#this fandom may not be the biggest but I like to think we have quality over quanity

[literallyjusttoa]

Hi! I started reading toa and I love it so far, I found your blog and I really like it! but I've been having a hard time finding a lot of fandom content, could you recommend me some toa blogs that you know please?

Ok so number 1: @ukelele-boy. Guys ukeleleboy is so cool. If you want some incredible art and really cool hc you should definitely follow them. 

@sierice is another blog I would definitely recommend. I swear she manages to find every post related to ToA on the site lol. She’s also the accidental creator of Polldona!

Speaking of collections of ToA stuff on tumblr, @the-toarchives is collecting all the ToA content on tumblr, so definitely check it out!

I adore @heresronnie21 ‘s art, and all of their headcanons about Apollo. Seriously one of my favorite artists in the ToA space. 

@flzzypop is also such a good ToA fanartist!!! They’ve said they’re taking a bit of a break from ToA related stuff, but you should still absolutely give them a follow bc their art is just so cozy and wonderful.

I just love @trials-of-apunllo. Like it’s so good.

@txny-dragon has such adorable art, I smile everytime I see it. Also they're running the apollo ship tournament right now and I am so hyped for that.

@ferodactyl Is, as stated in their blog description, the CEO of Sunflower Sibs. Fero's art is amazing, their writing is stellar, and they've organized a whole bunch of events for the ToA fandom over the years. Honestly I don't think the ToA fandom would be what it is today without Fero.

@choconoru does art of the riordanverse in general, and all of it is beautiful and I love it. Their most recent piece of Lester is literal gold!

Another great fanartist is @moodyseal !!! She's been around for a while and her art is always sucha treat. I love her AoD design it's beautiful

Another og is @flightfoot . As she's said, she's more posting about Miraculous Ladybug now, but I followed flightfoot when I first started looking into the ToA fandom which was years ago. To me, Flightfoot is a fandom pillar, and definetly a blog you should check out.

I'm not going to lie I know there are many more blogs to recommend but I feel like I just haven't reached out enough to know them all ahhh. If any of my fellow ToA blogs want to reblog this with their own recommendations I would be thankful!!

[h50europe]

BUCK / TOMMY - HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A FANDOM SCORNED!

I did some thinking. Never good, but my brain can't wrap around the breakup that came out of the left field.

Recently, it was announced that a spin-off of "9-1-1" is in the works. While no locations have been finalized, Hawaii and Las Vegas have been suggested as potential settings. The showrunner is already working on the project, with filming set to begin in March 2025.

However, one of my biggest fears has come true: the focus of the showrunners is being diverted from the current show to concentrate on this new spin-off. All the energy runs in the new project. Also, at this point, we don't know if the mothership will be renewed. Without an early renewal, we must wait until May for the announcement. That is another reason why they are focusing on the new show. I wonder if this is why the plots feel rushed and repetitive. It's nice to revisit the past, but not ad nauseam. 9-1-1 does it too often lately. What's the point in bringing back Gerard and turning him into the butt end of a joke? What's the point in digging out Abby's Tommy and hanging it around Tommy Kinard's neck when nothing was ever mentioned in the past. The focus is clearly not on the current show. It feels like Tim abandoned the ship to board a new one. It's fresh, it's crisp, it leaves room for a lot of things. Even if the breakup was meant as a shocker. If your focus is somewhere else, you don't see it. Right now, the mothership is leaking and starting to sink. If Tim keeps his focus on the new project and isn't invested in the current show, the lights will go out sooner rather than later.

Bringing in an established character was probably the biggest mistake Tim could have made if he wasn't meant to stick around. Bring in Mary Sue or Marty Stu to be a LI but not a character with a history that connects to so many people on the show. You can't sideline them forever. Especially as Buck's bi-arc was announced as something big. And it was big. A bit too big to be treated the way it was. The fanbase that had built around TEVAN, or BUCKTOMMY, within weeks, was massive. It drew so many members of the queer community into the show. Suddenly, many of them felt seen. Tommy and Buck were different from the other queer characters out there. Different from what was represented on any other show. People were willing to watch to get the slightest glimpse of them. Because they felt real. Their chemistry shot into the stratosphere.

And then you go and end it on such a horrible note? I don't care if the haters call Tommy a plot device. Everyone on the show is one at some point—even Christopher, Eddie, or anyone else from the main or recurrent cast, Karen, for instance, the Wilson kids. You name it. Tommy Kinard came, saw and conquered. So why not give him more room? They did it with Taylor (yes, I know JLH was pregnant then, but that's reason enough? I doubt it). As I said in my other long post, you could cut in a sequence of 5 minutes and show a summary of Tommy's and Buck's life.

Tim makes the same mistake as many showrunners do. Cramming a shitload of plots into 42 minutes of airtime. Is it really necessary to tell that many stories in such a short amount of time? That feels like speed dating. You blink, and you miss an important scene. Every episode, you jump from plot A to B to A to C to B. We didn't have this fast pacing in season 1 or 2. Stop it. Make Quality plots over quantity stuff.

In Tommy's voice: And for God's sake, clean up that mess you created with that shitty breakup, or the audience will wither away.

I'm sorry. I could write a book about what is happening in my head. You'd get Super Brownie points if you made it here.

[surgepricing]

Why RWBY can't come back

The last news we got of RWBY was all the way back in July, when it was acquired by VIZ Media.

This much serves as a hard letdown for anyone who was hoping Dillon Goo and his studio could acquire the property, as VIZ Media is owned by freaking Shueisha, aka the guys who run Shonen Jump. It is unlikely to be sold back to a smaller studio.

VIZ Media buying it was a baffling choice to begin with, as RWBY isn't nearly as eternally-profitable as some of the other ventures it's been focusing on, such as Bleach and animating its Thousand Year Blood War arc. I suppose RWBY doesn't make for an ill fit when considering that it can simply languish on a shelf generating endless merch sales at a slow but steady pace over the years--VIZ Media is in charge of many, many series, and all of its biggest properties are surrounded by a haze of particle-sized smaller properties whose only real purpose is to add to the cumulative money flow in towards the studio.

But it does mean that Volume 10 of RWBY, in sharp contrast to what diehards crowed about when the acquisition was announced, is almost certainly not coming. VIZ Media's main practice is taking control of works that start in serialization form, usually manga, and adapting them, not generating whole new content. If VIZ Media even did feel like continuing the RWBY Saga, it would depend on:

other writers being welcomed into the room, because VIZ Media is a large corporation and is very unlikely to adhere to any fandomized purist idea that only Miles and Kerry should write for it and be credited with it,

other writers actually wanting to be associated with a series that is so badly stigmatized on the internet now. If you're Rooster Teeth, it won't be hard, you can pick from a pool of fans who will sell their souls to do so (and who cares about any quality), but VIZ wouldn't even glance in the direction of a tactic like that.

And if so, there's no real telling what it would look like, which is the axe coming down for the remaining RWBY fanbase, who are volatile and hostile and protective of what they think RWBY should be (i.e., Miles and Kerry). If VIZ Media is stupid, they'll plow ahead with this anyway, generating almost no profit because RWBY's tiny remaining fandom won't associate with it and RWBY's very large ex-fandom also isn't interested in it, thus falling into that Nintendo-style hole of making something no one asked for and then wondering why it didn't sell.

It would be much more in line with VIZ' profit-lined goals to maximize the revenue trickling into RWBY with another spinoff series like Ice Queendom or the manga series, which won't actually advance the story forward but will sate people expecting a Volume 10 at some point and merely needing any form of content to assure themselves it's inevitably coming.

Unfortunately, that means RWBY as a rebooted series with actual writers is also probably off the table, because VIZ Media are unlikely to do something they view as risky even if they think profit could be generated from it; the safer option is the trickle rather than hoping to strike a renewed spirit in fans.

And so RWBY is very likely to have the ultimate fate that I had naively thought we'd avoided back in May: spinning its wheels on the shelf of anime limbo for eternity rather than rebooting or dying peacefully.

[annabtg]

Hello, you responded to the anon ask re jilyawards, and called for a response…

Not that I have to defend my stance but since you asked, I said I was here less often these days, but I have been here a long time.  

I still read fic, kudos, comment, bookmark and celebrate content.

I want nothing more than for creators to feel a sense of achievement for their work, kudos to hits doesn’t work either but that doesn’t take away from the fact that unless you ‘sell yourself’ to the fandom you aren’t going to win.

The fic with the biggest audience will win, the highest follower count, etc etc.

It is a popularity contest

The loudest candidate isn’t always the best *cough cough* hello, world.

A minority view perhaps. Bummer that it couldn’t just be considered a genuine worry for those that feel it negatively impacts their mental health and instead became something one needs to ‘crack knuckles’ to respond to.

The replies to this have reminded me why I stopped visiting this site, guess I’ll go touch grass.

Also, did you really compare the jilyawards to a Pulitzer? the Nobel prize?

Hi, anon.

First of all, cracking knuckles (in these times and spaces where we generally avoid playing fisticuffs) is visual shorthand for "getting prepared" - for instance, to leave a long ass reply on something. Apologies for the confusion.

Now, to the crux of your post:

The fic with the biggest audience will win, the highest follower count, etc etc. It is a popularity contest

LIFE is a popularity contest. Job hunting, dating, it's all a popularity contest. And fandom is a popularity contest too. The author with the most followers will have their fics read the most, nominated the most, voted the most. Which is why you're not supposed to take the awards so seriously. THEY ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF YOUR VALUE AS A WRITER. Writing skills do matter, to a certain degree, but it's also a combination of popularity, self-marketing skills, and a bit of sheer dumb luck.

The loudest candidate isn’t always the best *cough cough* hello, world.

I specifically pointed out in my aforementioned reply that, in case you didn't know, I am very against "big fic", sorting by kudos etc.. I don't understand how you supposedly read that reply and still you're coming into my inbox to tell me that water is wet. I KNOW THAT. I KEEP SAYING THAT. I KEEP REBLOGGING POSTS THAT SAY THAT. And frankly, you've chosen the worst person on the whole of Tumblr to dump your agenda onto. I don't give a shit about a fic's popularity. For me it's often more of a deterrent than it is an invitation to read and vote for it. People who know me will tell you it is other, very different qualities I enjoy and appreciate in a piece of writing.

(Incidentally, as you may also surmise from my language, I'm also not a very popular person. Just in case you somehow think I am defending the awards because I'm popular and this means I'll win. Lmao.)

Also, did you really compare the jilyawards to a Pulitzer? the Nobel prize?

You're surprised? Aren't you the one who maintains that the jilyawards somehow carry enough gravitas to deal irreparable psychic damage to the people who don't win?

I don't think your problem is "genuine worry", anon. I've seen the likes of you before. As I said, I've done fandom awards for years; there are always the people who don't like the fact that they didn't get nominated/win, who don't trust the coordinators, who don't like the stories that win (or have beef with the authors), and they are always talking about their "genuine, well-meaning concerns". What they really end up doing - whether intentionally or not - is create doubts and discordance out of nowhere. Some people are having a good time with the awards, some people have opted out and they're going about their lives away from them. Now you're here to do what, exactly? Remind people that they'll never be as popular as TLE? We've already made our peace with that.

The replies to this have reminded me why I stopped visiting this site, guess I’ll go touch grass.

The "replies"? I am literally the only one who replied. Plus a couple of reblogs who agree with me, with nowhere near equal verbosity. No one is out to get you, I promise. If anything, it seems we mostly agree. The awards are no big deal. They're not a metric of a writer's value. If they don't work for you, you don't have to participate. Hell, one of my favourite writers and best friends on this hellsite opts out for this very reason every year and I still love her even though I yell at her (affectionate).

And I absolutely agree - if you don't enjoy Tumblr, you don't have to stick around. I suppose, if you're still in fandom as you say, we will meet again on AO3 sometime. Maybe I'll comment on your fic. :)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

"Saying "It's canon!" isn't a good way to defend Kataang against Zvtara!"

That's fair. I have canon ships I dislike where people can't think of a decent argument to save their lives and simply clap back with "It's canon!" disregarding that the writing is terrible and the canon status doesn't feel earned.

But I have hung around the Kataang and Maiko fandoms and they have made wonderful metas on why Kataang and Maiko narratively work. It's a lot more chill...The reason I left the Zvtara fanbase in the first place is because people are so hateful.

I mean if Zvtara was canon ya'll would scream it to the goddamn rooftops and nobody would be allowed to criticize Zvtara or ship non-canon ships opposing it. If Zvtara was canon ya'll would still be as hateful as ever.

And before someone says "Kataang wasn't earned but Zvtara was!" I do not see how Zvtara was more earned as an endgame ship than Kataang.

You broke down their double-standards perfectly. There's a reason they keep coming up with random conspiracies about how Zutara was actually planned from the start and the "real" writers were shocked and devastated when the evil showrunners forced them to "randomly" make Kataang happen instead - and go as far as faking evidence for it.

They ABSOLUTELY see canon as being better than fanon, which is why they never stop demanding any new show/comic of the franchise to make it happen. They expect "Ship and let ship" to apply to their ship while it remains fanon, while fully preparing to then use "You can't ship that, it's not canon/endgame" against Kataang and Maiko if Zutara ever becomes endgame in some reboot or live action adaptation (never forget that these people were hopeful the "last airbender" movie was gonna have Zutara and "replace the show's canon").

Since that has not happened, they pretend stick to this "briliant" alternative strategy.

Them: Zutara has always been and always will be canon, you idiots! Why do you even bother shipping anything else?

Anyone who has actually paid any attention to the story: What are you talking about? Katara is dating Aang, and Zuko is dating Mai? There were never even any real hints of Zutara, just random ship bait that nearly every ship in the show got to some degree?

Them: CANON DOES NOT MEAN "GOOD" OR "BETTER", WHY DO KATAANG AND MAIKO FANS ACT LIKE IT DOES?

Anyone with a minimally functional brain: But you guys were the ones that tried to use canon as evidence of quality in the first place!

Them: SHUT UP, WE HAVE BIGGEST NUMBERS ANYWAY SO WE'RE PRACTICALLY CANON!

Me, an annoying little shit: Ah, so canon does mean better. Got it. Time for you guys to stop shipping Zutara then.

[mochiwrites]

(tma) From a fanon standpoint, I completely understand why people ship jonmartin, but from a canon standpoint they don't really have many moments together? I'll admit I'm not completely through season 5, but the ship wiki didn't even mention season 5, so I'm just curious how the ship got so much hype?

anon in the nicest way possible... did we listen to the same podcast?

because holy FUCK there's a ton of important moments that they have together?? excluding s5. I won't touch on that season all that much since a) you're still in the middle of it and b) we're talking early game jmart.

we're gonna start with the Q&A bits. also I feel like I should preface. I'm still relatively new to the fandom (have only been here since end of september) and I may not know as much as someone who's been here longer. but with that out of the way, let's discuss jmart! putting this under a read more because this is gonna be an essay! (spoilers ahead for seasons 1-4)

the first thing we need to make explicitly clear is that the magnus archives is not a romance. it is a horror first and foremost.

but also in the same breath, we need to talk about how jmart even came to be. martin's crush on jon was planned from the very start, and through the series we start to see jon reciprocate martin's feelings. this was specifically addressed for the first time in the season 4 Q&A. to quote jonny exactly, "yes he reciprocates it -- it's a romance -- at least I have written it as a romance."

the incredibly important thing to note with tma is that the romance (with the exception of s5) is going to take a back seat in the story, because as said before, fundamentally tma is a horror podcast.

HOWEVER -- this doesn't mean that jon and martin don't have important scenes together. because they do. it isn't so much about the number of scenes they have together but more so the quality and importance of moments they have.

SEASON ONE

take for example the first real interaction we see between jon and martin. martin has just experienced a traumatic event and brought the physical evidence of said event right to his boss' face (the same boss that ridicules him and bashes his work). he fully expects jon to disregard everything that martin has just told him. but then. but then! jon is surprisingly understanding and almost soft with him. it's a reaction martin certainly wasn't expecting and you can hear it in his voice.

and then we get to the prentiss attack and we see jon and martin on the same level. we see them having this heart to heart discussion about why they're at the institute etc etc.

it's the first time we see them actually understanding one another, the first time we see jon and martin as themselves and not just the archivist and his assistant. we see them as human beings rather than their professions. they're put on the same level and I think that's incredibly important to high light here.

to finally top it all of with season one, we have the interview between jon and martin. jon is trying to slip back into his role, back into the position of the archivist, but martin isn't letting him. not entirely. one of the first few things out of his mouth are the words "are you okay?" and he's the ONLY one to ask jon about this. I checked. and then you see martin apologizing to jon for leaving him, and you can hear the struggle in jon's voice as he tries for something soft before attempting to slip into something more professional.

but the biggest piece to take away from these interactions is how martin cares. it's how he views jon right from the start and deems him someone to worry about. and when we end season one we find that there is no longer a a hierarchy between the two of them (besides occupational titles ofc), they are on the same level.

SEASON TWO

so we end season with jon and martin landing on the same level of respect for one another. they're fresh out of a traumatizing situation and back to work! aaaaand jon falls into a very deep pit of paranoia.

we have martin attempting to steer jon toward taking care of himself, inviting him to lunch, making him tea, etc etc. we see jon questioning if it's just a ploy for martin to get jon to lower his guard so he can kill him. but we see jon start to look at martin in a new light, which is important to note. we know that they begin to spend more time together as other characters comment on it.

this is most likely the point where jon started to develop a bit of his own crush really. because a) he's seeing martin in a completely different way than he did previously and b) martin is something consistent in how he never stops caring about jon, pushing him to take care of himself. it's kind of the point in the story where martin begins to take his place as jon's anchor.

and then jon finds martin's lovely little note. and he freaks out. he reads this note from martin that says "they can't find out I'm lying" and it's not. something jon wants to believe. he doesn't want to think that martin has been lying to him.

and when it comes time for him to confront martin about his lying, he doesn't handle it well. he finds out that trevor herbert is alive and oh would you look at that! martin was the one who told him that trevor was dead! and oh. martin lied to him.

and jon takes it personally! he finds out from martin that it was misunderstanding, and when martin calls him out, he snaps, "because you keep lying to me, martin!" it rings almost like jon is telling martin that he trusted him.

he forces the truth about martin's CV from him, and when he finds out that that's what martin was talking about in his note, he's relieved. he's so relieved that he smiles. martin is trustworthy. martin is safe. martin secures his position as jon's anchor.

SEASON THREE & FOUR

season 3 is the season that I like to call the pining season. it's pretty much the middle of the story, where both jon and martin are fully aware of their feelings. sure they may not have many scenes together, it's the fact that the scenes they do have together are important. and you can feel jmart's presence through both s3 & s4 whether they're in the same scene together or not. they're always thinking about one another.

martin's biggest thing throughout both seasons is a plea for jon to be safe.

jon's in need of an anchor to keep him connected to humanity in s3. and he is encouraged to seek out martin. in s4, jon echoes martin in his pleas for martin to be alright.

and of course you have a big moment in s3 where jon first returns to the archives after being kidnapped by the circus and martin is the one he runs into. and they have this conversation, one that is almost shy but still very much genuine. jon expresses concern for martin after hearing he's been reading statements, and martin worries over jon after his kidnapping.

then we get to season 4!!!!! and GOD WHAT A SEASON FOR JMART. obviously I don't have to touch on the whole scene with the two of them in the lonely. I don't have to touch on jon running to martin right after he finds a way to escape the institute so he could suggest that they run away together.

what I AM going to touch on is their presence in the season. season 4 is probably the season we see the least of jon and martin interacting with one another. HOWEVER, their presence is very strongly felt. martin is basically always on jon's mind in one way or another, and the same with martin. we may not see much of martin but his presence is absolutely there through jon. it feels like he's there because jon is always reaching for him in some way.

season 4 is where we see jon at his most vulnerable with martin. and we know for a fact that jon is martin's main motivator to accept peter's deal.

and then we have the coffin scene. jon thinks "ah yes my rib is a good anchor for finding my way out of the buried. this cannot go wrong in any way whatsoever." but the only reason daisy and jon even get out of the coffin is because of martin. he piles those tapes on top to pull jon out and it works. it was never the rib. it was the tapes. it was martin.

so admittedly, no jmart may not have as many moments as a canon couple would in say a tv show. but the magnus archives is a podcast. and it is a horror podcast. the romance between jon and martin has always taken a back seat for the main storyline. think of it as an A plot and B plot. the A plot is the main story, the B plot is jmart's relationship.

it's the fact that the scenes they have together are impactful on their characters and the trajectory of their character arcs. we as the listeners don't get the privilege to see every moment of their day to day life. so we need to make inferences, we need to fill in the gaps. it's on us to read between the lines and find the answer based on what's given to us in canon. canon does give us quite a bit to latch onto with jmart, we just have to pick it apart to find it.

and it’s not about the number of moments. it’s the quality of them.

but to answer your question in a simple matter, I think jmart gets so much hype because well... not to sound like a broken record, but tma is a horror story. it is a tragedy. yet despite that, there is love. there is love within a story of death and loss and the worst of "humanity". jon and martin's relationship is such a fundamental part of the story (even if it isn't the main focus). it's the fact that their love transcends the horrors and despite what jon and martin go through, they find some kind of comfort within one another.

I think they get a lot of hype because in the face of death and grief humans reach for love. for hope. and that is what jmart is in the story. they are each other's anchors, they are each other's reasons. and while it may not be at the forefront of the story line, we as the listeners know that their love for each other is the driving force behind their actions.

they get a lot of hype because they are human. and they love. sure they started off in a rocky way, but they grew close -- they learned about each other, began to care about each other. and through all of the horror they became each other's reasons for carrying on.

in a story full of despair and death, why wouldn't you latch on to that little spark of hope? of love?

[toaarcan]

I find myself wondering how things would've gone down with the Hagah contest if Greg and Bob had never rejected the idea of the two special edition sets in 2005 being Dume and Nidhiki.

Because let's not kid ourselves, the Hagah contest was a shitshow. TTV decided to run all four subject characters at the same time, and Eljay and Mesonak took the whole thing on their own shoulders, and as a result it took basically the whole of the year. The arguments started almost as soon as the subject for the next contest was chosen, as some people wanted the creative freedom to do whatever, and some people wanted the designs to be restricted so they'd look good next to Norik and Iruini.

Not helping matters was that the first contest had demonstrated that the community's definition of a Toa was wide and the voters wouldn't necessarily choose something that looked good next to its official compatriots- Helryx is a good MOC, but she's built to match up with the Toa Mata, who were built to a much smaller scale than the entirety of the Order of Mata Nui sets, and she ends up at about eye-level with Mazeka, a character who notes her physically-identical Melding counterpart as being "Tall."

If they didn't have Norik and Iruini as a benchmark, though, that goes out of the window. With all six Hagah unseen, then it's highly likely that we wouldn't know anything about what they looked like. We wouldn't know about the metallic armour, we wouldn't know about the reshaped masks, we likely wouldn't even know about the Metru Build thing. Uniformity would go right out of the window, because of sets like the Mahri and 08 Nuva.

The contest would likely be an even bigger shitshow, of course. It took them around a year to do four characters, throwing two more into the mix would probably take even longer. There's a non-zero chance that a six-character contest doesn't finish before Greg gets laid off. However, it may have started earlier without the initial wave of arguments. Or they could've been just as bad for different reasons.

I think there'd still be a bunch of Metru builds in the contest, even without the two sets as a measuring stick, because the contest was just before (and likely contributed to) the tail-end of the fandom-wide obsession with the Metru build as the "Perfect" Toa (it's not, for the record). Without a whole year of incredibly same-y MOCs, and a contest where we had to judge them against each other, that love-affair may have lasted longer.

However, it's also possible that without there being the two sets, the Hagah would've been a lower priority for TTV. There would've been no incomplete team of official sets to round off. Instead, the characters that likely would've been in that position of being the "Missing" members of a team with two official sets would've probably been the Mangai.

I don't think TTV would've been nuts enough to run nine contests at once, but I do think there probably would've been the same arguments about whether a Metru build should be mandatory and what is a Metru build anyway, just about Tuyet instead.

And without the Hagah contest, I don't think we would've had that wonderful moment post-finals where people who had managed to avoid the hellscape that was the actual forums during the voting process got to see that team of six (mostly) new Toa lined up together for the first time in ages, and getting hit right in the nostalgia feels. For all its faults as an actual process, the Hagah contest ultimately did manage to create a team that mostly looks uniform, and mostly looks like they could've been sold as sets back in '05. The one outlier, Bomonga, still looks great too. I love him being the (relatively) biggest bungus of a Toa to ever grace the GSR, and the MOC's quality definitely outweighs the annoying brain gremlin that says "Lego never would've made him like that." Yeah, they wouldn't have, and it doesn't matter at all.

I'm still going to go to my grave insisting that Nidhiki is just Iruini with a green mask and a different weapon.

[laurasbailey]

if i may add re: one of the women pulling something like that, i always find that such a funny argument in any fandom because, you know. we do #Live In A Society. so them being women Is actually a pretty crucial difference lmao and yes i might very well have liked it if it had been one of them because of it?

(prefacing the rest of this by asking everyone to bear with me and read this in good faith, i’m talking about a character and not trying to say or imply anything about any players)

which kind of tangentially ties into my biggest beef with ashton (and i understand that this is probably harsh and unfair), but between the acting like they always know better than everyone else, the arrogance and massive ego, the martyr/hero complex combo, the dismissiveness of others' feelings, the anger issues and propensity to violent outbursts etc, this is a character that acts and speaks in ways that are virtually indistinguishable from your average misogynist. i don’t think that this is intentional or even conscious (and definitely not malicious) on tal’s part, I think it’s more likely an unfortunate confluence of circumstances with this particular story (ie the campaign being heavily focused on women, so they’re in a position within the story where they're the natural point one would turn to with disagreements and stuff); but it’s like, no amount of dissecting motivations changes the objective fact of how they behave. and to me that makes for a character who’s about as interesting as idk, an asshole coworker. obviously this is all very subjective, and i know a lot of people find him compelling and write very good analysis, and love and light to them, but i personally cannot get past this and bring myself to give a shit you know.

absolutely get where you're coming from, and it's super interesting because as someone who doesn't see a lot of fandom opinion anymore, i wonder how many people also see this? or do most people just adore ashton and this is the minority opinion?

i usually find taliesin to be very self aware about the flaws of his characters, but i think you're right, without context it could very well come across as misogynistic due to the circumstances of the campaign being very female-centric. personally i think he's just being an asshole and by process of elimination, the women end up in the firing line because they're in the spotlight story-wise and are, let's be real, the leaders of the group. fcg is typically agreeable, nobody butts heads with orym, and chetney generally sits back during any verbal conflict. ashton just seems to have a general lack of respect for everyone and just uses the 'i don't know how to show it' excuse.

i think ashton wants to be a leader (whether they know it or not) but right now they just don't have the qualities to be one. in many situations they're like 'i don't like this', 'we shouldn't do this', but offers no alternatives. and sometimes he'll try to take charge in situations where he should really be taking a backseat (i.e. when they were trying to resurrect laudna) and he'll speak way out of turn on things he knows nothing about (again, that time he said he knows loneliness in a way laudna doesn't ??? lmao). it's like he has a compulsive need to always share his opinion and somehow prove he's suffering more than you, and nobody likes that guy at the party.

it's obvious taliesin is playing a lot of these flaws as a character who was raised by, well, no one, which makes sense! but there's been so little character development for 70+ episodes and very little effort made on ashton's part (up until now where he's supposedly going to change) that i just don't have an interest in it. it just bothers me now because characters i do really love will be caught up in the consequences.

[andypantsx3]

if u have energy and time for it i would love to hear more of your input on the kindle publishing and quantity over quality discussion of how those authors tend to intersect fandom genres/cliches (omegaverse, alien romance, hockey romanct, etc.) with more mainstream routes (publishing on kindle universe, booktok advertising, etc.).

like, I am the demographic who do read/write fanfic AND read a lot of the 'self published romance trash' on kindle universe and while i hate that a lot of people have that feeling about it, because i have managed to find quite a few gems that i KNOW would have flopped via traditional publishing routes and are only available via self publishing on such a large marketplace, i know from experience that a lot of the stuff out there is like...bad. Unfortunately, that means i have also experienced the pitfalls of authors who have managed to publish their first book, their first passion project, that is amazing and thoughtful and truly a work of love realizing that it's a quantity over quality market and adapting their writing to suit (dragging out stories and/or putting out multiple books with subpar quality writing).

genuinely, it's a space that both baffles me and gives me a bit of hope for some odd reason. is it annoying that everyone is jumping the romance train and we are getting a dozen poorly written books for 'this months hot trope' in order to make money off of romance- for sure, but i'm also reading books with plots and romances that would never get published elsewhere because what publishing house is gonna publish a book about a woman falling in love with an ant monster alien and having weird ant monster babies?????

-> This is the post being referenced, for those who have not seen it.

Strei my beloved!!!! Yeah of course, this is such an interesting topic to me!! Especially as someone who is also the biggest consumer of romance in any of my friend circles, and as a secret fanfic author who loves trends and used to churn out like a 20-30k fic every week in the early days of the pandemic. Apologies that I'm still brain-fried from fever and my work week but here are my additional thoughts.

Firstly I wanna say that critiquing the culture that puts pressure on authors to pump out content so quickly is absolutely not to say that there aren't gems out there. That is also not to say that anything that is trope-y, trendy, or self-produced/published is garbage either (and it would be wild for a fic author to say so when we have all read like, some omegaverse fic that has changed everything we think we know about love and life LOL).

I think self-publishing as an industry is also extremely interesting and a necessary obverse to traditional publishing houses, especially when it comes to allowing authors the freedom to publish stories that the industry may devalue. Though self-publishing does factor into the equation as the easiest mechanism by which people can pump out trendy content quickly without any of the checks tradpubbing might have, it's not really at the root of the issue here.

To me, that post was specifically critiquing not trends themselves, nor self-publishers for engaging in them, but rather the pressure on (or inversely the reward for) authors to consistently sacrifice quality in terms of outputting massive quantity in service of chasing those trends.

Quality itself is hard to define as well because tastes are so subjective and what might be "low quality" to some people on here I could mention who will know I am talking about them if they read this, is "high quality" and enjoyable to me! I draw the line of quality in my subjective experience; characters and plots that are unmemorable or that failed to make me feel anything. Things I hated or will have forgotten I've read in two weeks' time. Novels that are just like every other one exploring that trope/trend, not for the elements they share but for the ways they failed to bring anything new to that trope.

I'm not sure what the solution is really. I don't think you can or should ask people not to enjoy trends (I'm not gonna stop LOL). I don't think you can ask self-pub authors not to try to make the money they probably need to live. I think it's probably a tall, impossible order to ask the culture at large to change, to grow more conscientious about what they engage with and how, especially when probably all of us are brain-fried from gazillion hour work weeks and just want something light and fun to enjoy.

But I think this is a growing complaint across a lot of mediums. Marvel is making the same movie over and over again, Disney is remaking every single one of their animated franchises in soulless cash grabs, recycled content runs rampant on TikTok and YouTube, and for every excellent book out there, there are 30 garbage copycats. It's clear to me that there is some kind of discomfort growing among us about how nothing is original or interesting anymore.

Fic-wise, I think this pressure to consume and create content so quickly also results in some of the things we regret most about fandom; plagiarizers unwilling to think of or write their own fics, fics abandoned when the hype dies down around a trend, loose characterization that defies even the most generous of interpretations lol.

But at least on the fandom side, I think there are small things we can do to combat this pressure because it costs us nothing to do so, except in some cases a little self-restraint, self-forgiveness, and patience. (At least in small pockets of the community, you're not gonna be able to change everybody.)

I liked what OP said in the last passage:

Maybe that means giving up useless number-chasing if communities can't survive past a certain scale. We could choose to focus on the slow work of developing relationships and trust, creating smaller but more sustainable groups of people who can support one another. Even now, within the hostile infrastructure of the modern internet, I think these things are still just barely possible.

I think as writers, we can be more forgiving of ourselves if writing a fic takes time, even a short one! Anything made with care usually takes time, and that includes breaks because you gotta let things marinate, plus we all have a ton of shit going on personally and culturally and we have to participate in that. We can (if we want to) read widely and try to learn more about the craft, honing our techniques and our ideas.

As community members we can prioritize making friends instead of followers. We can brainstorm with one another, help beta when we have the brainpower. We can gas each other up!! (To be clear I think this corner of tumblr is already excellent at these things, thankfully).

As readers we can choose to engage more often with ongoing fic instead of finished fic (I know the risks LOL), we can slow down and read more carefully and engage thoughtfully. We can let ourselves wait longer between updates. If we have the time and the patience we can seek out and read more niche fic authors and pairings!!

I think some of these we already do so well in this community, which is why I'm so grateful to be a part of this side of tumblr specifically lol. So some of this is just a thought exercise. And I'm sure there are more suggestions smarter people than I will have.

But I do see how capitalist pressures have invaded even this traditionally anticapitalist space and even in small measures, I wanna fight it back lol.

[jfk555]

Arcane Analysis: Jinx and Caitlyn

I keep seeing people mention this offhandedly, but I have yet to see a long-winded analysis about it, so instead I will provide it.

Jinx and Caitlyn are foils

I’m a firm believer that if Caitlyn had been born in Zaun, and Powder born in Piltover, they would have turned out just like each other. Caitlyn and Jinx are cut from the same cloth, and are wildly similar. Both are considered misfits and don’t have any friends, both rely primarily on intelligence rather than strength, both are talented marksmen, and both are deeply insecure. (I also think both are autistic, but that’s a whole other thing). And there’s also the obvious of them being the two people who love Vi the most and are the two most important people in Vi’s life.

But where they differ is in morality. Caitlyn hates violence and despite being a sniper, steadfastly refuses to kill. Jinx does…not, to say the least. But she used to. In Act 1, Powder is a pacifist who seems horrified by the idea of killing. And then she goes through unimaginable trauma and makes some poor decisions and becomes almost a funhouse mirror of both Caitlyn and the person she used to be. Caitlyn is what she should have been, she’s the future she was robbed of as a child. She’s what Powder was always meant to be. And in a way, Jinx represents the same for Caitlyn: a possible future if she’s not careful. If their positions had been switched, (Caitlyn being born in Zaun and Jinx being born in Piltover), they would have ended up just like each other. Caitlyn does not have the skill set to survive in Zaun, just like Powder didn’t, and probably would have been faced with the same choice Powder was: die, or adapt. As for Powder, she definitely would have become a scientist at the Academy, but I could definitely see her being enchanted by the Enforcers the way Caitlyn was, and maybe she would have primarily made bombs for them or other weapons and armor.

I also think this is part of why Vi falls in love with Caitlyn over the course of two days, because Caitlyn reminds her of Powder. She has all the qualities she liked but can no longer find in Powder. Vi herself even compared them when she saw Caitlyn’s conspiracy board ( which we need to talk more about as a fandom, because Caitlyn is canonically a crazy conspiracy theorist). “ And I thought Powder could get obsessed!” Vi sees it.

So why do they hate each other, and are they aware of this? Well, Jinx ruined Caitlyn’s life, so Caitlyn has every right to hate her. She also just doesn’t know much about Jinx and has no idea about this similarity. She would also be deeply offended and in denial if someone brought this up to her, so.

But what about Jinx? This may come as a surprise, but I say she is painfully aware of this. Would she ever admit it? Absolutely not, but she knows it. She hates Caitlyn for two reasons: the obvious one we’re presented with, that Caitlyn stole Vi from her or is manipulating her sister, and that she’s deeply jealous and resentful. She knows that’s part of why Vi likes her so much, because Caitlyn is a better version of her, and she sees Caitlyn as a representation of everything she’s lost. Not to mention the fact that Jinx hates everything about herself, but most notably her childhood self, so of course she’s going to hate someone who reminds her of her childhood self.

One of my biggest wishes for season 2 is that they explore this concept more.

[harocat]

I hope this doesn't come across as rude or anything, as I'm bi myself, but based on some posts from confused danmei fans I've found on the TTEOTM tag, I'm afraid that Tantai Jin or the drama are not gay enough for Tumblr to lose it over him, like they did over MDZS 😢

I'm a lesbian and I'm not offended lol. I think for things to draw the tumblr audience, it's not so much that they have to be gay as they have to be potentially gay.

And by that I mean potentially gay and about men, specifically, because fandom is frankly like 75% less interested in stories about women and it's still rare for a women-centered series and an f/f ship to break out and be super popular.

So something like TTEOTM doesn't really have a lot of m/m shipping potential. There's a bit of a spark between Xiao Lin and TTJ near the beginning, but it sort of pitters out. Nian Baiyu and TTJ are close, but they just don't really have that vibe that makes them feel super shippable. There's no getting around that the most compelling relationship TTJ has in the series is with a woman (though you all, the enemies to lovers vibes you all love are here and they are so good). I've been trying to get all my fellow queer friends to watch Love Between Fairy and Devil because I'm like 'IT'S REALLY GOOD I PROMISE' and I have succeeded with several of them, but the m/m shipping potential is definitely minimal so it probably won't ever catch fire in fandom at large.

Add in that, and this is more important than anything else in this specific case, it's a Chinese drama, which is not something widely popular on tumblr EXCEPT for The Untamed and Word of Honor, both of which are based on canon bl novels, and there's just no hope of drawing people in.

I don't want to insinuate that things are just popular because they're gay or potentially gay, because I do think there's generally a level of quality that they need to have to get people actually into them. And many of these shows have SO MUCH more going for them than just 'they're canon gay' so it's a bit of an insult to insinuate that's the only reason they're popular. I feel like there should be a balance in discussion where you can go 'hey a lot of people may have tried this out because it's canon gay, but the reason it sustained a large following is because it's legitimately a really excellent story with great characters, in addition to the gay.' I always get super defensive when people say Yuri on Ice is only popular because it’s gay.

There's after all plenty of gay or just really slashy shows no one cares about on this site because they're not good. There are exceptions to this (I mean is SPN good? No), but I do think fandom on the whole has gotten choosier in recent years, which is not a bad thing. People are definitely less tolerant of stuff that strings queer viewers along like BBC Sherlock.

MDZS is very good. Wei Wuxian is probably my second favorite fictional character ever. I have issues with the actual narrative of Word of Honor (it's just kind of shoddily written at times), but the characters themselves are very good, and that's what matters most in fandom.

I can never fault people on tumblr for checking into canonically gay media because it is gay, because hey, almost all of us are queer here and we want to see stories about ourselves. But I guess I do get frustrated when over and over the biggest fandoms on here are things that aren't gay, but are just about men that people find shippable. And TBH I think people miss out on so many great stories and characters when they just kind of go purely from big slash fandom to big slash fandom, whatever is popular at the moment.

I also think that, and this is maybe my most salient point of all, people in fandom should try just... not watching everything with a fandom mindset. Like here's a great show, but there's not really a popular ship in it with a lot of fanworks, so people don't watch it. But why not? Not everything needs to be a fandom for you. Sometimes you can just enjoy media, and who knows, maybe something will surprise you and you WILL feel fandom-y about it.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Howdy! Same person who stayed anonymous so I wouldn't get harassed by fans here, and I have another thing to say.

People think that media like this may not have an outside influence on the world, but in reality it does. It may seem stupid, but the media portraying relationships like these as normal caused me to stay in an abusive relationship for two years. I apologize if it's oversharing, but I used to watch shows like this all the time when I was younger (Not sharing my age because then people will try to claim I have no idea what I'm talking about.) and this, paired with other personal events in my life, made me think that relationships like these were normal and healthy. Luckily, I now realize they aren't.

The glorification of bad characters who have little-to-no redeemable qualities or ways to justify what they did just because they're "hot" or "sexy" needs to stop. It causes people to glorify abuse and abusers. I used to be a major SPOP fan and, shamefully, a Catra simp, so I could keep going on about a LOT of stuff this show does, but I won't.

I, once again, apologize for oversharing and for how long this post is. Thank you for addressing all this in the show despite the criticism you're getting.

you don't need to apologize! i'm so sorry you had to go through that and i hope you're out of that relationship now. this is exactly what i've been saying. i can understand why some people may want to believe that c//a is a good ship, especially considering that this is one of the very few queer representation we have. it especially concerns me that kids watching this may take this as good representation, i've already seen posts saying stuff like "i want what they have" or "i want someone to look at me the way catra looks at adora".

the only reason i spotted the toxicity in the show early on is because i was also in a close (platonic) relationship with a person who was very much like catra, and i was in the process of figuring out that this isn't normal. i tried to get myself to root for catra, but i just couldn't. and it confused me that the fandom didn't see the problem with this show and instead acted like it was the biggest masterpiece to ever exist.

relationships in the media are rarely realistic, especially the enemies-to-lovers trope. it may look exciting in a story but it very rarely works out irl. more often that not, when it does work it, it ends up being an abusive relationship like c//a. but there are healthy fictional relationships that you can look up to, and those ships don't get the attention that these toxic ones do, because they are labelled as "vanilla" and "boring".

the point of this blog isn't to start unnecessary beef with the fandom or demonize the show. it is to help people understand the red flags in catra's and adora's relationship. when consuming a piece of media, it is always wise to be open-minded and critical, because even the best of the best can have flaws. it's the same as reading the classics while also acknowledging that they were a product of their time, and most likely had some problematic ideals embedded into them.

i think it's still okay to like catra as a character. i like a lot of villains myself, because they are complex or sympathetic or just plain fun to watch. but you need to still acknowledge that these are objectively bad people, regardless of their motives. i've seen a few catra fans who admit that catra's redemption was rushed and that they didn't like c//a either. i respect these types of fans a lot, because they are able to like a character without being blind to said character's flawed treatment.

anyway, if any of you want to see actually healthy relationships and good queer representation in media, i suggest shows such as The Owl House, The Legend of Korra, Infinity Train, The Dragon Prince, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Steven Universe and Arcane. please don't settle for the toxic relationships. not only are they not good representation, but they are actively harmful for the community. it's time we stopped romanticizing abusive relationships just because they are angsty and have "sexual tension".

[intheticklecloset]

☕ coffee shop update ☕

This post will talk about supporting me financially, which is absolutely NOT REQUIRED to continue enjoying my content. So if it's something you have no interest in or cannot do, I completely understand, and you're welcome to skip the details. But if you want to know more, it's below the cut.

Thank you for your continued patience and support. 💖

~~~

For those who have been keeping up with my life updates, you know that I'm currently seeking a major career change due to some unfortunate workplace circumstances. I'm still on the lookout for a new position, but the search has not been going as smoothly as I'd hoped, and until I can find something secure, I need to stay where I'm at for the moment, which is taking its toll on my mental health.

As I've considered other options, doing paid commissions again came up as an idea, but I don't want to (at least right now) for a couple of reasons that I won't bore you with. The point is that, after some consideration, I've come up with something that I like better and I think may work better for everyone.

I've added the option for monthly donations on Ko-Fi, starting at $5/mo. That's $60/year, for those who don't want to math (I got you). One-time donations are still an option as well.

Think of this working like Patreon, only on Ko-Fi, because that's what we're used to, and it's a lot more practical for what I'm going for here. I'm still going to create content right here on Tumblr (what exactly that looks like idk yet; I may have to just stick with coffee shots for a while), and I'm still going to share with EVERYONE and include everyone, both financially supportive and morally supportive. Any time I want input on something, I'll ask everyone here. But if you WANT to and/or are able to, donations are open and very much appreciated.

The benefit goes both ways. For me, less stress about money makes it easier for me to find another position without having to worry about the layover time or whether I'm making exactly what I used to before (based on what I've seen so far, I won't be), and less stress about work means more creative energy, which means I can focus more time on creating content, which is what I really want to do. I've had so much fun the last couple of weekends filling coffee shot orders, and it would be so cool to be able to do that more frequently in the future.

The benefit for you is, hopefully, more content. More fics, drabbles, etc., that I will retain creative freedom over. Rather than paid commissions, where I write what others want me to, I will continue to write what I want to and share it with you more often as time goes on. When my heart is really behind a piece of writing, I feel like it shows, and I want everything I share here to be of heart-was-in-it quality. (This isn't to say I'll NEVER do commissions again; I may be open to doing them again, just under different parameters. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.)

Plus, the less I have to worry about finances, the more time I can devote not only to writing, but to discovering new things to write ABOUT, which will lead to new fandoms and shippings and whatnot that we can get excited about together.

Once again, financial support is NOT REQUIRED to continue to enjoy the content I create and share here. I'll do it regardless. The pacing may be slow and the road a bit rocky, but I'll do it. I love creating fun stories for you; it's always been my biggest passion to write, and helping me out a bit while I figure out life circumstances would be extremely helpful for me to get the ball rolling a little faster. But of course I understand not everyone can or may even want to do Ko-Fi support, and I got you. I won't be upset about it.

Worst case scenario, I'll keep doing what I've been doing and post when I can, when I have the time and mental energy to do so. I'll find a new position one way or another, and life will continue on. I fully understand that nothing may come of this. I just figured it couldn't hurt to try. It's not like it can make life circumstances worse.

Thank you all for your patience, understanding, and support as I navigate this new season of my life. I never thought a career change would be necessary, but alas, crap happens. Whether you support me through Ko-Fi or just cheering me on right here on Tumblr, I appreciate you very much. All of you good beans are the reason I decided to give this platform a second chance. Here's to making the most of it. 💖

[northerngoshawk]

😡🫦😀 for the fic ask game!

hi hello sorry this is eons late um--

i really don't have a great reason to give on why except school + hyperfixation on Genshin so, uh--

i think this ask was from this ask game? idk but the emojis seem to line up so... yeah. better late than never ig. hahaha....

😡which fic did the characters control the most (like you wrote a whole ass plan AND THEY DECIDED TO FUCK IT UP)?

i'll be honest, there isn't a lot of cases where that happened? almost, if not all, of my fics tended to stay on the path i meant for them to go upon - although it may also have to do with the fact that i don't tend to plan that tediously out anyways hahaha

i think if i had to choose a fic, i would go with a thousand and one lifetimes. it was just meant to be only a few words each section, but then each section kept growing. and growing. and growing. and--

yeah, ig it can't be helped tho. i really, really love the platonic (and potential platonic!) relationships Aang could have with the rest of the cast in ATLA, not to mention that AUs are my bread and butter and i love love LOVE exploring established dynamics in a newfound setting.

🫦what is your biggest regret in one of your fics whether it be something you wish you didn't do, or you wish you did do?

i think one of the things i regret was writing bleeding out (with you to carry me home) in general, mostly because it just... it feels like gratituitous angst. it doesn't really have much of a purpose, other than to produce some kind of angst. maybe it was a fix i needed when i was writing it in the moment, but now, looking back... i just don't think it serves much more of a purpose beyond that.

with that being said, a specific regret i have is writing the platonic zukaang section in there. not because i don't like it or i don't want it there, it's that i feel that it's one of the only redeeming qualities of this fic. it's a pretty nice jewel of writing, and i think it deserves to be in a more... thought-provoking fic, ig? idk.

maybe i'm just being overly harsh to my past self, the same way most of us are to our past writing skills. it's not like i'm gonna delete the fic or anything either, i guess it's just me wondering what could've been.

😀which of your fics did you not think a lot people would like but they did?

hands down The Dishonored Blade. it was an incredibly niche fic that was written just for me, and considering it combined ATLA and League of Legends, i'm still surprised i got the amount of kudos i did.

i think a part of it could have been it was written and published during 2021, when the ATLA fandom craze was still happening and thus a lot of people from both fandoms were present at the time. especially when compared to its sequel The Darkened Path (which was written in 2023), i feel like i would have to attribute most of my kudos to the fandom craze.

either way, i'm still pleasantly surprised at the kudos count and even fans who commented on this piece! there was even a reader who was knowledgable about the League of Legends lore and asked to see a more fleshed out universe of this form. it really warms my heart knowing that even the most niche of fics will find its place somewhere... even if it's not where we initially thought.

[dryades-angeli]

Let´s talk about Silentshipping

Silentshipping is a shipping from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Fandom and describes the pair Seto Kaiba x Serenity Wheeler/Shizuka Kawaii. It is one of my favorite shippings, then and now. So I was rely pissed when I went looking for stuff about the couple and found People hateing around. ~*~

Serenity is too weak and too stupid to duel: Yes. Tea and Mai make a much stronger impression and are better equipped to duel. But if you look closely at the scenes, you can clearly see that Serenity is still a beginner. Insinuating that she's too stupid to duel when she's just learning the game... And yes. She's not particularly strong. But does she have to be that way to get together with Kaiba? And does she have to be good at dueling to have a relationship with Kaiba? However, she saved her brother from drowning and ultimately won the three-way duel against Nezbitt. So she's not just weak. Seto and Serenity only have one interaction in the anime and none in the manga: Yes. They only had one interaction together, where they actually talked to each other. But I prioritize quality over quantity. if we set this convo in contrast with the most popular shipping in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Fandom, Puppyshipping Seto x Joey, they acted respectfully to each other. He didn't devalue her, wasn't annoyed by her, nor did he react to her negatively in any way. Seto and Serenity fulfill the cliché of a sweet innocent girl that melts the cold bad boy's heart aka SasuHina vibes: I think it's funny. That most people celebrate ships like Seto X Joey, which for me is the most toxic ship ever, and badmouth Seto x Serenity, because it´s to clicheé. lol Do you know which yaoi ships are always the most popular in every fandom? The hot-blooded, temperamental, goofy guy with the cold-blooded, calculating, emotionally dead guy. Basically, half of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Fandom ships the biggest cliché of all. But there is a heteroshipping that is at least as SasuHina-cliche and is also one of the most popular ships with Seto. Bluesshipping Seto x Kisara. Kisara is just as weak as Serenity, but just like her, she has her strong moments. She's just as shy, reserved and sweet as Serenity and fulfills the chichee spirit just as much. Kisara shows that a relationship between Seto and Serenity can definitely work. ~*~ Serenity is pink and sweet, which very few people like. And I won't deny that their relationship fulfills that good girl x bad boy chlichee. You can like it or not. But the ship is not alone on this track. For a beginner, Serenity did well and she may be weak, but she definitely showed strength as well. It may have been just one interaction, but it didn't have a negative impact on their relationship. It looked more like Kaiba had only called the medical team, because of Serenity's request. Which has a positive effect on their relationship. In any case, I don't understand the hate that this shipping has, because for me there are much worse pairings.

[charliethemanticore]

Hi! I watch/read a lot of anime/manga, so I figured I'd discuss the filler thing with you! Hope that's ok!

That's actually a very good point, I never thought about it that way! I think people disregard filler and don't consider it a regular addition to an adaptation, like it happens in other movies or shows, because in most cases its point is not to add anything worthwhile to the story, but to gain some time to not catch up to the manga.

So then, particularly in longer anime such as Naruto or Bleach, there are these entire arcs that completely deviate from the story and are ultimately pointless and stick out like a sore thumb. Whatever happened there is never brought back again, and its characters are promptly discarded as soon as the arc ends. This is something that doesn't happen in adaptations in other media (as far as I know), and what makes filler such an unique thing to anime.

Then there are cases where from some point on the anime completely deviates from its source material, such as Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 or Soul Eater. People don't refer to its original content as filler anymore because there's an understanding that they're doing their own thing.

I think what ultimately draws the line on what's filler or not it's its purpose and of course this is not a black or white thing, or matter of quality. Most people would agree that FMA 2003's ending is garbage, and the episode in DBZ where Goku and Piccolo learn how to drive is incredible. But then in cases where filler adds to and elevates the source material, can we still refer to it as such? That's a more difficult question! But I think we can all agree that Naruto's filler is pretty pointless, it made the show near unwatchable, and it's as fillery as filler can get. It's there to fill time and nothing else, no one's happy that it exists but alas it's there.

Sorry this got so long haha

Disclaimer: I have a migraine so this is very rambly and not the response such a well thought-out explanation deserves.

Thank you so much for your perspective I really appreciate it. (Also I feel like my tags were misleading. I watch a lot of anime I'm just like... Sitting in the corner doing my own thing bc I find active participation in fandom tends to be bad for my specific combination of issues)

But my biggest toxic trait is I fucking love like... 60% of the Naruto filler arcs (they're the only time my most beloved shino gets any real airtime and he DESERVES IT)

BUT based on every conversation I've had with my friends about this, this is because I have very different... Requirements when it comes to the stuff I like. The filler arcs are silly and fun and I enjoy them immensely (the only one I couldn't watch to completion was the robot Naruto one). Have a lot of complicated feelings about them though. Like The Three-Tails' Appearance is great because shino gets to be competent and Lee is a sweetheart and Sakura and Ino get to work together... But if that adorable child plays that leaf whistle one more time I may cry (guess where I'm up to in my rewatch)

Bleach filler is so much worse. Bount arc wasn't even enjoyable 0/10 couldn't even be saved by hot villains. I watched all but one arc of Naruto. I did not grant the same to bleach, it burned me too many times.

DBZ filler is complicated though because a lot of the filler has canon stuff sprinkled in which I think is a more seamless way to buy time - sprinkling filler into existing arcs rather than having just... 76 episodes of near continuous filler NARUTO. I understand the constraints were different though.

(fma:b is one of my favourites and I sort of just pretend 2003 didn't happen. It has some good points but I just can't. The author told them to go with their hearts and I respect that they committed but results were questionable)

Point is I think it's really interesting to see how other people interact with media because I'm mostly just sitting here like "are my favourite little guys talking? Brilliant. 10/10 you're doing great sweetie etc" im stressed out by literally everything else, a few episodes of some kids trying to unmask their teacher is enrichment in my enclosure