? What about Weiss’ “I know that Penny…” in V9E2??

We still haven’t gotten an answer to where Penny’s body even ended up! (Or where Pietro is.) And at the end of the day, the “conclusion” of Penny’s arc had ended up being the opposite of what her character development was pointing towards (self-acceptance/self-realization/putting yourself first more), and that last point in particular is just so unsatisfying that it makes me think “Is this really what CRWBY had in store for her? Or is there more to her story that we’ve not yet seen?”

I definitely feel like there are ways Penny can be brought back in a meaningful matter, especially since the “it cheapens her death!”-argument is no longer relevant due to the revelations about death/reincarnation in V9 (even though it was a weak argument in the first place). And there are for sure ways to utilize her character in the future, especially as a foil (or rather, a two-peas-in-a-pod-situation?) to Ruby in regards to them both being selfless to a fault.

Penny might be the only character (that comes to mind) whose death/conclusion to arc is so off-putting (in the sense that it makes little sense writing-wise, if you get what I mean?). I might even say that her death in V3 was more of a clear “conclusion” to her story than her death in V8.

So idk if it’s just delusion on my side or CRWBY actually has more in store for her, but I just have this feeling that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Penny, which is very very scary cuz I don’t want to get my hopes up for nothing

Sorry for the long rant. I’ve read a lot of your posts on this matter and it’s been occupying my thoughts an unhealthy amount lol

I mean, you're preaching to the choir here lmao, most of this is my exact thoughts on the matter.

For the part about the Maiden transfer scene seeming so final, my best guess is that it was 1) meant to throw us off a bit, make sure we had to dig a little before coming to the conclusion that her story isn't over, and 2) make sure that they were still applying the emotional weight necessary for the death of such a beloved character (even if they knew it wasn't actually the end).

The fact that Ruby's story wrt her mourning of Penny is currently left off with the Neo scene definitely tells me there's more coming there, there's no way you can spin that scene as satisfying/emotionally resonant closure for her or the audience. And I think that makes sense since, even revival theories aside, we still need to see Pietro's side of that story, and it makes sense to have the two of them overlap/interact some.

The amount of times Penny indirectly showed up in V9 is definitely suspicious, the voice, the sword, the reflection. There's something going on there for sure.

And yeah, don't even get me started on how little sense the end of V8 makes if it's truly meant to be the end of her story. Just takes all the themes of her character arc, rips them apart and stomps on the pieces lmao. But, that is also a part of why I'm confident she's not done, since I have enough faith in this writing team to believe they wouldn't leave it there.

I definitely feel you on the fear of getting your hopes up, I've definitely been there on-and-off over the last few years. With how much V9 gave us in terms of evidence and hints though, I've been less worried about it for a while now

[finniestoncrane]

Could you reccomend some similar accounts like yours, that do bat villains x reader smut? Only if you have time to no worries if not :)

yes i can and i would freaking LOVE TO!!! 💚

so i could have gone crazy and included a lot of people, but i tried to stick to similar accounts (style/content/rogues/frequency) as requested otherwise this would have been a massive list BUT while that means that some people were left out, all of the fics and writers i love are in my fic rec tag so please check there too for people who are danonation writers or only ocassional posters!! 💚

and i am by no means saying these people write like me, they're all better and it's likely embarrassing for them to be associated with me lmao

@riddle-me-ri so obviously, first of all, my sweet bestie ri. in contrary to popular belief we are not the same person lmao! writes for a mix of rogues, mostly riddler, hatter and penguin and does headcanons/long fics/short fics and we have very similar interests so there's a delicious overlap in the topics of our fics >:) @mischievous-marchie marchie writes for hatter mostly, but they share a love of other rogues too! they write headcanons sometimes but mostly sweet fics, and we share a lot of similar tastes too, especially when it comes to sweet jervis and zsasz

@pompous-puffed-up-penguin emi has a direct line to my fuckin clit. writes for a variety of rogues supremely well. mostly longer fics, but my god it's like she climbs into my head and scoops the filth out

@acapelladitty frequent poster, committed to the filth. good variety of all the rogues and a bit of a fandom staple. i'm just assuming you're already following ditty so you know what you're in for lmao

@quandaryqueen abby writes for a variety of rogues, some of the less loved ones too which is refreshing!! they're writing hits the spot, and they tend to focus on longer fics!

@cactusmisslittle so far, i have gotten around to reading two of cactus' fics and i liked them so much i am just straight up including them here. very good writing, shared love of pegging some bad boys

@sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee i have so many of belle's fics saved to read, it is my resolution for the month to get through some. they write for a variety of rogues, including my beloved arkham!eddie and i am excited to get into their stuff

@like-rain-or-confetti so many rogues! headcanons/long fics it's really a variety with vannie! there's a nice consistency with their version of the rogues too so you can get super comfortable with them

@batmanrogues-scenarios a whole load of rogues to choose from. mostly headcanons, but i think pati has been here for long enough to also be a fandom staple so you're probably familiar with her stuff too!

[aeternxm]

RESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS OOC , THEN TAG OTHERS YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW BETTER.

roleplayer name: shan. i am not original, it's literally just a shortened version of my government name lmao.

roleplayer pronouns: they/them -3-

muse name: we got axel/lea, we got michael, ichigo, eddie, trip, takeshi, takeo, and eito. i'm pretty sure that's all of them lmao.

preferred communication: discord bc i am on mobile during the day so i'm always lurking over there.

experience: jesus uhh, coming up 14? 15 years?

preferred roleplay type: listen, LISTEN - i am and always will be a mess for angst - and shippy things. bonus points if the two overlap. but anything that makes me hurt is a win. i love me a tragic backstory and some inner turmoil. but i do prefer writing long replies because i don't write a lot of talking usually? it's just a lot of describing mixed in with the dialouge almost taking on the personality of the muse i'm writing so uhhh, yeah.

oh and i love crack posts they give me life.

but also just writing fucked up shit in general okay.

pet peeves & dealbreakers: this is just for the canon muses but like, broski, don't push your headcanons onto my canon muse and try and make me write them that way. thank u much appreciated.

but also ah, how do i word it? let evil muses be evil. some of the muses i write are not redeemable in any way. no your muse can't fix them, no your muse isn't going to make my muse have a change of heart. don't be surprised if my evil/morally grey muse does some fucked up shit. we knew this was going to happen. i've had a lot of trouble in the past, especially when i was actively writing in the dmmd fandom with that.

i also just love writing mean characters or unhinged characters okay. i love the psychology behind it and it makes my heart go doki doki. gotta use that degree for something, right?

plots or memes: memes memes memes. i reblog enough of them. and if i reply to a meme u have full permission to turn that shit into a thread. plotting is cool but i'm dumb and tired. unless u already have a plot in mind and u just throw it at me screaming saying we're doing this now.

best time to write: AHAHAHAHAHA, i work full time, have a very busy irl life AND i live in good old aotearoa/new zealand. i am usually never online when anyone i write with is. and if i am... i'm questioning why u guys are on here at the same time as me. it's late for u, go to bed.

are you like your muse?: i am probably too much like lea for my own good, but i am also takeo at the same time okay. done with everyone's shit - very awkward. looks like they hate affection, actually loves it.

tagged by: @foughtbelief

tagging: ??? IDK UHHH @hoshizorax @the1iars @gravesung @astarab1aze and anyone else that wants to do it. i feel like u don't need to be tagged to want to do it but -3-

[moonvigilant]

oh do i have some personal opinions about this, lmao

i do agree that they should break off from wotc and do their own thing (and said 'thing' is probably divinity 3? who knows)

bg3 fandom and larian critical ranting below, ig, and i do mean ranting

initially, i was very positive about bg3 and by extension, larian studios themselves - i mean ffs my top posts evidently are all bg3 related despite me moving on from the fandom (still enjoy the game, just don't want to be associated anymore).

this continued until i want to say... around patch 3 or 4? where they very obviously starts to pander to a very specific part of the fandom. you know the one - the one that clings onto the game like it's the only thing they've ever known and borderline worships each frame and pixel, playing the game like it's a dating sim visual novel, that one.

the most egregious example is of course, them removing that gortash letter. yes i (and a lot of other queer people that i know) know exactly what you're doing, larian. there's something to be said about the 'queer positive' game having the most rabid straight fandom i've ever seen since the dragon age/mass effect days (and 'coincidentally', the two fandoms overlap very frequently).

and i say all this as someone who does love a certain really popular character, lmao. but this on top of their (allegedly, from what i've heard) very dismissive attitude towards modders before they announced official modtools has made it pretty difficult for me to in good conscious sing praises about them.

it's really nice to see people who are starting to be critical towards them because i also feel like they could use it. their egos are getting a bit too inflated with the fangirlies gassing them up for every single little thing they do. keep those coming friends

Incredible power move to make one of the most beloved crpgs ever made using a modified dnd 5e system, make a ton of money and shit on most AAA game studios in the process, then say “cool. Anyway fuck dnd 5e and wizzards of the coast. We’re doing our own thing now.”

[solacium]

fic writer year in review

questions courtesy of tellmewhatyouc!

🩵 the first fic you wrote/posted this year

omg!!! it apparently was daylight (madakoha, G, 431) written for ficwip's tiny ship fleet fest 2023!

🩵 your most written fandom, character, and/or ship

oh, my god LMAO it was absolutely madara/kohaku of ensemble stars. did i write them well? probably not. but i loved them so hard.

🩵 the fic you had the most fun writing this year

fun??? i don't have fun, i write in agony.

jkjk it would be all this and heaven too (dan heng/caelus, G, 2k), that i submitted under multifandom match! clueless idiots in love is my favourite flavour of idiots in love, i giggled a lot. yes, at my own humour, like a loser. but hey, if i'm not gonna laugh at it, who is, right?

🩵 your most used tags

how much d'you want to bet it's "fluff" 😂 (or "self-indulgent")

🩵 a time you tried something new (character ship, fandom, style, trope, etc)

oh i have so many instances of this!

1) i tried a weird format for a fic reminiscent of the songfics of yore (madakoha, M, 2.3k) in which i overlap the voice of the narrator with a letter he is reading.

2) i wrote for two ships New To Me this year and have fallen in insane love with one of them

3) i translated two fics (EN-CN) and recorded a podfic for ficwip's multifandom match 2023!

🩵 the fic you’re most proud of this year

good lord. i'm not sure, hey. i wanna say iris (unfurling) (luocha/blade, G, 100) bc i managed to make it do what i wanted it to do for me, and judging by the comments, for my reader(s?) too. it's more a drabble, less a fic, but it counts, right?

mostly tho if i'm entirely honest i'm proud i managed to complete anything at all this year.

🩵 any challenges/events/etc you participated in this year (or your favorites if you don’t want to list them all)

i Actually Participated in things this year!

tiny ship fleet fest 2023

i still can't believe i made it for #ficwip5k this year!

multifandom match 2023, the highlight of my YEAR

i finally attempted ahria's 1000 word photo prompt challenge this month and it was super fun!!

🩵 the last fic you wrote/posted this year

at the point of the writing of this, it is touch (luocha/blade, 1k, T), just some simple fluff. i'm hoooping to post the NYE madakoha fic i've been writing since 2022 on NYE though!

🩵 your writing goals(s) for next year

honestly, it would be to be More Fearless, More Shameless. i can be better later, i need to learn not to stop myself first.

i would also like to write something for next year's 5k, and get at least halfway through my tarot project by the end of 2024.

[ladyofthebookcase]

I’m really curious why huntlow fans are acting amatonormativity? Also the “friendship/advanced friendship” is a reference to Zeno (Hunter’s VA) who jokes and trolls about it on Twitter

hi, thanks for asking! (i know i said i wasn’t taking questions but turns out i was just in a bad mood yesterday lmao.) i really appreciate you being respectful as well! /gen

from what i’ve seen, the amatonormative behaviour is mainly things like fans who REALLY want them to be canon saying things like “oh friends don’t act this way” or “hunter and willow wouldn’t do x behaviour if they were just friends”. phrases like that, especially “just friends”, are kind of harmful to aromantics because they imply a relationship hierarchy that— hang on actually this needs a visual aid.

this is what a relationship hierarchy looks like. this sort of worldview permeates most western societies, even if it's not explicitly depicted.

you see how friendships and familial relationships are on the bottom tier? they're seen as something we're meant to grow out of as we get older-- they're supposed to take on a lesser role in our lives as we gain a monogamous romantic relationship. (the overlap between aromanticism and polyamory is fascinating, by the way, and i definitely recommend looking into it if you're interested!) like it or not, this is the kind of thing being promoted by phrases like "just friends". it implies that friendship is, again, only a substitute for a romantic relationship-- sort of an initial stage.

now, i don't blame huntl0w fans for this-- it's certainly not all huntl0w fans, and it's not only huntl0w fans who do this either. (censoring the ship name for filtering purposes.) i'm sorry if i implied otherwise in my previous post. however, i have noticed a lot of this behaviour from people who desperately want huntl0w to be canon-- it often comes in the form of them implying that certain behaviours are inherently romantic, because they so badly want proof that their ship is real. (again, i'm not saying it is or isn't here. i'm just going off of what's been shown in the show-- which, so far, is only one-sided blushing from hunter.)

this is a simplified visual of relationship anarchy, an aromantic-created worldview that states that all relationships are equally valid and that a relationship is defined solely by the people participating in it. this means that classically "romantic" gestures, such as holding hands, are not inherently romantic. it is only romantic if the people holding hands believe it to be.

it's probably the polar opposite to the fandom shipping brain, which takes every interaction between their characters as "proof" that their ship is real. again, i make no judgements against people who do that-- i've participated in it myself! but ultimately, seeing things that way only leads to a more entrenched relationship hierarchy within one's mind.

this is maybe gonna be a little disjointed, but i'd like to invite you to do a little exercise with me. imagine if, instead of implying that friendships aren't real connections/as valid as other types of relationships, we said those things about homosexual relationships. "oh, two women can't be in a serious relationship, they need a man for that!" this shit has been said before, and most of us recognised it as homophobia. but say the same shit about aro people? no, no, no, it's only normal! only natural for romantic relationships to be superior! /s

i'm not trying to compare the suffering of gay people with aromantic people here-- i recognise that we have suffered in different ways and comparison is in no way helpful to either group. (obligatory disclaimer so people don't take this out of context.) i'm just trying to use that as a way for people who are maybe not so experienced with aromanticism to visualise how certain things feel.

i'm at essay length already so i won't go into depth on what zeno said. i'll just let you think about that in the context of everything else said here. ultimately, i don't care if it was a joke or not-- it still plays into amatonormativity.

this got SUPER long and if you made it to the end, i appreciate you!! if you still have questions, i'd recommend checking out tags like #aromantic and #amatonormativity! you can also search that shit on my blog but what's there is limited compared to what's in the tags on tumblr.

edit: more readings on amatonormativity can be found here!

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

I find it really intriguing how the ATLA writers could have gone a “brotherly love” route with Zuko and Aang, but they never did. Even in LOK, the only thing that I remember Iroh saying about their relationship was that they canonically became the best of friends and that Zuko knew Aang better than anyone, even more than Katara and their children. I find the direction of their relationship a contrast to how often the bond between the male protagonist and the male antagonist that are spiritually linked in other media is reduced to “they were like brothers” and put aside for the respective heterosexual romances of the leads, even though the relationships between the leads often have homoerotic subtext and can be interpreted through a queer lens. I guess what I’m wondering is: would you classify Zuko and Aang’s relationship as brotherly? Do you support interpretations where their relationship is viewed as brotherly? And finally (I’m sorry for all of the questions): why do you think the ATLA writers - who seem to mostly be composed of cishet men - never took the “brotherly love” route and left the nature of their relationship ambiguous?

This ask has been in my inbox for a Hot Minute 💀 my apologies, my friend. And since I haven’t seen LOK, I won’t try to speak on the front. Before I continue, though, @likealittleheartbeat has an AMAZING analysis here about the interpretation of Aang and Zuko’s relationship through a queer-platonic lens that I found to be an incredible read and arguably could answer this ask on its own, lol!

I guess the general “issue” that must be addressed to answer these questions is simply how we define brotherly. That “we” can be divided into the viewers and the writers, only adding another layer of complexity. Because the reality is that we can’t jump into the creators minds and see exactly how they intended Zuko and Aang’s relationship to be interpreted. We can make deductions, e.g. the existence of Kataang and Maiko suggests Zuko and Aang were not intended to have a romantic relationship within canon (duh, lol). In fact, you could even add another division to the “we” - the writers, the viewers, and the characters themselves (i.e. interpretation through the cultural lenses that inspired the show).

All of this is to say that there is not going to be one agreed-upon definition of “brotherly,” lol! Since you seem to be asking for my personal opinions, I’ll go with my personal definition. If anyone has differing thoughts in response to these questions, please feel free to add them in a comment or rb! I think there’s a lot to explore here and my sole opinion is Not the be-all and end-all, lmao.

So, what is my personal definition of “brotherly”? I’m not going to try to make a formal definition, lol, but the gist of my interpretation is a platonic relationship akin to that of siblings. To me, there is a difference between having a “brotherly relationship” with someone versus a “friendship” (I almost used “friendly relationship” but that didn’t feel right jskdfhakdls). I think these two can overlap and/or be the same, but - for example - I have friends who I would say without hesitation that I am incredibly close with, but I also would not classify that friendship as “sisterly.” (Again, these are strictly my personal thoughts, and I encourage further discussion in comments/rbs!)

I’ll take your questions one at a time:

Would you classify Zuko and Aang’s relationship as brotherly?

Personally? Probably not. To me, there is a sense of superficiality associated with the term “brotherly” that in my eyes can be reductive to platonic relationships between men (can be, not always lol). I think with Zuko and Aang, the relationship just runs much deeper than “brotherly” can connote. For one, they are the primary narrative foils of the show! The only relationship that comes close to theirs in terms of narrative significance is Kataang (which is a very different dichotomy, btw, I’m not trying to compare them lol). We have numerous episodes dedicated to the parallels between Aang and Zuko, including but not limited to “The Storm” and “The Avatar and the Fire Lord.” I mean, this is an actual quote from the latter episode:

Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?

We see variants of this line and the notion of friendship itself associated throughout that episode explicitly with Roku and Sozin, Roku and Gyatso, and of course the Gaang at the end, but implicitly we also know it’s about Aang and Zuko, too. Aang says, “Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they’re worth giving a chance.” One common take with this line that I’ve seen is interpreting it as foreshadowing for Aang’s decision to spare Ozai - which obviously is a fair assessment - but we cannot also ignore how much it applies to Zuko joining the Gaang. Specifically, Zuko reconciling with Aang.

We all know Aang was the first person to extend friendship to Zuko back in “The Blue Spirit” and tbh, after he saw Appa licking Zuko, you can tell Aang was nearly willing to extend a second chance to Zuko then and there lol. Aang and Zuko’s friendship, them being drawn together, is a relationship that transcends lifetimes, transcends social norms/expectations, transcends a loss greater than anyone can imagine (for Aang) and offers a new opportunity arguably far more than deserved (for Zuko). I think ascribing a qualifier of “brotherly” to their relationship therefore limits this transcendence because of how much their dynamic encompasses.

Do you support interpretations where their relationship is viewed as brotherly?

Of course! One of the reasons I love A:TLA - especially my small corner of the fandom - is how many interpretations that every relationship presents, be it a small “difference” (such as calling Zuko and Aang’s relationship “brotherly”) or a more drastic one (exploring fanon possibilities with rarepairs, let’s go #AangRarepairWeek 😎). So even if this interpretation isn’t one I’m inclined to in the literal sense (i.e. it’s the “brotherly” qualifier I feel I dislike, because I do love platonic Zukaang as much as romantic Zukaang), I absolutely encourage others to make the most of their fandom experience and product/support content that they enjoy!

Why do you think the ATLA writers - who seem to mostly be composed of cishet men - never took the “brotherly love” route and left the nature of their relationship ambiguous?

I will say that we don’t really have any way of knowing the sexualities and gender identities of every single A:TLA writer, lol. I’m not saying they were all queer in some way, of course, but I just want to establish that we don’t and can’t know unless told. If that makes sense 😂

As I mentioned earlier, I have no way of getting inside the writers’ minds to determine their intentions when they were writing Zuko and Aang’s relationship, so all you’re gonna get here are my best guesses lmao! For one, there wasn’t really a need to outright label Zuko and Aang as having a “brotherly” relationship. The existence of Kataang and Maiko again speak for themselves. Most viewers - especially casual watchers - don’t need the show to state “these two only love each other in a brotherly way” to conclude that the relationship was platonic (or rather, was not romantic), especially considering that the show was made in the mid-2000s (i.e. sad but true, most people weren’t watching A:TLA with a queer lens 😔). So I wouldn’t say they left the relationship “ambiguous” so much as there wasn’t need to qualify it further than simply being platonic.

Of course, I do think there is an ambiguity that comes with Aang and Zuko’s relationship, which I love to exploit in my Zukaang fics 😌. Was that ambiguity intentional? Again, I’m inclined to say no. But I can’t speak with certainty and - as I discussed earlier - I truly think Aang and Zuko’s relationship would be limited by being called “brotherly” when their connection runs so deeply and is intertwined so heavily with the spiritual themes of the show. Thus, it’s possible the writers were purposefully emphasizing that spirituality by not labelling them as “brotherly”! But as I said, there’s really no way to be sure.

At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters how someone chooses to label Aang and Zuko’s relationship. I mean, I’m always a little horrified when a person completely overlooks their narrative significance as foils (because I personally can’t imagine dismissing either of their importance to the other), but hey, to each their own. Brotherly, queerplatonic, romantic, and hell, anything in-between - these interpretations are anyone’s for the taking. Have fun with it! 💛

(I hope this at least kind of resembles the answer you were looking for, anon 😂)

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

okay okay I’m gonna keep this as straightforward as I can.

Stranger Things is set in Indiana

However, it was originally supposed to be set in Montauk, and based roughly off of the Camp Hero Conspiracy Theory

https://strangerthings.fandom.com/wiki/Montauk

the plot section of this should look extremely familiar if you were a Percy Jackson kid

(and yes, Imho it’s almost certain that Rick Riordan based the location and name of Camp Half-Blood of of the Camp Hero conspiracy. given that the actual conspiracy theory is VERY dark, graphic and extremely trippy, I have no idea why Rick used it as a source of inspo for a kids’ series.)

However... Stranger Things is set in Indiana

It also features a vaguely-subterranean hellscape that canonically drew inspiration from Camp Hero.

Therefore: some areas of the Upside-Down are connected to the labyrinth, and if you are one of the few ppl who can navigate them (like El or maybe Will), and if you ever think to explore the fringes of the Hawkins area of the Upside-Down, you can find a pretty direct through line to the labyrinth opening in the woods at Camp Half-Blood.

Now, by sheer coincidence, long island is almost exactly across the sound/some sea or bay area from New Haven, Connecticut. (Gravesfield, likely based on the real town of Litchfield, Connecticut, is about an hour’s drive north from New Haven).

Also, due to the riordanverse being working on a vague directional scale (Greece= manhattan and long island, Rome= west coast, Egypt=slightly southern NYC near the river, Scandinavia= Boston) we can look at the location of The Owl House and see that by Riordanverse logic, it would be equivalent to the southern and mid-alpine region irl (”Scythia” and “Thrace” to the Greeks/Romans). 

The folklore of that area overlaps with slavic/russian folk traditions like Baba Yaga, but also has its own distinct creatures such as:

Strigoi, two-souled vampiric witches that turn into (according to some) screech owls, and cannot die.

Tatzelwurms, draconic snakes with the heads of cats that are frequently conflated with Basilisks

Lamia/the Lamai, life-draining vampires who are half-snake, half beautiful woman

Leshi (big deer skull forest protector guys, but that’s not what I think Belos has going on)

Kikimora (thats literally just the name of a creature) (yeah Dana Terrace LOVES Slavic/Alpine myths)

and just about every kind of chaotic neutral forest spirit, household wall-dweller and general Creacher you can think of.

(it’s also where a majority of the novel Frankenstein is set! and that kinda fucks me up!)

So that’s most of the connections, except I haven’t talked abt Vecna or Belos.

so the Whittebanes (whatever other weird lore they have tied up in their story) (its...a lot... way too much, and in to many other fandoms, to go into here) are actually likely, at least going by name and time period, from more northwestern europe.

Idk if you stuck with Riordanverse long enough to read Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, but if you didn’t, here’s the Wiki articles on Draugr (also conflated with/known as Wights, specifically Because Tolkein):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draugr

so yeah, that matches pretty closely, especially if you scroll down to the physical description. Belos especially really seems close in appearance, powers and tactics to Glámr from the norse Grettir Saga. Also, if you still aren’t convinced, Dana (who grew up in Connecticut and has talked a lot about the show being a love letter to the state) changed “Gravesfield” from “Litchfield”, probably bc otherwise the audience would have been very quick to catch onto.

yknow. the lich. 

(...okay I understand that talking to me is like talking to someone from the pjo universe. I’m sorry lmao idk why im like this)

aaaaaand Vecna is just a really normal lich king/wight/revenant/whatEVER. fuck that guy. anyway he’s a monster now, so like all the other monsters in the Labyrinth, he can’t really leave without a very powerful event or entity freeing him, but he can make a section of the maze his own personal hellscape and fuck with the local teenage heroes in a bid for power and/or free human snacks.

so yeah. The labyrinth was open in the 80s, there was (and maybe still is) some type of revenant in Indiana (and also maybe a pretty vampire boy??? apparently??? idk I’m still new to the ST fandom), there was recently an EXTREMELY powerful and sentient Draugr in Connecticut but he seems to have gone back to whatever offshoot island of the nine norse worlds he came from, also Connecticut has so many Strigoi that it’s kind of ridiculous. 

yes, including This One:

also, if you want to take this FULLY off the rails, ask me about how it ties into Supernatural, and how THAT ties into Gravity Falls! (or just google the irl history of the Winchester Arms Company, and the Cain and Abel trope in modern media. it’s not HARD to figure out....) 

anyway this was a rant. Hope this helps. If you write fic with this pls tag me bc I wanna read it :) 

(ps. yes, I am implying that Vee/V is a crossbred Lamia and Tatzelwurm. that does add up to an adorable, shapeshifting snake-cat-kid with a life-draining bite and srsly they are just so cute i wanna pet their ears omg)

(pps. note the term “aptrganga” mentioned in the wiki for Draugr. does that definition sound like Hunter? bc it should, and he is, kinda) 

(ppps. if u were wondering, Hunter is my favorite character in TOH, Eddie is my favorite character in ST, Luke and Nico are my favorite (mortal) characters in the Riordanverse, yes I am an edgy little goth, yes I do this kind of folkloric analysis for every fandom I’m in, no I don’t keep any of my fandoms separate)

im sorry my stranger things followers im trapped in the owl house and adventure time autism prison

i still rlly like stranger things btw dw im just really crazy over at and toh rn

[sonicenvy]

tag game: fic roundup!

new tag game i’m inventing for everyone and anyone who writes fanfic! Fic roundup!

how many fic documents do you have/where do they live?

80 in icloud notes

30 in Gdrive

7 in OneDrive

6 on MB Pro HD

30 on MB unibody

we will not speak of the ancient sins of my fic that live on my old windows PC. there are probably more than I’d like to think and all of them are from when I was under 20.

So, a grand total of 153 fic documents. oof. all the unfinished fic is haunting me y’all. granted, there is probably an overlap of ~10 or so items, but generally speaking all of these are unique (or unique but related) items lmaooo.

what fandoms do you have fic for?

doctor who, this is probably number 3 in fic quantity, also my OG

star wars, probably the greatest number of fics i have are from star wars

lois and clark, clocks in for number 4, but most of the fics i have for tnaos are LONG af in comparison to a lot of the others.

lucifer, probably number 2 in fic ideas. sorry again to all 150 tgatd fans for not finishing that fic. love ya!

castle, basically 3 main AUs because i recently got re-obsessed with that stupid show. beckett’s hot okay?

miss fisher’s murder mysteries, but only once because my ability to actually write period stuff is low, but this one idea kinda wouldn’t stop screaming at me until i jotted all 2500 words of it down haha

captain america/agent carter. also probably going nowhere, but ya know. the idea was there.

need (carrie jones) (there are literally TWO whole fics for this criminally underrated trashy paranormal teen romance series from 2009 on AO3. TWO fics y’all. anyways Need should have blown up instead of Twilight. All the same goofy paranormal romance love triangle nonsense without the complete disrespect of native american tribes. + norse mythology.)

prodigal son, but mostly only in my head lmao. me: everyone (except martin) on this show deserves to be happy for once. justice for gil/jessica and brightwell!

percy jackson. me, writing fic that’s just about sally jackson?? its more likely than you think. also me, writing latin teacher percy?? also more likely than you think.

how to train your dragon

the x-files. i remembered how sad i was that mulder and scully never got to raise their kid and then wrote mulder/scully & william on the run together to make me less sad about this.

sleepy hollow (tragically. shhhh i can still be sad over all of the lost potential of this show. #icabbie2022)

once upon a time (shhhh this one’s really old. i still sometimes enjoy my favs from this trashy fairytale soap opera ok?)

tldr; i write too much fic for too many things.

how long is your longest unpublished wip?

~11K words (53 pages). It’s a Lucifer case-fic that I first conceived up in the hiatus post “The Good the Bad and The Crispy” as far as I remember, but I didn’t get back to it again until late 2019 early-mid 2020. The in show context of the fic is still somewhat vague even after FIFTY f**king pages. I am still back and forthing about whether I want it to be an AU post “The Good the Bad and the Crispy” or an AU post “A Devil of My Word”. If it’s an AU post “The Good the Bad and the Crispy” I’ve obviously not had pierce/cain show up as a character thus far, and so I’d have to decided if he even exists in this AU. Maybe not because I wanted to yeet him into the sun when i was watching the show lmaooo. Still incredibly grateful to the wonderful @petrichorishly for their encouragement on this dumb, crazy idea. <3

what fic types are most common in your wips?

I’m a slut for AUs and UAs in my fic unfortunately. Like honestly, 90% of the 153 of these fics are AUs/UAs of some flavor or other.

do you have any ongoing ‘verses/series in your wips, if so, what are they?

Yup. too many.

luke leia switch fic. ft. a real outline (probably split into 5 fics overall: short pre-ANH, ANH, ESB, ROTJ, short post ROTJ epilogue/future fic)

hounds of hell lucifer ‘verse (short, sweet, fluff or h/c one shots in the same ‘verse)

water ‘verse for DW, aka the telepathic Rose Tyler AU. probably split into 1 fic per season, 1 chapter per episode, somewhat like nancy kelley formats her behemoth TMMOT)

witch!chloe AU ‘verse for Lucifer (probably a pre show short, a fic for S1, a fic for S2)

force sensitive!padmé ‘verse(s) (one is basically just a bunch of one-shots in the same-ish universe. lot less organized lmao)

eldritch horror skywalkers fic (probably 1 fic per skywalker or something idk)

long or short fic?

both. both is good. I have a lot of short little introspective semi-AU stuff, but I also have a number of single fics that are long as fuck. for the purposes of this post making me think about writing, I’m going to list those here:

Smallville murder mystery fic. Biggest decision I haven’t made is whether or not this fic is in the continuity of my already published lois is an alien fic “starchild”

Hiccup succeeds in running away from berk with Toothless AU fic

castle witches AU

caskett high school sweethearts AU

Vader survives ROTJ AU, ft. legends solo kids

Leia O swaps universes with Leia S fic

lois and clark future kids fic

divorce attorney beckett fic

single parents caskett AU

lois and clark one night stand AU

tagging @otterandterrier @whopooh @lajulie24 @fantastic-nonsense & @petrichorishly & anyone else who wants to join in chatting about their writing! love y’all 🥰🥰🥰

[flyingcookierambles]

sadness over a3! eng i guess

oof just on my 700th day.....

kinda sad because of the announcement about A3! ENG server shutting down soon due to financial difficulties at LIBER/CYBIRD in the past two years (covid-19 related, etc.). according to a rather in depth reddit comment that had links to LIBER's publicly available financial reports + some financial reports from LIBER's parent company, Aeria, in english, covid-19 really hit LIBER hard since they had to cancel many money making events, from pop-up shops for the typical anime merch trinkets (keychains, plushes, pins, etc.) to the huge in-person events (voice actor meetups, the stage plays of MANKAI LIVE, etc.). due to shrinking player base on the ENG server + major loss of profits on both JPN and ENG servers, LIBER had to choose one or the other and they chose the JPN one, which i totally understand since it's way bigger there and the JPN fanbase will continue to give the franchise money more often. also, another person found a financial report/estimate from the google play store or something, and A3! ENG only made ~$20K to ~$10K in the past few months, which i guess is not enough to keep a server and localization company afloat. 

i got pretty attached to the characters and it was a great game to help get by during college. and honestly, while i am very sad about this, again, i understand why LIBER did this, looking at their financial report from 2020. I would LIBER save the entire franchise rather than shut all the servers down, making us all unable to see our favorite actors ever again, even if it means that we ENG fans will have to go thru the extra steps of finding/reading fan translations, wikis, etc., to read any further stories from where A3! ENG left off. still, A3! ENG's localization was something special. i'm saying this as a TKRB JPN player who read the wiki for all the character voice lines and then had to see the official TKRB ENG localization make Yamabushi Kunihiro a rapper for some reason? lol. it was....weird.... meanwhile, all the memes and slang in A3! ENG didn't seem out of place and all fit their personalities because 3/4 of the troupes were all high school to college age and 3 of them were ~Gamers~. Out of all the gachas i've played, i feel like the only other F2P gacha game that had this incredibly smooth, all cultural jokes/puns translated in a way that still makes sense/fits the character/doesn't require a galaxy brain and some TL note to understand, is probably dragalia lost and that's only because it has frickin Nintendo localizing/publishing it globally for CyGames. Nintendo. i'll eventually read the fan translations of A3!'s Act 3 on the wiki, but it won't be the same without Kazunari's super high-energy influencer slang of "'whoa fam! that's totes 'blammable, gotta take a pic!" or Itaru's gremlin Gamer speak of "lol get rekt noobs" or Tsuzuru's tired dying breath of "that ain't it chief." the appropriate slang and relatable meme speak of the localization really helped humanize these characters as people of their respective ages, rather than just a typical formal speak or some directly translated JPN slang -> ENG that turns out super awkward that can be found in bad localizations.

going back to the reddit comment too, the death of A3! ENG servers could have bad repercussions in the future for other joseimuke games. josei, if you for some reason have been in the anime fandom but still don't know this term, is basically the genre of stories/video games/media/etc aimed at women. it's the mature adult counterpart to seinen, media aimed at adult men. basically shoujo/shonen = elementary/middle school/high school aimed while josei/seinen = high school/college/adult aimed if that helps. Joseimuke is a part of josei that is not specifically romance. while some josei/joseimuke can overlap with otome, aka female aimed dating sims/romance media, they have many things about them that make these all separate genres. one of the official A3! ENG translators and a known fan translator of another joseimuke gacha, Mahou Yaku/Wizard’s Promise, minami, goes more in depth with this in a twitter thread. 

A3! was an actor raising game, and a big part of it was found family and relationships that were platonic. yet it got advertised as an otome, which has more connotations with dating sims and brings to mind other shoujo/otome games and anime where the cast is all high schoolers and the setting is most often in a high school. but, other than some characters making flirty jokes or implied to have crushes on Izumi/player character, many character relationships with Izumi are platonic and not romantic at all. Spring Troupe in the game also jokingly calls themself a family. the entire Mankai Company is basically found family. plus, since the game actually has time passing in story and the characters age with each year, half of the characters aren’t even in high school anymore. a large majority of them are in college or are graduated by now, with only a few still in high school. i’m not surprised if a reason that some people left the game was due to feeling bored with the slice of life/not romantic story, feeling that they were lied to about it being an otome, which was falsely advertised since it is a game meant for the older teens/adults demographic of josei/joseimuke.

i’m worried that other japanese companies will look at this shut down as a “josei/joseimuke doesn’t work well in the west” and never localize other josei/joseimuke gacha games like Mahou Yaku, EnStars, Twisted Wonderland, Helios, etc.

while i like otome and shoujo, i, as a 23/soon to be 24 year old college graduate and now tax paying adult, want more stories that have more mature themes and characters that are more my age so i don’t have to feel awkward when i’m playing some dating sim and i, a literal 23 year old adult, and trying to woo a 16 year old. it’s...a little awkward to say the least. i would gladly welcome more mature media that is categorized as josei/joseimuke.

sorry if this is all over the place, but overall im just sad that A3! ENG is shutting down. i don’t know if i’ll join the JPN server yet. i’m def going to read the Act 3 story via fan translators on the wiki, but A3! gameplay was...boring lmao. as much as i love A3!, im sure that the constant event grind/burnout and boring rng gameplay turned people off too and i dont blame them. i felt the burnout bad since i participated in basically every event since day 1. it. is. rough. i’m not joining the hellish thunderdome that is the JPN server and im not ranking anymore as a F2P player lmao. literally had to play almost every waking free moment to get into the 30%-20% bracket as a F2P person and i never got to top 20%-10%, much less top 1% lmao. i’m don’t whale enough lol. 

i feel like i should probably just. crack open my genki 2 textbook and uhhh totally legal pdf copy of tobira. so i can just. get the JPN version of games in the first place so i don’t have to worry about getting shafted since overseas fans are often considered expendable. 

i wish that, when any games that are online end, gacha or mmo or anything, anything online, companies will let fans archive things. or like. release a book that is just the story text or something. like. CYBIRD is letting us still technically play the game and have the story and all, but what if they eventually later shut everything down? why not just release a pdf/ebook that’s just the text of the eng localization for some money? i’d buy it. for nostalgia and rereads and all and also archiving purposes. i think i’ll try to help with any english localization archive projects if i can so that the hilarious and incredible localization that was a work of love from the translation team doesn’t just disappear forever.

well.

that’s it for now. as i said, guess i’ll head to the app for one of the last times to read the last unread stories and mini stories i have left, then the wiki for Act 3, and then i guess i’ll crack open genki 2 and bunpo.....

some fun random links for you to think about!

random ffxi article that came to mind (if ffxiv ever shuts down in the next 20 years or whatever i’d be cool to get a statue of my character at the end)

and death of a game playlist by NerdSlayer Studios on Youtube that has me thinking a lot about game preservation and losing MMOs and games

the lost media wiki  and blameitonjorge’s lost media iceberg

other gacha games i’ve played that have shut down that i think about sometimes because the loss of A3! ENG isn’t my first rodeo:

terra battle & terra battle 2 (1)

AFTERL!FE

(related kitsu post link for archive reasons)

[riacte]

Unnecessary Hermit MCC Team Speculation

So according to Scott, teams are in the works, applications likely closed a few days ago, MCC 14 date is known to participants, MCC Twitter says they’re gonna steal CPK’s spotlight after wishing him a happy birthday. So we’re getting MCC 14 relatively soon. Hence I’m making my 284927391 hermit MCC team speculation.

Hermit duos:

Actually I think we’ll be seeing more duos in MCC S2.

1) Hermits and Scott have probably realized hermit duos perform way better than trios/ quartet (the only hermit duo team that didn’t get to DB is the first time False and Ren played)

2) They wanna meet new people, but they also want to play with friends. So 2+2 will be a good combo. You can meet new people while having a buddy you a stick to.

False + Cub

I don’t think any of the hermits are confirmed to join (Doc has shown interest) but I feel these two would most likely be in MCC 14?

1) False has been in every MCC since debut

2) Cub plays every other MCC, and he skipped MCC 13

3) Most important of all, they’ve both been polishing their skills through parkour and speedrunning etc. I think they’re currently the most competitive of the hermits, so I won’t be surprised at all if they pair up for a competitive team.

False + Grian

A surprisingly popular duo in post-MCC 13 team predictions. I like them as a duo, and I used to think we’ll have a bigger chance of getting False + Cub/Ren, but now I think about, the team predictions may be right.

1) False has been with Ren and Cub for their first victory, so according to ✨meta✨ she’ll be with Grian for his first victory and her third. The Hermit Winner enabler.

2) Grian is the only hermit regular who hasn’t won yet, and really really wants to win (he said he was gonna cry himself to sleep after he lost MCC 13 lol)

3) False is seen as the most competitive

So if Grian wants to win and go full competitive, and I feel Scott will likely pair him with False. Also Reddit loves this duo apparently. Another incentive.

False + Ren

Ah yes, the hermit team staple. Ex base-buddies my beloved. The duo that’s always been together. I miss them lmfao

I feel they’re gonna continue pairing up because False said she’s gonna collect all ranks with Ren? Also I feel Ren likely asks for False every time (Scott said someone asked for False back in MCC 9, we thought it was H, but apparently neither H or Fruit specified a person, so I guess it’s Ren. Makes sense because Ren’s with False literally every single time).

There’s not much to say except if they team up again, everyone saw it coming.

But also exactly because they’ve teamed up for so many times that they may decided to split for a MCC or two? That doesn’t seem to be what they’re doing though.

Ren + Cub

Honestly every time I think of this potential duo, I just see False sandwiched between them lmao. Because this a hermit trio. These two are probably False’s most frequent collaborators?? (Although there’s not much False and Ren collab this season)

Basically I somehow can’t see this happening without False. I’m sorry lmao

Grian + Cub

To a lot of people’s surprise, they haven’t teamed before. They’re probably the duo that collabs the least often on Hermitcraft so I kinda get why. Still wanna see this duo.

Grian + Ren

They’re close enough that they apparently visit each other irl. Which is very sweet. I can honestly see them as a duo, just chilling and having fun.

Hermit trios:

False + Ren + Grian/Cub. With the FRG trio happening more often in recent MCCs, FRC trio happening more often in the early, chill days. Hermit trio + S tier (aka. Lime Liches) is the most powerful version of hermit trios, and may even rival the strength of hermit duo + S tier teams.

FRG:

Honestly this seems like a feasible trio, especially when Cub skips a MCC/ plays with non hermits (MCC 7, 11, 12). There’s also the Lime Liches bias with this trio, so Scott might be more inclined to put them together?

Also if Cub skips, it means Scott will either have to make a hermit duo + solo hermit OR make a hermit trio. And Scott will probably put the solo hermit with hermit adjacent (eg. Grian with Pearl). Also pretty sure for this case, it’s gonna be False + Ren duo, Grian with hermit adjacent people just like MCC 9. That being said, MCC 9 was special because I think False and Ren specifically said they were gonna go competitive, while Grian not, so it makes sense for the split. For the current meta of competitive hermits, it might be easier for Scott to stuff the hermits together in a trio (eg. Lime Liches)??

FRC:

The last time this trio appeared was MCC 8. From that moment onwards, Cub has been in competitive teams either in a duo or solo, and had gotten to Dodgebolt in all his post-MCC 8 tourneys. So I honestly don’t know if we’ll see them together again. Maybe we’ll get something like Lime Liches.

New hermits:

I can see False-Ren-Doc as a trio for Doc’s first MCC.

1) This team appeared in CotC

2) To use Ren and Doc’s words: #ShipRendoc

3) Putting False here because I feel non hermits will be very ?!!???? at the Rendoc flirting

I can also see Iskall in a hermit trio. In particular Iskall-Grian-Ren

1) We got Team FRIC in MCC 5, so maybe something new?

2) Renskall. That’s it.

3) Everyone wants Grian-Iskall interaction, especially because they don’t collab that much this season compared to the last

But really I can see Iskall with every hermit regular. The reason I feel newcomers will be in trios not duos is that having two veterans to coach the newbie(s) is better than having one.

Hermit quartet

Genuinely don’t think this will happen if the hermits go competitive. Maybe we’ll get this for a chill MCC. Maybe not.

The hermit quartet in MCC 5 did pretty good though, but team standards have changed a lot since then. I kinda wanna see Iskall in another hermit quartet.

Others:

The famous Grian-False-Techno-Wilbur team, if you ignore the swearing thing and opposite Dodgebolt strategies. This team will have a fuckton of clout, probably comparable to MCC 13 Pink.

I actually feel this might happen because it’s highly popular and highly requested

But also 1) the swearing thing 2) Scott tends to put people who have similar attitudes (eg. hermits play with people who advocate arrow splitting) 3) they’re a powerful team. So maybe not.

Lime Liches. I seriously believe this might happen because of the very high demand and the Blue Bats bias. They got screwed over bc of parkour, many people think they deserve a redemption. They’re not too strong as a team either. It’ll be like MCC 8/9 Green.

Also the Fruit+Grian duo. I’m pretty sure this duo will happen at least once in S2. Grian famously commented he wants to team with Fruit, Fruit replied, even had an alt Twitch called “grianstanaccount”. Won’t be surprised at ALL if they ask for each other. Maybe this will happen along with LL redemption.

Hermits and H? This is to pacify the Blue Bats fandom. Also if we have hermit trio + Fruit, why not H lmao. But H said he wants to play with new people, and I think he said he wants to team with Puffy, sooo.... imagine we get sth like False Cub H Puffy. Lmao.

Hermits and Dream? I said I can’t see this happening, esp with Ren, but maybe Scott will do it for the Dreamslayer memes

Hermits and Quig? After Pete and Fruit, Quig is probably the most hermit friendly S tier. I think people said he would vibe well with the hermits. Quig is also involved in the X Life circle, which overlaps with the hermits’ circle.

Anyways. I’ve liked all Hermit teams so far, I’m sure Scott will make them fantastic as always. If you’ve reached this point, thank you for reading my pointless speculation. See you when MCC 14 teams are revealed :)

[thebad---catholic]

Clone High and changing fandoms

So thanks to a certain 4 hour retro rerun video, I now have JFK induced brainrot. Earlier this year, Avatar: the Last Airbender rose in popularity again after being put on netflix. As a veteran fan, it was very interesting to see how a new viewers interacted with the show. For example, originally Zutara and Kataang were the main ships that dominated the fandom. In 2020? Sokka/Zuko became wildly popular out of no where. Aside from dumbass woke takes like “Iroh’s a war criminal”, I’d say I overall enjoyed the new life breathed into the fandom.

While watching clone high for the first time, I came to realize what I loved about the show would’ve been interpreted differently in 2003, and that I wasn’t alone in these reinterpretations. This is best seen with JFK and Abe. From what I can tell from sifting through an old live journal community, Abe was fairly well liked. Abe/Joan and Abe/JFK and Abe/Cleo were all fairly popular ships. Now though? People fucking hate Abe. I fucking hate Abe. He’s a shallow simp who mistreats his only friends to impress a girl who constantly manipulates him. He’s so overprotective of Cleo he fucking yelled at her while she was trying to comfort jfk who was grieving his best friend. In the context of being a spoof of contemporary teen dramas, this probably would’ve been funny? But without that, it just makes Abe look like an unbelievable douche.

Conversely, we can do nothing but stan our bicon chad with two dads, JFK. But when the show first aired, JFK having two dads and finding John Dark attractive were jokes- any same sex attraction between two men was funny. But now? Genuinely endearing. He’s also a certified himbo with an ass that won’t quit, and in contemporary internet that’s enough to score as a character. I credit him partially for the shows resurgence, since his funny voice and dialogue make him prime meme material, more so than any other character.

Coincidentally, side characters like Van Gogh have skyrocketed in popularity. Sad art bois are also very in vogue. This lethal combo has actually made JFK/Van Gogh a popular ship. Of the 186 clone high fanfictions on AO3, 44 of them are this ship. That’s twenty-five percent. They don’t even interact in the show. JoanFK is in close succession, followed by Ponce/JFK, meaning a whooping 60% of clone high fics are just jfk ships. Even if there’s some overlap of the tags, that’s still pretty sizeable.

Looking back at old shows to see how tastes change is a lot of fun, but kind of striking when a relatively short amount of time has passed. I remember kinda having to justify why I liked a ship? And now??? Take two characters you find remotely interesting and smoosh them together. Cleo says “hot” when she finds out she tried to get with Joan? Before it would’ve been “lmao, hot lesbians”- actually, it’s still that, but now we’re invested in them being in love. At some points I found Joan to be very annoying because of how she puts down other girls (like the giggly vapid slut bit). And then I thought, “god, I’m so glad the trope of girls putting each other down is dying out”. I hadn’t watched clone high specifically, but tropes like that were everywhere when I was growing up. It was always the girly girl vs the tomboy, or goth vs prep in this case. It was exhausting.

There’s a lot of things I hate about modern fan experiences. I hate fandom police who try to dictate what content to enjoy. I’m genuinely surprised no one has done a callout post for everyone shipping clone high characters bc tHeY’Re UnDeRAgE- but really, in a lot of ways, fandom has just become much more carefree, and sincere. What you like doesn’t have to make sense, it doesn’t have to be anywhere near cannon, just have fun. Just have fun, and be horny, and love himbos, himbims, herbos, and bimbos. And that’s beautiful.

[illfoandillfie]

ok sorry but how many people do yall think rog has ever slept with cos i’m guessing four figures no lie

okay, i don’t normally respond to messages like this because, frankly, i dont really feel like its my place to speculate on roger’s sex life. Theres a difference between writing a fiction story with a character named after and inspired by him and discussing his actual personal life which i have no real knowledge about. What he gets up to in his free time is between him and the women he does it with. but i didn’t really feel able to ignore this one. please don’t take this as me telling you off or shutting you down or anything like that. If you want to speculate about roger’s body count thats up to you, go nuts with it. and i love when you guys message me and I don’t want to discourage you from feeling like you can talk to me or just send me your random thoughts or whatever about any subject. But I feel like I need to address why I disagree with this sentiment. Also so I can ask ya’ll to please stop asking me questions like this. 

So firstly, just to get this out of the way. 1000 is a lot. even 100 is a lot. I think if rog had slept with 1000+ people he’d have a least a few illegitimate kids and probably would have been checked into rehab for sex addiction (not to mention STIs and such because lbr people in the 70s specifically probs werent the most careful especially if drugs were involved). I mean even if we were going to say Rog got lucky with a different woman after every show we wouldn’t reach 1000. According to google, Queen played around 700 shows in their entire career. If we add shows played by The Cross thats only another 67 odd shows (according to wikipedia). 

now, i think there are 3 things that contribute to this idea of roger as especially promiscuous. 1. His attitude/demeanour/general way he sells himself. 2. the generally held conceptions about rock stars and rock star behaviour. and 3. what i’m going to call fandom dumbassery (but i mean that with a lot of love) 

So lets start with the man himself. Roger Taylor is loud and opinionated and not particularly humble. He knows he’s talented and attractive though for at least some time he was a little self-conscious about how feminine he looked. He’s always up for a laugh, likes to party and has admitted to enjoying his drink and his women. He’s had kids with two different women, who’s relationships “overlapped”, and is currently married to a third. At least that’s the perception we can gleam from his interviews, behind the scenes videos, and other public appearances. 

It’s easy to see how that image leads to accusations of being a womaniser and a cheater and basically a bit of a slut lmao. But here’s the thing. I think Roger, in part, markets himself that way. The thing is, if you look at his solo songs and the relationships he currently has with his kids and their mothers, and things other people have said about him/his relationships over the years, I think it’s fair to say he also has a bit of a romantic streak maybe? idk if thats the best way of describing it...he’s self confessed to not being a fan of marriage and the like but he’s not opposed to writing and singing love songs and seems to believe in ~love~ as a concept/power. He certainly cares deeply for those closest to him. Whether or not that translates to an agreement with monogamy I can’t say for certain. It’s hard to draw conclusions here because a lot of what we know of his personal life was fed to us through magazines and news paper gossip column articles and they were never looking for the truth, they were looking for scandal and sensationalism. 

For instance the whole thing with the overlapping relationships. I think most people who have read anything about roger and dom and debbie realise that it’s not as cut and dry as “he was cheating with debbie and left dom for her” even though that was the story being sold by the press at the time. The reality (or at least the version closer to reality since obviously no one outside of them and whoever they were closest with knows all the nitty gritty details) is that rog and dom had already split when they got married. it was a marriage of convenience to make sure her and the kids would be looked after financially etc even after he’d moved out. So while it looked to the public like he married one chick and 30 odd days later was spotted with another, there really wasn’t anything untoward happening.  I’m not saying he never had casual hookups or one night stands and i’m not saying he never cheated, but I do think some of it’s been exaggerated, whether by him to encourage the rock star perception or by newspaper/magazine articles.

Now, obviously, we have stories of rog, particularly in the late 60s and into the 70s, being with multiple women. There’s that bit in the Interview with a Queen “Groupie” (which is a fantastic read and i defs recommend checking it out if you havent already) where she talks about roger being a chick magnet and says that, at the time, it was pretty common to sleep about. But, she also says she didnt notice him doing it more or less than anyone else and seemed to mostly be with Jo (his girlfriend at the time). This is the same Jo that got a mention in the Queen in 3D book (”i think we all had the feeling that these two were together for life, but it was not to be”). Conversely, we have that quote (which i cannot find rn but i’ll link it when i do) about roger sometimes having one girl upstairs while another waited in the garage for them to be finished. I think it was about Rog in the mid-late 60s in Truro but whatever. Obviously he wasn’t anywhere near celibate and it’s likely was sleeping with people outside of his relationship(s). But one has to assume that as he got older those kinds of antics stopped happening, at least as frequently.

There is one potential story that I remember reading somewhere along the way about Roger cheating on Debbie while she was pregnant. But, take that with a grain of salt because I can’t find the article again and also I think it was from like The Sun or something equally as rubbish. The press was notoriously always printing mean shit about the boys and that might have been another thing they published to create scandal. Even so, if we assume it’s legit that is still only 1 story. Not to throw him under the bus but Brian is the one with multiple confirmed affairs, who literally wrote songs about it all. So why is Roger the one with sleazy reputation? 

This is where my second and third points come in. There is a pervasive idea about what it means to be a rock star. The whole trashing hotel rooms, sleeping with groupies, passing out drunk every night thing. And I’m sure that Queen was like that to an extent. I think it’s pretty common knowledge that all of them got up to shit on the road. Between innuendo laden interviews and songs, videos and accounts of their parties, stories CT has put online, and other stories like the one of Roger bringing out lines of coke as dessert when he was having dinner with motley crue. They definitely embraced the rock and roll lifestyle. And I think with Roger’s personality being what it is, it’s easy to link him to those traditional rock star tropes and say it was all true all the time. I also think Roger has done nothing to counter those beliefs. He’s been open about how he wanted to be a rock star since the minute he picked up a guitar, he’s labelled himself as a great lay in magazines, he’s joked about girls pulling their tits out over dinner in interviews (though he said he didnt take her home), he’s written songs like One Night Stand and Dirty Mind and Airheads which explicitly mention his preference for women and alcohol. I think it’s fair to say he’s kind of encouraged that view of himself. Whether it was just a side effect of being part of such a well known band and having such a boisterous demeanour/personality, or whether it was intentional as a version of promotion i don’t know. maybe a mix of them? I mean I’m sure it didn’t hurt sales and stuff. it’s the whole guys want to be him, girls want to be with him thing, right? Maybe that’s just me being cynical though lmao. 

Anyway, the fandom brain has taken all of that and compressed it into memes and jokes about rog being the band slut. Which i’m not complaining about, lord knows i’ve made the same jokes and reblogged the same posts and used those tropes in my fics. They’re funny and lend themselves to interesting fic concepts. Plus, i think roger is the sort of person who would probably laugh about most of it. But it’s an idea that keeps feeding into itself through fandom, perpetuating what is probably a misguided view of his personal life.

Again, I am sure he’s had his fair share of fun and I’m not trying to make out that he was always perfect or whatever, but I don’t think he’s been with as many women as the popular discourse would imply and I certainly don’t think he’s in the 4 digit numbers.