#yuri's shitty shipping hot takes

[biblicallyaccuratefour]

Welcome to...

YURI'S SHITTY SHIPPING HOT TAKES!

Where I discuss my opinions on ships on fandoms I'm in and go on a whole ass tangent on them!

~•°��°•~

Today's shitty shipping hot take I have on is in the hyperfix that has a chokehold on me right now:

POKÉMON!!!

Now, we're gonna go off strong, so fair warning for spoilers, age gaps and all that nasty stuff.

The ship I have opinions on is Ferriswheelshipping (Hilda x N) and Isshushipping (Hilbert x N), and boy, do I have opinions on them!

Now, to discuss the Copperajah in the room, there's one MAJOR problem I have with these two ships, that's right: there's a huge-ass age gap!

"What's the age gap," you ask? Well, only 6 years. What makes it worse is that N is canonically 20 (stated by one of the devs in an interview) and Hilda/Hilbert are 14.

Now, I get it if the protags are age ambiguous, but the problem I have here is that most, if not all of the pokémon protags are MINORS, ranging from young tween and late teens. (The Kalosian protags look like young adults and are age ambiguous, so their ages are up for interpratation.) This problem comes up whenever a pokémon protag is shipped with someone who's literally an adult (again, age ambiguous, but my point still stands.)

The shipping archetype, to my knowledge is a rival-to-friends-to-lovers trope. Now, Rivals-to-Lovers isn't a bad shipping trope, but it should only be OK when A) the characters are both consenting adults and B) if not, are the same age at least.

N, in this case is the 'rival' to Hilda/Hilbert, the protagonists. N is an interesting case: he was an orphan, raised by pokémon and taken in by Ghetsis (asparagus man) to be indoctrinated and conditioned to be Team Plasma's King, being taught that humans are bad and they abuse pokémon.

The protags and N first meet early on in the game, and they meet several times in-game and they battle (in true rival fashion.) However, when they reach Nimbasa City, N invites the protags to ride the ferris wheel with him. The dialogue differs depending on the protag's gender, but the moment they had was intimate (not the dirty kind, get your mind out of the gutter), despite N inviting them there as a diversion for the Team Plasma grunts to escape.

Throughout the story, their bond gets stronger as friends and rivals, and it comes to a climax at the final battle. Post-battle, N realises how much he fucked up and how Ghetsis manipulated and pratically abused him for his own gain. N basically apologises and leaves with Reshiram/Zekrom to 'atone' and we never see him again until BW2, but Hilda/Hilbert are just gone by then.

So, in canon, essentially, N had trauma dumped the kids. They only have a rivals-to-friends dynamic, and to the fans, they ate it up and went apeshit. (N is hot, so I could sense a bit of self-projecting with the shipping with the protags, but I could be wrong-)

I get it that N has had an unorthodox upbringing and is autism-coded, but it doesn't excuse the fact that N is a grown-ass man. The only solutions I got to make it less worse is to either age Hilda/Hilbert up to adults (and not the bullshit "they're 18 on paper, but is still the same in everything else", like actually age them up), or shipping a self-insert or OC with N (Yumeshipping is cool, and there's nothing wrong with shipping an OC with a canon character as long as it's not problematic.)

I can only see them as close friends, as N sees Hilbert/Hilda as a 'special friend', considering that they had helped him realise his mistakes and how much of a shitty person Ghetsis actually is. (N should actually go see a fucking therapist, smh)

So, to sum it up, please pay attention to the character's ages if they're mentioned in canon, I'd rather not have my blorbo/husbando having to deal with the 'allegations' (/nsrs).

I'mma rate this ship a 1/10.

~•°☆°•~

(Please don't harass me because I'm only stating my opinion on this. I have no beef with those who ship this, OK? Everyone has an opinion, just like how everyone has an asshole.)

Sources of the ages:

[strobichie]

just sae.

♡⸝⸝ summary: poor you decided to replay ddlc, but something seems wrong... why is monika sae?

little note: bachira is sayori, rin is natsuki, and isagi is yuri!!

your perspective:

i had recently gotten a new computer, there are so many things i still need to work with and customise to my liking.

so, to cure my boredom, i'm installing ddlc again and replaying it!

my favourite character is natsuki, i absolutely loved how adorable and relatable she just is. she reminded me of one of the kids i babysat.

after installing the win files i extracted them all and started the game up, as usual, i see the 4 dokis on the main screen on startup.

i entered my name of choice and started the game ---

wait, bachira??? FROM BLUE LOCK??

why was he sayori? not gonna lie, his sprites are really cute, but how..??

i re-checked the website i downloaded the game from but it displayed the 4 dokis there and there was nothing wrong..

huh, why am i being scared?

i should be grateful, honestly.

i've been blessed by the gods above!! for once i'm fucking lucky!

no way was i gonna pass up the opportunity to interact with my favourite anime characters especially since they somehow ended up in my favourite childhood game..!

i wonder who natsuki, yuri, and monika would be, though?

this is interesting! as i progress even more reading the dialogues and clicking on the chat box, after a few minutes of suffering i finally got to the literature club with bachira!

"seriously, a girl? way to be a killjoy." rin... RIN?!?!?!?!?!

OH MY GOD RIN IS SO HOT? HIS ATTRACTIVENESS SCALE WENT TO 100 TO 1000 SO QUICK!!

wait.. could that mean ---

ISAGI IS YURI!! YES!! MY FAVOURITES ALL IN ONE ROOM!!

i hope monika is kaiser or even better, anri..!!

gosh this got me feelin' so giddy and chipper in the early fucking morning..

i skipped a few of the dialogues, and abruptly stopped when a certain person came into view.

...sae? really?

what an eyesore. i hate sae, of all people, why sae?

sure he was similar to monika, but only in appearance. kaiser or anri could have been able to fulfill this role.

i sighed in annoyance, at least i have rin and the others...

i continuously skipped many dialogues and had finally gotten to the part where sayori, or in this situation bachira, hangs himself..

right, this was a horror game after all. did i really forget about the main plot?

i stared at the screen with an obvious frown. rin and isagi are next..

and the person behind all this was saeshit. ugh, seriously... well, good thing i can just delete his files at any given time.

progressing through the story even further, i got a special poem and cringed at the 'drawing'. it was bachira hanging in a humorous manner.

this was unfortunate.

i clicked on the chat box endlessly, wanting to speedrun to the moments of all my favourite characters deaths..

seeing rin crack his neck and isagi stab himself looking like a crazed maniac broke my heart. good things don't last.. this will probably be the last time i'll ever be able to play this version of the game.

then, here sae was, fuck was he smiling for?

"let me take a quick one of rin's cupcakes, these such are really good for a brother so shitty and nasty." i scoffed and gritted my teeth in anger, sae was clearly the asshole in their brother-ship.

i was met face-to-face with sae, i pursed my lips and stared at my computer screen.

"it's nice to talk to you even if it's by a dialogue box." is this even real?

"i know that you're thinking: is this legitimate? to answer your question, yes it is. i became self aware after everything in that god damn manga and anime called blue lock, i felt sick and tired of not being able to show up in the manga after a long period of time. somehow, i found a way to break the barrier between the fictional animanga world and reality as you call it." that was a mouthful. he was pretty talkative now. my burning hatred for sae cooled down a bit as he spoke more ---

"i found this 'cutesy romance horror' game and it had all the things i needed in order to cross over to the real world. this version of the game only exists on your desktop, {user}. is {user} even your name? are you even a girl?" he shot me a confused expression.

"honestly, i don't care anymore. even i started falling in love with you. i thought i wasn't capable of love, just like the original character monika, i fell in love with you." this sent a shiver down my spine, i sweat-dropped and continued reading his dialogues.

"you read that right, i love you. even if i'm not real, i love you. i won't ever let you leave me. i'll kill you even if you think of it." he coldly stated and i opened my file explorer, ready to delete his character file --- huh.. why couldn't i delete it?

"i'm disappointed, why would you wanna try to delete me? i love you, you should be grateful i love you." but i hated sae, i hate him!

"i've been practicing for a while, i think i can finally break the laws of physics and rules of nature between our worlds." uhm, does he even know what the fuck's he saying?

"i'll see you soon, goodbye {name}. i love you." HOW DID HE GET MY NAME? DID HE HACK INTO MY COMPUTER BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK..?!?!?!

i was scared shitless, jesus christ, just what did he mean by all that? i force shut down my computer and rolled to my bed covering myself in my blankets. time to go back to sleep after that eventful experience.

short little fic, should i make a part two?

finally made a part 2!

[crescentcrossbow]

Femslash February 2023 - My Take

Due to the lack of femslash february prompts lists I liked, I promised to myself I’d make my own, so here I am!

While these are intended for the Digimon fandom since I guess I live here now, nothing about them is actually specific to it, so they’re multifandom prompts. Use them as thou wilt.

Reunions

Folklore/myth

Long journeys

Iori Miyazawa’s hot takes (e.g. “A cliff is towering over the sea, grass is growing on top of it, there is a fence, the gray ocean and sky are stretching beyond the horizon, there is an empty bench for two... Someone was uploading these images with a #yuri tag. You can totally get that.”)

Gaming

Domestic fluff

Tanabata

Unplanned adoption as bonding

Forums and imageboards

“Like hell I’ll let you die”

Strict first-person POV with a healthy internal monologue and no dialogue tags (basically, fic that reads like it should be -- or is, if you’re good at Ren’Py or equivalent -- a visual novel)

Magical girl AU (if the fandom is already a magical girl series, this could be accomplished by translating your ship into a different series’ rules, e.g. Nanoha and Fate in RGU or Himena and San in PGSM)

Communication

Workplace fluff

Angst angst angst angst

Writing about writing

Roleswap AU

Absurd nonsense

Punching shitty family in the face

Holy Grail War

Temporary separation

Ikuhara-esque surrealism

and I’m home

Cooking, disastrous or otherwise

Fighting as a duo

Extremely inadvisable date ideas

Complicated time travel shenaniganry

Freeform

[pwnyta]

I got some SALT, because UGH. The fact that there are people screaming that Toga/Ochako are "canon" and NOT "queerbaiting" are the dumbest people I've seen in a while

Like, yes, Toga is canonically bisexual AND "loves" Uraraka, but Uraraka LITERALLY says she loves Izuku in this chapter!!!! Boom!!! Ship sunk!!!

But I'm not even done because YEAH, it IS queerbaiting! Horikoshi was never going to have them be canonical lesbians, because Uraraka is the lead girl so she HAS to be with Izuku! It's been set up from THE BEGINNING!!!

Like many dudes, Hori probably thinks wlw are hot and put it in because sex appeal but it was never going to GO anywhere romantically. They're not a "doomed yuri ship" if anything they're just doomed friends because while Uraraka is like "I wanna be your friend" Toga is going to JAIL, so unless she visits her in prison, they're never gonna see each other after this damn war!

People are taking Uraraka's "in another universe" as a "in another universe we could've girlfriends" but I'm PRETTY sure she means "in another universe we could've been friends". I haven't seen shippers this delusional since the KiriBaks, it's wild

(Also for those who need those little tone indicators. I'm not big mad about this, I use a lot of exclamation points for dramatic effect. Ship what you want, but also be aware that many of your ships will likely never be "canon" but also also, canon is not the end all be all of ships. Just have fun and make sure you have a healthy distinction between fiction and reality. This has been an Anon PSA)

Well Im gonna have to disagree with you a bit. If Togas confirmed a bisexual in love with Ocha than that is canon. I dont think you can call a depiction of actual queerness bait just because its one-sided. Its just BAD representation for trying forcing Ocha to be totally cool with this mass murderer who keeps hurting her because shes sad about not getting to hurt people and shes cute.

Now hey we dont need to compare them to the shrapnels... Forced as it is... they at least the TGUR shippers have actual interactions. LMAO

Its more like the BKDK situation... yes the characters interact but one is an abusive shit head who never has to learn a lesson due to some shitty sob story and their atonement/redemption/w/e it is is super forced and lame on a story level and the other member is a pretty good character stuck with babying them despite the abuse thats been inflicted on them.

[yurissweettooth]

Hey! Curiosity is killing me, so I want to ask: Do you have an unpopular opinion or something like that about T&B? It's ok if you don't want to answer!

Hi!! Thanks for the ask! :D In all honesty I don't think I have too many truly unpopular opinions or at least not many that are hot takes or anything. My criticisms and whatnot of the show and characters tend to line up with other people's in most cases. But! A few lukewarm takes I have under the cut...

-I think the biggest one is that I don't particularly like the way the fandom treats Ivan like he's a soft, innocent little baby. I relate to him a lot and I find that we're quite similar both in personality, interests, and insecurities so I always found it cool to see him grow stronger and more confident. However, I feel like a lot people lump him in with the kids due to his height and shy/insecure personality. It's weird because he's friends with Keith (and also seems to be the main one supporting/helping him and not vice versa) who is far more immature, ditsy, and childlike yet because of his looks he is seen and treated as an adult by the fandom while Ivan isn't. IVAN IS AN ADULT TOO! Us short, sensitive, baby faced adults are still adults! >:( -The first OP is greatly superior, I skip the second one every time other than on the first episode it appears on. -I feel bad for Edward. I know he did some terrible things but I don't think he's a villain like I see a lot of people portray him as. He was a kid who tried to do what he thought was right and made a mistake that ruined his life and likely left him with trauma that he's handling poorly. -I'm not really that big of a fan of Taibani. Like, I DO like them and I think they're cute but I mostly only get hyped while I'm actively watching the show since they're just there, outside of that I rarely think about them or have any strong feelings (unless it's Barnaby/Kotetsu/Yuri or Apollon Trio ships). Even if Taibani became canon I would just make my own ships anyway like Bunny/Yuri and Kotetsu/Antonio because I love my rarepairs... -Ryan is kinda boring and unlikeable in canon, I only like him when he's got 5 million headcanons slapped on him or for pairings. -Jake is the sexiest character in the whole show and no I will not be taking questions (Yuri is close second but I just love crusty men with shitty tattoos who don't know how to dress). Honestly if it weren't for the fact that he died or the fact that he threw Yuri's trauma in his face in the manga he might actually have been my favorite character. -Much like everyone else I will continue to bully him relentlessly for it anyway but... I actually like how Barnaby's empty apartment looks😐 -Virgil's story is kind of stupid as is the whole main plot of the Rising. Still love him and his movie though. -Yuri should have kept his ugly reaper outfit because it was 100% superior and cooler than the regular Lunatic suit we see now. He has a clear theme and motif going here, wtf is he supposed to be in the current version?

[sp4desawh0re]

High Rise invasion hot takes😇🤞

SPOILERS!!!SPOILERS!!!I REPEAT SPOILERS!!

•glad that everyone I know who watched/watches high rise thinks sniper mask is hot cus he is

• don’t u ever ship him w kuon or I’ll beat ur ass lolz (not to say I hate her but I j do it’s not my fault she’s j a lot even 4 me & it’s a fucking case idc what y’all try to justify this with SNIPER IS IN HIS 20s!!!) •anyways yuri is a boss bitch w her gf(they arent best friends bite me) •maid mask is mommy •yuri saying sniper mask is hot is the second hottest thing in the show(after sniper mask)

•for Netflix making this tho I cant compare it to the manga it was really good

•hear me out….yuris brother…

•HRI stans that write fics were basically spoon fed writing prompts and I love that

•hot mommy mask(y’all know who I’m talking ab don’t play dumb) being a teen mom and her kid being there too absolutely broke my heart

•rika(yuris brother forgot his name lolz) and sniper mask r the two hot friends

•I’m down bad for the girl sniper mask I have to say it

•aikwawa can smd😘(why’d is he so cute tho ugh)

•this show was so much i srsly don’t remember if I cried

•the concep/plot/meaning ig was really cool too like it wasnt just some shitty action anime

•plus so much hot ppl omfg i love this show and if u love it you have my heart(if you don’t sucks 4 you lolz)

[missmarquin]

Magnetic, Interlude

In the future, romantic attraction is literal: each person is fitted with an electromagnetic bracelet which will pull you to your soulmate. It's hard, wondering who's out there for you. It's harder yet, when you have to come to understand yourself first.

This is a little interlude, set between chapters 2 and 3. It offers us a little background on how Otabek and Yuri met in this universe, and how they came to be where they are. 

Read on A03 (proper italics and such!).

Interlude

To Charge a Particle (Or Two)

‘A magnetic field is caused by electron-charged particles, constantly moving about.’

---

Yuri met Otabek when his parents moved to Moscow for business.

Yuri lived in a shit-hole of an apartment, rented by his grandfather-- because who knew where the fuck his mother was.

The tiny-one room apartment that he shared with his grandfather was as old as the first world war, with walls so thin that you could hear a person cough on the other side. Yuri’s room had been covered in peeling wallpaper and kept cold by a moldy window unit.

The moment that Grandpa had met Otabek, he’d yanked him inside apologizing for the mess. Not that the home was a mess, it just wasn’t put together, like Otabek was. He wore armani jeans and a leather jacket that would have cost more than their month’s rent. Still, Otabek would call the place homey. And despite everything, he always preferred to spend time at Yuri’s.

Yuri never knew why.

....

Otabek was different. Otabek’s parents were well off, buying a house on the opposite side of the train tracks, so to speak. The lawn was perfectly manicured by gardeners and the home cleaned to perfection by a maid named Yulia.

The last thing he’d wanted to do at the age of thirteen, was move to Moscow. The next last thing he wanted to do was hang out with a fucking ten-year-old. Funny how things turn out, sometimes.

School was easy enough, since he spoke Russian. But people fled from him, like he was diseased. And he knew why, he knew that he didn’t fit in. He was too well-worded, too well dressed, too high society, for the shit-hole of a corner in Moscow, that he lived.

Yuri was treated the same way, but not for the same reason. People were threatened by his ferocity, by his well-clipped claws and carefully placed fangs. The moment they’d bite into him, he’d bite right back, his green eyes searing, daring them to say something.

The eyes of a soldier, Otabek had thought. A scrawny slip of a blonde kid, three grades lower, and had no need to look like that. No fucking need.

So when he went to him, Yuri expected to have to fight back. Otabek only extended friendship. “Why fight each other,” he’d asked, “when people can just hate us together?”

Yuri had regarded him warily, like it might have been a trick, but he took his words at face value.

And then one day, Yuri had followed him home, to the sprawling yard full of unnecessary trees and flowers. The front hall full of tapestries and rugs that only made the place look more lonely. Yuri had shifted uncomfortably, feeling dirty while surrounded by such wealth.

The moment that Mrs. Altin had laid eyes upon Yuri though, she’d basically adopted him as her own, demanding that he sit and eat.

Yuri always did.

...

They were entire opposites, it shouldn’t have worked, but it did. Life just threw them together, it seemed, and the friendship that ensued was effortless.

Yuri liked Otabek’s home, because he had the things that he never would.

Otabek liked Yuri’s home for the same reason.

Whereas Yuri wanted material things, Otabek wanted homey comfort.

And therefore, they always ate dinner at that shit-hole of an apartment. Cramped on his bed, no room to stretch their legs, shoulders bumping into each other. Grandpa sleeping in his armchair out in the living room, his snoring loud enough to disrupt whatever it was they watched on the laptop that Otabek had sitting on his lap.

Their friendship required no work, it just came naturally.

The best things always did, it seemed. Maybe it was fate.

...

Yuri first realized that he loved Otabek when he was fourteen. Maybe that was too young, or whatever, but all he could remember was Otabek’s tight face as he explained why he had to move back to Kazakhstan.

Otabek was seventeen and freshly graduated, because of course he did so a year early. Only the best, for the oldest son of the Altin family, unable to ignore the wit that was as sharp as a tack. Otabek had responsibilities and such, apparently. Things that he had to do.

Things that couldn’t be done in Moscow, for whatever reason.

It was fucking hilarious that Otabek would eventually ignore his calling (as so called by his high-class parents that expected things), to work in a greased up garage instead.

But back to their youth and the first time in his life, where Yuri was face-to-face with the idea of losing Otabek. The idea of not having him there to be around, to do everything with, was unbearable.

They laid on his tiny bed, barely able to fit on the twin mattress. Yuri was an awkward mess of gangly limbs affected by puberty. Otabek droned on about his future, his parent’s expectations, and how this didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends--

But it wasn’t the same, Yuri had thought. Being friends from afar wasn’t the same as being friends up close. And his heart burned, and it ached, and the idea of losing him was an all consuming dark spot that--

And then Yuri had swallowed.

And then Yuri had contemplated telling him.

No Beka, you can’t leave, I fucking love you.

But he didn’t say anything, he just listened to Otabek ramble on and on, staring at the ceiling like it meant something. The only thing it was good for, was keeping his wandering gaze away from the tanned skin next to him, and the sharp jawline of Otabek’s face.

He still didn’t say it weeks later, even when he hugged Otabek tight in the airport, his fingers digging into his leather jacket, like he might disappear forever the moment he stepped onto that plane. And Otabek hugged him back. Not some little tug to the side, but a full wrap around of his arms, pulling Yuri tightly to his chest. One hand around his waist, the other resting against his golden hair.

Yuri cried. He hated it, but he did.

Otabek didn’t, but Yuri could feel the slight hiccup in his breath, the hesitation to pull away.

But then he did.

And then he was twenty yards away, at the gate. He turned and waved, just a little twitch of his hand. Yuri didn’t wave back, he shot him the finger instead.

And Otabek laughed, before turning away to board.

Yuri filed it away so he could remember it forever.

…

This was the one moment, he’d allow himself, Otabek decided.

It wasn’t the best one perhaps, standing in the middle of a busy airport, but he’d fucking take it. Because the moment that he boarded that plane, his life would be set on a different path. And that path fucking sucked.

So, he held Yuri to him, his palm flat against his skull, fingers carded through the feather-like strands of blonde hair. He could feel his shirt wet with Yuri’s tears, and he paused, he nearly jumped ship.

What the fuck would Yuri do without him?

What the fuck would Otabek do without Yuri?

This wasn’t friendship anymore, this was something else entirely, even if Otabek wasn’t exactly sure what. All he knew was that he didn’t want it to go away, he didn’t want to give up those days spent in Yuri’s shoebox of a room, too hot because the AC didn’t work.

But he’d have to.

Because the world wasn’t fair, and you had to work with what you were given.

...

And then there was Amita.

Despite promises of visits, it took just over a year for Otabek to finally come back to Moscow, and when he did, came Amita. A cunning woman, with a sly smile and knowing eyes. Long black hair, carefully piled into a braid on her head. A blouse and skirt combo that would have cost Yuri three months worth of pay to buy, even if he was only a waiter at a shitty diner, part-time.

Old Money, Otabek had told him, waving it off.

It’d been a long time since Yuri had felt so poor, but Amita made him feel like gutter filth.

And then he heard the dreaded word fiancee slip from Otabek’s lips, and it was like his whole world had cracked. There would be no happy ending for him, because even if Beka got his fucking bracelet, he’d do the right thing--

And that was marry Amita.

…

The moment Otabek was introduced to Amita, he knew that he’d made a mistake.

He should have never listened to his family, he should have never left Moscow, he should have never left Yuri. Because if he had just fucking ignored them, he wouldn’t be in this situation.

Amita was a fantastic woman. Kind, cunning and incredibly smart, she was a good choice for him. At least, that’s what his parents had said. And as they were a lot, they were correct. He and Amita mixed well, they got along together.

Except for the fact that you know, he didn’t love her.

Well, he did, but not the way that he was supposed too. He loved Amita, like he loved Maya. But he wasn’t in love with her, because he was in love with--

Yuri.

Yeah, that was a weird thought, and something he hadn’t realized until his mother had made it very apparent that this girl was to be his future. He didn’t want her to be. He wanted his future to be full of long legs and glimmering golden hair and-- holy fuck he can never, ever let anyone know that.

Which is why it nearly broke his heart, to introduce Amita to Yuri.

“This is Amita, my fiancee,” he’d said quietly.

He’d expected Yuri to get angry, but he didn’t. Instead he had looked sad, like Otabek had just kicked Potya across the stomach, and in a lot of ways--

In a lot of ways, that was the worst fucking thing Otabek could have ever imagined seeing.

Because Yuri looked like he had lost, and it fucking broke his heart.

It was a wound that never quite healed. Instead, Otabek just locked that feeling away, intent on being as happy as he could be, with what was expected of him.

…

Yuri got over it by the time that he was seventeen.

It was impossible to hate Amita, because she was just so… Well, she was herself. So he allowed himself to become friends with her. They swapped stories of Beka, Yuri delighting in ones that were particularly embarrassing for good measure. He’d share his own, causing Otabek to call out in alarm, batting away at him, while Yuri laughed.

The ache in Yuri’s heart was still there, but it was okay, it was fine.

Because Otabek was happy, he seemed to be in a good place. And Amita was good for him, really she was.

Then Otabek was scheduled to receive his bracelet.

“Why?” Yuri had asked him, “You have Amita.”

“Well, why not? Wouldn’t you want to know?”

Yuri scoffed at that. If things were all good, why worry about it at all? Otabek and Amita had been together for nearly two years, they were getting married-- what was the point? Even if Otabek’s bracelet pointed elsewhere, it’s not like he’d go after it.

But it wouldn’t. Yuri knew it, Otabek knew, everyone knew it. The two were perfect for each other, and so, their bracelets would be too. Which is why he bet against Amita (and really, who bets against their fiance? How stupid was that?).

It was a relief when Otabek’s bracelet didn’t activate.

But a worry when Amita’s did, and Otabek’s remained quiet.

And then Amita left him, to find her own perfect someone, leaving Otabek behind. Who fucking did that? Who left behind the most perfect person in the entire world? Just how stupid was Amita?

---

The moment Amita revealed that her bracelet had activated and his hadn’t, there was a moment of hesitation, despite their promise to still stay with each other.

Amita wasn’t his person, and while he was okay with that, he didn’t want her to be tied down to him. Sure, he loved her, but that wasn’t enough, not when there was proof of someone who could love her more. And that proof was wrapped around her wrist, blinking quietly with a gentle green light.

When she made the choice to leave, he wished it had been a relief.

Instead, that careful wall that he had built came tumbling down, and he just remembered all those feelings that had been so carefully bottled up.

It had taken a cross-country motorcycle ride to sort out his feelings.

Did he still love Yuri? Of course he still loved him, he could never stop loving him, that would just be stupid. But what should he do about it? And so, he’d packed a bag, kicked up the stand and just rode.

And he rode and rode and rode.

At the end, his choice was pretty fucking obvious, because he’d wound up right where everything had started-- On the front step of that shitty rat-hole of an apartment, Yuri leaning against the support column, with his arms crossed his chest.

Otabek had felt like he was coming home.

Because he had.

....

Until Yuri kicked him right back out, telling him that he was stupid to come for a visit without warning. That he didn’t have room for him, that he had practice, that he just didn’t have time.

And so, Otabek rode back home, no hard feelings. He’d just been happy to see Yuri, to hug him again. Because that was enough. Now he could just live. He could be himself, by himself, and it was a good place to be.

The wonders that something like closure could do.

Until Yuri turned twenty and fucked everything up again.

...

‘The moment that the current is interrupted, the magnetic field will fail-- that is, until the current is started once more.’

[cloudycasey]

Alright so *Flips open notebook and takes out pen, crossing my legs while sitting in a shitty folding chair* I’m going to do my best to make this as organized and as easy as possible so my questions are as follows: 1.Is it possible for you to recall a general timeline of events of sorts for sonadow, and how it shaped to be how it is today? Like, is there a specific year that you know of where Sonadow first got its mentions around the internet, or a specific time frame where it began its launch in popularity? 2.Do you think the movement in the USA to legalize gay marriage gave a significant impact on how sonadow along with tons of other yaoi/yuri shippings in the fandom were perceived? And do you think the overall shift of cultural awareness and sensitivity changed the overall tone of sonadow in today’s standards? I do have a strong memory of youtube back in 2012-2014 before the first adpocolypse, and I can confidentially say that things like COPPA and hot button topic issues like pedophilia weren’t taken nearly as seriously before then. Since you said that the sonadow pairing at first seemed to be for specifically dirty yaoi purposes, has sonadow as a whole taken a new approach publically since then?  3.I find it interesting that sonknux only became more popular AFTER sonadow started its height in popularity, as Knuckles and Sonic as characters are actually older than Shadow. You would think they would become more popular because of that, but that simply isn’t the case. Do you know of any reasons as to why you think sonknuckles is not as popular, despite having a fair share amount of shipping fuel as much as sonadow does?  4.Despite how wide and diverse the Sonic fandom is, it’s undeniable that homophobia and overall hatred towards same sex parings are still a huge problem within the community; Even though same sex parings has existed in the fandom nearly as long as Sonic has! Why do you think there’s still so much bias and hate for ships such as sonadow in the fandom, despite the people who make content for it being arguably some of the nicest peeps I’ve seen in the community? Why is content like this seen as so obscure still, despite there being mountains and mountains worth of content for it?  And finally, since I like odd numbers and want to leave things off on a hopefully more positive note: 5.Do you think the Sonic fandom and community ultimately helped kids like myself in the past learn to accept and love themselves as who they are, despite being LGBT? And do you think things such as yaoi pairings are worth talking about as part of the discussion for the LGBTQ+ space within the Sonic fandom? Finally, how do you think things like yaoi culture from the Sonic fandom help to carve the path for being more accepting of same sex attraction in general? Alright, that’s my questions for now! I hope you don’t feel like you’re being assigned a essay here haha, this is just honestly so intriguing to me and I’ve literally never seen anyone talk about how these things in the Sonic fandom formed or came to be in the first place. I’ve tried doing research outside of your post after reading it, couldn’t find jack diddly. So I do want to say to anyone else who has been in the Sonic fandom long enough to know any sort of answers to these questions to go ahead and give your two cents in too if you’re up for it! Let’s learn about the history of these gay hedgehogs!

Yall.

Looking back at my history with Sonic... it's so fucking surreal that I got to witness the births of 90% of this fandom's pairings.

I remember when Sonails used to be the absolute norm along side Sonally because most people were on the fence about whether Tails was a boy or not so they just defaulted to making him a girl. I still remember reading fanfics that referred to our little yellow menace as "she". This quickly got shut down though when Sega confirmed Tails as a "he". Sonails fell into obscurity because "GAY BAD" and it hasn't quite recovered from it... I dont think the people of today really want it to... but you can't really blame them. Nowadays it's hard to even imagine that Tails could've been mistaken for anything other than a dude. History is so fun lol.

I remember when Sonadow was invented. With the rising popularity in anime (specifically shounen anime), Shounen-Ai was creeping its way up there. Gay relationships were so goddamn taboo compared to nowadays but goddamnit if the taboo didn't capture your heart in some weird demented way- then I guess people got tired of the soft and fluffy "Shounen-Ai" and just wanted the gay porn, the "YAOI" and by god if Sonadow wasn't the most popular yaoi ship in existence... It still very much is but it's toned down in it's depraved raunchiness over the years. I still remember when it used to have like 5 names because people were so into trying to categorize it in the "Seme/Uke" fashion. Shadic/Shadonic/ShaSoni for Seme!Shadow and Uke!Sonic- which was and still very much is the most popular iteration of the ship, then you had SoniSha/Sonadow for the Seme!Sonic and Uke!Shadow version. Somewhere down the line, Westerners got too lazy to categorize and decided that "Sonadow" sounded the best because it rolls off the tongue nice and has a good mouth feel so it shall be the umbrella term for every iteration of Sonic x Shadow x Sonic. Sonadow has literally withstood the test of time for a whole 20 goddamn years and counting, if ANYTHING, yall HAVE to give this ship mad props for that. Not even Sonally can compare to that and Sonamy is a close second. I say Sonamy is a close second because it was never really enjoyed as Sonic and Amy being cute together (yes, like every ship, there are people who actually genuinely enjoyed it but the climate was the complete opposite). Sonamy was "enjoyed" because it was either better than Sonally or because it wasn't "gross gay yaoi shit" like Sonadow and other upcoming ships.

NEXT IS SONKNUX. It's always been an understated ship but it definitely became a little more popular when Sonadow got big because "MORE YAOI". I remember not having very strong feelings for the ship. I didn't hate it but I didn't care for it either, it was more like "yeah ok that makes sense if you're going to make it gay". It was never "OMG SO POPULAR" but it did have a following you had to acknowledge, like even the most delusional people couldn't deny this ship lol. There was also Knuxadow but at the time it was barely even a thing, it was an obscure rarepair but not so much anymore.

Now the go to for Knuckles ships was and still definitely is Knuxouge. God I remember all of the misogynistic flavored fan art and fan fics for this pairing- like, I get it. Rouge got nice curves, big ass, and fat tiddies while Knuckles got that big dick (which I'm going to say he doesn't because there's literally nothing there... there's nothing there except for smooth red fur... nothing-) and hypermasculinity. I get it. I loved this ship tho, there was more porn of it than genuine fan art and fan fics, but I mean yall get the picture. Im pretty sure yall can grasp the climate that surrounded this ship back in the day.

Knuxpio is also a ship but it was super obscure, like only deep divers got into it. I guess that still kinda rings true today because although there are definitely more people to appreciate it, it's still not on the public stage like alot of other ships. Same goes for Knuxighty and most other Knuckles ships.

CRAILS... TAILREAM... TAILS X CREAM. I am almost positive we still don't have a definitive ship name for these two but boy do I remember when these two little demons blew up. I used to like this ship because I thought it was super super adorable- like, here you have Sonic with all of these love interests but what about Tails? Tails should have a little someone of his own. In walks Cream in all of her adorable little bunny glory..... and Charmy too- BUT EVERYTHING WENT SO BAD SO FUCKING FAST. IT WAS NO LONGER CUTE. Welcome to the big popularity boom of shotacon and lolicon outside of Japan.

This post is already miles long so look out for a second one... probably... it's just so fun recalling the fruition of all of these ships and comparing some of them to how they're received today. Much nostalgia very punch to the gut~

[dadvans]

don’t look back in anger (otayuri, 2.5k, teen) :: 

 [life lesson: if some dumb-dumb actually tags you in a callout post on tumblr and says shitty, baseless things about you, don’t engage them.  write petty fic about otabek and yuri as grandpas who live on mars instead!!  you’re welcome.]

At age 54, Victor Nikiforov-Katsuki became one of the first successful test subjects for a series of anti-aging surgeries.  At 37, he had a knee surgery and received hair plugs, but the first in a series of operations at 54 gave him joints and muscle and organs of someone forever young.

Yuri had grimaced at the holoscreen when the news broke, having seen too much of Victor’s face to last several lifetimes.  “I bet he has a robodick too.”

“Yura,” Otabek had said, both fond and resigned from across the dining room table where he was dissecting a grapefruit half.  

At age 87, Victor Nikiforov-Katsuki went out in a blaze of glory deep-dicking his husband (“robodick,” confirmed BuzzfeedMars) on a solo flight to their summer home on Venus, when his elbow slipped and he managed to undo the ship’s airlock.  Neither he nor Yuuri had looked a day over 40.

Yuri’s let his body age. He’s still in good shape for 82; he does water aerobics with a group of old ladies every Tuesday and Thursday, and the atmosphere on Mars has naturally benefited his bones for the past three decades.  But he and Otabek have always been purists otherwise, letting nature take its course with their bodies and never giving into the temptation or philosophy of synthetic body maintenance.  There’s a small, petty part of him from his youth that remains, the purest part of himself that celebrates his body as the ultimate defeat of Victor Nikiforov.  He revels in his own skin, and in Otabek’s, and the thought that when death comes to them in old age they won’t have cheated it, but earned it somehow.  Victor and Yuuri’s parts were supposed to last them until 2089, and by then, who knows.  The idea of them fucking their ancient asses all over the goddamn galaxy still stirs something ugly in Yuri.  

Until Otabek gets sick.  Like, really, really sick.  And he keeps getting sick.  Bladder infections and kidney infections and pissing blood and choked up catheters and too many nights in the hospital instead of their estate, and suddenly there’s a question that goes unspoken between them.

“You’re killing yourself,” Yuri says finally after their third trip to the ER that month.  Otabek had a temperature of 40 degrees and collapsed in their greenhouse.  

“Or I’m just dying,” Otabek says.  “I’m old.”

“Bullshit,” Yuri says.  Otabek still skates sometimes on weekdays when the rink is empty, because he was blessed with superhuman cartilage in his knees and the back of a titan.  He just does simple laps to relieve stress while Yuri watches from the stands, long since given up the ice out of self preservation.  But Otabek has never had to, because Otabek has always been healthy and strong.  There’s nothing else to be said or done, because, “bullshit, you’re not allowed to die.”

 “I don’t think that’s how dying works,” Otabek replies.  He’s smiling and there’s acceptance in the smile that feels damning.   

“Fuck you,” Yuri says.  “The doctors have given you dozens of options.  There’s-- technology, there’s--there’s--”

 “I thought you didn’t believe in that,” Otabek says.

 “Don’t let my pride kill you, Christ, Beka,” Yuri says, feeling impossibly young even with his knobbed knuckles and crooked fingers wrapped around Otabek’s own, mindful of the saline drip and hiding the biggest of his liver spots.  “If you don’t live through this, I’ll kill you.”

  The kidneys have to go.  The bladder has to go.

Otabek’s dick has to go.  

“It’s fine,” Otabek says after the doctor leaves the room.  Their intimacy has suffered recently.  Until Otabek’s body started failing him for good, they were still going at it an admirable two to three times a week.  It was bragging rights at Yuri’s water aerobics class; Janice and Marta and Ahimsa are all twenty years younger than he is, but still delight in his gossip.  

“Your hips can still handle fucking on the stairs?” Marta would ask, and Yuri would preen, his long gone grey hair curling with the heat of the pool around his ears.  

Yuri has always deeply loved Otabek’s body, even in old age.  He’s loved Otabek’s full chest of hair, the grey curly-cues that gather down his shoulders like shrubbery.  He’s loved the wrinkles of Otabek’s ass when Otabek fucks him sideways in the mornings and Yuri reaches behind him for something soft and familiar to hold onto.  He’s loved the deep growing cut of Otabek’s philtrum, he’s loved the soft ocean of Otabek’s stomach and the way it curves perfectly against his spine at night.  He’s loved Otabek’s cataracts, Otabek’s thick fingernails, Otabek’s shitty liver and bladder, Otabek’s dick that has its own groove inside him.  

But Otabek will still be Otabek.  It’s always been Otabek’s character and strength that have made Yuri feel strong just standing beside him.  

“It’s fine,” Yuri agrees.  Otabek will carve new grooves into him.  Otabek will not be in pain.  Otabek will be ninety and still skating past Yuri in the stands of the skating club while Yuri drinks hot cider and pretends to ignore Otabek in favor of a book he’s read six pages of in the past ten years.  Otabek will be alive.  Yuri will still get to wrap himself around Otabek at night and press his nose to the wire-stiff hairs at the base of Otabek’s neck and listen to the sharp way Otabek negotiates the prices of fresh fruit and farmed fish at the market on Tuesdays.  Yuri will still be able to occupy a comfortable silence where the room feels full and alive just because his feet are resting in Otabek’s lap.  Yuri would do anything to keep that selfishly for himself as long as possible.  “It’s fine.”

  It’s not fine.  

The organ transplants--the kidney, the bladder anyway--are all farmed sustainably and are available for Otabek at any time.  

The dick however, is not.  

“Please, do not say the word--”

“Robodick,” the doctor says anyway.  “That’s the direction the market has deemed most profitable in perfecting, so the best technology currently available is the Nikiforov model.  At Mr. Altin-Plisetsky’s age, I would be too worried that an organic transplant might not take, as we haven’t perfected the procedure.  Going with a Nikiforov model would ensure a much higher success rate.  This means his body wouldn’t reject the transplant, and the likelihood of--worst case scenario, death would be much, much lower.”

“Say that name again,” Yuri says.  It’s a challenge, not a request.  The doctor looks between Otabek in a gown on the table, and Yuri, hands curled over the handle of his cane.  

“Would you like me to leave you with literature?” the doctor says, not taking the bait.  He hands a thick magazine to Otabek and nods at Yuri.  “I can leave you two alone if you need time to discuss the options available.”

As soon as the doctor is out of the room, Yuri snarls, “is that a dick catalogue?”

“That is,” Otabek says, flipping it open to a random page before leaning away from it and fumbling for his reading glasses, “that is exactly what it appears to be.”

“Did he say ‘Nikiforov?’” Yuri asks, lifting his cane to poke gently at Otabek’s hand.  Otabek smiles, entertained.  It’s the same kind of smile that he used to direct at Yuuri decades and decades ago when they were young, at some banquet or fancy party hosted by Victor and Yuuri, where Otabek would turn to Yuri and mouth, you jealous? against the long curve of Yuri’s neck

Otabek flips a couple dozen pages back in the magazine and adjusts his glasses.  He’s trying not to smile too much.  “‘Nikiforov -- or N1-kiforov is the prototype model still used today in all of our synthetic penis transplants,’” he reads out loud.  “The design and shape of the model are based off of the organic penis belonging to Victor Nikiforov, who--”

“I am not,” Yuri spits out, “not having Victor Nikiforov’s dick inside of me.”

 Otabek lets the magazine close around his thumb, bookmarking the page.

“They have to have other models,” Yuri continues.  

Otabek frowns, his cheeks cutting deep curves against his mouth like a bulldog, and flips the catalogue back open to read quietly to himself.  Yuri can feel the years peel off his own lifetime watching Otabek read.

Eventually, Otabek continues, “‘The N1-kiforov model was eventually chosen as the base model for all synthetic penile transplants, as the feedback regarding use, size, as well as shape concerning the girth and slight curve was favorable for both recipients, as well as sexual partners of all genders.’”

“Are you fucking with me?” Yuri asks, completely serious.  “Beka, I need to know: are you fucking with me.”

“I am one-hundred percent not fucking with you,” Otabek replies.  “But look-- there are different versions, a lot of luxury attachments--”

“Like what, Beka? A pasta maker?  This is your dick, not a fucking KitchenAid,” Yuri does not scream.

Otabek looks at him.  Really looks at him.  Takes his glasses off and rubs at his temple slowly, and Yuri instantly wishes he could take every word that’s stumbled out of his mouth in the past minute and shove them back in.

They take the dick catalogue home.

They bathe together, quietly.  Yuri sits between Otabek’s legs and lets the back of his head rest between where Otabek’s chest has gone soft and droopy and he closes his eyes and tries to forget the day.  Otabek won’t let him.

“I need to get a transplant,” he says.  

“I know,” Yuri says.  “I’m being petulant.  I’m in mourning.”

“You’re going to be mourning more than my dick soon if I don’t actually go in for the operation,” Otabek says.  He still sounds so kind.  

“Shut up,” Yuri says.  He hates this.  “I know.”

“Is it really so awful, me having Victor’s dick?” Otabek says.  “I mean, you never wondered--” 

He’s teasing, and Yuri wants to now sink underwater but also drag Otabek with him.  “I hate you!”

“You love me,” Otabek says.  He says it with such command in his voice that Yuri can do nothing but agree, weak for him with it.  

“Yeah,” Yuri says.  “I do.”

  The series of operations starts less than a month later.  Organ transplants are done with such frequency and ease these days that they’re the kind of operation that the lead surgeons will step out of the room during, send their interns in with their rivals to poach new techniques.  Yuri pretends that he isn’t nervous, wearing his comfiest pair of sweats and one of Otabek’s winter sweaters in the waiting room.  In his decades and decades and decades alive, humanity has still not found a way to make a comfortable hospital chair.  

 Every time Otabek wakes up, Yuri feels like he’s been suffocating.  The slow blink awake makes Yuri’s heart catch in his throat every time.   

Each surgery requires additional physical therapy.  Otabek is so strong, Yuri thinks for the thirty-thousandth time in his life.  He makes it through each one with such ease, it reminds Yuri of the first time he saw Otabek land a quad axel in competition.  Invincible, he thinks.  

The doctors tell them they can engage in sexual intercourse in a month.  Yuri doesn’t know what he’s going to do when that month is up.  He doesn’t expect to die before then.  Yuri eats a piece of candy a day, does low-impact cardio three times a week, drinks a glass of red wine with dinner, and even if that weren’t enough to ensure some kind of longevity, Yuri is sure to live to 112 out of sheer spite alone.  

(Even on their honeymoon in Rome fifty-five years ago, Otabek called him, “my grumpy old man.”)

 It’s not like they have to have sex to have a meaningful relationship.  It’s not like their relationship has only lasted nearly seven decades because the sex.  But Yuri likes the sex.  Yuri likes sex with Otabek; the noises he makes, the reminder of him solid and sure at the beginning of the day, the end of it.

Yuri hasn’t been so afraid of something or unsure of anything in a very long time.  It sits in his stomach like a stone, and it grows heavier as Otabek gets better.  He hates it.  It makes him feel nauseous and it makes him feel tired; it makes him feel old.  

Finally, Otabek turns to him and says, “we don’t have to, you know.” 

And Yuri knows exactly what he’s talking about.  

And in that moment, Yuri knows he wants to.  As soon as the choice is taken away from him, Yuri knows exactly the decision he would make, and that would be to let Otabek fuck him, even if it were with a synthetic model of Victor Nikiforov’s dick.  

“How dare you,” Yuri says.  He’s making tea on the stove, slicing up a lemon for Otabek’s while Otabek scrolls through the news on his tablet.  How dare Otabek bring it up so casually in the morning, not even daring to look him in the eye.  “You don’t get to make this decision for me.  You coward.” 

Otabek looks up from his tablet and pushes his glasses up his nose, smiling.  “Coward?” he asks.  “You always tell me I’m the brave one.  Even in our wedding vows, you said--”

“I know what I said!” Yuri says, angrily scooping too many spoonfuls of ceylon into loose tea bags.  It’s going to come out too strong, bitter, and Yuri will put too much milk in his to hide it and then be sick for the rest of the day.  Otabek knows this.  “Look, if you want to fuck me, you can go ahead and fuck me.  In fact, I would love it if you fucked me.  The girls at the gym have been giving me pitying looks and I would love to shut them up.”

The kettle whistles on the stove, and Yuri grabs it huffily.  He’s blushing.  He’s halfway to 85 and he’s blushing.  

“Maybe I was saying we didn’t have to because I don’t want to,” Otabek says.  If possible, Yuri’s blush deepens.  He turns his back to Otabek and pours the water over the overstuffed tea bags with a steady hand.  

“Fine,” he says.  He’s sure Otabek is just teasing him now. 

“Fine?” Otabek repeats.  

“Fine!”  Yuri grabs the cool milk pitcher from the counter and, as expected, pours more milk than water into his tea.  “Beka, we’ve always-- we knew we weren’t going to be two kids on the back of a motorbike forever.  We knew that would end, like we knew competitive skating would end, like we knew music would change and clothes would change and we would change. I’m not going to stop loving you now because something else changed.  We’ve always changed together.  I don’t care if you have Victor Nikiforov’s dick, or if you don’t want to fuck me anymore, as long as I get to be with you.”

Yuri hears Otabek exhale shaky, the sound of the table creaking as Otabek grips it to help push himself up.  Otabek shuffles toward him slow, and then Yuri feels Otabek’s arms circle around his middle; he’s stayed lanky all this time, and Otabek’s stayed robust, and the way he embraces Yuri has stayed so tight, grounding like an anchor.

 “Fifteen-year-old Yuri would have never said that,” Otabek says in his ear.  His voice is like honey.   

“That’s not true.  Fifteen-year-old Yuri would have said anything to get you to like him,” Yuri replies, and he feels Otabek press a smile into the crown of his head.  “Fifteen-year-old Yuri would have said it, he just wouldn’t have meant it.”

“Do you mean it?” Otabek asks, dry, thin-lipped kisses down the back of his neck.

“Of course, old man,” Yuri replies, turning around.  He grabs Otabek’s soft cheeks in his hands, fingers curling into Otabek’s sideburns.  When he kisses Otabek, softly, Otabek tastes like the same awful chalky dry toothpaste tabs he’s used for the past thirty years, and a little like sleep.  He licks a little into Otabek’s mouth just to be a shit, and Otabek laughs, grabbing at his collar as Yuri pulls back with his tongue out.  “Don’t be stupid.” 

 “I’m not okay with people shipping Otayuri … because I wanna know what made them look at yurio in canon and think ‘i wanna see him older and sexy’”

[REJECTED PROVERB, SOME DIPSHIT ON TUMBLR]

[pengiesama]

i’ve seen this meme going around and i’ve played exactly three (3) Tales games so i’ll just do it for all three of em

i’m doing vesperia, zestiria, and berseria. BIG SPOILERS FOR ALL THREE OF THESE GAMES

best girl?

best boy?

any ship/s?

favorite part of the game?

opinion on the mascot character (if applicable)?

opinion on villain/s? (in the least spoilery way)

main team of 4, and who did you play as mostly?

favorite town/city/area?

favorite or most used arte?

favorite music track?

favorite monster?

TALES OF VESPERIA

best girl?: ya girl judy

best boy?: yuri “i am showing like three pounds of cleavage at all times” lowell

any ship/s?: flynn/yuri all the way and also elucifer/duke because 1) tragic and 2) giant monster x disney princess is a formula that has been tested to work. plus ristelle is good too

favorite part of the game?: flynn saving yuri in the alleyway. flynn witnessing yuri killing cumore. flynn and yuri working out their differences in their endgame duel and then furiously humping in a field afterwards. do you notice a pattern

opinion on the mascot character (if applicable)?: repede is unironically a great mascot; “The First Strike” movie was TOZ anime levels of horrible and canon-shitting but Puppede was VERY strong in it

opinion on villain/s? (in the least spoilery way): alexei is my role model and duke is my forever girl

main team of 4, and who did you play as mostly?: played only as yuri because i’m a scrub. rest of the party was raven, rita, and judy or repede depending.

favorite town/city/area?: the final town place because that’s where flynn and yuri fucked endgame

favorite or most used arte?: i legitimately have no idea. i did the Tidal Wave exploit to farm grade if that counts

favorite music track?: *eyes cross*

favorite monster?: the entelexeia are great and i’ll never forgive the writers for downgrading them into those shitty elemental spirit designs

TALES OF ZESTIRIA

best girl?: ROSE BEST GRIL FUK THE HATERS 

best boy?: MIKLEO; LIKE SORRY SOREY YOU’RE A STRONG SECOND BUT WITNESS SUCH RADIANT BEAUTY

any ship/s?: if you don’t know that i ship sormik at this point i am legitimately a failed human being and need to banish myself to the phantom zone to train

favorite part of the game?: fucking pick a sormik scene just do it. leaving elysia, breaking up then having makeup sex vis-a-vis the water armatus, night in lastonbell, pretty much the whole camlann sequence

opinion on the mascot character (if applicable)?: the normins are just kind of okay. they’re better than the katz, who have fucking OBNOXIOUS voices in the Berseria dub (i think the berseria dub was pretty awful across the board though. hot take in a completely unrelated topic) 

opinion on villain/s? (in the least spoilery way): they all straight-up suck. only thing i’ll give zestiria’s haters a point on. heldalf is boring, the human antagonists are boring and forgettable, symonne is a pile of nothing and wasted potential, whoever created lunarre needs to be fucking shot, christ.

main team of 4, and who did you play as mostly?: i only know how to use sorey because i’m bad at the Tales battle system. i don’t think i can stress that enough, really; for example, i honestly do not understand the casting system and as such it is impossible for me to control a magic user. zestiria’s equipment system was fucking baffling too and that did not help my efforts in playing the videogame. anyway party was sorey/mikleo/rose/usually edna

favorite town/city/area?: elysia and camlann

favorite or most used arte?: whatever i successfully button mashed out of sorey or the water armatus

favorite music track?: all the elemental shrine tracks are pretty fucking banger

favorite monster?: *makes i dunno sound*

TALES OF BERSERIA

best girl?: velvet and then grimorh.

best boy?: laphi. big. strong. boy. who. is. my. big. strong. boy.

any ship/s?: berseria wasn’t really a shippy game for me but i do enjoy velvet/magilou

favorite part of the game?: laphi fucking punching innominat in the face and eventually making him into a historical footnote. MY CITY NOW. i think that was also adjacent to the sequence where laphi saves velvet from despair, which was amazing. the false aball sequence was pretty great. laphi in his big strong boy form was also nice to see and wrapped up the game well. also literally anything that references zestiria. the bonus dungeon’s big twist about the ancient seraphim was some good fucking lore that i especially liked bc it means that sorey and mikleo’s love and balanced, mutually-respectful relationship is literally the thing that will break a eons-old curse and save the world. 

opinion on the mascot character (if applicable)?: bienfu is godawful and should never have been brought into existence. 

opinion on villain/s? (in the least spoilery way): artorius and innominat are definitely leagues above zestiria’s villains and i was chomping at the bit to powerbomb them into oblivion. the rest of the praetors or whatever were kind of meh. melchior and shigure were...okay villains? and teresa and oscar were awful and boring/awful individuals (respectively) who deserved zero of the sympathy the game tried to give them and only have fans because they have pretty designs. HOT TAKE! HOT WANKY TAKE! but anyway artorius and innominat carry berseria’s villain grade almost singlehandedly. ...and i guess the ancient seraphim count too??

main team of 4, and who did you play as mostly?: velvet because i can’t play as anyone else. velvet/laphi/eizen/magilou.

favorite town/city/area?: i enjoyed seeing the areas from Zestiria in their historical forms, and it was cool to see the earthpulse but i kind of wish there’d been more variety in it. surely the lifestream of the planet can have some varied geography

favorite or most used arte?: fuck if i know. i don’t pay attention to the names of literally any arte. wait, do laphi’s mystic artes count? if so then i love seeing him wipe out scrub enemies by casting Indignation for absolutely no good reason.

favorite music track?: i dunno. soundtrack was pretty alright.

favorite monster?: my big strong boy is not a monster but he is very big