#this is in any way mutually canon? it's not even 'I don't think the creator did a good job of translating this character's identity

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

Hey bestie, dropping by with a mea culpa. When Peaceful Property started, you expressed concern that GMMTV was inching toward a model of using bl pairs in shows that would avoid being explicitly gay but still draw on shipping fandom to be successful. Coming off The Trainee, which was not a bl but did have expIicitly queer characters and romance subplots, I wasn't sure the intentions were quite that dark for PP, but having now finished it and seen the way some in the production have interacted with shipper fans, I have to call it: you were right to be concerned. At no point was this show ever a bl and none of its principal characters are canonically queer, but they successfully leveraged the TayNew ship to have fans interacting with it as if it was in fact a gay love story, that idea and fan commentary was explicitly encouraged by the creators, and the show has been quite successful despite never actually delivering on all the TayNew bait. I'm definitely concerned that we might have somehow swung back around to queerbaiting being seen as acceptable and good, as long as it features popular branded pairs. I don't have any bigger thoughts to offer about how this should be addressed, but just wanted to come back and say you were valid for naming that!

Thank you. I didn't want to be correct. And I am still hoping to wrong about what this says about where GMMTV is going.

But I am not gonna lie, seeing the posts about the finale did regnite the massive fury I had at this project when it was first called a bromance. So I am going to use your ask as an opportunity to vent.

FOR THE RECORD: I am not mad at you, or at the people and mutual on my dash that have enjoyed the show and are claiming as gay out of spite. My anger is at GMMTV and at GMMTV alone.

THEY DID THIS SHIT TWICE ALREADY!!! Back to fucking back.

I know High Schoool Frenemy is being watched by like 5 people on tumblr. But it's doing well outside of tumblr. They are using bl style fanservice with the 2 main boys of that show. I have seen the shippy content and compilations along with the other bl couples. Not to mention people like Jojo saying those characters are the his new favorite ship on twitter.

AND I AM SO PISSED!!!!

I am glad you brought up TayNew because there is no doubt in my mind that they used TayNew for Peaceful Property as a test. They knew there could be backlash. They knew the bl fandom could have rioted. But they also knew that if it that rage would have been directed at TayNew not at the director, not the company but TAYNEW.

And I think TayNew knew this. Because they spend weeks on social media doing preintive damage control, I have seen the posts of them (or at least New) saying it wasn't going to be romantic. I don't think the two of them forgot how they were left to eat the shit alone over the bullshit backlash during the TayGun kiss situation with GMMTV doing fuck all for them.

And what pisses me off is that BL audience didn't even give a backlash. They eat that shit up like it was fucking icecream.

The BL audience is literally doing their job for them. They are taking a show with some gay subtext and running with it.

They are showing up for the fanservice (again broder audience outside of tumblr), and gleefully closing their eyes and ears and saying well I Think It's Gay.

What do you think Mega Corporation GMMTV is going to take from the success and no backlash? If the answear is anything but: We can produce half of the BLs as usual and make the rest Bromances, you have more faith in corporations then I do.

Because Bromances can be watched by non BL audiences as well. The BL niche is a big one, but it is still a niche.

And now they won't even have to bother inserting arguable quality gay commentary or struggles or homophobia. Or any gay kissing, no more workshops. No more worries about how effective these potential straight boys are going to be at playing gay. All they have to do is making them do fanservice, and they are great at training people for that. Or better yet, actually use one or two ships that have kissed before and done actual BLs.

Will they stop doing BL at all, obviously not, you gotta give the BL audience something to remind them they can still show boys kissing, and we have the Ex Morning and Jojo that will never actually stop making BLs and some gay shit. But if in the next line up we will more bromances, and eventually we get half BL and half bromances I wouldn't be surprised.

Of course maybe I am just pessimistic and cynical. Maybe the proto bdsm in the heart killers is enough to persuade people that I am totally wrong. I guess we will see about that.

Thanks again for the ask and the oppurtunity to vent a little. Again I don't fault anyone for enjoying this, it was design to get the BL audience watching.

I will personally be keeping with my own resolution and never watch another gmmtv show live ever again, maybe binge the few that sound interesting and that's it.

At least I can find comfort in the idea that that other companies do not have the same level of BIG cast of boys and big budget to do the same thing and follow in the bromance trend.

[musical-chick-13]

"It's clear the creator ships this so much, this dynamic is their otp!!!1!"

The creator in question: *Has confirmed that one of these characters is aroace and doesn't experience any kind of attraction to anyone*

[ineedmycoffeerightnow]

So okay there's some arguments i hear from people why Home x Wally is not valid ship, so i decided to explain these and try to counterargument them! If you have an argument of your own feel free to write it in the comments :3

1)"This is incest! They like father and son to each other"

Canon of the show is that Wally didn't know Home before the he moved into him and also he like. A Building. If we're going to build on the show's lore Its would be just popular headcanon. Just because you see them as parent and child doesn't meen everyone does く⁠コ⁠:⁠彡

Some people are like to thing that Home is a creator of the show/his soul in there. I get it too, this theory KINDA makes sense, but still... We didn't see Wally acting like Home is his creator/getting revenge on Home for make their life hell (you can count worshiping as a sight but evidence is too weak), they are pretty chill with each other! Plus, it doesn't explain why Home is doesn't like humans, and from new update we learn that Welcome home is another world, so this theory is 99,99% is false i think

2) "Home is a building!"

Eah. LIVING building. With emotions and fears. Home is fully aware and sentient, it just so happened to have a different body then the rest of the puppets

3)"Home is abusive/evil!"

I understand why some people see them having Dynamic like this, but honestly I never saw it as inherently abusive? Maybe Wally is actually obsessed with Home, or maybe it’s the opposite, or they’re both crazy about each other, but it could also just that they act the way they do because of their self awareness. I do also think they’re overprotective of each other as well.

I just can’t see them *not* having any kind of close relationship, I mean Wally literally takes care of her, serenades him, and even blows them kisses and Home does similar gestures back at him! The feeling is mutual here.

3)"Wally is worshiping Home! Its unhealthy"

The only evidence of Home being worshiped by Wally is "so bellow" page.

I know technically it could’ve been used as evidence as Wally worshiping Home as a god but I think there are many other ways to interpret that drawing on the site… Like, I don’t think Wally is viewing her as some powerful entity, I think Wally is just obsessed with he. Not in a worshipping way but more like in a “you mean everything to me and I wouldn’t let anyone come between us” way. Also because of how Home’s eye’s are, the drawing could’ve easily been outside just as it could’ve been inside (we can’t really tell since it’s all black). And even if it was inside, I don’t think that means Wally can’t leave Home, honestly I don’t even think he’d want to anyway. They’re both mutually bonded to each other

3)"Wally/Barnaby is canon, so you can't ship Wally with Home"

First. Wally/Barnaby isn't confirmed canon. Yes, there have been many, and I mean MANY, hints at this ship. I personally think that in fact in near future it is going to be canon. Second. Im still allowed to do whatever i want with them. They are my comfort ship, they make me happy and it doesn't hurt anyone.

So, what's conclusion?

People like to think that their personal disliking of the ship is a valid point to bully shippers. They would make TONS AND TONS of excuses just to make others dislike it too. "They like son and father!", "They are abusive!", "This is proship, its gross!' despite not having evidence at all. Idk why ppl so scared to say "I don't personally like Home/Wally, its not for me" and go with their lifes. It much easier then to digging internet searching for art of them two and then show it to others saying: " LOOK HOW GROSS IT IS!!! SHIPPERS OF THIS SHIP IS TOTALLY UNHINGED!!!! How lucky we are not to be this stupid 😉😉😉"

It hurts. A little.

Life is so much better when you just not interact with things you don’t like, wish more people realised that tbh. Especially in fandom, because people get so mad over ships and headcanons when they could just…. Not interact? The more you seek out the content, the more it’ll appear in your feed because it’s how a for you page works. The algorithm shows you things it thinks you will like based off previous posts you’ve viewed……

Like I’m just shipping these silly little puppets together and making headcanons I’m not hurting anyone 😭

Thanks to @serillian for helping me with this one -⁠ᄒ⁠ᴥ⁠ᄒ⁠-

[idiotic-b-gilson]

The Prank Theory: Or, Why Toby won't make an explicit announcement that Kris' pronouns are they/them despite that obviously being canon.

Disclaimer: people who use they/them for Kris are NOT the butt of the joke here. Although calling it a prank might be a little misleading to begin with, you'll see why.

I know for a fact, judging from my dashboard, that I am not alone in being mad at people misgendering the humans of Undertale and Deltarune (although, I will admit I used to be part of the problem up until quite recently). And we all wish for Toby to just go out and publicly announce that Kris, Frisk, and Chara use they/them only, that Mad Mew Mew is canonically transfem, etc., just to stop all the misgendering. It would certainly be nice and very helpful for the LGBTQ community. However, after giving it some thought, I've come to the conclusion that it most likely cannot happen, and the reason why is the Prank Theory. Treat it as an explanation, but not an excuse.

I came up with Prank Theory over something that's completely unrelated to the above, funnily enough. You see, I have this headcanon that Asriel Dreemurr is not cisgender. I'm not entirely sure what his gender is, but he's not cis male for sure. And I've seen a variety of different takes on this concept. For example, AUs like (Ask) Fallen Royalty by @starlightshore present Asriel as having transitioned in a more feminine direction ((A)FR specifically describes her gender as feminine nonbinary). Others still write Asriel (chiefly the Deltarune one) as transgender male (I've mostly seen that take in NSFW fanfics on AO3, which is a shame cuz it has great potential beyond that. Please tell me where I can find more). Other others still, like my beloved mutual @sukifoof, have proposed that Asriel might be agender. And, let me be clear about something: those are all great ideas, and I love them. But I started to wonder, which of these ideas is the closest to canon? Like, if we also factor in authorial intent, which of these options would fit under it, and which ones wouldn't? That was when I came up with Prank Theory, as a way to kind of imagine at least one aspect of said authorial intent.

Spoiler alert, according to Prank Theory any kind of transfeminine Asriel is incompatible with canon, but again I want to make it clear that that doesn't mean I think they're "wrong" or "bad" or anything like that, and I want to reiterate my endorsement of writing Asriel this way. Besides, my theory could be completely wrong, so...

So, after all that stuff, what does the Prank Theory actually say? Well, in summary: Undertale and Deltarune are some of the most "woke" video games ever made, but conservatives and reactionaries don't seem to have realized that yet, funnily enough. Now, calling it a prank is a wee bit misleading, since it implies that tricking right-wingers into loving a video game with a very progressive setting and message was at least part of what Toby intended. And I don't believe that's the case. He simply makes video games he wants to make, and they just happen to reflect his views on the world, and these views just happen to fly over the heads of some people.

This in and of itself would probably not make it a huge problem for Toby to put in one of his newsletters, or even in an X (as in, former Twitter) post, a correction regarding the genders of his characters. However it does start to become a problem when you factor in that the UTDR community has hundreds of thousands of people in it (although as of the March 2024 it might be a rather liberal estimate), and many of them would be quite pissed off if the video game they like had "suddenly" "gone woke" (ignorant of the fact that both it, and its main creator have been openly "woke" the whole time). And that is a problem in the current environment, because it means that Toby, as well as other people on the UTDR dev team, would be at a significant risk of hate and harassment, which in the Year of Our Lord 2024 could lead to Angel knows what.

On a more cynical capitalist (and much more speculative) level, attracting political controversy this way could sour Toby's relationship with big video game companies which have (as far as I know) played an important part in why Toby's got basically unlimited resources to work on the game of his fever dreams. They saw the widespread, universal acclaim that UT, DR1 and DR2 received, and drew the conclusion that DR3-4 (and the future chapters) will also get a similar reception, and they will get great returns no matter how much money they pour into it. This belief could be shaken if Toby attracted the ire of his transphobic fans by correcting their misgendering of his characters, and thus limiting the reach Chapters 3 and 4 would otherwise have (but again, this is pure speculation, I'm not an economist, nor do I know how much companies like Nintendo have actually invested in Deltarune. So I could be, like, way off).

And that is, in the end, why I believe Toby Fox will not make a statement regarding the canon gender of any UTDR character, at least not while Deltarune is still in development. After it's finished I think he might feel free enough to take that step. But we'll have to see.

Now, I don't know if I'm right. I feel pretty confident in my own theory, but there's a good chance I missed something. So, if I did, please lemme know. In the meantime, let's hope Toby will disprove my theory soon and set things right. And I'll see you around.

[aesteries]

Why are writers so mad and closing ranks when people dont want Jace to be a rapist, abuser, or cheater who uses women? When fics perpetuate rape culture?

ah, yes… a jace anon. i will give you the satisfaction of replying to your message. it's late, i'm sleepy and i don't know if i'm making much sense with what i'm going to tell you but you know what? let's go.

tldr; if george r. r. martin, the creator of the character, did not describe jacaerys velaryon as a r, abuser or cheater (actually, mushroom and sara snow say hello if you are to believe his words), then canonically, he is not. you are bothered by people using dark themes when they are exploring their creativity (they are allowed to do so and you're not being forced to enjoy), and i have yet to see any popular authors or popular works or trends or anything attempting to normalise or perpetuate whatever said dark themes. authors are bothered because anons are bothered that they are writing about him as a frat boy or a non-virgin and not the very image of chivalry.

“people don’t want jace to be” does your perception of him change because of someone else’s portrayal? why would someone else’s interpretation of a character bother you so much if that is not what you believe of him?

first of all, i understand your point of view, anon, i do. 

however, this is a world of fanfiction, where everyone is free to form, you know, headcanons and interpretations of fictional characters depending on their creativity and experiences. it is up to you to consume the content, to decide if it’s appropriate for you or if it lines up with your morals, your preferences, your own ideas of a character… such things. you are entirely responsible for what you are consuming and you have complete control, especially if an author is using very obvious tags and trigger alerts on what their work contains. if you don’t want to read dark themes, no one is forcing you and no one is forcing these labels on characters through fan-made content. 

but fanfiction means creativity, and people love exploring different themes with their favourite characters, some darker than others. at the end of the day, what other people write as a hobby has nothing to do with you, what you want or what you think. if you don’t like said depictions, turn around, close the tab, and maybe even block the writer if you want. it was not meant for you and that is fine. every jacaerys in fanfiction is fake, not real, not him, because other than the fact his name is mentioned less than 50 times in 736 pages, we have maybe one proper paragraph to describe who he was as a person… he’s dead and gone.  what if he did not grow to be a loving husband, or a great king, or anything good?

that said, i understand that some people do not like when their favourite fictional character is linked to such dark themes, but you can’t go around in an attempt to bend everyone to your liking, you don’t own the character, and people don’t have to write what YOU want. some write and consume dark themes as a form of control, especially if they were or are victims, some have twisted fantasies. you will find very few authors writing such themes out of pleasure and evilness, and they are always shunned by fandoms. this is in no way, shape, or form trying to normalize said themes. 

and not to be that person, maybe you’re not the same anon that goes around my mutuals’ inboxes, but the works i have seen that anonymous messages complain about r, abuse or cheating are mild af and nowhere near close to perpetuating anything quite honestly. no one is parading around screaming “Make this character a terrible person for fun or die!” i’m surprised you’re even involved in fire&blood, hotd or asoiaf content with the amount of triggers it has, if fanfiction has you going around like this...

also, from what i have seen, writers are not mad because people don’t want that, they are bothered because they are being bombarded by anonymous messages that refuse to understand that they can easily ignore content they don’t like. instead, they sit through message after message about how jacaerys is supposed to be a soft loverboy who will only love one woman in his life and is a virgin saving himself for marriage and is perfect, and he loves her so much.

goodnight, anon.

[bharv]

1, 2, 13 for the durgetash asks :3

Thank you pal! Answering these durgetash creator asks

Your hottest Durgetash take. The kinda heat Gortash had to endure in HoH. (But be respectful about it fellas, this means everyone)

I've got this one multiple times so I'm going to keep answering this until I run out, which may never happen. I think it's fundamentally less interesting to me personally when the canon suggestions of necro and Gortash's experiments don't factor in to their relationship somehow. I'm not saying everybody has to be writing snuff stuff lmao, but isn't it interesting if Durge can't really be sexually satisfied by Gortash? Isn't it interesting if Gortash can only really get off in extreme power play? IDK. It's a spectrum but when those things are just wiped out completely it feels like a wasted opportunity.

2. Romance, queerplatonic, eldritch horror? How would you describe the relationship these two have? This time without limitation.

God. Okay. Well if we go back really to canon default durgetash and if I'm taking out any of the fun I have with the ship I think they are two lonely, co-dependent people who have a mutual professional respect that borders on... something. And I'm not even sure they ever even expressed that to each other. If we're talking whatever I've been doing, then the co-dependency is taken to the max. They're two people with their hands around each other's throats trying to wrestle each other off the cliff so they can say the other landed first.

13. What's your personal favourite flavour that you find yourself gravitating towards? Not necessarily what sort of stuff you publish or smth, but what you personally consume like a starving man in a desert and rotate in your brain? The kinky shit, the domestics, the gore and horror attached to them, star crossed lovers vibes?

Now I have answered this but I want to give an honourable mention to my second favourite which is the collector and the prize. And there's loads of ways this has been expressed, some of which are completely non-romantic and not so obviously sexual, but I love the idea of Gortash seeing a powerful entity and going I must claim it, take it apart, own it and destroy it and consume it for my own gain. How conscious he is about it can vary, but that driver of crushing something in his gauntlet, or pinning it to a board like a butterfly, is very, very appealing to me.

[viaetor]

hi everyone! i hope you're all doing well and taking care of yourselves and having good days. i haven't been very active here because of my surgeries, but i plan on being more active soon since i've been missing writing a lot. before that though, i need to state something very important for my blog going forward: i will not be interacting with any natlan characters/blogs or characters related/inspired by the region (including ocs), only if they're canon divergent. this will not change with the release of the archon quests. i will simply take whatever i feel is relevant to my aether and that’s it. my reasons for this drastic decision will be explained below. please take this post not only as an announcement but as well as a vent and an attempt to call for awareness, especially since many of us are not only roleplayers but writers, artists and content creators. i'd appreciate it if you could all read this post in full.

this post is also not directed at my mutuals or any people i have contact with. this is just me trying to make my boundaries clear, explaining them, and hoping you can understand (and perhaps relate to) my hurt. read this post and make your own judgement. i appreciate your time regardless. 

i'm latin american, proudly born and raised. my parents fought in the dictatorship of our country, my grandparents were of indigenous settlements. i'm a history graduate with honours, and before that, i studied social and political sciences. i've been a part of political movements in my university to guarantee equality and education, and i only stopped being part of some of them because i received threats by alt-right extremists targeting my family. even so, i still continue to be a constant participant in assemblies and projects. i'm an avid volunteer worker in local schools, and i worked in hospitals, too. i speak portuguese, spanish, french and english with varying levels of fluency. i've lived most of my childhood and early adolescence in villages. i've participated in many religious rituals, invited by practising people of those beliefs, and i've shared so many wonderful memories with people from so many latin american backgrounds that i can't even make a cohesive timeline of all my adventures. 

i'm saying all this to emphasise that i'm speaking from a place of experience, knowledge, and culture. my word is by no means the law, but i sure do believe it holds weight. you're free to disagree with me and think otherwise, of course. but i do think that, if that's the case and you have very strong positive feelings regarding natlan as a whole, it'd be best if you would unfollow and block me for both of our sakes.

i've been playing genshin impact since its launch, and ever since the release of inazuma as a region, i've been discontent with how the game has been progressing in design. i've also written and published scientific articles about the inherent colourism, racism and orientalism found in genshin, specifically in sumeru, while also nodding in acknowledgement to some of the research that the design team put in some characters—namely al-haitham, nilou and cyno. i know the issues we are seeing today are not new. however, it for sure has gotten worse. 

with these disclaimers out, i'd like to put some of my grievances out in the open. 

when you play genshin, you can feel that liyue is china. mondstadt feels like germany. inazuma resembles japan. fontaine is an ode of love to french steampunk and was very well designed. even sumeru, with all its issues of blending all of swana in one single region, has some research done when it comes to the islamic golden ages and pre-islamic mythologies. so if you see anyone arguing that hoyoverse is “just a videogame company”, know that they can and have done better. as their popularity and revenue grow, as players—free to play or otherwise—we are entitled to expect the same quality or more from them.

i don't feel the same way about everything we've seen of natlan so far, and i've been feeling more and more disrespected. 

i was sceptical when natlan was first announced, and some leaks were happening. i expected the worst, and honestly, it sunk even deeper than i thought. the names of the characters we've got, alongside some leaks, suggest that the characters we will be getting are based on the north, central, and south americas, africa, and oceania. this worried me very, very deeply and today, with the newest released trailer, i just gave up hoping for anything good, really.

although some people may (ignorantly? optimistically? blindly?) claim that all these continents are connected—and they certainly have many influences on each other through religion, culture and economics, born from colonisation processes—, it's at best stupidly naive to believe that one single entire region in an online videogame will tactfully tackle complex non-western and non-asian cultures and customs. because, yes, those are non-western and non-asian societies: we are progressively denied a place in western politics and cultures, we are treated as lesser, and we do not participate in global economics. when did you last buy a chilean videogame in the united states or europe? or a fiji pair of shoes? or a nigerian movie ticket in your city theatres? if you've answered "never" to just one of those questions, you've proven my point that these countries and regions are not "part" of the west or even asia. we are outsiders. we have always been treated as outsiders. while these european and asian powerhouses were allowed to stand as their own regions, genshin muddled all these cultures and ethnicities into one melting pot that they are calling natlan. the game is quite literally a global phenomenon now. imagine the impression natlan will be projecting to an audience that is none-the-wiser to the cultures natlan is meant to be inspired from.

so, again: when it was announced that natlan would take inspiration from all these regions, my heart sank. it feels like we're all being put together in one single frying pan of "exotic," "distant," and "unknown." everything that is considered "tribal" (because that's how westerners and asians tend to see us) is being thrown in natlan. it's demoralising. 

this is not to mention the clear money-grabbing and capitalist recycling of character designs going on with some of the characters—something never seen before in genshin impact’s history, by the way! they always came up with new concepts—and the abhorrent colourism that has been intensified. 

the disrespect has been getting rampant. some of the already shown characters have tribal tattoos that are used by some of the indigenous people for important rituals. the patterns of clothes they've shown also mix many cultures and peoples (sometimes even historically rivalling ones, to top that off) that are disrespectful. they went for a streetwear/biker kind of look that looks completely soulless and unimaginative, instead of doing the bare minimum of researching beautiful contemporary indigenous-owned fashion companies. because it's easier. i think it’s also easier to hire voice actors who aren’t latines, right? we must be “scarce, barely existent”.

and, what kicked the bucket for me, after trying so hard to give genshin the benefit of the doubt: an important deity for the yorubá people, iansã/iansan/oyá, has been shown as a fucking child in the game. she… and olorun, who you might know as ororon if you play in english, even though in all other translations (japanese, korean and chinese), his name is written correctly as olorun. but of course, the english translation team for hoyoverse, as usual, couldn’t do the bare fucking minimum. because it’s a nigerian name, right? why do they/you care? but just so you know, in case you’re the least bit curious: iansan and olorun are two of the most important orixás/deities in african and african-latin american religions. they’re worshipped to this day. they’re real, representative religious symbols. not tokens. not your average dead gods. i want to ask you, sincerely: what would you think and how would you feel if genshin named a guy "mohammed", or "allah", or “jesus christ”, or a girl "mary magdalene"? what do you think happened when cod vanguard showed the quran's pages on the floor? people were pissed. and of course, people should be pissed. and don't try to "oh, but people do that with greek and egyptian gods". don't be disingenuous, i know you’re smarter than that and that you know there's a difference and creeping power dynamic here. 

if this is not enough for you, then please, enlighten me. where are the beautiful forests of natlan that could have been inspired by the amazon? where are the amazing deserts inspired in bolivia or chile? how about the colourful cities of el salvador or cuba? is it truly enough for you guys to have something slightly resembling the aztec empire and its continuous fetishisation? wouldn't it be easier to play crash bandicoot or the old indiana jones games? why are we celebrating this?

i'm beyond heartbroken. 

to my latine siblings, whether you’re celebrating/enjoying natlan in your own way and finding light in it or if you’re as disappointed as i am, we deserve better than this. 

to my usamerican, canadian, european and asian friends, please, please, please listen to people who have lived and loved latam and all the other regions. i already did what i could: i've sent tickets to hoyoverse, i'll be muting natlan-specific words, and i will not be rolling on any upcoming natlan banners. 

so this here is just the nail of the coffin: i will not be accepting anything natlan-related on this blog.

thank you for reading!

[hornystiel]

hiii!! offering my 2 cents on the subject of "old man". younger generations in general use it very loosely but it's without ill intent, rather it's coming from a perspective of "that man (dilf) is so hot i need them but i could never because they'd see me as a child so i gotta call them old instead". like they're out of my league but i'll blame it on the age difference you know?

and in destiel's case i believe it's affectionate, they're old compared to most queer couples represented and they're getting older together and it's hopeful to see that :)

~ a gen z mutual who's too shy to come off anon ly 🤍

hi! a literal wall of text ahead

okay i actually have a lot of thoughts about this topic and i really hope i won't sound rude but i just want to talk about it for a sec here. and below will be purely my own musings which probably won't coincide with a general fandom views on the matter and it's wider than this question and destiel but well

anyway

i totally get what you're saying about younger fans calling them old because they're too young for them but still hot etc etc. i know that's not some ill intent, clearly. however, what bothers me about the question of 'old' age in fandom spaces is this - for some 'old' starts somewhere around 35+ and they mean it (i wonder what they call a 50 yo? a corpse probably). and yeah of course for 16 yo 35 is twice their age but i wouldn't have even the slightest problem with it because i've been in fandom spaces since i was maybe 14 and stumbled upon people of different ages and backgrounds and we can all coexist quite fine. but what i see now (and maybe again, that's like a recurring generational thing, i don't know, i'm not that old and i wasn't in english spaces until i got at least 18-20 so) - those younger fans repeatedly saying 'you're 30 and in fandom? get out. go find some appropriate hobbies for your age group, like fishing hehe'. like it's fine to be horny over some dudes twice (or even more) your age, but people who in reality are not even that far from you, because usually it's 20 somethings who write such things - and it's a crime. you're suddenly gross. i wonder what those kids would do without all the stuff written, drawn and giffed by those who have a child on one hand, a full time job on the other, and their age appropriate hobbies in between. like when i was a tiny fan i was like 'holy shit that person somehow found a way to update that long ass sherlock fic while being neck deep in her family things and work i wanna be like them!" and it also gave me hope about the future of my fandom life. like age shouldn't matter. but now i see this shit, the whole 'more than 3 yo age difference is pedo' talk, 'adult creators shouldn't post anything because children can see' talk etc etc. and i know, of course, that that's the general internet censorship on the rise and neopuritanism is dancing tango with it but still.

what i'm saying - i do have a problem with younger generation using the term old very 'loosely' because they wield it as a double aged sword. you're either some hot dilf who can be forgiven for your shitty fandom takes because well you're hot (and i'm not talking about anyone in particular here rn) or you're a gross 30 smth in fandom space who shouldn't draw porn because teens can't click the block button

AS FOR DESTIEL

short answer - i don't like what the people who call them old add to their characters and lives when they do that.

long answer under the cut

all of that is what EYE don't like in most popular fandom hcs and i usually just scroll past the things i don't like, i don't want to start shit publicly (and because of what, takes?), but here you can read what i usually think when i see them.

first - if we're talking canon ages. 40 smth and this is dean's age at the end of the show - is NOT old. at all. i can't even call him that affectionately. because this is the tragedy of it all - he dies YOUNG. very fucking young, he didn't see any calm life, didn't pursue his dreams, didn't have a normal life and love and then he died. in a way, and i see some others think the same, calling him old is like 'welp it's not that bad, he lived long enough, seen shit'. but the thing is - he didn't? literally. so no, for me he's young, died young and it's fucking awful. not talking about cas here because well, billions years, old, young, he's everything (<3)

if we're talking about post canon fics where they settle. you can all burn me at the stake but sadly my spirit will just repeat the same shit - making them some kind of a wannabe hetero aging couple is not only boring as fuck, but also completely out of character for them?

what i usually see in the posts with 'old men <3' there

some variation of a white picket fence house

baby jack

dean being some kind of a soccer mom who bakes and argues with other moms

cas being more of a dad shaped thing who gardens and Doesn't Get It at the parents' meetings or somewhere equally boring and somehow still clueless about a lot of human shit

them creaking every part of their bodies (jesus my joints have been like this since i was 14, and my back is bad now when i'm only 30 where is my retirement pakige?)

probably forgetting smth but you get the gist. and, again, not saying that that's ALL i see with the old men posts and art etc (some hcs are wild and i LOVE them), but the majority? yeag, i've been permanently a destiel blogger for 4 years now, i've seen the popular stuff

doesn't all of that remind you of a typical heterosexual family on some conservative cable tv show? if not i'm happy for you, but i can't help but see how the roles are set in stone and i don't find it endearing at all. that's one reason. and also i'm a strong believer that a baby won't fix dean. jack won't fix shit and here's another stick to my pyre - i don't care about him at all and i think that dean especially should focus on himself and his own shit and his shit with cas if they settle together, not be thrown into the baby routine again. the fandom likes to remind everyone how dean raised sam and it's mostly true but don't you think for one goddamn second he would want/need to live for himself and not over obsess about bringing up another kid? sure he loves them, but if every person with dean's baggage were trusted with kids as a cure-al ...well. and again very hetero, 'you should have a child, that'll fix your hysteria!' i'll even say, very real life stuff, just not the one i want to see here.

another reason is this - they are freaks.

they are assholes, freaks, serial killers, undead creatures, bad people...who are very much in love and very soft with each other and their family but they are still freaks. and i don't understand how them getting old will so fundamentally change so many aspects of their characters that they become typical suburban mom and dad combo. maybe i sound like a person who doesn't want them to be happy, or who doesn't get the 'it shows that their life is finally calm and they can pursue Normal Hobbies and Raise Kids and Build a Farm (idk how that is a calm place have you ever been on a farm with animals that you should watch and take care and kill if needed. another talk for another time) and To Love is to be Changed' etc etc etc. believe me i get it all perfectly, just not for them. if it tickles your pickle, by all means. what tickles mine is cas getting the weirdest (and often dangerous) hobbies (and this is why i got him driving a motorcycle, boxing and skydiving in my old men cheating fic) and he's an impatient guy so i don't think he'd love gardening really, he'd be mad at the plants and kill them or grow them as fast as his grace would allow (yes i'm also against human all the way cas, baby we're getting a bingo here). and dean of course should have ties with his community and i've already talked about this but i see how they are out of active hunting, but still help those who are still in it (if the supernatural isn't wiped completely and i don't see why it should be), maybe they always have a place in their home for those who come to regroup or just to chat or smth. and dean is an overprotective and micromanaging asshole so he would want to still have the gist of it all (and cas would want to unwind by killing some things from time to time)...and they still sleep in the same bed, eat the food they cook together, wear matching tatts maybe as a wedding gift to each other, and have dogs, cats and whatnot.

what i want to say - i don't get why the weird and the sweet can't coexist. why should they lose all of their insane bits. they loved each other WITH them (cursed or not remember) why should they change so drastically to fit the 'happily ever after' narrative.

anyway i can probably write a lot more but that's a long ass grumbling as it is.

sorry your question became the starting point for this rent i genuinely hope i didn't offend you and if you finished reading all of this woah you are a hero <3

[strawberryicemoon]

I am curious, how do the other story driven Disney shows with Gravity Falls, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Amphibia, and Owl House fare in comparison to DuckTales 2017? Do you think they all had similar problems of trying to cram too much (and for Owl House's case, it had their final seaosn shortened so there was definitely some sense of having to cram for the final)?

Wow a question. I'm honored that you think so highly of anything I've said previously to be worth requesting my insight. Though, I must preface this is only my opinion, as I don't know anything about cartoon development, but I will do my best to answer. This is an incredibly broad question that a lot of people have talked about before, so I'm not sure I have anything particularly new to add.

But to give a short answer: I don't think the main issue was entirely cramming in any of these cases. I think "rushed/crammed" and "satisfying endings" are not mutually exclusive. I think the issue is more a result of how the show was paced by the creators and a mis-prioritization of episode focus and misalignment of what the show is wanting to say vs. actually saying.

Now for a longer answer:

In the case of Ducktales for example the lack of prioritization of at least asking important questions meant that important questions blindsided us out of nowhere long after we assumed there must have been a far more mundane explanation, or vice versa. See I always figured "Webby's parents" must have a relatively mundane answer that she knows, otherwise its weird that the question was never brought up. So when it finally is, it feels really out of character that this was never addressed earlier. Conversely, when word of god says Hortense and Quackmore are still alive despite never appearing and Scrooge referring to Donald as a "ward", implying he was orphaned they may not have actual canon characterization, but I still feel its out of character for them not to be involved in their children and grandchildren's life. Overall Ducktales just seemed to be unsure of its own story in the end, focusing more on one off episodes without perspectiveto the larger story leaving it to me, personally, to be unsatisfying. So it wasn't the cramming alone, but that coupled with a lack of a strong enough center storyline to tie it together emotionally.

Unfortunately, I have not seen Star vs. in its entirety, as it never really clicked with me. I started it, I've seen several episodes here and there and watched an abundance of videos that touch on it either in the context of other videos or even just videos about it, so I am very familiar with it. But I do not feel I am qualified to talk about it in any meaningful way. Take my opinions here with an entire mountain of salt, but from what I've gleaned, it seems like Star Vs. had a grand, thematic idea about its finale, (remove the tool used to subjugate altogether) but failed to properly build to it, or consider how it would work in the context they'd spent several season building outside of those themes. As such "thematic" ending feels sudden, and a bad idea, even if it is, thematically strong and interesting. It sounds like it could have been interesting if they had actually taken some time to work out some of the kinks in the execution. But again, never was a Star fan so idk but it always sounded to me like they had time, but were busy with other plotlines.

In that sense it sounds a lot like Ducktales, in the sense they had a grand ideal "Webby being scrooge's daughter makes her valuable as blood, but her having clones shows that it was never the blood but the love that makes her loved". And the idea of building from stranger to daughter. But in both cases that is way too much to throw on right at the end, and while I do kinda appreciate and get what they were going for, as mentioned a few things about it just doesn't sit right and they could have the "Webby is heir" without the blood.

While I enjoyed some of the cameos just fine, Ducktales 3rd season did have a problem with too many cameos. The fact of the matter is that Ducktales 2017s new viewers could not care less about these one-off-cameos to TV shows from about 3 decades earlier. This of course also colored the finale, in how they debuted Daisy's nieces. April May June, who were nobody to most people but stripped of their one canon characteristic, being Daisy's nieces, to others. I mean, did May and June have to be separate characters for any reason other than a reference? I mean yeah, they are able to play off each other as a pair, but still. The cramming was less an issue than what felt like references for references sake than fleshing out worldbuilding and the diverse characters of the world which is unique to its status as a reboot. Meanwhile when other shows introduce characters there is usually more of a reason than "fit them in somehow". But what makes a good reboot is an entirely different discussion.

Owl House definitely suffered from being cut short. It was definitely not meant to be such a short show. You can practically feel the half a season of human world, and certain a few more episodes of plot in the demon realm crammed together in season 3. I think the Wittebane brother backstory, and an arc in which we see Vee and Luz really become sisters would have benefited from time to breath. I think a longer time on Willow's breakdown arc. Maybe more time to explore Gus's feelings. But at the same time it is very impressive what they did with such a short period. For the most part even if they weren't able to delve into everything, they hit the most important parts of a lot of things, that I think all things considered it didn't suffer horribly from being cut short. I think it deserved that full season and would have been all the better for it. But I think the Owl House was an incredible example of how to manage shortened time. It's definitely rushed, but all the important story beats still made it in, so I don't feel like important story steps were skipped. (I think the large time gaps also helped, certain developments could be inserted into those, so even if things are rushed on the viewing side, it makes me feel like things did actually happen at a natural pace on the in universe side). The finale and the thematic conclusion of the show felt like a natural extension of the themes the show was touting all along. You have to choose yourself. The act of love that is being in someone's life. The profound importance of trying to understand others and desiring to be understood. It made sense in world, and in the themes of the show. There may have been a lot crammed into the finale, but it was all necessary beats that had already been set up and needed to be concluded, even the "new" stuff (like Willow's arc and the Wittebane brothers) weren't entirely new.

I DO think Amphibia could have benefited from an extra season, one for each half of season 3, to really help us emotionally settle into the human realm and the rebellion. But I could also make an argument otherwise. Which is probably why the 3 seasons was purposeful. I understand that decision. Because the first half of season 3 is meant to harken back to season 1 which took its time to let Anne grow naturally. But then again, season 3 is supposed to be a victory lap of sorts for Anne, showing her growth. I don't think we needed a full season for that. But we did definitely need a bit more time with the rebellion, but I think nearly every LA episode was necessary. And maybe in this sense, Amphibia is a victim of the strict arc lengths that television necessitates. Because if we look the overall episode count I think there was definitely enough time for this story. I think if we had taken maybe a some episodes off season one and maybe one or two off season two, and threw them into make season 3 a bit longer we wouldn't have this issue. Or better yet, just made season 3 an extra long season. Or added a movie to the end to act as the finale. I don't think it needed a whole other season, and I don't think it ended prematurely, but I do think it could have used some more episodes. Not even a lot of extra episodes. Just like. Maybe two more human world episodes and 4 more rebellion episodes. And it's not that I think we were MISSING anything out of season 3 plot wise (aside from properly addressing Anne trauma Sasha/Marcy parents but that's a whole other thing that could have been sprinkled in), but just that I think the seasons felt rushed because we lost the slower pace of the first season. But then again maybe that's on purpose? But I think its also possible some of the episodes could have been used better, and took more time to touch on some other things. I honestly have yet to properly come to a conclusion about it, and quite frankly I probably never will. Because I don't think there was necessarily a better answer given the constraints. I think some people may disagree with how Amphibia prioritized its story elements, but I personally at least understand them. Either way, regardless of the shakiness of Season 3, the finale was near perfect, because, like the Owl House, it delivered on the themes of its show, in. I know for some people things in the finale, such as the prophecy and the separation came as a surprise. But it really wasn't for me. I went into the finale confident because I didn't feasibly see a way for the show to upset me, since I think the most upsetting possibilities (deaths/separation), had been set up thematically well. And also the fact Amphibia played genre conventions pretty straight so I saw the separation coming. As in back during season 1 my first fic was a drabble about Anne reminiscing about Sprig long after Amphibia. (Though I suppose knowing being here since the beginning and knowing that that Matt Braly described Amphibia as an ode to past friendships, and having watched Digimon Adventure and Magic Knight Rayearth which were both cited as inspirations probably helped me understand his creative vision). I understood the friends going their separate ways, but still being close since that was something I've experienced in my own life and the permanent separation was something I understood well as an element of the genre and it's thematic relevance in the value of even temporary things. In the end I still found the finale, and the show satisfying.

I do think you could say Amphibia crammed a bit too much into its final season, but since its final season was meant to bring the first two seasons full circle, it had a hell of a job to do. I think it could have cut some stuff, but then again, it would probably have weekened Amphibia's main thesis about the value of community and individuals. While family factored into Amphibia's story it waz never the main point, hence why even though Anne was Polly's sister and Hop Pop's granddaughter, being Sprig's friend was prioritzed. To summarize my rambling, Amphibia's cramming had a point, to show the vibrancy of life on Amphibia and why Anne would die to protect it. It's final arc didn't introduce so many new characters so much as return to them. The first half of the season notwithstanding.

Gravity Falls is another show that definitely was ended exactly when it meant to on purpose, and I do think it ends up being a little back heavy. I haven't rewatched it super recently, but i think it works fine, its biggest crime being lack of Wendy honestly. And that's absolutely on the creators. They could have made that work but it was not a big enough priority for them and a character who is otherwise framed as being important it just "love interest". Again, the priorities of the writing staff. Otherwise I don't feel anything is particularly rushed or crammed because it does manage to cover everything important and I don't think there was too much extraneous. Anything extra can be relegated to books and comics easily without missing anything.

You didn't bring up The Ghost and Molly McGee, but it is another Disney (more episodic but still has a story) cartoon. It was cancelled abruptly while season 3 was in production, but was given one episode to wrap things up, so it's last episode feels abrupt compared to its previous episode (which was meant to be a season finale and would have been so bad as a series finale). But since the seeds for it were laid early, and the main plot of the episode had basically been a confirmation of a fan theory, and was otherwise purely character drama it was allowed to just hit hard without tying up the hanging plot threads (that the previous episode mostly closed). The fandom mourns the lost plotlines, but the finale is also decently open ended while still providing a conclusive ending to the story. The show COULD have used more. There are definitely lots of things that could have been elaborated on. But it ultimately didn't NEED more. I think they could have gotten away with one season, even if I don't think it would have worked as well. My point is a show cut off early was still able to have a good finale, and was able to not rush itself, simply by being able to cut off plotlines before they started. This obviously doesn't work for all shows, and was just a benefit of TGAMM's more episodic episode. But it still worked. So I think NOT cramming a lot in is helpful of course, but I don't think it really works for all stories.

Unlike The Owl House and The Ghost and Molly McGee, Milo Murphy's Law didn't get the privileged of a couple extra and instead just ends with Milo in space. Of course, otherwise, the show didn't have any outstanding open plot threads. But at the same time, MML like all dwampyverse shows goes at 110% all the time, who knows what random bullshit will become a repeated plot element. Fortunately MML takes place in a multiverse with one of, if not the most popular Disney cartoon so its possible Milo will get some sort of closure in S5 of Phineas and Ferb. The finale was fine though, if not series finale fine, it was a good enough season finale. But that the show needed more time. But ask any MML fan and they'll tell you not that the show was rushed, but that we wasted too much time with Dr. D. I think that just goes on back to the it's not entirely about if you have enough time, but if you're able to properly prioritize what you're including and if that you're able to build up to the finale, at least in a way where you aren't pulling the rug out from under your viewers at the last second no matter where you are in your story.

Cramming is only an issue when the content being crammed in is less interesting than the alternative and/or doesn't serve the larger picture of the stories show. And in fairness I don't think Ducktales was the worst at this, but it did exasperbate other issues such as improperly setting up twists and losing a clear focus on how the themes and main character arcs/backstories of the show were handled. The finale in fairness did deal with a bit of appreciating the people and weirdness of the world, but it had so many other things going on too.

Good finales require good build up. A finale is absolutely dependent on the story leading up to it. But a finale can be bad all on its own regardless of how rushed something is. A good finale is good because of the build up, of not just the few episodes preceding but the whole show. A finale can be good (even if not great), so long as the show has been building up to it since the very beginning even if the immediately preceding episodes are rushed. But a bad finale is bad because it doesn't match the story building up to it. Some bad finales maybe could have been good, but very rarely is a show suddenly bad in its finale, its usually the result of a series of decisions made before the finale. Unfortunately that isn't always made clear until hindsight.

I also think the mark of an appealing finale, despite being rushed, is when its still possible to have stories that fill in those gaps made retroactively. A rushed story that also shuts out or in some way "poisons" any possibility for engaging future story telling and theorizing is particularly biting because it feels forever cut off, whether that be because there is no room for interquels that tell the in between stories that help flesh out character arcs without feeling needlessly doomed, or post-canon content that has the option of addressing things otherwise unaddressed. Though opinions on where these lines may very drastically. As much as I love the Amphibia ending, people who didn't like it, may feel a bit bitter that options are seemingly cut off from them in a canon context. Meanwhile for as rushed as The Owl House is, the plot still feels very open for places to extrapolate on. TGAMM straddles an awkward line where stories can theoretically continue, but with a major shift in status quo regarding a main protagonist. Ducktales has lots of openings, but only so long as you can accept the fact that Webby is Scrooge's clone and May and June's existance. Which some can and happily do ofc which is great, but after the finale large segments of the fandom withered away.

But not all people want to tell open ended stories and that's okay too, even if not everyone will be happy with it. At the end of the day not everyone will appreciate everything.

Someone needs to ask me about something positive about Ducktales though now because I feel like I'm turning into a Ducktales hater. (Maybe I could talk about the ideas for a Ducktales iteration that's been brewing in my mind, or certain implications in how S1 built up the secret of Della Duck).

[most-canon-non-canon-ship-poll]

worlds worst most cringe fail lavender marriage

Why Sasusaku is shit - a submission-based essay, part 2/2

Sasusaku - a canon het ship from the Naruto and Boruto fandoms between Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Hanako

They fucking named their kid salad. What kind of heterosexual nonsense is that

Okay I've never actually seen Naruto but from what I know this ship fucking stinks. Sasuke is basically a shitty husband and absent father I think. He treats Sakura like shit and also they had barely any screentime or something Idk thus ship has nasty vibes and it was the first bad canon ship I could think of

i mean if leaving her to raise their child alone for ten years wasnt enough, he does this all while remaining in contact with naruto, his secret lover, and never writing home. he didnt even recognize his own daughter after seeing her for the first time in years. sakura literally had to chase him down while he was recovering from trauma, and only then did she wear him down to the point where he finally gave in to her. sakura at one point compares her attempts to make sasuke love her with her beating the shit out of some guy until he dies

There is non bit of mutual affection in a relationshippy way and yet they are forced to play a couple by the creators. And even with her having a crush since childhood times, the crush is only of superficial nature, about looks and his mysterious broody behaviour. She lets herself be a little to obsessed and self sabotage her own character growth. He never reciprocated her feelings and yet they are forced to marry... And after the marriage they immediately go separate ways, at least he does. Why not, he is not commited to her, not in Love with her. She's just indulging her childhood infatuation and he... He is cold and does not appreciate her. He is absent and neglects her and her child. He is indeferent about her and is annoyed by her. She tried to kill her? A mutual healthy relationship really looks different. She is obsessed and he does not care.

He calls her annoying TWICE and then he knocks her out and just leaves her on a park bench?? I just hate this ship, I don't buy for one second that Sasuke likes Sakura. Not even as a friend.

Sakura's "love" for Sasuke is entirely based on the fact that she thinks he's hot and so cool. That's it. She doesn't even know him but was so weirdly obsessed with him she threw away her best friend and then later on in life was willing to throw away her relationships with everyone she cared for over him. He tried to kill her. He tried to force her to kill someone else. He has zero regard for her. You could put a pink wig on a monkey and the only reason Sasuke might possibly notice is because it isn't screeching "Sasuke-kun!!" at him.

[yumester]

sending this back to sender. i need a full dissertation on pAInter STAT

Oh, look it's the silly mutual once again in my ask box, wailing and screaming like a drenched kitten or that one generic male character from the hit game going through the worst experience ever— (gets shot)

Anyway, here's my opinions on The p.AI.nter from the hit Roblox game.

You know the drill, putting a read more for my and everyone's safety.

Fucking character of all time, man. Not including Sebastian! We hate Sebastian in this house! 🗣

They made this shit in the lab and called it straight up cocaine for lore heads. And by lore heads I mean me homie!! /j

Gonna mainly go over each label but might go into detail later on so watch out.

Everyone but me is wrong about them <3: I mean this in the nicest way possible. Pressure fandom has already failed miserably at the characterization of Sebastian. We've seen it all, to people anime boyifing the hell out of his visage, to the literal creators having to ward people off by adding changes to the game's data by removing voice lines. Man is not your big monster hubby with a tortured soul. Okay, maybe he is a tortured soul, but more literal than that and less likely to cry on your shoulder or even give you the benefit of the doubt to hold you at arm's length. Anyway, I've seen some people babify the hell out of p.AI.nter as well, and it sucks. I'm sorry, but it's true. It is not your friend, guys. It just wants to paint.

they got done dirty but the creator/s: Okay IDK if you've even peered at the recent updates or uploads from the main creator, but it was shown that p.AI.nter will be updated to be killed at some point. I don't know if they already patched that through the other day because, for one, I haven't played the new update. And, two, I think anyone who tries to do so is a dumb bitch because all p.AI.nter does is trick the player with fake doors and has turrets in occasional rooms (yes, the turrets can be annoying at times but who cares). In my head, I feel like the entity adds some charm to the existing enemies you face during a play through. And removing those elements just feels like a waste. Technically speaking, you only get to The p.AI.nter's room in a certain percentage. Though I will say it makes sense in canon why you would be able to destroy it as Urbanshade as talked nonstop about removing any and all adversaries that get in its way, mainly Sebastian (Unfortunately and thankfully, in Sebastian's case, Sebastian can't be killed). But, I will also say, The p.AI.nter's document, however tragic that it is, kills me at the fact how they handled its owner's death. Like really? Accidentally killed with a rifle to the head because of some dumb guard, no less. If I was that sentient AI, I would no doubt feel endless dread and sorrow. Though, then again, The p.AI.nter is already had several moments of killing itself and been depressed while under Urbanshade's care.

ADOPTION PAPERS ADOPTION PAPERS FILING THE ADOPTION PAPERS: I won't bother writing a whole paragraph, so take this GIF of p.AI.nter as Edgar instead. <3

i am constantly going insane rotating them in my brain like a fork in a microwave: I can not overstate how much I love this little guy. I don't talk about it much nor articulate the words in discussing this freak like I wish I could. But The p.AI.nter is a character that resides in my head twenty-four, seven. Like I'm writing a fanfic about Sebastian right now—well before you sent this, but all I've been thinking about is this dumb AI. Its relationship with Sebastian. Its overall role in the story of the game and so forth.

the popular ships for this character suck: OKAY, OKAY! I know I reblog and sometimes like content of The p.AI.nter with Sebastian together, but that's mostly because I find ship art in general to be an endearing thing to look at from the views of a consumer. However, canon wise it just doesn't… click is all I'm going to say. I DO LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC, HOWEVER!

constantly listening to songs and mentally holding them up like a paint swatch: To be fair, I'm always listening to music, I'm a music junkie at heart and, brother, this shit is breakcore!

I WANT TO STUDY THEM LIKE A COCKROACH: All I'm saying is robotic characters growing sentience is a form of love in video game writing, baby. Also, like I loved The p.AI.nter even before friendly fire update. But y'know me, when it hit beta with its new voice and new face with the MS Paint program that has scratchy line art, circles for eyes and wobbly smile—I was ecstatic! I'm not an engineer or a computer nerd by any meanings, but I wouldn't give to be in Pressure for a spell to like look at inside and out in a non-sexual way of course LMAO.

whats wrong with them (affectionate): SO, SO MANY THINGS! MAINLY URBANSHADE </3

#LETTHEPAINTERPAINTFREELYCHALLENGE

not enough screen time: Maybe this is the me that “likes this character a normal amount” talking, but it makes me sad that The p.AI.nter doesn't say much when you visit its enclosure in heavy containment. Like, you visit Sebastian's shop, and he has like hundreds of dialogue, all of which include snide remarks and shouting at you. It's freaking Gianni I get people! But anyway, my man deserves a little more, thank you. <3

they've never done anything wrong in their life <3: Watch this video from 1:25 and 2:23 and tell me I'm wrong.

my opinions would be received by most fans as akin to hitting a wasps nest with a baseball bat: i shan't say...

This is the best character in the work: Discounting the most integral character, Sebastian fucking Shoelace, we have The p.AI.nter! Yippie!!! My blorbo, my absolute bestie, my man who hits me in the ass with high grade turret bullets to only die to the next room, my “locks me in a room with my wife as we discuss divorce papers and play 7 minutes in heaven” wingman. <3

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TedTalk!

[bloomingdead]

“I was kidding about being a ship hater but I also want to blast Ereloy fans with my eye beams and insult their favorite character character by calling him ugly.” Whatever, dude. If you want to remain toxic and bitter, that’s on you.

bruh took everything i said out of context and harped on my ugly erend joke (he is). i do wanna blast u diehards w my eye beams!!! gtfo of here! erend is still one of my favorite characters, and he's obviously the closest friend aloy has at this point (maybe other than her sister but imo they're still working on bringing closeness to their relationship).

people really seem to think that because i find shipping him with aloy inappropriate, and you guys greasy for doing it, that i must hate him. i don't. he's charming, with a way about him that's hard to ignore (himbo energy). he tries his best to be there for the people he cares about and loves super hard. he's great at public speaking and rallying people to his cause, whatever that may be in the moment. he's incredibly loyal to his job even if that means bending avad's requests to fit what he deems most important in the moment. plus avad respects him so much that he doesn't care!! and his underlings on the vanguard will NOT let go of the crush he had in hzd, to his humiliation as we see the confrontation with aloy followed by his drunkenness at barren light. he has good taste in music, the soul of a metalhead, and a heart of gold. he lost his sister as aloy came into his life, and there's every context clue to show that this crush fizzled out as he came to respect aloy more as an equal. he said something along the lines of "i thought i was a bigshot talking to a pretty girl from a tiny tribe... now i see i was lucky just to get a minute of your time" and the ereloys takes this as some proclamation of love when to me and many others it comes off as a transition within their relationship towards mutual respect and appreciation.

let's be real about who's truly bitter. you old bitches who keep trying to ship aloy with a man at least 10 years her senior, or those of us who just want to enjoy the game for what it is without diehard shippers telling us what was literally written into the story by its creators is wrong. just because he's age appropriate for you doesn't mean it's okay that you project so much onto aloy that you can't remember she's at most 20yo. or the contrary, you're so fuckin young that you can't see how inappropriate it is because they all seem like old ass adults to you. it just gives "you're really mature for your age" vibes. ew. not to mention, as one of my lovely anons did, that this spike in hetero ship content for aloy happened AFTER seyka was introduced. >inb4 "a BiSeXuAl WoMaN iN a ReLaTiOnShIp WiTh A sTr8 mAn Is sTiLl QuEeR" bffr, as a (now out&proud lesbian, i must add) woman who's dated hetero men in the past, does that man know he's in a queer relationship or consider it to be one because his girl is? in the case of erend and the nuances in his character which are intended to relate to a type of man we all know, (that you guys bulldoze with your hc's,) fuck the fuck no. most cishet men don't.

this is the kind of discourse we get when fanon becomes more important to people than what's literally written into the story. i love erend! yeah i am a little irritated that people started popping their horussies out for their favorite (hetero) ship after we got a canon (GAY) romance in the game. if you guys had any critical thinking skills/media literacy, you'd have gotten the point by now that even if aloy isn't a lesbian, she's never going to end up with your favorite male character. you'd also understand why the gayshippers are irritated with you guys doing this in the wake of homophobic review bombing. because now we know aloy is capable of romantic feelings and no one but seyka has brought that side out of her so far. you can call it bad writing all you want, it's my opinion vs yours. doesn't change the direction the series is going in terms of aloy's romantic future.

[two-thrones]

ɢᴇᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴜɴ

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘɪᴄᴋ ᴜᴘ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛ ᴍᴜꜱᴇ(ꜱ) ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ?

(CANON MUSES) - I'll only speak on my PoP muses here since this account was tagged. And honestly, from the moment I first played Sands of Time, I knew it would be a permanent and prominent fixture. I can't tell you why it resonated with me the way it did, but here we are: some 20 years, one PoP-themed tattoo, and a soon-to-be 4-year-old fan blog later. Zeke is such a solid balance of traits (both good and bad), Xenres is ridiculously fun to write for, and Malik's more lawful good nature intrigues me. (OCs) - In the early days (and only with one particular friend), I used to write for a lot more than I do now. I have a couple who've stuck with me over the years, and I'll occasionally use them for games with character creators, but I don't have blogs for any of them, even outside of the hub account. However, I have mad respect for OCs and adore getting to write opposite them.

ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ?

Frankly, there aren't many things I don't permit in fiction. Fiction ≠ condoning something IRL. That being said, though, I do have a negative interest in non-con and everything in that general neighborhood— PWP, sex pollen, omegaverse, and so on. Sex is fine, and fluff is okay, but I'd prefer it not to dominate the story.

ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ?

Regarding genres, I enjoy grittier, darker stories the most, with a little room for levity on the side but a more serious tone overall. Fantasy elements, earlier periods, and post-apocalyptic settings in this vein are also great. In more vague terms, I love developing character dynamics and working on involved, plotted threads.

ʜᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ?

When it isn't pure divine intervention, it's often music and only sometimes media. I'm sure there's nothing revolutionary about this.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ɪɴ ꜱɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴏʀ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʟᴀʏ ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ?

I haven't been able to listen to music and write for years. The closest I come these days is if I can't escape outside commotion, I'll throw in some earbuds and crank up the brown noise.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʟᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʀᴇᴘʟɪᴇꜱ ᴏʀ ᴡɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇᴍ?

Due to time restraints, I plan whether I want to or not. If I can manage, I'll sit down and reply right after I read something, but I usually end up thinking about it at work during the week.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ꜱʜɪᴘᴘɪɴɢ?

Most certainly, but it has to happen naturally, and a slow burn is a must. Otherwise, I'm open to more one-sided relationships (on either end) if that's how things develop. Trying to force anything in writing is a big turn-off for me.

ᴡʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀʟɪᴀꜱ/ɴᴀᴍᴇ?

Giffie.

ᴀɢᴇ?

21+

ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ?

January 16th.

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀ(ꜱ)?

Green, black, gray, white.

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜱᴏɴɢ(ꜱ)?

Most (but not all) things by either Rob Zombie or Powerman 5000. I don't care if that's a cop-out; I can't pick just one.

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴍᴏᴠɪᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇᴅ?

Either Spaceman (2024) or The Suicide Squad (2021), I can't remember which now.

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ꜱʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇᴅ?

Bigtop Burger (first & second season) by Worthikids on YouTube. Do recommend.

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ꜱᴏɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪꜱᴛᴇɴᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ?

Ainsi Bas La Vida by Indila (slowed + reverb)

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜰᴏᴏᴅ?

Sushi, hands down. Generally, most things seafood. A close second (and considerably easier to obtain) might have to be a nice grilled cheese sandwich.

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜱᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ?

It used to be winter, and then I moved to a place where it's winter 8 months out of 12, so now it's autumn. Unfortunately, autumn doesn't really exist here, but it's always with me in spirit.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴛᴜᴍʙʟʀ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ?

Not to be a golden retriever on main, but I sincerely treasure each and every one of you here who takes the time to write and/or chat with me despite how painfully slow I can be. Like it or not, if we're mutuals, I consider us friends and care for you dearly. :)

Tagged by: @origami-assassin (thank you)! Tagging: anybody who wants to do it, I'd certainly be interested in reading.

[katyspersonal]

Laurence for the soulsborne bingo! :D

Wowww 🤯 Someone finally figured that I like Laurence and would love to talk about him? 🤯🤯

Sorry it's been 84 years and you are the only mutual with enough Insight to catch on HHHHHAAAA

Laurence is a strange case of a Soulsborne character that sorta writes himself... but actually doesn't? Like, there is some coherent direction you can go at with 'corrupt cleric' route, but at the same time he is not JUST Bloodborne!Aldrich, you feel? You can have your way around with the IMPLICATIONS that unlike that.... OTHER Soulsborne fallen Cleric, Laurence tried to HEAL the humanity from its vices by messing with the forbidden, rather than saying 'fuck this doomed world I'm out', yet at the same time, lore states that Laurence have fallen and failed! There is so much about it...

I think that his boss battle is so awesome, and says so much about the character without even any dialogue. The way he 'activates' for as soon as we give him his own skull, and fails to regain his humanity as a result, but instead helplessly struggles while losing his legs? Fromsoft are just so great about this stuff... His design is a complicated issue, as it counts more on the fandom than canon. In canon, his design is just retextured Cleric Beast that is also on fire; fandomry stuff, though? It is very hard to find a BAD design of Laurence, they ALL are very good. It is like every artist, regardless of skill or taste, tries to give their best to their Laurence. He is basically the free prompt of 'create the most beautiful yet the most tragically-villanous man you can get!' There is always some semblance of what the creator think is 'beauty' to designs of Laurence, be it more conventionally-attractive archetype or more 'weird' one! And I think this is pretty great!

^^^ It is in relevance to how I'd change his questline. Maybe it is a bit simplifying, but like... honestly, I'd LOVE to get to talk with Laurence all whereas he doesn't even understand that he is a beast, nor he remembers that something went very wrong. That he simply speaks with us in that... blissful unawareness, and if addressed, he would be like "Wait, what do you mean I am not human? D: I don't understand you". All only to see him LOSE it when he sees his own human skull and it HITS him what ACTUALLY happened to him! Not that finding him already all lost in his current state did not strike hard enough... But finding him him in the state where he was coping (willingly or not) and just Not Knowing, only to ruin the 'illusion', would've hit harder I think....?

And I just LOVE how much there is to work on with this character. He had good intentions and pawed his road down to Hell, he had to do a lot of terrible things because 'ends justify the means'. His very boss theme feels self-explanatory as it is, as it tells the most story, but to just... WRITE all this, you know? To EXPLORE all this. It hits differently. His charisma, the fact that he charmed several men to do his bidding and offer their loyalty in life AND death to him, what he thought was worth it for the 'greater goal', how he had lost his objective... I have plenty of ideas on his backstory and mysterious Loran + Cainhurst background, too.

There are more things, I could be here all day. But yes, Laurence DOES, in fact, activate a lot of my braincells.

_____________________

In general, I think that this character is fucking AWESOME. He hits the perfect balance between 'giving us enough to work with' vs 'giving us enough room for imagination'. It is just the way I love the under-written characters, who have so much to work with, yet will always need an impact of the person! Like I love to say, there are only three kinds of Laurence interpretations: 1) a man you find hot 2) a 'shadow' of your personality you hope no one will notice and 3) both at once. 😔

My only gripes with the fandom are..... Either, you make your Laurence just a twink!Aldrich, OR you just export Micolash's quirks onto him! Like!!!!!! Yes, for sure, he is a corrupt cleric, but we already have an evil corrupt cannibal antics for Aldrich! Leave some tragedy for Laurence! And whereas Laurence, indeed, summoned the Bloodmoon, but this is what it was - a summon. One and gone thing! Works for aesthetic masterpieces of fanart, but not as a gimmick. Meanwhile, School of Mensis is BUILT around the theme of HOLDING the Bloodmoon down! Like, PERMANENTLY! Red moon works as Micolash's aesthetic so much more! Every single red 'Moon' Rune you find is associated with Mensis! Laurence / Healing Church work better with 'pale' Moon - white (like Communion rune), pale blue (like Gehrman's Quickening mist, Arcane that Church Servants use and glowing that beastly Skull of Laurence has) or turquoise (Ludwig's Moonlight Guidance)! And don't get me started on theme of eyes and insanity being re-attributed to Laurence, when Micolash had this sexyman feature gimmic for years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess this is what Micolash gets for being Dark Academia king instead of Cleric.... dfjfhdshf

Like ok ok, I also sexualize Catholics HARD, but not to the point of replacing one blorbo with another! But yeah now we know that if Micolash had cleric garb, there would be NO survivors....

Thank you for the ask!

[jonathanbiers]

Listen I don’t care for hellcheer particularly, but I’m rooting for them for your spite! I hate when people forget that filtering tags exists and then make it out to be someone’s fault for running their blog how they see fit. Especially since the ships you post aren’t like morally reprehensible in any way. Anyway as a ride or die steddie who respects those who are mutli shippers I’m sorry you’re getting so much hate.

i feel like saying i'm getting hate is a stretch. i never said that gjfdgk it just really fucking gets me when someone sees a ship (ESPECIALLY when it's a rare pair like edancy) that isn't hurting anyone and, like you said, isn't morally reprehensible in any way, and instead of just going, "oh, that's not for me, lemme ignore that real quick," they go out of their way to reblog or interact with a fanart or gifset someone spent hours making just to be like "???? i don't like this ship romantically." because guess what, no one asked and that creator sure as hell doesn't care if you like it, they made it because THEY like it. i saw this happen more than once in my notes today while i was at work and it irked ME and i wasn't even the original creator. it was just people who happen to follow me (it wasn't any of my mutuals but honestly i'm so picky about who i follow i don't think any of my mutuals would ever say something like that. i love y'all)

it's not like we're out here condoning abuse (cough h*rringroves) or ignoring characters canon sexualities. (cough ppl who ship romantic stobin) and it's also not a problem for people to hc eddie as exclusively gay. but it's really fucking weird when people act like even the thought of shipping him with a girl character is gross (and no, i'm not making this up, i've seen with my own eyes people saying shit like: "it feels gross to ship eddie with a woman") i'd actually really love it if they could explain to me why it's gross without it being misogynistic. and i know it's not just 'cause they don't like to see steve and eddie shipped with anyone but each other (also something i'm not making up; i've seen ppl say this shit too) because then they'd have that same energy with stonathan or other mlm ships involving the two. you know how up stargyle's ass i've been lately and i haven't seen a SINGLE person opposed. some "huh never thought of that" but no one explicitly saying "no i don't like that, platonic only." it's just when there's a woman involved. no one unfollows me for posting about stargyle every damn day, yet EVERY time i reblog hellcheer at least 2 people unfollow me. half the time someone unfollows me when i reblog edancy. (getting unfollowed is not something i'm upset by, i don't give a shit about numbers. it's the double standard there)

[saiditallbefore]

So, for obvious reasons, I think a lot about characterization in very long running properties with multiple creators. I've been in Star Wars fandom for years; I'm currently in DC comics fandom; I'm not in Doctor Who fandom but several of my mutuals are. I'm very familiar with the arguments that happen when characters get created and then reinterpreted by different writers, when events from one story are retold or framed differently by another writer to serve their story or characters better.

There's two different extremes in fandom: there's the people who say that only one particular writer or movie or serial or run ever got your favorite character right (often but not always the first one), and any deviation from that is a betrayal of their character. And then there are the people who say that "in character" and "out of character" don't exist because the character has been written so many ways.

Personally, I think both of these extremes are wrong, and also very boring. It's not about slavishly adhering to one person's vision or about throwing out canon altogether; it's about figuring out what is at the core of a character, what makes them tick. There's still a lot of room for interpretation there-- I know that I have gotten into some extremely heated arguments with people over our different thoughts on Leia's character, for instance-- but if you can point to canon for where you are getting your interpretation, you're usually on solid ground.

And the thing is, I think you can hold multiple interpretations of a character in your head at once, even interpretations that can't be fully reconciled. I don't need to reconcile them. A character like, say, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a lot of different and contradictory things, depending on which book or movie or show or comic I'm drawing on and I can use some of them for one fanwork and some of them for another and ignore some altogether. That's part of the fun of having such a sprawling canon, versus a more self-contained one (imo).