#but GODDAMN is their relationship problematic at first

[altblock-tm]

OC Fact #6

Maroon and Krystll are boyfriend and girlfriend :)

both of them have blood on their hands and both of them like ignoring their trauma by kissing

[ironunderstands]

What's your opinion on people claiming aventio is teacher x student and that it's problematic because of ratio calling aven his student

Read a book please and if you are of voting age please refrain from participating in your elections because if your mental capacity is clearly lacking and I don’t want your poor decision making to impact others.

a) If you believe Aventio is genuinely student X teacher, HOW????

They are the same goddamn age, Ratio literally sees EVERYONE INCLUDING HIMSELF as a student, it’s not that serious to him and he’s not LITERALLY Aventurine’s teacher, he just wants to help him learn things and idk how that got twisted to being problematic. Also this would make every other Ratio ship problematic but I don’t see yall mentioning them ever hmmm. Ratio isn’t literally handing him out homework for fucks sake, he’s trying to help him, and if that’s somehow problematic then god help me. Moreover, their relationship isn’t strictly a professional one, sure they have jobs to get done but once that’s over they can spend time together and it’s fine because they are EQUALS and PARTNERS, the guild literally positions them as STRATEGIC PARTNERS because they are on the SAME PLAYING FIELD AAAAAAAA

and B) what makes student X teacher toxic in the first place is the power gap between both parties, but get this, AVENTIO’S IS REVERSED. Ratio literally holds no power over Aventurine, whether it be in age (they are in the same age range), intellect (Aventurine is extremely intelligent, just in a different manner), and in terms of both position and pure physical strength, Aventurine completely overpowers Ratio, yet I don’t see anyone trying to babyfy Ratio over this because nobody who has actually made this argument has thought about it, let alone the characters they are describing for more than 3 seconds

[burning-academia-if]

I'm so sorry for all the notifications lmao I'm going around liking every ask because i haven't been on the page for a bit. And why the fuck is all the asks making me like Lars. I don't want to like Lara because Lara doesn't want to like my MC.. i already have enough problems with Rook 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I need to stay away from these problematic ROs. 😭

Oh quessssstiiioooon someone's probably asked this before but I've seen it on a few blogs. But since magic is obvs a thing. If someone cursed MC or gave them something that could only be broken by true love's kiss (especially since mc doesn't really have the healthiest relationship with those they are close to so who would think they could break a spell like that)

and it's after they've confessed to the ROs. How would they react to MC not waking up at first after they kissed them... but waking up after they've started having a major meltdown after all?

If you have gotten this ask could i please have a link because finding anything on tumblr is... 😒

And i literally fall in love with this goddamn IF every time i read anything on this page. It's a curse in itself... I hope you have a lovely weekend 🤣😇💜

Omg never apologize for mass liking, that's literally anyone on Tumblr's lifeblood lol

Also you know, I feel like Lars, despite being the biggest asshole of the ROs, is still less of a handful then Rook lmfaO good luck with dealing with them!

Also I have not been asked this one before! Felt very inspired it with, so I turned it into a prompt!

Rook:

            You’re so still against the touch of his lips. You’re still even after he pulls away. His chest buzzes so loud it echoes in his ears. You don’t move, not even the flutter of your lashes and he should have known. How can he be your true love, when he spent so many years running away?

            Whoever it is, would look you in the eyes when you said you loved them. They’re someone who would have taken you in their arms instead of turning away again and again. He sinks to his knees, hands clutching at the side of the bed where you lay. Tears burn at his eyes, but not a single one falls.

            Even before he made this foolish decision, he knew. All that’s left is to find the one could wake up. If you’re life lays in the hands of someone else, a fact he always knew, then so be it.

            He’ll let you go, like he should have so long ago. He will. He just needs another moment here with you before he turns away. He needs to hear your heartbeat and the cadence of your breathing for one last time.

            Time passes as slow as honey, thick and opaque. His body is listless. In the silence, your breath catches and he blinks. Turns. You take another shaky breath, and when your eyes open, he’s on his feet.

            “MC!” He gathers you in his arms, holding on tight. “Oh, thank god. I thought I lost you. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

            His forehead falls against your shoulder, and the tears finally fall. Your awake, your body is warm. And maybe, just maybe, he really does have a chance to make things right.

Beck:

            When you don’t move after he pulls away, he doesn’t waver. Magic is strange, it can effect everyone differently, and with how much magic has affected you, he isn’t concerned that there isn’t an immediate response.

            Instead, he takes a seat next to where you lay. He brings his knees up to his chest and tells you about all the things you’ve missed. The first flowers of spring, the new used bookstore that opened up on the corner, school events, and class drama.

            The time ticks down, and it pricks at his heart. He keeps talking. About himself, about his life, about how he first fell for you, about how you are the warmth of the fire on a winter day, and if even if he isn’t your true love, then that’s ok. He’s just so glad he was able to have any time with you at all.

            At some point, his throat is dry and he’s run out of words. What can he say, as the sky turns a dusty orange. He swallows, eyes fluttering closed and feel the first of the tears fall. If it isn’t him to wake you up, then who will it be? And how long will you be cursed to sleep until they find you?

            A world without your laugh is far worse than a world where the two of you aren’t meant to be.

            Then.

            You shift beside him, and he goes still. When he looks, he sees your eyes flutter open, eyebrows furrowing as you look at him.

            “…You’re awake.” He says, voice barely above a whisper. He brushes his fingers against your cheek, so impossibly gently. “You’re awake.”

            He laughs, a watery, trembly sort of laugh, as he runs a thumb against your cheek. You’ll still be with him.

Rhea:

            “Please wake up.” She whispers, kneeling next to you. There is no sign the kiss did anything. It’s fine, this isn’t the end of the world. She has had the logic of magic seared into her brain, and she knows how it works. She’ll wait. She can wait.

            But still, you remain still. She gets up and moves around, to give her body something to do as she waits. She’s not good at that, waiting. She always needs to be in the midst of doing something. Making progress. When something’s out of her hands like this, she feels like she’s in freefall.

            There might be a chance, she thinks as time ticks by, that you and her aren’t the ones for each other. Somehow, it makes the anxious energy in her gut easier to deal with. As long as she doesn’t think of the heartbreak that will hit the moment she leaves your side, it gives her a plan. Something to work towards. Steps to map out to figure out where to go from here and how to wake you up. The process of even finding the one who could do so.

            She’s on step four when your fingers twitch. She goes still in response. All her thoughts scatter. Like a deer in headlights she watches you, wondering if it was just her imagination. But then your body shifts and she’s next to you again, softly calling your name.

            “MC? Can you…can you hear me darling?” When you blink away, she feels a smile bloom despite herself. You’re awake and well and still hers.

Zoe:

            There’s doubt in their chest even before they press a kiss against your lips. For it to be them? They’re not the kind of person who makes it into fairytales. They know this. Stories are the sort of thing they’ve studied their entire life. They exist on the other side of the glass, able to peer in but never able to be.

            As you remain still, they stand and lean back on their heel. Whoever your true love is, it isn’t them. It isn’t that they doubt your love, but it’s hard to imagine that kind of forever for them. If this was the fate they were dealt, then so be it. And even so, you were their first love, and that’s a kind of special whatever comes next can’t take away. Even on different paths, even living different lives, you can both still be a fond memory for the other.

            But god, they’ve never experience heartbreak either or the way it collides into their body and leaves them breathless. They wanted this. Every moment with you was a dream they never thought they’d get a chance to see. They were awkward and clumsy, and they were the luckiest person alive to have been able to met you.

            They press a hand against their mouth, to stop the sob that’s trying to break through them. The image of you blurs as tears collect in their eyes and stream down their cheeks. They squeeze their eyes shut, trying to collect themselves.

            It’s why it startles them, when they feel a hand reaching out, “…Zoe?”

            They choke on a gasp, eyes flying open to see you awake. You’ve pulled yourself up, and your eyes are open. It strikes them so suddenly, they all but throw themselves against you. Any embarrassment they used to feel is gone. They’ll never let themselves hesitate again.

Lars:

            “You would get yourself cursed.” He whispered against your lips as he pulls away. He doesn’t believe in true love or soulmates. For a curse to be based on the concept, it must make it the flimsiest curse to have been made. All it really needs is love and faith and stubbornness. Maybe his faith is lacking, but he sure as hell can make up for it with stubbornness.

            So he waits. He leans his head back, closes his eyes, and wonders how long it will take. His hand toys with your fingers absently. With you asleep, you won’t be able to comment on the display. He still remembers when you said you loved him, the look in your eyes that left no room for doubt. He thought you were making a terrible decision, but he wasn’t one to complain. Your terrible decision, just lead to his great decision to go along with it.

            The time passes slow, but the anxiety never comes. That isn’t who he is. Not when he’s sure about this, or at least more sure about it then whatever magic was used on you. And even if the kiss doesn’t wake you up, he’ll just find whoever cursed you in the first place and make them reap the consequences.

            When he feels your hand move, slipping your fingers between his, he sighs, “About time you got up.”

            “Lars? My hand—”

            “Don’t get used to it.” You laugh, the sound scratchy from sleep, and he feels his body relax. It was nice to have you back.

???:

            They know your souls are too entwined to have a doubt. That doesn’t not mean there won’t be blood on their hands for what was done to you. How dare someone curse the one they love. How dare someone put their hands on you.

            They’re kiss is so painfully soft despite the violent rage in their chest. It’s been so long since they’ve felt this burning under their skin. Did the Curse Giver think you were alone and unloved? Did they not realize you had someone who was entwined with you in every way, down to the way you take a breath.

            The wraiths flicker around them, agitated by the tremble in their body. They keep close to you, body curved as a way to shield you from the rest of the earth. If you don’t wake soon, they’re hands will find a blade, and that blade will find a body. The wraiths whisper amongst each other, as though capable of soothing them.

            “But you were cursed even before this, weren’t you?” They breathe, pressing another kiss to your forehead. You shift beneath them, and when they pull away you open your eyes.

            You say their name, and the sound of it wraps around them. They have a Curse Giver to kill, but for now, they only lay down beside you, and ask if you’re ok. You’ve been asleep for so long, and it took too long to get to you. They’ll never be late again.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://www.tumblr.com/irresistible-revolution/633688280720916480/fanon-ships-and-the-alpha-male-x-cinderella

thoughts?

I personally would not go that far, at least on most cases. I'd say that the trend of women insisting the Bad Boy type is actually far kinder and more respectful towards the Main Girl than the Good Guy is a combination of two things:

1 - The sexist belief that women who like the "wrong" kind of romance are too stupid to know that some things should be fantasy only and not a model for real life relationships.

2 - The annoying trend of the past decades of people having to pretend nothing about the things they personally like can be kinky, or even genuinely problematic, otherwise they'd be admiting to being bad people.

It's purity culture. It's the assumption of "I am capable of crytical thinking, you are not." Plain and simple.

Some people just get horny for villains/morally dubious characters, are aware that they will be judged for it - and instead of just going "Fuck you, you don't have the right to judge me because of a goddamn fantasy" they try to argue "Actually, YOUR fantasy is the one that is actually problematic, sexist, racist, elitist, heteronormative and panders to the EVIL Male Gaze, while MY fantasy is secretly empowering and subversive and designed to be enjoyed by enlightened girlbosses because it is made with the Wholesome Female Gaze in mind."

Zutarians, for all their talk of wanting a complicated, mature, adult romance for their ship, are actually fucking terrified of the more messy aspects of their own fantasies, and instead of getting over that complex (or removing them through AUs) and having their fun, they defend themselves from bad faith criticism by attacking people first.

That's why they deem Aang a rapist for the Ember Island kiss and call Kataang fans abuse apologists for it, but constantly sexualize the scene of Zuko tying Katara to a tree. That's why they complain that Katara was reduced to "Aang's trophy-wife and airbender breeder" but write AUs where Katara is literally Zuko's sex slave. Why they complain about the supposed "power imbalance" due to Kataang's two year age gap, but don't say a word about Zutara's two year age gap. Why they insist that Kataang fans are all males projecting onto Aang (because projecting onto a guy is inherently bad) while Zutara fans are all women "connecting" with Katara (because projecting onto a girl is inherently good). Why they label Aang as intolerant of Katara's culture for not liking the food, but will throw a fit if people point out that Zuko, and his entire family and nation, legit wanted wanted Katara dead, or at least subjugated, because of her race.

It's a CLASSIC cope and pure proejction. I like tons of Villain X Hero ships, and I see that bullshit all the time. People feel some kind of guilt or shame over being into a character that is a "bad person", even though that is a morally neutral thing, so they twist the narrative until it fits into a pseudo-feminist idea of an "empowering" fantasy for women.

Zutarians claiming that their ship, that only exists because of rape fics, is actually NOT based on highly kinky shit (namely Male Domination/Female Submission with bonus of dubcon/noncon and race play) but rather just on the vague/nonsensical concept of the "Female Gaze" is no different than a bunch of Game of Thrones/HOTD fans, and even the excutives and writers, pretending that 50% the rapes and 90% of the age-inappropriate and/or incestuous relationships aren't just George R.R. Martin (and themselves) having fetishes.

Both are morally neutral and should just be honest about when they are genuinely exploring a dark topic and when they're just getting off on a kinky fantasy. But being honest about it doesn't give zutarians an excuse to act morally superior, so they just stick to their double-standard and purity policing.

[justyourtypicalwriter]

I just saw the post SERVICE DOGS HCS PLEASEEE !!!

HERE WE GO GANG! These are the one's I have so far! Feel free to suggest recs for any characters or disabilities y'all wanna see! (feel free to rec it even if it's for a character on the list)

STAN:

Service Dog: Brown Newfoundland, Delta (F)

Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilitie(s): Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Minor Psychosis 

The hair dye oh my god. He can rarely drag himself out of bed during depressive episodes but occasionally he’ll get a random burst of impulsivity and re-dye his hair. Most of the time he does the same shitty job at bleaching it blonde

“DARLING! GUESS WHO’S BACK FROM THE PSYCH WARD” vibes

Sharon and Randy officially divorced when he was fifteen. He got a little better now that there isn’t constant screaming or the threat of a drunk or high Randy doing something stupid

Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a total mess-

Patched his relationship with Shelly

Misdiagnosis club AND public breakdown club

God his entire aura just radiates LOSER energy but he’s somehow insanely popular

Not cousins with Craig & Red in this AU but their parents are insanely close so they hang out a lot

CRAIG:

Service Dog: Irish Setter, Saturn (M)

Medical Alert & Response Dog

Disabilitie(s): Epilepsy

Lowkey autistic but Saturn isn’t task trained for anything related to that

Goes non-verbal at times but it’s pretty spontaneous. Most people outside his group can’t tell if he’s actually non-verbal or just not talking to fuck with everyone

Peru drama was secretly worked out when they were twelve. Craig was hospitalized for a while when they were running tests to get a diagnosis, it was roughly a month long stay. He told Stan he’d call it even if Stan looked after Stripe until he was out. Tweek was away for the summer and he knew Stan wouldn’t let anything happen to her since he’s a massive animal lover

Gotta maintain the bitch personality 

TWEEK:

Service Dog: Doberman, Latte (M)

Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilitie(s): Chronic Anxiety,

“Ah fuck, the magic school bus is waiting outside to take me back to rehab-”

I kid you not, he was absolutely terrified of Latte when he first got him

Which is funny because Latte is the sweetest goddamn thing, not at all like Fable whose a fucking demon shit

CPS was called on his parents right before senior year

Placed with the Broflovski’s so he and Kyle got closer

Public breakdown club

BUTTERS:

Service Dog: Boxer, Haven (F)

Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilities: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression

Public breakdown club (IN DEVELOPMENT)

KYLE:

Service Dog: Black Giant Schnauzer, Noble (M)

Medical & Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilities: Diabetes, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)[This one might be switched]

Tubie Kyle (I fucking LOVE this one)

For once I give Kyle an ED that doesn’t stem from body image issues

Humancentipad trauma bc I love being problematic about the episode

DESPISES his lows because it means he has to eat something

Also goes non-verbal but only during times of high stress

Noble is a program dog. Kyle got him when he was 14 and initially he was so against it. He wants to function independently but he really fucking can’t. As he grows older he learns to accept the help more

HATES mirrors. The Humancentipad incident left him with scars

Public breakdown club

KENNY:

Service Dog: Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Harbor (M)

Medical Response & Mobility Aid Dog

Disabilities: Muscular Dystrophy, Chronic Pain

Regularly hospitalized, fucking dies, and revives the next day

DUMPSTER DOG<3333

He trained Harbor mostly by himself (Wendy, Tolkien, and Kyle pitched in a bit and bought him books on training techniques)

MOM FRIEND! Bro I just love making Kenny one of the parental figures of the group. He’s just got a bag of shit he carries around for both himself and everyone else. Stan forgot to swap his bandages? Boom, Kenny’s got new ones. Kyle’s sugar is low? Boom, he’s got whatever little snack the boy is able to tolerate. Someone needs a distraction? Medical episode causes them to need a vomit bag? Boom, done. Mom friend Kenny

So fucking ADHD

JIMMY:

Service Dog: Grey Great Dane, Kitty (F)

Mobility Aid Dog (IN DEVELOPMENT)

TOLKIEN:

Service Dog: Papillon, Jax (M) (IN DEVELOPMENT)

WENDY:

Service Dog: Black German Shepherd, Nike (F)

Psychiatric Alert & Response

Disabilities: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (IN DEVELOPMENT)

CLYDE:

Service Dog: Husky, Fable (F) (IN DEVELOPMENT)

BEBE:

Service Dog: Golden Retriever, Bucky (M)

Medical Alert & Response Dog

Disabilities: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

Misdiagnosis club

Went to multiple doctors from 13-15 who all told her it was all in her head

And she’s just sitting there like “bitch please, the only thing in my head is my girlfriend and how hot she is. Now tell me why I keep experiencing these symptoms-”

HEIDI:

Service Dog: Chocolate Labrador, Isa (F)

Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilities: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Public breakdown club (IN DEVELOPMENT)

[fernsnailz]

February 2024 Review Roundup

well i sure did watch some stuff and read one book this month

the things i finished this month reminded me that for every incredible piece of art i find myself enjoying, i end up watching some Hot Garbage immediately after to balance things out again. idk why i do this.

i have quite a bit to say about both the things i enjoyed and the things that brought me physical pain this month, so there is um. a lot under the cut. any previous desire for brevity i had in january has been completely thrown out the window as i use these roundups as an outlet to gush about things i like and complain about things i didn't. fair warning, if you open the readmore you will be scrolling for a while. enjoy i guess

House of Leaves

does any other book out there have the balls to write a completely fake interview with stephen king

House of Leaves is a novel you gotta throw around a little bit. It feels really weird that my copy is still in the pristine state I bought it in - It seems like it should have water damage and smell like mildew with its pages falling out and spine cracked into pieces. Getting the full story from this book requires flipping back and forth, turning it around, searching for answers. All things considered it’s not that difficult of a read, but its format still allows you to feel like you’re discovering every hidden piece for yourself, and I really liked that interactivity. I was engaged pretty much the whole way through.

I don’t really think I’ll be able to revisit this book anytime soon though. It’s difficult for me to format what else I’d like to say about it because to be honest, it caught me off guard and disturbed me on a fairly personal level. There’s a relief I feel when I remember that I don’t actually know what was going on with the house - maybe that was intentional on the book’s behalf, maybe I just didn’t look hard enough for answers. I don’t know. But the implication that something divine was down there was enough of an answer for me. The book's good. read it if you want a spooooooky time or if you never want to look at a hallway the same way again

Doctor Who (Series 1-4) (rewatch)

ok so this is a fuckload of doctor who to cover so i’m gonna give some thoughts on a few of the characters and my favorite + least favorite episodes

9th doctor: My favorite butch lesbian. Christopher Eccleston truly embodies the concept of The Doctor so, so well: otherworldly guy who knows too much, genuinely cares about life across the universe, and also has a bit of deep, unresolved rage. His moments of joy and careless fun stick with me the most, he absolutely radiates with life and brings so much to this character.

Rose: I first watched Doctor Who when I was in middle school, and I didn’t like Rose that much back then. And guys. I have bad news. I'm still not really much of a Rose fan

I definitely understood her more this watch through - that desire for adventure and some sort of control over her life, emotions so strong that she’s willing to throw near everything away. That’s just what being 19 is like sometimes. I think Rose is a very compelling character who just happens to frustrate me a bit. And that’s kinda the point, her co-dependent relationship with the Doctor is doomed to fail and it's meant to hurt. Ultimately, I think when I first watched the show I was too young to understand Rose, and now I’m just too old to relate to her.

Captain Jack: Jack is my favorite character. I fucking love this guy. Dude has the worst luck in the whole universe and still cannot be stopped. Legendary. Every episode with him is a goddamn delight because he has so much chemistry with every single cast member. No notes 10/10 i love my problematic bisexual king

10th doctor: About four episodes into David Tennant’s run I realized that he dresses like a Hazbin Hotel character and it made me very sad. Still, there’s a reason this guy inspired every middle schooler to buy a pair of converse in 2008. He has style, he has depth, he’s got the sauce. It’s genuinely terrifying to see his anger, I like that a lot of 10’s run is about his denial of godhood and power over life in the universe, something that the rest of the time lords desired. idk i like my sad pathetic little weasel but he's also a huge fucking asshole sometimes which sucks. especially when it's directed at Martha.

Martha: Martha I am so sorry for what this show put you through. Martha was my favorite companion when I first watched the show, and I still have a huge soft spot for her. Her ability to hold her own and navigate foreign worlds using her own intelligence absolutely rules, and her drive forward is unbreakable. But the show seems to put her down at every possible opportunity, most notably with how 10 treats her. Her struggles and wants are constantly ignored, and she's often treated as a rebound from Rose. And I like that she eventually chooses to end it by not traveling with 10 anymore, but it hurts because it feels like she was never given the same chance or care that Rose and Donna were. This era of Doctor Who really doesn’t treat its black companions well because Mickey goes through something similar - both Martha and Mickey are characters designed to be ignored or left behind, and it sucks.

Donna: Donna Noble is one of the greatest fictional characters to ever exist. Despite seemingly living a fairly average life and working a fairly average job, Donna reflects the idea that no one is truly "average" and every single person is brimming with personality, life, and love. I love that her relationship with 10 is purely platonic, personally their friendship feels like it has a lot more depth than either of the romance-oriented relationships 10 had with Rose and Martha. 10 and Donna bounce off of each other so well and it's delightful, Donna brings so much humor and life to every world she's taken to and it's incredible. I wish her and Captain Jack could have interacted more.

My favorite episode: The Runaway Bride is hard to not choose as my favorite. I have a blast every time I watch this episode and it’s such a good introduction for Donna. Also the Tardis car chase kills me, I love when it cuts to the kids in the back of another car clapping and cheering. I was also surprised by the episode Midnight - it’s dreadful to watch and I kinda loved it. So much spirals out of control when shit hits the fan, even though no one has any idea what they’re trying to fight against. Really interesting exploration as to how fear can drive people apart.

My least favorite episode: It’s Love & Monsters. I wish I liked this episode - stories that follow regular ass people living in this world are often some of the best episodes in the series (Weeping Angels and all that). And this episode definitely has some of that. It’s honestly really touching to see this group of nerds get together and enjoy life in the first part of the episode. I think the antagonist of “guy who absorbs people” ends up dragging down any charm this story had because he just. eats all of the interesting characters. But despite me disliking this episode, I honestly have a deep respect for it - it’s fucking crazy. It ends with the main guy telling us about his sex life with his girlfriend who is now stuck in a piece of concrete. Where else are you going to get a story like this. It fucking sucks and that’s hilarious

oh also the production design: GODDDDDD I FUCKING LOVE THE PRODUCTION DESIGN AND SETS ON THIS SHOW. I love how dirty and rundown a lot of the spaceship sets look with wires and lights scattered everywhere. And a number of alien designs also go CRAZY with the prosthetics - I keep thinking about the Hath from The Doctor’s Daughter and how every head prosthetic had liquid inside it that could bubble. Absolutely crazy. I also love the moments where you can clearly see they did not have that much time and just had to throw something together or pain a bald cap green. Jank is the nature of sci-fi production design and I dearly love and miss that Doctor Who jank.

Rebuild of Evangelion

Last year after finishing the original Evangelion series + End of Evangelion, I remember going through the Evangelion tumblr tag and being very confused by the number of slice of life/found family-esque fanworks of the cast. It left me puzzled and thinking “...did we even watch the same thing??”

APPARENTLY NOT

[spoiler warning here because these movies are very good and i give the best parts away. if you want to watch these movies then DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!]

I honestly never expected a world where these characters got a happy ending. I so, so badly wish I could see 3.0 and 3.0+1.0 in theaters - these movies are stunning. I know I say things “go crazy” a lot, but man. They go fucking CRAZY.

While I have a few issues with how the first two movies adapted the original show, I do think the changes they made better serve the story this rebuild is trying to tell. For example, my favorite episode in the original Eva series is episode 18, where Toji is chosen to pilot Unit 03. It’s absolutely terrifying because Shinji doesn’t know who 03’s pilot is, yet he’s forced to be inside Unit 01 as it tears 03 apart. His resolve not to kill anyone despite not even knowing who’s in danger is an aspect of that episode I love and speaks to Shinji's inherent humanity, and when he learns Toji was in there it hurts even more. The rebuild movies change Unit 03’s pilot to Auska, and Shinji knows she’s in there from the start. I think this choice works for the movies and is still an effective emotional beat, but personally I still prefer the version where Shinji had no idea who was in there. That lack of knowledge is infinitely more terrifying to me.

I really like what these movies did with some of the angel designs though. The sixth angel (the fuckin. blue diamond cube thing) works really well in 3D/CG animation. The way the thing warps and moves is otherly and terrifying - and it’s just a fucking cube. I’ve always really loved how the Eva series approaches angel designs and the divine - despite the alien-like designs, there’s often something extremely familiar about them. They’re often reminiscent of an animal, a machine, or a human. This is also how they approached the anti-universe in these movies, I loved how it takes the form of various locations from the series and turns them into a movie set. It’s deeply familiar, but ultimately just an illusion of familiarity like the angels and the divine.

Also I gotta say. I fucking love Mari. I think she’s hilarious. She first meets Shinji by accidentally parachuting into him and then immediately starts crawling on all fours to sniff him. This girl also introduces “Beast Mode” where the Eva pilots can go wild turn their mechs into a fucking. superpowered beast of some sort. And also she defeats a whole army by using the Eiffel Tower as a spear. She’s such an absurd character and I honestly kinda love it. The only thing I knew about these movies before watching them was this gif of her Backing That Shit Up and she truly lives up to the insane nature of this shot.

My favorite section of these movies is definitely the first part of 3.0+1.0 where the pilots are basically just living a domestic life in a small town - it’s truly beautiful. The growth that Rei’s copy goes through here is fantastic, I love stories about seemingly emotionless beings learning how to live. And right after she dies, we get the shot that absolutely broke me the first time I saw it:

This shit. The way you can just barely tell he’s been crying from the red around his eyes. They don't talk about it, they barely linger on it, but it's allowed just enough time to punch you in the gut. I don’t know why this shot got me as hard as it did but goddamn. jesus christ. i want to throw up

There’s some goofy shit in these movies. The infinite synch rate. Misato’s stupidass hat and sunglasses. Some goofy ass 3D animation that doesn’t age super well. The rainbow that shows up every time an angel dies. But these things really didn’t take me out of the core of these films, and there’s so much genuine emotion and beauty in this series that had me absolutely hooked - especially in the last two films. They go crazy. My favorite line is 100% “The only thing a son can do for his father is pat him on the shoulder… or kill him.” and man. ain’t that what Evangelion is all about. i love these movies

High School Musical 3

kinda slaps just a little bit

High School Musical 3 starts with a finale number. The last high school basketball game of Troy Bolton’s life - and it goes kinda hard. The classic pep band brass that’s essential to so many High School Musical numbers returns, and the constant theme of two feuding cheer teams in the background? Genius. This is truly art. I love listening to Now or Never without visuals because in the middle Troy just starts coughing and gagging seemingly out of nowhere

Unfortunately, starting the movie at such a high point means that the rest of the runtime doesn’t quite match up to it. The story lags and meanders quite a bit, but part of me kinda appreciates that - it’s their last semester of high school, which is always a time of confusion and turmoil. However, I do have a pitch for how they could have countered the constant falling action this movie seems to go through:

The Wildcats should have lost their last game at the beginning of the movie.

What if the game is instead the inciting incident that leads Troy and his besties through their tumultuous last semester? Troy is still torn between basketball and theater, but his identity would be even further challenged here - is winning and success all that matters for him, or is it the love of sport and performance that keeps him going? idk whatever this movie came out 16 years ago i can’t be out here writing AUs for it jgnfsgfnjdksg

Some miscellaneous thoughts about this movie that i don’t care about formatting into larger paragraphs:

Ryan and Sharpay’s number (I Want It All) slaps as usual. The part where Ryan shouts “MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!!!!!!!” makes me so happy every time i hear it

The production design and sets go absolutely fucking crazy. I still have no idea how they pulled off the spinning hallway in Scream.

One of the classic staples of HSM is Chad’s shirts. Most of them are fairly silly and like something you would expect to find in the walmart clearance section. However, there’s one shirt he has in this movie that confused the hell out of me. It’s this one:

What the FUCK does Greenster mean. Is it just a combination of Green and Monster?? Why??? What green monster are we talking about here????? Where the fuck did this shirt come from?????????

Avatar The Last Airbender (2024)

There’s really only one word I can think of to describe what this show is like: sauceless. No flavor. No depth. No character. No sauce. This show is honestly so fucking boring and seems to fundamentally misunderstand what the appeal of the original Avatar series is - not necessarily because things are changed or removed from the original, but because nothing of substance is added in return. 

Most of the characters are mere echoes of their original counterparts when compared to their source material. Sokka is reduced to a guy who wants to fight good, Katara’s stubborn and confrontational nature is very rarely utilized, and Aang’s mischievous antics and love of fun is sorely missing. One of the major reasons for the dull interpretations seems to be the directing - While I have faith that most of these actors are trying their best (especially since a number of them are kids/young adults), the direction seems to be incredibly lackluster and takes away nearly every cast member’s stage presence or personality. There’s a number of reaction shots of the main trio that just look like this: 😐😐😐 as if they were just told to “look concerned” at the events unfolding before them. And these issues are apparent in the majority of the performances - for example, General Zhao talks like he’s in a board meeting up until the last episode, and it’s an incredibly flat performance. He talks somewhat monotone in the original series as well, but this live-action take on the character often meanders with his dialogue and lacks that sharp, terrifying quality that I think this character needs. Uncle Iroh also feels incredibly stiff in this adaptation, and it’s a goddamn crime that they took away the cunty little outfit and chains he was originally wearing when he gets captured by earthbenders. wait who said that

Credit where credit is due, there’s a few cast members that seem to be giving their best. It’s clear that Aang’s actor enjoys the role and does pretty well despite the lackluster direction and dialogue he’s given. On top of that, I think Zuko’s actor is honestly the best part of the show. His take on Zuko leans much more into teenage tendencies and sarcasm, which, although it can be silly, is a welcome take of the character in my opinion and pretty fun to watch. There’s this one line he has at the beginning of episode 2 where, in an incredibly whiny tone of voice, he goes “He RAN! The ultimate warrior! He’s a Coward :((((“ and the read is so. fucking funny

The case of bad direction isn’t limited to the performances, however. It’s also stunningly apparent in how everything is shot. Despite being in a widescreen format, most shots are incredibly centered - you could crop the entire runtime into a 4:3 frame and you wouldn’t be cutting out much of anything. I’ve seen some speculation that this was an intentional choice to make things more adaptable or readable for TikTok/phone video, but honestly I think that’s a dumb take. I think the issue stems from a lack of creativity and thoughtless composition. Keeping everything staged in the center can make shots feel disjointed, lacking much depth, or completely empty. It’s a boring way to shoot and indicates that the show lacks any unique vision at all.

Overall, this show doesn't really seem to understand what makes Avatar interesting in the first place. It's more interested in spectacle and action than the characters' relationships, emotions, and mistakes. I try not to compare it too much to the original since it's allowed to take liberties with its adaptation, but very few of its changes add much to the end result or give it a unique voice. It's just sauceless and boring.

Some YouTube videos i liked in February:

💥 My House.WAD - Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod (some supplemental House of Leaves material for ya) 💥 Martha Jones Deserved Better (this video explains how Doctor Who did Martha dirty better than i ever could) 💥 bringing JUSTICE to the worst garfield game 💥 Selling Kids for Clout: The Downfall of Family Channels

And that’s my roundup for February! Thank you for reading, I promise there are no more reviews left to scroll through below this goodbye. Nope, nothing else I watched this month. Bye!

…ok is everyone gone. phew, i’m glad no one noticed i pulled an hbomberguy and hid the largest part of this post under a false ending. Anyway holy shit i need to talk about hazbin hotel

Hazbin Hotel

well i didn’t like it

Hazbin Hotel is a weird, fascinating mess of a show. Every episode left me wondering what creative decisions (or lack thereof) led to the sequence of images I just watched. There’s been a lot of discussion of this show recently and I’m not interested in covering every critique I have, but there’s a few things that I'd like to talk about somewhat in-depth.

Hell is real and it's just Red Chicago

The setting of Hell is kinda boring in this show.

Let me try to put this into perspective. Aside from the hotel, here’s a list of the locations we see in Hell:

A boardroom

A video store

Vox’s evil lair (it has cyber sharks which is kinda cool)

Various streets

Another boardroom

A BDSM club

Carmilla’s house (it’s gray and has. balconies?)

A porn studio

A bar

Another bar

A town square (full of cannibals)

None of these locations really take on any sort of otherworldly form besides some vague demonic imagery scattered throughout (and the cannibals. i guess. whatever). In short, Hazbin Hotel’s setting resembles Chicago more than it does Hell.

I can see a world where that’s intentional. Perhaps making Hell resemble a modern city could be used as a thematic tool or point of relatability? But Hazbin doesn’t really do anything like that - since the characters rarely ever interact with their environments, these locations end up seeming like they lack creativity, like they’re just cardboard sets where characters go to swear. They all start to blend together after a while - every street feels the same, every boardroom fades into the background, and every bar feels like a google image search result for the word “club.” This world feels stunningly empty despite the busy designs and colors. Even though the backgrounds are painted and designed fairly well, nothing of substance is ever really added to them through the story.

However, a few musical numbers take effort to break away from these settings. This felt like a weight off of my shoulders whenever it happened, it was nice to see some interesting setpieces and backgrounds that weren’t red. I liked the bombastic and over-the-top broadway lights in Loser and the glowing alternate world in Charlie and Lucifer’s song. But these moments are few and crowded by the dull locations in Hell - or worse, the Hotel itself.

Despite being the namesake of the show, the actual Hazbin Hotel is… lifeless. Which, yeah, it’s a hotel where dead people go in the afterlife, but it’s missing any sort of personality or history besides “it’s old and falling apart.” I expected the hotel to be full of secrets - like maybe some hidden passages or rooms, or mysterious cabinets full of rotted meats, or old valuables hidden under the rugs by the previous owners. Something for the cast to explore and discover, and as they get closer to each other they also start to understand the hotel more. Alastor seems very intent on keeping the physical hotel standing for some reason, but I never really understood why. There’s nothing there. And that nothingness is fully realized when at the end of the show, they just rebuild the entire hotel to be grand and beautiful - an emotional beat that didn’t hit me at all because I never felt like I knew the hotel in the first place. Despite rebuilding it from the ground up, it will feel just as empty.

3 SHOTS THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY

I was truly baffled at how some of these scenes are timed and put together. Multiple sequences left me feeling nauseous and dazed - the camera moves like it’s being swung on the end of a rope, and there’s so many misplaced or meaningless cuts scattered through these episodes.

There’s a sequence of three shots in the first episode that I want to dissect. I will fully admit that I'm breaching nitpicking territory here, but the shot composition issues in this show are pretty rampant and my analysis here is just a hyper-specific look at a single part of that larger problem. Hopefully you can also use it as a quick storyboarding lesson too idk

First, we see Adam teasing Charlie.

Then, it cuts straight to this shot:

A few things here. 

Shot 2 is just closer on the characters, which is not a great idea to cut to after the previous waist-up shot. On top of being a jarring jump cut, there is no purpose for this new shot. All the information we see here (Adam laughs, Charlie fake laughs) could have just been conveyed in the previous shot.

Despite the characters being in the same position as the last shot, the background changes. This straight up just feels like an error. I think the idea is supposed to be that the camera is at a different angle, but the position of the characters does not convey that. It looks like reality changes behind them.

And if that’s not enough, this is the shot we get immediately after those two:

In this shot, the residents of the hotel sit on the couch as Vaggie walks into the shot, framing them between her legs. But there’s something… off.

Vaggie either looks like she’s floating or she’s three stories tall. Quick storyboard lesson as to why:

The main problem with this shot is that the perspective of the background doesn’t match up with where Vaggie is placed. The couch is framed as if the camera were above it, but Vaggie is framed like the camera is floor-level below her. I’ve traced the shot and added a perspective grid to hopefully better illustrate this:

Do you see what I mean? If the camera WAS actually on the floor like Vaggie’s position in the shot suggests, the composition would look more like this:

Notice how much closer the floor grid is to the bottom of the frame and how you can see the underside of the couch.

And to be fair, this is probably what the original storyboard for this shot looked like! Personally I think something went wrong in the compositing stage - this might be a couch background from another shot that was reused here to save time, or whoever approved this shot just let the error slide since the shot is so short (i've been there. sometimes you let the jank slide). Most animated shows will have some poorly framed shots and continuity errors because mistakes are bound to happen, but two egregious ones right next to each other like this is. pretty bad. It's so noticeable from a directing perspective.

Here’s the thing: these three shots happen in the span of like 10 seconds. Most viewers probably wouldn’t notice these issues, and that's fine. But even though these errors are quick, they stack upon each other so fast that even if you can’t pinpoint exactly what’s wrong, something still feels wrong. There’s so many other moments where the show breaks extremely basic shot composition, continuity, and staging rules - for example, the second musical number of the show breaks the 180 rule like four times for no good reason. The whole show feels like a dizzy, nauseating mess because the shots rarely feel like they form anything cohesive.

MY ROOMMATE TOLD ME TO GO TO BED SO HERE ARE SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

Here’s a rundown on some other thoughts that I don’t care to format into larger sections:

The show seems to lack much to say about sin and redemption other than “redemption good.” like sure, but what are they being redeemed from? Is heaven truly the place they deserve to go after being redeemed, even though it’s shown to be unjust? Are there sins that are too great to be redeemed from, or others that shouldn't be considered sins at all? I asked myself a number of questions like this, but never got many answers from Hazbin.

This show has a bad relationship with kink and sex. Both are mostly used as a punchline or a form of control. I didn’t like it. Perhaps the reason Hazbin never really comments on the nature of sin is because it needs you to consider sex and kink sinful or otherly for these jokes to hit.

Some of the animation is crazy good. I will praise any animator that even attempts to make these character designs move. A number of extremely talented people worked on this show, a few of the musical sequences in particular have some incredible movement.

Alastor is a very boring character. It’s wild that most of the side characters in this show only exist to talk about how much they like or hate Alastor, he mostly just stands to the side of some shots or kills random nameless goons. I expected him to have a much larger role in the story, but he just gets his ass kicked in the final episode and then crawls back to the hotel.

Episode 4 is the most cohesive, and i think Angel is the best character in the show. Unfortunately, the fact that Hazbin takes so much effort to show Angel’s misery left me… concerned? None of the other characters get treated as poorly as Angel by the narrative. There’s a few smaller explorations of trauma, but nothing remotely compares to what Angel is put through on-screen. This isn’t to say that I think the whole cast needs to be extremely traumatized and constantly miserable, but rather that I find it concerning that the only character subjected to incredibly graphic abuse and torture (that we see or hear about) is the gay sex worker. Which sucks, because I think the concept of hypersexuality resulted from sexual abuse is an important topic worthy of discussing in adult media. I just think they tried to execute this theme without much critical thought beforehand.

I think the voice cast does a fantastic job for the most part. Keith David is way too good for Husk.

I really liked the one shot where Charlie opens her phone and we see that she has a contact for every individual egg minion.

I was very brave and got through this whole review without talking about my new least favorite character of all time, Vox. here’s what I think of him:

The overall vision and end result of Hazbin Hotel is just mediocre. While I don’t know what led to the messy state this show ended up in, my guess is that it was probably the result of inadequate direction, sloppy writing, and lacking creative support from the studios involved. Because of this, please understand that I have no desire or intention to put down any individual artists that worked on this show - I hope it's clear that most of my criticisms are directed at the larger vision these artists were given to execute and/or the lack of creative support they received while working on this show.

I also don’t really have much desire to participate in any further Hazbin discussion or discourse because it has wasted enough of my time already and I want to be free of this curse. please spare my inbox from hazbin hotel discourse. please. i'm begging.

You want to know what the most fucked up thing about this is though? Despite everything I said about Hazbin, Avatar the Last Airbender 2024 is still the worst show I watched this month. I would take Hazbin over Avatar 2024 literally any day.

well if you got this far. thanks for reading. also sorry you read all that. whelp alright back into my hole i go bye bye

[antispopausandstuff]

idk if i would label c//a a proship but it’s definitely interesting that stans conveniently ignore all the sibling coding in this ship unless they want to talk about catra’s trauma and her jealousy towards adora. also “ridiculous abuse allegations” lmao sure whatever helps you sleep at night ☠️

i label it as proship because siblings, blood or not, are still siblings, especially since Shadow Weaver 'raised' them both and continued to negatively affect their lives to adulthood. after learning what 'siscon' is, i can definitely say Catra fits into that description, which makes the relationship proship material. at least, in my eyes.

that aside for a second, was the original reposter even referring to c//a or did this stan feel like it was specifically about c//a? if it's the first one, okay, makes sense, but if the stan didn't even see any evidence of c//a being mentioned or that this person was an anti, then that speaks for itself.

going back to the main conversation, though:

"wdym two people knowing each other for most of their lives is problematic now if it ends up not being platonic anymore"

these people don't know the difference between being raised in the same area and being raised in the same household.

if Catra and Adora were raised in the Horde, but by two different people, than that's a whole different story than the one we got. that isn't what happened, though. Shadow Weaver abused them both as their maternal figure and royally fucked them over.

so, this person is twisting it and making it too generalized and vague. it's not a case of them just "knowing each other", they're related.

this is the exact situation with Barry Allen and Iris West in The Flash ( 2014 ) by CW, where Joe West ( Iris' dad ) raised Barry after the death of his mother and his father being falsely accused of murdering her, but Barry and Iris still ended up together, married, and having a child together.

and, by the way, the show directly says that Joe is his adoptive father. more than once. like, in plain text. without batting an eye.

c//a is like that, but Joe wasn't an abusive father and the show was somehow a whole lot more upfront about it and not giving a single goddamn fuck. younger me should not have watched that show.

yeah, this person is just keeping out important context and just replacing it with "knowing each other".

not gonna touch the abuse allegations comment, you already know.

[doublequaterpounder]

I have a tenuous relationship within gradation fatn tv ess in video games

on one hand The Sims is a pivotal touchstone of my development and self discovery (IYKYK😳)

and on the other hand you have mini boss/“psychopath” Darlene Fleischermacher from dead rising 3

firstly TW for massive fatphobic BS

ok so i loved Dead Rising i’ve played hours of the series but as i take inventory of the things i love alas very very problematic

if you wanna read more about Darlene there’s this terrible but “accurate” character wiki *read if you dare it will be frustrating*

In the apocalypse Darlene has gone lost touch with reality and wants to hoard all the food to herself so she ends up attacking the player character.

there’s already so many problems in just the text description that it’s hard to fully vent about

but not only is it fat phobic they thought they’d also be ablest too cause yknow modern media yippee!

i think the worst part of all of these absolutely horrid choices for a side mission in a video game is that the image of Darlene is a prominent figure on many anti fat content creators with them reposting the same images of the character along with their abhorrent views

I love the dead rising franchises but goddamn if this isn’t actual anti fat propaganda disguised in a “tongue in cheek” video game franchise

i’d love to hear y’all thoughts on this too and your relationship to fatness in video games! DM are open to anyone wanting to chat!

[ardentpoop]

It is very concerning to me that ppl in the supernatural fandom r just now (barely) starting to recognize the racism in show. Like the show is very deeply seeped in white supremacy in a way that was very obvious to me when i first watched it at 11. Like I used to be very confused when ppl talked abt Supernatural as a progressive show??? I used to joke with my friends in highschool calling it whitesupremacistnatural bcuz that it is literally the show. White supremacy is so baked into the show and its ingrained into the foundations of the fictional world that Supernatural takes place in. I really cannot take white fans of the show in particular seriously bcuz i feel like if u cannot recognize the incredibly blantant racism in Supernatural i do not really trust any analysis of the show that u make. The only reason I can think of as to why so many fans are unable to recognize the racism in the show is bcuz just abt every scifi/fantasy show from this period had similar issues to varying degrees (although i do think that Supernatural is one of the most unabashed abt it). Like once you pull back the disguise of fantasy Supernatural is just another The Birth of a Nation esque tale that romanticizes white heroes defending the "real" humans from the dark races who cant help being born evil but must be eliminated anyway. Its incredibly unsubtle to a point that often made the show difficult for me to watch especially the longer it went on and the older that i got. That being said I still watched 14 seasons of Supernatural. I love the show and talk abt it constantly bcuz (surprise surprise) it is possible to enjoy a show while still acknowledging the ways that it is deeply problematic. I dont think its a coincidence that ppl r just starting to acknowledge the racism now (nearly 4 years after it ended). I think someone could write multiple dissertations abt the racism and white supremacist undertones in Supernatural bcuz there is so much of it and it appears in so many varying ways.

I don’t have much to add to this just letting you know that I feel you!!! literally hilarious to call this show “progressive” lmaooo like sure maybe in the same way that a corporate pride tweet made by a company with notoriously unethical business practices is “progressive” <3

show created primarily by white men for other white men that ended up attracting a massive white queer audience that was all too happy to gloss over the loudest and ugliest parts of the canon: blatantly racist central concept of Good vs Evil, dean being blatantly abusive to sam for the majority of their relationship, irresponsible casting choices wrt antagonists like Gordon and Raphael and s13!Michael as well as the disposable henchmen/extras who were far too often portrayed by black and brown men and women considering the glaring shortage of black and brown “good guys” in this story, truckloads of blatantly homophobic and misogynistic jokes that were supposed to be viewed as charming, and so on.

no need to unpack any of that though! talking abt that stuff gets you labelled a hater. keep walking on eggshells around the majority of the fandom and tagging discussion of dean’s canon actions as “anti dean” and critical discussion of the show’s super unsubtle roots as “negativity”

as long as the white queer audience got their goddamn d*stiel crumbs they were satisfied lol. and fuck sam - the ONLY part of this thing that makes it worthwhile to watch all the way through as an adult bc characters like him are genuinely so so rare - bc he gets in the way of their generic white gay ship that’s built on flavorless scraps and wild conjecture. as always this website’s user base has impeccable taste and commendable analytical skills!

disclaimer: I genuinely don’t think I would personally change much abt spn textually speaking because AS IT IS it makes for a truly sickening narrative with brain-rotting layers that its creators could have never pulled off intentionally. this isn’t me saying none of the horror was intentional but that a decent chunk of it obviously wasn’t and that the Final Combination could’ve only come of the too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen white american ignorance egotistical power-tripping (the latter on the part of, say, jensen) that resulted from this show being on the air for far longer than it should’ve been.

[gossipgirloff1]

hi, so this will be a long post so sorry about that 😅

but with all the talk about red flagui, i also want to point out some stuff about lando. as a fan, i’ve noticed way more things because i’ve supported him from the start.

one of the first things is just his attitude that can be seen through his choices. like with his merch, it’s so expensive and the shipping fee is crazy, which makes it hard for me to buy his merch. compared to max, his merch is more expensive and he rarely has discounts. he’s changed so much to care about the money, which is also why he moved to monaco after he said previously that he wasn’t going to. i just miss his old ways. like in 2020, he donated money to charity and shaved his goddamn head for charity as well as having quite a few helmets for good causes. i sure don’t see him doing all this goodwill with his money anymore. but now, as he’s getting more attention for being with magew and his behavior, it’s clear to see that the fanbase is turning against him because his new merch collection still hasn’t sold out like it used to (it’s preorder though, so who knows.)

another thing is the way he presents himself. he’s lost that bubbly, energetic attitude from his twitch streams back during quarantine and now he’s hanging out with people like red flagui. honestly, people attract similar people. we all know magew’s problematic past, and i’m sure lando is more than aware, but the fact that he consciously chooses to still be around her is giving me the ick. it’s not even a serious relationship either, it’s probably just fwb or a situationship or something. it’s giving pr attention and honestly, the two of them need to stop acting like they’re the shit. like leaving hints is so childish, and at this point, we’re all moving on to something actually meaningful. the only attention they’re getting is negative and they definitely lack the maturity that people like oscar and lily z have. (sidenote: joao is free!!)

i used to be such a big fan of lando and thought he was genuinely a good person, but after the whole red flagui ordeal, i think we all got the ick from him. and don’t get me started on his childish behavior of unliking anything joao likes. joao’s probably giggling while lando is probably fussing over the smallest things. i know he’s probably still somewhat insecure and stuff, but i’m guessing magew’s heels are higher than his standards. he needs to focus on improving himself (maybe starting with better strategy calls with the team) before he should go out and date. in addition, he’s so rude nowadays, like cutting off poor yuki. i dunno, that just makes me feel so bad for yuki-san. “no one was listening anyways” 😭🤧 like in general, i think he lacks social awareness.

all in all, i think lando cares too much about his “cool playboy” appearance and money. he really just needs to grow up and focus on himself first, because right now, he’s the same as red flagui, almost. they both need to grow up, and lando’s completely forgotten how he used to be, and now he’s so rude and totally different. as a lando fan, it’s so disappointing, especially since he’s been getting good results now. - 🧋

Hi 👋🏻

No problem love to read your thoughts ❤️

[lawluenvy]

something a lot of people dont understand:

multishipping is just more fun!!!

why the fuck not? don't you love your little buddy? aren't you so in love with x character yourself that you imagine that everyone else must fall/be in love with them too?

like i know that lawlu will never happen but i love it anyways. cuz why the fuck not? why the fuck not imagine that law has fallen head over heels for the monkey boy that barelled into his life and saved it asking for nothing in return and trusting you when all logic says he probably shouldn't? why become invested in your pirate rival's future and wellbeing enough to go to the war you happened to hear he started and save him before he kills himself out of recklessness? you met exactly once before this. why do you care law??? WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!?!

you know what other one piece ship i love that has real concrete basis for? (altho censorship and heteronormativity may still prevent it of course) --- zolu!!!! undying love and devotion and trust in one another??? captain and first mate???? the only man Mr. Greedy Gut Luffy himself would ever/has ever offered to share his food with????? incredible.

multishipping is just fun y'all! shipping isn't/shouldn't be all about what is actually realistic or has basis or is the most "moral" based on real world modern standards

it's just fun to take two or more characters you love and try to imagine "hm how would this happen/work?" cuz WHY NOT?

just because i believe that zolu is legit and beautiful and endgame does not invalidate my wholehearted belief that law is in love with luffy and my desire to imagine "what if luffy liked law back?"

alright?

it's just fun y'all. fandom is supposed to be fun and an escape from the terrible disappointment that is real life - i'm so tired of people trying to bring real life into it. get your ugly ass reality out of here alright!? i'm here for the fantasy!!! i'm here for the "anything is possible!!!"s not the "actually this ship makes 0 sense for x and y reasons so you shouldn't be shipping that- people should be shipping my monoship only cuz it's more valid" like stfu no one cares you sound like a conceited loser

by all means if multishipping isnt for you cuz you just LOVE this ONE SHIP SO MUCH you can't picture anything else (so valid tbh) then alright you may ship what you wish how you like it of course buuuuut:

don't shit on other people's ships like fandom engagement is just some contest of moral superiority??? like??? who the fuck?

get out of here with that. so boring- if we wanted real life post-modern late stage capitalist "everything is a competition" and the heteronormative christian monogamy that simultaneously condemns but endangers individuals to manipulative and toxic relationship dynamics that is embedded within it --- why would we be here in the first place??? if that's what you want then why are YOU here?

i wish i lived in a world where it didnt fucking matter that luffy is only 18 because why should that matter? of course i know why in our reality it would be something to be concerned about but in one piece? on the grand line? where people can be made entirely of rubber or metal blades or goddamn smoke? and where law and luffy are in the same pirate generation and have obvious and clear respect for each other???

why on earth would i ever want to and choose to view lawlu in the problematic light of our fucked up contemporary where by its standards if luffy is only 18 and law is 26 then one would assume law must clearly just be taking advantage of luffy's naïvety cuz that's what people in this reality are most often like --- when the ONE PIECE REALITY is that law views luffy as his equal and is a MUCH BETTER REALITY! like why would you want to bring what sucks about our world into theirs??? it's not like luffy's pubescent like what is your problem??? y'all infantalize him so much when you do this and it's gross. he's a whole ass man with big dreams and a big ship and a big destiny - get outta here with that real life bullshit.

anyways.

i could rant about shipping discourse literally forever cuz its a subject that sadly never ends.

this applies to so many different ships in so many different fandoms but im just using lawlu vs. zolu as an example because the absurdity of one piece is just such an excellent demonstration of why applying our world's standards on fantasy worlds is a stupid waste of time

stopping forcing things into your black and white boxes of good and bad. shit's "grey" and rainbow as fuck. i look outside the window of my office right now and i see a world that is literally not black in white - there is colour everywhere. your rigid standards don't even work here despite the machinations of society demanding it must be so- and they definitely don't work in worlds that dont exist

fuck your real world problems when we're talking about fantasy worlds

i choose to spend my time in fantasy worlds cuz i fucking hate it here on our doomed planet earth

fantasy is so much better than here

let people have their fantasies - it is literally harming no one

[ofmiceandwomen]

Tagged by @cadmusfly. Of course you can tag me. I welcome any distraction these days because I’m fed up with my work)

Last song: Liar (The Arcadian Wild)

All have been led astray. We’ve all fallen short in some way. Please understand I’m ashamed. and I beg of you, please find your grace.

‘Cause I’m not in a right state of mind. I just wish I had strength to admit it.

My stubbornness will put up a fight, but I don’t deserve to win it.

I’m left in the dark pondering my mistakes, but in the light I swear I will deny it all.

Currently watching:

The last thing I watched was probably Hazbin Hotel. It was an insane ride and I really enjoyed it!

Three ships:

Okay. It’s hard to pick three because I have so many

Russingon (the Silm) - because that’s the one I’m willing to die for

Admiral Nelson/Captain Hardy (dead problematic Brits edition) - my new discovery and I’m all here for it and maybe I will go to hell for all the historical rpf but whatever! Don’t tell me there is a heterosexual explanation for “Kiss me Hardy!”

The last one goes to Lord Asriel Belacqua x Major John Parry from His Dark Materials and it’s an absolute rare pair

My favourite colours:

Burgundy, red, dark blue, dark green

First ship:

I believe it was actually Morgoth/Sauron or Glorthelion? (The Silm has been with me for 13 years now)

Currently consuming:

I just had chicken wrap with herbs and vegetables in the museum bistro

Last movie seen:

I believe it was The Night House (2020). It was pretty fucked up but I enjoyed the plot and the twists. Didn’t manage to get me scared though.

Relationship status:

I have been in a happy relationship for 6 years and it means everything to me.

Currently working on:

My goddamn thesis in order to get this bloody degree. I hate it, because I’m not much of a writer. I’m out of the words and out of energy.

Thank you!

This was fun.

Now, the dreaded part: tagging!

I tag @thisisnoplaceofhonour @the-symphony-of-lydia-brown @lymira @mersilisk @im-not-a-ghost-i-swear @isa-ko

And of course anyone who wants to do this!

[smokeybrandreviews]

Multiverse of Madness

I am an unapologetic Adventure Time apologist. i think it was one of the greatest shows ever created and deserves all the love it gets. AT saved Cartoon Network back in the day and spawned so many creators who would, in turn, leave their mark on the industry. Without AT, there is no Steven Universe or that other one with the fighting i guess? The influence of Adventure Time gave credence to the potential popularity of shows like nuShe-Ra and nuVoltron. Those characters are iconic and full of so much depth. Finn Mertens, Jake the Dog, Bonnibel Bubblegum; All of them have become stalwarts of cartoon history. Like, Marceline Abadeer is one of my all-time favorite characters in fiction. When Distant Lands aired, i was emotionally devastated. Obviously, Obsidian was mys sh*t but Together Again brought me to tears. That's how much this show meant to me, so when Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake was announced, i was all over it. I was mad curious how this would play out. Would it be just a romp through a gender-swapped Ooo? Would the target audience still be kids or would the show be a more mature take since the original kids were now wayward adults? So many questions. Well, Fionna and Cake is over and i have thoughts.

First thing first, This show is not about Fionna and Cake. It is on a superficial level but they're more a plot device who participates in the narrative. Fionna and Cake is about Simon Petrikov coming to terms with the loss of Betty Groff and how his relationship with her, was toxic as f*ck. Like, holy sh*t, was it bad! The co-dependency was insane! I mean, you got glimpses of that throughout Betty's arc in the original AT (Betty literally leaping through a Hambo powered time rift, her problematic Magic Woman phase, and the eventual wish that turned her into f*cking GolBetty, all for her "love" of Simon) but this chick was as obsessed with Simon as Simon was with her. When she transcended and become a deity of pure chaos, Simon was left in a depression spiral that, ultimately, shook the core of the goddamn multiverse. And i say that with no hyperbole. F*cking Ice King, put the entire multiverse of Adventure Time in jeopardy, because he missed his boo. What follows is, one of the most well thought out and executed romps through a multiverse narrative I've seen outside of f*cking comic books. I don't want to spoil anything but the first nine episodes of this show are brilliant, rivaling the very best Adventure Time has to offer. The tenth? Not so much.

Fionna and Cake definitely botches the landing, especially coming off such incredibly strong episodes as the three right before it. Again, no details, but, holy sh*t, were those three episodes great. Seriously, watch this show, it's f*cking fantastic. The Simon stuff is definitely the heart of this narrative but what about the show's namesake? The Fionna and Cake bits are good but i never really felt as invested in their story as i was in Simon's trials. It's not like their stuff was bad, per sey, it just didn't feel as... dire? I don't know, i felt more for the characters around them than i did the characters themselves? Don't misunderstand me, i enjoyed their arc. Fionna and Cake struggling with their own identities and coming to terms with who they are was cool and all but, ultimately, it felt more sub than main plot, which is weird because it's their show. Fionna and Cake are basically the inciting action which informs the entire plot but i never really feel like that's a thing. Plus, there is this very important aspect to their character which, kind of never really plays into the overarching conflict, with the exception of a particularly gruesome scene, and i feel like that was a missed opportunity. As an overall production and viewing experience, Fionna and Cake is f*cking exquisite.

The stuff i said about Fionna and Cake is true, to an extent. True for me, i guess. People may get more out of their arc than i did, which is fine, that's a point subjectivity. What isn't subjective is how well this show is produced. Seriously, the art style is familiar, yet, more detailed. The characters are well performed, each true to their own personality beats. But it was the worlds we visited that truly hammered home the butterfly effect, the effect Simon had, on all of those worlds. I loved every second of that experience and, while they didn't fully stick the landing, there were great aspects of that tenth episode. Fionna and Cake turned out to be ten episodes of solid, adult, Adventure Time narrative that felt organic. It didn't feel like a cashgrab or desperate attempt at Max to pull in viewers. It felt like, after the absolutely brilliant reception to Distant Lands, that HBO understood there was a market for a show like that and they just let the staff create. Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake isn't perfect, it's definitely got it's flaws, but of the content I've seen this year, it's easily some of the best. Whether you're a fan of the old world of Ooo, or just interested in what "adult" animation has to offer, this show is one of the best examples of the art form. It was a strong watch and i definitely recommend a viewing.

[olderthannetfic]

There's a fandom I'm in, for one of those story apps (I know, I know) and every time the app comes out with a slightly unconventional (i.e. not fluffy and nonconfrontational) book that's romance-centric with a single LI, vast swaths of the fandom freak out, screeching out toxicity and terrible relationships and how they're deleting the app now because the app is supporting dirtybadwrong. And each time, what they're freaking out about is, even if it *is* problematic, some incredibly milquetoast, borderline vanilla nonsense. Like, don't get me wrong, I like what little problematic is there in the stories, but they're freaking out because the LI kidnaps the MC and then has a pretty bog-standard beauty and the beast style stockholm syndrome fall in love arc? I mean, I'll be the first to say it wasn't perfectly executed (but it's one of those story apps, so duh) but like... these people are SO BORING. This app hasn't ever even had an LI that has tried to kill you multiple times, or vice-versa for MCs trying to kill their LIs. Nothing this app has done or ever will do will ever be as dark as even some YA books, let alone a good ao3 fic. But seriously, why are antis so goddamn BORING?

--

[the-irreverend]

Has the latest episode of Helluva Boss left you a little conflicted about Loona? Well, you’re not the only one.

There’s no doubt that this episode has had some of the best Loona scenes in the show. From her backstory of why Blitzo adopted her, to that goddamn scene with Octavia.

It's no wonder my supply of tissue paper has suddenly depleted.

But while there are plenty of sweet and touching moments involving our favourite hellhound, it’s also been overshadowed by some scenes that are a little more… bitter-tasting.

I mean, when you see Loona talk to Octavia about how she should learn to understand your father despite his flaws and then in the following scene get physical with Blitzo (twice) after he finds her, it would certainly leave a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. 

And don’t even get me started on what happened at the beginning.

You know, the part that tried to brutally maim Blitzo just because he wanted to talk to her about her work behaviour and spent more time complimenting her throwing skills than giving actual criticism.

Also, body-shaming Moxxie.

That's just not cool.

All of these scenes certainly make a tough pill to swallow for even the most dedicated Loona fan. But despite everything, I'm still gonna swallow said pill anyway, and I'll explain why (because, funnily enough, this isn't the first time I've written a post like this).

First of all, just look at where she was raised.

This isn’t an orphanage. It’s a goddamned prison (literally, because, you know, it's in hell). And it should come as no surprise that a place like this would be a hotbed of neglect and abuse, things that are not conducive to healthy emotional development.

So it should also come as no surprise that a person who was raised in an environment where care and affection are hunted to extinction would have difficulties processing care and affection as well as expressing it. So the fact that she can feel love and affection despite all the trauma she went through is nothing short of miraculous.

(Y'all remember this scene? Still a favourite)

And believe me, there are plenty of moments that show Loona does care for Blitzo, even if she doesn’t show it as much as she should. But I said earlier. There’s a lot more that’s holding her feelings back besides teenage angst.

But the real reason I’m still standing by Loona despite her problematic relationship with Blitzo is not just because of what caused the problems but that she is more than capable of resolving them.

Look at what happened with the relationship between Stolas and Blitzo.

Anyone paying attention to Helluva Boss knows that Blitzo’s relationship with Stolas is ANYTHING but perfect, as there has been plenty of questionable behaviour and unreciprocated love. Just look at the shit that went down in the finale of season 1.

Take a look at where we are now, and you'll see just how far these two have come.

Of course, their relationship still could use improvement, but rest assured, it is improving. And if the relationship between Blitzo and Stolas can improve, why can’t the relationship between Blitzo and Loona?

This is certainly not going to be the last appearance of Loona, nor will it be the only time that the show focuses on their relationship, which can only mean that there's gonna be plenty of opportunities for things to get better.

I know Loona (and Blitzo as he’s not quite a perfect father) still have a lot to get through. But they can get through. They are getting through. And they will get through.

Because as I said in a rant not unlike this one: sometimes when a character’s progress takes a step back it’s because it’s about to take a bounding leap.

So don’t judge a book by its cover...

...and don’t judge a character before their arc is finished.

P.S. Also, if you have your own thoughts and opinions to share about the episode or the characters, by all means, feel free to do so. I'm eager to hear what you have to say.

[lermisv4]

Some thoughts about Dabihawks and the “Enemies to Lovers” trope (someway through this turned into a character study).

OK, so this is a very weird thing for me to post, especially since I normally don’t post at all (and for the few people that actually follow me and may see this, I just reblog art and photographs for the most part so this may be even weirder). But anyway, I want to dump this here. I don’t know if this makes much sense or has much of a basis. And I’m far from a shipping expert. Warning in advance.

Normally, I do not ship. At all. I support canon pairings if there and I can tolerate ships for the most part. I am one of those people who get annoyed if everyone is gay in a work because my mind goes to “what would be the odds in real life” - I don’t mean many offense, but my environment made me only encounter homosexuality in fiction so I doubt my experience with LGBTQA people is universal, but to me it’s a rarity.

And a type of ship that particularly annoys me is “enemies to lovers”. I just couldn’t see it. At all. I hated the very concept of those ships and they were among the first things I would filter out when searching through the Archive. “Don’t like, don’t read” as they say and I sure as hell didn’t read.

This probably has a lot to do with me being a bit of a stickler for canon or canon details in many case, but to each their own.

Enter Dabihawks.

Funny thing, I don’t have a 100% clear memory of how I ran into this pairing because make no mistake, I’m VERY new in My Hero Academia. As in, barely a few months new. So I’m pretty sure I ran into Dabihawks when I was looking for porn and was mostly unfamiliar with the characters.

Yeah, that’s another thing I should mention. I don’t normally read porn fics featuring characters I’m familiar with. Mostly for the stated above reasons.

But Dabihawks? That’s different.

MHA is the first fandom in which I can actually say that I ship non-canon pairings. That “yeah I can absolutely see that”.  And Dabihawks is the chief of them for reasons I don’t really get.

It should be everything I hate in a ship. My issue with the enemies to lovers thing is that very often those people don’t have a reason to become lovers, at least not the way I see it. I’m excluding AUs and stuff like that because your story, your playground, but Dabi and Hawks do not have an actual reason to get emotionally close to each other. It’s lies and zero trust and openly murderous intentions from both sides, and Dabi is a goddamn maniac (no I’m not using the medical definition of the term).

But this at the same time is what this makes this pairing work.

Dabi and Hawks feel fundamentally like very similar - or rather, parallel - people.

Normally, when taking an enemies to lovers dynamic, there are two main approaches that I see.

1) one of them is the victim of circumstance and the other person comes as some sort of saviour

This is a ship dynamic that I can see working, it has some tragic elements that work well for drama, puts both characters on a good and decent moral ground, and if written correctly can promote growth for them. When this becomes problematic is when this dynamic is shifted to “I can fix them”. When I’m not given sufficient reason to believe that “villain” person can become better.

Enter the second approach

2) Stockholm Syndrome - EDIT: I was told I was using the term wrong. They were right so I'm rephrasing it to "unhealthy attachment"

Excuse me if I wrote “Stockholm” wrong. Regarding the subject of “I can fix them”, I know just enough about relationships to know that this is a toxic mindset in real life. Many times the characters in these series get obsessed with the “villain” of the pairing, and likewise the villain becomes obsessed with the hero. However, in this case, instead of having a dynamic of “I want to offer a chance to help because I care about this person” and “I want to become better and I’m grateful to this person for giving me the chance to do so”, we instead have both characters adopting a far more toxic mindset. The hero feels less like “someone in love” and more like “someone with a guilt and/or superiority complex”. Likewise, the villain still acts with villainous intent. They want to lure the hero in. So in these pairings, the hero and the villain - the two sides of the enemies - do not share a common ground other than the battlefield.

And then there is OOC.

The thing about enemies to lovers pairings, particularly the seond type, is that one character needs to be the victim of the other character, or act wildly out-of-character for this to even happen. That’s why I oftenly associate enemies to lovers with manipulation to a certain degree.

Now, I admit my pool is... limited. My main encounters with such ships are all those “Harry Potter x Voldy/Draco/death eater here”, as well as some miscellaneous stuff like “Hibari Kyoya x Mukuro” or “Dark Marik x literally anyone” or “Aizen x Ichigo (wtf)”. Either the Draco in Leather Pants syndrom is in full strength, or this is going on.

So why do I find Dabihawks different?

Well, they’re both  in the same shoes, and they’re both the victim, and they’re both the manipulator.

Dabi and Hawks have an extremely personal, pre-established connection long before they even meet, said connection being Endeavor. And it’s not really in terms “I want to overcome this guy” but rather “this guy irrevocably changed my life and is connected to my family”.

There are far better analysis essays here on this, but Dabi and Hawks are defined by two very different versions of the same person. Dabi knows Endeavor as the monster who pretends to be a hero and never loved him as a parent, while to Hawks Endeavor is the proof that there is good in this world and saved him from his parent. Endeavor is the physical manifestation of how they perceive the world they live in. Dabi sees the worst of the hero society because he grew up in it, while Hawks has completely fallen for the glamorous image. For Dabi, the existence of pro-heroes among people is not a spectacle but an inescapable part of life; literally, he lived in the same house as one. Meanwhile, for Hawks it was such a spectacle that he did not believe it to be real. So they both start from the same point - Endeavor - and reach completely different conclusions. One of them thinks the world is fake, while the other thinks that miracles happen.

Another thing they both are parallels/mirrors/foils to each other is how exactly the abuse was for each of them. I’m trying to put this in terms of invisibility and expectation.

A core question in both their childhoods is “why was I born”. We see both of them being faced with this question as early as their toddler years. Both of them are undeniably too young to get existential like that. Here is the difference though; Dabi was clearly told exactly why he was born by his father, while Hawks’ own mother posed this question to him. So here again we have two different paths from the same starting point. Dabi already knew the answer but it was ripped away from him, while Hawks was asked to find the answer until it was shoved into his hands.

I’ll talk more about that later.

So, invisiblitity? Dabi and Hawks were invisible in their own house in different ways. At first, Dabi had ALL the attention on him but then it was ripped away along with the answer to the question “why I was born”. This caused instability in his life, like somone tore off his foundations. Dabi desires this stability back; he technically already knows the answer to the “why I was born” thing, so he believes that with thee attention he will get it back. He always, ALWAYS screams at people to look at him.

Hawks on the other hand thinks that being invisible is a good thing. Hawks knew he was unwanted from the very beginning, and since he could not leave, the best thing he could do was pretend he’s not there. Hawks doesn’t want to be seen. So he’s quite, inexpressive, and diverts attention away from him. Hawks wants the answer to the question “why I was born”, but he knows all too well that his parents won’t provide it, so he doesn’t seek them out.

And that is when they both are thrown into the exact opposite situation of their comfort zone.

Dabi is shoved - metaphorically - intoa world where everything is defined by secrecy. Limelight villainy - aka the villains who attack people in broad daylight - are in danger because they attract attention, and now Dabi is a villain who works in secret, even though his nature is to want ALL the spotlights on him.

Meanwhile, Hawks is thrown in the world where all the limelight will be on him, while he’s most confortable just disappearing.

Here we come back to Endeavor. With the Hero Comision, Hawks is shoven the answer of “why were you born” into his hands. Now, I’m not saying Endeavor has ties with the Hero Commision. Unlike what fanfiction claims, I really don’t think Endeavor wants much to do with them. But the important bit here is how Hawks preceives it. Hawks already thinks that heroes are fantastical guardian angels, and tols that he WILL be a hero.

So Dabi starts out with all the expectations and attention piled on him, only for them to be taken away and for him to be thrown in the shadows. While Hawks starts with nobody having any expectations or paying attention to him, and then he gets shoved to the spotlight.

And how do they react to the situation? Well, with the exact same way; putting on completely opposite but based on the truth masks. Dabi pretends not to be the massive attention seeker that he is and instead feigns apathy; except this apathy is only partially feigned because he only cares about one thing - it’s just not villainy itself, it’s a person. Hawks on the other hand pretends to be far more happy-go-lucky and friendly than he actually is, but that’s also partially based on a truth; he is optimistic to a fault (his words).

And this is a very simplified version of what makes this pairing work. When they collide, they collide HARD in every single area. Because every single area is a common area. Their lives match each other’s step for step long before they actually meet, so they have a lot of common ground, and the line in the sand between heroes and villains is not straight. It’s jagged as hell because they both got dragged through it.

So when they do finally meet, their oposite beats more or less forces the other to remove the mask. We see Hawks getting angry and laser focused and emotionless, killing someone in a location where no one could see. We see Dabi danceing around like a drama queen and laughing at the camera in front of the whole world. In a sense, tey are finally back in their comfort zones. And they had to collide to do it.

Dabi doesn’t want to be saved by the hero, and Hawks doesn’t want to save the villain. They do NOT trust each other, but know each other better than anyone else, because their lives are so close.

And I think their fight in canon perfectly reflects that. In a darkned, enclosed location like the ones they grew up in, with Hawks trying to keep something a secret while Dabi demanding that all eyes are on him.

And this is why I believe it works as a pairing. Yeah, there is a lot of symbolism and popular ship dynamics you could throw here (icarus and the sun, blonde and brunette except that’s a lie, sunny boy vs emo dude) but no. It’s how they force each other to be REAL and to look at the other side of their path that makes this ship work.

I read a fair bit of Dabihawks fanfiction, and it rarely starts with love at first sight or “I love this person”. Of course it fucking doesn’t. It starts with them actually considering murder, and then getting uncomfortable because the other person is getting under their skin. By taking a look at each other, they are forced to take a look at themselves. Because they have the exact same kind of baggage.

It’s also one of the reasons I think that this ship has so much variety in it. I read plenty of Dabihawks porn. A thing I find in slash fiction is that in a popular pairing, there is almost always a designated top and a designated bottom with designated preferences. Who will be the Uke and who will be the Seme of the relationship. I can’t believe I just wrote that. There is this general concept of what they’re into. But with Dabihawks, there isn’t such a pre-established concept because both sides of the pairing can fit any role. You can have anything from service dom Dabi to pillow princess Hawks to both of them being soft, or both being sadomaschohists, to switches, and who tops or bottoms in fiction is up to a coin toss. And it always feels in character because they both have this...zigzagging yet parallel dynamic, of having same yet different starting points, and moving at the same axis, taking turns at the same points.

So yeah. Not sure how to finish this but... yeah. Here is why I think this pairing works. Thanks for reading, if you did.