#anti supergirl fandom

[lazywolfwiccan]

For Supergirl fans.

I'm working on an essay about Supercorp and the damage shippers of it did to the fandom. Whether you were directly involved or watched from a distance, please give me your stories with Supercorp shippers. I would greatly appreciate it

[shezowhero]

Virichie and fandom racism towards ships with black characters.

I may not ship Virichie as hard as I do Static X Frieda but I’m glad and appreciate it being popular cause interracial ships with black characters and ships with black characters in general get very screwed over by fandoms. Black characters get very screwed over when it comes to shipping. 

They face alot of backlash and hate. Black characters in interracial ships with white characters especially get alot of hate and backlash. In fact people will lose their absolute god damn minds when black characters are paired up with white characters. 

Ships with black characters often get the least fan content if they get any at all. They’re the least popular ship. They could be a ship that’s been canon for a long time but be the least popular ship in the fandom like Guardianbee for example. Guardianbee has been canon in Teen Titans for a very long time but its the least popular ship and has very little fan content. It doesn’t help that they’re not together in alot of media and the Teen Titans are more outside of comics so its a lack of exposure and racism. 

They will make up all kinds of excuses to to why they don’t ship ships with black characters in them. They’ll things like “They’re just friend” or “Why can’t men and women just be friends” and I totally get this as a girl who had alot of guy friends as a kid and was always asked if we liked each other but people say this alot to ships with characters of color. They say it way too much that its weird. The only one I agree with is Star and Marco. And its never said to all white ships that should just be friends. Also what’s wrong with interracial friends to lovers ? Interracial best friends to lovers is really cool. Its one of the things I like about Virichie and Static x Frieda. 

Another excuse is Familyzone, they say they’re like family or like siblings or they’ll straight up say its incest when its clearly not. They try to familyzone them when it’s never stated in canon that the characters see each other as family. Its more of a fan interpretation or headcanon. I see people trying to familyzone Virichie saying that Virgil and Richie are brothers but its never stated in the show that they see each other as brothers. Its just a fan interpretation. Just because you see them as brothers doesn’t mean we everyone else sees them as brothers. I also use to see Virgil and Richie as brothers but not anymore so I get why people do but maybe don’t say that about a interracial ship. I still see them as family but not in a incest way but in a ”they’re a important part of the family like a family friend” way.

Another excuse they say is its forced while at the same time shipping a all white ship that’s forced. I understand not liking ships that are forced but just like the they’re just friends excuse they say this alot about ships with black characters and interracial ships. And like I said before the only one I agree with is Star and Marco. People ship white characters together all willy nilly all the time but they’re not willing to do the same with black characters and characters of color.

Another excuse when it comes to black women is she too strong. The strong black women trope. The strong independent women trope is progress for white women but its not progress for black women and women of color. You’re saying that black women and women of color don’t deserve love. You’re denying their humanity. Not every black woman is strong and not every black woman can be strong.

My favorite excuse is the “They don’t like good together” Its my favorite cause its very obviously racist like they do not hear themself. It doesn’t matter if they don’t look good together its about the chemistry, how they make each other grow and how the relationship fits the characters and story and other actual shipping reasons. “They don’t look good together” is a very shallow and racist reason to not ship a interracial ship.

The next excuse(s) is a big lie and its “There’s no good well written black characters to ship” and ”there’s no good ships with black characters” The reason why its a totally lie is that there’s alot of good black characters. You just need to consume more diverse media especially diverse media that star black characters. The problem though is that when people do consume diverse media they still only focus on white characters. I see this in the Static Shock fandom with Hotstreak and to a extent Richie. So consume more diverse media and stop focusing so much on the white characters. The whole “there’s no good ships with black characters” It sounds like they’re only caring about canon ships and there’s alot of good ships with black characters that aren’t canon and there’s good ones that are canon. You’re just not looking hard enough. As a mainly canon shipper you don’t always have to ship canon ships especially if they’re not good. Talisto Talia X Mephisto from Lolirock is a good ship and a low key crack ship and its one of the most popular ships in the fandom and it has a black girl in it. People will ship random white characters together all the time but won’t do the same with black characters and characters of color. Talisto isn’t treat as a crackship, if people can ship that than you can ship ships with black characters in them. There’s alot of good black characters and alot of good ships with black characters you’re just not paying attention to them.

Besides making up excuses to why they don’t ship interracial ships with black characters they will make a all white ship to go against it. Reylo and Snowbarry are good example of this. We call them racist ships cause they were made to erase a black character from their romantic relationships whether it’s canon or heavily shipped in the fandom like Finnrey. Reylo was very much created to keep Finn away from Rey and you can tell by how racist Reylo shippers are to Finn and his actor John. Snowbarry was created before the show even aired on TV when only the trailer was out after it was announced Iris was casted as a black girl. Reylo shippers and Snowbarry shippers act the same way to Finn and Iris. And I see this in the Static Shock fandom with the ship Hotgear Hotstreak X Richie. Hotgear was very much created to go against Virichie in the same way Reylo and Snowbarry were except they’re not all that toxic and racist to Static but it’s still very much erases Static in his own story, his own fandom and is white prioritization or white favorism. 

White prioritization is when white characters are prioritize over characters of color despite the characters of color being more important like being the main character like Static. Static Shock is a black lead cartoon when it comes to diverse media you shouldn’t be shipping the only 2 white characters together unless it’s canon cause its racist to only focus on the only white characters in a diverse show. Virichie has no way or power to become canon but Hotgear was very much created to go against cause its heavily shipped in the fandom. Even if not all Hotgear shippers are racist it’s the existence of the ship that’s racist. It doesn’t need to exist. Same with Reylo and Snowbarry. You don’t have to ship Virichie but you don’t need create and ship a rival ship to go against it especially if it made to erase a black character.

This is apart of Fandom racism. Fandom racism is the rejecting of diversity in fandoms and media and the attempt to push characters of color and fans of color out of fandoms to focus on white people, white characters and white fans. Refusing to ships with black characters is apart of Fandom racism.

And it doesn’t matter what type of relationship a black character is in. It doesn’t matter if its a black man with a white girl, it doesn’t matter if its a black girl with a white guy, it doesn’t matter if its a gay, straight or bi ship. It doesn’t matter if its a black character with another person of color. It doesn’t matter if its a black character with another black character. It also doesn’t matter if it’s canon, hinted/being built up to be canon or meant to be canon or canon in past or other materials like comics. It also doesn’t matter if its some what popular, shippable and well liked, it will get hate, backlash and have the least fan content.

For the black man with white girl part I was thinking of Finnrey and Karolsen. Sure black man are paired up with white women alot in media but never in a big sci fi franchise like Star Wars. Comics do it alot too but never in comic adaptations like the Supergirl TV show. The racist backlash to Finnrey and Karolsen is why I don’t care that black men and white women are paired alot with each other but I do agree media should do other types of interracial relationships besides them. 

Finn and Rey actually were going to get together but Disney decide against, most likely cause of the racist backlash. The worst part is that Finn and Rey didn’t even get together, and racists were still threatened by a black man being with a white girl. Besides being meant to be canon, it was just a strong possibility that Finn and Rey were going together and that drive’s them crazy. To this day they’re still racist about Finn. Racist fans treated Finn and James like they were the Black brute trope. Like they were sexual threats to white women which is apart of the Black brute trope but they’re the nicest, sweetest guys in their series.

For the black girl with white guy part I was mostly thinking of Westallen but also Thorkyrie and any time a black girl is paired with a white guy. I’ve made posts about this before with Winx Club about how black women hardly get to be the love interest or get to have a love interest especially a non black love interest. And by love interest I mean the endgame love interest cause the few times they get to be a love interest they’re not the endgame love interest and the white character they were a love interest to gets with a white love interest. A very good example of this is Danny Phantom with Valerie and Danny and how he got with Sam. We call this the Disposable Black Girlfriend trope or Disposable Black love interest trope cause it happens to black men too. 

Back to Westallen remember when I said people will straight up say a interracial ship is incest. They do this to Westallen all the time just because Iris’s dad Joe took Barry in when his mom died and his dad was arrested. Barry only see’s Joe as a father figure. Barry and Iris don’t see or think of each other as siblings. They never acted as siblings. The show never states that they’re siblings just best friends. I’m against incest ships too but Westallen isn’t incest. Keep in mind that Iris has always been Barry’s love interest in the comics, y’know other material. People never had a problem with their relationship until Iris was black.

For the gay bi ships part I was thinking of Dansen and Thundergrace. The Arrowverse has alot of femslash ships but the ones with white women are the only ones that are really popular and some of them aren’t even canon. The Supergirl TV fandom likes to act like they were queerbaited and that there was no lesbian representation but they weren’t queerbaited and there is lesbian representation with Kelly and Alex but since Kelly is black they don’t care, almost as if she don’t count as representation cause she’s black. Kelly and Alex even got married at the end of the show how’s that not representation ?  Its a example of how when people say they want LGBT representation they mean white LGBT representation.

This is getting too long so its time to talk about the most important part so really listen to this part. This isn’t about shipping, this is about a pattern in fandoms in how black characters are treated. Its about how you think black characters are unworthy of being loved. Its about how if this is how you feel about and treat fictional black characters then how do you feel about and treat real black people outside of fandoms ? You probably don’t treat real black people good. If this is how you feel about and think about fictional interracial couples than how do feel and think about real interracial couples ? Probably not good. This is about how black fans and fans of color feel unsafe and unwelcome in fandoms. 

We live in a society were white people are the default cause they made themselves the default. So when white people are not the focus they get mad. Which is why ships with black characters are less popular cause fandoms are very white dominant. By always attacking black characters and ships with black characters has made black fans and fans of color feel unsafe and unwelcome in fandoms making them leave fandoms or have low interacts in fandoms causing black characters and ships with black characters to have less fan content and be less popular. Black fans are the pillars that hold up black characters and ships with black characters up besides unracist white fans. Black fans and fans of color support ships with black characters and characters of color more than white fans. They are more likely to support them than white fans. I have seem white fans shipping Virichie but the major are black fans since it’s a major black fandom. Some of the most recent Virichie fan art have been by white fans. There are Pick me POCs/ White align people of color with internalized racism that are racist to other fans of color and characters of color and its important to point them out cause they are just as hurtful and racist as racist white people.

Virichie being so popular with everyone is so important. The only time I’ve seen a whole fandom ship a interracial ship is the WordGirl fandom with Tobecky (WordGirl X Tobey). Interracial ships with black characters aren’t that popular. Gay bi slash interracial ships like Virichie are especially not popular. The closest I’ve seen be popular is Finnpoe from Star Wars. Virichie being popular is a good thing. The only problems I have with Virichie is that alot of fan content mainly alot of fanfics focuses more on Richie and his point of view of the relationship than Virgil. This is the slight White prioritization towards Richie I mention earlier. I’ve only seen one person point this problem out. There’s only a few fanfics that focus on Virgil’s point of view on the relationship. I like it when there’s fics that give both of their point of views. Like what does Virgil think of being in a relationship with Richie ? How does he feel about liking his best friend ? I also don’t like how it dominants the fan content for Static Shock especially fanfics. There’s almost no gen fanfics and the gen fics that are there are unfinished most likely abandon. Virichie has good fanfics but I don’t always read fics for shipping so it’s a bit annoying.

Virichie being popular is a good thing. Characters of color in general get screwed by shipping but black characters get it much worst. The only time I see characters of colors being in popular ships are light skin east Asian characters especially from Asian media like anime and Latino/Hispanic characters. Shipping is a big part of fandom, it can say some things about a person. Ship what you want but don’t be surprised when people think you’re racist for refusing to ship ships with black characters and interracial ships with black characters especially when there’s nothing wrong them and black fans are okay with them. There’s nothing wrong with Virichie, there’s nothing with Friegil (Static X Frieda ) there’s nothing wrong with Karolsen, there’s nothing wrong with Finnrey, there’s nothing wrong with Dansen and there’s nothing wrong with Westallen and other interracial ships with black characters that get alot of hate for no reasons other than racism.

[blackbird-brewster]

Meta: Jemily Queerbaiting

With the huge influx of posts saying 'Jemily is gonna be canon', I really appreciated seeing this post because OP was completely correct. I didn't want to write an entire dissertation as a reply, so I'm making my own post with my personal opinion on this. (All sources are noted in footnotes)

Before I began this rant, for anyone who thinks this is anti-Jemily. It is not. I have shipped Jemily for 18 friggin years and that's never going to change. This post is specifically my thoughts about queer baiting.

First off, I need to note that the showrunners (and the cast members who use social media) KNOW what a huge queer following this show has and that's why we got pansexual Tara Lewis in S16 [1]. Which, in itself, was SOOOOOOO important!!! Our first canonically queer main in SIXTEEN seasons was a middle-aged Black woman!!! That's phenomenal. (The fact it was horrible rep, because they instantly ruined her relationships once her queerness served it's plot point is a whole other post entirely)

In my opinion, the 'big Jemily moment' Paget posted about on Twitter [2] (and AJ hinted at during a recent IG live) is simply queerbaiting to get people to watch S17. I know a lot of you are newer to the fandom and I love your enthusiasm, I really do, ship and let ship, but listen, let's be real, Jemily is not going to be made canon. The showrunners aren't going to suddenly say (after 17 seasons) 'Surprise, Jemily is endgame'. This show has never cared about queer rep and now that CBS/Paramount have already ticked their queer rep box with Tara, they won't be in any rush to add any other characters to it.

Please buckle in, I've got a lot of thoughts on this matter --

What is Queerbaiting?

If you aren't aware of what queerbaiting is, here's a good definition:

Historically, queerbaiting has carried two meanings: the first is an act of aggressive heterosexuality to shut down queer subtext on screen while still teasing and catering to the queer audience in advertising, public relations, and fan engagement strategies; the second is an existing homoerotic tension between two characters played up on screen while met with derision by the professionals behind the scenes. [3]

The Medium article quoted here is from 2017, a time when parasocial relationships were really starting to take over social media. In 2024, actors are now only a mention or tag away online, they have direct conversations with fans, and this process has allowed for an even deeper form of queerbaiting.

Oftentimes online, actors are asked directly about certain ships and while some ignore these questions (usually to avoid breaking their contracts or other repercussions), others (looking at you, Paget) choose to instead tease fans about queer ships. She's done this for years upon years and if I've learned anything in the past twenty-years of existing in fandom spaces it's this -- don't hold your breath. In it's original meaning, for something to be deemed as queerbaiting there had to be malicious, or at least, purposeful intent to string queer fans along by teasing them with suggestive content about the ship in question, while knowing this ship will never come to fruition in canon.

The thing to remember is, Paget and AJ aren't the only ones who know about Jemily shippers -- the network and showrunners are well aware of this ship too. When networks/showrunners figure out they have a strong sapphic fanbase, they love to use that to their advantage to get more viewers and higher ratings. Queerbaiting is a goldmine to keep fans watching long running shows, look at Rizzoli and Isles, Supergirl, and OUAT for examples of this.

Jemily and Queerbaiting:

Ever since Emily joined the BAU in S2 (2006), there have always been fans who ship JJ/Emily (shoutout to the old LJ forums!). Way before celebs were just a tweet away from fans, back when all our fics began with disclaimers so we wouldn't get sued by networks, we went to great lengths to keep our fanworks far removed from actors/showrunners attention.

As far as Jemily goes, this reply from Paget in a 2009 interview with TVGuide.com [4] (which has now been deleted from their site unfortunately, but there are quotes on Tumblr still [4.a]) confirmed some fans' worst fear -- the actors had found our fanworks online.

TVGuide.com: Of course, a band of fans want her to hook up with Hotch.

Brewster: I know! I didn't realize that fans make these videos on YouTube? A.J. Cook sent me a hilarious one that made it look like Prentiss and J.J. were having a secret lesbian affair. You know, when Hotch was blown up in the SUV, we shot this scene where he's in the hospital and I'm standing next to him, looking at his bleeding ear. Our director came in and said, "Paget, you're looking at Hotch like you're in love with him. It looks really weird." So now, every day, Thomas [Gibson] and I flutter our eyelids at each other.

This was the first time I recall anyone acknowledging Jemily shippers publicly and at the time (Jan 2009), the show was still in Season Four (just before CBS fired both AJ and Paget [5]). Paget genuinely said it's 'hilarious' that fans shipped JJ/Emily. Even now, I'll see people say 'We know Paget and AJ have seen Jemily fanvids, so they obviously ship it too' -- but those same people rarely acknowledge the full context of the original answer. Paget not only thought JJ/Emily were 'hilarious', but then she doubled down and turned her reply back to how she and Thomas liked to play up the chemistry between Emily/Hotch.

While no one can say for sure which video it was that AJ sent Paget, just knowing they were watching JJ/Emily fanvids sent a bit of a shockwave through the femslash side of the fandom. To some it felt like an invasion of privacy, fanworks are by fans for fans -- knowing the cast were poking around in fandom spaces added an extra layer of worry around what we fans were posting online. Fifteen years ago, it used to be quite taboo for actors to outwardly discuss shipping or other fanon for whatever show they were in, and we fans were usually comfortably removed from the actors altogether.

Of course, now it's the norm for fans and actors/showrunners to co-exist online and interact with one another. This connection has opened new ways for shows to queerbait their fans. Pretty much every show has some form of social media account now and there is no doubt that the people running those accounts keep up with the most popular ships and hashtags. Not to mention that actors are constantly barraged with questions about whether they ship their character with x,y,z, or whether they think a ship should be made canon, etc. These interactions only serve to benefit the shows themselves, because whether the conversation is for or against a certain ship, it's all just free publicity (Why do you think CM now has a TikTok account?)

Every time AJ or Paget say anything about Jemily, the queer side of the fandom loses their minds. But this has been going on for YEARS now and every single time, it turns out to be nothing but social media hype and queerbaiting. Remember this AJ post? [6] Or what about the notorious reply by Paget to a fan, where she talks about how she and AJ held hands under the table 'for the shippers' [7] I've seen this cycle over and over again, so perhaps I am cynical, but I'm not getting my hopes up that Jemily will ever seriously be canon.

It's widely known now, after both Kirsten [8] and Paget [9] have talked about it, that there was an early idea where Prentiss was supposed to be queer, but that was ultimately scraped before it ever made it on screen. For context, please remember, this show has been airing for nearly twenty years. It began in 2005, during the highly conservative Bush administration. Queer people didn't have rights in the US, we couldn't get married, we were rarely protected under discrimination laws, and we could even be fired for simply being queer (in some states). Diverse queer representation on screen was extremely limited to things like 'The L Word' and 'Queer as Folk' (both aired on Showtime, so they were behind a paywall. And as far as tLw goes, that show was extremely male-gaze focused and is horrible in nearly all regards if you try to rewatch it now). As far as prime time shows went, queer rep was even more rare. Which is why Emily wasn't queer from the get-go.

Yes, things have changed since 2006 in terms of queer rep on TV. We have a myriad of queer identities represented in TV and film nowadays, which is why I think it's so easy for newer fans to say 'lf she was supposed to be gay anyway, they should just make Emily queer in canon!' I know this is what fuels most fans' demands for Emily being confirmed queer, and I get it, I DO. I would be all for it! However, I do not, in one hundred years, actually believe that is going to happen after they already canonically queer confirmed Tara in S16. The fact we even got ONE queer character is ground-breaking for this show.

It's also worth noting, that in the time between Paget's departure in 2012 and her return in 2016, she became very active on Twitter. This was when more and more fans began asking her about Jemily and after Kirsten's AfterEllen interview, fans also pushed for Paget to address the possibility of Emily being gay. 'Pushed' is actually an understatement for some of the outright harassment she would receive. (AJ received some of this harassment too, but less so because she doesn't use social media ass often) Back then, neither of them replied to these things directly. Yet, no matter what either woman posted, the replies were full of Jemily stans begging for her acknowledgement. (Did you know 'stan' is literally a term coined for stalker fans?) I remember one time AJ's friend was missing and she posted info on her IG about it, you know what the replies were? People asking her about Jemily. It was genuinely sickening.

Within this context, it was no surprise to fans when Emily came back in S12 , she and JJ's friendship was seemingly erased. The two women were rarely on screen together in the late seasons, plus the writers saw fit to even give Emily not only one (Mark in London, but two, on-screen boyfriends for the first time in the entire series. I personally do not think these changes to Emily's character were coincidence, I saw the hellscape of what people would say to AJ and Paget online and I fully believe that upon Paget's return to the show, the showrunners purposely tried to distance JJ and Emily to dissuade the more abusive side of the fanbase.

Can I prove that, no. But it is the only reason I can think of as to why Emily S12+ seemingly didn't care about JJ anymore, despite their deep and meaningful friendship. I mean, they both CROSSED THE WORLD to go rescue each other in prior canon -- but when Emily comes back, they acted like they barely knew each other. This was even more prevalent in S16, when JJ's main storylines all revolved around Will, and Emily barely looked at JJ in the entirety of ten episodes. (Remember how Prentiss didn't even hug JJ after bomb, but she did go hug Luke?)

So, do Paget and AJ earnestly ship Jemily, or are they continuing the long tradition of queerbaiting us? Who fucking knows, not me. But based on the history of this fandom, I think I can make a safe bet. (Interestingly, if you search all of Paget's twitter for the word 'Jemily' [10] she only has 3 direct tweets mentioning the ship. I don't think it's a coincidence that two are within the past few months since they started filming S17 (the other one was a RT of Kirsten (who tagged something Jemily)

This is all to say --

Just because Paget and AJ have publicly talked about Jemily,, this doesn't mean it's ever going to happen on screen. And you know what, THAT'S OKAY!! There has been this constant outcry (after Tara became queer confirmed) of 'Do Emily next' or 'Why wasn't it Emily with a girlfriend!?' and 'Jemily needs to be canon in S17!' -- as if people believe their ships aren't worth anything unless they are canon.

That couldn't be further from the truth! Fandom is built on headcanons and fan interpretations and rare pairs and all types of shippers. Your ship does NOT need to be canon for you to enjoy it. I will ship Jemily forever, no matter what. I don't think there will be some magical queer plot in S17, at best, we might actually get to see Emily/JJ on screen together again and after the train wreck that was S16 -- I'll take whatever I can get.

And hey -- if I am completely wrong, if Erica Messer pulls a Korrasami out of her hat, I will be ecstatic. I will be happy to be proved wrong, but at the same time, I'm not going to lose sleep over it and I'm DEFINITELY not going to go hound the actors about it on social media.

Sources:

[1] 2022 Digital Spy article about the importance of Tara's coming out

[2] 04/18/24 Paget Tweet

[3] 2017 Queerbaiting article from medium.com

[4] 2009 Broken TVGuide link

[4.a] Tumblr quote from the above TVGuide Interview

[5] 2010 Kirsten interview screenrant.com

[6] 2019 AJ Instagram Post

[7] 2020 Paget video on Twitter (via @karasluthqr)

[8] 2015 Kirsten interview AfterEllen.com

[9] 2016 Paget Interview CriminalMindsFans.com

[10] @PagetPaget search 'Jemily'

[rachelsfav-queer]

Supergirl Fandom

I feel like we need to talk.

I can't tell y'all how many comments I've been getting on my supercorp fics complaining about Alex. Ranging from small mentions saying that they didn't like Alex being involved in some scenes to some people straight up saying that Alex shouldn't have appeared in the first place.

Like,,, what the actual fuck??

First of all, negative comments on my works are not appreciated and are always immediately deleted. But secondly, what the fuck do y'all have against Alex. Cause I can understand wanting more supercorp content because we were straight-up robbed of it by the show.

But why are y'all taking it out on Alex?

Now, I understand I'm talking generally when Alex-antis are probably a small portion of the fandom, but honestly, I'm getting a little sick and tired of all the Alex hate. Especially in the comments of not only my works but in the comments of other writers' works as well.

Anyway, I guess this is my way of saying that once I'm back from my posting hiatus, I'm gonna be including Alex in my fics to an extremely annoying extent lol.

Like, look at this woman. How can y'all hate this cute little bean???

[moistvonlipwig]

hypothetically if i just sent you every heart in that ask as a lovely littlel rainbow…??? :D

I'm assuming for Supergirl again? ;)

I cut out a few that I just didn't have an answer for at all. The rest are under the cut. Again, kvetching about a CW superhero show awaits.

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

I have had to click out of so many fics because they feel the need to get in a throwaway dig at James that often has absolutely nothing to do with his canon characterization. ("He was only interested in Lena because he liked the prestige and perks of dating a billionaire!" No??? Wrong??? Do not pass Go??? Do not collect $200???)

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

I don't agree with the idea that Kara is some sort of "genius" just because she's from Krypton. Being from a more '''advanced''' society (which is a thorny and problematic label in and of itself) does not make you ''smarter" than people from a '''less advanced''' society (see what I mean? Thorny and problematic). Living in a society with hyper-advanced technology doesn't mean that you know how that technology works or the fundamental principles that underlie its construction, especially if you are 13 years old. Also, even if you did, that is not inherently a more valuable form of knowledge than, say, knowing how to make dumplings – a skill I'm sure Kara herself would say is incredibly valuable, and which Kryptonians do not possess.

And that's not even getting into the fact that knowledge itself isn't the same thing as intelligence, which is a hard-to-define concept that has been historically used and still is used today in deeply problematic ways, but which I would argue is more about creativity, imagination, and the ability to generate new solutions to problems given the resources and education available to you than it is about simply knowing stuff. I certainly wish we got to see Kara display her resourcefulness, knowledge, & skills more often on the show, but fandom's insistence that she's actually way smarter than all these silly backwards primitive humans because she's from a planet that's made certain scientific advancements is incredibly fucking weird and frankly strikes me as the product of a colonialist mindset.

(I also just kind of think it's an uninteresting take on her character? She already has so many incredible abilities and interesting character traits, why does she ALSO have to be a "genius" who can rival Brainy & Lena in scientific thinking?)

💛: What is a popular ship you just can’t get behind, and why?

Supercat, for all the reasons I listed in my other post, and Sanvers, because the whole whitewashing thing is really egregious to me and also the way they were written just kind of grated on my nerves. Also Agentcorp. No real reason, I have no zingers to deliver about it. I just don't see it.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

You and I have already talked about how I don't actually think Lena has a "one-strike policy", and how the only person she actually cut off after only one strike was Andrea, whose betrayal came at a time when Lena was extremely vulnerable. I believe I've also mentioned to you in an ask that I think people read her politics wrong -- a lot of people classify her as a conservative when she is, IMO, clearly a libertarian, hence her pro-business, pro-gun, anti-secret government agencies, generally socially progressive views. (Additionally, one of the quirks of Supergirl's casting is that they accidentally cast all of Lena's past friends/lovers as people of color, which has some truly fascinating implications about Lena's racial politics.)

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

Lena is the obvious answer, although the real truth about Lena is that she is, actually, quite morally all over the place, it's just that she's not any more morally all over the place than anyone else on the show. Andrea, also, I think gets a bad rap from some people and from the show itself, which I talked more about in my other post. Um...I don't think Clark is a bad person for leaving Kara with the Danverses? To quote one of Once Upon a Time's most repeated lines, he gave her her best chance. He wasn't ready to parent her and he knew it -- I think that takes real integrity to admit, actually. Does that mean Kara can't have complicated feelings about it? Of course not, but I don't think it's fair to say he "abandoned" her. Placing a child in a loving home is not "abandoning" them. It's quite the opposite.

(The Clark situation admittedly gets worse post-Crisis when suddenly he has two teenage sons who would've been born around the time Kara's pod landed, which means maybe Earth Prime Clark was down for being a parent but just didn't want to parent Kara specifically, which is much more dubious. But also, Crisis was very bad, so I prefer not to think about it.)

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

I guess it depends on if my options are "remove them vs. change how they were written" or "remove them vs. keep them as is"? If I have to keep them as is if I don't remove them, then the clear answer is Mon-El, whose presence I would argue damaged the show more irrevocably than any other writing decision.

If I can change how they were written, that's a different story -- Mon-El in the comics is a cool character and I think the show could've adapted his story in a genuinely interesting way. Imagine if, in S2, Kara had discovered a pod with an amnesiac child inside who appeared to be Kryptonian. Not only is she now just a little less alone, she now has a chance to make amends for her inability to take care of Clark! Except then we find out -- he's not Kryptonian, he's a Daxamite. The same species as Kryptonians, but they left Krypton ages ago (or were driven out -- perhaps the stories Kara was told as a child didn't tell the entire truth) and are known to be isolationist and xenophobic, with a particular hatred for Kryptonians. The Daxamite boy (who Kara named "Mon-El") gets accidentally exposed to lead, and Kara must banish him the way she herself was banished. Then, S3 comes along, and would you look at that - the Legion of Super-Heroes is here from the future! And their leader is none other than Kara's adopted baby brother Mon-El, now grown up and with all his memories returned to him. Cue drama! (While I'm making up a version of Supergirl that didn't exist, I'd also like this version of Mon-El to be Asian. We truly didn't need more white guys on this show.)

So if I were allowed to rewrite characters like that, I'd have to opt for getting rid of a character who wasn't just executed poorly, but conceived poorly as well. William is a pretty obvious choice, as they clearly only created him to be a love interest and had no earthly idea what to do with him when that didn't work out (or, well, at any point in time, actually). Even when the show moves him away from his S5 misogyny and his (kind of baffling, given how little effort she puts into the job he values so much) late S5-early S6 interest in Kara, the only character trait they can think up for him is "baking", which kind of says it all, really. Winn, I feel, is also extraneous; even if you get rid of his misogyny in S1, I just don't think we needed a nerdy white guy character. Lena and Brainy have the scientist role covered. So, IDK, either of them, I don't care lol.

💕: What is an unpopular ship that you like?

I already talked about Guardiancorp in my previous post and that's probably my only actually unpopular ship. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

💀: If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

I don't think killing characters off truly fits with the vibe of the show, which is one of a long list of reasons why William's death was bad. If I could instead put a character on a bus, it'd probably be J'onn -- they clearly ran out of ideas for his character partway through the show (and David Harewood frankly seemed to run out of interest in portraying the character as well). Which, honestly, that usually happens with older male mentor figures in shows about young women coming into their own -- look at Giles post-S5 on Buffy, for example. IMO both M'gann and Malefic (both of whom actually did get put on buses to Mars in the show proper) would be much more interesting Martians to have on the show full-time.

[an-shu]

Eclipse Disclaimer

I feel I need to put this out because of an AO3 comment from who I suspect is the same person past chapters that thought the Eclipse fic was going to align with their cookie cutter shape of Kara and Lena. It’s an exploration on the complexities of Kara being a human vs. Kryptonian as a last child of what she believed an extinct race and culture, with memories of a society on a highly advanced Krypton that strove for perfection in every way—a society, if you were paying attention, was heavily implied (like almost explicitly) throughout in my fic to be respected or feared, to colonize and look down upon others they deemed primitive or not as equal to their intellect and technology. By extension, it’s also Rao-imbued Supergirl struggling to figure out humanity as a newborn deity, one that is supposed to be perfect and godly and so exacting it’s inhuman and unsettling. It’s also an exploration of Lena's struggles against her dark side and the unhealthy relationships she experienced in her childhood that pushed attention on and kept attention from a child, where she was also expected to be perfect and achieve a greatness that required her to channel the Luthor family xenophobia and cutthroat cruelty, to use money and education as a means of disseminating anti-alien rhetoric to displace and genocide an entire demographic off the face of the Earth.

It’s a Kara and Lena who don't perfectly communicate and resolve what they're feeling in a single paragraph. This is them with the hard feelings that come and go as they're processed—emotions are fickle, people are conflicted, and in the heat of heightened moments they say, think, and do things they regret, like self-pity, holding grudges, rationalizing an action or behavior they know is wrong, and continuing to do so some time or long after being slapped in the face with their decisions. These are behaviors Kara and Lena exhibited even after the same problems resurfaced in different ways where they stumbled, faltered, recovered, made the same mistake however more, and eventually grew past them that's exhibited throughout the show.

They're heroes, but they're not incapable of being narrow-minded and bigoted in the comics and show, and they like many are shown quick to defend themselves when their characters and what they stand for are critiqued—what makes them different and good is that they're able to compartmentalize and tamp down those snappy judgements they made in the moment or as time passes, a maturity that's faster for Kara than Lena.

This fic shows trauma and difficult recovery, perfection and imperfection, humanity and humanness, religion and being god-like, assimilation and integration as an immigrant that's a stark dichotomy between two very different survivors, the "palatibility" of heroes, and a great deal more the show couldn't and/or wouldn't address when it was trying to flesh out like six different characters. Of course, many of these topics parallel racism. Perhaps this isn’t immediately discernible to a fandom that, I presume, is mostly yt women who stan a wlw couple who are also yt women, but there will be moments you might not be comfortable with the very real issues the show failed to portray dealing with xenophobia/racism. And to that I say make yourself uncomfortable. Because how American BIPOC perceive and portray media is actually vastly different than how yt consumers see things.

[cardcaptorsakura96]

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes-Chapter 24

Fandom: Supergirl

Characters: Kara Danvers, Clark Kent, Samantha Arias, Lena Luthor, Lillian Luthor, Ruby Arias, Oliver Queen, John Stewart, Diana Prince, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, J'onn J'onnz, Alfred Pennyworth, Lois Lane, Cat Grant, Lucy Lane, Damian Wayne, Felicity Smoak, Streaky the Supercat, Martha Kent, Selina Kyle, Talia Al Ghul, Lucius Fox, Maggie Sawyer, Alex Danvers, Jason Todd, Otis Graves, Lex Luthor

Summary: What if superheroes had to pay a property damage tax every time they had a fight in the city?

Lillian sighed as she watched the clock at Noonan’s gradually tick away the time. She felt a sudden squeeze of her hand. She looked to the seat next to her at the restaurant to see Martha smiling back at her. 

“Everything is going to be okay. The worst that can happen is that Amanda won’t tell us anything and send us on our way.”

Lillian gave her a soft smile. She reached down and kissed Martha’s hand and said, “I’m more concerned that she will rat us out to Lex more so anything else.”

Martha raised an eyebrow and asked, “Is that why you suggested meeting at Noonan’s instead of the office?”

Lillian sighed and said, “Lex is lax with watching over me, but you can never be too careful. Both Amanda and I frequent this restaurant enough that it wouldn’t be unusual for us to bump into each other and have a few words.”

Martha looked at Lillian baffled and asked, “Wait? You guys see each other here often?”

Lillian leaned back in her chair and said, “Yes. Amanda and I are usually around here late morning or early afternoon. However, we tend to avoid each other.�� Lillian shook her head and sighed. She continued, “Amanda and I used to be best friends in college. We came up with the idea of Cadmus during our senior year as a capstone project. We thought that there should not only be an organization that studies the extraterrestrial lifeforms that were already on Earth but also learn how to coexist with each other. I focused more on the business side of things whereas Amanda worked towards networking and getting funding. Everything went well until Zod came into the picture several years ago.”

Martha winced and said, “I hate that name with a passion.”

“You are not alone in that sentiment. It reshaped Amanda’s perception of aliens as a whole. She viewed every one of them as a threat and that they needed to be removed from Earth. Lex provided her with options to achieve that and in return, she provided him funding to support his research efforts on the subject. I objected to all of this, but she still pushed me out. Fortunately, enough people from Cadmus didn’t like Amanda’s new direction and decided to come with me as I formed my own company.”

“If you think she has so much hatred against aliens, why do you think she would talk to us.”

Lillian leaned her head back and stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. 

“There have been rumors of Leviathan changing direction for a while now. They have always been anti-alien, but their choices in political candidates have been interesting to say to least.”

Martha looked at her quizzically and asked, “How so?”

“Well, the candidates they have supported so far are pro-alien rights and making reforms to help aliens become citizens. It is a complete 180. Lex wasn’t willing to cooperate with their changes so he was cut off. Amanda has used funding from Leviathan in the past. I am curious to see if she followed the road Lex took in regards to them, or if she fell in line to their new policy. If she did, we may be able to get something out of her.”

Martha nodded and said, “I like that particular theory. Hopefully, it doesn’t take that long to get information out of her. I have so much to do to prepare for tonight.” 

Lillian smirked and asked, “Worried about meeting the children I see?”

Martha pouted which caused Lillian to smile. She loved teasing Martha just a tiny bit. 

Lillian caressed Martha’s face and said, “You don’t have to worry. Sam, Lena, and Ruby will adore you as much as I do.”

Martha looked down while twiddling her thumbs and said, “Well, Lena has kind of avoided me with everything with Clark. I just worried that she might…”

Lillian kissed Martha’s hand which caused her to blush.

“Lena is more than okay with everything. All three girls are happy that I have put myself back out there.”

Martha smiled and said, “Still, I want to make a good impression and make sure that everything goes smoothly.”

Lillian smiled and said, “It will darling. I am just as eager to meet Kara. I have never seen Lena this happy before. It is like she is floating on cloud nine everyday.”

Martha chuckled and said, “I am not surprised. Kara is a bundle of sunshine that will brighten anyone’s day. I just wished that some of that would rub off on Clark. He used to be so optimistic, but now….”

Lillian squeezed Martha’s hand and said, “Hopefully this stuff with Lex will give us insight into Clark. I don’t have any proof, but I am willing to bet money that Lex has something to do with Clark’s behavioral changes.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he did,” said a woman’s voice. 

Lillian and Martha nearly jumped out of their seats. They turned to see a black woman of medium build and short black hair staring at them. She had on a blue business suit. Lillian quickly change her expression to surprise to passive. 

The woman smirked and said, “You are losing your touch Lillian. It is nice to see that I can still take you by surprise.” 

The woman pulled up a chair and sat down with them. 

Lillian sighed and said, “It is nice to see you too, Amanda.”

Amanda smirked while she turned towards Martha and said, “I am assuming that since you brought Superman’s mother that you are wondering about if Lex had anything in store for him.”

Martha looked at her startled and asked, “How….”

Amanda chuckled and said, “Lex wasn’t very subtle about his infatuation with your son.”

Martha glared at the woman while gripping the table until her knuckles went white. 

Martha growled, “Yet you help a mad man hurt my son over and over again.”

Amanda sighed  while leaning back in her chair and said, “Would you believe me if I told you it was never my attention that he got hurt?”

Martha scoffed and said, “Don’t insult my intelligence.”

Amanda chuckled and said, “Well, I did want your son neutralized after the events with Zod.”

Martha winced at that statement. 

Amanda sighed and said, “And before you say anything, I realized that your son was being controlled by Zod. However, that fight between them caused over 200 people to die. Most had the nuance of separating Superman from that. He was drugged after all. However, your son isn’t normal. What if he is drugged or mind controlled again? Who is there to stop him. The Justice League was barely able to contain him the last time. We need measures in place for if that were to occur.”

Read the rest on AO3

[hollyparker]

✎﹏﹏𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘﹏﹏

➺ Name: Holly or Kiara (not my real name, though I wish either was)

➺ Birthday: August 7th

➺ Hobbies: Just reading (I'm boring, I know)...

➺ Zodiac: Leo (idk much about this, only about me)

➺ Personality Type(s): INFP-T or ISFP-T

➺ I really like Greek Mythology

➺ Multifandom (though, at the moment, I'm hyperfixated on HP)

➺ I'm pretty open-minded and like trying new things

➺ I love art, especially fanart! Artists have my heart forever and ever; they’re gifts sent from the heavens. Here to bless us with their glorious minds and talent 😚❤️✨

➺ I love genderbent or genderbending characters (i.e., fem!Harry, fem!Percy, etc), though there's never really any good fics about them. It's a struggle out here :c

➺ I'm a canon and fanon follower

➺ I’m a Golden Trio fan & Marauders fan (specifically the Potters).

➺ I actually really love Jily, Hinny, Romione

➺ Characters I stan: Harry (but I am the chosen one) Potter, Perseus (I didn't want to be a half-blood) Jackson, Sakura Haruno, Bonnie Bennett, Hope Mikaelson, Jean Grey, Wanda Maximoff, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Nightwing, Matt Murdock, Midoriya Izuku, Yuji Itadori. There's more, but I can't remember at the moment.

➺ I am a hardcore women lover (platonically, I think...), okay? So if you're misogynistic, then please stay far far away from me. Thank you!

Fun (or not so fun) Fact About Me ↓↓

• I'm very introverted and VERY indecisive (and I mean this for everything). I cannot, for the life of me, decide on what exactly I like or don't like. Especially in fandoms, for like ships and characters. Some days I'll hate a character (or a ship), then the very next day I'm swinging my feet, giggling, and jumping up and down reading a really good fic on them/with them or I saw some really good fanart or character analysis of them. Like, I'm not on anyone's (or maybe I'm on everyone's) side. I'm just in the middle, listening to everyone, being swayed back and fourth. I'm basically a double agent or spy (Severus Snape type beat, honestly). • I have the worse memory ever, and I really mean the worst. I not only can’t recall things from my childhood but I can’t recall what I did the previous day. I forget things so fast. I’m always forgetting if I’ve eaten or not.

My Other Socials & Stuff ↓↓

My (maybe) Controversial Takes ↓↓

➺ I'm anti Jegulus. Do I like Regulus? eh, it depends. Do I like James? Of course! 100% but do I like them together? ab-so-lute-ly not, hard pass. This ship is the one ship I can't ever get behind (but if I see some really good fanart of them and I really like it, you best believe I’m going to heart it or at least comment on it because, while I don’t ship it and never will, you, my brilliant, beautiful artist, did a fantastic job, and I hope to see more of your work.)

➺ While I love James Potter, I do in fact believe he was a bully because he was (as was Sirius). You will not and cannot change my mind on this. He was not all sunshine and rainbows and perfect. He was an annoying teenage boy who did annoying teenage boy things. He’s human, he’s imperfect, and he has flaws. Let them show and free my boy from the shackles of Fanon.

➺ I’m not at all a Wolfstar shipper (though I can tolerate it). I honestly think Prongsfoot is way better than it, whether it's platonic and/or romantic

➺ I don’t mind Blackinnon (Sirius/Mckinnon), Remadora (Remus/Nymphadora), Prongsfoot, Rarry/Ronarry, Harmione, Drarry, Dramione, Scorbus, Scorose

➺ I am neither a Snape stan nor a hater, but I do think he’s an interesting character or could be if people gave him a chance and explored him more instead of scrapping him and jumping straight to the next DE (death eater) they deem "good.”

➺ I honestly find the Death Eaters (or Knights of Walpurgis) and the Volturi (from Twilight) to be interesting. Though, I obviously don’t support or condone what they do/have done

➺ I actually enjoy “HP and the Cursed Child”, though it’s not because of the plot/story, it’s because I love Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy. Also, the fact that Harry kept the Parseltongue.

Disclaimer (of sorts) ↓↓

• I'm not bashing or hating on anyone that likes different things from me, and it's never my intention too. If you happen to like a character/characters or a ship/ships that I typically wouldn't, then that's fine! there's nothing wrong with that, like what you want and who you want. Though, the one thing I can't really stand are those hypocrites that hate on/bash people for liking a character that they don't like because "they've done awful things or are an awful person" (which, ok, valid), but than turn around and like other characters that have done the same things or worse. Like....what? what gives you the right to hate on people for liking a character that has done bad things, when the character(s) that you like aren't/isn't any better? There is no high ground here, you're not special or better than anyone else. If anything all of your characters are bad people, so neither of you can really talk about the other, literally hop off. I would like to add that you don't have to like a character, if you don't like them than you don't like them, that's okay. It is only when you are actively bullying and downgrading real life people for a character that they like, that it's problematic. • Shipping isn’t my main focus. I’m here to have fun and focused more on the actual story, the friendships, adventures, and so on. So don’t come on here starting ship wars and demanding I tell you why I ship or don’t ship certain things.

• The most important thing to remember is if you don't like a character, ship, or anything that I happen to like and you take time out of your day to come at me for it. I want you to know that I read your comment, then I looked left, looked right, looked up, looked down, reread your comment, and still couldn’t find where I was supposed to care. I.do.not.care. Don't like it? Leave my page; it’s that simple! XOXO, I hope you have a blessed (or a better) day!

[raisinchallah]

actually if anyone wants my more real thoughts sort of not joke thoughts on my very real categories of early modern queerbait, queerbait and post queerbait as well as movements within i would define the beginning of early modern queerbait as ranging from sometime in the 70s when fan culture was beginning and early slash fandoms like kirk/spock and starsky and hutch etc and that leading to in 1979 it becoming known enough that kirk/spock was actually addressed in the infamous motion picture novelization footnote which actually at the time inspired a lot of debate in fan spaces u can read some of the letters into various archived zines if it was totally shutting down the k/s fans and something to be mad about or if it was in fact showing support etc and is a complex interaction between fans and the people creating the works and so on and eventually leading into the 90s where fan engagement became even larger and connected with the internet and in general changing tides of television leading to more follow through and serialized elements that inspires greater fan devotion and theorizing leading into like the x files fans coining the term shipping and in general the deft back and forth they managed with constantly playing between hinting at a romance between mulder and scully but also not going too far to annoy people who were staunchly anti romance etc and shows like buffy cultivating a strong gay fan base and shipping culture while also managing to dabble in both actual gay characters and fun gay subtext as well as again creating an absolutely massive fanbase and levels of creator fanbase interaction that reverberate to this day... and then well theres xena :3 pushing the concept of gay subtext to its literal breaking point and pioneering techniques that will be used in future baits while not being bait itself but also the impact of its writers will be felt forever and i think a great example of gay people having fun behind the scenes a secret fuel of iconic queerbait nobody really considers (keep in mind later since one of the lesbian xena writer/producers was also a writer producer on house and some of the most subtext heavy episodes a somewhat inexplicable inclusion in the queerbait canon but fueled by the same great minds behind xena) and well the demarcation of this early modern period into genuine queerbait probably lies around 2008 with the beginnings of many iconic pieces of the queerbait canon but also that we are beginning to approach levels of gay characters on random network tv shows rarely seen before we approach the glee singularity another show of note since fan engagement and taking brittany and santana seriously by fans and the actresses themselves lead like something that was essentially a somewhat homophobic joke become like a serious major part of the show and like the tipping point from subtext to queerbait era i believe is the fact that like standard homophobic jokes stock standard from decades of tv well we were reaching a point of gay characters being more and more common on tv that it creates a situation where perhaps these jokes are no longer diffusing speculation about a characters sexuality but are in fact increasing it... leading to the queerbait era a confluence of increased more immediate fan engagement shipping culture becoming like fairly mainstream to the point it will be referenced in the shows themselves and increasing presence of gay characters across tv so what used to simply be normal subtext or homophobic jokes or in fact gay writers doing things just for funsies all coalesce into queerbait that we know and love its something with ever shifting definitions but has essentially created a canon of shows that define the concept for itself...

and now as we enter the post queerbait era which might begin after the ends of classics of the queerbait shows like supernatural or supergirl ending in 2020 and 2021 respectively though classic queerbait was obviously in decline earlier than that and that the shifting landscape of gay characters makes that special sauce that peaked in like 2012-2015 lose its luster i do believe the first post queerbait show to be riverdale which like intentionally jokingly engaged with the entire concept in a self aware way its not queerbaiting its saving the world wow so true post queerbait can also be active anxiety about being seen as queerbaiting and engaging directly with that in handling of gay characters that it has now entered general public discourse perhaps people have successfully bullied good omens into a gay kiss when it was so clearly designed to slot into the superwholock era but past its peak we shall see where this goes... anyways we shall see what lies in store for this field of study as other scholars devote their minds to this great task

[hitchell-mope]

This particular poll is long overdue

Some of them have canon basis. Some of them are just wish fulfilment for me. All would’ve been amazing to see. So. For my next poll. I ask the anti supercorp side of the supergirl fandom.

[mrowmrowmrow9]

Supercorp shippers: Just because a character is canonically only into the other end of the binary doesn’t mean they’re straight! Kara and Lena are absolutely lesbians

Also supercorp shippers: Mon-El has only been shown with women in canon so therefore he’s an heterosexual piece of crap!!

Man, pick a side…

[ao3feed-supercorp]

Artificial Heart, Real Feeling

by OnceLittleGlee (ALittleGeek)

Kara was 13 years old when she arrived on Earth. Abandoned by her cousin, then known as Superman, Kara hated him. There was no justification, no succinct explanation for her being left in the Danvers family without the presence of her only living family member.

Eliza tried, Alex tried, but her closed heart was not embraced by love. Kara didn't care, the loneliness slowly eating away at her, breaking her spirit and seizing her blood. Years later, Kara was a cold, ruthless, soul surrounded by hopelessness and ferocity.

In need of something, someone to make her feel at home again, Kara used her remaining Kryptonian technology, a little of her saved money and her extraterrestrial genius to generate Lena, a beautiful android made to help Kara in her loneliness.

She just didn't imagine that she would fall in love with her creation. And that a robot, a machine without the least feelings, reciprocated her passion, teaching her that love will always be enough and that she, even a being of wires and metals, would be capable of falling in love.

Words: 2616, Chapters: 1/24, Language: English

Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Injustice: Gods Among Us

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: F/F, Multi

Characters: Kara Danvers, Kara Zor-El, Lena Luthor, Sara Lance, Ava Sharpe, Alex Danvers, J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw, Cat Grant, Astra (Supergirl TV 2015), Non (Supergirl TV 2015), James "Jimmy" Olsen, Clark Kent, Brainiac (DCU)

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, Alex Danvers/Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, Lena Luthor & Ava Sharpe, Kara Danvers & Cat Grant, Kara Danvers & Sara Lance, Alex Danvers & J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw

Additional Tags: Kara Danvers Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe, Kara Danvers Has a Penis, Endgame Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Protective Kara Danvers, Cat Grant Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Anti-Hero, Kara Danvers Being an Asshole, Sara Lance Needs a Hug, Protective Sara Lance, Insecure Ava Sharpe, Established Alex Danvers/Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, Lena Luthor Is A Android, Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Supergirl (TV 2015) Season 1

from AO3 works tagged 'Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor' https://ift.tt/iGrcyuY via IFTTT https://ift.tt/iGrcyuY

[honey-makes-mogai]

[Image ID: A MOGAI flag with 7 equal horizontal stripes. From top to bottom the colors in order are: red, blue, dark blue, light yellow, dark blue, blue, red. In the center is a light yellow square, the top and bottom flush with the outer edge of both dark blue lines. The square has a vertical line of the same color roughly the thickness of the horizontal stripes, ending at the outer edge of both blue stripes through the center. /End ID]

Supergirllexic -

A gender related to the word “Supergirl”!

[PT: Supergirllexic -]

Requested by: Anon

[Banner ID: A pastel yellow banner with a sunflower on either side. In brown text with a white outline, it says "- Please let me know if this has been coined before! -" /End ID.]

[DNI transcript: "-DNI- Basic criteria, anti-mogai, proshippers, ableists, aphobes, racists, zoophiles, rpf shippers, fandom discourse, under 13, transid/transx". /End transcript.]

[fazedlight]

re: weird trauma reversal and also being late to the fandom

i was also quite late to the fandom and one of the things i’ve noticed is that i think in some ways you can tell when someone bingewatched the series after it was complete, or close to when it was complete, and especially in terms of the relationships people have with the characters.

i think one of the biggest examples of this is james - i kind of feel like a lot of the people who are more open to the fact that guardiancorp happened or felt there was ‘potential there’ etc are people who would have watched seasons 1 & 2 in particular play out in real time over the course of 2 years, so they had time to form more of an acquaintance and acceptance of what his character was intended to be, whereas i think if you watched all of the seasons back to back to back over a matter of weeks james’ behaviour is so erratic across the course of seasons 1 - 4 that he just seems kind of like a manipulative jerk because suddenly the kara -> lucy -> kara -> guardian -> luthors are evil -> lena is hot comes right on the heels of each other in a way that it wouldn’t have if you were watching the series in weekly episodes.

but in specific relation to what you were saying about cheapening kara’s traumas, i think bingewatching makes that cheapening effect even worse and that it also has an impact on how people see kara and lena actually, because - similar to how it’s hard to see james as the character the showrunners intended when you binge watch - when you speedrun through s3 - s4 the inconsistency with kara’s character and her traumas makes some of her flaws, like the self-righteousness and the hypocrisy, seem even worse in a way because it’s so much more compressed? it’s a lot easier to see how it must have seemed to lena when she looked back in retrospect and revisited their friendship after the trauma of lex because the flipflopping in one episode to the next isn’t over the course of a week or a season.

(i thought the lex trauma comment in one of your earlier posts was really astute and it resonated with me so much - while there’s plenty of balanced fiction and also fiction that completely ignores that lena did Bad Things, on the other side of it I really don’t think a lot of lena’s antis really account for the fact that yeah, she completely went haywire and yeah, it was pretty ooc, but at the same time the writers did try to set the stage for it - she lived through making a morally grey decision involving a once beloved family member and then having the rug pulled out from under her immediately after, and right on the heels of some very erratic behaviour by kara. lena sitting in her office feeling used that kara only wanted her to use her as a source always gets me, like her doubts of their friendship weren’t just seeded by supergirl/kara being two people alone.)

sorry for the long comment! i try so hard to be a normal person but some of the things you say just really resonate with me, and then… this happens. congrats on completing diat as well and excited for your wips!!!

Yeah!! That makes sense. Having started the show in early 2022 and binging it, I have no sense of the pacing at all. Someone (maybe you?) brought up in another ask that the stuff with Kara’s DNA in S6 came up during covid era, when talk about DNA replication was pretty common on the news, which made it especially odd in the show that they treated it like a single-opportunity thing. I would never have thought of the covid context, since I wasn't watching then.

It makes sense that bingewatching would make that trauma reversal aspect even worse! I hadn’t thought of that. Also, ouch, the rift buildup being worse tears my heart out - it was already pretty heartwrenching from my point of view, speed running through the series!

... also, god, waiting an entire summer between S4 and S5 would’ve killed me 🤣

I feel pretty lucky in that I haven’t come across too many anti-Lena or anti-Kara folks (yet?). I just really don’t understand it… they’re just both such compelling characters. They’re both flawed, and they’re both trying to do the right thing, and they’re both trying to deal with their traumas, and I can’t imagine reading stuff for this ship without loving them both.

(Thank you for the comment, please never apologize!! I love reading these! It’s not like I’m normal either 🤣)