#also they don't hate each other or anything they've just got a rivalry because they both do the same kind of magic but for opposite reasons

[somelazyassartist]

Was scrolling through my binder of Hallows' family tree to figure out who I should add to my Artfight this year and I forgot about this dumb fuckin sibling rivalry lmao

[egeos]

a brief look at the history of hulknussen on ao3

as I was writing up my hulknussen fanfic recommendations masterpost I realized that someone coming into the ship just now is probably missing a decently sized amount of lore on their "meta" history - that is to say, how fandom has treated hulknussen and how it has changed over the years. I'm making a post on it that so I can reference it in the aforementioned masterpost, but you can also just read this if you want to know more about hulknussen's position in f1 rpf fic on ao3. they're no lestappen, but they've had their moments

I'll try my best to boil down the key factors that influenced them, dynamics, characterizations, etc for the three - and soon four - "eras" I have determined for their ship.

the oldest fic currently in their tag dates back to 2015, which was about a year after kevin joined F1. there were a few people writing for this ship back then, and it didn't really gain traction until 2017 with the infamous "suck my balls mate/honey" incident. there was a small but steady stream of fics uploaded to ao3 over the following years. around late 2020/early 2021 was when they started getting put into the background of fics, as well as into compilation works a lot more, slowly but surely earning them the status of a pairing with bruce banner syndrome.

around this, I have determined three eras you can divide hulknussen fics into. this is based on when they were written and posted, not when the fic itself takes place. I can write something today that takes place in 2014 but it (read: characterizations, dynamics, plot devices, etc) would still be influenced by things that have happened since.

anything from before hungary 2017 kmag joins the grid in 2014, when nico is in his fourth season. they didn't really interact much, but had some interesting parallels in their career for these years. there really aren't a lot of fics from this era, which is a shame in my opinion. I know I technically can't write something for this era, but I really want to try to play around with the dynamics common for them at this time. both of them are younger (kevin 20-23, nico 25-28) with everything to prove. nico still has more of a heartthrob status, kevin is the young and impulsive new rookie. nico also doesn't hold the "beloved by no one, cheered on by everyone" status he has nowadays. he's just kinda there, doing nothing with a friendly smile and never bothering anyone (as opposed to the rest of the grid borderline trying to murder each other in their rivalries).

the last thing I think you can point out is that it was a lot of au's - and I dont mean canon divergence or what if's, but "hulknussen except one is an angel and the other is a demon" "firefighter", "showjumper", that sort of level of au. it is how fandom used to be. nowadays it's more focused on tropes and "canon" (in quotations because rpf) plays a bigger role than it used to.

suck my balls, honey, and all that it brought this part is pretty straightforward. they had their moment in hungary and it spawned a few hate fucking/sexual tension/enemies to lovers fics. there was for sure an uptick around 2017 and even into 2018, but what this moment did way more importantly was cement them as a pair with both history and a "canon" dynamic at all. think of it; hungary is the first time anyone really saw them interact. for a lot of people that was the number 1 thing connecting these two and was basically expected if they were tagged in a fic.

their portrayals boiled down to two, really: the horny one, and the less-horny one. the first is pretty self explanatory, we got two guys who really don't seem to like each other and we make them bang because it's hot. the latter might involve repressed feelings, "secretly together but putting on an act for others", soulmates and making up because of it - kind of, the typical enemies to lovers trope.

(fun fact I want to include; kevin said in 2019 that he never felt much of a grudge towards nico after hungary and held a lot of respect for him. he also said that nico was refusing to even just look at him, and simply determined that nico must have taken hungary very personally while he himself didnt care a lot. it's one of my favourite hulknussen tidbits that I think can really be played around with when writing fic set in this era/using this dynamic.)

it's also worth mentioning that this was when a/b/o as a whole was going mainstream in fandom spaces (and honestly even outside of them, but I wont dive into the implications of that here) which of course also reached F1/hulknussen. some fics fell into the trap of "uwu bottom" and "strong top" stereotypes as a result, usually with kevin as the omega and nico as the alpha. I'm mentioning it because I think that, like hungary 2017, it left its mark in their dynamic and how people cho(o)se to portray them even outside of a/b/o contexts. I will also be honest and say that it's not my personal preferred interpretation, but I acknowledge that it exists, and I won't even deny that maybe it's influenced my own portrayals in ways I haven't noticed.

up until 2019 most of the fics tagged as hulknussen still centered on them. then around 2020-2021 they started getting tagged as a background, side, etc pairing more and more, slowly taking over their tag. I think it was mainly because they had a (at first glance, anyway) simplistic and familiar dynamic with the archetype of enemies/rivals to lovers. it was easy to slot into the background of a fic, easy to use as a catalyst for the main pairing, that sort of thing.

that doesn't mean there were no hulknussen fics being written. I'm mentioning it because it's a development that has stuck around, and they are still often delegated to the sidelines in favour of younger and more popular ships. the fics that were written about them didn't all stick to the enemies to lovers archetype, however! fluff, making up and fics that simply ignored hungary and kept going like before were still being written.

making up (and making out?), haasbands, "my favourite dane", kevin's defence masterclasses, and probably so much more *you are here they make up sometime in 2022. both of them are older, they have matured. both of them are now married and both of them are fathers. they have survived a pandemic (together, kinda) as well as survived being out of the sport and returning. then they're announced as teammates for 2023. it is, of course, a decently huge deal in the wider F1 community. not everyone knows they made up, and media does what they do best, which is stir shit. they didn't manage to convince everyone that they wouldn't implode and take haas with them, but they proved themselves a decent duo in 2023.

it's 2024 when things really kick off. günther is fired from the team and replaced as team principal by ayao. gene decides to invest more capital into F1 over NASCAR, and somehow haas is the only team on the entire grid that didn't have super misleading wind tunnel analysis results (that's not entirely true; theirs were misleading, but theirs were telling them their car is worse than it actually is, whereas everyone else went into 2024 expecting to be better than they ended up being at the beginning of the season). so, overall, haas is in a good spot and on an upwards trajectory.

cue jeddah 2024. kevin racks up penalties like crazy because the fia is trying to be stricter and punish more harshly by giving out 10s instead of 5s penalties. which, credit where credit is due, it did what they wanted, which is ruin kevin's race, and ruining someone's race is a solid way of making sure they don't become a repeated offender (you would think so, anyway). kmag uses the opportunity to hold back the entire back of the field so the gap between him and nico is big enough to buy nico an entire pitstop. that is a crazy feat on so many levels. that takes slowing down without being overtaken. like, forcing the other race cars to slow down when they could easily go faster, in a race where the entire point is to go fast. he needed to speed off into the sunsent during the straights and slow down crazily fast in the corners, all while managing tyres. and the madlad did it and then gives interviews with a big fat smile, saying he "had to do [his] thing to protect nico". okay, we get it, youre married, get a room

the "enemies to lovers arc" and "haasbands" jokes go mainstream. nico calls kevin his favourite dane and describes their relationship as "[their] little romance". they watch the euros together and post pics of it with them smiling at each other like they are actually married. nico wants kevin to go to audi with him, kevin keeps playing the team game for nico even off-track, spending way too much time defending him and his actions. the haasbands as we know them have been birthed.

(before I go on a tangent any longer about this era, let's actually get to what fics from "then" are like. it's the current state of things, so I can't give conclusive statements, but I can make some deductions already.)

before the hard launch of the haasbands, around 2022 and 2023, their fics went into the direction of slow burns, making up, and (mutual) pining. 2024 shook things up again.

with the 2024 season still going, this is pretty much as close up to date as possible as we can get. the current dynamic that has been crystalizing is what I like calling feral dog kevin and lovestruck nico. it's very descriptive, so, you know, Im sure you can imagine what I mean. kevin's attempts at securing nico points also hasnt gone unnoticed by the mainstream community, and jokes about nico getting his first podium because kevin chose to play pinball with all the 18 other drivers are getting more frequent. there is also the upcoming "divorce", courtesy to both of them leaving haas at the end of the season and haas being the sole reason haasbands exists in the first place (both the moniker and the new dynamic).

I predict we'll be entering a fourth era soon, which is the post F1 era. while I don't like to think about it, it seems less and less likely that kevin will get the audi seat, and it is also the only seat left on the grid currently. nico will stay for some longer I do believe, but even his end is approaching. the number of fics being written will start dying off. I can't really say if a new dynamic will come up; I would think not, unless kevin decides to be unhinged and starts coming to races acting in borderline wag capacity to nico, or both of them move to indy or wec or something.

now, just for self indulgence's sake, the fourth era could also be kevin goes to audi, they turn into… audibands? stakebands? and Audi actually develops a great car and they get off the ground running and kevin can break that record of "most career starts without having lead a lap" while nico gets his first podium and breaks his undesirable record. we get an uptick in fics, the feral dog kevin and lovestruck nico dynamic evoles a bit further to be just a little bit deranged with an edge of codependence to it and then they retire and take their ship with them, if maybe a bit less abruptly than in the first "fourth era" I described.

or, who knows; maybe we don't get a fourth era. maybe their tag has reached the end of it's evolution. we'll just have to see.

[batsplat]

your negative takes on recent tennis rivalries pleaseeee🙏🙏🙏

ps. you’re a treasure

okay so I'll do the copy paste thing from what I did just cut from the initial post, which was my polite 'I'm attempting to write a reasonably neutral post' approach

so, this may come as a shock, but obviously I'm a bit of a fan of rivalries. we do have some bangers in tennis history, rich narrative texts, but... well. the landscape out there hasn't been great for the past decade or so. sometimes you can get invested in match-ups between specific players that are fun to watch and interesting tennis-wise, but it's all very much about the sport rather than the personal relationships between the different players. I enjoy matches between all three or ryba, sabs and iga!! but also. they are coworkers. you do kindaaaa get the sense sabs and iga aren't particularly fond of each of other, but it's all perfectly cordial. again, the tennis is great, I support them in all their endeavours, but it's very much the tennis itself you need to look for for the drama (also they don't play each other as much as I'd like, but that's a conversation for a different day)

you do still sometimes get some fun beef but it's very much isolated dumb stuff like the fritz/rinderknech "have a nice flight home" thing. this isn't going anywhere story-wise but it's fun in the moment

speaking of men. obviously the most important rivalries for the last however many years have been between various big three/four members, and federer/nadal specifically is extremely popular. tennis-wise, I still think federer/djokovic was the most fun match-up, and at least there was a little tension there because federer used to hate djokovic. they've played a lot of matches that are worth watching!! also they've finally mostly retired so it's not super relevant any more, but well tennis fans as a collective are very big three-pilled so you'll hear a lot about these blokes

and now there's alcaraz/sinner. they've only really had one match that was good start to finish (uso 2022), but definitely some fun ones (miami 2023 and wimbledon 2022 are probably the other ones that stand out, their most recent match was very much in the 'long does not equal good' category). plus, they're quite good at producing highlight reel content, like this one point everyone remembers (shown here from every angle... tennistv produces longer videos for single points than the wta releases for most finals). it's an interpersonally warm rivalry between two young guys who are both very successful and will presumably win everything for the next decade. again, I'd suggest trying to become a fan of one of those two

this was the polite way of phrasing it!! everything below here is quite rude and negative, peace and love to all

okay, let's ditch the thin veneer of neutrality, here's what I actually think: it is completely baffling to me how popular quite a few of these rivalries are, I don't get it, I have never understood it, I will never understand it. tennis went 'what if we had rivalries without narrative tension' and everyone just kinda rolled with that? mind you federer/nadal early confrontations were happening at the same time as clijsters/henin, who were like?? dude it got so bad henin said she had never been friends with clijsters so nothing clijsters and her father said could hurt her ("nothing was broken between us because there was nothing to break" ???? ffs). which is obviously not true!! but it's so... she denied the friendship ever existed and called it all pr like that's so SAD! look, this is beside the point, I'm not talking about henin/clijsters here, I do understand why people aren't that into a rivalry that was at its peak like two decades ago and federer/nadal were still playing slam finals in 2k17 (a dark dark time for some fans, federer had already HAD his decline and then he was suddenly winning slams again like tf). and to some extent I go 'well clearly people will just be into anything if you have two successful blokes' but there's clearly quite a lot of genuine passion there? like I'm not denying the passion EXISTS, people do clearly care about these guys, it's not all a psyop by Big Fedal who have suckered people into caring for these two dudes. and I'm not denying the tennis is great! I still personally prefer the match-ups that involve djokovic, and also the match-ups that involve none of those three, but fundamentally I have been watching these matches for like!! so many years! it's part of my childhood, I have enjoyed plenty of these matches, the tennis is obviously otherworldly. I have hot takes on a bunch of their matches, I can have the goat debate with you, I can give you the rundown on surface-specific match-ups and how long since nadal won a set on hard court against djokovic and federer's peak year domination rate and what they all did at madrid and blue clay and yec and golden masters and all that shit, of course it's part of my dna as a tennis viewer too!! I did usually have a slight order of preference in my head when I was watching big three match ups to have someone to root for (it's different now but back when I was a kid it was djokovic > nadal > federer, these days federer's redeemed himself a little bit in my eyes by having the decency to retire and I was radicalised against nadal). but like!! what's the narrative hook! I need somebody to explain to me what the story here is. these guys are all very good at tennis and they are racking up their titles and it's so!! whatever!! no tension no arc no real interpersonal development once federer stopped being so bitchy about djokovic. twenty plus slams who CARES, what are they doing this for! it's all so?? ugh

anyway now that I've taken a potshot at the most popular rivalry in men's tennis, I should quickly back it up by saying I feel almost the exact same way about the second most popular one (at least on tumblr) and also feel nothing for alcaraz/sinner. that one was still like... vaguely palpable? when alcaraz was clearly a way better player but struggled in that match up and also was way more invested in the rivalry than sinner was. but well, sinner is world number one now so THAT'S been ruined. again, sit me down and explain to me what the narrative stakes here are. like, if sinner wins that roland garros match, he'll be fine? alcaraz will be fine? everyone will be fine? their relationship is basically 'friendly coworkers', zero chance of anything more substantial developing there. now, don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna pretend like I'm massively into the current state of the women's game when it comes to rivalries either, but at least I have a base level of fondness there for the top players and am ideologically inclined to hype up any rivalries there whenever they come along. also, quite frankly, it DOES matter viscerally more to them!! iga spends a lot of her time kinda like,,, on the edge, the way she was in tears when getting physio after the naomi match, united cup last year, a bunch of her 2021 matches, like she's so intense and so tightly strung on the court that you do really get the sense that a loss could just cause her to have an existential crisis. there's so many unanswered questions about her ultimate potential off clay, I'm still proper curious about her story develops. and then with aryna, she's obviously ALSO so intense but in a different way, and she feels every single emotion so completely and entirely and iga has beaten her in one of those infamous semifinal chokes and it's kinda... you know, aryna also feels like she has something to prove, and you can tell they both really really want to beat each other. there's something there!! it's something real! I'm always seated whenever we actually get to see them play

that being said, yes, obviously I do think we're not exactly peak rivalry potential in either gender. the men's is more egregious because the way the game has shaken out since like,,,, 2004, is incredible top level domination by just a few guys. and now, yes, I'm aware I'm a fan of another sport where this was also incredibly true. but. the key difference is that the aliens had the decency to not be so fucking boring about it. sure on paper they were as a PACK winning everything, but good lord were they screaming crying throwing up whenever things went mildly wrong for them. like!! they despised each other and they needed to beat each other, which makes ME care!! I'm not saying I NEED rivals to hate each other, though it sure does help for my investment levels, but I need a narrative hook! borg/mcenroe had a narrative hook, evert/navratilova had a narrative hook (unfortunately that narrative hook these days is 'being united in transphobia'), agassi/sampras had one HELL of a narrative hook. noughties wta tennis about fifty million narrative hooks!! when I watch alcaraz/sinner, I just try and enjoy the tennis (though their roland garros match was mid as shit so what's that all about) but like... I don't care? or I care because one of them has pissed me off recently. I do fundamentally watch most of men's tennis as a hater, and admittedly this is accumulated bitterness over way too many years, but I do also think it's frustrating! tennis gets in its own way with this whole gentleman's sport business, the amount of wanking people do over federer/nadal in particular is truly insufferable... this is a sport filled with millionaire tax evaders and they'll have you believe that smashing a racquet is not only not fun (obviously it is) but also some kind of arbiter of morality. congrats to nadal for not smashing a racquet in his career!! could we please get his thoughts on gender equality in prize money? oh... okay. hm. this isn't supposed to be some gotcha, these guys all suck. but ultimately I would prefer not to engage with this sanitising and pearl clutching, given they do all suck, over shit that fundamentally does not matter while giving them a pass over all the stuff that DOES and instead maybe just have some fun. maybe you need to be single-minded and kind of dull to be good at men's tennis these days, maybe it's inevitable, doesn't mean I don't find them boring and pointless. there's some people who just enjoy like,,, watching greatness, endlessly racking up numbers and reaching the pinnacle of the sport or whatever, that's not me, I need there to be a story

thing is, right, obviously I'll still watch these matches (though I have massively turned it down this year, especially on the men's side - I did have a kind of breaking point this january where I was like 'wow I don't think I can ever care about anything any more?' and broadly speaking this has proved to be correct). I've tried hard to like a lot of these men because, god knows, it'd be a way more pleasant experience if I could trick my brain into it, but I can't! I think they're dull! fundamentally I'm too embedded in this world to ever be able to leave it. but I think it's funny when fans go 'oh people who are into drama don't appreciate the actual sport' like buddy I can basically guarantee I know more about the sport than you do. I Just Think that actually interpersonal relationships do also enhance the actual sports, like this shit is a conversation right,,, it has its history, it's a development over time in terms of your tactics and your knowledge of your opponent's tactics and so on, your expectations going into every match. when you have an interesting interpersonal dynamic, the sport also becomes more interesting... it's actually pretty straightforward lol. a lot of tennis is in the head, rivalries are also in the head, you're playing the other guy (gender neutral) as much as you are the actual ball. I get super annoyed by fans who are too busy being nostalgic to actually enjoy the players we have now, and I really don't like it when people call iga boring for instance, but I do also have a little bit of that. love the game, hate a lot of the players, simple as. bring back agassi calling his pet parrot more interesting than sampras in his autobiography, we used to be a proper sport

[lestappenforever]

I don't know how your knowledge of One Direction in, but I've seen a lot of posts going around about some people in the Lestappen fandom comparing them to Larry and I just wanted to ask if you agree?

Hello, anon!

I've honestly been staying away from any and all posts about it, but since you asked me directly, I'm going to give you an answer.

I have never been a part of the One Direction fandom, but when I was on Tumblr the first time around on my old account, they were at the very height of their popularity, and the Larry ship was everywhere, to the point where it was actually impossible to avoid. And honestly, if people compare Lestappen to Larry, I'm kind of struggling to see how Lestappen appeals to them because those ships are nothing alike.

Look, one of the things that has always been the most appealing thing to me about Lestappen is their lore. The growing up together in karting, the almost life-long rivalry, the drama. The way they’ve shared a profound connection that started with a childhood rivalry, to practically hating each other, to adult rivalry in F1, to mutual respect, to the genuine respect and enjoyment of each other's company, and the friendship that we now see between them. But most importantly, the way they've both still managed to hold onto their undying desire to beat each other, and how much they both enjoy fighting each other on the track every chance they get, even to this day. It’s beautiful.

"He wants to beat me as much as I want to beat him." "These two will fight forever. They will fight even in F1′. A prophecy." I mean, there’s just so much lore behind Lestappen that if you were to read a book or watch a series/movie about two characters with the same backstory, the same enemies to rivals to friends storyline, you'd roll your eyes and say it was too much, too exaggerated. But it’s not — it’s real. We're blessed to witness it all in real time, and it’s a rivalry that will go down in history, because when people talk about Max Verstappen years from now, they'll also talk about Charles Leclerc. And vice versa.

And now I'm going to very briefly explain why I've stayed away from all those posts comparing Lestappen to Larry: One of my closest friends back then was a huge fan of both One Direction and Larry, and she asked me to write a fic about them once for her birthday. I did, she loved it, she asked me to post it on Tumblr and AO3, and it was the biggest mistake of my life.

I've mentioned it before, but before I made this Tumblr account in June of this year and started writing Devils Roll The Dice (Angels Roll Their Eyes), I hadn’t written anything in 7 years. Why? Because I posted that one Larry fic on Tumblr and started taking requests to keep writing fics about a ship I didn't really ship for a fandom I wasn’t even a part of, all because I was so desperate to please and make people happy.

It got to a point where I had hundreds of requests in my inbox and no chance to fill them all, and people were anything but happy. If I didn't fill a request within a few days, I would get complaints and borderline abuse. Eventually, every time I got a new ask or a new message, my anxiety kicked up about ten notches to the point where I was feeling physically ill every time I opened my inbox. And it was so exhausting, draining and depressing that I abandoned that blog and writing in general, and it put me off writing for seven whole years.

I was young and a pathological people pleaser seven years ago, and I've thankfully grown up a lot and grown a solid backbone since then. But to see certain people trying to Larrify the Lestappen fandom? I have no idea what the Larry fandom is like now, but I remember very well what it was like back then, and I'd hate to see that happen to the Lestappen fandom, or any part of the F1 fandom in general. Because that was not the same type of kind, inclusive, and lovely fandom that the Lestappen fandom is to me now (at least the parts of it that I'm exposed to, as there are obviously always exceptions to the rule in every single fandom and ship).

I've been a member of the F1 fandom for almost 20 years now, and I'd absolutely hate to see it turn into something that will remind me of a fandom that drove me to the point of exhaustion seven years ago, and I wasn’t even actually in said fandom myself.

So to give you a very long answer to a simple question: No, I don’t agree with that comparison at all.

[lyra-brie]

Tell me more about your academic rival people???

Alright so. They live in this world made of these beautiful floating islands with waterfalls that fall into nowhere (*cough* except its not nowhere). And there's one main country (I really need to go find my notes that has the names of the places cuz I cannot remember them for my life lol) that encompasses a group of said islands with one large main island in the middle where the city is and stuff and then all the little islands around it are full of small villages and stuff.

Nixie, our main girl, is from one of the small villages with her mom and her little sister. They've been struggling with money for as long as she can remember, and her dad has never been in the picture. She has exactly one memory from when she probably 6-ish, maybe a little younger, of an Uncle Ash that she'd never met before and never saw again, and he spent a weekend with her and her mom (sister wasn't born yet at this point) and then just disappeared and never came back.

Nixie turned out to be very magically gifted and ended up getting into this school on the mainland that's known world wide for being one of the best when it comes to magic. Mom panics for a minute cuz it's always just been the three of them and she's not ready for Nixie to be that far away, but in the end she knows Nixie going off and being able to actually make money is probably their only chance at ever getting out of poverty and so Nixie goes off to boarding school, whether she even really wanted this herself or not, I'm not sure yet.

One of the biggest things at said school (which I should really name) is how fiercely they encourage competition. These kids futures depend on where they are on a leader board. Nixie and Aerin have spent every year they've been in this school together fighting for that top spot.

Aerin doesn't have the same reasons for going for it so desperately as Nixie, but he does have his own. See, his dad sucks. He's very aggressive verbally and belittling. They live on the mainland because his dad has ties in the government. He wants Aerin to be at the top and anything less than that isn't good enough and he's very abusive verbally and emotionally, with a few bouts of physical abuse. Aerin has yet to really come to terms with the fact that this is abuse and that it's not okay and is instead just believing all of it is his fault and if he just does better, his dad will love him again.

So they're both on opposite sides of this, putting ridiculous amounts of pressure on themselves (and having pressure put on them by their parents) trying to fight to be the best and they often take it out on each other.

But somehow they both end up befriending this new girl, Cari. (Her full name is Caridoma but she absolutely will not respond to that, she'll flat out ignore you.) No one really even knows how she got in to the school in the first place because she couldn't care less about its competitive nature and doesn't even do her work half the time because she's more interested in something else. Often, that's helping someone else with something completely unrelated to school. She's very sweet and also reckless and often does not think about the consequences of helping people. How she ended up befriending both Nixie and Aerin-who could only dream of being so carefree-I don't know but she managed it. She absolutely hates being in the middle of their rivalry though. She ignores them both anytime they try to insult each other. Especially since she sees the way it affects both of them (even the things they try to hide) and how burnt out they both are on all of it.

They have this one teacher though that Cari adores. Not sure yet what she teaches, but she often throws out everything the government wants from her and encourages them to work together, to help each other rather than trying to destroy each other. And somehow she ends up getting Nixie and Aerin actually working together on something, which goes about as well as one would expect. That is, until they start stumbling upon secrets about their government and what they're *really* building below the islands-and what already was below the islands. And that secret keeps leading them to more and more, secrets about Nixie's family and about who Cari really is. And before long they're tangled up with a rebel group they thought was full of terrorists and they're involved in this whole mess they don't know how to get out of.

Absolutely feel free to send more asks anytime! I love talking about them and each time I talk about them I have more ideas and everything starts to make more sense lol

[ardienothesieno]

Time for asks oOooOo

3 - If your iterator is in a local group, what do they think of their group members? If they are not, do they wish they were in a local group?

ITERATOR ASK GAME!!!!!!

sorry i've been procrastinating answering asks lol

I'm going to mainly answer this for ash, because their local group is huge and complicated and yeah. i'll write a bit about crystalline_fragments at the end tho!! this is really long so just a warning for that

all of the following iterators belong to the wonderful @mothsakura <3

RB -- ash doesn't know him that well, but they think he's an asshole. ...because he kind of is. their opinion of him just gets worse as time goes on (because of a certain scenario... ask moth if you're interested)

LiBL -- ash likes LiBL!! because everyone likes LiBL!!! who couldn't not like LiBL??? they're a little wary of her, though. don't trust her 100%. but they've only really ever fully trusted 3 people ever sooooo

CoG -- malware grandma!!!!!! awesome mentor!!!!! ash looks up to CoG, probably respects her more then literally everyone else. CoG not only reactivated ash's structure, taught them how to make malware, helped them stand up to their bullies, but she also looks like a total badass while doing all of that.

MLtT -- they bond over hating the ancients for abandoning them <3 ...then marbles goes boom and ash is too busy being traumatized (for a second time. oof) to do too much

EoE -- HATES. HATES HATES HATES. in a sibling sort of way. they're constantly fighting with him, they've got a rivalry thats been going for a good few hundred years, ash can't go ham on the malware-making because eden always has an eye on them. the only thing they ever bond over is their mutual hatred of EotS (not in the local group so they're not included in this rant)

SUDoR -- triple a battery!! ash and smoke both really really liked their ancients before they all ditched them, so they bond over that. they are also silly and messed up mentally together. besties!!

LF -- other triple a battery!!! ash and fog have a mutual love of chaos >:))) they tend to drag smoke into this too, which is why they're called the triple a battery squad. but ash and fog are both very silly and love to pull pranks and mess with people!! besties!!

CV -- annoying. little. twerp. please shut up. ...if it didn't talk so much maybe they'd be friends

the fillerators -- no spoilers :)

and then the crystalline_fragment group!! these blorbos are all mine

oceans views TTV and DoBD as her parents, and they view her as their kid!! this isnt necessarily positive, though...

oceans loves them. they're her parents, of course!! she'll do anything to protect them and make sure they're okay. especially because of how bad their physical conditions are... but she has that burden that gets placed on smart kids. the burden to be perfect. i mean. she was literally built to help support their colonies. she's not allowed to disappoint them. they'd never intentionally make oceans feel that way, but it's just kinda a byproduct of their situation. ...so oceans hates them a bit, for that. it's complicated.

dreams and vines feel like parents to oceans!! they pretty much raised her, and love her as much as iterator-parents can. they worry for her, though. she's distant, antisocial. doesn't have a lot of friends. spends too much time with her overseers.

and as for dreams and vines relationship??... karma 2 karma 2 karma 2 karma 2-- and an extra sprinkle of anxiety for each other :)

sorry this was so long!! and thank you for the ask :)

[belanova]

Idk Man I love fucking neurona duo (c!rubius & k!Quackity) so much they're those duos where it's obviously toxic and there Is no doubt about one of them on the Verge of stabbing the other, but they're so fucking petty that its actually hilarious

Like Quackity Will break a random thing in rubius' house and Rubius kills him only to turn around and suddenly aware that Quackity killed all of his pets accidentally

Like hell even in the stream where Quackity got his memory erased he couldn't do his monologue properly cause he was stuck under Rubius' basement, why? Because he had a thing from Rubius inventory so he kept him so he Couldn't break out when he was offline and keep him there forever until he got the ítem

They don't even trust each other in the revolution where they need to team to beat luzu Quackity wants to keep him obeyed by taking titi hostage and his picture until the mission Is over and if he doesn't keep the promise Rubius is allowed to kill him

AND THEY STILL STICK TO EACH OTHER, despite burning rubius' store and kidnapping his pets, despite rubius constantly killing and sending Quackity to jail for whatever inconvenience, or their constant backstabbing of each other they STILL go back to each other

Its the most ironic part that at this point of the series the only people these two trust are each other after Rubius making him the most hated of all and Quackity only person to be able to remember Is him, they tell each other more than each respective's love interest

in quackity's mind when you feel like the person Is terrible or worse than you then why feel bother to act better? So It makes Quackity comfortable not presenting a fake versión and hell even doing terrible things together with Rubius cause who else Is he going to tell him? (vice versa with Rubius he likes Quackity for his codependency and viewing him as Easy to manipulate)

Because they both need things from each other Rubius Is the only one usually awake when Quackity wants to be online and such they talk to each other, so fufilling Quackity's need for companionship and smooches off of his stuff while for Rubius its also companionship because EVERYONE hates him even sapo peta doesn't like him for his constant so despite how much brags about Quackity being under his thumb he needs him as well due to being his only friend on the server, so they both feel safe to act terrible in each other's presence when they can't in with their love interests (Luzu & Vegetta)

They hated each other completely at the beginning! All k!Quackity wanted to do is get revenge on C!rubius for exploding him with a mine and taking advantage of him not knowing anything, so he then his first thing Is explode him with a mine as well AND THAT'S WHAT STARTED THE DYNAMIC! Completely trying to get revenge in each other and trying to show up the other in minor ways like dressing up better than other or just plain ol who can kill this one person better than the other

ultimately they both need to get away from each other cause even tho i see Rubius as the more manipulative of the two in the friendship due k!quackity's actions against him either being on accident or in self defense K!Quackity knows he's terrible for him, he searches the Bear for that reason because he likes that Rubius will abuse his power as a cop so i don't know if Quackity can be entirely removed of the responsibility in the dynamic due to him encouraging It for his sake so that's why i phrase It as both instead of just rubius

after 6 months of doing this they've felt completely comfortable in each other's toxicity and somehow found It to Fit in each other perfectly that way, that its probably the strongest relationship in karmaland due to nobody being able to break them up only themselves due to their constant rivalry companionship and mutual feeling of having nobody else so they might as well be terrible together so they make this weird system now with the horn that makes i when Quackity is seriously in trouble Rubius will drop all of his usual acts and be Quackitys personal bodyguard so despite anyone's Best efforts these guys are never going to leave each other anytime soon

I realize this sounds extremely horrible to Outsiders (Or people not that good to spanish) and yeah that's kinda the point, i want to clarify this all of this plays out tonally like if Tom and Jerry were humans LOL

Tldr: i'm a k!Quackity apologist first Quiero ese rata noruega alejos de el 🤬 funny duo

[fierrochaseist4t]

damijon, timsteph, dickroy and rosecassie (as in wondergirl lol <3) for the ship bingo xoxo

OUSGISSHJ i could write literal essays abt each one of these

1)

okay so i have very mixed emotions about this one, bc on one hand i feel like in main continuity it wouldn't work out, but maybe in like an elseworlds thing it could??? but im also very much a fan of them not being romantic but not also being traditionally platonic so i just settle for calling them "a secret, more sinister third thing". also they're both trans. so like. t4t best friendship that only they (and me) really #Get. i just have so many complicated feelings about their lore and friendship and how damian's friendships are so inherently complex because of how he operates on a personal level and jon simply understanding and not needing damian to change a thing, they're just so content existing w each other and within each others spaces. i very much appreciate how even after all the change they've gone thru they're still close and care about each other, and i am also a massive fan of them both getting along with each others People

2)

OH LORD OK TIMSTEPH OK i don't think ive ever actually talked abt them before, but i should. they're t4t bi4bi most definitely. i actually did enjoy their relationship to an extent while they were dating but it wasn't entirely my cup of tea bc i tend to ship them w other people but the appeal was definitely there, like it was clear how much they cared for each other, its cute and its there and i can get behind it. i do actually prefer their dynamic as exes because of how rare it is to see m/f friendships without ulterior motives on either part, ESPECIALLY if the characters in question are exes, so it's actually refreshing to see them still have a caring dynamic without secretly being hung up on each other. i also think tim's regret over ending it the way he did was nice to see, because while it wasn't out of character to ghost her it also wasn't out of character for him to look back and realize "i could/should have handled that better" so i feel like it does well to convey how he does actually still love her even if not romantically anymore

3)

H. HHHH. SHAKES THEM

i feel like their dynamic in preboot comics is a hell of a lot better than anything the new 52 or rebirth had to offer. i miss when roy and donna were dick's best friends honestly. i feel like their relationship was sidelined a lot in favor of jason and roy and dick and wally which sucks because??? they were fine as they were?? they've got a lot of love and care for each other, especially in the 80s and 90s comics, they're always complimenting each other and telling each other how well they're doing but they're also not afraid to call each other out if one of them does some stupid shit, i think thats good for both of them. i also think roy's relationship w the bats would be funny, as well as dick's relationship with the arrows. they've both got similar family dynamics but also very different in a loooot of ways

4) NOBODY EVER TALKS ABOUT THIS SHIP SO *IM* GOING TO

i literally can't get over their rivalry, like they hated each other so much but also there was just something so unexplainable about them to me??? like idk i just always loved how they interacted even when they were arguing and fighting. i just KNOW if dc let cassie be butch in the 00s during the peak of their rivalry they would have kissed. i feel it in my bones. it's also nice to see since they've both got more complex relationships w the people around them it would be nice to see them sorta bounce off of each other in the respect that they've got a lot going on and they know how the other feels so they bond over the struggles of navigating relationships and friendships and just life in general. i also think it'd be funny to watch diana smack slade for saying smthn out of pocket at like an in laws family dinner or some other gathering but thats mostly just bc i think slade should be smacked in general

[batri-jopa]

Me reading some ATWD fanfic set in the room of Irakli’s Granny: *evil thoughts*

Also me: Oh, calm down, it’s just somebody’s else’s fantasy! Don’t treat that like some „who makes it better” competition, you’re not a writer!

Me again: *writing a fic anyway*

Okey, don't get me wrong: reading other fanfics I may grind my teeth numerous times thinking how „unbelievable” or „wrong” or „misunderstood” some things are - BUT I do know it still is the most valid fanfic! And I’d rather fight for your right to write whatever you please than say anything against it. Because the only rule of any fanfic or fanart is: „perfectly fine as long as it brings you pleasure”.

Above everything else I can’t blame people for the want to make their favorite characters talk about their feelings. I feel you there, I understand you and I also do wish all the people in the world learned to always speak freely and honestly about what they feel.

Only NOT Merab and Irakli and NOT in this point of the story!😆

As two typical young Georgians they never learned to speak about their feelings. They don’t even know the right words. And those very few words they do know all sound inadequate or offending for that indescribably beautiful thing that they are experiencing.

And so they are left there with the only language they do know and use: rules of courtesy, rules of rivalry and silly teasing each other. There's only few types of movement accepted for two men: either of a dance or a fight. And it's all covered with the sauce of deeply internalised fear: „what will people say?”

But it all makes my heart melt even more because they somehow manage to be together! Love will find a way. Avoiding words of hate and insults - they still find their own non-verbal way of communicating. No matter how much they've been taught to compete, the more they've been trained all their lives for male cockfighting, the more equally they treat each other when they're alone. The most equal lovers, to the point that even when they finally make love - they are sides!❤❤ And the more is left unspoken, unnamed and undefined between them - the more organic and beautiful it feels...

So, I don’t know, I finnaly got to write it down like there’s no other option🤷

But don’t worry, in the end I still leave them there in each other arms for you🫂 Can’t tell for sure if there i any real „tension” because I’m ace, but it feels kind of awkward so I guess it’s there... With „I wanted you so much I almost beat you” kind of energy from the „behind the kvevri” scene. And with the door closed and the bed right next to them.

Dinner is served, bon apetit!😋

Ps. When I mention "cockfighting" I refer to one of these pictures from my #bird version ATWD series and as to the kitten trying to look bigger - I meant this.

[my-name-is-jefferooni]

Just me talkin bout Sonic Prime, nothing to see here

I literally JUST saw Sonic Prime about an hour before writing this, and... IT WAS AMAZING!! I will be honest, I skipped most of season one so I'm kind of a fraud, but I SWEAR I will get back to season 1 in a moment! For now I have all the context I need.

(plz don't chew me out I promise I'm gonna watch it...)

I wasnt gonna watch sonic prime anyway, i just got fed up with all the out of context spoilers so i wanted to see what all the hype was about

ANYWHIZZLE

I'm just gonna talk about Sonic and Shadow for a sec, don't mind me- Okay so we're all aware of Sonadow. It's been a thorn in my side for years, actually. I never liked Sonadow surprisingly, and that's mostly due to how Deviantart portrayed the ship. When I started out as a mediocre writer, (I'm not working as a writer or anything, I just do this for fun) I posted my work on DA while simultaneously enjoying a bunch of STH fanart. I got into the fandom thanks to Gigi's "The Murder of Me," which is pretty popular. ANYHOW, I constantly stumbled upon Sonadow ship art and every single time I did, it was always overly sexualized to some degree. And back then I was very very not okay with sexualizing characters who are clearly within their teens. I still am averse to this today! So naturally, I developed an evergrowing hatred for Sonadow, only seeing it for the shitshow that DA made it seem like. And that's how it was for years to come. For about 3-4 years, I despised Sonadow with a passion, only leaving room for one or two exceptions. (Read "The Heart of a Monster," which is actually here on Tumblr. I've reblogged the comic a few times on this blog.) Then Sonic Prime came along and chucked all that disdain out the window with the help of some Tumblr peeps that I follow. If you saw the first episode then you know exactly what I mean. I saw the first episode of season 1B, enjoyed Sonic and Shadow's dynamic, started to really think about it... Then I too fell down the Sonadow rabbit hole. So far I only have 2 exceptions for Sonadow but I'm not willing for that to change. Sonadow's probably not all bad, it's probably just the horrors of Deviantart that I witnessed. Sure, the cover of a book is meant to be judged, but I don't read books so I can't judge something that I can't even see. Tl:DR, I used to hate Sonadow but now Sonic Prime is making me love them.

CHAOS SONIC!!!!!!!! I love him so much. I already loved them just based on their design alone and from what little I'd seen of them, but then I actually watched the episode, and... Wow. He is a riot. Like. Literally the first thing this guy says to Sonic is calling him out on his insecurities. RIGHT OFF THE BAT THE TWO ARE NECK-AND-NECK AND FIGHTING TO THE DEATH! Here we have a perfectly great Metal Sonic that can fight Sonic and then get back up again after a defeat without needing any at-home repairs! They're the perfect anti for Sonic, since they also just. Get back up again. They don't ever give up, and that's what I love about him! Chaos also just runs his mouth all the time, never stopping to take a breath because he can't even breathe, and that's great! THIS ROBOT IS LITERALLY JUST ADHD BUT ENCASED IN METAL. As opposed to Sonic, who is ADD encased in flesh and quills. Oh, and don't even get me started on Sonic and Chaos's dynamic! The two bounce off each other in a literal and metaphorical sense! Chaos says something, and then Sonic retorts by either saying something in response or does something in response. They can also read each other like open books, as if they've known each other their whole lives, and it's great seeing them play off each other so well! You don't get to see this kind of rivalry/dynamic between Metal and Sonic anymore these days, since Metal has been sidelined to a silent assassin that just wants to get the job done. Him and Sonic don't have a very intriguing dynamic, but Chaos and Sonic do! And I love that! (I'm not trying to imply that Metal staying mute is inherently a bad thing all around, but it's just really refreshing to see a talking Metal Sonic that has a really great dynamic with the original.)

Nine's betrayal makes sense! That's all I really wanna say tbh-

Aight so I'm sorta losing my "Touch" right now and I've been typing for a while. Look at all this! This is an essay! I do have a ton more thoughts on a lot of the other characters like Mangy and the Amy's, and also Sonic's new form! But this is really long already and my fingers are getting tired, so maybe there will be a part two. Who knows!

Thanks for reading my very first post ever, and sorry about how long it is. Hopefully my next one will be shorter.

Anywhizzle, ima go look at Sonic Prime spoilers. Can't wait for the actual season 2!

[ideks-on-mars]

Or perhaps… 2nd gen captains headcanons 👀👀👀👀 i love them with my whole ass heart

More for yoom-ss because they and the future caps deserve the world

ANYWAYS 2ND GEN CAPTAINS HCS LET'S GO!!!

- They're all depressed teenagers, what can I say 💀

- THEY'RE TRYING THEIR BEST FUCK

- They've all, no matter who, have cried themselves to sleep wondering how the hell they're going to live up to their previous captains

- Yamamoto and Seguro try to keep up the Nekoma/Nohebi rivalry but in all honesty they really don't hate each other. They try so hard to act like they hate each other, they don't 💀

- Meanwhile Shirabu and Yahaba's rivalry is worse than Ushijima and Oikawa's

- They've fist fought

- Shirabu ended up breaking Yahaba's nose. Yahaba doesn't like to talk about it.

- Akaashi's used to this. He was pretty much the captain last year. He's got this in the bag.

- At least he thinks he does until he meets the crazy first years who think they're "2 cool 4 skool 🥶🥶🥶💢💢💢🔥🔥💯💯‼️😩💦💦"

- Akaashi kicks their asses dw

- Atsumu wants to be intimidating, and he is the the first years. The other new third years don't take him seriously at all. (Especially Osamu and Suna, they laugh at him when he tells them to do something)

- Ennoshita's on the verge of becoming an alcoholic with how his team stresses him out. He's terrifying tho.

- One time he slapped Kageyama upside his head when he was giving him attitude and he was quiet for the rest of the day. (Ennoshita felt bad later once he realized that he hurt Kageyama's feelings more than anything)

- Hirugami is pretty composed about it. He's doing his best. However, he tends to get burned out more often now that he has to guide the whole team.

- Atema is starting to blow up often. At his teammates. Some of the fellow third years have to calm him down. Quite frequently at that. He makes sure to remind his underclassmen that he's just very passionate and cares about them getting better.

- Usuri is scary to the new babies too 😭 they all call him intimidating and he never understands why. Also, another setter captain. So many setters.

- Sakusa is honestly not very good at the captain business. He's not very open with anything at all. Good thing we got Komori to help ✋️💀

- Terushima is having the time of his life, he loves being the captain so much 😪✨️ "Let's go fuck some shit up guys, woo-hoo! :D"

- Yuzuru is constantly on the verge when it comes to the fucks he has to lend. Especially with Hyakuzawa. He has been since he started the captain business in his second year. He's honestly about to send a letter to the previous third years apologizing for being a brat in his first and second year. He tries his best to be nice 😭

- All the other captains just wanna die

- anYWAYS

- Futakuchi probs causes the most fights within the group. He's an asshole 💀 it doesn't combine well with how temptable Yamamoto and Seguro are

- Shirabu, Yuzuru, and Usuri get along well. Almost too well. It's scary. They act like the group of mean kids that live on you're block that torment you and your friends.

- Akaashi and Ennoshita get along pretty well too. They just wanna relax

- Atsumu and Yahaba don't like each other 💀 probably because Yahaba is lowkey a mini Oikawa 😭

- Yamamoto and Terushima are straight ANIMALS like nothing can stop those two. Add Seguro into the mix and they're bouncing off the walls

- Futakuchi and Shirabu don't really like each other, but when they team up? Oh someone's gonna die

- Atsumu really admires Akaashi. He thinks he's really cool 😭 little does he know about Akaashi thinking he's admirable too

- The vice caps get along better than all of them 💀 it's funny with STZW and AJ cuz Yahaba and Shirabu will be staring each other down meanwhile Taichi, Watari, and Kyōtani will be sitting down talking about their Spotify playlists

- Tanaka and Fukunaga get along well too! Tanaka thinks his jokes are genuinely funny and I find that adorable

- Aone kicks it with them too sometimes. He likes their good, happy vibes.

- Shirabu and Ennoshita have laid back in lawn chairs (accompanied by Kawanishi cuz he gets out of stuff) and watched as their team ran multiple laps around the track field.

- The caps are all trying their very best 😭 it's so hard honestly and they just want a break

- Sometimes for team bonding their teammates buy their food just cuz, it's so sweet

- Future caps >>>>> anything else

[echo-echo31]

Some of these may, admittedly, be a bit more self-indulgent than others, but Heist!Mark headcanons? I've been holding onto these for a WHILE.

General

He is somehow both one of the smartest men in an almost intimidating sense, but he's also so stupid; I say this with every ounce of affection in my heart. He can come up with the most complicated plans for heists and blueprint just about anything to a T, but he'll also pick the worst entrance and exit in terms of stealth. He's a known wordsmith who can use his charisma to get out of a good handful of scraps, but the second he gets asked a question he didn't expect he'll freeze for too long. He can technically make his own gear, but good luck knowing for sure if all of it's functional or safe. He can hotwire just about anything, but that doesn't guarantee he knows how to use it…

He has a lot of different scars from various heist mishaps, some of them ranging from "tried to fix the engine while the car was still running and burned himself", "fucked up using the grappling gun once and it came back down and hit him", "got hit by a laser trap", and "accidentally hurt himself cooking".

Speaking of cooking, he's got a big knack for breakfast foods; anything he can make quick, really, but especially that kind of food. Don't ask him to make coffee though, his coffee's awful and he knows it.

He's a bit more musical than one might think; he hums a lot to himself if he's lost in thought or trying to steady his thoughts, but if he's feeling especially bold sometimes he'll whistle in the middle of a goddamn heist while he's making an escape.

He has a big soft spot for dogs, and dogs have a big soft spot for him in return. "The ol' steak trick" is commonplace for him because he likes to feed any dogs he happens to come across. He almost hates that he has to ignore them, but he also knows that if he let himself be more affectionate with them, he'd be caught.

Trust is a big thing for him. Like, big. He has to be careful in his craft, he has to be cunning, he has to be quick, he has to be cold; anyone could be looking to turn him in, anyone could be looking to use his trust for their own gain and leave him once they've got what they want. He keeps strong walls, he keeps running…if he stops, if he lets himself truly show, it could mean the end of it all.

And then you come in.

You meet him when you're both after the same thing. You're so caught up in the light banter that sparks from this discovery that you almost miss the fact that there are guards after you. He almost thinks you're going to leave him to be caught, only for you to somehow find a way to distract the guards for long enough to give him the chance to escape. So caught in the shock of you letting him go, he almost misses the fact that you've taken off with what he was after in the first place. A respectful kind of rivalry buds here.

And it keeps going: you keep running into each other, you keep helping each other, so much so that after a while you finally properly introduce yourself to him: you give him your name, and you tell him what introduced you to the craft. At some point along the line, you're working for each other so often that your respectful rivalry based alliance becomes one of a proper partnership.

When he realizes he trusts you--fully trusts you--he's terrified in the beginning. You have more of him than he's ever given anyone, you have seen more of him--more of him--than he's ever given anyone else permission to…and yet in turn, you only give him more of yourself. Whether he would want you to or not, you would catch him if he fell; you wouldn't let go. (Somewhere along the line, he finally trusts himself enough to say that he hopes you never do.)

+ a handful of brief relationship headcanons (Originally I had a few more suggestive additions, but I didn't want this ask to get too much longer)

Most mornings are often spent cooking with you, peppering you in small bits of affection while you talk about plans for the upcoming week.

Nicknames started off as a playfully teasing thing on both of your ends ("Don't miss me too much, sweetheart." "Alright then, honey, what do you think we should do?"), but somewhere along the line it somehow became…not that. Or at the very least, less of that. (Perhaps now, teasing more in the sense where one purrs terms of endearment in the other's ear as they pass by, knowing full well that they need to keep themselves focused)

In the instances where both of you allow yourselves to rest together (Often one of you is on watch duty after another heist escape), you most often find your head pressed against his chest as he holds you.

His kisses are either the briefest kind of teasing pecks, or the hungry kind of kisses that linger, that plead for more.

Sometimes if you find yourselves having to keep hidden in the middle of a heist, he'll press the most teasing kisses along your neck and jaw, and you can feel the rumble of his laugh when he whispers that you'll have to keep quiet…if things don't escalate right then and there, you can bet things get heated once you make it back to base.

If you kiss some of the scars scattered along his back and chest, he will melt into your touch no matter what.

I love them all <33

[altocat]

My last ask got a bit sad and creepy so let's, hopefully, turn this around. Most of Crisis Core doesn't happen, our three boys are still alive and well, no Nibelheim, and our favorite puppy just got promoted to First Class! How do you think Zack and the others would manage this (not so) little change in dynamics?

Rofl Zack is looking like the Ringo of this group.

-Zack is the new group baby. Sorry Gen.

-Angeal and Zack will always be closest due to Angeal's previous role as mentor. And that doesn't really ever change. Angeal continues to lecture and guide Zack every step of the way, and is very encouraging towards him. He's the one who works diligently to integrate Zack into the group and is the first to defend him. They typically tag-team in battle and Zack is still trying to learn all of Angeal's best moves. Angeal relies on the others to keep Zack in line whenever he isn't around, but also continues to push Zack to stand on his own as his own hero. They're always bro-ing out.

-Sephiroth does not take well to changes and, initially, feels very hostile towards any new intruders that slide into his relationship with the others. Unlike CC, they don't have the conflict to really bring them together. That said, Sephiroth eventually settles over time, impressed at Zack's skill, as well as how Zack treats him with honesty and openness. They begin to mutually admire each other and Sephiroth eventually grows very protective of him. They're pretty close overall, with Sephiroth often letting Zack get away with things that he wouldn't let others get away with. And he's generally just very kind and respectful to Zack overall. Zack is one of the few people who can actually get Sephiroth to laugh.

-Genesis and Zack never really become friends. There's just too much hostility and rivalry going on between them. That said, Genesis does come to heavily respect and rely on Zack's skill, and partially finds a level of satisfaction in competing with him. After all, Zack's a lot easier to beat than Sephiroth. While they're often trading barbs at each other, they sometimes completely forget their shared animosity whenever they're distracted. Being the two most easily excitable members of the group, there are instances when both are super hyped and it genuinely looks like they're ready to hug each other and jump around. But they still don't really like each other much lolol

-Gen and Seph are initially in the I Hate Zack Club (total members: 2) when Zack is first fully brought into the group. They basically sit there and sulk and grumble to each other about the twerp. This lasts all of two weeks before Seph ditches because hey, Zack's actually pretty cool. Genesis begrudgingly joins the others again after a bit.

-Zack trains one on one with all three and actually picks up a lot of their moves. His fighting style integrates a lot of their signature attacks.

-Zack and Gen find common ground on being the only two in the group who want to go have fun. So they will work together to drag Angeal and Sephiroth out and about.

-At some point, Zack decides to play matchmaker with Genesis and Sephiroth, thinking it would just be really funny. WHOOPS he brings them together for real 😂

-Zack mostly hangs with Sephiroth when Angeal isn't around. They've had surprisingly interpersonal conversations with each other. Sephiroth gradually finds Zack very easy to talk to. And there are things about Sephiroth's past that Zack knows that the others don't. And he doesn't like what he hears. He silently promises himself that he'll go to Angeal straight away if Sephiroth ever says anything that truly upsets or scares him.

-Yay now Angeal has three gremlins to wrangle all at the same time. The man will never get any sleep ever again.

[deliciouswastelandgoddess]

I mean, given that it's taken from the source material and that they (the directors) kind of left some plot holes scattered throughout, the animosity comes mainly from the Minor Family being cunts at every turn unprovoked.

Then you have when book Kinn finds out Vegas' been fucking every single one of his partners... and then its revealed that Vegas is the one that sent those men out to hunt them both down in the woods in an attempt on Kinn's life... and then you have Porsche finding out about the attempted r*pe/drugging thing... and then the Tawan shitshow... and then the final showdown/coup... not to mention the general disdain and condescension the Minor Family has for the Major Family unprovoked.

Just 'cause Vegas is a domestic abuse victim and has gone through misery at the hands of his father, doesn't erase the pain he's caused Kinn trying to one up him his entire life.

And even if we only focus on the show content and not the book, Kinn basically forgets Vegas and the Minor Family exists up until they start actively provoking them and acting up so, really, all the hostility is one sided and not personal until the Minor Family starts making it so.

I don't think there's anything Kinn would want to understand or peel back "layers" from Vegas when Kinn's been nearly killed twice by him/them... and then Vegas nearly did the same to Porsche, Kinn's partner, and Chay his partner's nong, even if it wasn't part of Vegas' plan... like I'm sorry, you don't come back from that and there's no layers they both would want to see past when it's become that personal... Kinn due to the Tawan situation and the whole going after Porsche incessantly knowing it's not genuine, that its only to hurt and humiliate him + endangering his and Porsche's life multiple times. Then we have Vegas for having Gun/Kan abuse him seemingly for being incompetent and not being able to destroy and humiliate the Major Family and then having the person you've craved validation and love your whole life from be killed by the same family whomst you hate and also contributed to this toxic rivalry...

They would both have to put their rivalry down and try to see past their fathers' manipulation and gatekeeping but it has become too personal for either of them that I don't see it happening. Unless of course it's for a united cause but never on a personal level. There's just too much pain on either end for Kinn or Vegas to see past each others' (bad) image of one another for that type of emotional depth and understanding and empathy required. Not to mention that the Theerapanyakul family is not too strong on emotional intelligence as it is (thanks Korn and Gun/Kan for the A+ parenting).

I'm sorry, but I just don't see Kinn moving on from that. The same way I don't see Vegas moving on from that either. It's too personal.

Both Vegas and Kinn would have to put down their egos, their rivalry, and their pain and trauma caused by the other down and away, and that will simply not happen in the course of a few months when they've been at this for years since childhood and have been fed lies and manipulation by their respective fathers long before show's happenings. There's just too much pain beneath both of their bravado.

Valid points raised Anon. My post was more a wish fulfillment thing because I like stories where people use the ✨power of friendship✨ to overcome differences ahaha

Like I said, it wasn't a real criticism of the story we actually got. Just a declaration to want something more. And when I say I can't forgive Kinn and Tankhun, what I really mean is, I can't forgive the writers (and that too not really) for not developing their dynamic more. The show ended without any growth or significant change in the dynamic between the cousins.

And when I say 'tried to understand his layers', it doesn't mean I expect them to forgive him for everything he's done. Nor I believe that being abused is an excuse for how shitty Vegas has been, but it definitely is a little bit of an explanation. Relationships are complicated, people are complicated, you can hate someone and still find that you could trust them with somethings (like Porsche trusted Vegas when he asked V to care of Pete). You can resent someone but still vouch for their character (like Vegas did for Kinn when he assured Porsche that Kinn would never Chay). You can be beaten and humiliated by a person your life and still cry when they die (like Vegas does when Gun is killed)

Like for me, it's just so much more interesting to see characters truly majorly fuck up but still somehow find a common ground to stand on with their narrative foils - if anything the whole mutual hatred makes for some really great banter when they are actually forced to work together - it's just so much more fun!!

I feel Kinn, who constantly screwed up things with Porsche, of all people can and would find it in his heart to sympathize with Vegas. Like just imagine the moral conundrums, imagine the guilt mixed in with the very real (well-deserved) hatred he feels for Vegas, mixed in with his constant need to do the right thing, mixed in with his insecurities. Oooohahahaha imagine Vegas having to make peace with the fact that Kinn isn't an asshole afterall and didn't deserve to be at the receiving end of all the snide remarks. I JUST LIKE STORIES WHERE CHARACTERS HEAL THEIR GENERATIONAL TRAUMAS TOGETHER OKAY 😭😭😭

Thank you for the ask anon, this has been really fun, I love myself a Kinn defender. *Kisses you*

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) Eh, game rivals don't usually get the best treatment in the anime and that's a trend that's probably not going to stop soon. Not helped when a lot of people are hoping this new S/V one gets top billing next series. (And in true anime fashion, type advantages jobbing to make something look stronger reign supreme. At least Hatty got two attacks out) It's more like an epilogue, a post-story to the rivalry. Or rather Paul himself. (It's an interesting read, not too far off from)

.

(Part 2) (I usually heard from "behind-the-scenes" stuff) Especially when Blastoise is more mobile than ever, wasn't doing that pre-JN. And Hatterene using Dazzling Gleam as a shield like Gengar during Marnie. (Saw quite a bit of Japanese viewers compare to Ash's battle-style. I also some Palletshippers; on both ends, a bit miffed that there wasn't any moments with them here. Besides an congrats, I kinda expected that. But after hearing Gary supposedly watching Goh's battle)

(Part 3) (royale and his reasons why, I'm going to be more disappointed if he doesn't say anything about the PWC by November) We're going to see outrage regardless, it just won't be that. Cynthia losing is going to be a long week. (Subs are out, just mainly Gary and Goh sharing their resolves and getting more of Gary's motives: Apparently Gary's pride almost got him disqualified early on) While I'm still having a hard time calling this a "rivalry" more than mentoring,

(Part 4) I do appreciate how this plotline is helping flesh out Gary more. In a way that OS either half-missed out on or extends upon his Post-Johto growth in a bigger way than AG and DP. (The rivals who were going to be sneaky again actually end up aiding in the capture. Possible raid Dynamax battle foreshadowing) As for Paul, I already know the battle results cause leaks. Let's just say you and me are probably going to be happier with the episode than some people going

(Part 5) into it with expectations that were never promised. But, Paul having these Pokemon weren't coincidental; I'm just more curious on what he has to say. (Oh, and also one Masters matchup is likely known; does not contain Ash or Iris)

Yeah, true. Silver got only a brief cameo, Wally is nonexistent... oh well.

Yeah, at least it got a couple attacks in, that's better than what happened to poor Tyranitar.

That makes sense!

I'll have to take a look at it, I was distracted yesterday and it slipped my mind.

Yeah! It's been made abundantly clear that they've influenced each other over the years. It'd be so interesting for them to face each other in battle again, it's been way too long.

Yeah, I didn't expect much but it would've been nice. It's whatever. And yeah, hopefully he'll acknowledge the PWC, I'd be surprised if he didn't.

Unfortunately. I don't know if the fandom's always been like this and I was just less aware of it or if it's because way too many people hate Journeys but won't stop watching it just to complain (all the respect to people who decided they didn't like it and so stopped watching it) but it's exhausting.

Oh, that's an interesting detail. I appreciate that even as he's grown as a person, his pride is a core character trait that's been retained and can still cause problems. Good character writing there.

Yeah, it definitely feels more like a mentorship than a rivalry. But yeah this plot has been good for Gary's character! I'm glad he was brought back this way, I love what he's got going on.

Hm, interesting.

Oh. I've managed to evade leaks on that so far (though whether I'll be able to continue to do that until next Friday remains to be seen). But should be interesting. Yeah, more curious to hear what he has to say than about battle results anyway.

Oh? That's something. Very curious to see the matchups that happen.

[bearisweet]

okay here's the relationship chart, condensed down. i'll explain more under the cut since it'll be a lot of rambling! But if you don't wanna read all that- that's fair. You can just look at the picture

Sal + Dollie: Friends & Sort of crushing?? They've got like unknown crushes on each other and don't know how to express it properly, Dollie loves Sal's dark/hidden nature and Sal loves how friendly and approachable Dollie is- though since Dollie is so touch-friendly with everyone she doesn't know if Dollie giving her lil smooches is romantic or not??

Sal + Jones: They're friends, but Jones feels as though something is off about Sal in a way they can't describe. Jones doesn't feel hatred or anything negative towards Sal, but knows Sal is hiding something. Sal doesn't realize this and just thinks Jones asking a ton of questions is just what she does.

Sal + Candy: Oh, Sal HATES Candy because of the remarks she makes towards Dollie. But Candy loves how aggressive and strong Sal is, she wants Sal to join her army and take over the planet!! But Sal says she already dealt with weirdos like that before and is not doing that again.

Sal + Aurelio: They are roommates!! Angel and Demon polar opposites buddy, since Sal grew up on Earth while Aurelio is a angel sent from the Upper World to protect Sal from the cultists trying to use them for evil. Sal tries to "corrupt" Aurelio by making them say swear words and watch horror movies.

Sal + Leo: They are BROS. They got a strong relationship with each other, but they WILL cause trouble if they're alone together. They also both know each other's secrets with Leo having psychic abilities and Sal being a demon.

Dollie + Jones: They've been friends for awhile and have developed these small budding crushes on each other to the point that their viewers joke about them being a couple a lot. Dollie cuddles a lot with Jones and can sit and listen for hours about what Jones has to say, and Jones loves Dollie's enthusiasm about ghosts and adventuring!

Dollie + Candy: Candy has a one sided rivalry with Dollie that she doesn't even know about, Dollie loves Candy to the point she honestly thinks anything Candy is doing is a 'bit'. She goes as far as 'putting on all this make-up' so maybe she's committed to the act? Candy just wants Dollie to go away.. but feels strange when Dollie actually cares about her.

Dollie + Leo: They've probably known each other for the longest, Dollie moved around a lot in her life but stayed in the same high school throughout the entirety of it, so that's where she met Leo! They were both outcasts in school, so they stuck together through everything and Leo supported Dollie in her Youtube channel while she supported him with his music.

Dollie + Aurelio: They don't know each other the BEST, but Dollie is over Aurelio and Sal's apartment all the time so Aurelio ends up talking to her a lot. They're kinda himbo mlm/bimbo wlw solidarity.

Leo + Jones: Met when Jones and Dollie started working together, so they've gotten along pretty well throughout the years! Personality wises they're kind of opposites with Leo being more impulsive and Jones being a over-thinker. Leo tries to help Jones loosen up by taking her to his favorite spots and doing some non-work related stuff which she appreciates. Jones tries to help Leo stop being so impulsive by pulling him back whenever he thinks of something incredibly stupid.

Leo + Aurelio: Leo kind of likes how unaware Aurelio is, it gives him the chance to show Aurelio all the memes and get him to repeat them to everyone. Leo loves to show off his stupid inventions to Aurelio and explain them in detail because it just seems to listen and actually likes what he's saying?? Aurelio is fascinated by Leo in a lot of ways, but his feelings are so confusing because he's never experienced romance before..

Leo + Candy: Leo is just confused by Candy because he can't read her thoughts like he can any normal person?? He keeps his distant from her as much as possible, Candy doesn't really bother with him too much.

Jones + Candy: Jones sees right through Candy's bullshit and constantly threatens that if she hurts Dollie she WILL expose her for what she is. Candy is angered that Jones isn't stupid enough to fall for this gimmick.

Jones + Aurelio: They don't know each other very well, she kind of gets frustrated that he doesn't understand what she's saying half the time.

Aurelio & Candy don't even know each other, he hears about her from Sal talking about her- but he doesn't understand the concept of 'aliens' and 'streaming'.