#problematic otp

[charmwasjess]

Wow. I was just looking at my own Ao3 (as one does) and since last summer, I've written SIX Sifo-Dyas/Dooku fics?!

[aveimperator40k]

This gif from @silcobrainrot is why I will never, ever, ever, ever be normal about Silco and Jinx.

THE WAY SHE STROKED HIS HAND AND HIS 'COME HITHER' FINGER CURL.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[togetherasap]

the serotonin released after reading any ali hazelwood book is unparalleled

[lucy-moderatz]

[istadris]

Yes Enemies to Lovers.

Yes "Enemies" as in "I would destroy you and everything you hold dear in a way viciously intimate".

Yes "To" as in "I hate you and love you, and yet once it was worse because I didn't know you"

Yes "Lovers" as in "any sane person in such a relationship should and would run away".

Yes Ennemies as the essential component, because else it's just a normal romance.

Yes Lovers as the essential component, because else it's just someone trying to kill a random person.

Yes Enemies AND Lovers at the same time. Kiss with a fist energy. Biting you with the intent to draw blood then gently licking it clean. Holding you tight in my arms then mauling you by kicking like a cat.

Yes ENNEMIES TO lovers. Somewhere along the way I've grown addicted to your violence and we keep coming back to each other because no one else knows me as well as you do.

Yes ennemies TO LOVERS. There's such an ugly history between us, it taints our sweet moments with a bitter taste, and yet somehow fondness has grown over our hatred, like moss and flowers over wasteland.

Yes Ennemies to Lovers with a happy ending, but half of the world thinks we're insane for turning our back to our principles.

Yes Ennemies to Lovers with a sad ending. I gave up all my life's work, my ethics, my dignity, my life, just for a chance at happiness with you.

Yes Ennemies to Lovers. I am your Hero's heinous sin and triumph, I am your Villain's shameful weakness and redemption.

Yes Ennemies to Lovers. The sex is amazing, thanks for asking.

[comrade-emma]

In Defense of Shinji/Rei

Out of all the pairings in the Evangelion fandom, Shinji/Rei is one of the most controversial and least popular, especially here on tumblr. It did have some popularity at one point but that has died down in favor of Kawoshin and Asurei. It’s a ship that I, and many others, feel is often mischaracterized and dismissed due to its more controversial elements but one that is honestly very emotional and deserves less hate in my opinion, as do it’s shippers who people also have a misguided view of. Fandom in general has become more moralistic and puritanical in recent years. It’s like no one learned a thing from the SU fandom discourse where people were bullied or called homophobic for liking a certain pairing over the other.

Argument 1: she’s his mother/sister

The most common criticism of the pairing is that it’s incest and that their relationship is that of a brother-sister or mother-son. First, Rei’s whole arc in the show is that she’s not just a clone or copy of Yui or Lilith. She’s her own person with her own desires which is why her loyalty to Gendo wanes as she becomes more of an individual. Her DNA also isn’t that similar to Shinji and only a small amount of Yui’s was used. The rest was affected by Lilith hence the differences in their appearance. So there is a little bit of blood relation but it’s not on the same level of say Bwen or Pinecest. Incest is terrible because it’s a betrayal of family trust and abuse but Shinji and Rei met as teens and were not raised as siblings, nor did he know of her origin until Ritsuko explained it.

I’ve also seen the argument that their bond is sibling-like or Shinji views her as a Madonna/mother figure. Anno has stated that he intended there to be a “love triangle” with the pilot trio and show’s proposal described Rei as having “learned about feelings when she fell in love”. While that info comes from Reddit and may not be reliable, it does challenge the idea that there was no intention for their dynamic to be romantic.

Next, antis really take that elevator scene out of context where Shinji was complimenting her on being like a mom while ignoring him telling her she’d make a good housewife. The rebuilds and manga make their connection more blatant but it was always there. Misato, Toji and Kensuke all tease Shinji about his crush and the two act as friends after warming up despite their icy first interactions. There may be some maternal aspects to it but it’s rather simplistic to dumb their bond down to a family connection. It seems antis argue that they’re siblings because the romantic implications are uncomfortable and antis don’t want to admit that they do have feelings for each other.

Argument 2: it’s misogynistic and queer erasure

Okay, this is a less common argument against it but one I’ve seen from popular Eva analysis writers that view Kawoshin as the only valid pairing for Shinji. I’ve seen it used against Asushin and Marishin too. This goes hand and hand with the idea that Shinji views Rei as a Madonna and is misogynistic. I have a lot of thoughts about the “Shinji is an incel misogynist and Asuka did nothing wrong” discourse but that’s for another day. He’s not a perfect uwu soft boy but fans seem to base his entire characterization off the hospital scene in rather single issue Eva analyses that cherry-pick certain scenes or dialogue.

The argument that it’s queer erasure is one I’m starting to despise. Yes, there are homophobic dudebro fans who hate Kawoshin but not everyone who prefers a “straight” pairing is anti gay. Shinji could still be bisexual and be in a m/f relationship. I’ve also seen some ship him in a polycule with Rei and Kaworu. Plus, not everyone has to interpret the show or character the same way. The writers made it so people can view Kawoshin as romantic and Shinji as queer, but never demanded that be the only possible interpretation.

This kind reminds me of something I’ve occasionally seen in the Ben 10 fandom too. A few fans, not all of them, treating the wholesome gay ship as the only good pairing because of the problematic elements in the m/f ships or because they view the male protagonist as a misogynist. The “male character is sexist or a bad boyfriend so let’s make him gay” is also a fandom trope that kind of irritates me. Not every ship has be gay or a girlboss romance either.

Argument 3: they’re kids and you can’t ship them

This is one of the least common criticisms but one that I’ve occasionally encountered. First, they’re 14 which is around the time a lot of teens start dating. Second, romance =/= sex and child/teen characters can have romantic feelings for each other. Yes, ship wars over fictional kids can escalate but there’s nothing wrong with just liking a pairing. This post about Chihiro and Haku’s bond from Spirited Away kind of applies here too.

My thoughts: why do I love this pairing?

I first fell in love with this ship because I watched the rebuilds first on Amazon Prime and didn’t know the series was on Netflix because my account, embarrassingly, still has parental controls on it. I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea but I liked them. Shinji was a character I really connected to and so was Rei. Their relationship got me a bit emotional and the scene where Shinji attempts to save her had me on the edge of my seat, while the scene where Shinji accepts Rei Q got a tear out of me as did the apology scene in 3.0+1.0.

If I had to compare them to any other pairing, which I’ve done before, it would be Hodaka/Hina from Weathering with You which also is a bit divisive and a bit of a tearjerker. Ironically, EoE is one of Makoto Shinkai’s favorites and he considers Anno an inspiration. Everything from their bond to Hodaka’s character and Hina’s arc of a blue haired girl, blackish-blue in Hina’s case, that’s lived a difficult life and who’s only purpose is to be a sacrificial lamb, learning to pray for herself is a lot like Shinji/Rei, down the ending of WWY being a lot like that of 2.22. The scene where Hodaka gives Hina a promise ring is also a little like the “smile” moment from Episode 6/1.11.

Conclusion

In short, Shinji/Rei isn’t a bad pairing and is overhated and misrepresented by many in the fandom. It’s fine to dislike it or prefer another ship but one can do so without chomping at the bit to paint its shippers as homophobes, misogynists or people with incest fetishes or Oedipal complexes. Many of us like it because it’s one of the least toxic relationships in the series and is honestly a very powerful story. Are there some questionable elements in it? Sure, but you can like a ship even if it’s not up to golden moral standards and expecting every pairing to be unproblematic is ridiculous. Real life is much more grey than what moralistic fans claim.

[shiliria]

[bronzeagepizzeria]

hot take but i don't care if the tenth doctor was bad sometimes actually it makes me love him even more

[getvalentined]

Okay so the FF7 fandom is having a meltdown and I gotta talk about it. See, the Rebirth Ultimania came out yesterday in Japan, and one specific piece of information has people freaking out.

[source]

This is, apparently, beyond the pale. People are insisting that it doesn't make sense, it's a retcon, it doesn't align with the games at all, et cetera, with a lot of people specifically citing Before Crisis as proof that this can't possibly be correct. After all, Elena is in her last year at Shinra's military academy in the game, and the academy is structured like a high school, meaning she'd be 17-18 during her Before Crisis appearance.

The issue here is that the majority of people don't actually know the timing of the aforementioned appearance. Because Before Crisis starts in 0001 and Elena is in it, people seem to assume that means she's in it from the beginning. This isn't the case at all.

In its entirety, Before Crisis is 24* chapters long—Elena appears in Chapter 22, specifically with her appearance starting on October 4th, 0007. (*In spite of technically being broken in 24 chapters by title, Before Crisis is actually 26 chapters by presentation, with two of them split into two parts.)

Meteorfall took place January 21st, 0008. We know this because the date is visible on the monument in Edge shown in Advent Children:

This means Elena's introduction in Before Crisis was less than four months before Meteorfall.

These portraits are months apart. She cut her hair and got out of the school uniform, but her face is completely unchanged; it's easy to say this was to lower artist workload, but the dates in-game are very specific.

The new Ultimania literally just reiterated information we've already had since around 2006. This has been canon for almost 20 years—it's not a retcon, it's not a "weird new decision," it's not another case of the Ultimania timelines contradicting the actual source material. This has been confirmed in-game as canon for longer than a lot of current players have even been alive.

I don't care what people do with this information, mind you. I don't care who you ship Elena with or anything like that, it's irrelevant to me. I don't care about age gaps or what the fuck ever, she's a pixel doll, do what you want with her.

But this isn't new. And everyone freaking out about it as if it isn't information we've had for so long that the game in which it was revealed is older than the character is kind of ridiculous.

I am begging you, do not cite sources with which you are not familiar in an attempt to make your assertions carry more weight. There are nasty people out there who will take your ignorance on the topic and use it to be even worse than they could have if you just stated that her canon age makes you uncomfortable so you portray her as being older and don't care that it's noncanon.

(Also, seeing the same people who declared that only the Ultimanias are correct even if they contradict the games or each other, now flipping to declaring this specific Ultimania to be wrong because "it's just meta" is indescribably frustrating. Sephiroth being 30 in-game was something the Ultimanias "fixed," but Elena being 18 in-game is something that the Ultimania has "screwed up." Pick one.)

[oroontheheels]

*cough cough*

[imaginary-eddie]

Rewatching Gilmore girls and fighting the urge to read Jess x Rory fanfiction

[lizardperson]

mommy issues

[on ao3]

fandom: original work rating: m cw: bad parent-child relationship/nagging, swearing wc: 610 prompt: #fff283 calling, calling home for @flashfictionfridayofficial

---

Fia stared at her phone, weighing her options. She could just text and be done with it. But on the other hand, maybe it wouldn't be so bad this time… Sighing, she finally decided to call. If her mother didn't answer, Fia at least tried and did her daughterly duty.

Of course she picked up, so quick in fact that she might have been waiting right by the damn phone.

Almost out of reflex, Fia sat up straight and put on a cheery voice. "Hey Mom!"

"Fia. Now if that isn't a surprise."

She bit her tongue. "Just wanted to wish you a happy birthday!"

"Oh wow, you remembered."

It took all her willpower to ignore her mother's nagging voice, instead of reminding her that she actually did call every damn year.

"You guys got any plans for today? Party or something?"

"Oh, please." Fia could basically hear the eye-rolling through the phone. "What's there to celebrate? If you ever make it to my age, you'll feel the same."

No, I sure fucking won't.

"And your father is barely home anyway."

And who can blame him.

"It's not like anybody cares about me."

Maybe if you weren't such a damn bitch, people would.

Digging her nails into the palms of her hand, Fia somehow restrained herself from saying these things out loud - as satisfying as it would have been at that moment. But she wasn't equipped to deal with the fallout right now, so she just kept up the small talk.

"You guys doing okay otherwise? Anything new?"

"Same as ever," her mother snorted, then changed the topic. "Are you still working as a secretary, or did you finally find a real job?"

Once again Fia regretted calling at all. As if they didn't have that very same conversation a dozen times before.

"Yes. And it's not so bad, actually."

"Sure could have avoided all those years of college then, if all you ended up doing is answering the phone. Don't need much school for that."

Was there a way to strangle someone through a phone line?

Fia took a deep breath and put on her best fake smile and cheery voice. Let's just get this over with. "Yeah, maybe. Anyway, I don't want to keep you!"

"Already had enough of me, hm?"

Yes. Because fuck you. "Say Hi to Dad! Bye, Mom!"

"Hmm. Bye."

With a frustrated sigh, Fia threw her phone on the couch. Why, again, did she still do this? Might as well not call, ever. She was the bad, uncaring daughter anyway. And it would save her the shitty mood she always got from those talks.

The last few times, she got unreasonably drunk afterward. Which wasn't exactly the healthiest coping mechanism - but on the other hand, she could probably deal with it in worse ways. However, this time, there was another option…

Gnawing on her lip, Fia grabbed her phone again.

Helena answered after a few rings. "Hey."

"Hey. What are you doing right now?"

"Not much, just reading. You okay? You sound strange."

How the hell did Helena already know her so well that she could pick up the smallest mood changes in her voice? Unbelievable.

"Just a shitty day," Fia waved it off. "So I thought you might have a way to improve it a little…"

Helena chuckled. "Well, come on over then. I'm sure I'll find something to take your mind off of whatever is bothering you."

She always did.

"Be there in twenty."

Freud would probably have something to say about distracting yourself from your shitty mother by sleeping with a woman roughly that same age. Good thing Freud was dead.

[snow-body]

I've been drawing since a long time, and I am still so glad I could experience fandom without any drama during my younger years, where I'm sure it would have done more harm during that age. School life was already hard enough, don't need that online as well.

I find it sad to see, today on twitter, that some artists get praised for their work but get bullied the moment they draw anything dark, unmoral of their fictional ship for example. And it's forever bizarre to see, what is okay for those people and what not - where do they draw the line? I wonder when they will start attacking gamers for drowning their Sim in the pool once, considering killing is another heinous, unmoral act, and that it is fictional does not change the fact for them, that those players are probably all potential murderers now irl. It's so hypocritical.

It's so stupid and frustrating to see, that simply blocking isn't possible, no... harassment gotta start, all because of fictional content, which does not define someone's real life. Was it always this bad, or did it get worse, but why? It definitely feels like something coming from the USA, because I have not witnessed such witch hunts under artists in the Eastern Region, tho ofc there is also language barrier, so I may not know.

[ver-slxt]

yeah thats SUCH normal bonding /sarc

…

…

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i am literally so (not) normal about these two and i am staying up COOKING some headcannons about them ૮₍ • ˕ - ₎ა♡₊˚

[comrade-emma]

They’re The Same Picture

[kyraxyrespace]

Day Five - Kira Yamato/Flay Allster (Mobile Suit Gundam SEED)