#to be clear i'm not hating on people who do feel sexy in those terms

[allastoredeer]

I have no problem with al being a bottom, I just have a hard time with bottom king lucifer as a top. May I have examples to try and see your side?

Exhibit A:

Dat smirk.

Exhibit B:

Soft Top Lucifer

Exhibit C:

Demon Top Lucifer

Exhibit C:

That sexy shoulder bop

Exhibit D:

Look at this guy.

Exhibit E:

Obvious one.

Exhibit F:

I just wanted to post this one cuz I like his smirky little face.

LOL no, seriously though, there's no specific way a character has to act or behave to be deemed a top, bottom or switch. It's a preferred sexual position that isn't dependent on outside factors, it's just what a person enjoys, and what the reader/viewer wants that character to be. That's essentially what it is. It's not based on logic, it's based on what position the fan prefers for them to be in.

Lucifer could do his sexy little shoulder bop and still be a bottom. He can give the most suave, seductive smirk and still be a bottom. It's different for everyone.

But as for why I like top!Lucifer, here are a few reasons:

A) I really like it when shorties top. So often, in almost all fandoms I've been in, the default for a popular ship is the shorter one bottoming and the taller one topping. As a shortie myself, I just...ugh, I get so tired of it. Especially since the bottom is typically softened, UwU-ified, and turned into this delicate little flower. Bringing personal feelings into this, I've been very short and very thin all my life. I've literally been described as "delicate" before, and as someone who enjoys sports, running around, and is just a loud, rough and tumble person by nature, I absolutely hate it. It's given me a lot of mental and emotional issues, and a lot of the treatment and comments I've gotten has made me feel belittled, vulnerable, and weak. So, while being a bottom doesn't mean you're any of those things, short characters have been treated like that for a majority of the fandoms I've been in, no matter what their personality, stature, behaviors, or attitude was, and seeing it brings out of love of dark and negative feelings that I'd rather not re-live when I'm trying to enjoy myself in fandom. (Which is another reason why I dislike so much bottom!Lucifer because he's so often softened down and turned into this naive, dare I say, helpless little lamb. The moment Alastor overpowers him or easily manipulates him into a deal, I am outta there.)

B) Lucifer has that top energy. Can't explain it. He just does. To be clear, I don't see him exclusively as a top. He's a switch. But I do headcanon Alastor as exclusively a bottom, so in any radioapple relationship I write or draw, Lucifer will top.

and C) the most important reason: I like seeing Alastor get railed.

Alastor bottoms in all the ships I have for him and Lucifer is no exception. Besides, I find a lot of versatility and potential in Lucifer being with/fucking a sinner, especially considering his distaste of them. Makes for a good hate-fucking scenario, or a very emotional and in-depth character deep dive of him coming to terms with his own bias and internalized hatred of them and finding love and companionship in one of the very people he despised. That's some delicious mental turmoil and the perfect opportunity for character development.

(LOL there's a lot of talk of Alastor not bottoming because of his ego, and yet nobody considers that maybe Lucifer wouldn't bottom for Alastor because he's a sinner. He is the embodiment of pride after all. So, combining that with his disdain for sinners, would he really "stoop" so low as to let one of them fuck him? Food for thought).

But seriously though, when it comes down to it, I just like Alastor bottoming and Lucifer topping. Yes, bottom!Lucifer and top!Alastor has been soured for me due to popular fandom depictions of it, but even before those were popular, I simply preferred Alastor bottoming. I enjoy it more, not just for his character, but just...because. I just do.

Thing is, I don't think there has to be a list of reasons for why you prefer a character topping, bottoming, or switching. People are allowed to do whatever they want with these characters. It's fandom. This is a playground. We don't have to have a reason, we're just here to have fun.

If you can't see Lucifer as a top, Anon, that is a-okay 👍👍Thanks for asking for a different perspective though, it's always awesome when a person seeks to understand someone else's point of view. I don't know how well of a different perspective I offered, though. I have a hard time answering questions like these bcuz they just don't make a lot of sense to me. It's hard to say why I like something when I just...do. I just vibe with it.

To boil it all down, my examples/answers are all based on what I like and how I feel. I like bottom!Alastor cuz I enjoy it. I like top!Lucifer because I love seeing Alastor get railed - especially by a big, powerful demon king. Very yummy.

Also, LOL, considering Alastor is exclusively a bottom to me, anyone I do ship him with will automatically be the top, regardless of who they are XD So I guess that's an important factor to consider too 😂

I don't know how well I did with answering this, but I do want you to get the perspective you were looking for, so! My fellow bottom!Alastor truthers who are reading this, drop why you like bottom!Alastor in the comments below for our lovely Anon!

I'm curious about what you guys have to say too.

[skylarbee]

I just saw your recent post on AM stans hating on Milex stans… I need a catching up please. What about LV and Amanda (?) and Matt too? I rarely ever dive deep into bands and their members, I just like to appreciate their music.

Thank you ♡

! long post incoming and i want to point out that i don't plan on using this blog to discuss any of these people (only maybe very rarely) - i don't like them, i don't think they're good people, i don't want to argue with people who think otherwise, and i usually ignore whatever they're up to - my main focus will always be on milex/miles !

hi anon! <3 i have no idea how much you know already, or if you basically don't know anything related to these three, or any of them. i will say that i have no screenshots concerning the things that i mention, but searching their names up on tumblr and/or scrolling through blogs like @/shit-talk-turner and @/alexstorm will make things more clear.

this whole thing started when louise posted a screenshot yesterday of an am fan saying some dumb shit about her in the comments and bringing up alexa (i still can't believe she posted this). she posted this with some equally stupid words (i don't have the screenshot - you can find it on twitter/tumblr/ig/tiktok/wherever), and matt then reposted her story, jumping to protect her (maybe amanda did too, i don't know). then she managed to screenshot some nice comments and posted those too, saying that 'love always wins' or something similar, and that haters can kiss her ass (this definitely didn't come across as her craving and asking for some compliments; she definitely doesn't need people babying her in order for her to feel good about herself) - which reminded me of something similar that amanda said like a year ago, that they don't pay attention to the haters anyways, of course after posting a long paragraph paying attention to them (makes me laugh just to think about it).

there are so many other hysterical and foolish things she does, like posting pictures of a messy bed (look, i'm fucking alex turner!), selfies with suspicious rings, other pics hinting at alex's presence, calling paparazzis to take pictures of them on the beach, pretending to be jane birkin and alex to be serge gainsbourg, going off about how independent she is while living off of alex's money, somehow managing to make matt's and amanda's marriage about her (with amanda encouraging her), 'accidentally' always doing these when miles has important things going on, etc etc (the fact that her and miles never interacted in real life is also deeply concerning. alex, dear, you should always trust your best friend when they don't like your partner, they always end up being right - especially knowing that miles was always on really good terms with alex's exs). it's clear that she's deeply insecure and adores when the attention is on her and when people are talking about her, and if she goes for a long period without this, she just has to pull something that will get fans talking. she's trying so hard to fit in and be the sexy rockstar girlfriend that she just ends up looking stupid.

if you don't know the real reasons why some people don't like louise, i'm just gonna post some links about her that pretty much sum it all up:

https://www.tumblr.com/snarcticmonkeys/685972106927882240/can-you-recap-the-problematic-things-frencies?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/snarcticmonkeys/685366553489866753/everybodys-got-something-to-hide-except-me-and-my?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/snarcticmonkeys/685366736118235136/everybodys-got-something-to-hide-except-me-and-my?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/snarcticmonkeys/685155230049075200/louise-the-fangirl?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/snarcticmonkeys/685155226833059841/lyon-july-2018?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/snarcticmonkeys/685095240693170176/deleted-posts?source=share

about amanda... now, if i remember correctly, amanda had a blog dedicated to her music, and people dug up some screenshots in which she replies to someone and uses the n-word, and then another post where she's being racist. these screenshots are somewhere in the depths of my phone and it would be impossible to find them, and regardless, these screenshots are so old that she could've well changed for the better since then.

the problem with her is the fact that she's having arguments in the comments with young fans (asking stuff like did they have brain tumours for breakfast and other ridiculous things...or was that louise?) and posts even more ridiculous stories in response to people bullying louise, and protecting her like she's a toddler who can't take care of herself. the pure arrogance and self-importance with which she communicates her ideas is just mental, she thinks that she's on the top of the world, and encourages louise to act the same way. it's baffling that two 40-ish women think that bullying 14 year olds will achieve anything other than encouraging other 'fans' to act the same way.

the thing about matt is just basically the fact that ever since he's been with amanda, he acts the same way as her. now, i know there's been some issue about some idiots commenting about his daughter, which made him deactivate his ig account, and i have absolutely no words for the people who dared to say anything about that poor, innocent, completely blameless child. but even before this, he turned to the same kind of arrogance as amanda and reposted all her stories concering louise. the way that they need to say over and over again what a good person louise is, how much alex loves her, how great their relationship is, how beautiful and kind and caring she is... makes you really question if she really is indeed all those things (especially if you opened those links i posted). more importantly, what exactly do they plan to achieve arguing with teenage girls? it's so childish, my god, they are only adding fuel to the fire. god knows what they're telling alex and also god knows what he thinks about it all.

there's something that i'm not 100% sure about, but i'm gonna say it in the hopes that someone will see this and will tell me if this is wrong or not: matt cheated on breana when both her parents died (this one is definitely true), and left her with 1 year old amelia, and fucked off to live with another woman (amanda denies being the woman in question, i have no idea). she was solo parenting for a while (breana said all these in a podcast), then matt woke up and decided that he wants something to do with his daughter after all, and ever since then he takes care of her too - good job love, you're still horrible though.

in short, l&a's insanely childish antics dragged matt into the whole thing too. they're constantly throwing hissy fits, in hopes to achieve god knows what, and then they feel proud of themselves for telling teenage girls off. which makes you think, what would happen if am would be 10 times more popular than they are know, and louise would get 10 times the hate she gets now? or even better, what would happen if louise would get the same amount of hate miles gets on the daily? she said in her screenshot that she knows that it's only a minority of the fandom that leave such mean comments - then what's the point of paying attention to it? all this just shows another reason why these two definitely don't like each other - miles has brains, the other one... well, i'm sorry. i tried my best to like them and look past their mistakes,but i just can't do it.

[grimrester]

made the mistake of reading too much hazbin hotel discourse regarding angel dust and the depiction of abuse and sexual assault in the most recent episode, and basically all of it is extreme in either direction in a way that makes me powerfully sad.

ive seen survivors say the episode and the musical numbers in particular made them feel horrible, and others say it made them feel seen and comforted. and genuinely i can see both sides.

it's clear that hazbin got a lot of things right about the effects of long term sexual assault. many survivors do become hypersexual as a response, or lean hard into pleasing their abuser. angel flipping between afraid, disgusted, and flirtatious from moment to moment is realistic. and the fact that angel is working in porn while this is happening is true to life - the porn industry is rampant with sex crimes, rape, and abuse. i've seen a lot of people praising the poison musical number for not shying away from some pretty rough depictions of assault, and in principle i agree that sometimes a tepid fade to black isn't the right approach. there is also absolutely power in the depiction of a survivor who is not a perfect, sad, or sex repulsed victim.

but i also find it really hard to disagree with survivors who found the episode really tasteless. i frankly don't think it would be under as much scrutiny as it is if vivzie and some of her team didnt have a history of uncritically romanticizing abuse and sexualizing assault. but they do, so it is.

it is genuinely really hard to tell when angel is putting on a performance for an audience in the story and when he's doing it for the titilation of the real-life viewer (or both). the poison number literally smash cuts scenes of his abuse with scenes of him dancing sexily and looking directly at the viewer.

and i get what they're going for here - angel has to perform to survive, so he's performing. if they had animated it differently maybe it would be easier to tell who his performance is for. if they showed the cameras filming him, for example. instead, all the shots are up close and focused on angel and his body. they show val or the other porn "actors" occasionally, but not much.

part of the issue is that they set these scenes in a music video format at all. i'm not the kind of person who thinks you can't make fun, poppy music about dark subjects, but usually the music videos for those kinds of songs don't show the acts in graphic detail, and there's a reason for that. it is very, very offputting to see gif sets or aesthetic edits of angel dancing knowing the context of the dance is that he was just violently assaulted multiple times. people are going to be doing sexy dance covers of this song on tiktok. and i hate calling it sexy given what the scene is about, but viv and her team designed some scenes in this musical number pretty explicitly with the goal of looking cool and sexy. and, sorry, but that leaves a pretty yucky taste in my mouth.

to be clear, there's nothing wrong with sexualizing angel in general. if the admittedly cool choreography was an entirely separate scene from the depictions of assault instead all part of the same musical number, i don't think the negative reaction would have been nearly as strong. i haven't heard one peep about the scene shortly before the musical number where val hits angel, because it just didn't have the tonal dissonance that the poison scene has.

this is a long ass post no one is going to read so i'll just sum it up with this: my problem with viv's work in general is that while sometimes she hits on topics that strike a meaningful chord with her audience, she doesn't seem to actually be thoughtful about her storytelling and the various ways it might be interpreted. this is just another example of that.

[patriciavetinari]

I think it's absolutely fair to admit it's weird when people try to pigeon hole every picture of bedsheets as some kind of aesthetic, but here in my personal space I would actually like to scream into the void about trying to figure out and/or build the aesthetic as a fat person.

This is a sub-problem of the issue of availability of varied clothing for fat people, obviously, but I also feel like this is definitely, like... A problem of mental images? And imagery and design in general? Many styles and subcultures, when they are explored, are only explored through the example of thin people. I don't know how to explain, other than if you google 'goth' or 'vintage' or 'dark academia' or 'cottagecore' or 'manic pixie' or whatever, all of these is going to show thin people. And most of these are obsessed with thinness even if there has been a plus size community or a veneer of body positivity. Unless you add 'plus sized' and then you will find very little and will eventually land somewhere in rockabilly.

I mean that not only I am a roundcheeked person in a world obsessed with cheekbones, I'm also a person consisting of roundness in a world obsessed with geometric lines and angles and protruding bones.

I guess I'm saying that fatness really isn't romantisized which of course it isn't given the rampant fatphobia, but I find it a whole separate kind of pain and a personal challenge to like myself not only despite the weight or the size as numbers, but with the roundness it gives me, the intrinsic features that have been excluded from styles and aesthetics for decades.

I love the posts talking about soft tummies and chubby cheeks and such but honestly, they are not something that helps me that much. I've mentioned it before that it's super annoying when anyone says 'fat people are so soft like clouds like cherubs so cute so nice to cuddle' like they are talking about a fucking body pillow.

I want to be known for elegance and grace and I want to explore like noire femme fatale aesthetic which is all represented by stick thin rita hayworth types with only collarbones and ribcages and cigarettes and the only curve allowed is jessica rabbit kind of breasts. And some jokers bring up like dita von teese as an example of plus size or round face which is, you know, absurd. It's a thin woman with visible ribcage and cheekbones.

It's fucking frustrating. There are no examples, no role models, no aesthetic that celebrates the face that looks like mine. All round features. I hate smiling because it makes my face wider and rounder and eyes smaller. I mean I obviously have a long way to go when it comes to self acceptance but it's bloody hard to do when every style and aesthetic out there is celebrating every feature opposite of what I have and whenever the features I DO possess are mentioned it's always this 'friend shaped cute so soft like a cloud like pillow so nice, absolutely not elegant or graceful or ravishing or entrancing or glamorous or striking or bewitching, just cute'.

This is a very superficial issue and a very personal one but every day is an agony. My aesthetic is something sharp like daggers and knives, bittersweet like dark chocolate, elegant like violin or harpsichord, cool like eucalyptus, and the world still is only prepared to celebrate me if I embrace the 'cute chubby tummy pillow cloud my little pony funny candy floss poof and fluff' that I have on the outside it seems.

I don't know.

It's hard. I like my body, I genuinely got better at this. I'm a gorgeous human being. But the fact that there is nothing for me to get for my body to like how it's presented to the world is agony. The fact that I cannot change people's perception of me as cute chubby wannabe vaguely goth is pain. Don't even get me started on sexy. I have never been made feel sexy by other people in the first place but even in theory I'm not a fan of the whole mommy milkers side of things, like I want to feel and recognized as femme fatale sexy not huge fat mommy milkers sexy.

[piracytheorist]

what exactly is a girlboss and how does it relate to mia winters? saw someone in the tags say it. this ask coming from me having actually googled the term and still not entirely clear on any of it

Another example of Alan being ignored. the picture of Mia, Alan, Evie (all dressed in dark clothing which is why they stood out to me) and Miranda and the other (currently un- named) researchers found in Mirandas lab in Village somehow means to some that Mia was promoted to researcher?

You know, I don't have a very clear meaning of the word "girlboss" in my mind either. I'm kinda thinking that it's meant to describe a female character who kicks ass and takes no shit. Like the Strong Female CharacterTM some media try to make by making their women badasses without caring too much for character depth. But when using "girlboss" I feel we refer to a female character who kicks ass and honestly we don't care if she's morally wrong or right. She just looks sexy doing it and that's all that matters. Not that some girlbosses don't have character depth or motivation, just that the existence or lack of those don't affect a character's status as "girlboss". I don't know if I made that clear lol.

When it comes to Mia, well, she's not the conventional definition of BadassTM, but she knows how to use a gun and has an entire portion of re7 of herself going into a shipwreck to save her husband, killing mold monsters along the way. Then in re8, she has a metal pole at the ready against a machine gun. She's brave, she's dedicated, she doesn't hesitate to get her hands dirty. For me that makes her a girlboss, regardless of whether you're willing to understand her character motivations or not.

What you say about Alan I think it's the result of people depending too much on the wiki. I haven't checked it in a while, but last time I did it said something along the lines of "Mia made a deal with the BSAA to not tell Ethan anything about her previous life" which is only an assumption based on that line from the Baker Incident Report:

Maybe it's just me not caring about hating Mia, but I don't see how this proves Mia made a deal with them to not tell Ethan. It's not like Ethan didn't suspect anything, like, it's ridiculous, do they think he spent three years with Mia, continuously asking her about her past, her not telling him, and him still staying with her and having a kid with her?? That's just stupid.

But, the wiki does imply she did, so with a lot of people who don't care about spending time looking through all the sources (and like, I don't blame them, they're not obligated to) and depend on the wiki to learn about the story, they get the wrong idea. The wiki is what also says that Mia was a researcher for the Connections, and that was taken from a guide-kind of book about re7 that was published in Japanese only so we're depending on fan translations for that, and those carry a high risk of inaccuracies. Now since we don't have any more details about that - like, what kind of research did she do? Was it about Eveline in specific? Cause the files in re7 only call her Eveline's handler, and that's way different than being a researcher actively doing experiments on her - it's a bit of a wonky situation in general. The game says other stuff, the guide book says other.

And frankly, I don't know how the hell it would make sense for her to be a researcher. In the photo she wears plain clothes and jeans (like Alan), while the others are in lab coats. Why would she not wear a lab coat if she was taking part in the whole "research"? Also, a shit ton of people just ignore the fact that the Connections just left Mia to rot in the Baker house and chose Lucas of all people to monitor the situation through. If she was a high-position researcher that was full-on sold on bioterrorism and knew every little significant detail about the Eveline project... y'all think they would have left her there??? If she was significant to the organization, you think they wouldn't care to rescue her? And if she had too much info as a high-up, you think they would have risked her surviving, getting away and ratting them out?? Bitch come on. It's fine if you don't like her but don't try to justify that with poor research on the topic. (That's not aimed at you, anon, that's aimed at all those people who scream bloody murder the moment you try and explain that Mia is not Evil incarnated upon Earth)

[arosexpositivity]

Et tu, aro blog? skeletalroses [dot] tumblr [dot] com/post/692970874729545728 (I hate that I have to vet every single individual reblog of this post but come on)

Link. Archival link.

Yes, et moi.

Your chosen examples of horror fandom aphobia were:

Reducing horniness is swagless

Disagreeing with the underlying sexual connotations of a myth is homophobic

Horror is about love

It's obvious to me that with the first and second, your intent was to communicate, "demanding sexual content and mocking people who do not produce sexual content for you is acephobic."

That it's the act of bullying that is the problem.

I agree completely.

But the delivery, especially later in the thread, contributes to the overall effect of saying it's the sex that's bad, not the cruelty.

For all that I am aro too, I am also a sex positvity blog. That means walking the line of BOTH making it very clear that anyone who harasses, insults or denigrates others for a disinterest in sex is an fucking asshole with no respect for consent, and making it clear that horniness is not actually a bad thing.

The profusion of "sexy queer monster stuff" in recent years does not even manage to overtake the mainstream fact of horror being a pathos driven genre dominated primarily by violence.

I am unbelievably sickened by violence, btw. I throw up watching marvel movies. My delusions are often triggered by psychological and fantastic horror, too. Horror's content is pretty fundamentally inaccessible to me.

I do not then turn around and make a whole thread about how that inaccessibility is an act of insidious anti-psychotic bigotry, rather than just a natural consequence of genre convention.

Instead, I go find the horror fans who make non-violent content, engaging with the genre through reviews, meta analyses, and fandom. Because not everything that makes me feel alienated is the result of bigotry. Sometimes, it's just a matter of having to say, "this space is not good for me, I'm out" and making your own or picking a new hobby.

Someone being horny over horror in public is not an attack on you.

Someone being insulting absolutely is, but... well, like I said. I am a fan of horror, an aromantic, and a relatively well studied queer theorist to boot. And I haven't seen nearly as much of those insults, as I have seen aggressive pushback against them.

This is not to say they aren't out there. Of course they are! This isn't the kind of commentary one makes up on a whim. That would be as absurd as you saying "I've never seen someone use 'horny' to mean big and sweaty" and thinking that means it doesn't happen.

But it does mean you can avoid them.

Honestly, though, the real issue I have with that thread stems from the last bullet point. "Horror is about love."

This is a notion I've seen circulate occasionally for years, but never dominate, and I haven't seen it dominate right now either. Maybe it is! Maybe my curation and avoidance have gotten so good that I'm echo chambering myself away from all that nonsense.

But even so, even so?

This recent fixation on "love" as being an axis of oppression makes me fucking insane. Absolutely frothing at the mouth with outrage.

It so obsessively and gleefully centers romantic love as the highest form of human interaction. Which, given that it's supposed to be describing my experiences as an aromantic, aplatonic, anarchic person, makes me want to strangle myself.

If you declare all "love" to be outside yourself, you aren't just furthering the association of "love" with "romance," you're actively trying to separate yourself from the rest of humanity. Not because "(romantic) love is what makes us human."

But because "love" is an umbrella term that contains many of the specific things that make us human: compassion, trust, forethought, passion for ourselves, each other, our arts, our world, the desire to know and care for something whether it is ourself or outside ourself.

And I'm sorry, but as someone who has spent their entire life being called a violent monster by my family for being aro and pscyhotic, pre-emptively attacked for my lack of Human Qualities Like """""love""""" because everyone knows Brown People Aren't Capable Of Higher Emotions?

I'm not fucking interested in people telling me how "love" is beyond my ability to fathom and that I cannot be interested in exploring the ways love interacts with horror.

I'm just not fucking interested in being told that for my own good, I need to sit quietly and stay chill when someone is shit talking everything from horniness to love in the name of "protecting me" from one of my own hobbies.

[macgyverseries]

rebutting and debunking frequently used arguments against macriley

I made this 10-page google doc rant a while ago, but I never ended up posting it. Today, however, I woke up and chose violence. So here it is: my thoughts on frequently used arguments against macriley.

I took some quotes and arguments that people put online (reddit, tumblr..), and I debunked them all :p I feel like I always see the same arguments all the time, and I’m honestly getting a little tired of hearing them. I’m here to settle this once and for all.

and yes, i did manage to cut down the google doc by 3 pages :D (but it's still long af so rip my brain)

1.”Mac and Riley are siblings because Jack is their father”

I can (mostly) get behind the argument that Mac and Riley shouldn’t be in a romantic relationship because of their super strong friendship. Some people really value that sole platonicness, and I get that.

But the argument that I can’t get behind is that: Mac and Riley are siblings because Jack is their father figure”

If you google the definition of “father,” the first result that comes up is: “a man in relation to his children.”

Now, Jack was definitely the father figure to Riley, and I would consider her his child. He raised her. He helped shape her ideals and upbringing.

Mac only met Jack when he left MIT. So it was pretty much after Mac was raised (by Bozer’s parents haha), that Jack really came into his life. Mac already became his own person. (also, I always saw Mac and Jack as more of a bromance)

So because Riley and Mac met Jack at different periods of their lives, and they were raised differently, I wouldn’t say that they were siblings who were raised by the same father.

2. “The show writers left the impression that there was a huge age gap between them”

I understand this a little. I do think Riley was introduced as pretty young and idk naive? Because she was literally in highschool, and then she went to prison, and then she got released into the wild. Personally, when I started watching the show, I googled the whole cast. So I started the show knowing that they were the same age.

And also, the more I got to know Riley, the more that I thought that Riley was more mature and had an old soul herself. I think it was because she was just a dynamic and round character, who is well-developed.

But, I get first impressions. I feel like once you get stuck on an impression, it’s hard to go away from that.

Also, Jack would’ve totally shipped macriley, and you can’t change my mind.

3. "Riley isn't ready for a relationship"

I honestly think that this argument should be more geared towards Mac. He needs to figure himself out and go to therapy ffs. However, this person targeted Riley (the literal queen), so I shall defend her:

I understand wanting Riley to take some time off, and figure herself out before going straight into another relationship with someone. But here’s the thing. Throughout the first few seasons Riley’s character was very well established, and she didn’t have any partners during that time. She has proven that she is a strong, well-rounded, independent woman (with or without a partner). So i think it is valid to say that she isn’t just some girl who only has boy toys. She is much more than that.

My next point is that Riley has made it clear that she wants a lasting relationship with someone who will support her. When talking with Mac in 4.04, we see her express her interest in a stable, healthy relationship. It’s not wrong to go out and look for that potential partner. This applies to everyone (not just fictional characters): It’s going to take a few relationships and self-discovery, to find a good relationship, and people shouldn’t be shamed for searching for that.

Riley has only ever had two major boyfriends that I remember. First was Billy; she took that relationship very seriously. She really did seem happy with him. It was a shame that he cheated on her. Second was Aubrey. She also took that relationship very seriously. She had been living with him for six months (and they even had the cutest date nights!) So I wouldn't say that Riley only has boy toys. She has meaningful relationships.

Lastly, I think this was written when season four started airing, but it’s been over a year (and a pandemic) since Riley has dated. I think enough time has passed.

*4. I had to split this one up because, oh boy, there is a lot to unpack here.

4a. “If that was the direction they’d chosen to take with that relationship from square one… My issue with it is that Mac and Riley were presented to us as friends/ found siblings for three years. There were NO romantic vibes to speak of between them..”

I actually felt the same way about macriley. The thought of them being together in season one, made me want to throw up. I don’t think the writers intended on having macriley, and I was perfectly fine with that.

I know that people look for different things when they ship. Some really like having instant gratification with the spicy, hot, sexy parts of a relationship, like macdesi (which is why I was fine with the idea of shipping macdesi in the past).

I always wanted to see macriley do more: have hot, flirtatious banters/interactions. it can be hard to ship people who seem to be missing that part of the love equation. So i agree. It's definitely strange. And I understand if you genuinely have a hard time seeing the romantic potential of macriley, when the writers have only dragged out and shown us the platonic potential of them.

Also, the reason why it is difficult to see macriley as romantic, was because they ALWAYS PRIORITIZED AND WERE DRIVEN on their friendship. A partner should be friends first, and then makeout buddies second.

But just because people start off as friends, doesn’t mean that they still don’t have that potential to be lovers. Because guess what?! Feelings change. It’s now canon that Riley has feelings for Mac, and Mac always had feelings for Riley (but never acted on it).

I'm sorry, but you like a boomer when you say “bAcK iN mY dAy, tHeY dIdN’t HaVe fEeLiNgS fOr EaCh oThEr.” like okaAAAyyYYyYY????? We are not “back in your day” anymore. We are in the present. We are in today. And today, macriley is real :)

4b. “There’s the incredibly tired trope where long-term coworkers suddenly catch feelings for each other out of nowhere”

Personally, I will never get tired of the friends to lovers trope. I think the fact that Mac and Riley had such a strong friendship and foundation is what makes them perfect. Again, I know that some people just like instant gratification, but I love when a couple can take their time to have depth, emotion, and realness in their relationship.

Obviously I am biased because I have so much love for this trope, it's my favorite trope, but I don't see why you would use the “it’s overused” as reasoning to hate a ship. Just because a trope is used a lot, doesn’t mean it is bad (that’s probably why it is so good lmao). I can understand getting tired of it, and growing a dislike towards a trope. For example, I have grown an extreme dislike towards the love triangle.

A bit of a tangent: But the difference between overusing love triangles and overusing friends to lovers, is that love triangles aren’t just commonly used tropes. They are cliches. They cause unwanted drama and unnecessary hurt to one character. Whereas friends to lovers doesn’t involve as much drama and pain for a character. It is more of just angst between two people. And we know that they will get together eventually with a happy ending. So it was never really problematic.

And even then, the great thing about overusing or utilizing tropes, is that they can act as a guide. It allows the show writers and cast to make it personal, make it their own, adding their own special flair to it

I just don’t see the “this trope is used a lot” as a valid reasoning for disliking a ship .It just seems like this commenter doesn’t like the friends to lovers trope for the sake of not liking it.

I could be very wrong in my assumption of this person’s thoughts on friends to lovers, maybe there is a deeper reasoning as to why they don’t like it, but the tone that i interpreted when i read this section, was that they don’t have a real reason to dislike it, it’s more of just because.

4c.“then there's the fact that Riley had a mostly single Mac in her life for 3-4 years and she never even considered him romantically until he was with someone else”

First: Riley didn’t CHOOSE to fall in love. You may recall that “emotions aren’t a science. You can’t control them.”

Second: Mac was broken up with Desi when she caught feelings for him. Plus, the moment Riley saw that Mac and Desi were getting happy together, she moved out and gave them space. She sacrificed her own feelings for his happiness, despite the fact that her heart was breaking.

4d. “and finally, Mac not only still doesn't seem to even have Riley on his radar in that way but he literally told another woman that he loves her just last week. Neither of them look particularly good here if they get together now.”

I'm assuming that this was written when 4.12 first aired. I'm also assuming that this comment was more directed towards the idea of Mac and Riley getting together immediately at the end of the season, rather than later down the road. I always saw of macriley as more of endgame material. That i would see them get together sometime in the future. So I agree. Macriley getting together during that time period, would be too rushed and unsatisfying.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So those were most of the supposed arguments that I saw for people who were against macriley, but I also wanted to provide some really good examples of people who were very respectable, and actually had valid reasoning for disliking them.

1. they just don’t like shipping in general

Ships can be annoying af. Seeing people ONLY focus on the ships is sometimes tiring. I, myself, even feel a little guilty making this post, because I need to chill and mind my own business lmaooo. I really should let people do whatever they want to do with their lives, and not get caught up in the ships, but here I am :p

Anyways, I know that there is a lot of unnecessary drama that comes with shipping, and it's tiring to see people constantly go on and on about romance, when there are other perfect things about the show.

2. No matter how hard they try, they just feel it.

This is literally so dumb (and a little hypocritical/self-contradictory), but if you have a gut feeling, and you just can’t get yourself to ship it, I get it. If you truly and genuinely believe that they are best platonic friends, I can't change your opinion. And I have respect for you (if you say it in a kind manner).

Here is a nice example of a person who expressed their opinion in a nice way, with no BS.

So the moral of the story: I can't control your deepest thoughts. I can't control your gut feelings. And that’s okay. But the moment that you start backing up your thoughts and insights with BS reasoning, is the moment that I lose respect for you.

[jisunshines]

Follow-up from last ask: So I see that you thought that the whole gauntlet fiasco was largely a western-audience thing. It got me curious. Because, I'm from the west and I'll shyly admit that I'm largely unaware of how different things are around most parts of the world. How does some other parts of the world usually receive and consume things like Fire Emblem? I'd love to know!

Hmmmm, I’m no one to represent the rest of the fandom, so I’d like to make it clear that this is all just my opinion based on what I’ve learned!

According to my perception, the Japanese/Korean FE fandom (I’m talking specifically about these two countries because they are the only fandoms I am familiar with outside of the English-speaking one) don’t make a big deal out of Camilla appearing to be a “fanservice character” which is one of the big reasons why she gets so much hate here. Perhaps because they have seen much worse cases in terms of fanservice outfits, people generally don’t have a problem seeing past her armor design and seeing more of her personality, especially the motherly/loving side. Even if they don’t necessarily see those sides of her, they don’t seem to have much of a problem with her being ‘sexy’.

Also I don’t think there’s as much pride for the older FE fans in Japan? It seems to be more of nostalgia. They seem to enjoy and appreciate most of the new changes, and mingle with the new fans peacefully. (This statement might not be completely true, but I haven’t seen anyone talk badly of the newer FE games in Japanese as some of the English-speaking fans do.) (I remember reading somewhere that people might have a generally stronger attachment to the older FE games compared to the Japanese fans, because the Japanese fans had a lot more JRPGs of similar nature available to them growing up.)

Lastly, the Japanese/Korean fandoms are much more reserved. They tend to not reveal negative feelings toward fictional characters unless they can remain completely anonymous. This is especially true for Japan where the FE fandom is much larger.

In conclusion, there’s just not much hate for Camilla in the Eastern fandoms I’ve seen, nor the strong pride (not necessarily a bad thing) some of the English-speaking fans display, to spark any unpleasantness between the Camilla fans and Lyn fans. Maybe some people over at the global branches of Nintendo noticed what went on during the gauntlet in the English-speaking fandom, but because the incident was rather limited to a specific culture, I don’t think it’s very much likely for the primarily Japanese developers to script a support conversation between the two characters just because of what happened. (It might happen for other reasons though, who knows? Also they’ve been paying more attention to the needs of the Western fans so there’s that.)

+I noticed after I finished writing that you asked about how people receive FE in general rather than this one specific thing...... That’s an even bigger topic and I don’t really know what to say so I hope this post suffices your curiousity a bit!

[otherluces]

2 of 2 I guess? I have such a brain fart that I can't remember what state you were in. Massachusetts? I hope that's right! It's sad that your wrestling friends aren't there any more. Most of mine have always been online anyway. I see you're into South Park now which I find interesting. I'm going to dig around. After the Creek episode I looked up a few fics in the fandom and read some. I'll check out yours. I hope you're doing well! Good being in touch with you!

You remember correctly. =) I once went to a Chikara show where there were 7 of us altogether. We took a picture in the ring with Eddie Kingston, who was the Chikara Grand Champion at the time, during intermission. It was fun. After they had all scattered, my husband and I went to a handful of WWE shows, but it was never the same. We’d watch it live like we would at home, just being sort of smarky and overanalyzing things. It didn’t help that we always seemed to be surrounded by people either doing the same time or who didn’t seem like they wanted to be there. The floor always seemed like the only place to enjoy the show. The people who get those tickets tend to have fun. Except the people in the first row, it seems. Do you ever get that feeling, too? They always look so bored, even when there’s something cool happening.

So I’ve enjoyed South Park since about 2003/2004, but only after I got super into the most recent videogame did I join the fandom on here. It helped get my writing energy back, although I’m pretty depleted lately. I never finished my main wrestling erotic romance fic, but I don’t feel as guilty anymore because there was some sort of emotional conclusion. That and if I had ever finished the last third, people would have hated it because Jon and Lana would have mutually decided to break-up because they no longer could nurture their relationship (he would have been champ and too busy to visit, and she would’ve been working on running her own bar and too busy to spend time with him when he was able to visit). I liked its realism, but that’s not what people want in romance fics. ^^()

Anyway, in terms of my South Park fics, I’ve now written more than I did in wrestling, and I actually recently took a fic I wrote for the wrestling fandom and completely rewrote it for a zine that will hopefully be out by the end of the year or shortly after. (The original was 1.5k words, this new one is 5k ^^()). If you enjoyed any of my wrestling fics, my style hasn’t really changed much - dumb comedy with some sexy bits.

Also in regards to your third message, yes I definitely remember. I believe I saved many of them for a long time, and only in the past year did I clear out all of my old private messages/anons. I had a lot of fun, too. It’s okay that they stopped, though. It was around that time that I started getting too emotionally invested in tumblr stuff and my wrestling crushes and whatnot. As much as I like to think fondly about a lot of the fun I had back then, the group of people in the fandom at the time that I surrounded myself with...we eventually got too entangled in each other’s lives I think, and I believe that was part of what made things implode, at least for me personally. I do still talk with Annabel (BrodieBlue) from time to time, though. She’s getting married next year!

[permian-tropos]

All the symbols for the Controversial Shipping Asks for Star Wars. I'm just so goddamn curious

ALL OF THEM holy moly well thank you very much for being so curious! It seemed like I wouldn’t get any of them at all. But now I get to clear them all out in one go~!

this sure took a long time to write 

Ship that you have as an OTP:🌹

Gallirae. I have a blog about it. It’s called @gallirae​. It kinda deserves this spot.

They’re just endlessly fascinating to explore; I think they represent two polar opposites in terms of Imperial ideology and I think they’re both attractive personalities in their forms of villainy (I swoon over pragmatic, commanding warriors AND extravagant, spooky, self-absorbed pricks). I love exploring their psychologies, I love using all the cheesy-ass symbolism strewn about their storylines, I love making stupid jokes about them, I love imagining serious stories that help me express my own turbulent emotions and suffering, I love making them rethink their twisted worldviews. 

It’s very dark. Darkshipping is not everyone’s cup of tea, and often it’s not even mine. But this isn’t about pure perfect love. To me, it’s a ship about galaxies colliding and trying to devour each other.

Ship that you’re indifferent to:😑

Galennic. I actually have read a few galennic fics that I really enjoyed but what I enjoyed about them was the writing and not particularly the characters. I was more charmed by the interviews the actors did together. I think Rogue One, overall, didn’t steal my heart the way it did for other people.

Also there’s the fact that I have no particular Thrawn ship at the moment? I know he’s an incredibly sexy dude but I haven’t found any ships with him that get me really excited. But then again, I haven’t bought the Thrawn book yet, so I feel my Thrawn experience is incomplete.     

Ship that makes you sad:💔

Obitine! I didn’t expect to like a seemingly shoehorned in love interest as much as I did – the moment I watched those Clone Wars episodes I was like dang I can get behind this. Satine was just so well-characterized in such a short span of time. But I had already been spoiled about what happens so it automatically made me sad.

In the same vein, Obikin and Obianidala, which I also like very much. All sad. Poor Obi-Wan. 

Ship that you find disgusting:💩

‘Disgusting’ is a strong word. I suppose, even though I don’t begrudge anyone who enjoys this, I dislike Hux being depicted as some kind of superslut who got his position by sleeping with older officers. The only actual ships for that I’ve seen are Hux/Krennic or Hux/Tarkin if he’s transplanted into the Imperial era… If that’s your thing, I don’t think you’re disgusting though. Just not my cup of tea.

Ship that you find cute but don’t ship:✌

Any of the Luke mlm ships, like Luke/Wedge, Luke/Biggs, Luke/Lando… I don’t feel particularly invested in them as much as I just like the idea of Gay Luke (or ace Luke!). (True Luke OTP: Luke/Bigger Luke)

Ship that you secretly like:💚

Grand Inquisitor/Maketh Tua: @pileofsith​ all ur fault, I never considered this while watching Rebels but now I think it’s pretty damn charming

Ship that you used to have as an OTP:💙

Kylux: it absolutely used to be an OTP but I just ran out of steam with it, and there were a lot of ways I felt alienated from the larger fandom. 

Ship that you find most sexy:👅

fuckin👌  galliraedea👌  man👌  like I suppose three people means more… combinations… for sexuality…? more butts yaknow and adding Adea into the ship kind of balances things out in terms of the tension (non-sexual, villainous) between Rax and Sloane. In a universe where she doesn’t have to choose between them, she can work well as a mediating presence while thoroughly enjoying her dream threesome. It can be a little more indulgent. Unfortunately I haven’t actually done much with the ship yet. who wants to read my flailing attempts at porn this isn’t a rhetorical question

Ship that you can never see happening:👎

Reylo: I feel like I almost slipped down the reylo path after I watched TFA. I understood the appeal. I’ve also met some reylos who make the ship really tempting! But at the same time I understand the people who are so uncomfortable with it. It seems so unlike Star Wars to depict that kind of forbidden love thing, since it won’t go over well with a lot of its audience. While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with shipping it at the moment, I personally can’t imagine it happening. (I’m taking this question to mean “what do I think won’t be canon” because I have to answer other questions about ships I don’t like, and this doesn’t really fit that category.)

Ship that is canon but you don’t ship:💤

Brendol Hux/Chuck Wendig’s characterization

Ship that is unpopular but you still like:💘

I’ve started reading some of the Star Wars comics and I admit I’m a little interested in Vadaphra, which might be unpopular to people who prefer Aphra as exclusively interested in women. But I don’t really favor that ship over other ones with Aphra, like Aphra/Sana, and Aphra/that Imperial lady she spares because she’s hot (I haven’t gotten to that comic yet but tbh I kinda feel like I’d be super down for a ship like that lmao). 

Ship that is taboo:💦

Brendol/Kitchen Woman counts right?? Adultery is taboo, kinda? Listen. I know we know next to nothing about canon Kitchen Woman and that’s not even who I’m talking about here you all know it’s my goddamn OC lord I just want evil couple Hux parents and I’ll fight all the canon I have to for that, also who wouldn’t want a ship where the aesthetic is like scary ocean things… and I probably wouldn’t ship this as much as I do if it weren’t for my RPs with @honeypothux​ turning what was going to be a pragmatic villain ship into a genuinely moving story of love and tragedy like you had to be there 

Ship that pisses you off:💣

It kinda pisses me off when people (only a few people, in passing) interpret Sloane’s affection for Adea as romantic (like “oh that stuff about daughters is just sapphic subtext”) but then don’t have any interest in exploring Adea’s perspective or motivations. Or acting like the age and power gap between Sloane and Adea isn’t just as complicating and problematic as it is between Rax and Adea. 

The fact that I called the three of them together the sexiest ship proves that I don’t think it’s too problematic to explore. My issue is just when people act like Adea simply belonged to Sloane by default, and was ‘stolen’, because that’s just how Sloane felt. And this was kind of a failing of hers.

Ship you’re curious about:👀

Reysma if it turns out that Phasma really is from Jakku because that’d be a pretty interesting connection between them and could lead into some awesome content.

Ship that needs more love:💖

Gallirae listen I didn’t sell my soul to this ship to be adrift in such a lonely sea but at the same time I’m not ungrateful for the little community we do have because it’s awesome, everyone is A+ and great & I love

Ship that is most misunderstood:💢

Kalluzeb: I only mildly ship it in the sense that I enjoy spectating the fandom, and am interested in seeing their interactions in the coming season of Rebels, but boy is there a lot of virulent discourse from antis… I won’t disparage anyone who finds it uncomfortable but you can’t act like you have a right to accuse people of the most hateful ideologies over this.

[squaredancing-weston]

text || Brobastian (Week 2)

Bas: Alright, first of all - this isn't the sexy kind of tease, this is the extremely frustrating want to slam my head into a brick wall kind of tease. I don't see how the humour thing is being generous to anyone. I get second hand embarrassment just reading your attempts. Brody, it's been /two weeks/. I can't deal with this shit.

Bas: Seriously, Brodes, it's almost concerning how much you've managed to warp your memory already. I honestly think that you're gonna need a reminder. Too bad you're not into being recorded - it's the only way we'd be able to settle this once and for all. Well, unless we get someone to judge. I vote Blaine. Not gonna lie, you're making her sound less and less appealing as time goes on.

Bas: Well, no, but looking the term up isn't that difficult. It's fine - I'll be back within the week, no doubt. I don't need much longer. Well maybe I can keep my sub around and get her to do the writing if she's even capable of such a thing. It'll be a valuable lesson for her, at least. I mean, you're talking about the same kids that copy and paste Wikipedia articles and think I'm not gonna notice - without even attempting to reword anything. Trust me, they couldn't pull off Weekend at Bernie's.

Brody: Oh come on: people do this all the time...I imagine. Somewhere. It's just got to be about mindset, right? Like you just have to //imagine// that someone's on top of you, telling you all the ways they're going to fuck you solid, all the ways that they're going to completely wreck you-- fingers, mouth, dick-- again and again until you can't move...and just kind of prolong that imagery until you can get someone to take care of it.

Brody: [unsent] Okay, I //think// I might have gotten a little carried away with that one. My bad.

Brody: And without my humor, you'd have to focus solely on your sexual frustration. Like I'm kind of curious how blue one's balls can //get//-- is like indigo an option at some point? XD Two weeks isn't so long.

Brody: Yeah; damn those pesky facts and the way they form reality. You know, I would totally be down for that, but considering how I still think 'invalid' every time I see you, I just feel like I'd be afraid of breaking you if I even attempted going soft-- I couldn't even consider going for a real ride. And no way in //hell// am I recording anything-- I learned my lesson, and it didn't even have to be from you. Why do you insist on tormenting that poor kid? He's built you up to be this Adonis in bed-- I'd hate to be the one knocking you off that pedestal for him to see. Just seems mean to both of you. You know-- I'm sure she's fine. Like I said, perky ass, nice smile, good enough at small talk. I just feel like I could use a break from people I don't know, is all. The beauty of cycling, after all, is being able to go with what you're comfortable with.

Brody: Apparently it is XD Within the week, huh? So jumping from antibiotics and bedrest right back into the saddle? Have you seen that quack who said you'd be out for three weeks about that one? He's got to clear you to come back, right? But hey, if they do let you keep her, can I get one too? I don't want to have to do any writing or walking or anything either. Oh yeah-- I forgot those were yours. Maybe one of them watched the movie and will just copy it?