#So. How are we feeling about another fandom

[redrage71890]

Backing Voice (KPDH x Fem! MC) Prologue

Synopsis: Among the Huntrix fandom, there has always been a discussion of theories and ideas about a strange voice in every song from the girls. Something of which they have avoided in every interview. But the one behind it is so much more than they could possibly think. Unraveling her secrets attracts attention she’s yearned yet feared for her life.

Genres: Fluff, Angst, Slow Burn (?), Yandere (?)

CW: Slight anxiety/panic attack

Prologue, Part 1

A/N: I want to join the fic craze bc I really love this movie and I NEED that sequel. Also I’m only describing MC’s hair style and eye details (plot reasons), everything else in your interpretation!

————————————————————

In the large fandom of the ever popular group HUNTR/X, there has always been a pool of theories and discussions about a certain aspect in there songs.

What is that voice in the background?

Ever since their debut, a haunting yet beautiful voice has always been present in every release down to solos and performances.

Combing through every interview, social media content, and performances, fans have tried to figure out who this voiced belonged to.

Overanalysing each of the girls voices weren��t enough.

Nothing matched to that haunting feeling.

And yet…

It always filled them with a sense of comfort.

————————————————————

”Girls, there is someone I’d like you to meet.”

Curiosity fills the newly formed hunters of the current generation as Celine lead the three of them to the garden. Just at the foot of the tree stands an older women who looked the same age as Celina, though she had a messily tied up bun being held up by a hair pin with noticeable greys along dyed caramel streaks.

Just behind the women was another girl who has a more shaggy appearance judging from the strange uneven cuts of hair around her collarbone and messy fringe covering up her eyes.

The women turns around to meet the other girls with a strange gold rim around her brown eyes.

“Girls, this is (M/N). The previous fourth hunter. And behind her is (Y/N), the new fourth hunter.”

As soon as that was announced, the three girls were filled with shock.

“THERES A FOURTH HUNTER?!”

“For how long?! How come you’ve never trained with us?” Rumi questions. “We’ve had some… complications trying to meet up. The original plan was for Rumi and (Y/N) to meet when they were younger, but things didn’t go to plan.” (M/N) answers with a polite but cold tone. The gold rimmed eyes don’t help them feel better.

”Come on (Y/N), say hi to them.”

Peaking behind her mother that met with the trio of girls, shivering (f/c) eyes with the same intriguing gold rims around. She dressed much more casual, like she just came from lounging on the couch prior.

“Hi… its nice to meet you guys.”

The anticipated softness of her voice struck an unexpected cord in the girls. Something alluring and melodic.

”We’ve decided that (Y/N) will join Huntrix.”

Once those words left Celine’s mouth, the girls swiftly saw the colour drain from (Y/N)’s face.

Slowly turning her head.

”WAIT! WHAT?! YOU SIGNED ME UP FOR THIS?! NO NO NO NO NO! YOU DID NOT CONSULT ME ON THIS MUM! REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME I TRIED PERFORMING?!”

Her surprising booming voice made the girls take a step back for a bit. Though the three snapped out of their shock when seeing (Y/N). Sweat glistened on her forehead and her breathing was steadily going ragged. She was shaking her mother like her life depended on it.

“No no no. NOT performing. We agreed on that. You’re just taking over my previous position in the Sunlight Sisters, just a backing vocalist.”

(Y/N) froze for a second. Before collapsing onto her mother, looking like she ran a marathon.

“Celine should’ve mentioned that first. Don’t worry honey.”

Rumi could hear (Y/N) muttering inaudible words of gratitude.

But she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

And yet…

Her slowly calming voice struck a nerve of peace in the three hunters.

————————————————————

Edit: just wanna add that I imagine MC’s singing voice either be Leehi or Seori. Also the idea evolved into a yandere story, but its not that bad I swear.

[ao3commentoftheday]

i found a small fandom, less than 10 pages of works on AO3 (one of my past fandoms was Star Wars, that's why that seems tiny to me), and i want to be involved in this fandom. but, because the fandom is so small, i know that it's way more likely for me to be noticed, and i'm intimidated by that thought. with Star Wars, i was noticed but i was pretty much under the radar, because the fandom is huge. but with this small fandom, i know if i post something, i won't really be under the radar anymore, because there's so little fan content. how can i become less scared of this?

You're not alone in this, anon. I've been noticing it in myself, in recent years, that I'm more self-conscious about my online presence than I used to be. We could dig deep into that whole conversation another time if you're interested, but for now let's focus in on dealing with that state of mind.

What part of being noticed to you find scary?

There are a lot of possibilities, of course. You could worry about being deemed not good enough. Or you could fear that the things you want to write are not the things that people want to read. Maybe you worry that you'll be someone who creates one of those famous "fanon" ideas that everyone latches onto and later hates because everyone latched onto it.

An even deeper worry might be that, even with a small audience, you won't be noticed after all. Or that they'll notice and then reject you.

Posting your fanworks in a place where other people can see them brings its own kind of stage fright, sometimes, and it sounds like you might be experiencing that. The good thing about AO3, though, is that you can post any time that you want to, so you can wait until you're in a good frame of mind before you dive in.

There are a few things you could try out and see if any of them help:

Turn off comments when you post your work. If people can't comment, then you won't feel bad about not receiving any (if that's your worry).

Write your stuff without posting it at all. Get comfortable with your fics first and feel good about them on your own terms. Then, when you post you won't feel as nervous about whether other people like them (if that's your worry).

Reach out to other folks in the fandom, either by commenting on their works on AO3 or by finding them here on tumblr or on other social media. Make some acquaintances and maybe even friends, and that might make you feel more like a welcome community member than a stranger or an interloper (if that's your worry).

It all comes down to trying to pinpoint what the scary thing actually is so that you can find the best way to make it less scary. As someone who has been posting in a fandom with (one sec while I check) 4 pages of results on AO3, I'll just say that people are lovely actually and things are rarely ever as bad in reality as you fear that they might be in your head. ❤️

[lukolathoughts]

McGuffin or Chekhov's smokin' gun?

During my old university days, I studied Media as part of my Drama degree. I was interested in film at the time, until they made us all sit through 2001 Space Odyssey. Absolute torture. Anyway, we studied a whole lot of Hitchcock also. I learned a great deal about the auteur, the male gaze and the 'McGuffin'. Stick with me reader, I am going somewhere I promise. In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. (Wikipedia) For example, in Pyscho the lead female character Marion Crane turns up to Bates Motel with a suitcase full of stolen cash. It ends up being irrelevant because that is not the main plot. Marion (spoiler) is stabbed to death by Norman Bates and the suitcase of money ends up in the lake with her car. That is her story over. A modern day McGuffin in my mind would be Dennis Nedry stealing dino DNA in Jurassic Park using a can of aftershave cream. The plot point is irrelevant, even though it causes the fences to shut down and chaos to ensue, the can is lost as Dennis is eaten by a Dilophosaurus and that is the end of that. The main narrative is elsewhere.

In university, I was fascinated with Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. As a Buffy fan, I was almost ecstatic with joy to see another badass female lead slice her way to revenge and justice wearing a yellow, leather jump suit. It is an incredibly gory film, but I see it as a masterpiece of cinema. This is where I was made aware of the term - Chekhov's gun. "is a narrative principle emphasizing that every element in a story be necessary, while irrelevant elements should be removed. For example, if a gun features in a story, there must be a reason for it, such as being fired at some later point." Usually in film, the director will make a point of showing the object/device and it will come up repeatedly or later. In Kill Bill, there is The Bride's sword which is made and then shown later with her lopping off a hundred or so heads. In Kill Bill part 2, in a flashback to years earlier, Bill tells the young Bride of the legendary martial arts master Pai Mei and his Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, a death blow that Pai refuses to teach his students; properly used, the attack is reputed to leave an opponent able to take only five steps before dying. This is how (major spoiler) The Bride defeats Bill in the end. She was shown by Pai Mei. I could go on and on about how these devices are used in cinema and television, but you will be aware of them. In Bridgerton, we can see that Penelope's feather quills are Chevhov's gun, because they are representative of a secret that she is keeping that has indirectly and directly affected so many people. Lady Whistledown has massive plot implications.

So, ZG where are you going with this blog post? I have struggled with keeping my mouth shut these last few months and running things through in my mind. It is easier to just chat in my discord and much less hassle, but it also grinds my gears that us Lukola's feel the need to be underground. I want to be a voice of reason for the fandom and not be stifled. A few days ago, I was made aware of a picture. This picture had my eyes widening and my heart thudding, because it was confirmation to me that what I had suspected and read in my cards, was absolutely right. I have struggled in the past with even writing this down, because people get so mad. I am a mother of four. I have actually had six pregnancies. I have dealt with early miscarriage, gestational diabetes, premature labour the lot. I am an experienced mother now of many years and I recognise another mother when I see one. I do not take pregnancy and childbirth lightly. I know what I saw last year from Nicola and I stand by that. This has NOTHING to do with fat shaming or commenting on Nicola's body, which I NEVER have.

It is now up to the story narrative to play out and for us as an audience to find out whether the buggy/stroller in the picture that Nicola is pushing, is a McGuffin - irrelevant. I saw someone say it might be a doggy stroller. Sigh, sure Jan. Or she could be pushing her sister's baby around Dublin. It is possible, but why are all her friends there that particular weekend? Where is her sister? Why is Aimee there? Why was Louisa tagged in the photo? What was so special about that weekend? We have worked out from Louisa's clothes that the weekend was most likely the 5th April. Jake shared a photo with Louisa in a pub that Saturday and the clothes match. I will come back to Jake in a moment.

Or is the stroller Chekhov's gun? A massive plot point and integral to this whole damn narrative and why my friends, we have been dragged along on this bumpy ship navigating an endless storm, that has included missiles, hurricanes, a great white shark, shelves, anchovies, tiramisu etc. My question from a few blogs ago was, what are Nicola and Luke hiding in the attic? In my opinion, it is the stroller. As I said on X yesterday, if you see the picture but refuse to acknowledge at least the possibility of what that stroller means, then that's on you if a harsh truth is ever revealed.

The Jakeholes have been quiet about this. It almost makes me giggle. Nicola liked that post, so she is absolutely aware of it. It has been sitting on Instagram for two weeks literally like a smoking gun undetected until the Lukola FBI finally dug it up. Lets face facts here. Jakey boy was filming from April - June last year in Wales and Nottingham for What it feels like for a girl (I loved it by the way! It weas excellent). Nicola was on a massive six month press tour with her co-star Luke Newton. We all saw the way they looked at each other in Brazil. We are not blind or stupid. We don't have amnesia either. I can look at the live footage at a touch of a button. Us Lukola's do not have to manipulate footage of Jake from WIFLFAG, where he plays a male prostitute and pimp, with footage of Nicola from Big Mood, where she plays a woman with mental health problems, and mash it together to make it look romantic. Those edits are sickening. They are also pathetic because whereas we have actual footage from Bridgerton and in real life, the Jakolas have nothing. Even Tiff couldn't make the Cannes footage look romantic. He looked like Nicola's assistant and we caught Jake making horny eyes at a man in the pre-Bafta party. My point is, Jake was not around when Nicola likely became pregnant and I will quote someone in my discord, Jake hasn't seen a vagina since he came out of one.

I believe the person in Nicola's recent post is Luke. My very dear friend @pikanchidouble-blog has done excellent analysis on this over the weekend of the ear and thumb and I absolutely think it's Luke. If it was Jake, why not tag him? She's not been shy about tagging him before. The sweet treat is also Luke coded and the fact he loves Italian food. Jake is also at the moment busy shooting a film. Nicola has better things to do than sit alone in a hotel all day in Australia alone, waiting for him.

We are yet again back to waiting game. If that was Luke in the selfie, Nicola has made a massive step forward in showing an aspect of him. She has made strides in showing the stroller also. I love Nicola for this. There must be a reason that she has decided to show us this. It has to be part of the larger story.

So do we have a McGuffin on our hands, or Chekhov's gun? You decide. We wait.

PS. Love you all xx

[prettygirl-gabi]

Bragging Rights

Pairing: Paige Bueckers x Reader

Fandom: WNBA-Dallas Wings/ Washington Mystics

Summary: Rivals on court, lovers off — only one gets bragging rights.

A/N: thank youu bby for the help….✨✨

🏷️: @paigeshirleytemple , @cowboybueckers , @unknowgirlypop , @yailtsv , @nicebellee , @sitawita , @thatonesuschix , @vamptizm , @elalfywhore , @starfulani , @authentic-girl03 , @paxaz535 , @azziswrld , @jadasogay , @paigeluvvr , @melpthatsme , @lessi-lover , @courtsidewithlani , @elswhore , @italyyy , @lightsgore , @private-but-not-a-secret , @aubreygriffin , @issilovesherself , @graceeeeeesblog , @sayurireidotcom , @let-zizi-yap , @latenighttalkinqwp , @fairyblossomsav

“You nervous?” Paige whispered beside me, her pinky grazing mine under the hotel duvet.

It was past midnight and the city outside our shared room in D.C. hummed quietly. My phone sat face-down on the nightstand, untouched since dinner. We didn’t need distractions tonight — not with what tomorrow meant.

I turned my face toward hers, catching the way her eyelashes fluttered against her cheekbones. Even after three years together, and playing beside her for almost all of college, this girl still made my heart stutter.

“A little,” I admitted. “First game against you. First game where we’re on opposite sides of the court. It’s like… UConn civil war.”

She chuckled, soft and low. “Lover vs lover. Rookie vs rookie. Edwards vs Bueckers.” A pause. “You know the headlines tomorrow are gonna eat this up, right?”

“Oh, they already are,” I said, letting my head fall back into the pillow dramatically. “Aaliyah was cackling in our group chat about it this morning.”

Paige rolled over onto her side, propping her head on her hand. “You ready though?”

I turned to face her too. “You know I am. But it’s weird not being on your bench. Or hearing you call for me when I sub out. Or seeing you point and smirk at me when you hit a three.”

Her eyes softened. “I miss that too. A lot. I miss your hand in mine during the anthem. I miss walking back to the dorms with you after film. Miss you sitting on the counter stealing my hoodie when I’m cooking.”

“Good thing FaceTime exists.”

She leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Not the same as you in my arms.”

I grinned. “Cheesy.”

“You like it.”

I did.

The next morning was chaos.

The league announced we’d be doing a joint pregame presser. Apparently, they couldn’t resist the storyline — the three UConn girls now divided, all starting, and very much the center of attention.

Paige and Aziaha from the Wings.

Aaliyah and me for the Mystics.

The media room buzzed with energy when the four of us walked in, each of us sporting our team warmups and very different colored shoes.

Reporters lit up like Christmas.

“Okay, okay,” one of them started, laughing, “there are a lot of angles here, but I’ll just start with the basics: how does it feel going up against each other after years of being teammates, especially for Y/N and Paige?”

Paige grinned and nudged her mic. “We knew this day would come. Didn’t expect it to be so soon, though.”

I laughed. “Yeah. And definitely didn’t expect to be doing a joint press conference about it.”

Another reporter raised a hand. “Y/N, Paige — any bragging rights or bets on the line?”

Before either of us could answer, Aaliyah leaned into her mic, expression mock-serious.

“No PDA unless one of them drops 20,” she declared. “If neither does, no kiss at all. But if Y/N outscores Paige, she gets a courtside kiss on the cheek.”

Paige blinked. “Lili has spoken for the both of us, I guess…”

I nudged her leg beneath the table. “Better lace up, babe.”

She raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Oh, it’s like that?”

Aziaha leaned back with a grin. “This is gonna be good.”

As we filed toward the tunnels afterward, Aaliyah pulled Paige and me aside.

“No funny business,” she warned, mock stern. “No forehead kisses. No hand-holding. No whispers.”

Paige groaned. “Can we at least do our pregame handshake?”

Aaliyah narrowed her eyes, then sighed. “Fine. But you either do it now or wait ‘til tip-off. Cameras will eat it up.”

We exchanged a look.

“Tip-off,” we said in unison.

The gym buzzed at capacity. The crowd had energy that reminded me of Gampel on a championship night. All eyes were on us — not just because we were rookies, but because we were those rookies. Paige and me. The couple. The headline.

During warmups, I locked eyes with her across the court. She gave me a wink, then hit a smooth left-wing three. I narrowed my eyes and sank my own shot from the right.

We didn’t speak until we stepped up to center court.

“Now?” she whispered.

I nodded.

Our handshake was quick — the same one we used to do in college. Fist bump, snap, pinky lock, finger heart. The crowd lost it when we did it. So did Aaliyah, shouting from behind me: “I said no PDA!”

“Handshake doesn’t count!” I called back.

Then the ball went up, and it was game on.

The first half was intense.

We traded buckets, traded blocks.

I managed a couple nice drives and even caught a slick behind-the-back pass from Aaliyah that turned into a three.

Paige responded with a jumper and a couple jaw-dropping assists that made the crowd gasp.

“You guarding me now?” she teased during a switch.

“Always.”

Midway through the third, I got called on a reach-in — which sent Paige to the line.

She blew me a dramatic kiss before shooting.

“Ma’am,” I deadpanned, “that’s PDA.”

She smirked as she sank both free throws.

Late in the fourth, it got wild. Down by two, I hit a step-back three over Paige with 14 seconds left.

“You’re welcome for the highlight reel,” I muttered.

She didn’t say anything — Chris used his time out, that gave them possessions of the ball.

With 13.4 seconds in the game Aziaha inbounds it to Paige, and without too much thinking.

Or hesitation, she smirked at me and then hit a CLUTCH three in my face to tie it at 84.

And then—she leaned in as I was frozen with shock and gave me a quick peck on the lips.

“I want the bragging rights,” she whispered. “And I’m gonna get ’em.”

I come fully out my shocked daze and shoved her shoulder playfully. “Nah babe, that’s all me. I gotta humble you after your two-game streak.”

Overtime felt like a battle of wills.

The Wings were hitting everything early.

Paige fed Aziaha for a corner shot and scored on a pull-up, putting them ahead 88-84.

But then… we rallied.

Shakira hit a midrange. I drove, got fouled, hit both free throws. 88-88.

With 12 seconds left, I in-bounded, got the ball back, faked a give-and-go, and kicked it to Sonia in the corner.

Splash.

91-88.

Paige tried to tie it, but her three rimmed out.

Chaos.

Bodies on the floor.

Sonia came up with it and held tight as the buzzer sounded.

Game.

We won.

My final stat line: 21 points, 10 boards, 6 assists.

Hers: 20 points, 9 boards, 7 assists.

I found her midcourt in the mess of hugs and cheers and chaos. She smiled.

“You got me,” she said, proud and out of breath.

“I got you,” I said, cupping her jaw and kissing her — quick, but lingering just enough.

Aaliyah whooped from behind us. “Okay, okay! Y/N earned it!”

The crowd ate it up.

Cameras flashed.

The league’s official account had already tweeted something about UConn reunion turned rivalry and love and buckets in the District.

At the postgame presser, it was madness.

A reporter asked, “Y/N — how does it feel to outscore your girlfriend and win the game?”

I bit back a grin. “Feels like I dropped buckets and got the girl.”

Another reporter laughed. “You going to use that as your Instagram caption?”

Paige leaned into the mic. “She already told me she’s been saving it in drafts since the schedule dropped.”

They were right.

I posted it an hour later:

“Dropped buckets and got the girl 💋”

📸: Me hitting that three

📸: Paige kissing me midcourt

📸: Scoreboard

📸: Us postgame, her hand around my waist

📸: A kiss on the lips, blurry and backlit by stadium lights

The comments? Exploded.

@uconnwbb: We taught them well.

@wnba: Lover vs Lover. But always Team Love 💕

@aaliyah.edwards: Don’t say I never gave y’all anything 😭

@paigebueckers: I’m demanding a rematch. And I’m dropping 30 next time.

I commented back: “You can try, baby 😘”

And just like that, basketball Twitter had a new favorite couple rivalry.

And me?

I had the win, the bragging rights, and the girl.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

                 -Thank You For Reading!💚💙

                             -prettygirl-gabi✨️💗

[bucksaiga]

This is kind of just me blabbing about fandom stuff so feel free to ignore

After I finished queueing up the kinley-cafe orders for the weekend, I spent some of my free time hanging out and being silly with my friends and I started thinking about how at one point I wanted to close KC for good but I continually felt drawn back to it by the welcoming fandom and all the kindness everyone had to share with one another. Even after buck and tommy broke up. Lots of people were still here. Building community, finding comfort in each other and creating.

I just think about how a lot of people in the fandom found a home with each other. And yeah it's different little spaces for everyone. But when I read the notes on the orders, I can tell that everyone in their friend groups really like and even love each other so much and I feel so honored to be trusted to be the person to send along these sweet messages. Out of the thousands I've sent out since KC opened almost a year ago, I cannot tell you how many times I've sent along a treat with a note that says "I love you" and then sending along another treat months and months later to the same recipient from the same sender, still saying "I love you"

These past few events, I've sent out 1k+ orders every time. And it's not like bucktommy is a massive fandom, yknow? And even with ship sweets, we're coming up on 600+ orders already.

That's...a lot of love to give. To hundreds of different people. And it's nice.

I really like that a lot of friend groups reflect what we love about bucktommy. That we feel safe with each other and it feels like home whenever we're talking to the friends and even partners we met here.

That means a lot to me. And I like being part of that.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Wild Times (But Not For Sorn)

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

June 2025 Week 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Knock Out (Fri WeTV ) ep 6 of 12 - I continue to very much enjoy this show, all of the couples have great chemistry, the plot is entertaining, It’s a solid sports romance and I adore a sports romance. Nothing not to love.

My Stubborn (Sun iQIYI) ep 6 of 10 - No no no. Sorn is supposed to suffer. This is not acceptable. Do not just give in like that! Oh thank goodness, yay! Confrontation, make him suffer, Junbaby! You go sweetie! Good. Good, suffering. More suffering is needed! Tai make him suffer too!

Reset (Mon iQIYI) ep 3 of 10 - Did Thada just buy his man a plastic bowl so he could eat his ramen as they walk down a street? Interesting choice. Also “workcation” = v modern word… so Thada must also be on a Reset? I do love that Thada is putting all of his cards on the table so quickly, definitely one who feels like time might run out and he has to get it right this time around. Thada is treating a relationship with Armin exactly the same way that Armin is treating his acting career. As I think you could probably tell, I am enjoying this very much. What a good show.

Memoir of Rati (Fri Netflix or YT) ep 1 of 12 - I was resistant to picking this one up, despite my love of both pairs. The title, intro music, and setting make me nervous that we won’t get a happy ending. That said, I am particularly interested in this time of Thailand‘s history and the complicated diplomacy that went on. And holy heck can GreatInn serve up some stellar chemistry.

My Sweetheart Jom (Fri YT) ep 6 of 12 - I continue to enjoy this more as it gets more plot heavy and convoluted. To be clear, that’s not normally what I like in my BL and certainly not what I expect from Thailand, or that Thailand does well. But there’s something about the way this show is paced that I'm enjoying more now than at the start. And we should be in the soggy middle. So, I guess... well done little show?

Pit Babe 2 (Fri iQIYI) ep 8 of 13 - Kenta Kim kiss! Yay!!! Chris’s epic eye rolls make me happy. However, this plot is Very Silly Indeed and I am very entertained. What a vroom vroom full of nonsense this is.

I Promise I Will Come Back (Mon WeTV) ep 5 of 10 - Oh what a lovely first kiss… touch… and so forth. I love this! It’s actually kind of special. How unexpected. (Ep 5A if you just wanna watch the moment.) I’ve said it before, there’s nothing wrong with the acting in this show. It’s the general story and script that’s troubling me. But my goodness all 3 leads are great.

The Next Prince (Sat iQIYI) ep 8 of 14 - It has been a bumper of a week and I’m grumpy, and unfortunately this particular show is bearing the brunt of it. I’m sorry, but the main couple are just so one note and it’s becoming quite trying. Something has to actually evolve with their characters, ya know? Now the sides …. very nicely done, give us more of them. 

The Bangkok Boy (Sat Gaga) ep 9 of 12 - It was a decent episode. But I’m really not sure about this show as a BL. It’s making me increasingly nervous.

Boys in Love (Sun iQIYI ) ep 7 of 12 - Just as I suspected, lots of nothing happening. Sports day. Whatever. (Always been Blue Team myself… just FYI.) 

SunTiny (Tues iQIYI) ep 1-2 of 10 - Look here, there’s a lot to like about this show. I like the idea of messing with standard misconceptions of top/bottom, and I LOVE it when the fandom hets and their dumb ideas of sex get the vapors. Blow their tiny minds, boys. Please. 

However, I am a little crushed that it takes a bodyswap for us to have a femme top. I hate bodyswap narratives. It’s one of my least favorite tropes. And I’m not sure this particular pair has the acting chops to carry this off. No skin off of MaxNat - good chemistry and decent actors, but to act like another person in your own body genuinely requires a level of physicality and verbal execution, a new way of holding the jaw and face to make believable. It’s not something that’s easy to do. Max is doing a slightly better job at it. He is certainly better at facial nuance and tone shift, but his physicality remains the same.

I love that this show is absolutely gonna mess with the worst of the fandom. That makes me really damn happy. Although it is dangerous territory for this pair to enter into and not a subject matter I expect Thailand to handle with delicacy. I do love all of the jockeying with linguistics and verbal pronouns and such. That is fun.

As of now though, I remain torn. It's gonns have to prove itself.

Eye Contact (Weds WeTV) ep 6 end? - I don’t like anything that happened at the back end of this show. And I’m not going to forgive it. I don’t like where the characters went. I don’t like where the relationships went. I don’t like what was done with the story arc. I don’t like the choices that were made by anyone. I am, to put it simply, cheesed off. The GL couple is the only good thing about this and they got practically no screen time. I’m tempted to say that this was originally slated to be a 12 episode and it stopped halfway through.

Summary

A promising start for a craptastic but delightfully edgy pulp derailed abruptly in the second act by miserable disconnected story arcs full of dysfunctional relationships, poor life choices, and every trigger in the book with no payout or attempt to resolve or address the resulting trauma. Including mine. I am seriously displeased. 3/10 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Ball Boy Tactics (Korea Thurs iQIYI) ep 3 of 8 - They. Are. So. Cute. I love them so much. No notes, absolutely my favorite thing airing right now.

Sweetheart Service (Korea Fri YT) ep 7 of 12 - How delightful that the sides got some love. That was charming. They went on a date. They are so damn adorable. Meanwhile our leads are the bestest boys. 

Moon and Dust (China YT) ep 5 of 6 - Yay biting! Oh this show is so ffed up and I love that. It’s so good. It’s so warped. It’s so good because it’s so warped. I am scared (for me and the show) but so pleased.

He is my rabid dog child and I LOVE HIM. Let him fuck bite his brother if he wants.

Revenged Love (China Mon Gaga) ep 1-4 of 24? - A remake of 2015's Falling in Love with a Rival. From China ON GAGA? What alt-reality IS THIS? No idea on the length, MDL says 24 but at 45 a pop, I'm wondering if that's correct, because that would make this the first full length CBL we have had since... well, Advance Bravely. But also, see the next section, this could be shut down at any moment.

And now, some thoughts:

It is so like its source, absolutely unhinged CBL. Snake fighting. So much smoking. Money throwing. Gifting boys. Gang rp. UNHINGED. What the actual?

At least this time the seme is established queer out the gate closet? Our baby boy is a bit of a loser. And the meat cute was way more modern BL. Of course seme is also truly evil, he’s openly queer and this is CBL so he must be corrupt in all ways. (I don’t make the rules the CCP does.) 

Of course I LOVE the doctor. (Also the psycho baby brother from Moon & Dust, did you clock?) I don’t think I’ve ever loved a character this much this quickly since Film was last on my screen. He is glorious.  

Anyway, I have no faith in this ending in a satisfying manner, or indeed ending at all, but boy am I enjoying this WILD ride.

Depth of Field AKA Hishakai Shindo (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 1-2 of 6 - The actor playing Hayakawa was in one of the Kiss shorts! Neat. Well we know he can certainly kiss a boy. Meanwhile, this is warped, a little creepy, and sort of messed up. And exactly what I expected from this IP. I like it, as I usually do with stuff from Japan. I’m making no guarantees on where this is going tho. Remember, never try to predict Japanese BL. Safer on the psyche.

The Sparkle In Your Eye (Singapore Sun Gaga & Viki) eps 9-10 of 12 - characters aren’t talking to each other or telling the truth. It's very sappy and heart wrenching and tiring. 

Important word on the CBL we are enjoying right now.

WRITERS ARRESTED! China’s Danmei Crackdown (also stuff on SmartBoom breakup, and the unprecedented popularity of GL pair LingOrm's Photo Shoot)

This has happened before. I said a little while ago that the CBL industry & online behavior keeps giving me 2016 vibes and that time period seems to be repeating itself. (Maybe all these do-over time travel BLs lateIy have been trying to tell us something?) I know this new spate of uncensored CBLs are only being distributed internationally but I still don't see how we can expect this to end well, especially Revenged Love. We are in Heroin Addicted territory and the dejavu is strong with this one. I am going to keep watching on the "get it while you can" theory, but I now wish I'd been bootlegging Moon & Dust. Revenged too. I may set aside some time to do so for... reasons... I recommend you do the same.

That's not what he said. So petty Tencent CCP WeTV.

It's airing but......

I Became the Lead in a BL Drama 2 AKA Zoku BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita (Japan Gaga) 6 eps - While I am intrigued by the manager side couple, I can't be arsed to add this to the weekly rotation. I may binge once it's done.

The Ex-Morning (Thailand YT) 10 eps - dropped half way through ep 3. I was just angry at it, at GMMTV, at the script, at the characters. That's not healthy for any of us. If rumors are to be believed, I'm feeling great about this life choice.

Season of Love in Shimane AKA Ai no Kisetsu: The Season of Love (Thai) 8 eps - Sequel to Kiseki Chapter 2 which I intensely disliked. I won't watch this.

Mission to the Moon (YT) 12 eps- Watching but I can't keep track. Too short, too many, too YT. I will report at end.

Loy Kaew First Love (Fri YT) 6 eps - Dropped at ep 4. Ended this week, trigger warning on that ending. Not recommended.

Next Week Looks Like This:

2025 Line Up

6/27 The Promise of The Soul (Taiwan Gaga) 12 eps - Have I mentioned recently how much I hate bodyswap?

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 1

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 2

20 BLs Announced for 2025 That I'm Really Excited About

GMMTV 2025 Line Up - My Totally Biased and Wildly Flawed Feels

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

This is from a KBL short called Wrong Number, has the actor playing the older brother bartender in Sweetheart Service. So far v cute. But one can't trust Sukfilm to end well.

I am pretty sure this is not an accurate translation. But I kinda LOVED it. (Sweetheart Service)

It's all about the doctor character. He is giving me LIFE. (Other people too, presumably, being a doctor and all.)

Revenged Love.

Yeah yeah. I like to see it. I'll take my cute femme top anyway I can. (SunTiny)

No but seriously, that kiss (I Promise I Will Come Back).

(last week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs @waitmyturtles

[jennelikejennay]

"Straight women write Spirk because they are straight and want their porn with two men in it"

"Straight women gender swap Kirk or give Spock weird genitals because what they really want is straight sex"

WRONG.

Spirk is a gender weird ship and a whole lot of us writing it are gender weird in one way or another. The fact that characters have both male and female traits is part of the point. The fact that Kirk and Spock are canonically male is less important for many of us.

Can't speak for all Spirk writers of course, but the idea that you can be one gender, have different genitals, have a third gender expression, and in the end be seen as your individual self rather than simply an example of your gender is a big part of it for me. I happily ship women and there are straight couples I ship too, but the commonality you'll see is that these people are all defying gender norms and het relationship scripts in one way or another.

When I wrote intersex Spock with a masculine gender identity and a vulva, I was not attempting to write a woman. I know how to write a woman. I wanted to write about that dysjunction between body and mind and the ways you can see your body though the lens of your gender identity—having a masc vulva, having gay sex with a masc vulva. That was the point. A lot of trans readers picked up on that immediately and felt seen.

Just thought I'd say something because I think a lot of non-cis-men feel a little guilty about shipping them, but I really don't think it's fetishistic in the way people sometimes accuse it of being. It's more about the specific characters they are, and for many of us it's about gender weirdness in a way we may not be able to pin down. All I know is, I've never been in a group so full of trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer people as the Spirk fandom, and I think there's a reason for that.

There's also a reason why Spirk shippers are so adamantly trans-inclusive and I think that's beautiful.

[followfire]

I mean, there’s baggage, definitely, but not "too much baggage". By the beginning of season 2, we see how much Mel has changed already, how much more open she is, how more at ease she is with giving affection that is not about transaction. I see no reason to discard the idea of Mel having a relationship that is not transactional altogether, especially given how far she’s come on screen…

You have very good points about Mel’s way of apprehending relationships: she does have trouble connecting with people due to her upbringing, and she does struggle at first to understand that Jayce expected something genuine and emotional instead of material support and a sort of business partnership. This is something that adds tension, that adds conflict, that makes her a well fleshed character with her own background and biases. It is a difficulty. But it doesn’t mean Mel and Jayce are not meant to be or simply have different paths to follow that can only separate them... They have both things in common and things where they struggle to meet each other. It just makes the dynamic deeper and more interesting.

Also I think it's a bit unfair or uncomplete to say that Mel is not adept at caring, even if I think I understand what you mean and totally agree with it (re: the way she was raised her entire life, etc)... Because while she doesn't have much experience with caring relationships and was raised to believe that it is not the type of partnership that can get you what you want... she is also shown precisely to be irreversibly caring despite it all... TAT That's one of the surprising traits about her: despite growing up in an environment that constantly encourages violence, she couldn't stop caring. That's shown in the way she talks about her family when she says they cast her out yet a part of her still loves them. She is torn between the type of love that she was taugh and her natural unwavering type of love. She's not adept at caring, yet strangely, she's a natural. It's the entire tragedy of her upbringing: to have someone be born so loving but among a family and a nation that tries and fails to mold her differently. </3 (I love her so much ;-;)

Which is why I think all these moments where Mel and Jayce fail to really understand each other does make it harder for them to connect but in a way that makes it more interesting rather than impossible. Because Jayce deals in genuine relationships while Mel is at a point of her life where she has been convinced that it won't get her anywhere but... that's how she's always wanted to be... That's how she still is, despite it all, because she just can't stop caring... And we see her finally make that choice to become what she always wanted to be even if it means disowing her family, rather than living up to the Medarda standards that she never appreciated. And it comes back to bite her but... it doesn't change the fact that she also has been irreversibly changed by her years in Piltover. There's baggage, a lot of it, a lot of different types of baggage... but there no reason to end it saying there's just too much of it...

So yeah. Not saying that this is an easy way, but it's certainly not an impasse. This is Arcane! We're here for a fun ride, aren't we?

My comprehensive Mel Medarda analysis.

I think it’s easy to separate people who talk about Mel into three groups: people who ship jayvik and hate Mel, people who ship jayvik and “like” Mel in a way that simplifies her almost past recognition, and people who hate jayvik and love Mel (sometimes while simplifying her). And I am someone who loves jayvik and Mel, but I definitely do not ship Jay/Mel, or Jay/Mel/Vik. And I think there’s a dearth of good Mel meta. 

I have three main points: 1) All of the main cast are an antagonist to another member of that same cast. If you don't acknowledge that, then you're not really engaging with the show, you're writing an au in your head. Which you can do! I love au's where all the characters are friends. But that's not the show. 2) Mel IS a corrupt politician who uses manipulation as a tactic; she is also an empath and someone who cares deeply. I do not think these are unrelated facets of her character, but actually deeply related to each other, integral to who she is, and directly resulting from how she was raised. 3) Mel and Jayce are not a good couple, and that makes both of them more interesting.

A/N: And before anyone tries to play identity politics with me, I am a queer, utterly broke woman of color! Mel and Viktor are both dear to me! They are not in competition for my affection! 

Mel the Politician: 

I think of Mel as someone who WANTS to be good but was never taught how, so her initial attempts at goodness fail. Manipulation seems to her a good middle ground from the violence she was raised in. She does not see it as a different, but still horrific type of violence because she was immersed in so much overt violence growing up. 

Mel is introduced in episode 2, which focuses more evenly on the Piltover cast whereas episode 1 focused entirely on establishing the Zaunite characters with Piltover as a villain. Mel stands in direct contrast to them. And make no mistake — from Zaun's perspective, Mel IS an antagonist. Episode 1 shows us enforcers murdering Zaunites on the bridge and Vi openly saying that no one in Piltover is going hungry, in direct contrast to the undercity. With that context, let's look at Mel's introduction.

Mel is introduced to us as the epitome of the Piltover elite. In her opening scene, she stands in a huge room, presumably an office or similar, having a private meeting with a merchant there to sell her something. She almost entirely ignores the merchant in favor of speaking to her assistant Elora, who outright states Mel is the richest woman in Piltover. Mel immediately bemoans the fact that she is still the poorest Medarda. Remember: this scene does not exist in a vacuum. Mel is standing in a room larger than the one shared by Vander’s 4 children, and still complaining that she doesn’t have enough. I think that we the audience are meant to go "is she for real right now?" The sun shines on Mel, and the undercity is covered in smog. 

In retrospect, this scene also introduces Mel's conflict with her family and identity as a Medarda. But again, in retrospect. We don't have that context at the moment. Mel does not exist independently of the Zaunite characters, though she might think she does at first; they are all tightly woven together. Mel is not introduced as cruel — and I don’t think she is cruel on a personal level — but she is introduced as the exact type of person who directly benefits from the oppression of the undercity. This is not by accident. Mel is that person. And she does not need to be intentionally cruel for her actions to have cruel effects.

Some people want to hate the council without acknowledging that Mel is one of them. That is willful ignorance and erasure.

(also look how stupid they all look. why are they posing. Mel is the only one who kind of looks cool, the rest are just funny.) 

Mel is not just a part of the council, she is their de-facto leader after Heimerdinger (gonna expand on this later). She is the one who first addresses Marcus and Grayson directly in this scene. The kind of violence Mel and the council inflict is the kind of silent violence oppressed communities experience every day: Sending enforcers to do their dirty work. Restricting commerce, and therefore inflicting poverty on an already impoverished community. Raiding and searching everyone in Zaun, regardless of if you have any reason to think they’re connected to what actually happened. While characters like Jinx, Vi, Sevika, and Silco are directly, physically violent, this is the kind of insidious violence that is accepted as the norm. To draw a comparison from our world, why does the world care when the head of a health insurance company is murdered, but not when that company denies healthcare and lets people die every day? When our healthcare system sends people into debt for daring to live? Why do we care when violence is done with a gun, but not a pen? They are wealthy, they have power, therefore it is accepted that they have the right to benefit from other’s suffering. 

This is obviously an incomplete view of Mel … but it’s not inaccurate. Anyone from Zaun in universe would have reason to hate her.

I would argue that this is the Mel we see from episodes 1-7. Someone who is beautiful, charming, sounds nice enough, but ultimately self-interested and who benefits from the suffering of others without a thought. 

But then episode 8 feeds us. Let's talk about her flashback scene.

Mel’s Relationship to Power and Goodness: 

This scene haunts me. I love this whole scene so much. This is where we are introduced to Ambessa. And oh, what an impression it is. 

Suddenly, a lot about Mel clicks into place. We see past her mask of perfection and realize she is still a child with a mother who is violent and loves her dearly.  Who says her violence is for her family. Done in Mel’s name, no matter how much she does not want it.

They stand in a destroyed throne room that belonged to someone Ambessa conquered. Ambessa characterizes herself as a wolf and Mel as a fox. We immediately know what Ambessa was like and how Mel was raised. Ambessa is brutal and merciless; Mel uses guile and trickery. Ambessa crushed the throne; Mel talks about what sort of puppet leader they should install to control. But to her mother, it is not enough for Mel to be a good politician. She needs to be without mercy. Brutal. This is the kind of violence Mel understands, the kind she was raised in. And it is what she abhors. 

Then Ambessa asks Mel what they should do with this girl. A living symbol of a power that Ambessa has conquered, a member of the old regime, and as young as Mel herself. Ambessa plans to kill her; that much is clear. But what Mel suggests is also cruel. Stripped of her lands and titles, banished from her home, her family and people dead. That's horrible! That's a horrible way to live! 

And Ambessa doesn’t even let her have that. No wonder Mel doesn’t recognize her own actions as cruelty when this was the alternative she was shown. She does not know kindness. She only knows violence or political games. She was taught to seize power and hold onto it. There is no other option. Not that she knows. 

(This girl’s name is Mion by the way. Look at how she looks down and away from Ambessa, versus how she looks at Mel with hope 🥺) (And if I say that this is the character I ship with Mel. That I have a whole canon divergent au in my head where she lived and grew up alongside Mel, developing a deeply unhealthy, uneven, and codependent but ultimately loving relationship. What then.) 

I love that this moment haunts her. It's not just a flashback for the audience, Mel is actively having a nightmare about it years later. She paints the girl's bloodied necklace. She's one of the forms LeBlanc takes to speak to her, and it's her necklace that Mel uses as a power conduit in her final confrontation with Ambessa. She carries this moment with her for over a decade. It’s when she loses her mother and when Ambessa loses her daughter. This is Mel’s loss of innocence.

With this in mind, it’s suddenly clear why Mel is the way she is as an adult. The council casts Jinx and Silco as violent, but utterly fails to comprehend that violence is not inherent to them. It is directly because of Piltover's treatment of them. Neither Jinx nor Silco start out as cruel people. They were created, not born. But while other members of the council are either willfully ignorant (Heimerdinger) or casually cruel because they genuinely don’t view the Zaunites as actual people, Mel seems to not realize her own cruelty. She does not mean to be cruel. I don’t think she wants to be. I think that she believes this is genuinely the best option that still lets her hold power. And power is everything. Power is how you make sure no one hurts you the way Ambessa has hurt others. But foxes and wolves are both predators, no matter how they kill you. 

So what changes? 

I’ve only accelerated a process that you started. Mel says she wanted to protect the city. I believe her. She believes herself. But what parts of the city? Certainly not the undercity, who have no access to Hextech despite Jayce and Viktor’s own desires. Not the people for whom violence, disease, and starvation are just a part of life. Mel has tried to be good; Mel has failed. Now her own mother bluntly tells her that Mel is the one who started this; Ambessa only intends to finish it. 

This is the scene where Ambessa tells Mel why she was sent away: she weakened her. Ambessa couldn’t make the necessary decisions (note how she says it; necessary decisions, not hard ones) and look Mel in the eye. Everything Ambessa did was out of love … 

And look what she did. 

I believe that this scene with Ambessa is Mel’s “my god, what have I done” moment. Maybe she had good intentions; so did her mother, in her own way. Intention hardly matters when these are the results. It is after this moment that Mel votes for Zaun’s independence. That she works with Lest. Mel finally starts to see the harm she has done, and she decides that she must undo it. Mel has failed … but she will keep trying until she gets it right.

Mel’s relationship with Jayce (and Viktor): 

This is the controversial part of my analysis. But what can you do? 

Here’s the thing: I think that most of Mel and Jayce’s interactions are knee-deep at best. They like each other on the surface, but they do not deeply understand each other. And once they do, they realize that they do not match. They are not meant to be. 

To me, Mel and Jayce are fundamentally different. That’s fine. You want characters to be different, you want that push and pull. But Mel is a politician, a power player. The person who looks at the pieces on the board and tries to maximize her own influence. (And to be clear: Mel is allowed to want power. That is a good and fine trait for a character to have. It creates conflict for her character and we see her use that power for good in season 2 before she is unceremoniously yanked off screen.) Jayce is an inventor. A dreamer. He wants to change the world. Not for his own sake, not for power, but because he just wants to make things better for everyone. Oh, he also wants recognition. Who wouldn’t? But he wants it to come as a result of the good he does. And he has an obsession with magic, but because that magic saves him. 

Let’s look at the scene where Jayce becomes a councilor. 

He’s stressed, he’s breathing heavily, he’s looking around like he desperately wants someone to put a stop to this. The camera spins, like Jayce is getting dizzy. His expression … he looks hunted. Viktor is the only one who notices his distress, but is powerless to stop it. Mel might not be a wolf yet, but she is a powerhouse, steamrolling over everyone else. After all, she knows what’s best, right? OBVIOUSLY Jayce wants this life, he just doesn’t know it yet. This is as close to goodness as she knows, and Jayce wants to do good, right? Doesn’t everyone want that kind of power? (Mel, you break my heart)

But Mel cannot understand Jayce at this point because she doesn’t fully understand herself (see everything with Ambessa). It's only after the two are separately isolated and forced to self-reflect that they actually understand each other … and it is as their whole selves that they realize they do not fit together. Season 1 Jayce/Mel could work BECAUSE they are not yet who they are meant to be, instead bowing to the expectations of others and themselves. The golden children of Piltover, they look good together, they are expected to be together … but they are not meant to be. 

I think Mel IS subtly manipulative of Jayce in the same way she is for everyone else on the council and in high society. But Jayce rarely gives her any pushback, and she looks genuinely shocked when he does (ex. after he talks to Ambessa in the bathhouse and Jayce decides direct confrontation is the next move). I think Jayce trusted that Mel was the best at what she did — which she is — but he failed to consider that he did not want to be the same as her. Like Viktor says, "In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good." Mel could make him great, but she could not make him good. Jayce is not meant to be a leader and is poorly cast in that role. Mel could never be a mere supporter of the world, she belongs as a power player. They are perpendicular lines — intersecting but moving in different directions. 

(Side note: It's so funny to me that Mel calls Jayce the de-facto head of the council when that could not more obviously be her! And she knows it! She is the one who changes Hoskel's votes with a single glance. She is the one who decides to add Jayce to the council and convinces everyone else. Jayce proposes kicking Heimerdinger out, but I do not think all of the council would have agreed if Mel was not the first to voice her support. Probably none of them would have. If the council actually has a leader after Heimerdinger (who's been here 200 years), it IS Mel. But Jayce makes a useful figurehead for Mel to work more subtly.) 

Jayce and Mel like each other well enough. At least, they like the versions of each other that they see. But Mel is so used to wearing a mask that she doesn’t even realize that’s what he’s seeing. She is so used to other people’s masks that she can’t see Jayce’s heart even as it’s plain on his sleeve. And being a councilor brings out the absolute worst in Jayce. If anything he needs to become a councilor so that he can realize the extent of his own prejudice and change. But it is not who he wants to be, nor who he should be. I think that Jayce, after everything he sees and does and goes through, could be happy living in a cabin by a stream with his love and 4 kids. Mel could never be satisfied by that kind of life.

While we're here, let's talk about her and Viktor. (Yes I am a jayvik shipper but this is about Mel.) Even with no context, the two are practically designed to contrast each other. Mel is from Noxus, Viktor is from Zaun (interestingly, both are cultures with a lot of violence, but Noxus is a conqueror, Zaun the oppressed). Mel is rich, Viktor is poor. Mel is a politician, Viktor is an inventor. Mel is a black woman, Viktor is a white man. Mel is able bodied, Viktor is disabled. Mel is born with magic, Viktor is an inventor of artificial magic. They're both outsiders to Piltover, but Mel is accepted and Viktor is not. They stand in direct contrast to each other through the show and represent two extremes Jayce must choose between. Mel is power and politics; Viktor is science and idealism. Both are valid. Both are interesting. But only one aligns with Jayce.

Two similarities between them that aren’t brought up often (if at all): They both have childhood flashbacks where an adult parent figure brutally harms an innocent they identify with in front of them (Singed to Rio, and Ambessa to Mion). They both see their bodies as things that betray them — Viktor through his disability and later corruption by the Hexcore, Mel by the magic blood that runs through her veins. These are both complex, emotional, and deeply interesting characters and I get why Jayce wants them both. This is the bisexual representation we need. 

Let’s take this scene as a microcosm of their season 1 relationship. Viktor is putting a lot on the line. He is helping Jayce break into Heimerdinger’s lab to illegally use equipment that has been confiscated from him after a building blew up. Viktor stands to lose everything if helping Jayce does not work out; his position as Heimerdinger’s assistant, the scraps of power he’s managed to claw out of Piltover. He stands to gain a lot if it works out, granted. He says that he doesn’t want to be an assistant forever. But he believes Jayce is worth the risk. He understands hextech, understands the science and magic behind it. Jayce and Viktor share a vision. 

Mel stands to lose nothing. Even visually, Jayce and Viktor are in this together. Mel stands alone. She is in this as long as she stands to benefit. Jayce and Viktor are in the sky together; Mel is firmly planted on the ground. 

Okay, typing it out like that seems harsh, but it’s only to contrast the characters and their relationship with Jayce. Mel doesn’t NEED to do anything for Jayce at this point. She does not know him! He is just some guy! She also does not have the same understanding of hextech that Viktor does; that is not her area of expertise. She is very good at people and politics; he is very good at science and invention. She’s kind of just hoping Jayce pulls through. But it shows how Viktor and Jayce immediately have a deep and connected relationship, while Mel and Jayce’s early relationship is focused on being mutually beneficial. 

However, even after the timeskip, Mel wants the golden boy; she and Elora say as much. But that person isn’t real. And Jayce is not the man on the poster. They seem to barely know each other better than they did in episode 3. 

I don’t think that Jayce and Mel not matching is some huge moral failing on either of them, by the way. Mel does not need to be better for Jayce. Jayce does not have to change for her. Jayce and Mel’s relationship is one of misunderstanding. They just don’t quite fit, and that makes both them and the world more interesting. 

I also can't get behind mel/jay/vik as a ship. Mel and Viktor knew each other for 6-7 years and they still don’t like each other. I think Viktor just on principle would hate any politician, never mind one actively perpetuating the oppression of his people. I get it because I love them both too, but sometimes the characters we like don't like each other! They're not even toxic in a fun way they just don't vibe with each other 😭 I'm chill with the mel/jay/vik enjoyers, but I could never be one myself. (someone said they ship Jayce with Mel and Viktor in the way of divorced parents splitting custody; I can support that) 

What I think could have been done better:

This is to say that Mel's season 2 arc should have focused on her political development, leaving magic for a season 3 (that still had political elements). (Also in my ideal season 2 ending Piltover just gets fucking BRUTALIZED, forcing them down to the level of the Zaunites, struggling for survival instead of victory. But they were not gonna write that, lol) I think a season 2 ending where Mel is kidnapped by the Black Rose BECAUSE she's going too far off-course from where they want her would be good.

Talking about season 2 is ... difficult. Because I do like it. I enjoy watching, the writers and voice actors and artists are all performing beautifully. But I think the show they wanted NEEDED a third season, and only having 2 meant they had to severely compress everyone’s character development. It’s like someone listed all the plot points they wanted, then crossed out everything they could to make it fit. It broadly makes sense, but you can tell a lot is missing. Mel, Jayce, Ekko, and Viktor are all yanked off-screen for long periods of time. A lot is implied, and a lot isn't as deep as you want it to be. Season 1 is tightly written, season 2 is loose. It comes together as well as it can while keeping the original endpoint for the characters rather than changing them to fit in a single season.

But I am very happy that Mel’s story is not over. 

Conclusion:

Anyway, I want Mel to have a lesbian enemies to lovers story arc in the Noxus show. I want her to meet a power player character who can keep up with her. Similarly to how I see Jayce and Viktor as the same character type (inventors) who are different in every other way and THAT'S why they work, I want her to meet someone who is her equal and peer but still so different from her. I want that mutual fascination, that clash and collide, and for her to fall head over heels. I want her and this new character to manipulate each other, hurt each other, and understand each other like no one else can (I like when gay people are toxic in a cool and interesting way). That is my wishlist.

So when I make funny ha ha posts about Mel, I am NOT doing that as someone who wants her out of the way of jayvik, nor as someone who thinks she did nothing wrong!!!! I am a Mel understander and I will die one!!!

[skywalkr-nberrie]

When Anidala 🐜 argue that Anakin & Padmé lacked compatibility and were blinded by the “chemistry” between them - need to be told that they were so perfect for one another that they had both going hand in hand. Their chemistry was booming as much as their compatibility was shining.

- Anakin and Padmé both can’t imagine their lives without one another which is a clear result of their booming, fiery chemistry. If it were up to them, they’d spend every second of their lives side by side. They both literally died when they fell apart and lost one another. Anakin’s fate was sealed inside Vader when Palpatine lied to him and said Padmé was killed at his hands, and Padmé’s heart broke the moment she realized she lost her Anakin to the dark side and became Darth Vader.

- They share core values and strive for the same goals. Yes, one might argue that this isn’t true because of the Meadow scene where Anakin is talking about dictatorships, but we all know how heavily misunderstood that scene is, as Anakin was speaking from an ignorant viewpoint because he just wants for someone who can maintain peace and security in the Galaxy, which are ideals Padmé aligns with as well. Apart from taking that scene out of context, Anakin and Padmé have always fought for the better of the Galaxy, and struggled for a better place where slavery was finally abolished, freedom and equality was established in the galaxy, and create the sort of world where they can grow old together and raise their kids. They’re both legitimately dawned as “heroes” in their respective fields because they well known to always fight for what’s right, even when they being tricked.

- They’re very similar and alike to one another. I know the whole “opposites attract” is super attractive when it comes to shipping and fandoms, and I do think Anakin & Padmé are opposites to a limited extent (i.e: their aesthetics, their color palette, their personalities; colourful/bright x dark, fire x water elements.) but overall their core traits are very much in sync with each other. They’re both passionate, impulsive, helpless romantics, sensitive, and emotionally aware, and genuinely caring.

- They’re both always so happy to see one another and get time to spend alone. They don’t get bored of each other even if they’re doing someone as simple as spending a night in, having dinner together. One could say this is due to the fact that they don’t get a lot of opportunities to spend time together as a couple, but that only proves how their love, chemistry, and compatibility was so strong because their feelings and bond never dimmed even in the slightest despite being separated a lot of the time. Usually couples fall apart from an inconvenience such as this, but not Anakin & Padmé. They were so madly in love that even in the span of 2-3 years, meeting clandestinely and in sweet moments they were able to create such a lasting, transcendent, and unbreakable connection.

- They have the same goals and dreams for the future. This is similar to them sharing core values but, here I’m talking about manifest goals they aspire too. Such as both want to someday leave behind duty to start a life together, away on a peaceful planet and creat their own family. They both wanted to be married and wasted no time getting to it because they realized they could lose one another in the blink of an eye and they can’t bare the thought of that.

Just a few examples off the top of my head which highlight both Anakin & Padmé’s insane chemistry and great compatibility because they’re often boxed into one category before being branded as “toxic” which takes away from their many nuances and layers. Anakin and Padmé aren’t as simple as being explained as one thing, they have an entire lore behind them that embellishes who they are and makes clear what sort of love story was crafted for them.

Team Anidala 🎉 🥳

[m0owu]

I’m not going to say which fanfic this is. I just want to talk about a situation that upset me, because I need to let out my emotions.

A large number of people in the SVSSS fandom, at the very least, dislike Yue Qingyuan. But that doesn’t mean he deserves unfair treatment. The fact that he doesn’t explain his reason isn’t because he wants to keep it from others, but because he thinks that staying silent is the better choice. Maybe that’s foolish, but it’s not a reason to treat him badly. He wanted to do what he thought was best. If you don't think so, then let’s blame a child who accidentally killed someone out of ignorance, indirectly?

And then sj's partner made a decision on behalf of sj without even asking him? Isn’t that the same “I know what’s best for you” attitude that yqy is being condemned for? yqy just needs to be shown what’s right. You can compare yqy to a parent who wants the best for their child, but does it in their own way. That doesn’t mean we should cut ties with them. We should show them how we need to be treated so we can feel better. If they still refuse to listen, then it’s okay to walk away—but not without even giving a chance for them to fix things.

When sj wasn’t feeling well, another character (sj's partner) forbade informing yqy about Shen Qingqiu’s condition, even though yqy was the one who caused it, even though yqy cared deeply. I can understand not letting him visit Shen Qingqiu, but why forbid simply informing him? yqy was concerned, sincerely cared, felt guilty—and this other character wouldn’t even let him know, which only increased his guilt. There was no point in hiding it. Just prohibit physical access if you're afraid it’ll worsen Shen Qingqiu’s state.

Then sj says he doesn’t understand yqy, and another side character asks if he wants to understand him. sj replies no. (Right. We believe sj, ignoring his past desire to know the reason, his hidden curiosity. If he actually learned the reason, he would have wanted his past self to know it too.) And the side character says that in that case, there’s no need—some people don’t deserve the effort it takes to reach them. And yet it’s sj who “deserves” it, and yqy who doesn’t? Are we just not going to help people who are deeply ill or in pain, physically or mentally, because it “won’t change anything”?

Toward the end, another character tells yqy that sj may never forgive him and that he doesn’t have to (which is true). But why not at least try? They were close to each other. They still cared after everything. And this other character just says sometimes it’s better to walk away. That some things are broken beyond repair. But why not try to make them even a little better? If this person truly wants to help sj heal, why not address the core wound—one that will remain horrible if ignored? And healing doesn’t always mean “go find new people and abandon the one who hurt you.” yqy will continue to carry unbearable guilt. sj will have an even deeper sense that people can abandon him—worse than it would’ve been if they’d tried to resolve things. People with PTSD, for example, don’t get better just because things around them are “good” now. They’ll still expect the worst.

Another character tells yqy to go make new friends. Then changes their mind and tells him to get a pet. “Not a person, an animal. Find something else to be gentle to.” Instead of showing him how to treat people right, instead of working through human relationships after realizing his mistakes, Yqy —who now has no close friends, no one to talk to emotionally, not just professionally, and who is hated and feared by his entire sect—is told that he “pierced his heart while having the best intentions,” meaning he traumatizes everyone. And now he’s basically being isolated from society. But humans need other humans to have meaningful conversations. It’s a real psychological need.

In the comments, people were saying that yqy finally got what he deserved. Deserved for what? For sincere motives, for trying his best to make things right as quickly as possible, for showing concern for sj? There were a few moments that maybe made yqy “deserve” what he got (like yelling), but to me that was pure OOC every single time. And if the author doesn’t think it’s OOC, then their interpretation of the character is just… wrong.

To help clarify, here’s a parallel situation involving another character:

Someone told the entire Cang Qiong that sj had been a slave and used to go to a brothel just to get some sleep. And instead of helping sj restore his relationships with the peak lords, they said, “You’ve done enough damage. Leave this mountain (and preferably never return, either directly or indirectly).”

Explanations:

Yes, the author has full rights to delete or block my comment and to not want any criticism. I even checked before writing whether she mentioned anything about that. I clearly stated at the beginning that this was a critique, and to read it only if interested. So calling it “unsolicited” criticism when it’s clearly optional to read feels wrong.

I wasn’t demanding that anything in the fanfic be changed. I just thought the author was trying to help the main characters resolve their problems in a healthy way—so why not yqy too?

[cpvnksabm]

you know, in general i am the #1 defender of ricky potts as disability rep (before the erasure rewrites) especially when it comes to his pre-cyclone backstory. but occasionally i do remember the details about ricky's parents, specifically, how stupid it is. i spend most of my time in this fandom internally screaming "stop haphazardly changing rickys backstory, youre erasing the parts that made him special to me" but this part is one of few things in the whole musical that i actually do want changed. because if you take it at face value it makes no sense at all.

direct quote from the script:

"when Richard lost his power of speech, the Potts family took a vow of silence; usually communicating in a series of strange gestures that only they understood. The only time they interacted with one another was when they read comics, or fed the cats… they had fourteen cats."

there is so much weird shit going on here.

first of all. vow of silence? i have never in my life heard of that being someone's response to having a nonspeaking child. i am not nonverbal myself but based on what ive heard from people who are, i understand that not being able to just talk out loud for ease of communication, it complicates every interaction... so why would ricky's parents, presumably non-disabled (the term "vow of silence" definitely implies a choice and not like, selective mutism or anything), do that voluntarily?

no seriously. why. the script makes no attempt to explain their reasoning behind this or how ricky feels about it. why did they do this. is it a symbolic gesture? an attempt to better understand what their son is going through? i can't see it helping ricky in any tangible way. in fact, not being able to have his parents stand up for him (especially as a disabled person who is chronically ignored, especially as a child) would probably make his life harder.

i'm going to guess that the reasoning behind this out-of-universe, the general concept the writers were trying to communicate, was something like "one of the problems with how society treats disabled people is that sometimes they get too much support, and people make really drastic life changes to give them help that they don't even need"...

...and on top of directly contradicting the rest of ricky's backstory ("the most appalling cruelty humanity can muster: complete indifference", anyone?), this is just not true! the idea that disabled people are given/offered "too much" help is a myth and a stereotype. the vast majority of disabled people in real life have less than what they need, and have to struggle to get by. every organisation that is supposed to help disabled people, at every level, is biased toward giving the bare minimum or less - not to giving people more than they need.

to my knowledge, the whole "my son cant speak so im taking a vow of silence" thing, this has just... never happened in real life. not only would it Not Even Help it's just... not an idea that occurs to most parents of nonspeaking children. because why would it? it's ridiculous! the potts family "vow of silence" is just a ridiculous overexaggeration of the concept of "parents of disabled children make sacrifices for their children", and i dont like it.

now, if you want you can handwave all this away with "yeah this would be insane and ultimately unhelpful, but the musical never says that it is helpful, so for all we know ricky doesnt like it and it isnt good and his parents are just insane for doing that". and if that was the case, it would kind of fit with a recurring theme in the musical of performative efforts to "help" ricky that actually just make him more miserable. although i would say that a literal vow of silence is waaaay too big of a life commitment for parents to realistically do performatively. but then again, ricky's parents are clearly already odd people, with the 14 cats and the "strange gestures", so maybe it's just their characterisation...

and that reminds me. why the hell are they communicating with "strange gestures that only they understand".

i think most of the fandom interprets this as referencing ASL. but based on the description that's not what ASL is. sign languages are languages, with their own complex grammar, vocabulary, etc. they are not "strange gestures". this is like if noel's lament ended with our Objective Omniscient Narrator Karnak saying "monique and the priest communicated with a series of strange sounds that only they understood" and then they just spoke regular ass french.

but of course the script never says they're using ASL, and to my knowledge no production has ever actually done ASL for the "gestures", that part is really just fanon.

if you interpret the "strange gestures that only they understood" wording more literally - there is such a thing as home sign! home sign is a communication system made of gestures, generally not considered a complete language, that develops in households where communicating in language (either spoken language or sign language) is not an option. primarily, this is something that happens to linguistically isolated deaf children. if a child cannot hear well enough to learn & communicate with spoken language, and their parents don't give them an opportunity to learn sign language, they develop their own communication methods.

even this isn't quite what's happening in the musical if you take it literally, though, because home sign is developed by the child, by the child who doesn't have access to language. ricky could be d/Deaf or hard of hearing, which would impact his ability to hear and thus learn spoken language, but there's nothing in the musical to really point to this and so i dont think its what the writers were going for. the phrasing of the "vow of silence" thing implies that it was ricky's parents' choice to develop their own communication method consisting of gestures, rather than just an existing language including the language they presumably all already knew and communicated with prior to the "vow of silence".

this truly just boggles the mind. how did this happen? was there a point where mr potts sat down with the family and said "okay, so when we all take a vow of silence, this gesture will be how we ask each other when the cats food bowl was last fulled"? i will give canon the benefit of the doubt on one thing - while it isnt specified in the script, based on how degenerative (neuromuscular) disorders work in real life, it's likely ricky losing his speech would have been a gradual process rather than an overnight thing, and therefore i suppose the parents could have had enough warning time to develop the basics of a signed conlang. but they could have also used that time to learn an existing sign language, which im sure would have been easier for everyone. or they could have used that time to say "considering english exists in forms that dont require talking out loud (AAC), it would probably be easier to learn that rather than a new language, and also why are we taking a vow of silence anyway, how does that help our kid".

of course we dont know exactly how this language of "strange gestures" came to be. because canon, rather than elaborating on any of this, simply dropped the out-of-context claim on our feet. but depending on exactly how it went down, if you take it seriously, i think it could range from "bizarre form of child abuse/neglect that would have a severe impact on rickys communication and social life for years to come" to "technically harmless but really weird and convoluted".

and while we're on the subject of potential neglect. may i remind you, the last part of the section on ricky's parents:

"The only time they interacted with one another was when they read comics, or fed the cats… they had fourteen cats."

This is, frankly, maddening. it seems to imply that ricky's family ignored him a lot due to his disability which, while depressing, is definitely consistent with the rest of his backstory - being ignored at school/in uranium in general, retreating into his own imagination to cope. and i've said time and time again that the ableism ricky faces, being constantly ignored and condescended to and having to literally die and have his disability be magicked away in the afterlife before anyone actually listens to him, this is the most realistic part of the whole musical.

with that being said uhhh. that ending line might be consistent with the rest of rickys backstory but its NOT consistent with everything else karnak said about rickys parents, as recently as thirty seconds ago! are you telling me these parents took a vow of silence in some sort of weird symbolic solidarity with their kid, went as far as creating their own gestural communication system (/signed conlang) to facilitate communicating through this vow of silence... and then barely interacted with the kid they had sacrificed so much for?

if i take karnak completely at his word here, the only explanation i can come up with is that ricky was the subject of some linguistic experiment that his parents came up with. and frankly im not convinced the experiment is scientifically or ethically sound.

okay, in all seriousness,

i know the potts family is not conducting an unethical linguistic experiment. or at least, i know that is not the intended subtext of the musical. it's possible to come up with contrived situations in which these bizarre decisions would be realistic in-universe, but we all know that ride the cyclone is a work of fiction. and when things are this contrived... the most reasonable explanation is simply "the writers never thought that hard about it".

and that's disappointing! this blatantly nonsensical detail stayed in the musical for years, and apparently nobody thought to be like "hey, does this make sense? should we fact-check this?". this part of rickys backstory stayed the same until his entire backstory was overhauled to remove his disability in 2022 and, tbh, i dont think that was actually that anyone realised this part didnt make sense and tried to fix it, more likely that it just happened to get thrown out while they were doing disability erasure.

everything about this short paragraph indicates the writers being unwilling to research. which is bad writing practice in general and particularly bad when you're writing about disabilities!

i find this particularly disappointing because, as ive said, most of ricky's backstory was very realistic in the old scripts, and surprisingly well done; this is one of the aspects of disability rep where they just, completely dropped the ball. unfortunately, that was years ago, and now rtc has so thoroughly gone off the deep end in terms of disability ""representation"" that it's hardly worth it to nitpick the worst details in the best versions of the script...

but, still, i wanted to share my thoughts on this. it's surprisingly under-discussed in the fandom. i see a lot of people attempting to explain how rtc's disability rep was always flawed, some better than others... and i thought it would be good to go through and actually nitpick what rtc did wrong in the first place so we can all try to do better.

anyway, to the half-dozen people still reading this. fic writers. if you are a stickler for Canon Compliance then please understand that the canon here is nuts. i'm not saying don't put it in your fics, personally i sometimes love to write fics that i call Canon Malicious Compliant, which is when you stubbornly refuse to acknowledge what the author probably meant to say and instead explore the fucked-up explanations of what the author literally did say. i would love to see some fics that explore how ricky would actually feel about the "vow of silence" thing, and how it would impact him & his relationship with his parents, rather than just having it as a background info that isn't acknowledged as the weird thing it clearly is.

alternatively, to the large section of the fandom that is willing to say "I recognize the canon has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it" - can i suggest CODA!Ricky, as in Child Of Deaf Adults, as an alternative headcanon that stays close to the canon while actually making sense? this would explain why his parents use a sign language at home way better than the "their kid cant speak so naturally they took a vow of silence" nonsense. obviously, headcanon what you want, this is the one part of canon that is really so nonsensical you might as well ignore it and treat it as a blank space in which to write whatever hcs you want, i just wanted to suggest one possible (more reasonable) explanation

[simplefacts123]

About Bill/Chip

I have been hesitant to make this post but I do think it's something worth talking about, because of how common this ship is and the fact that it has been encouraged by a crew member. In a fandom with mostly minors, I think it's important to be clear about the potential implications with pairings like this so that young people can make informed decisions.

This is NOT an attack on anyone who likes this ship, nor is it intended to make anyone feel bad about themselves. I also ask that people please not harass people that do ship this. I'm only making this post in hopes that I'll encourage people to think critically about their own behavior, and assess whether or not they feel comfortable with this ship after considering my points.

Here are the reasons why I think Bill/Chip shippers may want to reevaluate how they see this pairing.

Chip is an adult man who is obsessively stalking a child, a child he has attempted to murder on multiple occasions. And Bill is that same child's primary guardian.

Chip is also stalking Bill himself and has tried to murder him more than once. The only time Bill trusted him, it was purely due to a manipulation tactic so that Chip could violate that trust just for the sake of hurting Bill's family.

There may be an implied age difference. I list this reason last because it is implied, not explicit. We do not know Chip's canon age (we do know that Bill is around 40 according to the timeline of Greens' Acres). But we do know that Chip is young enough to canonically flirt with Gloria, a character that is also young enough to canonically be Bill's surrogate daughter figure. One could argue that maybe Gloria is 30, Chip is 35, and Bill is 40, and so they're still all technically within similar age ranges. But the fact that it's a gray area is something worth considering to people who ship this, as others may view it as an age-gap relationship. Bill has also referred to Chip as "son", which isn't something men his age generally do with peers.

Again, this is not an attack on any shippers, nor do I want anyone to harass shippers or crew. This is just me offering another perspective in hopes that people will think a bit more critically about the implications of this ship, and whether or not they feel comfortable normalizing dynamics like these in communities filled with impressionable minors.

Thank you for reading, if you took the time.

[rainbowrocketquotes]

LGBTQ+ Headcanons for Pride Month

Late as fuck but I've been Busy™ so uhh.

These are my opinions and they are subject to change! Feel free to dicsuss your own opinions in the replies but if y'all start arguing with each other in there I swear.

Giovanni

I dont know why but he and Ariana give off the vibes of that couple who have a joint sugar baby in a pseudo-polycule.

T4T silverspawn is my bread and butter but also I'm a multishipper so that ranges.

Imo he's either straight but an ally or a closeted bisexual that hides it behind allyship. We all know that guy.

Archie

Unlabelled. I don't make the rules, sorry. /j

No but on a serious note I think he just doesn't care to try and explain. He gives off the vibe of "guy who experimented heavily in college and kind of forgoes labels now" because he knows what he wants and he doesn't feel the need to try and define himself to other people.

I also am a fan of the trans Archie headcanons but I personally still don't see him labelling himself any which way in any regard tbf. He's just chill.

Maxie

Boykisser.

I don't really care which way he gets labeled most of the time but this guy likes men. Or at the very least he has definitely dated a man.

I don't really like the trans Maxie headcanon as much as some of the other trans headcanons for characters because I just feel like it buys too much into the common fandom tropes of "one member of popular ship must be afab and the other must he amab" with Hardenshipping being an incredibly popular ship, and "skinny white man = trans" being the most common trans headcanons. I'm not saying anyone who headcanons Maxie as trans is doing it for those reasons, and I have NO PROBLEM with people who headcanon Maxie as trans. Like, I'll still read fics and look at art where he is, and I don't mind it, I just don't like it personally for those reasons, and don't headcanon him as trans.

Cyrus

Abnormal views on gender/sexuality because of his time spent in the distortion world.

I personally don't think he cares what pronouns he's referred to by because he thinks it's a waste of time to correct people on something so trivial as a set of words, and he doesn't care how people percieve him.

In regards to sexuality, I also think he doesn't bother with labels, or really care about anything like that in general. I think he's probably on the asexual/aromantic spectrum, but it could also be interpreted as him just being closed off and weird like he is.

Personally I think if he bothered with labelling, he'd be Demiromantic. I'm not sure if he'd be cis or not but he probably still wouldn't care about pronouns or anything.

Ghetsis

Gay and homophobic /j

Honestly? I have no idea. I think he's probably very against the idea of wasting time with romance, especially in regards to what N is doing. But I don't think he'd be generally homophobic or transphobic. Probably just romancephobic /hj.

That's not to say I think he's necessarily on the ace spectrum, but I think he thinks he has better things to do. That he's against the idea of romance as an idea for the purposes of his ideals. He's a cult leader who wants to manipulate and use his son as a means to rule the world. He doesn't care what gender or sexuality N labels with, he just knows that by getting a partner he'd be straying from the plan he's trying to fulfill. Shrug.

Colress

I don't think he cares, but like in a different way than Archie doesn't care. I don't think he's explored his gender and sexuality enough to be comfortable forming his own opinion on how he identifies. He's scientific and needs proof one way or another, but won't actively go out and get the proof because he doesn't care that much. I.E., unlabelled. Doesn't care about his own pronouns.

Definitely is a "I assume you are bisexual until proven otherwise" truther, tho.

Lysandre

Very stereotypically flamboyantly gay, obviously, in the same vein as every Disney villain ever. I know I just said I don't fuck with stereotypes but not for this one. This idiot is home of sexual. Full stop.

Probably cis? But the kind of cis guy who would do drag for fun iykwim.

Guzma

Pan or Bi, 100%. Just screams sexual frustration like that. I physically cannot explain it but he just is.

Gender wise, I'm down with pretty much any headcanon for him. I think he's cis but cool with any pronouns in the way that a dude who is just comfortable in his masculinity is. Like if you call a guy who's normal "she" on accident he'll probably be like "haha, I'm a dude," and move on. That's Guzma.

Lusamine

Heteroromantic Bisexual. I cannot explain it, either, but she just gives me vibes.

"Every woman wanted to be a man at some point, Lillie, it's normal", and never elaborates. Probably Cis, but I'm squinting at her very hard.

I'm also cool with the transfem headcanons for her but sometimes people lean too far into the "trans people are always villains" thing and it gets... Weird!

! SURPRISE BONUS ROUND !

Rose

General cishet vibes from this guy, though I won't disregard any queer headcanons for him. I just think he and Oleana have some weird het situationship going on over there.

British /j

Volo

Some kind of gender something idk /ref

I don't know what he is but he definitely is not Cisgender and I can tell you that with confidence.

I think he's probably demiromantic or demisexual but I have a general feeling that he's somewhere on the ace spectrum. Idk if that's cliche or weird but I like this guy and I get vibes™ from him.

Also I know this is my Rainbow Rocket acount but I! Like Volo!! Contrary to popular belief!!! Legends Arceus is one of my favourite pkmn games.

Sada

Still have not finished Scarvi!! But she's bi. Have you seen her? She's bi.

I wouldn't mind a t4t headcanon with her and her husband but I don't outright hc her as transfem. I might, once I finish the game, tho.

Turo

Once again have still not finished Scarvi! But he's also Bi. Maybe homoromantic or demi on the side, but he definitely is Bi.

Might be a flavor of nonbinary, but that could just be the vibes I get from his weird little cunty outfit.

[yourbloodysunrise]

Hello. How Huggy Wuggy, Mommy Long Legs, Dogday, Yarnaby and Doey would react to Reader who goes full-on "I'm getting all of you out of here" mode: picks evey single toy which is currently alive, quickly patches it's wounds, returns with it to the exit (somehow avoiding every single obstacle), leaves the toys there, promises to return, tells them to not try to eat other toys, do this with another new toy, and do this until every single toy is at the exit and ready to leave this place with them? Sorry if it's too much.

🌤️ — it's not too much, don't worry! I actually glad to see that you want me to write for Dogday and Doey, they are my favourites :)

🌤️ — please, enjoy!

°.✩┈┈∘*┈୨୧┈*∘┈┈✩.°

❝ No matter how much you want to, you can't save everyone. ❞

— FANDOM: POPPY PLAYTIME.

— PAIRING: HUGGY WUGGY, MOMMY LONG LEGS, DOGDAY, YARNABY, DOEY x READER THAT TRYING TO SAVE OTHER TOYS.

— RATHER PLATONIC THAN ROMANTIC.

— HCS/CONCEPT.

— TW: BAD ENGLISH, BAD GRAMMAR, OOC, MENTION OF VIOLENCE, MENTION OF DEATH, SOFT ANGST.

°.✩┈┈∘*┈୨୧┈*∘┈┈✩.°

— HUGGY WUGGY:

☆ ┈ Since you won't see any other living toys in chapter 1, the action will take place in chapter 4.

☆ ┈ First of all, Huggy is furious. He is injured and in great, great pain, not to mention that when he fell, he realized that he has a lot of competition in who will eat whom, and it will not be easy for him to survive with wounds.

☆ ┈ However, he survives, and that's not good for you.

☆ ┈ Huggy Wuggy blames you for everything, and, although, it's not surprising, so almost all the time he's just trying to find you to get revenge.

☆ ┈ And when he finds you, he first decides to follow you, since you are often in someone else's company.

☆ ┈ Apparently, this will save your life.

☆ ┈ He sees you taking small toys somewhere, as he heard, to the exit. It discourages him.

☆ ┈ Do you want to help them?..Why?

☆ ┈ In fact, Huggy almost feels insulted. You feel sorry for the toys, you want to help them, you want to save them.

☆ ┈ Why, even though others have done you harm, do you feel sorry for them?!

☆ ┈ ..Why he want you to feel the same way for him?

☆ ┈ Now, his purpose is changing. He doesn't want to kill you, but he also doesn't know what else to do, he doesn't know how to get out of here.

☆ ┈ Huggy Wuggy just wanders in the shadows, watching you, interested in your actions..

☆ ┈ For a while, you can say that he has no bad intentions, and he may even try to approach you purely out of curiosity about how you will react to him.

☆ ┈ ..However, unbeknownst to him, someone noticed his presence next to you. Perhaps Huggy shouldn't follow you everywhere, it could let someone think about it in wrong way.

— MOMMY LONG LEGS:

☆ ┈ Oh, that's so sweet! That you think you could break through her to the exit.

☆ ┈ Whatever good purpose you have, it just won't let you go.

☆ ┈ Although we know that Mommy Long Legs treats children more gently, and the sight of how you want to save toys makes something forgotten wake up in her..

☆ ┈ She won't let you leave just like that.

☆ ┈ It reminds her of how she treated children before the Hour of Joy came. She's not sure if these are pleasant memories or not, but she would like them to stay anyway.

☆ ┈ If Huggy is rather offended and puzzled by your attitude towards other toys, Mommy is jealous.

☆ ┈ You tried to help Bunzo even though he wanted to eat you. You tried to make friends with the Mini Huggies after you won.

☆ ┈ Why do you feel sorry for them? Why did you pay attention to them? You should have focused on the games, on her! Why? Why why why?!

☆ ┈ You can try to offer her help, but Mommy Long Legs will just laugh like crazy at this.

☆ ┈ There's no way out of here, she realized that a long time ago. Especially for people like her. It would be foolish of you to let a few eternally hungry creatures come to the surface.

☆ ┈ So, nope, you're staying. Even if she has to kill all the other toys, she won't let you get away, and she won't let you help them.

☆ ┈ Your only option to help others is to kill her. So, decide: them, or her.

— "Where are you going with this little pathetic thing? To exit? Ahaha.."

— "..But Mommy was hoping you'd stay forever! What makes you think that other toys won't eat your insides once they'll be free?"

— DOGDAY:

☆ ┈ When you reach out to help him, his first reaction is shock.

☆ ┈ Do you really think you can save him?

☆ ┈ DogDay feels ambivalent. On one hand, he is impressed by your desire to help him, but on the other hand, he has long since given up hope.

☆ ┈ He asks you to leave and abandon him, as he will not survive, but you persist and manage to free him.

☆ ┈ As soon as you freed him, the Ruined Creatures appeared, intent on devouring both him and you.

☆ ┈ DogDay tried to tell you to let him go and escape on your own, as your life was more important to the fate of the factory than his, but you still took him with you as you fled from the small toys that wanted to gnaw on your face.

☆ ┈ He is not just grateful to you; he is amazed that you did not leave him behind but instead saved him. After all, if you had stayed a couple of minutes longer, he wouldn't have been alive.

☆ ┈ He's amazed. He's almost certain that there might be hope in this forgotten place.

☆ ┈ Somehow, you've managed to find toys that don't want to kill him or you. He doesn't know how it's possible, but he's glad that there are still someone who haven't lost their minds in this place.

☆ ┈ Of course, you're unlikely will return to exit, but even in his condition, DogDay will want to help you.

☆ ┈ Please, let him.

— "..You truly are Angel, you know that?"

— YARNABY:

☆ ┈ I'm not sure how he'll react, but I think confusion will be the first thing he feels.

☆ ┈ Like, for him, you're helping the food, so he finds it strange. You, his goal, helping the food. Unclear.

☆ ┈ The Doctor will likely be annoyed by your attempts to help the other toys, and he'll encourage Yarnaby to kill you.

☆ ┈ He'll listen, but there's a doubt in his mind.

☆ ┈ The exit. You're looking for an exit.

☆ ┈ ..Exit even real in this place?

☆ ┈ Hm. Strange. But curious.

☆ ┈ Yarnaby is slightly interested, and watches you before attacking.

☆ ┈ You could try to offer him help as well, but..He will most likely try to attack you.

☆ ┈ If you manage to calmly approach him, it is only if he does not fall completely into the lava vat and you help him out, possibly by putting out his paws and tail that have managed to ignite.

☆ ┈ If you save him, he will be confused and will stay where he is, trembling and growling in pain. He will only allow you to approach him if you have extinguished him.

☆ ┈ Yarnaby involuntarily presses himself against your outstretched hand, trying to find comfort in your presence and imagining The Doctor in your place.

☆ ┈ He is unsure whether to attack you now or not. If you are The Doctor's enemy, you would not help him, would you? He's so confused...

— DOEY:

☆ ┈ He almost feel how his thoughts is drifting away when he sees this.

☆ ┈ When Doey first met you, he wasn't completely sure about you. Ollie said that he can trust you, and he would like to think so, but he still doubts you.

☆ ┈ His trust in you is small at first. But it accelerates very, very fast. Faster than you would like.

☆ ┈ Poppy told Doey what happened to you. And, admittedly, you suffered at the factory too. Not like him and the others, but you've done yourself a lot of harm.

☆ ┈ He's developing towards you..sympathy.

☆ ┈ You're nice with the toys from Safe Heaven. It makes something inside him shrink, the memories of how he once behaved with other orphans almost make him go crazy.

☆ ┈ Everyone is starting to like you. Matthew for how gentle you are with toys, Jack for reminding him of his parents. And since the personalities of all three are connected, Kevin also has thoughts of affection for you.

☆ ┈ And no matter how much he starts to get attached to you, when you tell him your opinion that you should evacuate toys from Safe Heaven (obviously suspecting something), he is against it.

☆ ┈ It's dangerous outside, Doey can't risk losing the toys in Safe Heaven! Including you..

☆ ┈ They're his family..But now you are too.

☆ ┈ Now, he's starting to panic. What if you yourself try to evacuate others without listening to him? His thoughts are filled with those moments where you were on the verge of death, escaping from other toys.

☆ ┈ He's afraid for you and for others. Even if he tries to evacuate others, he will be there for you, every second.

☆ ┈ When it turns out that Safe Heaven was blown up while you were evacuating..He doesn't know what to do.

☆ ┈ He pretends to be confident in himself and that you will bring other toys to the exit, but this is just a mask to give hope to others.

☆ ┈ Doey creating a kind of new shelter not far from what's left. It's much less secure than the past, but he's trying his best.

☆ ┈ He notices the other toys next to you that you saved, and he's not against them. On the contrary, it makes you even better in his eyes.

☆ ┈ However, he soon notices that there are..hostile toys hanging around you..

☆ ┈ Doey intends to keep you safe, albeit in a slightly brutal way.

— "Heey, pal!..You seem tired. Look, our Safe Heaven is also yours, so.. Uh- here, you can rest in there."

•.✯.• BONUS •.✯.•

You sigh, shaking your head, leaning against a concrete wall, staring forward wearily.

You've just lost a toy you were trying to bring to Safe Heaven. The small version of Hoppy Hopstotch you tried to save took the hit when Yarnaby attacked you..

You've lost count of how many toys you've lost like this. Guilt consumes you because some of them willingly sacrificed themselves to help you.

You look down at the two trembling, tired toys clinging to your leg. No matter how much you've suffered from failure, there are still those who need your help.

Gently pushing them forward, you turn around when you hear a noise. You tense up, but you can't see anything, even though you could have sworn you heard something fall.

— "..Is everything okay?"

One of the toys asks you, gently tugging on your pants/skirt. You turn your head to them and see them looking at you with their friend, and although their expressions can't change from smiling to anything else, you know they would have a pleading look.

— "Yes..Yes, it's fine. Let's move on, we shouldn't stay in one place."

You say it encouragingly and lead them on. At least you hope it's all fine..

..As soon as you get far enough away, long arm wraps around the corner of the wall, peeking out from behind it, staring at you in the distance.

Huggy has been following you for a while now. He must have discovered you a few hours ago. He's not sure, time passes terribly slowly here...

Wanting to step further so as not to lose sight of you, he takes a few steps forward before stopping, not by his own will, but by feeling something holding his other hand.

Huggy turns around to see what's going on, but feels something heavy gripping his arm and pulling him back forcefully, hitting him against the wall several times.

He growls, trying to break free from the grip, scratching and biting, before noticing who it is.

— "..Hiya there..Now, what are you doing so deep in here, hmm?"

— "You shouldn't have wandered in here. Especially near them."

..Uh. Huggy didn't realize that he wasn't the only one watching you.

..:*･ﾟ☆.｡.:*･ﾟﾞ｡.:*･ﾟ☆.｡.:*･ﾟ🌤

🌤️ — while I was writing for Doey, I had an idea that it would be interesting for Doey to think that Huggy wanted to attack Reader while Huggy was just watching, so I added this.

🌤️ — hope you like it, have a good day ☆

[urban-hermitism]

mandatory jiang cheng analysis now that i'm rewatching the untamed. (mind you i am currently 6 episodes in and this is exclusively based on the untamed. i have read the novel. i forget every word of it.)

tbh i have no strong opinions about the man in the first place just because... i don't really get attached to characters. and he wasn't like... interesting enough. but anyway

(adding a cut cause this got loooong)

seeing fandom discourse about him has made my conception of him confusing because he's always characterized as so angry by the fandom (at least from what i've seen. very surface level ik) but there's not really much reason to it other than jealousy about wwx and absorbing stuff from madam yu during the cloud recesses arc, and then bitterness and trauma (ig?) after the war and after the time-skip.

and then of course there's the fact that people either hate him or love him (as with many characters in this fandom lol) and there's really no in-between.

but rewatching the drama gave me thoughts:

1. the way jiang cheng acts with jin ling reminds me a lot of a concerned parent who can't express said concern through anything other than anger, and

2. bro is really concerned about face. actually a lot more concerned about it than the fandom led me to believe.

like okay, at first i was a bit confused as to why jiang cheng is constantly at wwx's neck for the smallest things, but i think these two factors play a major role in what makes him react the way he does.

I'll give two scenarios for your consideration:

first, let's look at jin ling in the first couple of episodes. this isn't about him, but rather how jiang cheng treats him. we know that jin ling cares a lot about his success. he does things (such as the 400 nets) to try and get ahead and do something note worthy. and jiang cheng encourages that attitude. he pushes his nephew to succeed, and jin ling responds to that. (i feel like their relationship actually sort of reflects the relationship jiang cheng had with madam yu. but that's something to look at another time.) at the same time, jiang cheng doesn't want jin ling to get hurt. he scolds him after recklessly going after the statue that appears in the first couple of episodes. but he doesn't know how to communicate his concern in any way other than yelling at him.

for the second we'll look at wwx during the cloud recesses arc. wwx is actually a lot more annoying than i remember, in the sense that i totally sympathize with jiang cheng. ik wwx is older, but it really feels like dynamic wise, jiang cheng is the older, responsible one telling wwx to behave himself. and he scolds him while telling him that! they argue! like siblings! but jiang cheng's frustration does seem a lot like the same concern that he has for jin ling. to jiang cheng, there are major consequences to misbehavior in gusu, and he wants to prevent anything bad happening to his brother. a lot of his anger seems to be out of care.

but in both cases, there's also the fact that i think jiang cheng is very conscious of face. honour/shame dynamics are very common in chinese culture, and as a clan heir, jiang cheng is probably hyper aware of the effects of one's actions on another's perception of you. he pushes jin ling to do better because it reflects well on the jinag, but more importantly, it reflects well on jin ling's parents. (and jinag cheng wants to honour his sister's memory, and what better way than to have her son succeed, and be able to stand with the best of his peers?) during the cloud recesses arc, they are in gusu to represent their clan, it's insulting to both their own clan and their hosts to be acting out of line. (probably, idk enough about chinese culture, but in my head it makes sense lol.)

wwx on the other hand appears to not care much about how one's actions affect the face of the group. there's definitely a sense that we get where he puts on this clueless, mischievous mask as a way to hide the fact that he's putting things together, but at cloud recesses, he's not really subtle about the goals of his questions. he's actually really blunt about things which is sorta unexpected. i'll need to compare that with how he acts later if to see if it's a skill he ends up developing better. but yeah, that aside, he just... he's willing to do stupid things because they are fun, and does not really think about how his frequent getting into trouble will affect others. (i'm not sure if he just straight up does not care, does not realize, or knows how to toe the line just so. maybe it's up to our interpretation. but i think the confrontation when the wen's interrupt their turn to salute, and the moment where he purposefully collides with jin zixuan and then lets him go ahead demonstrate a decent amount of social awareness so it's not like we can say he's totally unaware? idk.)

tldr, jiang cheng and wwx's personalities clash big time. one who cares too much about how one is perceived, and the other who completely disregards it. and big clash = argue a lot. iconic sibling behavior, let's be real

i do think that further along in the story it's possible that jiang cheng's motivations and reasons for why he acts the way he does become a lot more complex (because trauma + the war + just how people work in general), but to me, this concern for his family and his extreme focus on family honour seem to be his core motivators.

[croquettish]

Hi!! I’m a big fan of your meta and really appreciate your contributions to the fandom. especially your post on sexuality in medieval Bohemia, which I found sooo fascinating and well done.

I was wondering if you’ve ever written about medieval noble marriages and how that arrangement might affect Hansry. There’s a lot of discussion (and fanfic lol) about whether it would have any real impact on their relationship, or if it would just be seen as a political necessity with no hard feelings. Henry comes across as fairly nonchalant about it by the end - especially compared to Hans, who seems more conflicted. And it also makes me wonder: how would Jitka feel about all this?

Given how amazing you are with historical context AND Henry and Hans character insight, I’d love to hear your take on how you think things might play out for them post-canon

This is so kind, thank you so much 😭

Naturally this sent me down a research spiral. I haven't written about medieval noble marriages before, but I do know more than the average bear about it. (You will learn more than you bargained for here; this is a threat and I apologize in advance.)

The short answer is that marriage among the nobility was pretty much never about love. I'm using a qualifier here even though I really want to just say never. But idk, maybe there were some nobles who got just insanely lucky and happened to fall in love with a viable match that their parents also approved of. Usually, like 99% of the time, it was a purely contractual thing. The purpose of marriage was the consolidation of assets or land, the joining of two houses for the purposes of a treaty or an alliance, etc. For that, they rarely needed to meet before the wedding to begin with.

The general hope was that the two parties involved would fall in love after the wedding, but that's more of an ideal outcome. People were fully aware of the fact that this wasn't realistic, and there wasn't some weighty expectation for either party to make that happen. All that's really expected is for them to produce at least one heir that survives into adulthood. That didn't always happen, but you know.

We have a few examples* that we can turn to here. Edward II and Piers Gaveston were almost certainly involved with each other, and even then, both of them had wives and produced children. Richard the Lionheart and King Philip II likewise were as close as Hansry, said to have eaten from the same plate "... and that their beds did not separate them." (Hilariously, one historian went on record that poor people shared beds all the time and therefore this meant that the two weren't gay. Because royals are famously very poor and need to share beds for warmth.) Richard didn't have any children with his wife, though he was said to father an illegitimate child.

Philip, on the other hand, is a very interesting case. He first married Isabelle of Hainaut and then decided four years later to try and divorce her on account of consanguinity. At the time she was fourteen and it's "not at all clear that the marriage had been consummated by then." The request for a divorce was denied, and five years later she died in childbirth. This left him with one very sickly three year old son, which meant that he needed to produce another heir who would live to adulthood. He was set to be married to Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, who was said to be "beautiful, holy, and of good morals" (here, her dowry was cash instead of land, making this less politically savvy of a match). I make mention of her character specifically because the day after the wedding Philip decided he didn't want to be married to her anymore, and supposedly "began violently to abhor, tremble, and pale at her sight." Supposedly he entered the marriage bed and then promptly left again, insisting that he was unable to consummate the marriage (Ingeborg said differently). He then got the French church council together to request a divorce on account of her supposedly being related to his first wife. Ingeborg, tragically, had no idea that this would happen and effectively broke down sobbing when an interpreter gave her the news. After Philip married someone else and had kids with her, declared that that marriage was null and void because he was still married to Ingeborg, and after his wife died he inevitably had to take Ingeborg back.

This is quite a bit later than 15th c, but another fascinating example is Frederick the Great, who almost certainly was queer and who did not want to get married to the point that he threatened suicide and explained to his sister that there could be neither love nor friendship between them. Despite this, he was forced to marry, and he proceeded to put her in another palace far away from him and forbade her from visiting him. They didn't have kids and he never displayed any affection, though he did occasionally deign to visit her on her birthday.

What does this mean for Hansry? As ever, the answer is "it depends." We know nothing about Jitka and certainly don't know her character. We can assume that she wouldn't necessarily expect there to be love in her marriage, but it would almost certainly be the hope. If he does what's expected of him and produces an heir, there isn't a whole lot that anyone could say against him unless his relationship with Henry was discovered. It definitely is something that would only happen out of political necessity, but that doesn't always mean that we can account for human emotion to not get in the way. Realism dictates that there would be no love, but perhaps not to the extent that people like Frederick or Philip shunned their wives. For fic writers, it will be entirely up to them to decide how Jitka might respond, but in terms of what things were like at the time, so long as an heir was produced, that is really the only expectation that a marriage would carry with it.

*This is a misnomer. We can't really impose modern sexualities on people of the past and we tragically can't ask their opinions on the matter, so everything I'm saying here is purely reasonable speculation, which is all a historian can really ask for.

Source:

Karras, Ruth Mazo. Unmarriages: Women, Men, and Sexual Unions in the Middle Ages. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.