#and btw critiques are totally fine NOTHING is perfect but you have to be...for the lack of a better term...eloquent

[tamayokny]

i keep getting dragged into the snow white discourse and it's starting to irritate me. like idc if rachel zegler was scared/didn't like the 1937 adaptation as a child, but she needs to do her homework because the prince was not a stalker--and that's the tip of iceberg. but on the other hand, i don't particularly care that the prince isn't going to be in the remake either, and i get that snow white can "choose both" (i.e., being a leader and being in love), but i feel like everyone forgets other details of disney's snow white.

like, of course, snow white has a wicked stepmother who wants her dead because of the queen's jealousy and vanity against her stepdaughter. and while the huntsman advised her to run away, snow white ultimately made the choice to run into the forest. but then snow white realizes she needs to support herself, and she eventually finds friends and creates her own little community of support (i.e., the forest animals and the seven dwarfs)! and sure, i get where some people have issues with snow white cleaning and cooking for the dwarfs and see it as a gendered role, but cooking and cleaning are important skills for fostering independence. so, after saying all of this, i think a lot of people miss the themes of community, support, and independence. all of these themes, along with themes of vanity and jealousy, are still applicable today.

also lol i'm sorry but the prince discourse, again, is so funny to me. like he's only in the 1937 movie for about five minutes but he does have an established relationship and reciprocated feelings with snow white. and when he appears at the end of the movie, the prince wasn't expecting to wake snow white up with "love's first kiss"--he was there to say goodbye to her. he didn't know that "love's first kiss" was going to awaken snow white--only the audience did, which is dramatic irony, a common literary device. anyway the prince is fine but if andrew burnap's character takes over that role and provides something fresh, i'm willing to watch that.

TLDR: snow white discourse is wild. i think people forget or feign ignorance about the details in disney's original snow white film. and while it's totally fine to want to offer a new twist on the tale, don't completely disrespect the original work or completely dismiss ideas on why the original work is so popular in the first place.

[vethyourhalflingmother]

OK, let’s get into it

Disclaimer #1: i wasn’t in the fandom when this episode aired so i have very limited knowledge as to how everyone reacted to the scenes im about to talk about

Disclaimer #2: critique of the characters’ actions =/= hate on the cast.

Disclaimer #3: all opinions are my own, and they are opinions

alright, i’m talking about two scenes: this one from the end of episode 105 & this one from episode 106; these scenes both revolve around vox machina finding out that percy & vex eloped. it’s about 20 minutes worth of content if you’re interested in watching yourself. if not, here’s a summary:

in the first scene, scanlan tries to loudly announce the marriage to everyone & he’s supportive but also his usual dickish self about it. keyleth is angry and upset because she’s envious. vax’s response is very lackluster. this gets interrupted by godly taskings.

in the second scene, vex apologizes to vax & tells him that marrying percy was spur of the moment. vax says he’s happy for her and percy, but that he’d thought he’d be with her when she got married. then, he changes the course of the conversation by saying he doesn’t have time to be upset with her but if he weren’t going to die soon, he’d give her an earful. vex tells him she doesn’t want him to die. then percy & keyleth talk, and percy says he wanted to have a secret for awhile, while keyleth explains that she was upset because she wants what he & vex have with vax.

this is a lot to work with, and i’m going to start by saying that the reason i don’t like these two parts is because they summarize the major issues that i have with the entire vecna arc. that is, a severe mishandling of feelings. or, to put it more directly, Vax Won’t Talk To Anyone About His Impending Death. because what happens in these scenes is that vex & percy have objectively good news! they’re married! but to vax & keyleth, the news isn’t about vex & percy at all, it’s about what’s happening to them. and then, vex, who of course is very upset about what’s going to happen to vax & who also hasn’t talked to vax much about it, lets their conversation become about him.

so: keyleth’s reaction. i totally understand it, especially after she explains herself when she talks to percy. she’s hurting because vax is going to die. it’s not really about percy & vex, except that percy & vex have something she wants and she feels like she’ll never have. (kudos to percy for his “we’ll see” and fuck destiny responses to that, btw). i don’t think it’s fair but it is understandable. and it harkens back to the initial problem i highlighted, which is that i never got the impression that vax & keyleth talked much about what was going to happen to him. there’s a moment between these two scenes where sprigg stays with ioun while the rest of the party leaves. keyleth asks vax if that’s what’s going to happen to him. vax is quiet for a long time before admitting he doesn’t know.

and this could be chalked up to circumstances. there isn’t time. they need to stop vecna ASAP. but... they make time to do less important things (like go back & interrogate the creatures at sprigg’s house). the real problem is that vax doesn’t want to talk about it. he doesn’t want to think about it. he’s accepted it and that’s that.

but that’s not fair to keyleth (or vex! or even percy in this particular instance, because it’s his wedding they’re shitting on here! but im getting ahead of myself).

keyleth has clearly not accepted vax’s death. she’s struggling. she’s furious. she’s hurting. and vax doesn’t know anything about how he’s going to die and where’s going to go (not his fault) but he’s not talking to her much either (entirely his fault). so this pent-up emotion comes tumbling out in a perfect storm.

i don’t know for sure if talking to vax would’ve helped keyleth come to terms with his death and their lack of a future together. but also in my experience communicating with your partner (and literally every other important person in your life) usually gives a better outcome than not.

and so: vax’s reaction. the emotionless “you’re engaged” in the first scene. vex’s admittance that they’re actually married. then their actual conversation.

as i was rewatching this part, i thought, hey maybe this isn’t as bad as i remember. vax actually starts this conversation out strong. he’s happy for her and percy. he’s glad she and percy have each other to take care of one another. percy gets the better end of the deal. like, yes, yes, yes, I Approve This Message.

and then he says “under ordinary circumstances, i would be giving you an earful.”

‘ordinary circumstances,’ [lemony snicket voice] which here means under circumstances where vax isn’t going to die permanently in a few days, circumstances where there isn’t an evil god to stop Very Soon and where the winningprize at the end isn’t a big vax shaped hole in the world.

so, he says he’s not reacting as he normally would. and then he says he doesn’t “have time to be upset with [his] oldest friend,” which suggests that the earful? the ordinary circumstances? he would be upset.

if vax were upset (he is), then that wouldn’t be fair (bc he’s not entitled to be at his sister’s wedding, under any circumstances), but it would be understandable. people can’t control their initial feelings. they can however think critically about their words and actions regardless of their feelings. if vax were like “hey im upset because i thought you were going to invite me but i understand this isn’t actually about me” that would’ve been,,,, fine,,,,,,

but vax says he’s not upset, not because that honestly isn’t how he feels, but because he doesn’t have time to be upset.

sigh.

and then they go into talking about his death, although i think talking is a strong word for any conversation vax is in about his own morality. vex says she doesn’t want him to go & that she loves him. he loves her too. end conversation.

vex is clearly heartbroken that he’s going die. she says at one point that “things kept happening” and that’s why she didn’t tell him about her marriage. she didn’t know how to say it before, then vecna sealed his fate, and then it came out when she wasn’t around. how should someone navigate that situation? i don’t have a good answer.

vex doesn’t press him to talk about his death, though. keyleth brings it up because keyleth sometimes has trouble getting a handle on her emotions. vax... doesn’t know and doesn’t offer much else. but vex, i think, knows he won’t talk about it. she gives him a hug.

and i keep mentioning this, that vax doesn’t talk to either keyleth or vex about what’s going to happen once they defeat vecna. so i have a feeling some people reading this are like “hell, what do you expect him to say?” or “well, he has a history of walking away anyway”

as for what i expect him to say: something’s better than nothing. he’s reached some sort of peace himself, or at least he’s pretending at it. he could explain why he’s accepting (or he could explain that he actually isn’t, but i think he is pretty accepting). why he trusts the raven queen now when he didn’t at first. he could explain why he isn’t afraid (which is something grog has to ask him directly, later). there are lot of things he could say, and he only gives little crumbs (the part where he says he’s going to see his mother? more of that, maybe?).

and why do i think he should say something? he doesn’t have to say anything, and if he’s at peace himself, why potentially shake that by talking about it, which something he’s historically not good at? because he loves them. vax has made it clear that he loves his sister, his girlfriend, vox machina, more than anything. and they love him, too, which is why this is as difficult as it is. what i said for keyleth goes for everyone: i can’t say that talking about it more would’ve made it better. but i think talking about it directly & plainly & messily instead of using vex & percy’s marriage as a conduit would’ve been so much healthier for all involved.

vax’s history of walking away & avoiding tough conversations is something ive mentioned before because i thought he was making steps to Stop That (he has a few good moments with gilmore, and later with keyleth). to me, the way he acts in this arc slams the brakes on that progress.

so: neither of these scenes were about vex & percy’s marriage. and they should have been, and they could’ve been if other conversations about vax’s death had happened— conversations which never directly did happen. and i’ll probably always be unsatisfied by that particular lack of resolution. i don’t think vax & keyleth should’ve reacted the way they did... and i think if anyone should’ve apologized, it should’ve been them. 

[nemuri-no-kid]

It's me, the fic request anon... I hope this doesn't sound rude, but are you going to answer it? It's completely fine if you don't!! I'm just super curious and I keep checking your profile but it never shows!! :) (Sorry I'm being pushy it's been a few weeks now...)

Wait, who’s rude here again? It’s rather me who’s seemingly ignored you. But it wasn’t like that, I swear! But I guess you’d prefer to see an actual answer (finally) instead of excuses, so here you go! (You have some incredible timing though, like I’d post it today anyway - the joy of having cold) I apparently can’t make a simple list and it got ridiculously long, so I’m putting it under Read more. Does tagging people even work under Read more btw? If not then well, I suppose I failed a bit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway. You’re probably already aware of this, but I feel I should point out that Kaito is my dearest boy, and therefore pretty much everything what I’m going to mention here is more or less about him. Contrary to appearances it won’t be only KaiShin, but I admit there’s a lot of that. Also, you won’t find here too many long stories, as I rarely read fics with more than 50k words unless I’d started them before they got so long. I mean, I do have quite a few saved and waiting to be read and I’m sure they’re all amazing, but at the end of the day I usually prefer sleeping than night-reading and yeah. Ok, let’s start:

So, did someone say KaiShin? Because you know, Shinichi is my second dearest boy, and when both of my boys are happy together it’s just the best thing. One of first writers who shown and are keep showing me the joy of reading about these two is @rachello344. Many of Rachel’s fics are only prompts, so they are pretty short and that’s a real shame, but they’re still worth reading! I think my favourite stories are these two and honestly I could read them over and over again - asexual Kaito is good, the fake-but-not-really marriage of these two dorks was the best thing and please write more self-indulgent stuff

@lunarscaped (Luna Darkside)’s oneshots steadily get longer and longer but I definitely don’t mind~ Some of the most memorable to me are Penumbra (a.k.a. only Shinichi could write a romance by accident), Darling, So It Goes (undercover mission and more of oblivious Shinichi) and Ease (just. asfadsfgdga) but really, they’re all good

House of Cards is a beautiful story of Kaito taking care of Shin-chan the Dove written by V. Shalyr (how Ai managed to make that pill will forever remain a mystery though); my other faves are With Each Season (it’s beautifull too), Paper Trail (funny short piece in which Kaito is too good at being bad, somebody stop him), Countdown to Forever (good old taking BO down together) and On Wings of White (aww, these two)

Alaena F. Dragonstar’s Win Some, Lose Some and Shadow of a Smile followed by Echo of a Laugh are all good examples of A+ writing. Boys, it will be fine, you have each other. Check the profile for more good stuff~

All ToukoTai’s fics are good, but Life In Technicolor is good, and then there is this Flower shop AU KaiShin Give A Little which includes Shinichi convincing Kaito to become Kid, and if isn’t that ironic

This Little Thing I Have by teawithmochi is a really nice piece - Conan overthinks his situation, but what are annoying phantom thieves for?

solomonara’s Getting Off Track - did I say something about overthinking? This is real overthinking, boys, come on

Almost Magical by ObsidianAbyss got me by this one scene in the class - Shinichi, if you’re trying to deny you and Kid have a thing, you’re doing it wrong

I love the dialogues in dokidokidk’s The Guy Next Door, they will never be not funny for me, plus it’s a nice idea of AU

Good Soulmate AU KaiShin is not bad, and aceoftwos’s Apple Blossoms is good. Also there are locard’s exchange principle series for even more of these two

Beautiful Carvings written by RavenShira is another really nice Soulmate AU. Misunderstandings are strong in this one - lesson: multiple identities don’t help in finding your soulmate

No Ghosts Need Apply by Cursed Detective is a really nice supernatural story, and Shinichi and Kaito are always a big plus for me, obviously. Kaito is sort of dead - the title may suggest as much - but such trivial detail won’t stop him, haha. And then there is a really nice (Not) Supernatural story. It’s ongoing, Shinichi is not a vampire and honestly, I love this and I need more

purple_mangosteen’s Clair de Lune series mean more KaiShin goodness, and also I’m a sucker for Conan and Kid texting each other

joisbishmyoga - I loved Rolling Snake Eyes for a good application of Kidnichi. Will Conan ever stop being so reckless though? I don’t think so. Pluralverse is about minds of three teenage detectives somehow ending up in Kid’s head, and it’s tight in there. It’s interesting, it’s good, read it. Twist the Knife is really intense and the writing is amazing, but it may not be to everyone’s taste, as rape and trauma happen and well

@kawaiibeyotch (kaitothegreat) writes mainly AoKai fics and they’re wonderful, I simply adore Aoko in these. Some nice examples are Live Life in full Bloom and Hello Incognito - these two are good AUs and have I already mentioned Aoko? There are also few HeiKazu stories which I’ve yet to read but I’m sure they’re worth trying, too

Slip and Fall, Obligation, Pride Goeth Before, Philanthropy, Heavy Silences, Never Here, Never Far and Shades of Grey by blinkblink form sort of a series and I wouldn’t make a better summary to any of them than the author, but it’s Kid and the Kid task force dealing with some actual dangers and criminals, there is action and mystery, and it’s really good written and you totally should read it

Nerves of Steel by Ellen Brand is another must read - Robo-Kaito makes a comeback and things get serious

A Perfect Act, No Little Plans, Both Dark and Deep and Forgiveness and Reunion by Candyland - a set starting from sort of cornering Kid by the police and presenting him an offer he couldn’t refuse followed by good action

@backtodc‘s piece about the Kid task force being actually competent when it comes to other crimes is both funny and brilliant, try it

The Cranes by Acier Glace is just so sweet? No pairings here, it’s just Kid making lots of paper cranes to make you believe in magic and did I say it’s sweet? Because it is

miladyFeather wrote the ridiculous The Adventures of Kudou Shinichi, Fast Food Worker which is ridiculous and I have no regrets sharing this one, even if it’s ridiculous

Now a surprise, as Love-Love Daisakusen by neonquincy1217 is Makoko/Sonoko! Where’s the catch? Well, remember Doito Katsuki? *wink*

When I think of quality SaguKai, I think of @5160763 (OrphanText). There is good KaiShin, too, but both examples I’m putting here happen to be SaguKai, so. Anyway. The way Kaito and Saguru are written, I simply love it. And How we begin is so good? Also, In the language of the birds. I read it while it was being put on Tumblr in small fragments and boy, every new fragment was making me so happy

The Hattori-Kudo Files is a set of few cases solved by Heiji and Conan (who could’ve thought that?), written by MeridianGrimm - I believe the last one isn’t finished, but the others are really interesting! And then there are some nice SaguShin and SaguKai fics, too~

I picked five of Mikauzoran’s fics for different reasons but again, I recommend trying all others as well: The Fifth Detective (Kaito’s reasoning is funny and brilliant, he needs a hug though), The Pit: A Romance and Quietly Starving (SaguKai, these dorks), Healing Heartbreak for the Holidays (SaguKaiShin? That’s even more dorks), and Coming to Terms (KaiRan - usually I prefer it platonic but this one really got me, also interactions with Conan? It was a pleasure to read)

Dressed to Impress by Lisa Telramor is a really nicely written SaguKai oneshot, for all your SaguKai needs

Addy01’s When the travel bug bites is a sweet story about Shinichi travelling the world to find his way in life again and befriending some magician thieves along the way. You made me reread it and I don’t regret anything

In case of Operation: Gift Wrap by Boogum I’ll just copy the author’s summary as it’s explanatory enough: ‘Sera Masumi was used to being mistaken for a boy. She was not used to being mistaken for Kaitou Kid.’

Critique written by Eliryn is a short but really nice piece. “Looks just like the real thing, doesn’t it?”

AngelicSentinel’s the suffering of fools was already amazing as a oneshot, so when more chapters appeared one day I was overjoyed. It’s KaiShin and it’s good. Also, the author is one of the only two (look below) which I trust enough to blindly read their ShinRan fics. Like, I have nothing against ShinRan, and I kind of ship it while being in Canon Mode, but I don’t go and read fics about them at all, so this is quite an achievement. Read their other pieces, too, they’re really worth reading!

Cost of Freedom by @mintchocolateleaves? OMG, Cost of Freedom. Read Cost of Freedom. I love both the plot and the characterizations, it’s amazing, read it. It’s ongoing and you’ll suffer because of that, but read it. And while suffering, try other ongoing fics: The Innocence Game, Law Unto Themselves and various oneshots. Like, I can blindly recommend each and every fic Mint wrote, even ShinRan. Cost of Freedom though

Next, Taliya - I recommend all present and future fics. My faves are Without Fanfare (my heart though), Search and Recovery and Recompense (the kind of Kidnichi enactment I approve and aftermath), A Word of Caution (Ai and Kaito as the main characters? Yes, please) and TMPD Antics (it’s simply hilarious)

lucathia’s 4-6-4-9 is a oneshot about Conan getting disturbing encrypted message and trying to find the sender. Oh, and there was some murder, too

A Snowy Meeting (followed by ongoing Hidden Friendship) by angelwingsonline puts Kaito in DC movies, starting from Quarter of Silence, and lets him befriend and exchange messages with Conan. I love this concept

Ichthyophobia’s Mirror Mirror and Two-faced, Half-faced are really funny - the former has really nice interactions between Shinichi, Kaito and the bad guy, while the latter… Let’s say that Kid fixing Subaru’s face is my aesthetic. And then there is Shaking Hands about Kaito not being really able to do magic anymore but getting help and somehow overcoming it and it’s beautiful. And again, check other fics too~

I liked the idea of Shinichi with grapheme synesthesia working in forensics in Number the Stars by The Sand Assassin. Then there are sweet KaiShin fics: Kaitou the Snowman (Akako, stop) and Dakimakura (it’s just a shirt Conan, you’re making Kid sad)

Yannami’s A Criminal’s Fiasco is a good example of why taking Kaito hostage is a bad idea. Poor criminals

@kkrazy256 (kakashikrazy256) likes making Kaito suffer. A lot. In all possible ways. And I really mean that. If that’s your thing, then check it out. And if it is not, there are the mild ones I like coming back to: Early Snow (this was literally my first fic in this fandom, I’m sentimental ok - also Shinichi and Kaito, come on), Mr Barista (Mystery Train aftermath starring Bourbon and Kid) and Sympathy From the Devil (or how could OVA 10 end if the bad guys weren’t so dramatically bad at being bad). As for the rest, you were warned, haha

In Elirius’s Put on a Smile and Take me Apart Kaito definitely doesn’t cope well with his situation. Somebody help him *sobs*

Hostage situation and platonic KidRan anyone? In that case, Irreplaceable by LostInTheDreams is the thing you need. As for other stories, I can only vouch for these with Kaito, but my boy is suffering a lot. Again

Unfair by Frozen-Infinity, but only if you want your heart to break, my boy is dying and this is unfair

StoryWriter369’s Broken Record makes my heart ache every time because immortal Kaito is not what should ever happen, but I’m doing this to myself from time to time anyway *sobs more*

Hebiaczek’s The fox and hounds is an ongoing story and to be honest I’m not up to date, but what I’ve read was a really amazing writing, and exactly the kind of plot I like the best. Because. The plot.

I loved Externalities by 873.25 and I hope Internalities will be continued. Characters are written so well, and both concepts are really intriguing. Try it and you won’t regret it

And last but definitely not least: kittebasu’s A Study in Scarlette - it’s a must-read. There is a good plot, there is Kaishin and it’s truly amazing, and did I say something at the beginning about not reading long fics? So this one is very long and I still read it, so it really does say somehing

I 100% missed at least few people and I’m totally going to regret it later, but let’s say I’m finished. See you in few weeks Anon, haha