#...I have to split this post in half. damn you tumblr ''character limit''

[firendgold]

Pk now I want to hear tour rant about how Harrydore is bettter than Grindeldore. Bring it 🤣❤️

ohhh, this one's easy. I've been in this fandom on and off since 2006, and seen how Harry, Albus and Gellert were written pre- and post-'Dumbledore closet interview'. cracks knuckles

got to hit you with that readmore though. and it's going to be in two parts. I rambled again. ^^

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(...'rambled' is perhaps an understatement.)

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grindeldore vs harrydore

grindeldore

the tl;dr of the below is the following sentences, and then I'll get into it. My philosophy on gr*ndeld*re extends to all other ships in all other fandoms, especially HP: if it's not an AU and you have to excessively mischaracterize Character A to get them to 'fit' with Character B, then it's not a good ship, canon or not. Albus Dumbledore is quite often mischaracterized in order to 'fit' or 'keep' him with Gellert Grindelwald.

here's my problems with how gr*ndeld*re is most often portrayed:

Inconsistency within canon. JKR is partly mostly to blame for this (because she has contradicted her original 2007 statement in the present day with more interviews in the 2010s and with the Fantastic Beasts movies), but the first problem is: gr*ndeld*re was originally an unrequited ship. The original statement was that Albus was dazzled by Gellert's power, his presence, their similarities, their shared ideals... but That Woman wasn't explicit on whether Gellert ever returned his feelings. But based on her quotes where she says "falling in love can blind you to an extent" and that [Dumbledore] was "terribly, terribly let down" by the result of that whirlwind relationship, I think it's safe to assume that her original idea of Gellert cared far more for seeing his grander plans realized than for the needs and feelings of his 'equal'. And yet... in fandom, they are most often portrayed instead as star-crossed lovers torn apart by 'conflicting ideals'.

The second problem is that in the avalanche of fics and art that have come from The Reveal, the original lesson (/moral...?) behind the reveal of gr*ndeld*re, and how it shaped Albus as an adult, leader, and progressive, just... got lost. Completely lost. The whole point of it was to show that even Albus (supposed 'paragon of goodness' until book 7 showed the fandom that he is a regular human being) can make 'relatable' mistakes like... you know... being friends with a fascist. Being in love with a fascist, even. Thanks to said retcon interviews and the new movies (and even before that tbh) the fandom has since: overexaggerated Albus' new clay feet to the point of bashing him, idolized Grindelwald's red flag traits and ideals to the point where he has become the new "Tom Riddle was just misunderstood!" guy, and twisted that lesson/moral/whatever to mean that actually Albus and Gellert were tragically kept away from each other by an itsy bitsy little difference of opinion. A minor little fight. Casual death of your sick sister. Haven't we all been there?

The fandom diminishing the real reasons why Albus and Gellert eventually clashed, were destined to clash, is bad enough. What's worse is the opposite end. Some Dumbledore-bashing fans go the other way and paint present-day Dumbledore with the same brush as Grindelwald, even going so far as to say he still supports The Greater Good even though his entire character is literally built on being the opposite of the pro-magic, anti-Muggle philosophy. Albus has also been painted in some fics and even meta discussions as someone who 'regrets' his past not because his sister died and his brother is estranged from him, but just because his ex-boyfriend is in prison and he maybe kind of regrets not going full fascist with him. Like... bruh. NO. There are people who ship gr*ndeld*re just because they feel like Grindelwald, the worst dark wizard in the world, the reason why Voldemort is only a minor league little lord in comparison, is an appropriate "punishment" for the character they already dislike and thus misinterpret. (Side note: I'm not sure if I'm in a worse hell watching Albus' character get whitewashed for fascism or demonized so he can be a miserable lonely gay.)

Albus diminishes himself to meet Gellert's needs. An in-universe problem this time instead of a meta/RL one: Albus and Gellert were lovers, yes, but in order to be so, Albus had to actively start neglecting his siblings (since in Aberforth's words he was 'doing all right' taking care of them before Gellert showed up) and leaning more into anti-Muggle sentiment. He put all his energy into what for most of the magical world was a wild goose chase after some fairy-tale items. (Remember, most wixen don't give a shit about the Deathly Hallows, or think they're even real.) He became the person Gellert needed/desired most. Albus became a version of himself that he despised later in his life and after his death.

Relationships often include the members changing, and it's easy for even the most devoted partners to fall out of love if they change and are now too different from one another, or one person changes and the other... doesn't. After Ariana died, Albus chose to become a different person and champion the same people he and his family once despised. He chose to stay away from Gellert, whether he called it cowardice or principles or whatever else. And his choice put him in conflict with Gellert, who at sixteen refused to change course or rethink his ideals even when his choices led to the death of a magical person (the type of person he supposedly prizes above all others). His magical boyfriend's magical sister, even. And we see no sign that Gellert changed, repented, or considered Albus until decades later, at the very end of his life—far too late.

Healthy relationships require give-and-take, sacrificing for your partner in things big and small. For high-stakes relationships like Albus and Gellert's (queer in the 1800s, sweet Merlin), that is even more true. During that steamy summer of 1899, it was Albus who did all the sacrifcing/giving and Gellert who did all the taking. Gellert may have entertained the idea of bringing Ariana along on his quest with Albus (we don't know), but Aberforth was right to say that it would have been torture for her—and no alternate idea was brought up that would prioritize the wellbeing of Albus' siblings while he was away. And in the moment of required reciprocity when Albus was at his lowest, Gellert left him behind and went off to go rule the world. Not even the most diehard shipper can argue against the fact that when Ariana died, Grindelwald left.

This problem is even more personal/biased than the other ones. Albus and Gellert parted ways in 1899. They didn't see each other again until the duel in 1945 (because fuck Fantastic Beasts, the scripts don't even make fucking sense). Albus defeated Gellert, put him in prison, and then went on living for another fifty-two years. And That Woman expects me to believe that Albus never had a relationship with anyone before Gellert, and never even looked at another wizard afterward? In 52 years, he was one-and-done? He never once fell in love with other people, whether or not he fully trusted them/let them in? Be serious. Pull the other one. It's not realistic, and it doesn't speak to the kind of man Albus Dumbledore is. He may not have found a man to check the same boxes Gellert did, but he wouldn't arguably be looking for someone too similar to his old flame. He might not trust them unconditionally or be the Perfect Partner for them (bc whew traumaaa), but there would be other people for Albus in a realistic Magical Britain (even discounting time travel shenanigans). Before the reveal, the most popular people to ship Albus with were Minerva, Alastor, and Elphias Doge; these options are still arguably more valid. Albus Dumbledore loves love, he champions love, and he doesn't think he deserves it after his sins, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't go looking. It's mind-boggling to me that with all the well-deserved disavowing of JKR following her anti-trans hate (and her shameless pandering to the same people calling her a witch poisoning their children's minds decades ago), that some people still treat her words about Albus and Gellert's relationship and its effects on Albus in particular as gospel. I sure don't. (Especially because she said he became "asexual" after His One Gay Experience when like. That's not. What asexuality is??? And ace gay people exist???) Whether you count the FB movies or not, there are still decades of Albus' life that are a mystery, and I refuse to believe he closed his heart and caged his dick for all of them.

IMPORTANT END NOTE: These observations obviously do not apply to all gr*ndeld*re shippers. Some people genuinely do like both characters, characterize them correctly, and still want to see them together for reasons. I'm not going to judge them. I ship a frigging time travel age gap ship, how the fuck could I. And I'm also aware that a lot of fics/art are made to color in between the lines of what we don't know in the fandom, bringing Albus and Gellert together during the mystery years, or making one wizard better for the other to address all the ship baggage. I just can't join them because of how rarely that occurs (and, admittedly, how much I personally can't see it). You would not believe how many fics and discussions I've seen that lionize Grindelwald and treat Dumbledore like an accessory, or completely mischaracterize Albus' motivations, intentions, and actions, and then put him with "the other Big Bad". UGH.

Most of the time, I see gr*ndeld*re the ship hurting Albus the individual. It's very rare to find an iteration where Albus is not bearing the consequences of Gellert's choices, Gellert's actions, Gellert's mistakes and harm done. I think Albus deserves better than to be Gellert's accessory just because he loved him deeply long ago.

okay. whew. that was a lot.

a character limit prevents me from continuing here, so the second half of this versus will go elsewhere, sorry!

[whatudottu]

I posted 432 times in 2021

102 posts created (24%)

330 posts reblogged (76%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.2 posts.

I added 937 tags in 2021

#reblog - 318 posts

#ben 10 - 227 posts

#transformers - 71 posts

#fanart - 62 posts

#tfp - 59 posts

#headcanon - 50 posts

#ramblings - 42 posts

#strawberryoverlord - 41 posts

#skyquake - 34 posts

#tfp starscream - 33 posts

Longest Tag: 127 characters

#‘oh… oh… oh-! annie this isn’t just some card! it’s a limited edition! and you’re… giving it to me? are you sure?’ ‘it’s yours’

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

So… your most recent StarQuake ficlet, @needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves , I just had to draw this part-!

Time spend doing other more important things was spent into this instead and I don’t regret a dang thing-!

92 notes • Posted 2021-10-05 05:07:00 GMT

#4

I could not resist drawing this, @thistlehawk, especially not after I saw this post.

Have a quick little sketch that took way too long to be worth it, but damn did my art program finally let me have pen pressure.

95 notes • Posted 2021-07-24 18:40:32 GMT

#3

(x)

Is this in bad taste? I hope not.

I’m here with a little scene redraw and a bonus Petrosapien biology headcanon. Since I’ve loved how Side Effects made Ben react differently depending on the alien he was, I was a little bit disappointed when The Secret of Chromastone just defaulted to sneezing all over the place.

I would say that Petrosapiens won’t have much else of a reaction, but I wanted to play with how their sneeze differs. So now, here’s Diamondhead with his face split open. That’s where the shards that wreck the come from.

107 notes • Posted 2021-05-28 07:20:30 GMT

#2

Thought I’d jump on the trend and draw the chest and lips that Skyquake deserves.

I believed that using markers would be quicker and easier than digital, but forgetful little me didn’t remember that all my greys and God forbid my specific green were all running out if not dead. Not an issue for blue but- LOOK!

Anyway, is Starscream envious or into it more at 11.

121 notes • Posted 2021-08-16 05:41:47 GMT

#1

(x) (x)

So I uh… I made a comic for my recent thoughts? Heck yeah I did!

Since in my sketchbook I was already on the second page (relative to my other work), I thought it could be fun to split the second half of this comic as a double spread. Yeah, sure, the spine gets a little in the way, but I had fun doing this.

At one point when I was working on this, I showed some WIPs to my friends and they seemed to laugh at it. I mean, if the capital letters said anything, haha!

233 notes • Posted 2021-06-07 01:52:33 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[aerysian]

headcanons i have as i write 'not my type'

there are a few things in not my type (ffn / ao3) that i don't explicitly state or mention. i thought that i should share them somewhere so people can keep them in mind, too, as they read. so here they are:

- the powerpuff girls in order of age: blossom, buttercup, bubbles. buttercup milks it all the time. the rowdyruff boys in order of age: brick, butch, boomer. boomer hates being the baby.

- the powerpuff girls in order of height: blossom, bubbles, buttercup. the rowdyruff boys in order of height: boomer, butch, brick. i had to think about this one hard because i love butch as a short king, too. but in nmt!verse, brick is the shortest. boomer is hands down the tallest at 6ft-something. then it's butch at 6ft or so. brick is just shy of that, probably around 5'10. it gives him and blossom a really balanced look because she's around his height ― maybe 5'8? then it's bubbles, and buttercup is the shortest, though she loses to bubbles by like half an inch. it's a difference bubbles holds over her like how buttercup takes advantage of being a little older.

- blossom used to be immune to the cold, and brick used to be immune to the heat. it was part of the superpowers package. but then something malfunctioned, and suddenly they couldn't handle their internal power source anymore. probably part of a late adolescent phase? blossom started freezing while brick was burning up, so we get that trope of 'haha, now they needa hold onto each other to balance out their haywire elements >:)' and now they're sensitive to their respective elements. it's counterintuitive, but it's how it is for now. the professor thinks they can build up their immunity again with exposure training, but they don't have time for that right now.

- speaking of powers, they still have them, but they're not as OP as they were as kids. they all have laser eyes, flight, super strength, super hearing, etc. and there are limitations to each. i try to mention it in the story. i could expand a bit into how each character is affected / what their powers do if anyone is interested. one example in what i've posted so far is how brick can hear almost everything in the area. over time, he's learned to tune things out, but he can't use super hearing to, say, listen in on a conversation in crowded train unless he really focuses in on a person's voice.

- individual powers and abilities! only mentioning briefly, but they're pretty in line with canon and other fans' headcanons:

brick - fire breath (sometimes reactive to his anger or annoyance), split-second decision making (often butts heads with blossom because she thinks things through, but this is useful when blossom's stuck in her head. can't weigh pros/cons when the monster is seconds away from attacking. reminds me of miraculous ladybug in that he looks around and things just click)

butch - shield manipulation (the others can make some variance of shields for blocking, too, but butch is The Impenetrable Shield and is capable of expanding it beyond himself. the biggest shield he’s ever made covered an entire city block. he’s constantly testing his capabilities), super strength and athleticism (they all have this, but the greens specifically train this aspect a lot so they have a lot more brute force than their siblings. they also start with naturally more strength)

boomer - super speed (again, they're all fast, but boomer is sonic), electric manipulation (his element. sparky sparky boom man), charm (butch swears he's the one with the charm, but that's just failed flirting. the blues have higher emotional intelligence and empathy than their siblings, so they usually handle some of the trickier situations, like calming someone down. boomer isn't kind, though; he used to take advance of his charm to manipulate people)

blossom - ice breath (also reactive to heightened emotions), intelligence (considered the brains of the group, but god, does she get lost in her thoughts. she's careful to a fault, so she has backup upon backup plans, but curve balls throw her for a loop. she gets so stuck analyzing everything that she sometimes freezes. brick balances that out now, teaches her that sometimes the best plan is no plan), ruthlessly logical (she used to be idealistic and think they could save everyone, but after one particularly bad experience where spreading themselves too thin led to a greater loss than she expected, her thinking changed. now she has to consider every pro/con and will only briefly hesitate to make sacrifices. it’s not an easy decision to make, and her sisters hate how she acts — too logical, not very everything nice of her — but this is the burden of being a leader. brick is the opposite; he’s selfish. he will push his brothers to their absolute limits to save everyone, consequences be damned. can expand on this.)

buttercup - super strength and athleticism (stronk girl, throws hands like no one’s business), shadow stealth (for all her loudness, her shadow stealth is frighteningly silent. she hates using it but will for strategy and spying. it’s much more effective at night as she can slip in and out of the darkness. it’s possible for her to use during the day, though, if she stays within shadows. haven’t decided what exactly happens as she uses this. maybe melts into the shadows with only glowing eyes visible if she uses other powers like night vision. gets really tired afterwards if she’s been shadow stealthing for long distances because she’s literally changing her form)

bubbles - sound manipulation (idk what the difference is between hypersonic and supersonic, but screeching sound waves. also really, really good at voice impersonations. thinks it’s funny but can be used strategically. hard for them to control, though, because she breaks character often), super linguist (can pick up other languages really fast!! is their go-to for international correspondence. she can also speak to animals and monsters, which is helpful, but also she is so talkative. it helps with information gathering, though, so they’ll listen about how Dave the Squirrel’s day was if he’s an important crime witness. imagine robbing a store and getting caught cuz a damn rat identified you)

that’s it for now cuz tumblr’s bugging :(( will add more some time

[semperintrepida]

fic ask post: 2, 5, 24, 35!

Damn, I love it when fellow writers stop by. (Seriously folks, if the letters “TLOU” mean anything to you, go and check out @ehefic 's stuff.)

All right then. I’ve had half a bottle of wine and I’m feeling... truthy. Here goes.

2. How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?

This is where I get to admit that I’m terrible at fandom. These days, my ratio is 1%/99%. Always be writing.

I kind of hate this because I feel like an asshole. I have a “TO READ” list a fucking mile long. I want to support my writer friends. But I also have limited time and a burning desire to get my own words out on the page.

(It doesn’t help that I’m a bit of an idea/verbiage sponge, who lives in terror of inadvertently ripping off someone else’s plot/clever turn of phrase, etc. I know there’s nothing original under the sun, but I still worry. So I really don’t like reading while I’ve got WIPs cooking.)

5. What are your fanfic pet peeves? Do they have a huge effect on whether or not you decide to read something?

HAHA yes. Burly detective syndrome (when writers refer to characters by descriptors such as “the blonde”, “the brunette“, “the doctor”) makes me nope right out of a story. And it’s everywhere in fanfic. (It’s extremely easy to fix, too: use your characters’ names or their pronouns. Stop worrying about overuse or repetition. You’re fine. It’s fine. Your readers won’t notice.)

24. What’s a trope that you’d like to never hear about as long as you live, let alone write?

A/B/O and g!p, in equal measures. (No shade if that’s your jam, it just ain’t mine.)

35. How much has writing fic changed your life?

Eight years ago, I would have said writing fic changed my life in a bad way. I let the balance of it get all wrong. (I’m a Libra, such things matter.)

These days, I guess I’m feeling a bit meh about it.

I’m glad fic got me into writing fiction. I’m glad fic brought me some friendships, a few of which I’ve somehow managed to keep going like embers. I’m glad fic made me create this tumblr, because interacting with folks here has often been the highlight of my day.

But, but, but... sometimes I wonder what the fuck I’m doing spending all this time writing fic for a few thousand hits and a handful of feedback. (I’ve turned off my stats on AO3 via skins to keep my sanity, or I would have quit writing AC:O shit long ago.)

Sometimes I wonder if I should stop faffing about and put my effort into writing an original piece of historical fiction instead.

I wonder and wonder and wonder, and then I finish my drink, and go to bed, and wake up the next day eager to work on fic. It’s the circle of life.

[fic writer ask game]

[nightclimes]

@farfromdaylight tagged me re: my current writing wips so i guess i’ll tl;dr some more about interregnum (and a couple of other things)

Interregnum, old kingdom series fanfic set twenty years prior to sabriel when the regency falls, because it’s a good timescale to have her parents meet. inspired by the the prevalence of fate and choice (my faves) and the “what if sabriel’s mother had some of the sight and had recurring dreams of her meeting with terciel and then it actually comes true?” and “what if terciel knew his wife was to die in childbirth since he accepts it so quickly?” and a plan came out of that. i’ve thought about this a lot, okay. (then i had to write it. damn.) it’s taken a lot of turns and had plenty of additions and some happy coincidences, and a lot of my build up is now paying off (and hopefully is, as i’m getting to write all the stuff i’ve looked forward to). this is probably the longest concurrent thing i’ve ever written and perhaps the first multi-chaptered thing i’ll ever finish, which should say something when it’s not like, idk, five chapters at most. this thing is a beast of a fic and my chapter estimate is at 37 - 35, actually, as the final two chapters are self indulgent epilogues - and i’ve currently written 31 chapters, posted 27. as of right now, it’s also about 125.5k words long. it’s that one insanely long fic you write and people talk about reading this level of longfic and you hope people might actually read this too since this is such a small fandom because it’s a book, lol, and it’s largely about ocs since terciel (whom i love) has such limited screentime in sabriel :’) i’d like to finish it (if not post it) prior to november, but with the advent of my cfs it’s been very slow going compared to what my wordcount used to be (that or it’s just so long and there’s so much i have to double check on). i’m in the home stretch now, though!

also as an aside (and not really something i’ve planned out) is a prequel to the prequel (rems please) which would be about a teenage terciel and the lover he mentions a couple of times in this fic but again that’ll end tragically but mainly i just want to write about boyfriends i’m ngl. (the only though i have for it is that the abhorsen family is friends with this old money tailor family (think clariel) from belisaere and he meets the oldest son and it’s mostly just a case of “holy shit i’m gay? i’m gay? holy shit” but more eloquently (he’s bi but you KNOW WHAT I MEAN OK he likes beautiful things and he knows what he likes fingerguns))

Thirteen Effect, final fantasy xiii/mass effect crossover in which the cast of xiii is flung into the original mass effect trilogy and takes on various cast roles and others are created to cater them. (so an au where it’s mass effect but with xiii characters. it works great i wrote a string of tweets about this and also throw thoughts up on its tumblr when i remember.) the goal of this would be to write the whole thing, all of it, but that’s... unlikely to happen, so at the moment my main focus is on “important relationship beats and/or first meetings”, which is a series unto itself. so far i’ve written about the estrangement of the farron sisters and their (sort of, not really) reconciliation just prior the attack on eden prime, but i have a few others in progress (the two below) and a few more in the pipeline (lightning and sazh at the blitz, for instance, and the first time fang met vanille).

the first of these is about serah (obviously, she’s my girl!!) when she leaves home and is on her way to the citadel, where she bumps into noel for the first time - noel being a turian who is also extra nervous because he’s on his way to meet yeul for the first time, who he’s been charged by the shadow broker to look after. also she meets snow on the shuttle and snow just falls absolutely head over heels in love with her which isn’t so much an au but actually canon that i get to write about because damn can you imagine how head over heels snow was for serah. can you even imagine. so tl;dr serah’s first meetings with her boys. i’m about a third? half? of the way into this one - i’ve got the current draft up on ao3 and am debating to split it into two halves, we’ll see.

the second of these is with team nora, which will be perhaps 3-4 chapters long, and basically detail how the each member of team nora wound up on eden prime. lebreau’s the disgruntled turian c-sec officer (think garrus) who asks for a posting and accidentally is assigned a human colony, but takes it anyway; gadot, local krogan mercenary, runs into quarian maqui who’s having a hard time on omega and they have some wild and wacky adventures which also lead to eden prime because maqui is a sweet quarian who deserves better than this; and yuj is a rebellious biotic teen from bekenstein who dyes his hair and joins the crew because he’s all about what’s Cool and In (also i guess his parents are at their wits end and if him being Cool means defending eden prime why not just take him). snow is the marine protecting the colony and mostly in charge of shuttle runs and defense exercises. i just really like the dynamic of this group and boy am i going to make them all super important in this au. look at this little multispecies family. look at it. (this is also my plan; i haven’t started this one yet.)

THAT’S IT, THOUGH... i don’t have anything else of merit to mention, haha, most of my writing energy goes into interregnum at the moment, but it’s been a good year in terms of actually writing things and i’d like to write more one shots. (or work on fansites. go do that, me.) i need to think of something for nano, but as of yet, i don’t have any ideas...