#confirmation of feelings gets your ship nowhere in canon

[percheduphere]

What's frustrating about being a supporter of a mlm ship is the immediate presumption of the shippers' identity as a "cis heterosexual woman" who fetishsizes homosexuality (not that that problem doesn't exist, but that's not what this post is for).

Our identities also include:

Cis gay man

Gay/bi/pan trans/woman/man/enby

Cis/trans polyamorous gay/bi/pan woman/man/enby

Cis/trans gay/bi/panromantic asexual woman/man/enby

On and on, the intersections within the LGBTAI+ community are infinite.

Yet our mainstream media shies away from canonizing mlm relationships on screen, by whatever arbitrary measure deemed correct by the heteronormative power structure, which means bi or pansexuality and gender fluidity can be masked beneath an optically cis heterosexual relationship that is spoken of as queer only in dialogue.

I am a queer person. The argument I most often see is that being in a relationship with someone of the opposite gender doesn't negate a person's bi or pansexuality. This is ABSOLUTELY TRUE in real life. I'm in such a partnership, and here's the thing ...

When I share my queer identity with others and they see my partner of 15 years, the question I get asked is:

"How can you still be ×-sexual if you're in a heterosexual relationship?"

It is as though, by committing to someone who presents as the opposite gender, my lived experience (all the people I loved deeply in the past; the pain of coming out not once, not twice, but three times; the pain of permanently cutting off people in my life) was completely erased. My partner and I are optically viewed as "straight" despite how we actually define our individual genders and sexuality. Despite continuing to feel queer attraction. Despite continuing to remember previous queer loves with incredible fondness. Despite still celebrating with friends in the community and proudly bearing my flags.

This is why I truly believe there needs to be a greater push for more same-sex representation ON SCREEN in the MAINSTREAM. We cannot have authentic stories of the queer experience without it. It is a stepping stone to representing all the other identities that are swept under the rug. There is a big difference between knowing who you are in real life and interpreting what big money media is doing with your identity for the sake of pleasing the heteronormative masses and offering only subtext for the queer community in order to get the highest amount of views. Subtext, which by the way, is immediately dismissed as reading too deeply into it!

Well, guess what? Being queer inherently means reading deeply into subtext. This has been our language for decades. I should know, I'm OLD. Picking up subtle cues was and is part of queer courtship in real life because you absolutely could not out yourself in public. In more than half of the U.S. that is STILL the case!

I have a very close cis straight friend who thought Korrasami came out of nowhere. I had to sit them down and explain all the little cues, including the infamous hairpin in Asami's lips close-up. They remarked, "Wow, that's a lot of work. Is that how it worked when you tried to meet someone in public?"

YES! And it's 2023 coming on 2024, and we still have to go through this extra bullshit cis heterosexual people take for granted! If there is even a hint of queer mlm romance, you know what happens? They either get separated or killed or BOTH!

They are separating us and killing us on screen because we can only exist in subtext and tragedy. And then, when we dare to hope another ship might make it, that finally, we will have our moment in the sun, we are told:

"You weren't baited. Nothing was confirmed. What did you expect? They're just friends. You looked too deeply into it and did this to yourself. You are gross and keep migrating from one gay ship to another, you homosexual fetishsizing misogynistic pervert."

These people take intersectional social justice language and weaponize it against us. They moralize us on our own identities without even knowing who we are or what we've been through. They think we're desperate and delusional for the audacity of hoping we might see a happy ending that reflects us in the mainstream.

I am so, so tired.

[bellabrady]

I need to vent this to someone and idk why but i just feel like you’ll understand me idk but….

I’m terrified about next week’s episode… like I feel like there is so much within the fandom that is hanging onto next week’s episode being a definite thing on whether or not buddie will go canon, and it’s been stressing me out seeing all of the discourse… I have so many strong feelings about the idea of Tommy (who has always pissed me off as a character from the Begins episodes) and how so many people just suddenly out of nowhere love the guy and compare him to Buck and Eddie when there has literally been barely anything comparable to the two of them as characters since he’s been back. Not only that, but the theory of Buck and Tommy being a thing as a potential for Eddie to come to terms with his feelings doesn’t make me feel comfortable— Not in a “omg i just want Buck and Eddie to jump into bed with each other and call it a day” because i don’t… I just know us queer people are still only seen as tokens half the time, and I’m worried that if they pair Buck with a guy (while Yay for bi!Buck) who is a character that A) is from his past, and B) is for some reason all of a sudden adored by a bunch of people (for reasons i will never understand)… I’m afraid they will just put he and Buck together and call it a day, and just keep Eddie and Buck as “brothers” when that is such a disservice to both of them… If Buck does become confirmed as bisexual, I have no issue with him exploring his sexuality with other men who aren’t principal characters because that won’t have any bearing on the finality of buddie as a ship, but I’m afraid that by putting Buck and Tommy together will somehow be ABC’s way of saying “Eh this will do” because of the way so many people have suddenly jumped onto the bucktommy train.

On top of that, the idea of getting jealous!buck would make me happy if it weren’t for the fact that it’s Tommy, and I am terrified that the writers are trying to wrap him up in this glittering duct tape bow and say “we’re not going to give you what you’ve been asking for for 6 years, but we’ll give you this cheap knock off” due to the speculation that Eddie will somehow reaffirm that he sees Buck as just a friend being the catalyst for Buck exploring his sexuality with Tommy.

It would be painful as a longtime buddie truther, but it would also be painful as a genuine fan of the characters because i feel like that would ruin everything they have built together over the past 6 years, and it would be a cop-out because they don’t want to go that route, even though they are the ones who have set up buddie in this context on so many different occasions…. sure a lot of buddie moments can be real things that happened in platonic relationships, but the framing and subtext has always been this will they/won’t they dynamic, and it feels so icky to me for them to make Buck Bi, and have him NOT end up with Eddie.

And I know people are quick to point out Ryan and Oliver in these recent interviews and everything as some sort of evidence towards buddie canon, but I would think a lot of us have been in this carousel long enough to know that if the possibility of a popular queer romance on a show is one of the BIGGEST marketing tactics that shows use. I’m not saying that Ryan and Oliver themselves are queerbaiting because of how much they’ve supported the buddie fandom over the years, but something in me feels like a lot of their PR appearances lately have been to intentionally cause speculation so that they don’t lose the buddie portion of the viewers when they rip the rug out from under us…. (again not blaming Ryan and Oliver AT ALL because they have no say)

idk if any of that makes sense and im sorry for like the novel i just wrote in your asks lmao but i just needed to get that off my chest and you are one of the few people I have seen who also seems to dislike Tommy’s character, and could maybe possibly see where I’m coming from with my anxiety on this whole thing because it’s been making me spiral lately….

it’s just this ship (as i’m sure it is to others) is really important to me and seeing the online support of a bucktommy romance as a means of getting buddie worries me that the writers will take that as people wanting bucktommy canon and just giving us that as consolation for not giving us buddie and that breaks my heart because i have such a deep connection to both Buck and Eddie in different ways, and i want to see them and their relationship done good service, and frankly none of the theories i’ve seen surrounding it have been anything i want to see with them because i hate tommy, and don’t want him of all people to be the reason we get screwed over.

hi there! you pretty much described exactly what i've been feeling and i 100% understand and feel your anxiety. most people have been super excited for the next ep but i truly feel like it won't go over well for us (though i'll gladly be pleasantly surprised). i even had to log off twitter for a bit because thinking about all the potential ways this thing with tommy could go was giving me legitimate anxiety (yes i'm aware that's not an entirely normal way to feel about a tv show, but sue me, i'm mentally ill)

i feel like i also haven't really been able to enjoy 911 twitter, tumblr, tiktok etc anymore because so many people, like you said, just jumped onto the bucktommy train and i hate it for so many reasons. i just wish everybody was as keen on ignoring that guy as i am.

so yes, i completely agree with you and i definitely relate. i'm glad you felt like you could vent to me and if you ever wanna DM me so we can share our anxiety a bit, please feel free! <3

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Saw a zutara tagged post that went kinda like this:

“If you canon pairing feels threatened near some friendship relationship, than maybe you canon pairing is so shallow and this friendship is just so strong and romantic”.

I don’t need to specify that “canon pairing” here is kataang and “strong romantic friendship” is zutara, do I?

Meanwhile: every zutara fan plot that does not make Aang and Mai absolute monsters, have them either absent or dead. Because, I guess, zutara is such a strong pairing it has no problems with Katara and Aang’s or Zuko and Mai’s friendship… Zutarians, take your own medicine.

And again, they say that, yet I, who spent too much time watching people react to the show, can confirm that most people new fans are not only not into Zutara, lots of them are VERY confused as to why it's so popular and why so many fans INSIST there was ever a Aang/Katara/Zuko love triangle.

Zutara really is "a threat to the canon ships" solely on their large echo-chamber, and nowhere else - and I'm including the minds of sane zutara shippers when I say "nowhere else" because even though they like the ship, they don't lie to themselves about it being this universally loved thing that somehow snuck it's way into the show against the writers' wishes.

Also, this notion that fanon ships are only good if they "threaten" the canon ones is very weird and a result of Zutarians being desperate to keep the fandom ship wars alive even as nearly everyone else got sick of it well over a decade again. More than one potential pairing can be good at once - yes, even the rarepairs that only has five fans. People are allowed to like Zutara AND Kataang/Maiko - hell, people are allowed to want Zuko, Mai, Katara and Aang to all be in love which each other. Fandom folks need to stop being cowards and embrace multi-shipping already, dammit.

To quote a wise brazilian proverb "Se organizar direitinho, todo mundo transa" (If we set this up correctly, everyone gets laid)

Once again, if these people would just chill and enjoy their ship without trying to force it down everyone's throats, them and their pairing would not be so infamous and this blog would not exist, yet they just can't resist shooting themselves in the foot over and over again.

[raayllum]

I remember starting the show because my friend told me about Callum and Rayla and how cute they were together. But after binge watching all 5 seasons, I just feel like the writers don’t really give a damn about them, in many ways, compared to other couples. But, to be fair, I have lots of issue with the writing. But, to me, the primary idea was to make Callum and Claudia a couple (no, I don’t ship them together), because they actually have a background, development, even chemistry too. So, I don’t understand why the writers changed their minds on this (please, tell me if they ever addressed this issue). I just think that him moving on from a childhood love, like that, out of nowhere to Raylla was again a bit odd and out of nowhere. Because nothing indicated that in the first 2 seasons. Same goes to Rayla too. And, in S5 they have acted more as friends than anything else. It’s just weird. What’s your opinion about this? And again, I don’t ship Callum with Claudia, it’s just my opinion after watching all seasons.

Thank you for sharing your feelings, I definitely have been in fandoms where the Big Ship (canon or fanon, in show or in fandom) have just not been things I could click or with or understand, so you have my sympathies. The crew has gone on record saying that Callum and Rayla being a couple was not originally the plan (we don't know if there were any endgames being considered for either of them as alternatives, but I lean toward no) with Janaya and Ruthari presumably being the main couples. This changed in 2x04 with the lightning flash and moment the two share on the boat, "everyone in the room saw it" (legit quote from showrunner) and they began to write and develop it. It is unknown if they went back to add or shift anything in S1 (we know the crew works on seasons simultaneously) but it wouldn't surprise me given the vibes

I definitely can't promise to change your mind (I'm obviously a big Rayllum shipper and I have been since S1, so I'm clearly coming at it from a different perspective) but I do have some metas that do address what you've brought up, I'm gonna link them below and then do a quick summary in case you understandably don't wanna read all that!

Rayllum and Loneliness (Post S3): a meta about how it is likely (now confirmed in supplementary material) that Rayla grew up pretty friendless and a deeper dive into how Rayla is/was the first person Callum had who was unequivocally his peer and his friend (as Soren bullied and Callum's crush - as well as other things - made him and Claudia have a fair amount of distance.)

Callum and Claudia: You Already Did (Post S3): On what appeal the ship has, why it may not appeal to others, and why I don't think Callum and Claudia were actually that close pre-S1, the various factors why, and why they were doomed to fall apart since 1x02.

How/Why Callum's feelings for Claudia and Rayla Were Overlapping (Post-S3): Exactly what it says on the tin, mostly because he is obsessed with Rayla lowkey in S1 (trying to get her to laugh three times in 1x05, taking a flirty tone with her when they aren't arguing in 1x06, etc) and then outright devoted in S2, trusting her over Claudia in 2x03.

Rebuttals to Rayllum Reservations (Claudia, Pacing, Etc) Post-S3: Pacing, emotional intimacy, platonic development and romantic feelings, etc. Probably the simplest meta and the most on brand for what you're (presumably) looking for, but the other metas I think uh do contribute nicely to explaining why Rayllum is what it is and som of the reasons it appeals to people.

It's also honestly not surprising to me that in S5 they just feel like Friends (hopefully best friends) given that a decent chunk of the Rayllum fandom, myself included, are on the aromantic and/or asexual spectrums, and don't really care if they're Romantic as long as they're Life Partners. (Aspec Rayllum tag here) Callum and Ezran are two of the, if not the, most important people in Rayla's life, and Rayla and Ezran are two of the most important people in Callum's life. To me, romance / devotion / whatever you want to call it intermingling makes sense. One of the things I've loved most about S4-S5 is the fact that whatever they are, they have each other's backs, and they care for and protect each other, no romance required, which hits different since they do both also have romantic feelings for each other. It's just not a pre-requisite for them and a lack of it is never something they'd hold against one another. In other words:

Chemistry is also something that's hard to pin down sometimes - like all shipping preferences are subjective, but evaluations of chemistry tend to be in particular (for example, I don't really think Callum and Claudia have chemistry in that way, but that doesn't mean that they can't or they don't).

That said: platonic Rayllum tag here and foils Rayllum tag here, and I hope whatever parts of the show you do enjoy, well, give you joy.

[hyperactivewhore]

I feel people talk a lot about Klamille, Klaroline and Klayley and completely ignore the influence Aurora had over Klaus.

Now, I don't really like any of the main ships of Klaus: Candice herself confirmed in a live no long ago that the producers started writing the whole Klaroline ship because the reaction of the fans to their first scene (which they didn't intend to turn romantic) was massive and positive, so their whole relationship was fan service from beginning to end. I like Klamille, but the fact that she was her therapist and they fell in love always creeped me out. And Klayley, well, they weren't even a couple but I feel that the potential was there.

But Klaurora? They fell in love in a time where neither of them were pure evil, and Klaus had been literally turned into a vampire two years before. And she wasn't "crazy", as people try to make her look: she was just bipolar, in a time where help was nowhere to be found. And Tristan just made that worse through their lives as vampires.

Now, this is my personal opinion, one I made by watching the show, you don't have to agree with it at all. Personally, I don't think Klaus and Caroline were in love with each other (not Caroline, unless she was playing hard to get in which case go girl ig), at least not in the Mystic Falls era. In New Orleans, however, they had both grown, and they seemed more comfortable in the other's presence (I still don't think they would have lasted as a couple, as I say in this post) so if they wanted to persue a romance then, go ahead.

But back to the point, Klaus was literally being an asshole in love talking about the smell of Aurora's hair and writing love letters to her: he was down bad for the woman, and it's canon that her breaking his heart is what made him the ruthless and abusive bitch we all know in canon ("you knew that your secret betrayal was the cause of everything i became" 3x05, said by Klaus to Elijah in a rather hypocrite fight).

And it's not like he got over her as his life continued: he painted her, eight hundred years after their breakup, and judging by the fact he said it became the tomb of his memories of her, he probably painted her a thousand of times before. When he showered her that painting, a millennium later, he confessed that thinking he could forget her is one of his biggest mistakes, meaning that while he was flirting with Cami and Care he still hadn't gotten over his first love. And with the way he was looking at her, I doubt it was a lie.

And they literally started being together again not even a day after she showed up in New Orleans. He didn't give a damn about Camille, or Caroline. His "however long it takes" or his "I would have found you" were completely forgotten in his mind, his own sister was kidnapped by her and he couldn't care less because he was busy showing her New Orleans, something Lucien pointed out.

Elijah noticed as well, because the whole "Do you love her" wasn't directed towards Camille, and with the way Klaus answered his question it was clear. And Klaus also asked him to never say Aurora's name in his presence (I like to think that being the little shit he is Kol always said her name whenever he was around and that's why he got daggered so much, but that's a personal headcanon of mine).

Klaus only lashed out at her when he found out Rebekah was at the bottom of the ocean (Emma who lmao), not safe as Aurora had promised him after fucking. And he did say he intented to keep his love promises to her, made in the modern world, hence bye bye his two blonde lovers (also, the fact that they resemble Rebekah so much, his favorite sibling who he's always been obssesed with, it’s so fucking weird).

He didn't chose Camille or Caroline over her, Aurora pushed him to it and he seemed pretty upset about it in the whole episode of their dramatic breakup. And Camille did say more than once she believed Klaus still loved Aurora, something Klaus didn't actually deny (he said he didn't care about her, that's all.)

I know Klaus did love Camille, he did even after a decade of her death, and I know he was obssesed with Caroline, but I personally believe that the one he loved the most has always been Aurora.

Funny enough, in 3x18, after her murdering Camille, his actual love interest, turning her into a vampire, and trying to kill his whole family, he didn't even try to pull away when she leaned to kiss him. He could have tried to bite her, or to back away, but he didn't.

And don't even get me started on him keeping her alive even after the serum left her sistem. Klaus couldn't kill her, and he was clearly distraught when Hayley inyected her that serum to send her to sleep. This fucker couldn't kill her, and he needed his girlfriends to do it.

Anyways, ik this is a unpopular opinion, but I always found the messed up dynamic of Klaurora so entertaining to watch. Aurora loved him until her death, and I think he continued to love her until his as well, knowing how much of a obssesed yandere he is.

And try to ignore any grammatic mistakes lmao, I'm spanish and I was eating a donut writing this.

[dragynkeep]

Miles fucking Luna just admitted on Cameo bumbleby was made canon soley because of its popularity with shippers and "would have toned down the Black Sun moments" had they known beforehand! Ais, please bully this beta looking crackhead on Twitter for me because I don't have an account and I refuse to get one

i watched the video & 1. why does he look like that & 2. why is he so goddamn close to the camera. back tf up on this cameo you've owed someone for ages, maybe try & be a little professional & not look like you're recording this on your smoke break.

it's also interesting he doesn't mention why he had to turn cameo off for a bit when some of the last cameos he had included misusing the word genocide over a fictional character & then pimping out his own self insert as "bisexual" & having to walk it back when people, desperate for queer mlm representation in this homophobic ass show, were wondering if it was actually going to be canon when. nah. he just said it for money :))

"you asked if there was any behind the scenes info for bumblby, which is hard cause i don't think there's much to talk about" for a ship you've apparently had in the works for 10 years? since the beginning? kept so under wraps? whatever, miles.

ohhh my god miles bringing up that blake is the bisexual queen & "everyone wants to date her" as if he wasn't disgustingly biphobic & joked about getting off to women kissing in front of him as well as asking if bisexual women were "truly bisexual" or just "sipped from the fur cup" with his best friend who sexually harasses women.

it's also weird that this essentially confirms the reason she has the "blake harem" is because she's bisexual, as well as being "cute & pretty." which. fall into a hole, luna, you ugly fuck.

also positing sun & blake on their faunus relationship as the much smaller one while being deluded there was anything to yang & blake over the "much longer relationship" besides a shit ton of shared trauma & no in depth discussions, no romantic connection, nothing until the last two volumes where they were like "welp, better get this yuri train on the road" & invented moments for them out of nowhere that were out of character & did a disservice to their actual characters.

"they're finally in a place where they can admit their feelings to one another" but why? nothing has changed between them, they've actively ignored or pushed aside the so called "baggage & drama" that miles described them going through & in this volume they were essentially made by the environment to confess their feelings, not through any genuine connection. there was no reason that this confession couldn't have happened in all the life threatening situations last volume & i would've been spared yang fetishizing blake's racial features.

overall: this cameo just confirms the worst of what we knew about crwby in regards to sun / blake / yang. whatever was popular was going to be canon, they didn't care or understand their characters motivations & there is so much biphobia in their treatment of their main bisexual character in regards to both her love life & the confirmation of it only coming in a wlw relationship, downplaying all sides of her attraction.

they could've had blake be confirmed bisexual from day one. they could've done more with blake & yang in the early volumes instead of borderline pimping her out to the cast to have a harem because of said bisexuality & her "cuteness" when in what way does that fit the reserved & cautious blake we know?

this is five minutes of my time i'll never get back & i wish miles a very happy get [redacted] because your shitty voice sounds like razor blades in my ear, you unwashed biphobic fuck.

[writing-for-life]

Let's go choose violence:

3, 8, 9, 25 for The Sandman :3c

Rubs hands gleefully…

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr 

Of course not screenshotting as everyone’s entitled to their opinion, so this is just a thing *I* find hard to understand/get my head around:

“Neil Gaiman ran out of ideas, and that’s why he killed off Morpheus.”

I mean, you could say he wanted to conclude his arc, and with that I agree. And thank fuck he did, because if Murphy were still alive, we would need to suffer the horrible takes that DC has foisted upon us ever since. But it is so completely incomprehensible to me when I read that there was no sign that Morpheus would off himself before World’s End or TKO. That it came out of nowhere, that it made the whole thing completely depressing and insufferable and sends a "bad" message. 

It all was right there, from the start. You can’t read "The Sound of her Wings" and not see that he’s absolutely haunted by the narrative, and how much comfort he finds in her. And you don’t need to read the whole thing and then just see it in hindsight (it's something I hear/read quite often). It’s clear as day if you are willing to go down the line of thinking that the Endless aren’t people but concepts. I personally think that’s where people can trip up. And I even get it--of course we want to humanise them because we are human. But they are not. They are mirrors and foils that are supposed to make us think about our own humanity (and we recognise it in them, but that still doesn’t make them human--they just show us human traits and what this mortal coil is about. Carry it and abandon it in equal measures).

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about 

Everyone apart from me of course 😂

"Hob Gadling is any shape or form the personification of hope, and his sole purpose is to (squee! UwU) save Murphy from his bleak existence".

No he ain’t. Hope is Hope, and she is a little girl (blows a raspberry right in your face). If Hob''s anything, he is humanity in a nutshell: ugly, self-serving, opportunist, but also feeling, caring and redeemable. But especially the first part is harder to woobify.

Did I also mention I have this take that making Dream's relationship to Hob all about romance and sex forgets about the importance of friendship, and why it's actually so important for the plot? Plus, that we have a tendency to erase male friendship and hence lean into toxic masculinity if we make every glance and every touch and every close emotional bond about: "Oh, they want to fuck?", and that's decidedly *not* progressive? Yeah, about that... (ship them, it's fine, no problem whatsoever, just be aware it's not the *only* take, and I will stick my neck out now and say: it won't be canon).

9. worst part of canon

That’s a tricky one because I can make sense of pretty much everything to be fair, but if I had to choose, it’s that Morpheus’ failed relationship to Nada created ripples that basically doomed every black woman connected to his arc (not *all* black women, I think that’s actually a misinterpretation, as is that Morpheus is racist, which he conceptually can't be). And as soon as he’s dead, we get token Gwen who isn’t doomed by the narrative anymore. And said Gwen *really* is a token black woman with no true agency of her own—her entire purpose is to serve the redemption of the slave trader. And that Neil actually confirmed this was *intentional* in The Sandman Companion. I get why he made that narrative choice, but to me, it still looks bad. I have hopes though he moved on from that take and we don’t get to see it in the show (the signs are there, so fingers crossed).

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Ties in with 3: That The Sandman should have a different, “more hopeful” ending. 

But quite a few others: 

You *should* write fanfics about XYZ because there’s not enough of it. 

You *should* elevate supporting characters to main characters because they are ABC.

You *shouldn’t* focus so much on the main character because he’s a guy/male-presenting (I mean, he’s the protagonist, so there’s that).

You *should* ship m/m because it makes problematic dynamics less problematic. 

You *shouldn’t* ship m/f because it’s heteronormative. My favourite: Johanna Constantine is bi, you *shouldn’t* ship her with a guy, because again: Heteronormative. Erm, I hate to break it to people (and speaking from experience): That’s how being bi works, and we like m, f and nb equally? And we happen to want sex with m, f and nb? And we pretty much have blinkers on when it comes to falling in love with a *person*, or what we find hot/sexually arousing? And I swear if I read shit like that once more, I’ll get heteronormative out of sheer spite and will smite people.

You *should* or *shouldn't* ship. Both fine. And/but there's certainly more to The Sandman than blorbofication and allosexualisation of everything.

So yeah, pretty much anything that involves a *should*. You can do whatever the fuck you like as long as you don’t lose your ability to critically engage with it. Plus, the space has to be welcoming for everyone, and that’s sometimes hard for creators and people who don’s serve/like the main flavour. And therein lies the problem, because critical engagement doesn’t always happen, and a lot of good stuff disappears in amongst the noise…

[brxkxnhxxrtsclxb]

Wait so you ship borusumi? If you don't mind me asking when and why did you start shipping them? This is literally my first time seeing a borusumi shipper on tumblr.

hiii, yes i ship borusumi💕

and i don’t mind you asking :3

as for borusumi shippers, i think they’re mostly on twitter. i myself don’t see much for them (the ship) here on tumblr

as for your question:

i don’t have an exact date but can say i started shipping borusumi when i first read the chapter sumire confessed her feelings. idk i was just like “okay girl go get your man” lmaoo😭😭 it was just like “okay, she likes boruto. good for her !!” and i started rooting for sumire since then

(not to mention the conversation he has with her in the chapter before that)

i watched the anime way after starting the manga and the first arc having boruto and sumire and how he saved her was nice to see. but idk how canon the anime is anymore since they said both the anime and manga are but then the anime made sarada a chunin and the manga said she’s still a genin so oof

also the novels!! again, no idea how canon they are but there is one where it says boruto never shows his tears in public but when he found out sumire was in the hospital cuz she got hurt, he cried and showed his tears in public. then there’s another novel where it says himawari likes some idol, lily, and she tells boruto how cute she is and boruto doesn’t care for lily but he thinks her eyes are a pretty color. lily is described to have violet eyes. that made me even more obsessed with borusumi sksk

then there’s the manga chapter where eida asks to speak with sarada and then said to bring kakei and boruto questioned it. it was only when eida mentioned sumire that boruto reacted. boruto himself relayed the message to sumire. we see them speaking and know they’re friends. once they went in the room, he asked if they (sarada and sumire) were gonna be okay. it’s little details like those that matter ♡

then omnipotence happened. everyone’s memories about boruto and kawaki switched. no one knew what was going on, but it was sumire who told sarada what occurred. she didn’t have all the facts, but remained levelheaded

her first instinct was to help boruto

and we all know what happens after. sarada asks sasuke to help boruto. basically what this shows is: without sumire, boruto would be dead. everyone was just out to kill boruto (cuz they think he’s kawaki), but he’s innocent. both sarada and sumire know this. sumire didn’t know how to help him, but her first instinct was to do so. it was thanks to her intel that sarada managed to snap out of her crying and get her to listen and that’s when she asked sasuke to help him. in other words: sumire literally saved boruto’s life

we see in chapter 1 of the time skip that sarada and sumire are still trying to help boruto and break omnipotence. she’s shocked to see boruto when he appears out of nowhere to save sarada from code. sumire doesn’t make an appearance again until chapter 5, which just dropped a few days ago. we see she gets information from amado regarding omnipotence and his memories and she relays this information to sarada. she’s basically still trying to find ways to combat eida’s ability to help boruto. now we wait for chapter 6 to drop to see what more is in store for this manga. i wanna see how this pans out since boruto doesn’t even know sumire is unaffected by omnipotence. in his mind, he only has sarada, so let’s see what happens next

sorry if this got too long and it doesn’t answer your question >.< but this is basically why i started shipping them and why i continue to ship them. sure, it’s easy to disregard the ship cuz we don’t see boruto and sumire interacting much, but their moments are there. they aren’t meaningless. sumire loves boruto. this has been confirmed many times now and she’s doing what she can to help him break omnipotence

[agrebel18]

huntlow and/or gusmatt for the ask game!

oooh I'll do both!

Huntlow (the first one) and Gustholomule (the second one)

What made you ship it? Honestly, I think it was the half-a-witch parallels they have, plus the hands in ASIAS! Also I saw Hunter blush at her in LR and immediately got attached, along with how happy Willow was when Hunter helped Gus 😭

What are your favorite things about the ship? A LOT OF THINGS, tbh, but mostly how protective they are of each other and how much they mean to each other (hence the speech in FTF) plus I just REALLY love how they were shown in FTF, like they definitely have crushes on each other and are willing to maybe get into a romantic relationship with each other in the future BUT they can also be friends at the same time and don't pull that "more than friends" BS!

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I am some flavor of aspec (don't know where but probably not allo) but yet I don't consider it "a waste of representation" that they're both into each other, like I saw Willow as demiromantic/sexual but it might not be true yet I'm not getting all pissy about it or bothering the crew to confirm my headcanons like SOME PEOPLE ARE, ugh. ALSO, I personally think they did their relationship justice in season 3, especially FTF! It was a little fast paced, but it didn't come out of nowhere and I don't consider it rushed! Though we could've gotten a lot more if we had gotten a full season 3 :/ What made you ship it? I think it was the picture that Gus has on his bedroom wall and seeing that Matt joined the illusion track because he most likely saw Gus making them, plus these idiots have THE CUTEST FANART

What are your favorite things about the ship? Mostly their dynamic and parallels to Luz and Amity, ESPECIALLY in season 1 and then in TTLGR, it's so cute how many parallels they have to the girlfriends! (intentional or not, we don't know) Plus the way that Matt was basically flirting SUPER CONFIDENT AND SHOWING OFF with Gus in FTF was too funny, plus he mentioned that Gus taught him illusion tricks🥺

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on the ship? I really like them a lot, but because of the shortening of the show and all the stuff they have to resolve in "Watching and Dreaming" I don't think they should be OFFICIALLY canon or dating or anything at the end, but ONLY because we weren't able to see alot of their bond in canon, and I don't want them to be rushed or anything :( BUT that doesn't mean I don't want more crumbs of them, especially in the end. I just have a feeling that had we gotten the full season 3, they could've been EVEN CUTER than they already are, PLUS with the parallels they have to Luz and Amity, we could've gotten other interracial MLM rep besides Gilbert and Harvey (no hate tho, I love them!) to go along with the interracial sapphic rep we have.

[procrastinatorproject]

I'm very torn about whether I want to spend any more energy talking about season 3 of Picard, or just... let it go, now that it is finally, finally over, and rebuild from the ashes.

But there is one petty thing I will say (and of course it's Sirena-related, so probably irrelevant to anyone but me and three other people 😅)

SHE! IS! UNREGISTERED!!!!!!!

They forgot Sirena existed about halfway through the season (seriously: after Raffi and Worf come on board, we get a wide shot of the Titan warping away, and Sirena is nowhere to be seen. They literally just... left her somewhere off screen, never to be mentioned again). And in the episodes we did get, there is not a single canon hint that the ship is anything but unregistered.

The only reason a registry number exists is because Dave Blass was asked to make one up for promo materials, but from what I've heard from the people involved in that process, they didn't decide that Sirena was no longer unregistered, they actually didn't understand that being unregistered means the ship would have no registry! That is literally what that means!

"But you need a registry to dock somewhere!" Yeah, that's why you bribe people or hack systems or have a fake registry! But the point of being unregistered is that you don't have a fixed number people can associate with your ship. Because in order to have a registry, it needs to be on the books somewhere. Otherwise it's just another name.

So yeah. At no point did we get canon confirmation that anyone registered our beloved little speed freighter. Let alone of a registry number, real or fake.

I know I will never convince the Trekbros of this, but I feel completely justified in staunchly saying:

SIRENA REMAINS UNREGISTERED AND CANONICALLY HAS NO REGISTRY NUMBER ASSOCIATED WITH HER!

Now excuse me, I need to go be smug in the Memory Alpha production details section 🙈😂

[darklinaforever]

Ok. I need to address this.

Are there people who seriously think that Stydia was just fan service, out of nowhere in season 6? Seriously ? What series did you watch exactly? There are countless strong Stydia scenes with ambiguous and or romantic implications, or outright ROMANTIC background music in the series, long before Season 6! In 5X14 alone, Stiles asks Lydia to wake up while holding her hand with the song Where's My Love playing in the background. And yet people didn't see the romantic subtext in there? Really ? What do you need then?

Also, I've seen some haters claiming that there was nothing to be surprised about when Stydia broke up in the movie, because Dylan O'brien always hated Stydia, and said in an interview that they would have broken up at the after a few weeks...

So that's wrong.

Yes, Dylan said that, before going on to the fact that he was joking and that the two were meant to be together and happy. It's beautiful denial in some people anyway. To distort the words of an actor at this point to prove himself right.

Then it was Dylan who improvised the Stydia kiss on the cheek in 6X01. My ass he hates Stydia.

Also, quite a few of the cast members themselves were shipping Stydia together. To claim otherwise is bullshit.

And to anyone complaining that Stydia was too long and therefore no longer made sense...

It was fucking slowburn. A slowburn is supposed to be long to get a final realization! That's the point ! Canonically, in their universe, Stydia took 3 years to be together after being friends in high school. Sorry to tell you, but it's not an eternity or unrealistic. Not everyone gets in couple quickly.

Besides, I don't understand this obsession to say that Stydia is not valid because we've never seen them be a couple in a direct way...

You know, it's like complaining that fairy tales end right on the reunion of lovers finally reunited, or their marriage, being done, we have no insight into how their romantic relationship really works. But no one ever gets upset about it, or says it makes the relationship less valid. Besides, it's not a scheme found only in fairy tales, but including in a lot of classic novels with a central romance, or more recently in some romantic comedies.

And honestly? I don't care to see my ship's life as a couple! What matters is the buildup and the fact that they finally end up together in the end. Seeing them in couple mode is ultimately just a bonus, which I don't care about, because I can easily imagine it myself.

Oh, and if you're backing up the Stydia shit script of the movie as confirmation of your dumb ideas about this couple being forced, ridiculous, meant to break up forever, etc, well that just proves you're hopeless. This movie was absolute shit in every way, a goddamn thing that ruins the whole series, and not just Stydia. Even Allison's comeback is stupid. (and I say that as I ship Scott and Allison)

But in addition, knowing that the film still remains in the idea that Lydia is in love with Stiles and visibly sad to have abandoned him, and that Jeff Davis himself said in an interview that the two will most likely meet again... How is this supposed to be a victory for the anti?!

It mostly feels like a stupid breakup made to create unnecessary drama that would probably get a resolution later. Like the majority of couples getting together in a series that continues and has not actually ended its story.

Another of the reasons why I prefer the story to end once the couple are together rather than stretching out and seeing inevitable breakups / reconciliations made to keep the viewer hooked.

And as much as I'm a fan of Stydia, I absolutely refuse that this film be entitled to a sequel one day. It's shit, from A to Z, that deserves to be ignored and forgotten.

Teen Wolf movie sequel =

Also, those who act like Stydia aren't in a 6X20 couple are... pathetic at best? Everyone forgets this scene where Stydia takes her hand by instinct and where Lydia, remembering her first kiss with Stiles, tells Malia to kiss Scott to help calm him down? No, of course, let's forget this scene to justify our fantasy of: There was never anything ambiguous or romantic about Stydia, including in the last episode, proving that season 6A was a mistake!

And there are anti Stiles, acting like his character is toxic? People act like Stydia is toxic? Really ? It's so stupid it honestly makes me laugh.

I've been on tumblr for 2 years, but I only took a look at the Stydia/Teen wolf tag recently, and the crap I've seen there is really startling.

[ichinoue]

Another thinng about IR is when I started getting into the ships, I actually shipped IR. But some of the popular fanfictions I read, Ichigo and rukia would be in character but everyone else (for the sake of their epic lovestory) was out of character.

Renji (who loves being around rukia even if it means to just argue) was either distant or in some far away battle duty, Tatsuki and Keigo barely make appearances in Ichigo's life post-Rukia. Orihime is either mentally unstable or married to Ishida (lmao) or *special entry* Ichigo marries Orihime but is abusive to her because he doesn't love her and couldn't marry Rukia

Whereas after getting past the few poorly written fanfictions (the ones that only see Ichigo ending up with Orihime for sexual reasons) You notice that ichihimes/origos will write everyone in character. The dad, his sisters, their friends don't just disappear from their lives because they're in love, Renji still comes to the human world and is friends with Ichigo not just suddenly distant, Kon, urahara, soul society- everyones plot is still normal & involved in IH story

I think the reason they have to change so much for their fics is because if you look at the manga, the source material, none of it lines up with an IR ending being confirmed in the final two chapters lol. Ichigo would have to go from supporting a RenRuki romance in canon, to suddenly being married to Rukia. And likewise, Rukia would have to go from supporting an IchiHime romance in canon, to suddenly being married to Ichigo. Renji and Rukia were attached at the hip and rarely separated ever since they reunited in the SS arc (for which Renji literally credits and thanks Ichigo for lol). They spent over half the manga being this inseparable dynamic duo but then all of the sudden that changes and Rukia and Renji aren't "back to the way they were" anymore because now she's married to Ichigo instead. Orihime loved Ichigo throughout the entire manga and never showed a flicker of romantic interest in anyone else, but now suddenly in the final chapter she's married to Ishida (as if that wouldn't have been a complete asspull? Like, they say IH "came out of nowhere!!" but they really think Orihime suddenly falling in love with Ishida with zero explanation and zero resolution to her 865 chapters' worth of feelings for Ichigo makes perfect sense?) And the being abusive to Orihime thing is mind boggling. Like, you're writing this romantic love story for your OTP...and one half of your ship is an abuser? But somehow it's okay because he's only abusive to Orihime. He would only treat Orihime like shit, while he would be the best, most devoted husband in the world to his true love, Rukia. As if that's how abusers work.

[eyes-like-obsidian]

8. Does your muse get jealous easily? 10. A ship in your fandom you love (that does not include your muse)?14. How many ships is too many?

Mun Related Shipping Questions!

8. Does your muse get jealous easily?

Uta is not the jealous type, knowing very well that Yoriichi would never go do anything to hurt her. She trusts him more than she trusts herself. Though she would give another women the side eye if they are eyeing her s/o.

10. A ship in your fandom you love (that does not include your muse)?

Oh yes! I love love love ships and there are actually plenty ships I love, besides YoriUta! Let me list them for you.

Shinjuro x Ruka; No men turns to the alcohol and grieves like that if he didn't loved his wife. What a pity that we nearly see nothing of them.

Zenitsu x Nezuko: Zenitsu is no pervert, like most people love to say. That was proven in Mugen Train. I mean did you'll saw his dream? How innocent and pure his love towards Nezuko was? Where he takes her where the peaches, flowers and river are? And nothing more? If he was a pervert the dream would different. Zenitsu just wanted to be loved from a kind soul, as he was scammed by his previous dates who even piled her debt on him (they didn't even let him hold her hands). And yet he still believes in love and when he heard from Tanjiro how kind Nezuko actually is or was as a human? I mean the boy was already head to toe in love with her by her looks, but also hearing that she was kind? You know the drill.

Sanemi x Kanae: Okay this may be not entirely canon and nowhere confirmed but if you look closely to the details and what Gyomei has to say about them in the Databook gives me vibes that Sanemi actually had feelings for Kanae, but it was not further developed since she died. But we see that Sanemi and Kanae are talking on a regular basis in Kimetsu Gakuen. Also the combination of brash and badass Sanemi with the sweet Kanae is just too cute!

I actually love all canon ships of KnY like Tanjiro x Kanao, Inosuke x Aoi, Obanai x Mitsuri. But the one I listed above are my faves :3

14. How many ships is too many?

If you ever ask me: Curly how many ships do you want? My answer would be simply "Yes" I am sorry but I love love love shipping so much that I think that I don't even have a limit for that. Of course that doesn't mean I ship with everyone. I ship via chemistry as I do believe that muses can develop an own character after a while in your head, but I am very open to try it! Even i I expierenced it way too much that the chemistry didn't felt right. But you can only find that out after plotting and chatting together.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

Haven't been able to answer asks recently cause I had "work" (a last minute project) & completely missed Barb's bday🥲 (someone tell me about it?) but I was able to binge tma while doing it and....

@ 🌹 who asked me about my thoughts on it back in June:

I'm not okay :)

This was literally me finishing #200

Waited like this "😀" till the entire video and credits played out waiting for the second click of the tape recorder that'd give a more definite answer to the question of "Hey, what the fuck just happened"

It never came.

I'm just

:)

Spoilers for tma and my usual unhinged rambling following;

I don't think a show has ever left me feeling so satisfied??? Like it rewarded the listeners for picking up on or remembering the smallest things from previous seasons? And that leap-up-yell-&-fist-pump feeling when you make a correct connection/theory and they confirm it!!!????? Or the wildly-slamming-your-palm-on-to-the-table-&-screaming-"YOU!!" feeling when they start describing an encounter with a character and you recognise them from a previous statement!!!!????

Don't even get me started on the absolute tragedy that is Jon's character, the feeling of horror and sorrow when you look back and realise that this man never had a chance???? For all he struggled and fought back he was always......I can't think of anything other than "a fly caught in a web" so I'm gonna let that sentence trail off. I mean when the only time within 200 episodes your character gets to have genuinely cute/happy moments is during the actual apocalypse you gotta look back at some point and go "yikes?" And that's not a complaint! I love tragic characters! I genuinely love ambiguous ends that make my brain itch with thoughts for months!! It kills me but I adore every second of it!

Speaking of which do you think they survived? Honestly I think there's enough evidence/pre-established rules that it could go either way. Plus there's always that law of fiction: no body = not dead. And off the top of my head I can't think of two characters who need a happy ending more than Jon&Martin

ALSO????

You know how people who already knew about the ship from tumblr watched Our Flag Means Death, then the homoerotic subtext starts getting stronger & stronger and they go "wow this is a lot" and then Stede&Ed kiss and they go "WAIT!? IT'S GAY GAY!?" that was me with TMA😭😭😭 I'd already seen the ofmd kiss on tumblr so I didn't get that full experience (though it still managed to shock me when I actually watched it??? & I still sobbed during it like an idiot??? Granted it was 3am at the time & my emotions are usually all over the place at around that time but still). I knew that people shipped Jon & Martin, in like a peripheral way? Like I'd occasionally see people reblogging about them and I'd know what show they're from but that's it, the thought of it gone as soon as I scrolled past. I didn't really think of it when I started the show, only remembered it during the heart-to-heart at the end of S1, thought it was the sweetest thing ever and figured the whole ship was built from small moments like that but HOLY SHIT!?????????????? It becoming canon didn't even come out of nowhere, hell there were hints you could trace all the back to the last couple episodes of S1, but even after religiously watching and rewatching ofmd I'm so used to shows no-homoing the deeply homoerotic connection between the two male leads that having it go canon was like getting hit by a semi

Speaking of being utterly fucking gobsmacked

I accidentally spoiled myself during ep 38? One of the youtube comments on ep 38 read something along the lines of how Sasha was said commenter's favourite character and how they hoped nothing happened to her. They had then added an edit to the comment which said something like "edit: I finished the series and I'm sobbing" and I thought "oh no! Sasha's gonna die in S5 :( " AND THEN SHE DIED IN THE VERY NEXT FUCKING EPISODE AMBDYSNBGYJFDJLZJD

Funfact: I picked up tma on a whim while looking for something to watch, I've never listened to a podcast before, I had no fucking idea what it was about. Let me reiterate: I HAD NO FUCKING IDEA IT WAS HORROR. Be me putting on a cute little podcast in the dead of night that could hopefully lull me into a peaceful sleep. Be me 16 minutes & 43 seconds later wide eyed and staring into the darkness in horror wondering what the fuck I just listened to

Anyway I'm now watching Welcome to Night Vale for the first time (about time too considering my Fictif's Last Legacy MC was named "Vale" back in 2020 after "Welcome to Night Vale".) It took me longer to get into it that into tma but I'm hooked now!

The fact that it has so many similar themes to TMA but from the pov of someone who sees it all as run-of-the-mill is fucking hilarious

Cecil's voice whenever he drops the radio announcer voice and gets excited!!!!?????

The FUCKING 2 PART ENDING OF YEAR 2!!? I WAS HYPED! I was supposed to be working while listening to it but I couldn't sit still & was literally doing a bouncing-skipping pace around the room in circles

Carlos' little "hi cecil" !? Just his voice in general❤

How insanely healthy their relationship is!? Setting up boundaries and supporting each other!? "I know two things..." shoot me dead

I just finished "Best of?" in Year 3 and the mystery!?!? The unravelling of the lore!!!!???? The fact that the unravelling of the lore just gives you more questions!!!!????

Anyway,

tldr:

I'm fine :) Wondering how long I should wait before I binge tma again. If a couple weeks is too soon. If I'll laugh in sadistic delight or sob in stricken horror because this time around I'll know what inevitable fate they're all marching towards despite all their struggles & seeming victories

[natsubeatsrock]

7 Good and 7 Bad Things about Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest

It's been a while since we passed 100 chapters of the sequel. 

At first, I planned to talk about it as Quick Notes once we got official weekly releases. 

That didn't happen.

So that didn't happen.

Still, I've been enjoying what I've been seeing from it.

Though, not everything has been great. 

It's about time I talk about what I have and haven't enjoyed from the sequel. I don’t have a particular rank for this one. There’s only one definitive best thing and definitive worst thing each.

Let's go!

7 Good Things

Confirming Gajevy Kids

No one questioned the legitimacy of Gajevy when the series ended. The real question surrounding them was about the Trouble Twins. We knew about them from a Japan-exclusive light novel. We saw hints of them before Gajeel died. And when Lucy thought she heard something about kids, it seemed like that was going to happen. Though, before the sequel, it all felt like speculation. Once they showed up on Aldoron, that was proven to be canon. This ranks low because I doubt this will materialize anytime soon. 

Jellal's Involvement with Fairy Tail

Rejoice, Jerza fans! Mashima seems to have favored your ship. A big part of it was Jellal working with Fairy Tail. It's not as if the idea came out of nowhere. He has worked with Erza in the past. The difference is that now he's doing it outside of his membership with Crime Sorciere. With the guild seemingly disbanded, and his trauma handled (albeit in a stupid way we’re going to talk about in the other list) there's little else keeping Jellal and Erza apart. If he takes Erza on her offer to join the guild, Jerza being canon will only be a matter of time.

Nalu Taking L's

You knew that this was going to be something I'd enjoy about the series. Like, I was going to read the sequel regardless of how Mashima decided to handle this ship. I can't say that I believed he wasn't going to progress Nalu. But Mashima's done a lot to make the ship seem less likely. Two different versions of the ship at a much deeper state is one thing.  For me, the best scene was with Hakune. Showing Natsu has deep connections with about five other girls in the guild, as opposed to Gray with just Juvia. Naturally, I hope Mashima continues with this, but I feel like saying this was my favorite thing in the sequel would be a bit too mean.

Natsu's Final Meeting With Igneel

I don't love the conversation between Natsu and Igneel near the end of the series. It felt like there was supposed to be more to it than what we got. They met again in the sequel, and we got the meeting they should have had then. Is the logic behind their meeting sensible? Not really. It's not made much better by the subsequent return of Zervis and their kids. However, I'm so glad that Mashima gave us this conversation at all. I couldn't write a better final conversation between them if I tried. And considering my rules for rewriting Fairy Tail, thank goodness I don't have to.

Touka

You have to understand. We first saw Touka as a certified Natsu stan who called out Juvia for her handling of being away from Gray. It didn't matter that she was going to be evil. As long as she didn't turn out to be horrible, I was bound to like her. Once we found out the truth about her, she was a lot more interesting. She's an Exceed that mistook Happy for Natsu and was taken over by a wizard from another dimension? This might be one of the best twists in the sequel.

Return to Edolas

We were long overdue for a return to Edolas in some way. While it was a brief return, I can't say that it was unwelcome. It was cool to see how Edolas Fairy Tail and Mystogan turned out. Time has been really good to the members. But there is a reason this isn't higher. I can't say I wished we were done with the sketch kids from Mashima's last trip to the States. Somehow, Mashima managed to make them canon. The Edolas ships got married and had them as kids. Well, there are worse things we may or may not be getting to...

Irene and Wendy 

This is the kind of thing that makes me feel that I can never truly predict what Mashima is going to do. After Acnologia kicked Irene's corpse, I figured we were done with her. If you had told me that she managed to become part of Wendy after their fight, I figure this would be a horrible idea. It's a change that benefitted Wendy's arc immensely. I'd go so far as to say that this change has been more beneficial to Wendy than any other change to a member of the Strongest team in the sequel.

Negative

Fairy Tail on Guiltina

This is where Fairy Tail's structure works against itself. Fairy Tail, as a series, focuses on the guild and its happenings. However, by design, they weren't going to be involved with the Century Quest. Mashima's solution was to create a situation where they'd end up on the continent and be involved outside of that quest. I get why, but... no, I don't.

Sidelining Lisanna

"Why is this here? It's not like Mashima did much with Lisanna in the original." Exactly. I don't like that Mashima didn't decide to change that trend. I'll give him credit. We see her fight with Lucy and it's honestly one of their best individual fights. And the Edolas Strauss kids are still concerned about her. But I can't help but be disappointed in how much Mashima hasn't bucked the trend.

Fairy Nail

I might be in the obvious minority, but Edolas was a fun arc. It was cool to see different versions of multiple characters, especially within the Fairy Tail guild. The problem is that it only worked once. We see an alternate version of Fairy Tail for what reason? To help Gruvia and dunking on Nalu? I appreciate the latter. But this isn't a great reason to introduce another version of the guild. Especially when the guild's just about to be reintroduced to the continent. 

Ultear's Appearances

I should enjoy the reappearances of Ultear in the series. She's one of my favorite characters and I've already shared my feelings about how Mashima's handled her relationship with Gray. But with every appearance, I come to hate Last Ages more. And that's not just the after-effects. It's saying Jellal can make the change she says she couldn't. It's Gray reliving the regret of being unable to save her. It further accentuates one of my biggest problems with Mashima over Fairy Tail for no good reason.

Elentear

Once again, Edolas was a good arc. But not good enough to justify two different versions of it in the sequel. I liked the return of Aquarius, but that's about it. Irene's potential rise of importance was a disappointment. And the idea of an alternative to Face wasn't in any way welcome. I mean, at least, we didn't get a third alternative version of Fairy Tail. That would just be something else I complain about. Then again, how much of an upgrade were the people we did see from there.

Jellal and Siegrain

I didn't need a moment in the sequel to justify Jellal moving on from his trauma. It's not like I couldn't have seen a moment like it coming. Fans still complain about Jellal's happenings. If Mashima wanted to do this, that would make sense. What he did was justify the worst fan arguments in defense of Jellal's actions. Like, I've physically seen people make this argument and was shocked to see Mashima make it canon. 

Gruvia's Current Direction

Let's get something clear. Yes, I have been critical of Gruvia, basically since a month into starting this blog. The issue is not that Gruvia is on the verge of being canon. We all knew it was going to become canon one way or another, especially with how the original series ended. Mashima could have done it in a way that feels more palatable. However, he decided to go with... this route. Gray, and by extension the audience, is supposed to sympathize with Juvia near unilaterally. Juvia's toned down from the past, that much is true. But I'm not happy that this is how the ship seems to be headed towards canon.

See you!

[softbumblebi]

are they… going to give the reddie treatment to byler