#If a story or a headcanon or an opinion about a ship or a fanwork or an interpretation is made with love to bring people joy...

[chat-dank]

You have the right to like your Angbang intense. You have the right to like your Angbang fucked up. You have the right to like your Angbang unhinged. You have the right to like your Angbang harmful. But you also have a right to like your Angbang fluffy, too. You are not woobifying them if you like it soft or write a fic where they say they love each other or kiss or high five or take a bite from the same sandwich or whatever. You have a different interpretation, that’s all. You’re not committing some horrid unforgivable atrocity against your fandom. You’re not an “annoying fan” if you want your ships happy, even if other people dislike you for it, the same way you are not an “annoying fan” if you like your ships intense and other people dislike you for it. You’re not a mean person for having an opinion that the majority dislikes. You’re an individual human being who has an opinion and your opinion is worth JUST as much as every other opinion in your fandom. Because that’s how opinions work. You’re not disregarding canon any more than people who bend it to fit their other non-canon ships or headcanons or other interpretations of this ship or their interpretation of any other ship or anything else that JRRT or Christopher or the Tolkien estate disagree with. We all see a piece of media and interpret it differently. It doesn’t make any of us better or worse for it. Ship and let ship. 

[utilitycaster]

7 and 8 for veth and/or essek?

7. For Veth, I like a lot of art of her as a halfling. I feel like people capture her style and her body type really well, and while this is outside the scope of this question I have a lot of complicated negative feelings about how fandom often headcanons in fully fanon representation to characters they don't actually care about, and so it's wonderful to have a canon fat character who is very happy with who she is and who people like for that.

For Essek, I think there's so much fanwork out there that it's possible to find something you like but I specifically like a lot of the meta about his motivations and his arc, and I like fic about his and Caleb's relationship that engages with it being a long-distance thing that won't be lifelong for Essek but will be significant.

8. For Veth: a bunch of things but notably, anyone who is like "I liked her better as a goblin" is boring and can fuck off; that is her core story. You do not like Veth if this is your opinion; you just want a goblin character to project onto. Also people who downplayed her relationship with Caleb. Many people who shipped Caleb with other party members (probably some people who shipped him with Essek too, but I saw this far more with those who shipped him with one of the tieflings) often attempted to downplay how much Veth meant to him. This keeps coming up, but if the core tenet of a ship involves low-key isolating the characters from any other meaningful relationships in your fanon conception of the show, it is a bad sign. Cody Christian was right and should be meaner to shippers.

For Essek: I cannot stand when fans constantly whine about him not appearing in materials or one-shots with the Nein. Yes, he is a member. He also did not appear until a third into the campaign and did not join them until very late in the campaign. He is on the run, in disguise. He is an NPC. The way he exists within the actual play story is fundamentally different. Also, he doesn't physically appear in Echoes of the Solstice but the plot hinges on him and others have written brilliantly about how screentime=/= importance. And I generally hate shrieking "HOW CAN I EXIST WITHOUT BLORBO/HOW CAN I WAIT FOR NEW EPISODES/WHEN WILL I GET NEWS OF SHOW" posts anyway and frequently block people who do them constantly and boy have I blocked no shortage of Essek fans for this specifically.

[amemenojaku]

Akyuu for the ask game!!

General opinion/How much I care about them: She's a girl she's a boy she's neither she's 1400 years old she won't live past 30 she can remember anything she sees she can't remember her past lovers she's the most influencial person in the human village she writes silly Agatha Christie fanfics!!! I LOVE her!! Easily a top 5 for me. Everything that surrounds her is fascinating, from the lore to her duty to the window on the world of touhou that she opened for the fans. I like that she's a tragic character yet she has such a strong personality, both that of a noble and of a woman who just wants to live her life and have a little fun As A Treat.

A ship I love: Akyuu/Kosuzu is so so so important to me as a tragic best friends enjoyer. I can do literally anything I want with this ship, tragedy, fluff, comedy, historical study pieces, bad ends - it always works. Their interactions are one of the reasons why I loved Forbidden Scrollery so much, the little moments when they just chat together around a cup of tea, when they do research on youkai, the ceremony under the sakura to extend Akyuu's lifespan, the Agatha ChrisQ chapters, the excellent "youkai are the enemies of humans" moments…

why does the panel on the right look like it's from a shoujo manga OUGHHH!! anyway um. I'm also really fond of Reimu/Akyuu (the longing and the parallels toi même tu sais) and Marisa/Akyuu (they'd be so funny together). As a whole I think every variation of Reimu/Marisa/Akyuu/Kosuzu works really well either as platonic or romantic.

A non-romantic relationship that I love: Probably with Yukari. There's definitely something fun to do with the guardian of Gensokyo and the reincarnations of its beloved chronicler. I like to imagine Yukari's existence has become almost reassuring to the children of Miare despite the fact that she's still a dangerous youkai. She'll always be there after all! In my mind it's also like the relatonship between a writer and an artist.

The NOTP: Don't have any!

My biggest headcanon about them: I've got a lot of headcanons for Akyuu which I'd like to do something with in the future, one of them is that she's really into flower language and personally chooses the flowers in the Hieda house. Each of Are's reincarnations also have a flower linked to them :) I love flowers myself so I'm projecting a little haha

An idea for a fanwork I would like to make/see about them: I have this idea for a mystery story on the Hieda family with lots of scheming and backstabbing but I am not very good at writing so it's only a silly dream for now. If someone on ao3 goes insane over Akyuu and a million different Hieda ocs one day that'll probably be me just saying

Something that makes me think of them: April Come She Will <3

[notgreengardens]

Disco Elysium Ask Game

I already made one over a year ago but edited and added some questions, so here you go!

Who is your favourite underrated side character?

What Copotype and political alignment has your headcanon Harrier? Describe him in more detail!

What is one thing you don’t like about the story or the game mechanics?

Which character arc or piece of lore would you have wanted to be explored more in depths?

What is a popular fan interpretation that you don’t like?

What do you love about the game?

What is your favourite line from the game?  

What are your headcanons for what happens after the end of the game?

Do you want more official games and stories set in Elysium and if so, which ones (given the original team gets back all the rights to the game)?

What are your headcanons for pre-Martinaise Harry? 

What songs/poems/quotes etc. always remind you of Disco Elysium? 

What was the moment that touched you most while playing?

When playing it for the first time, did you go in blind or not? Is there anything you would want to change about your first playthrough?

Wild Pines vs. The Débardeurs’ Union – what do you think of the Evrarts and Joyce Messier and do you root for any of them?

What is the most galaxy brain take you have come up with or seen in fandom? This can also be a headcanon, ship etc.

What skill is the most fun/coolest/most interesting to set as your signature skill?

Do you have a favourite political vision quest?

Do you have a controversial fandom opinion?

What is your favourite song from the soundtrack?

What is your favourite piece of obscure Elysium lore?

Describe your favourite playthrough of the game.

What is your favourite in-game reference to something or someone that exists in the real world?

Who would you be in Revachol? How would you position yourself politically?

What is a crossover you would die to see happen?

What Disco Elysium related thing makes you want to chew drywall? (Positive or negative)

Is there something that you missed on your first playthrough that completely blew your mind and/or changed how you view the story when you found out it existed later?

What are your favourite fan works? Give a shout out to your favourite writers and/or artists!

What would your own stats be?

What is a thing in fanworks that you eat up every single time? 

What is your interpretation of the title of the game?

Favourite piece of in-game art (graffiti, poetry etc.)?

Have you read Sacred and Terrible Air? If so, what are your thoughts?

Just ramble freely about the game and let me know your thoughts.

[deafknell]

julius?

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi for sure. I've seen a lot of ace Juli headcanons which are pretty neat!

A ship I have with said character: I'm a diehard Anajuli shipper, but I do love emisubajuli and all its variants, and have a good soft spot for reinjuli. Ana and Julius just have so much mutual respect and adoration for each other it's so wonderful. Julius being seen as this suave knight by Subaru, meanwhile in one SS he mopes about being rejected by Anastasia because he tried to get Reinhard to be her knight instead because he views Rein as better than himself.

Plus Ana choosing to go undercover as "Ana" in an SS because she thought Julius going as "Juli" was cute of him. They're so sweet to each other I could go on for yeaaars about this ship.

A BROTP I have with said character: Felix and Julius need more good content of them being bros. They're both so in love with their candidates, but Julius is hopeless at expressing himself and Felix is the complete opposite. I like to imagine them hanging out a lot whenever Julius finishes his patrols or has some free time.

A NOTP I have with said character: Hmm, don't think I've seen any pairings I'd outright reject. I really dislike the amount of NTR content made with Juli "stealing" Subaru's love interests, but I have no issues at all with the ships the content refers to.

A random headcanon: Julius is really good at writing, while his brother's good at art. We see him carrying and writing in a "promise keeping notebook," and we know Julius reads a lot thanks to his reading glasses in very rare canon art, so I like to think he's good at creative writing with lots of stories of old heroes and adventures Joshua would read to him.

General Opinion over said character: Him and Joshua tied for number one boys in my heart. They're just so well written and the colour schemes are immaculate. Julius is such a softie (even wishing he got to know Balleroy better after killing him) and his dorky nature often gets underplayed in fanworks, but it really shines a lot in post arc 5 content. He's goofy and loves tousling his hair and teasing people, but he's well aware he's nowhere near Reinhard's level of skill despite wanting to come close to it.

One of my favourite lines in rezero comes from his side story Julius Juukulius' Promise Keeping Notebook - "Forgetting or being forgotten, which one is more miserable?"

Really speaks volumes to how much forgetting Joshua weighs on him, and how much everyone else forgetting him messes with who he is as a person.

[amazing-spiderling]

fandom ask game: 1 8 12 15 16 17 21

the character everyone gets wrong

Okay, I don't know that this is *wrong*, per se- but I think the ITSV characterization of Gwen Stacy has everyone thinking that Spider-Gwen/Ghost Spider/Whatever is this like... cool, super competent hero with an unwavering sense of right and wrong while her incarnation in the comics is just about as far from that as can be. For starters, Gwen is older, at least 19 to start but the story spans at least a year, maybe more. She's also a certified mess, and she makes a lot of mistakes and missteps and spends a lot of time disappointing people, and we didn't get a sense of that in ITSV. That's fine, because at the end of the day it was Miles' story, but even making her a ballerina with sick dance moves instead of a "she gets by because she has powers" fighter just makes her seem way more put together than she is. I'd like to see more of "barely holding it together like she's made out of masking tape and old corn dog sticks" Gwen in fanworks.

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

That there is a "best" Spider-Man. You are 1000% entitled to your *favorite* Spider-Man, but the character has been so many things over so many years and mediums, each geared towards a different audience- people who try and put some sort of objective judgement on something like that are just stating their personal opinion as though it's fact.

If you don't like a certain incarnation or love another one, that's fine! Just own that as your personal opinion.

All the Spideys are friends and love each other, even when they fight.

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

IDK about unpopular? What does that even mean these days... I guess I'll interpret it as "characters that need more time in the sun"?

I have a soft spot for Arach-Knight (the Moon Knight/Spider-Man hybrid from the Infinity Warps comic) and I wish there was more fan content of him. I think it was a genius mash up, because so much of Spider-Man's internal conflict comes from an inability to compartmentalize the different parts of his life, but Arach-Knight is this great example of compartmentalization gone too far. I believe the implication is that the 616 gang is aware of the temporary folding of the universe? So in theory they might still retain some memories of their Warp selves? If I was a faster writer, I'd love to explore what that means for 616 Peter.

Oh, and shout out to Last Devil, silent hero from like 5 pages of Spider-Man/Daredevil. We barely knew ye, but I found myself very compelled. The design, the implications of a Daredevil who has a connection to the Hand... there's so much going on there, I want to crack him open like a geode.

Second shout-out to Weapon Xi (the "not deadpool" from X-Men Origins: Wolverine) because as bizarre as that interpretation was, the character has the potential for so much ANGST and I want it.

that one thing you see in fanart all the time

Alright, I guess the point is to be spicy, so I'll go ahead and say it. I've reached my quota of "twinky goodboy uwu Matt being manhandled by big stwong Frank" artwork. I'm good. We can stop.

you can’t understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

When they were handing out the part of the brain that ships Wolverine and Nightcrawler, I guess I was getting second helpings of "love Nightcrawler". It's not that I dislike the pairing, or even that it squicks me, it just does nothing for me. I nothing it. I see tons of beautiful art (and I've read a few fics) but I might as well be looking a a photograph of a very nice car for all the warm feelings it stirs in me.

The wild thing is!!!! I LOVE friends to lovers. Love some best buddies who mean the world to one another that come to mean even more. I just...??? I don't know. There's some kind of blinders on me when it comes to those two. Maybe this isn't the answer to this question bc it's more about my own inability to like something than not being able to understand other people's interest in it.

I think I also have a tendency to try really hard to understand why people like the things they do. Like, even if a dish is not for me, I'm still able to say, "I do not want to eat this, but someone who loves spicy food would be crazy for it." And I have that approach to fandom stuff too- so with *most* things I think I have some understanding of *why* it has a fandom, or what the appeal is.

there should be more of this type of fic/art

Stuff based on the Marvel 1602 universe. I really want to take a stab at doing some artwork of this at some point (after my current projects give me some breathing room) but gosh. I'm surprised more people aren't playing in this universe. Maybe it's because the books came out before the MCU boom? Maybe because they're kind of dense or historical based AUs don't interest people? I just feel like it's fertile soil and gosh, drops just enough crumbs for us to use to make a whole meal.

part of canon you think is overhyped

A lot of the classic X-Men stories. I don't know if it's fandom that lauds them as the best thing ever or just the people making media that are convinced the stories that were popular four decades ago still hold up, but like... some of those stories were revolutionary because it was the first time we'd seen the concept in comics- but that was decades ago. The concept of a hero being pushed over the brink and embracing evil is very well explored now. We don't need ANOTHER Dark Phoenix story. My hope is that if/when the X-Men enter the MCU, we really embrace some of the weird stories that team has been through.

[grim-glasses]

Absolutely unhinged Grelliam rambling

(To save time, please assume that each paragraph begins with "in my opinion" because this isn't a meta post, I'm not trying to be like "omg they're endgame and this is Yana's vision" I'm mostly talking about my creative process and the transformative nature of fanworks. My fanworks specifically.

Note: The Tale of Will the Reaper does not exist to me. I Do Not See It.

Not sure if I'm just experiencing Visions or what but I do think that Grelliam could be endgame with quite honestly only very small amounts of character development

I was struggling with writing the ship for a while because I really liked it but as it stands Will and Grell have like 0 chemistry and really REALLY fall into that 2010s-era "sexually inappropriate dumbass x emotionally stunted asshole who beats the shit out of them & we're supposed to find this cute and funny because it's the 2010s" dynamic

So I was really struggling finding a way to like. write that dynamic in a deep, meaningful way. Because in order to do that, you have to take it seriously, I think? You either have to take it seriously and consider them a couple that is uncomfortable with each other or dial it back into something you can work with.

The problem is, as side characters, if you take that away, there's nothing left. Grell is just some weirdo with a crush and Will is. wallpaper.

The only solution, thus, is to develop it. And I finally "solved" Grelliam in a way that works for me.

You seeee, I initially thought Will was The Problem. So naturally, if I crafted some sort of scenario in my head where he changed to accept and reciprocate Grell's feelings, that should fix it, right?

Wrong.

The problem was, I still didn't believe it.

It didn't work for me at all.

Even if you headcanon him as demi, which I do, there's still this strange sense of mismatch, that Grell is over-performing in a way, or perhaps... over-compensating?

I sat with this weird Grelliam mismatch for months trying to come up with some fanfic plots, some ideas, something to compel me, but I really could not find any appeal in a love story where only one person is transformed. It turns Will into a problem and Grell into a solution.

But then I realized that Grell is, in fact, also a problem.

Her feelings and expressions are WAY too over-the-top to be believable or even... genuine. I started thinking about what she said to An right before killing her (in the anime, anyway, bc I've watched that scene more than I've read it)

Also I'm paraphrasing because I'm not about to go look up the scene just to get the quote right in some absolutely unhinged Grelliam ramble

But it was something along the lines of "what use are you to me if you're just another woman?"

Because Angelina hesitated to kill Ciel. Because she showed weakness.

From this and Grell's attraction to Sebastian and Will, I think it's fair to draw the conclusion that it's not aloofness she's attracted to, but resolution, stoicism, drive, immovability. We can guess that she's not lithro, because she was in a reciprocated relationship with An.

It's displays of excess emotion and vulnerability that turn her off.

That being said, I don't think she knows just how deep her feelings for Will go. I think she's counting on him to never, ever break. To never cry, to never bleed, to never smile. I think she feels very safe in that.

That needs to go.

I think, the Inciting Grelliam Incident, the moment that shatters the status quo into a million little pieces on the floor, that changes everything

Is

That

Will needs to show some kind of weakness

And Grell needs to keep loving him anyway

I could keep going but I ran out of steam anyway my point is I can write Grelliam now because I finally have an idea of what I want their fucking dynamic to look like

[broken-clover]

what about the catboy war criminal?

I will be honest it took me all of my willpower to not use the cat head for this. I do not know what that says about me

– Overall opinion of them

He's honestly such a sad, pathetic little man that sometimes it adds to his character in terms of being horribly flawed but with ultimately good intentions, and other times I just really want to punt him

– Gender/sexuality headcanons

Not even he is entirely sure. He cares for Sol. He cares for Aria. Is it love? Is it obsession? Is there really a difference, when you boil it down? He had never cared for anyone so deeply until he met them.

– Favorite moment in canon

It's very hard since so much of his canon appearances have been kinda neutered because of Strive and most of what isn't is just silly, but for whatever reason I really like his Overture iteration, I think it balances the aloof mysteriousness and his sense of guilt pretty well.

– Favorite moment in a fanwork

Despite my weird feelings towards him I do wish there was more fan content. A lot of it is shipping, which is fine, just sorta feels like there isn't much that goes deeper

– Favorite line, in canon or otherwise

"You and I both...already killed her"

I think it's the frankest Asuka has gotten in admitting his guilt and his own role in what he did to his friends. While his whole story role is trying to undo it, I like any moment that indicates the remorse that drives it

– Characters I love seeing them interact with

First and foremost is Raven actually, and everytime I think about it I get pissed off about Strive again. They had such a wonderful relationship in finding value and worth and reasons to go on, and that just got tossed aside. I want them to find solace in each other.

(And I still haven't seen it yet so I'm definitely gonna have to make it myself at some point, I really want to see him and the Original/Happy in a paternal relationship because I feel that could be so interesting)

– Last thing before sleeping headcanons

Do you really think he sleeps? Asuka is a disaster and barely ever intentionally does so unless Raven continuously prods him over it. More often than not he'll just pass out from exhaustion

– Sleeping habits headcanons

Sleeps on whatever book he's reading and happened to pass out in. Raven probably drags him off to bed after finding him in his study.

– First thing after waking up headcanons

Immediately back to his work

– Favorite locations headcanon

Considering his whole thing is clinging into the past, I fully believe he still visits their old destroyed labs just to reminisce (and guilt-trip himself as motivation)

[reecey9o5]

It's funny to me to see people in fandom spaces complain about AI, like they've ever given a shit about the artistic insights of authors.

To anyone familiar with how fandom behaves, AI is clearly what you all want.

An author who will write when prompted with no need to sit and think about things, who works on your schedule, not theirs.

An author who will handbrake turn on a story arc, sub plot or relationship because you told them to.

An author who will fulfil your ships without pushback.

An author who will validate your headcanons even at the cost of narrative, themes or even basic logic.

An author with no views that might conflict with yours, or a dislike for your passions, or even opinions of their own.

An author that can't prevent you from seeking to monetise their work for your own gain because robots don't have rights.

I often see people reject the very idea of canon in these spaces. Like the purpose of the author is to provide you with a playground and pretty dollies and not to tell a story that has meaning to them.

I've seen people pull death of the author on a work, pull whole themes and meanings out of their goddamn arse, and then proceed to revoke death of the author to act like these glorified headcanons reflect badly on an author who never intended them in the first place.

I've seen people apply meanings, again via death of the author, to works and then be shocked and angry when authors who never intended those meanings don't abide by these glorified headcanons.

(Also, don't think I haven't noticed the death of the author in order to argue that a canonically straight character is gay, or some character or other is trans, but the dogged adherence to the word of god when one is announced as gay or trans.)

I've seen the explosion of people denouncing canon and holding up fanworks as somehow the pure and true representation of the author's ideas because those fanworks capitulate to their wants and needs when the author didn't.

And, honestly, the rank stupidity of that last one almost offends me more than the disrespect for the authors of the works you claim to love.

By treating fanworks as a viable replacement for the official work, you are opening fan creators and sites like Ao3 open to legal trouble. Because it's not just the lack of monetisation of fanworks that shields them from legal action, it's also that they do not serve as a replacement for the copyrighted work.

AI is exactly what you want: A machine that will pump out generic settings filled with tumblr sexymen that you can twist into whatever 'representation' you want without an inconvenient copyright holder to disprove your headcanons by merely existing.

[leonawriter]

For that meme: Romani! and also Genesis!

First impression

Romani: I was going to say something about when I started playing, but then I remembered my first impression was actually you guys telling me about him and Merlin, along with a bunch of spoilers, and... some of those are a big part of why I knew I'd love him XD

Genesis: wow it's been ages now, but, I think my first impression was probably "who is this" and "what an asshole" haha.

Impression now

Romani: I'm still in the middle of Babylonia but! He's so!!!! look he introduces himself as "just a doctor on staff" and then he gets promoted to the Director of Chaldea/effectively the Leader of the last remnants of humanity. Just a normal doctor. And then he's mission control, and no matter that the Servants are saying mean things a lot he's always there for you, works so hard for you, clearly knows damn good battle strategy going by America, Camelot, and Babylonia... there's so many hints about who he is but he just reads as someone who cares. A lot. I love him.

Genesis: Skrunkly cat man who both suffered too much and also didn't get hit with enough at the same time. I still need to know more about him. I want to put him through the pear wriggler. I love him and he's a dumb(apple).

Favorite moment

Romani: It's gotta be when they're in America, and he's just casually becoming the team's go-to battle strategist. I kept screaming about it because dude your mask.

Genesis: I... is it weird if I say I find it hard to think of really great canon moments? I think that maybe actually him walking past Angeal in his Banora home and going "you don't fit in with them anymore" basically. The actual line is so much better. Reason I find it hard to think of good moments is that a lot of the time in canon he's desperate and freaking out; in fanworks we're able to portray an idea of what he might be when not degrading or anything, and that's what I want to see out of any future appearance.

Idea for a story

Romani: Hm... I haven't been reading any FGO fic at all yet, really, so I don't know what has or hasn't been done already. But if I had to say what I'd like to see, it'd be something set between the Singularities that isn't an event, and therefore not likely to be so silly.

Genesis: I still need to finish TCASM at some point. But I guess I'd love to see more gen-fic/non-romantic fics based in either the original timeline, or the Remake one. Remake Aerith meeting Genesis would be fun.

Unpopular opinion

Romani: I don't know enough about FGO fandom perception and I'm not reaallly far through enough to know what opinions I'd hold would or wouldn't be unpopular, so. Pass.

Genesis: In many ways the fact that he's one of my actual unironic faves in VII is an unpopular opinion in and of itself. I... also don't like any of the popular ships for him, I think. I tend to see him and Angeal as like brothers (partly because of them growing up, partly because of the experiments giving me some fun ideas) and there's other things that disqualify most other ideas. Which would be a petty little thing if not for how 90% of all fandom material is shipping, and it makes it hard to find content I can enjoy.

Favorite relationship

Romani: Romantically, Merlin. Platonically, Mash. With Merlin he's just so unapologetically forward about himself, and they're both... they're equals. You know I'm weak for that. And Mash is just an entire daughter to him. And all three are kind of weirdos when it comes to humanity, if I'm reading things right.

Genesis: Zack, because he's kind but takes no shit, and has seen him at his worst and still believed he could be helped. I've also always loved seeing him bounce off against Aerith and Cloud too.

Favorite headcanon

Romani: I feel like I don't know enough about him yet to come up with anything that's not going to get thrown out of the window in time, but... I do like to believe that mask or not, he really does care. A lot of the things we see from him simply don't make any sense otherwise.

Genesis: Other than that he's an autistic bisexual disaster? It's the popular "he ends up with the Seventh Heaven/AVALANCHE group after failing to handle whatever he's got himself involved in on his own." He has to work with others, and find out that people can, actually, handle him just being himself.

[amemenojaku]

character ask prompt: yuyuko!

General opinion/How much I care about them: There's a LOT to unpack with Yuyuko so I'll start with the easy things first. She's one of the first characters with matter to work with, actually the first one period imo, with a real story to dig in that makes her feel more than a cute girl in a bullet hell game so props to her for that!! There's a good contrast between her absolutely tragic backstory and her personality in the present that makes her character both endearing and disturbing at the same time, her boss fight stood up to time despite being 20 years old now, and she's gorgeous, so it's no wonder she's become so iconic. I think some of the older characters don't... """deserve""" (words a bit strong but it's the only thing I can come up with rn) the spotlight they always get but Yuyuko really does imo. Now for the more personal parts... :-) I have a very visceral relationship with parts of her character, and despite the funny ghost personality she makes me feel unbelievably sad sometimes. It's not just because of that one thing in her backstory, it's like... a whole package!! so it's tough to say how much I like her exactly

A ship I love: I don't have a preferred choice for her. I like some classic yukayuyu and I've been fond of Satori/Yuyuko for around a year (pretends that one specific line they dropped after teasing the ship for months doesn't exist), and I enjoy the aesthetic of Yuyuko/Youmu a lot even if I don't ship it as long as Youmu doesn't look like a baby. But she's such a free spirit (hah) to me that I can't bring myself to have strong feelings for any of those

A non-romantic relationship that I love: One day someone drew past Yuyuko with Hieda no Are's reincarnation of that time (Ami I think?) and I have not been the same person ever since!!! There's something to do with Yuyuko and Akyuu and the ideas of past and forgotten memories and classics (sorry for including litt in all of those btw.) and I'd love to see it. Or make it. When my brain isn't overwhelmed by so many ideas anymore. I think next time Yukari visits Akyuu for the chronicles she should bring Yuyuko along.

The NOTP: Nothing comes to mind

My biggest headcanon about them: I've seen people talk about the idea that she's a skeleton under the layers of her kimono and it's so disturbing it loops back to being excellent. Also... maybe some of her senses never fully came back - I like to think the sense of smell especially.

An idea for a fanwork I would like to make/see about them: The aforementioned Yuyuko & Akyuu story, and I've also wanted to draw something based on Saigyo Hoshi's poems for a very long time but I need to do some more research for that. One day.....

Something that makes me think of them: Cherry blossoms ofc lol, but to avoid the obvious answer I want to mention I thought of her pretty often during my jp litt classes despite the fact that we never studied Saigyo's works..... she was just there and it stayed

[herzspalter]

I think a lot of people might be more sensitive to anasui fanart due to him being widely headcannoned as trans, therefore any hateart of him would be kinda transphobic, but yeah you didn't do any of that. As someone who also hc's ana as trans and preferes to ship him with jolyne(we love to see a trans king win) I 100% respect your ships, and I think ppl should really learn some etiquette when it comes to fandoms ect. Love your art, keep it coming 🖤🖤

Hi Lovely Anon!

I 100% headcanon him as trans too, and I enjoy a lot of headcanon takes people make! I just don't see why that would stop me from disliking him in canon :') All the reasons why I don't like him have nothing to do with his gender identity, canon or headcanon, it's literally just because I don't enjoy his personality and how his role in the story is presented (the short version is that Guess is gross too, but she's depicted as irredeemably bad, while Anasui gets to stay with the main group without getting the massive scorn Guess got, even when she tried to be better, and I just think that's kind of unfair in a franchise where it's tradition to befriend early enemies bwahaha). That's a personal opinion, I totally get it when people disagree with me on that, but that's all it is - an opinion on how a character acts. I prefer the version of Anasui that I see in fanworks, because it's not what I personally got from the canon story, where I just couldn't get into him, you know? I have a different version of him in my mind too when I draw him. I don't despise him, I just don't like him, and for me, there's no amount of headcanons that can really change on how I feel about him in the official canon of Stone Ocean. I hope you know what I mean, I'm bad at explaining myself;

I'm genuinely sorry if what I draw upsets somebody, it's never intended to be hate art. I personally think investing time into drawing something you genuinely hate, just because you wanna shit on it in public, is kind of embarrassing, and it's something I would never waste time on. I make fun of my own favourites all the time, my taste in characters is pure shit, and even with a character like Anasui that I don't like very much, it's still all in good fun! I enjoy drawing every character that I make art of, none of this is done out of malice <3

And thank you, Lovely Anon, I'm happy you like my art ;w;

[phoenixyfriend]

Captain Rex!!

Send Me a Character And I will tell you my:

First impression NOTABLY I entered this fandom in a very incorrect order, meaning that I consumed fanworks for months upon months before I ever cracked open canon. With that in mind, my first impression of him was 'narratively an extension of Ahsoka, and for some reason very close with her' because this was the first fic I read where he featured heavily.

Impression now I have many feelings about him and his relationships with his men and his Jedi! I think he's got a lot of really interesting things going for him, from the slightly chaotic battle attitude (certainly more than other clones in positions of command), to loyalty to Anakin as a friend and not just a soldier (like his awkward job as 'distraction' for Anakin when the Padme calls are happening), to the kind of work he does for the Rebellion, there's just so much to work with, while still leaving a lot of room for us to play and develop him ourselves.

Favorite moment HEAD BONK

Idea for a story I want to see Rex and Ahsoka running a mission together a few years post-O66, when they've had a bit of time to grow into themselves as often-solo operatives, and they just click right back into sync and are dangerous as hell.

Unpopular opinion I don't know that I have one that isn't also a wider clone headcanon or just an unpopular ship.

Favorite relationship Genuinely seesaw between Rex/Anakin and Rex/Ahsoka, but I think I need to go with Ahsoka. Platonic or otherwise, there is so much I see in them as a duo in the fallout of O66.

Favorite headcanon Rex, after meeting Cut, started arranging for clones who didn't want to fight to desert and he'd quietly get them marked down as "MIA." Anakin may or may not know

[asocial-inkblot]

Need Help Picking Out What to Write About Next

*Probably pointless of me to do, especially since I don’t know if anyone will even see this. Regardless, I’m going for anyway. Too bad there’s no poll option.*

I’m not a scholar or expert on media creation by any means, but I do have at least a few thoughts on the below ideas. Some I may have already hinted my feelings about in previous posts. Some I may merge together into one piece. Either way I want to eventually do something with all of them, but I suppose we’ll see. So, take your pick I guess. Oh and if you like a topic here, you’re welcome to do something with it! (Excuse the huge amount. I can’t help it.)

1. Theory On: Zuko’s age during his and his father’s agni kai and Fire Nation views

2. My Conflicted Feelings On Mai and Ty Lee

3. Headcanon: Neither Zuko nor Azula were trying to backstab each other in the last turtleduck pond scene.

4. (Despite Its Upsides) My issues with the episode The Beach.

5. Unpopular Opinion: Zuko shows signs and traits of a future (but not necessarily current) IPV/domestic abuser.

6. Unpopular opinion: Sokka has womanizer traits and doesn’t actually feel strongly for any girl he’s ever met, Suki included, save his mother and Katara.

7. Zuko didn’t really care about Mai, Ty Lee or Katara. The only women in his life he never stops thinking about are his mother and Azula.

8. My theory on childhood and adulthood in ATLA overall.

9. The Fire Sibs’ Minds: Who’s Really the “Crazy” One?

10. Azula while capable of understanding resentment and right vs wrong, likely wouldn’t view Ozai’s treatment of her or Zuko as unacceptable.

11. The Fandom’s Unchanging View and Characterization of Ozai Is Boring!

12. What If: Ursa Was the Toxic Spouse?

13. Imagining Canon or Non-Canon ATLA Weddings

14. Who’s More Sexist: Iroh, Ozai or Zuko?

15. Headcanon: Azula Is a Highly Feminine Character...Who Was Likely Groomed Into It.

16. Unpopular Opinion: Azula Does Not Lack “Motherly” Traits. She Just Has a Different Understanding of Motherhood than Katara and Related Do.

17. Both Azula and Zuko Need Serious Mental/Emotional/Spiritual Healing.

18. The fact that no sexist customs were implied to have been considered for change in the original series even after the GAang were confronted with them, is very irresponsible pro-macho writing.

19. Theory: The Dragons that Both Iroh and Zuko Met, Taught Them Nothing.

20. Unpopular Opinion: Ursa’s Parenting MO Was Actually Somewhat Harmful to Zuko in the Long Run

21. Theory: Zuko Was Probably a Far Worse Behaved Child than Zuko Alone Showed Us.

22. You Can Have “Abusive” (By Western Standards) Traits and Love Your Child, Even Be Kind to Them at Times.

23. What If: Ozai Lied to Zuko About What Happened On the Night of Azulon’s Death?

24. Theory: Ursa May Have Wanted Azula to Act Wife-Like Towards Zuko.

25. Azula Was Not Trying to Seduce Zuko in The Awakening (“The Bedroom Scene”)!

26. Draft: How Race Was Utilized for ATLA. I don’t know how many want to read my thoughts on this but I’m of the opinion that the characters are exactly what we personally want to view them as, all the above options, and none of the above.

27. Patriarchal Gender Attitudes Among Shippers

28. Your private thoughts are above criticism. The things you share are not, fanwork for your ships included.

29. Aang would not have been automatically going against his pacifist beliefs if he killed Ozai.

30. The different ways that the Fire Family’s Arc could have ended for (imo) a better story.

31. A theoretical season 4 & beyond could have had literal world building in it.

32. Headcanon/Theory: Azula knew about the blue spirit and who the person behind the mask was.

33. If Azula wanted, after the war ended, she could have just gone back to the Earth Kingdom and taken over again and done an actually good job ruling it.

34. Zuko is dim, but not clueless. Malicious but not diabolical.

35. Headcanon: Mai probably got fed up with Zuko’s self-centered, naive and destructive antics within the first two weeks of his reign and dumped him again.

36. Ty Lee probably realized while on Kyoshi Island what her real problem was, found a way to move past it and cope and then left the Kyoshi Warriors to come back to the Fire Nation rather quickly.

37. None of the Fire Teens except Azula are capable of staying loyal to a person/group/cause for more than a short while.

38. A character’s sexism/toxicity in-universe is likely often just a writer adding in their own unconscious biases. This means that much of the awful behavior we see in-show, especially by characters like Sokka and Zuko, was never meant to be resolved in all probability.

[sparrowmoth]

I see the core four are done 👀 how abouuuut Uma?

@hoodpane Thank you, Cay!! 💖 This is a late reply, but here we go!

First impression: “Holy shit, what a fucking icon,” basically. I was so enchanted with her and Harry’s dynamic. The way Harry worships the ground she walks on is so valid tbh. Like, who wouldn’t? She’s regal. Never a dull moment with Uma on screen.

Impression now: ICON. My first impression was correct. Uma’s kind of perfect tbh. I really wish we’d gotten to see her shine as some kind of ambassador for the Isle or better yet for her to have become queen. She’s a natural born leader and a damn good one, not to mention a deeply compassionate person with intense loyalty to her people. She’d have made an amazing queen. To put her through a villain arc instead was a fucking waste.

Favorite moment: I’m gonna have to say every single second of “What’s My Name?” 20 years from now, that song and that scene is still going to be a cult favourite. There’s too much queen shit happening for that not to be the case.

Idea for a story: Hmmm, AU where Ursula isn’t a terrible parent (because I feel like she has potential to be a sympathetic villain in her original canon). She did wrong and she accepts punishment for that, but she begs Ariel (her niece) to spare the infant Uma from being locked up, too. Ariel adopts Uma right before Ursula is convicted, so Uma grows up in Auradon, but she’s deeply curious about her heritage, which leads her to sneak across to the Isle on a barge in a bid to meet her birth mother. Instead, she meets a certain pirate or two...

Unpopular opinion: So, the main thing for me is I feel like Uma and Mal’s bad blood in canon often gets blown out of proportion by the fandom. I’d heard people talking about it before I read the books, so I was expecting a lot more than what I found about their history there. The way they fell out was pretty damn tame for a couple of teenage girls, especially ones raised to be “evil.”

Having said that, I don’t think the way their relationship was *written* is at all above criticism. For example, before I read the books, I assumed the nickname “Shrimpy” had something to do with Uma being younger/shorter than Mal. Not the case. I remember very clearly the books state that, after the incident with Mal and Uma falling out, the smell of shrimp *never* left Uma’s hair, which is an objectively racist plot point. Personally, I’m uncomfortable seeing that “nickname” used uncritically in fanworks.

Also, I hate how Mal is written as absolutely obsessed with Uma being “dangerous” for most of the franchise in all its forms. Book 4 (Escape) was so much garbage related to that. If you haven’t read it, uh… maybe don’t.

Favorite relationship: Uma and Harry, hands down. I love their scenes to death. They’re so much fun together, so clearly in love (I do not see D3’s ending, I do not), and damn, they’re both gods of fashion, so like… what’s not to love? I'd watch twenty hours of them just silently dancing together, they have so much chemistry.

Favorite headcanon: Uma can breathe underwater, not because of magic but because it’s inherent in her biology. On the Isle, she makes a habit of going to hang out alone on the sea floor. She tames the crocs around the ship by feeding them regularly, so they don’t bother her. Harry and Gil, on the other hand… they know she goes underwater to be alone, especially when she’s upset or overwhelmed, but they can’t help trying to dive down and make sure she’s okay. They’ve both done breath training (competing against each other), so they can manage themselves down there longer than most. Uma pretends to be annoyed when they show up uninvited, but she never actually tells them to stop, so… they don’t.

Send Me A Character

[jyndor]

Okay but people who ship Zutara instead of Zukka this year are a little weird. I don't think Zutara is misogynistic, but Zukka has more and better content and queer creators. There's no reason to choose Zutara over Zukka when one has good queer representation, a solid basis, and one is known for being problematic, unless these people are kind of homophobic.

lol oh anon

1. no they aren’t

2. that is your opinion and also is not true (zutara has plenty of queer creators, myself included - I have personally written zutara fic and I am queer, please do not invalidate the queer creators just because it’s inconvenient for you) - zukka is supported by queer and straight people, and that’s fine - but you guys are actively harassing zutara shippers who are doing NOTHING to you. and if you think zutara, the ship fandom that invented ship weeks, isn’t one of the most famously creative, productive ship fandoms in fandom history, you’re just not educated on atla and fandom in general. maybe you’re new here, and that’s fine and hey welcome! but you gotta back your shit up with facts or you’re just making yourself look petty and immature.

3. there is one good reason to choose zutara over zukka, and that’s if you prefer the story that is unique to zutara and does not exist in zukka. if you prefer zukka, hey that’s awesome! I would love to see more intra-ship fandom positivity! guess what? for me, one of my top ships in atla is mai lee and always has been. it’s a story I love. zukka? it hits a lot of cool tropes but like it’s fanon.

4. I do not accept a ship as queer representation if it is not CANON. sorry I am too used to queerbaiting from creators to give ANY leeway on this. yes I headcanon many characters as queer, but if they’re expressly queer in the content, I don’t think they’re intended to be queer.

sokka is canonically with suki; zuko is canonically with mai. they’re not queer representation - and if you headcanon them as queer (I headcanon zuko as bi, for instance) that is awesome but NOT the same thing. it’s not like m/f ships are inherently homophobic, especially given how many zutara shippers are queer ourselves. oh my god this got me fucking mad aishadhahd

like go off about how I’m homophobic for not shipping a specific non-canon ship that happens to be a m/m ship, but I will turn that logic around and say that you MUST be misogynistic if you don’t ship m/f or f/f ships. like what the fuck? do not use other (assuming you are queer, which I never do with anons because anons forfeit the right to being trusted about that when they go anon) queer zukka shippers as a shield against actually learning about imperialism, colonialism and sexism. I’m telling you that no one who understands these things speaks as vaguely about them as you anons are doing, or would pick on poc and minors. so much for landback; you’re colonizing their asks. that is how I know you folks are regurgitating and weaponizing progressive talking points without understanding what the fuck you are talking about.

and of course we all know that historically marginalized groups HAVE been fetishized by their oppressors; since you’ve done your homework, you know that enslaved women were r*ped by the men who enslaved them, and that men were also abused. this is not just a misogynistic thing, although we do need to police the p*cahontas trope in fandom because of the high rates of sexual assault against indigenous women.

I don’t choose my ships based on a checklist of identities I want to see represented! that is so reductive and performative. I want better representation from creators, like give me fucking actual canon queer characters who get more than two minutes of canon queerness. give me black stories, indigenous stories, etc. and don’t do it for pats on the back; do it because those stories add value to our lives, they widen our perspectives, they give people representation to look to.

you know, most zutara fanworks have ALWAYS been thoughtful, even in the beginning. by s2, there was SO MUCH emphasis on redemption and reconciliation, and yes there are infamous shitty, racist fanfics but like... again, we have WORKED ON OURSELVES as a fandom to make sure that this space is safe for all people. if you knew anything about the history of zutara fandom, you might not be so quick to defend the harassment.

because that’s what you’re doing. you are making blanket statements with no real support for your claims, and you’re doing it to defend minors and poc, who are just minding their own business, getting harassed on tumblr.