#aos fandom critical

[competitivedust]

The best thing about Jessica Jones Season 1 is how Jessica is just allowed to grieve after Kilgrave. She is angry and she expresses it. She is allowed to rage about it without having the fandom label her as an annoying bitch. I wish Daisy was afforded the same luxury because she absolutely deserved it. Instead, the writers had Fitz yell at her for abandoning the team. They had her apologizing to everyone in season 4 for hurting them by leaving because she couldn't deal with her trauma and loss in a palatable way. I hate everything.

[tremorsmackenzie]

i see a lot of talk going around about how the team were terrible to daisy after 5x14 and one person even said that it was basically a darvo situation, and i want to add my opinion to the pile, cause i disagree with that a lot. i also generally have a problem with how people tend to defend their favourite to the absolute while villainizing almost every other character in this discourse. they all deserve equal amounts of empathy.

lets get a few disclaimers out of the way first: from my perspective, what happened wasnt anyones fault, they were all victims in this situation. fitz cant be blamed for having a psychic split, daisy had every right and more to react the way that she did, thats not even a discussion. it was also just absolutely the right decision, fitz wasnt trustworthy anymore after that. he absolutely did care about what he did though, he mentioned how he was scared by how he still thought he did the right thing at least twice. thats not the same thing as being horrified at what he did exactly, but the reasons for his split didnt go away just because it happened, and this is about as close as you can get in this situation i think. i also think his whole " i didnt have a choice" shtick was more about him trying to make sense of what happened rather than trying to deflect blame, because he generally lacks empathy for other people a bit and getting defensive and not considering whether that is appropriate right now is perfectly in character for him (still terrible on his part despite all that though, and this is probably where the darvo thing comes from as far as it concerns him). now:

the way i see the aftermath of that episode is that with everything still happening, coulson gone and possibly (definitley, its hydra) being tortured for intel, the end of the world still fast approaching, and daisy still being convinced its somehow gonna be her fault (especially after having her powers restored), none of them could allow themselves to break right now. and crucially: noone blamed daisy for the way she reacted or attacked her for it. may thought she wasnt ready for coulsons job after literally just being tortured, and she was right about that, that was way too much pressure to put on her after that (despite that, i still think daisy did a good job, but she shouldnt have had to). mack agreed with daisy fully. simmons was definitley not okay anymore after what happened and acted increasingly irrationally. she just watched her husband torture her best friend while being held at gunpoint by a robot he programmed, after which daisy had no time to talk to her and fitz was locked in a cell and disillusioned about who he was. she was essentially alone to deal with the situation.

it doesnt excuse what she did, but i also dont think she wouldve acted the way she did if she was fully sane at that point. i mean, she risked swallowing literal acid because she thought she was invincible due to knowing she makes it past the worlds destruction. before this, she was very, starkly different. those are not the actions of someone whos secretly a sociopath like many regularly accuse her of being, theyre the actions of someone who has been pushed completely past their breaking point. as for yoyo, she lost her goddamn arms and was absolutely convinced that daisys path was going to lead to the entire worlds destruction. and that was what she was mad at daisy about.

this was the entire tragedy of that situation: its not a question of fault. they all acted terribly towards each other, and they all had good reasons for it, even if they were being unfair or vicious. it just happened.

so they all pushed what fitz did aside for the moment to focus on the mission, but its literally the main factor of what drove the team apart for the rest of the season, because daisy was focused on her interpretation of the prophecy and wasnt gonna trust fitz or anything he said anymore, simmons and yoyo were convinced he was right and felt daisy wasnt listening to them, and then they managed to scrape themselves back together as a team, just barely, and saved the world, losing both coulson and fitz in the process. in my headcanon the team patched up most of their differences after 5x22, based on how it ended, flashbacks and mentions from season 6 as well as the team being friendly with each other again, and the fact that this show isnt the kind to just ignore events like this, if things are radically different between seasons its safe to assume that stuff happened off screen, not that the writers were lazy. losing two members of their shared family probably also provided them with some perspective and reminded them of how much they all mean to one another.

and this hit all of them very hard, and they all dealt with it in their own way without involving the others. all of them, not just daisy. mack focused on his job 100%, may and elena helped him, simmons went to space to find fitz and daisy came with her because everything reminded her of coulson and theyre each others best friend. when they all came back together, they had managed to somewhat move on from what happened and probably werent to keen on bringing it up again. i mean we saw how sarge had them all bent out of shape because he had coulsons face. they were not over it. nevermind the fact that they had another alien invasion on their hands at the time.

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

#507

"for quite a while the reboot movies were super popular and if you dared criticize the choices they made fandom would say you just didn’t “get star trek” or you were possibly a racist salty about spock/uhura. i’m so happy those days are past us and people can now talk about their issues with those movies, because they were mid at best and entirely ooc atrocities that were more regressive than the 60s show at worst. thank you cumberbatch khan for being so undeniably awful there was no way to explain it away!"

[lenievi]

sometimes it’s sad that the default fanon for McCoy is grumpy, annoyed, no fun allowed, old, and done with the world

when this guy also enjoys the life so much and to the fullest - he loves food, drinks, he loves good times (he’d go bar hopping with you if you asked), he likes sex, he loves research, he’s curious, he likes jokes, he likes to tease and “prank” others

[tleeaves]

Folks going "WHAT they made a show about the Fallout franchise?? I've been hearing people say Bethesda messed it up, but I haven't watched it myself, so I'm going to trust the word of other people -- some of which also haven't finished watching it" is driving me insane.

Being a hard core fan of something obviously brings with it a lot of passionate feelings when adaptations come into play. Of course, there's going to be people going "but in 8 episodes of the first ever season they made, they didn't explore Theme C or D, didn't introduce factions E and F and G, and because the source company is notorious for its scams, we and everyone else who's a TRUE fan should hate it".

The Amazon Original series Fallout follows the videogame franchise of the same name. It is a labour of love and you can tell by the attention to detail, the writing, the sets, and YES THE THEMES ARGUE WITH THE WALL. It's clearly fan service. I mean, the very characterisation of Lucy is a deadringer for someone playing a Fallout game for the first time. She embodies the innocent player whose expectations drastically change in a game that breaks your heart over and over again. Of course, she's also the vessel through which we explore a lot of themes, but I'll get to that.

There're some folks arguing that the show retcons the games, and I gotta say... for a website practically built on fandom culture, why are we so violently against the idea of someone basing an adaptation on a franchise that so easily lends itself to new and interesting interpretations? But to be frank, a lot of what AO's Fallout is not that new. We have: naive Vault dweller, sexy traumatised ghoul that people who aren't cowards will thirst over, and pathetic guy from a militaristic faction. We also have: total atomic annihilation, and literally in-world references to the games' lore and worldbuilding constantly (the way I was shaking my sister over seeing Grognark the Barbarian, Sugar Bombs, Cram, Stimpaks, and bags of RadAway was ridiculous). Oh, and the Red Rocket?? Best pal Dogmeat? I'm definitely outing myself as specifically a Fallout 4 player, but that's not the point you should be taking away from this.

The details, the references, and the new characters -- this show is practically SCREAMING "hey look, we did this for the fans, we hope you love it as much as we do". Who cares that the characters are new, they still hold the essence of ones we used to know! And they're still interesting, so goddamn bloody interesting. Their arcs mean so much to the story, and they're told in a genuinely intriguing way. This isn't just any videogame adaptation, this was gold. This sits near Netflix's Arcane: League of Legends level in videogame adaptation. Both series create new plots out of familiar worlds.

Of course, those who've done the work have already figured out AO's Fallout is not a retcon anyway. But even if it was, that shouldn't take away from the fact that this show is actually good. Not even just good, it's great.

Were some references a little shoe-horned in to the themes by the end of the show, such as with "War never changes"? Yes, I thought so. But I love how even with a new plot and characters, they're actually still exploring the same themes and staying true to the games. I've seen folks argue otherwise, but I truly disagree. The way capitalism poisons our world, represented primarily through The American Dream and the atomic age of the 45-50s that promoted the nuclear family dynamic -- it's there. If you think it's glorifying it by leaning so heavily into in the adaptation, I feel like you're not seeing it from the right angle. It's like saying Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck glorifies the American Dream, when both this book and the Fallout franchise are criticisms of it. If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is a graveyard to the American Dream. This criticism comes from the plots that are built into every Fallout story that I know of. The Vaults are literally constructed to be their own horror story just by their mere existence, what they stand for, what happens in each of them. The whole entire show is about the preservation of the wrong things leading to fucked up worlds and people. The missions of the Vaults are time and again proven to be fruitless, unethical, plain wrong. Lucy is our brainwashed character who believed in the veritable cult she lived in before she found out the truth.

So then consider the Brotherhood of Steel. I really don't think it exists in the story to glorify the military. We see just how much the Brotherhood has brainwashed people like Max (also, anything ominously named something like "the Brotherhood" should raise eyebrows). Personally, I don't like Max, but I am intrigued by his characterisation. I thought the end of his arc was rushed the way he "came good" basically, but [SPOILERS] having him embraced as a knight in the Brotherhood at the end against his will -- finally getting something he always wanted -- and him grimly accepting it from all that we can tell? Him having that destiny forced upon him now that he's swaying? After he defected? If his storyline is meant to be a tragedy, it wouldn't surprise me, because Fallout is rife with tragedies anyway. And a tragedy would also be a criticism of the military. That's what Max's entire arc is. It goes from the microcosm focusing on the cycle of bullying between soldiers to the macro-environment where Max is being forced to continue a cycle of violence against humanity he doesn't want to anymore because a world driven to extremes forces him to choose it to survive (not to mention what a cult and no family would do to his psyche). Let's not forget what the Brotherhood's rules are: humankind is supreme. Mutants, ghouls, synths, and robots are abominations to be hated and destroyed. If you can't draw the parallels to the real world, you need to retake history and literature classes. The Brotherhood is also about preserving the wrong things, like the Vaults (like the Enclave, really). They just came about through different method. The Enclave is capitalism and twisted greed in a world where money barely exists anymore. The Brotherhood is, well, fascism plain and simple.

Are these the only factions in the Fallout franchise? Hell no. But if you're mad about that -- that they're the main ones explored, apart from the NCR -- I think you're missing the point. These themes, these reminders, are highly relevant in the current climate. In fact, I almost think they always will be relevant unless we undergo drastic change. On the surface-level, Fallout seems like the American ideal complete with guns blazing that guys in their basements jerk off to. Under that surface, is a mind-fuck story about almost the entire opposite: it's a deconstruction of American ideals that are held so closely by some, and the way that key notion of freedom gets twisted, and you're shooting a guy in-game because it's more merciful than what the world had in store for him.

I mean, the ghoul's a fucking cowboy from the wild west character he used to play in Hollywood glam and his wife was one of the people who helped blow up America in the name of capitalism and "peace". There are so many layers of this to explore, I'd need several days to try and keep track and go through it all.

The Amazon Prime show is a testament to the Fallout franchise. The message, the themes? They were not messed up or muddled or anything of the sort, in my opinion.

As for Todd Howard, that Bethesda guy, I'm sure there's perfectly valid reasons to hate him. I mean, I've hated people for a lot less valid reasons, and that's valid. We all got our feelings. But the show is about more than just him. My advice is to keep that in mind when you're judging it.

[anonymous-dentist]

É bem simples de entender o pq do guapoverse e do pq as pessoas querem se distanciar do QSMP, elas só cansaram de qualquer coisa que falarem já receber xingamentos e xenofobia em ccat e dms e isso desde o purgatório que não podia fazer qualquer crítica ao server que já era chamado de hater.

Não sei se você lembra mas quem começou a espalhar o print da ex do Cellbit no twitter foram os patitos e isso pq foi o fandom do Cellbit que começou a fazer thread sobre todos os xingamentos principalmente em espanhol que já receberam e os patitos estavam tentando encobrir os comentários xenofóbicos com aquela acusação séria que a ex dele fez (além de que já faz tempo que a fanbase do Quackity odeia o Cellbit) e que fez o Cellbit escrever o pdf e então vem o Quackity fazer uma live que era para ser sobre a xenofobia que os fãs brasileiros estavam sofrendo principalmente da comunidade >DELE< e ele diz que as pessoas que fazem isso não são da comunidade dele quando claramente são, só nisso ele deu mais liberdade para os patitos continuarem fazendo e foi o que fizeram, desde essa live muita gente já estava pedindo pro Cellbit sair do QSMP e não ter mais que sofrer com vários e vários comentários de hate.

Então veio a polêmica com os adms e só deixou o pessoal com mais raiva pq aparentemente o dono do que deveria ser um server para juntar comunidades não se importava nenhum pouco com duas das comunidades internacionais que mais sofreram desde que foram anunciadas, acredito que você não saiba mas a reputação do QSMP aqui no Brasil está na merda, tem um monte de canais de opiniões no youtube que fizeram vídeos sobre o servidor e os comentários não são nada bons, tem gente que só conhece o servidor por causa disso e pelos casos de xenofobia.

Como a reputação do servidor tá terrível e ninguém entra mais e acho provável que alguns cc's saiam do projeto (se não acabar antes), o próprio Cellbit ignora tudo relacionado ao QSMP em live e a última vez que ele falou sobre foi na live dele durante a tatuagem de hollow knight que ele fez referência a guapoduo e só, teve outras vezes que apareceram coisas sobre o Richas e ele ignorou ou quando ele pediu para não mandarem fanarts do cubito dele no discord então as pessoas só decidiram criar um "universo" sem ter que nomear o servidor. (ps. vi que você respondeu uma ask falando que nunca colocam o Quackity em fics/aus de guapoduo/spiderbit e além de muita gente ter ficado com raiva dele também é pq já faz bastante tempo que o fandom dele fica reclamando que ele sempre fica "sobrando", isso também em irl então todo mundo só decidiu ignorar e não colocar mais para não ter mais problemas).

Eu particularmente acho bem triste todo o rumo que deu, ainda mais pq tenho a certeza absoluta que as comunidades nunca mais vão ser unidas do jeito que eram, mesmo se o servidor voltar.

(Desculpa por não ter escrito em inglês, acho que não conseguiria me expressar direito escrevendo em outra língua, espero que tenha traduzido tudo certo, tentei escrever sem gírias e abreviações, e tudo isso é minha visão sendo brasileira e participando da comunidade desde o começo)

Don't worry about the Portuguese!

And here is a translation that I have gotten thanks to a very kind person. I've been trying to translate this all day so everybody can read it, and here we go:

It's very simple to understand why guapoverse exists and why people want to distance themselves from the QSMP. They're tired everything they say is a reason to receive insults and xenophobia in ccat and dms, and that's since the purgatory, people couldn't criticize the server and they would get called haters. I don't know if you remember but the whole situation with Cellbit's ex was started by the patitos and all that because Cellbit's fandom made threads exposing the harassment they received (specially from spanish speakers) and patitos were trying to cover any comments about the xenophobia with Cellbit's ex serious accusation (also quackity's fanbase has been hating Cellbit for a long time). [Now this person is just recounting the situation and saying how bad quackity handled the xenophobia accusations and his community, saying people hating were not from his community when they clearly were.] Since his live [addressing the xenophobia] people were asking for Cellbit to leave the QSMP just so they wouldn't suffer hate anymore. Then came the admins situation and it just made everyone angrier, apparently the owner of a server made to join communities didn't care at all about two international communities that suffered the most since they were announced. I believe you don't know but QSMP's reputation in Brazil is shit. There are a lot of commentary YouTube channels that made videos about the server and the comments weren't good at all, there are people here that only know the server for it's xenophobia case. With the server's terrible reputation and no players entering, I think it's very likely some CC's leave the project (if it doesn't end), and Cellbit it's ignoring everything related to the QSMP in live. The last time he said anything about it was the Hallow Night tattoo live that he made a reference to guapoduo and that's it. There were other times people mentioned Richas and he ignored, he even asked people to not send fanarts of his cubito on discord, so people decided to create an universe without having to name the server (ps. I saw you answered an ask saying people never put Quackity in guapoduo/spiderbit fics/aus. There's lots of people mas at him and his fandom has been complaining for a long time he's usually alone in those so everyone decided to ignore and not add him to avoid problems.) I, particularly, think the way things have been going for the server is really sad, even more because I'm completely sure the communities will never be as united as they once were, even if the server comes back.

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

Was browsing through early BOBF/Mando S3 criticisms on Tumblr and WOW, 93% of S2’s viewership dropped when S3 finished airing for an extremely understandable reason. As someone who got into Dinluke after all the dust settled I can only imagine what it was like becoming invested in Din’s story and being floored by the S2 finale only for it to get totally swerve-balled after a long-anticipated wait. How did you avoid the disappointment and burnout?

Spite is an incredibly powerful motivator, let me tell you.

I'm halfway joking about that, btw. I could say I'm used to disappointment and I also worked really hard not to take things too personally after being disappointed time and again year after year by fandoms I was in. Imo the healthiest attitude is that no show/movie/book/videogames/etc will ever play out the way you want/think it should so take what you can get and trash the rest. By the time I started watching The Mandalorian, I'd been burnt badly by Star Trek AOS, the Sequel Trilogy, the MCU, and the Disney machine, and I had to figure out how to accept that I like what I like, I can't change what I can't change, and I can/will run the fuck off with what I can change, which is making wildly fun and fulfilling transformative shit like fanfics and fanart.

I was actually excited about TBOBF and was utterly betrayed by the executive decision to throw him and Fennec to the side in order to absolutely trash the Season 2 finale of the Mando Show by having Din and Grogu reunite just like that. I guess I got lucky in that I had a long-running fic series that I was heavily invested in and I was not about to let Disney stop me from finishing it. Instead of letting my frustrations kill my interest in the show and fandom, I turned it into motivation to keep telling the story I wanted to tell based on the fallout of Season 2. It also helped that Andor happened.

I quit Season 3 of the Mando Show after the 1st episode and it was the best decision I ever made. I had a really rough time with it and was encouraged to step away if it was giving me too much stress. I'm glad for that. Less time and energy picking about Filoni&Favreau and Disney Lucasfilm's decisions and disappointments, more time and energy spent writing and drawing the dinluke I want to see. The nice thing about Star Wars is that it is an old and vast sandbox. Plenty of room here to build whatever sandcastles and dig however many holes you want while canon goes floundering by.

I think also that it really helped to find spaces to share with people who vibe on the same wavelength, so I'm not alone to my thoughts and spiraling myself out of a fandom I enjoyed (like what happened with TLJ but I shan't go there bc this response is long enough). Those posts about having friends you can shit-talk things with? Valid af. You need outlets to vent your grievances without setting bridges on fire, and it'll help your enjoyment of things in the long run.

I didn't avoid the disappointment but I figured out how to make something of it, so I'm still writing dinluke, I'm still drawing dinluke, I'm still getting giddy over dinluke. I actively choose to do what I want with them, and nothing Disney Lucasfilm puts out is ever going to stop me.

[jennelikejennay]

1. Favorite fic I wrote this year

Y'all are gonna make me choose?? among my babies???

Probably Another of Devotion's Casualties. It's so literary, idk.

5. Most popular fic this year

Looks like it's I've Got No One But Myself to Blame, the demi pon farr one. However, The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound is probably the most critically acclaimed, in that a bunch of authors I admire said nice things about it.

12. Favorite character to write about this year

Do I even have to say? It's Spock. I only wrote one fic this year without Spock in it. (It had Data in it.)

23. Fics you wanted to write but didn't

My dad doesn't like the word didn't, he prefers "haven't yet." But anyway I didn't write these in 2023:

-a fic about Kirk's food issues

-one where SNW Spock and Jim time travel together

-an AOS fic I have several scenes for, but nothing even approaching a plot

30. Favorite fandom to read fic from this year

Spirk obviously. Like.....I basically spent July to December reading Spirk and nothing else. No books. No other fandoms. Just those two knuckleheads. I could probably do this indefinitely, considering the fandom's 60-year history. But I'm kind of hoping the hyperfocus wears off at some point so I can read a print book again without wishing it had Spock in it.

Thanks, @thatisnotagoodswamp !

[imminent-danger-came]

hi (its the anon who sent you the ask about misogyny lol/correct opinions anon (i dont think my opinions are that great but thank you!) except im not on anon anymore lol) ive been meaning to ask you now you feel about the hero mk warrior mei thing; its by far the most popular interpretation of the hero and warrior dichotomy being applied to mk and mei and it IS a concept İ personally like in my head (İ ❤️ tragedy) but the fandom interpretation has kind of ruined it for me (personally) because it feels like a lot of people only take mk's role in the narrative into consideration and just kind of slot mei into the warrior role without much thought toward her actual character or importance to the plot. that doesnt mean İ hate the idea by any means, but it does kind of make me more critical towards it lol

İ am personally kind of biased towards the hero mei warrior mk thing because for one, İ think mei-swk parallels create such an interesting conflict for mei, and two, because its the less popular interpretation in the fandom İ dont have to see as many bad takes on it haha (im joking)

(also there are SO many parallels between mei & swk that i rarely see pointed out by other fans... like i outside of you i dont see Imk bloggers point them out very often 💔 (ive *never* seen someone point this out before but do think mei stealing the jacket she that gives to mk in 3×02 from ao guang parallels swk stealing the staff from ao guang?))

all of that aside though, im not personally sold on either of these options! İ dont think mk & mei directly fit into the roles of the hero and warrior in the same way as macaque and wukong did! to me it feels like the hero & warrior dichotomy is being set up to be subverted by the show to an extent (whether thats because the show is going to have mei take on the role of the hero, or because mk and mei wont fight at all, or a secret third thing is up to your personal interpretation lol); especially when you take into account the average audience's perspective on the hero and warrior stuff; the obvious conclusion that ive seen most people make is to have mk as the hero and mei as the warrior with most people not even considering mei as the hero/mei paralleling swk! İ dont think this means that mei-swk parallels dont exist (İ spent a decent bit of this ask talking about them LOL) but because they require more inference on the audience's part they dont get talked about as much, which does make me think that show is going to call it into attention at some point (although İm not great with predictive analysis haha, im mostly just putting my thoughts on the table here)

thats pretty much all İ have to say on the topic lol (sorry İ rambled so much haha) im not sure that last bit makes sense AT ALL but hear me out im cooking! İ meant to reccomend some songs that İ thought fit the Imk characters ages ago that İ forgot about lol, anyway İ think burn by the cure is SUCH a samadhi fire mei song. like its one of those songs where it feels like it was made for the character. big shot by jhariah fits like. 90% of the Imk cast imo. like İ know everyone in the comments section is talking about spamton and yes the song is very spamton coded BUT if you erase all your preexisting memories of spamton and only imagine monkie kid characters with it, it becomes a macaque/mei/swk/mk/whoever-coded song. like "think you're a big shot / İ think you're raveled up in a tangle of did nots / you're always just a bit shy, following behind" is so shadowpeach divorcecoded to me. "yeah it's not fair, İ know it's not fair / you aint the only star that's been left for dead" is so shadow play coded to me (it sounds more shadow play coded in the actual song trust me here). İ also think martyr by depeche mode is a samadhi fire mei song (although im pretty sure you could say any depeche mode song is Imk character coded and youd be right aha) also İ think ヘヴンリーユー by lonepi kind of goes down the same route as big shot where you could apply it to multiple lmk characters and it would still fit. its kind of a mei & mk take on the roles of the hero and warrior type thing to me (their asses are NOT escaping samsara!) (one of the english translations of one of the lyrics is literally "time and time again" (what mei says in 3x10) İ think those are all the songs ive been meaning to mention here as of right now ! sorry if this ending seems abrupt İ just dont know how to end asks haha

faggotvivsection I can't believe it was you the whole time! *MK 2x05 voice* What a twist! I always enjoy seeing you in my notes, so hello :)

Anyways, as for the 3x02 Mei and Wukong parallels, I think it goes deeper than just Mei stealing the jacket!

Ao Guang: "Stealing from me? On orders from the Monkey King no doubt."

Mei also steals the map from Ao Guang on behalf of Wukong, just like he had stolen the staff in the past. I think in a way, the map and the staff were both "roadmaps" to get more power, you know. The map enabled them to unseal the rings, and the staff gave Wukong a suitable weapon.

Ao Guang specifically comments on both Mei and Wukong's weapons, Mei with her sword and Wukong with stealing the staff. In a way, both of their weapons are dragon related, one from the Dragon of the West and another from the Dragon of the East.

When it comes to hero and warrior mk/mei, I lean towards both! I think they're both the hero and the warrior for each other in their own respective ways. I love warrior Mei specifically because of 3x10, and because MK refuses to abandon her thus subverting the typical progression of the hero warrior dynamic (even if he can often be dismissive of Mei, stealing things from her [2x06, 3x03], putting a strain on his relationships for power [1x06, 2x03, 2x06, 2x07, 3x03]). I think moving forward however, Hero Mei and Warrior MK are far more likely to play out!

I have a whole samadhi fire part 3 tag centered around a parallel prediction, where we continue the parallel that was set up in 3x10 and 4x08, and while MK is on the verge of destroying the world have Mei get through to MK and reach him. In 3x10 MK is actually able to reach Mei...but in 4x08, MK runs away before Mei can make it to him. So if we had a moment where they were able to close that gap, and neither of them leaves, it'd be really satisfying. I am a huge believer in Hero Mei Warrior MK, don't let anyone ever tell you it isn't real.

Anyhow, onto the song recs:

Burn by the Cure

"Oh don't talk of love" the shadows purr Murmuring me away from you "Don't talk of worlds that never were The end is all that's ever true There's nothing you can ever say Nothing you can ever do" Still every night I burn Every night I scream your name Every night I burn Every night the dream's the same Every night I burn Waiting for my only friend Every night I burn Waiting for the world to end

What a "Samadhi Fire Mei pov toward MK" song am I right. It's also very Warrior Mei ("It follows the tragic tale of a legendary Warrior, and how those who bring light into this world, inevitably bring darkness to those they hold dear" -> "Oh don't talk of love the shadows purr", love a good light and dark motif)

Big Shot by Jhariah

Though I may love Spamton, and this is a very stage motif-y "There is no audience" kinda song, I do get the Shadow Play vibes (it's also giving theater Kid Macaque versus Wukong have stage fright lol), and over course it's overtly shadowpeach-esque. I also get a little bit of s2/s3 Macaque @ MK, especially with "You ain't the only star that's been left for dead"

Yeah it’s not fair, I know it’s not fair You ain't the only star that’s been left for dead I asked about your name on the moon It was quiet nobody knew you Aim like an atom who swears it’s going to shoot you Are you the only one-of-one to be found? If you could see the rest, would it bring you back down? You’re no big shot, think you’re a big shot I think you’re raveled up in a tangle of did nots You’re always just a bit shy, following behind I think you’ve spent enough time Singing the same lines

Martyr by Depeche Mode

I've been a martyr for love And I will die in the flames As I draw my last breath As I close in on death I will call out your name I've been a martyr for love Nailed up on the cross While you're having your fun As the damage is done I'm assessing the cost

THE SAMADHI FIRE MEI @ WUKONG OF IT ALL. Mei having to bear the consequence of Wukong's decisions, potentially burning herself from the inside out.

ヘヴンリーユー (Heavenly You) by lonepi

As the moon waned, I realized you weren't with me anymore. As the dawn of the new day broke, I hid my tear-swollen voice amidst the morning dew. You had said something like, "It's all my fault that you're this way." That's right, it's your fault. But just remember, that's not all of it. Every time my positives overcome the negatives, you toss them in the trash and do it over. You've stanched all those opportunities away from me time and time again.

The first pair that comes to mind is MK @ Wukong, or Macaque @ Wukong, but I think MK @ Mei would be interesting, even if not exactly canon. Mei is carrying MK's mental health on her lone shoulders, so that being disregarded in favor of blaming her for his problems...I dig that sort of broken Mei & MK dynamic.

[competitivedust]

So another thought came to me about Agents of Shield. I think we all have seen comments about how annoying Daisy was when she ordered Deke to off Freddie Malick to prevent all the horrors he would cause in the future. And yes, it's a bad decision to kill him right then. Without Hydra there won't be a shield, and chronicoms would easily take over the Earth. I have seen this opinion expressed hundreds of times. Calling Daisy too emotional, too stupid etc etc.

Compare this to how these people never mention how Fitz thought it'd be a good idea to repair the gravitonium machine to save Simmons. As if that isn't an asinine fucking decision. Is Fitz not super emotional in this scene? Is he not being illogical and stupid? Or all those words only reserved for female characters you don't like?

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (7-13 Apr 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 If This Is As Far As We Go (BeauRadley) - 124K, stucky no-powers AU - after a year of being phenomenal hookup buddies, bucky ends their arrangement & throws steve into a tailspin - slow burn, angsty, oblivious steve slowly realizing his true feelings, good supporting cast

😊 Bunt! Striking Out on Financial Aid (Ngozi Ukazu & Mad Rupert) - cute graphic novel about art students forming a softball team to exploit a financial aid loophole

😍 Death in the Spires (KJ Charles, author; Tom Lawrence, narrator) - historical murder mystery set in 1905 Oxford - another KJC absolute banger: incredible sense of place, fantastic characters, perfectly done 'whodunnit' tension and a HIGHLY SATISFACTORY resolution. Loved every word

💖💖 +76K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

The Man, the Myth, the Legend (sparklyslug) - Check Please!: gen, 2.9K - Holster's beatboxing skills brings all the a capella groups to the Haus - a short, fun, funny, outsider POV fic

Say it louder for the people in the back (redhook) - MCU: shrinkyclinks, 14K - reread, forever fave - sometimes you just get a yearning to reread the best glory hole fic ever written

In Focus (sparklyslug) - Check Please!: zimbits, 6K - Jack's photography eye knows what's up before his conscious brain does

Entering Orbit (museaway) - Star Trek AOS: spirk, 30K - good post-AOS canon-divergent fic where Jim goes home to Iowa to escape the press & Spock joins him

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Hot Ones - Conan O'Brien

QI - series S, ep 13

Game Changer - s6, e5 {Bingoception}

Um, Actually - s9, e4

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Dawn of Justice" (s21, e14)

D20: Adventuring Party - "We're Running on 200%" (s16, e14)

Death In Paradise - s11, e4-8; s12 e0-8, s13 e0-8

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Working - How to Be Both a Critic and a Creator

Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #10: Of the Reaching Green

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - Fireside Chat for WWW ep10 "Of the Reaching Green"

Short Wave - How Climate Change And Physics Affect Baseball

Consider This from NPR - Bad Omens Or The Cycle of Nature? How The Ancient World Viewed Eclipses

⭐ Armchair Expert - Anna Kendrick [Rerelease from 1/9/23]

Today, Explained - Is college still worth it?

The Sporkful - Jewish Food Is More Than Matzoh Balls

WikiHole - BEYONCÉ (with Zoë Chao, Nat Faxon and Poppy Liu)

⭐ All Songs Considered - Songs to make you laugh, with 'Weird Al' Yankovic

In Defense of Fandom - Season 2 Episode 2: Putting my theory to the test

Dinner’s on Me - Orville Peck

⭐ Switched on Pop - Chasing old sounds: Djo's "End of Beginning" with Joe Keery

⭐ 99% Invisible #577 - The Society of Ambiance Makers and Elegant Persons

⭐ Vibe Check - A Special Conversation with Ada Limón

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Brown Mountain Lights

Short Wave - The Order Your Siblings Were Born in May Play a Role in Identity and Sexuality

⭐ Code Switch - How Frederick Douglass launched generations of Black and Irish solidarity

⭐ Decoder Ring - Can the “Bookazine” Save Magazines?

⭐ Imaginary Worlds - African Sci-Fi Looks to a Future Climate

Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #11: Promises Promises

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - Fireside Chat for WWW ep11 "Promises Promises"

What Next: TBD - Does Google Suck Now?

Short Wave - What To Know About The New EPA Rule Limiting 'Forever Chemicals' In Tap Water

Code Switch - Reflecting on the legacy of O.J. Simpson

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Atlas Obscura Live: Two Places And A Lie

Dear Prudence - I Lost a Lot of Weight and Now I Enjoy Being a Mean Girl. Help!

It's Been a Minute - The car culture wars; plus, the problem with child stars

Endless Thread - RIP Lil Miquela

Shedunnit - You Probably Imagined It!

Armchair Expert - John Cena

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - [One Shot] A County Affair: Prologue

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Presenting Bonnie Raitt

Lowrider Oldies

Huge House Anthems

Djo

Classic Soul BBQ

A LA SALA [Khruangbin] {2024}

Presenting Khruangbin

Happy Beats

'80s One-Hit Wonders

Feel-Good Classic Rock

[hummingbird-of-light]

Round 2: Nineteenth story for @badthingshappenbingo ~

Title: Working Nine to Five

Fandom: Star Trek (AOS)

Character(s): Robert "Robbie" Scott, Leah McCoy, Chris Scott, Original Alien Character

Relationship(s): Robert "Robbie" Scott/Leah McCoy, Robert "Robbie" Scott & Chris Scott

Rating: T

Words: 914

Prompt: Definitely Just a Cold

Warnings: Infection, Bacteria, Blood

(You can also find this story on AO3)

~ Working Nine to Five ~

Once again, Robert "Robbie" Scott's body was shaken by a violent coughing fit and he stared wearily into the mirror. Dark circles had formed under his eyes and his face was pale.

The Scotsman felt miserable. He had been sniffling and coughing all night. He had barely managed to catch a wee bit of sleep, but he still knew he had to get to work. Too many things needed to be done. The entire computer system of a private spaceship in the shipyard had to be repaired. And he didn't have much time left for the job. Maybe another day or two – at most!

For this very reason, Robbie simply filled his hands with some cool water and splashed it into his face. As the liquid touched his skin, the Scotsman could literally feel that his forehead was as warm as a hotplate. But the water had the desired effect and, as he noticed when he looked in the mirror again, made him look much more awake.

He ignored how blurred his vision was. He was sure that only a little water had gotten into his eyes. For sure.

It was just a simple cold.

~

Every movement hurt his muscles as Robbie moved slowly through the ship under repair, going from console to console. He was sweating like crazy and his vision wasn't getting any better.

Many of the staff had advised him to go home or rest, but he didn't have time for that. He was needed on the spot.

"Mr. Scott!" The loud voice of his supervisor rang through the halls of the shipyard and Robbie flinched involuntarily, looking up from the console he was working on.

"A-aye, ma'am?"

The stern-looking Tellarite came to a halt in front of him and scrutinized the Scotsman from head to toe. She wrinkled her pig-like nose.

"God, you look horrible! You'd better go to bed earlier if you have to work the next day!"

Robbie sighed inwardly. He really missed his human boss, who was currently on vacation and was being replaced by Miss Gragur.

"Aye, ma'am."

What else could he say back? The Tellarite wouldn't believe him anyway.

"How far along are you and the team with the work?" Gragur eyed the console critically and Robbie would have liked to give her a detailed status report, but just as he tried to speak, he had to cough again. The attack was much worse than the previous ones and it took him a moment to catch his breath.

"My goodness, Scott, pull yourself together! You –" His boss stopped mid-sentence as she caught sight of something on Robbie's sleeve and face.

A few swear words in her native language later, she had her communicator in her hand.

"We need an emergency doctor at these coordinates! Now!"

Robbie blinked in confusion. The veil in front of his eyes had thickened even more. What was Gragur talking about? An emergency doctor? He had just coughed. He wasn't injured.

Slowly, the Scotsman let his bleary eyes wander to his arm and he realized what had caused the alien lady to react so exaggeratedly.

His entire sleeve, into which he had coughed, was covered in blood. Robbie wanted to say something, but it was already too late. His entire body's circulation failed and sent him into the realm of dreams.

~

He woke up to the steady noise of beeping. Robbie's eyes slowly fluttered open and he was very surprised to see that he was lying in a hospital room. He let his eyes wander, only to find two familar figures sitting next to him.

A soft smile formed on his lips as he recognized them as his girlfriend and son. They were chatting quietly, not looking at the Scotsman at first, but Chris quickly noticed his father's head moving.

"Oh my – look! He's waking up!" the young man exclaimed and Leah followed his gaze.

"Oh Robbie..." The nurse gave him a gentle look and took her boyfriend's hand in hers. He could see that she had cried.

"What... what happened?" Robbie frowned, trying his best to remember just how he had ended up in the hospital.

"You were admitted a few hours ago. You were coughing up blood and were in a very poor general condition. When the doctors examined you, they diagnosed an infection with a rare type of bacteria. By the time you got here," Leah swallowed hard, "it was almost too late, but we did everything we could to fight the bacteria."

And they had obviously succeeded.

"But... how could I get infected with something like that? I... I was just at home or at work."

Robbie tried to remember the last few days.

"It was transmitted by a small alien creature we found on your leg. It resembles the ticks of the 21st century."

A... tick?

Robbie's eyes widened as something occurred to him.

"The plant."

He had recently bought a plant at a market. Leah had said that his apartment looked so colorless and he had thought that he could brighten everything up a bit. The creature must have been hiding in the plant.

"What? What are ye talking about, Dad?" Chris looked at Robbie, confused. So the technician explained everything to Leah and him.

The plant was soon recovered and the man selling them was quickly found. Two things were certain: there would never be another case like this. And next time, Robbie would worry more about his own health than about the work.

[just4notherd4ydre4mer]

INTRODUCTION + IMP. RULES & INFO

Usually, I'd make things look pretty. But tbh... Idk how to use tumblr at all. Forgive me. I'm not familiar with a lot of the terms on here :'')

Maybe I'll make this aesthetic later?? Rlly lazy and tumblr is confusing.

My username is subject to change anytime to anything, from somewhat thought out or even just keyboard smash. Bcs I'm beyond indecisive.

Also, I'm not new to writing fanfics and what not... but yknow, let's NOT talk abt the past.

[ BASIC INFO]

Call me whatever u want -- Anything works tbh though.

I'm a minor. That alone sets some basic ground rules ig... right?

Uh... I decided to start using tumblr bcs im bored. Like rlly bored. I'm am %100 going to be either very active or inactive. (short bursts of motivation lol)

What I do? I draw. I wouldn't say that I'm a beginner but I want to start sharing my progress (probably wont tho bcs... tik tok has traumatized me. Let's go with that...) But, here I am :) I also write. Whether it be my own original stories or fanfics.

Requests for both are welcome! (options listed below)

[ KEY ]

◍ - Manga/Manwha/WEBTOON … etc

○ - Anime

◐ - Dramas

▿ - Games

❥ - Current Fixation (always up to date)

[ I will usually only take requests for ❥... but you never know, so ask away! Rules are at the bottom of this post ]

FANDOMS (a-z)

•Attack on Titan ~ ○

•Black Clover ~ ❥ ○

•Blue Lock ~ ❥○

•Free! ~ ○

•Full Metal Alchemist ~ ○

•Golden Kamuy ~ ❥○

•Haikyuu! ~ ○

• Hunter x Hunter ~ ○

•Komi Can't Communicate ~ ◍ ○

•Kuruko’s Basketball ~ ○

•Log Horizon ~ ○

•Magi (+Includes AoS) ~ ○

•My Clueless First Friend ~ ○

•My Hero Academia ~ ○

•My Star! (Oshi No Ko) ~ ○

•Pokemon ~ ❥▿

•Saiki K. ~ ○

•School Babysitters ~ ○

•Seraph of the End ~ ❥ ◍ ○

•Skip & Loafer ~ ❥ ○

•Snow White with the Red Hair ~ ❥ ◍ ○

•Soul Eater ~ ○

•World Trigger ~ ❥ ○

•Weak Hero ~ ❥ ◍ ◐ (I've watched the kdrama... I just dont have access to it anymore).

/this could get REAL long so I didn’t include a lot… If you’re interested in one that isn’t listed, feel free to ask if I’ve watched/read it :) /

P.S: I’ve seen lots of the more popular/mainstream animes (movies too) but just didn’t list them.

EDIT: I've decided to link my finished animes.

[ GROUND RULES ]

No NSFW (obviously)

Constructive Criticism? Lovely. Mocking or being blatantly mean? Please don't. I'll be honest, I'm sensitive LOL.

If you want to request, please leave it under the respective post that I make for what is listed. (if there isn't a linked post for that, put it here and I'll make one <3)

Don't be concerned if I disappear. I'm literally making this out of whatever motivation I have left of the week. A spur of the moment thing is going on :'D

---

Again, I have absolutely NO idea what im doin... im bored, it's summer rn. Speaking of which, if I do ever actually post and follow up with whatever requests may or may not come my way -- the moment the school year starts again, either I'll be spam posting my brainrotting ideas or I will just never be seen again :)

[auroraescritora]

2023 Review

Oi, como vai? Eu não ia fazer isso, porque no começo do ano tenho preguiça até de abrir os olhos, mas lá vamos nós.

Pra falar a verdade, @haiseiscute333 me marcou em uma postagem, então resolvi fazer uma retrospectiva também. E só para avisar, vou precisar da sua ajuda, ok? Provavelmente no meio do ano para terminar de revisar a minha história. Eu também queria agradecer por tudo até aqui.

Sinceramente? Sinto que não fiz muito esse ano, mas eu não sei, a cada fim de ano é a mesma sensação, mesmo que eu tenha feito. O tempo passa tão rápido! Enfim, comecei esse blog no fim de 2022, porém, só comecei a escrever nele em junho de 2023. Também recomecei meu projeto de ajuda a escritores e tentei ficar a par do que estava acontecendo no fandom e falhei miseravelmente.

Foi um ano estranho e agradável ao mesmo tempo. Teve um momento que pensei em parar de escrever e que eu de fato tinha esquecido como criar um bom texto. Sempre esqueço que minha ansiedade sempre vai falar mais alto e autocritica mais ainda.

Bem, no total, foi um bom ano. Cheio de altos e baixos, porém com um história longa quase completa. Eu gostaria de agradecer também a algumas pessoas que estiveram comigo desde o início e que não me deixaram falar com as parades sozinha:

@haiseiscute333 @yonemurishiroku @perryjackpott @ch3353cake-29 @language-of-blueberries (Desculpa se eu esqueci de alguém 😁💕💕)

Até logo!

PS: No momento estou revisando a "Não há lugar como o lar" porque fiz besteira. Por enquanto está aqui no Spirit, a versão em inglês vou continuar do ponto onde parei assim que eu conseguir. Vejo vocês provavelmente no fim de janeiro ou no começo de fevereiro.

Hi, how are you? I wasn't going to do this, because at the beginning of the year I'm too lazy to even open my eyes, but here we go.

To tell you the truth, tagged me in a post, so I decided to do a retrospective too. And just to warn you, I'm going to need your help, okay? Probably in the middle of the year to finish revising my story. I also wanted to thank you for everything so far.

Honestly? I feel like I haven't done much this year, but I don't know, every end of the year it's the same feeling, even if I did. Time passes so quickly! Anyway, I started this blog at the end of 2022, but I only started writing on it in June 2023. I also restarted my project to help writers and tried to keep up to date with what was going on in fandom and failed miserably.

It was a strange and enjoyable year at the same time. There was a moment when I thought I'd stop writing and that I'd actually forgotten how to create a good text. I always forget that my anxiety will always speak louder and my self-criticism even more so.

All in all, it was a good year. Full of ups and downs, but with a long story almost complete. I'd also like to thank a few people who have been with me from the start and who didn't let me talk to the walls on my own:

@haiseiscute333 @yonemurishiroku @perryjackpott @ch3353cake-29 @language-of-blueberries (Sorry if I forgot anyone 😁💕💕)

See you later!

PS: I'm currently revising "There's no place like home" because I messed up. For now, the Portuguese version it's here on Spirit, the English version I'll pick up where I left off as soon as I can. I'll see you probably at the end of January or the beginning of February.

[lenievi]

🔥 mckirk or les miserables

me: I am the queen of unpopular opinions!

also me: what were they? 😂

I think the fandom has the mckirk characterization often backwards (even though it depends on when we're talking about; but also it's not new, the roots are back in the 1980s imho) - in TOS, it's pretty clear that McCoy is the one who enjoys life and everything it entails more than Kirk, and I believe that by Beyond it's the same for AOS!McCoy, but a lot of fics seem to be stuck permanently in 2009 characterization and that's also the characterization that often circulates throughout tumblr posts (i.e. no fun McCoy and let's have fun Kirk, simply said)

I don't think it's McCoy who's afraid of commitment; Kirk's the one who's afraid

we all know how I feel about McCoy calling Kirk "kid" when Kirk is 30yo 🙃 (I'm more in favour of McCoy just saying "good boy" during sex at this point tbh)

---

I don't think I've seen enough opinions about Les Misérables to know if mine are unpopular or not. Because I mostly just look into "valvert" tag and reblog pretty fanart (or save it into drafts to reblog it later).

But based on the fanfics I've read so far - which are primarily Valjean saves Javert from suicide and they get together (don't judge me lol) - I'd say that my unpopular opinion would be that I don't think Javert would go back to the police. If he survived, I don't think he would back down from the criticism he'd left behind, and he'd rather be fired because he'd believe he'd deserve it since how can he work for the law that isn't just as he thought it was? He wanted to be fired after he thought he wrongly accused Madeleine of being an ex-convict, how would he not want to be fired after being unable to arrest Jean Valjean?

idk let him open a private detective agency like Vidocq did if you wanna write a case fic.

[unexpectedstormy]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by a couple of people and I can't remember who, but thank you guys!!!

1. How many works do you have on A03?

18

2. What's your total A03 word count?

165,660 and 140k of that is from just this year!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Legend of Zelda and Linked Universe, although I do have one Ao No Exorcist/Blue Exorcist manga fic that isn't finished yet and I plan to finish at some point. I have a Sonic the Hedgehog AU too but that isn't published and is only for me.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Recharge

For the Want of a Breath (surprised this one is so high on the list)

Hyrule and Wild Have a Hard Time (My personal Fave)

LU Whump Dump

Secret of the Sea Cave (Beats out Yukio Turn on the Light by 1 kudos)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Most of them yes. I tend to save up comments and answer like 20 of them in a day to save time/energy.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

That's gotta be Yukio Turn on the Light for sure (it's a story about a suicidal boy being talked back from the brink by his dead dad in order to prevent Satan from taking over the world), although Ghost Story will have a very angsty ending too (story about nine ghosts that need help making peace with their regrets so they can pass into the afterlife).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Mmmm... that would be my FMA:B fic Actually I'm Not Sorry which is an epilogue to the manga/anime

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really hate but I've gotten a couple critical comments here or there. On Recharge I've gotten quite a few "Where's the rest of this fic? Hurry up and write it B(&%^" or variations of that. That's why I abandoned it.

9. Do you write smut?

🤢🤮oh heck no

10. Do you write crossovers?

Never. I don't like the foods on my plate to touch so to speak.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. I probably wouldn't know if it was.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I've podficed one.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. When I was a kid I used to co-write original stories with my sister though.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Merthur (Arthur and Merlin from the Merlin TV show). Also Sam & Jack from Stargate SG1

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The Sign of the Wolf is an unpublished hibernating WIP that is a long and meandering story about a depressed post LU Wild making peace with the loss of his 8 brothers after their adventure together ended. The main premise is that each of the other Links hid care packages around his Hyrule and Wild has to go on a scavenger hunt to find them.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue comes easily to me and characterizations as long as I can figure out what makes each character think.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue tags are annoying. So are boring scenes and transition scenes. And I'm terrible about knowing what things to shorten/cut out of the story.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Uhhh I have no thoughts? This hasn't really come up much except for sign language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Well if you count my very first story ever I wrote at age 9 which was a Lord of the Rings superhero AU, then LotR. Otherwise, it was Sonic the Hedgehog.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

I gotta say: Skulltula and Thunder.

Tagging @uniquevoidflowers @nancyheart11 @ladye-zelda @spookypanda04 @hotcheetohatredwastaken