#disney princess fandom salt

[helluvathings]

Random observation, but I've seen a lot of posts in this fandom that begin something like "I know everyone has been hating on (insert either Blitzø or Stolas), and it's unfair because..." And it's funny, because I remember a poll a while back asking who's in the right, and something like 70+ percent of respondents said they were both part of the problem. The vast majority is neutral.

I mean, obviously it's human nature where if you have a favorite, and people are writing essays against your favorite, it feels like that character is being attacked from all sides. But I wonder if part of the perception that either everyone is against Stolas, or everyone is against Blitzø, doesn't also have to do with the way feedback toward each tends to appear.

This is just experiential so take it with a grain of salt, but the comments on the episodes, as well as reaction videos, tend to be biased for Stolas. Which makes sense. He's more openly vulnerable. Seeing his pain is easier, and his mistakes are subtler. He expresses love, grief, and sorrow like a Disney princess, through song and romantic gestures. Since his mistakes are typically subtle and only really reacted to by Blitzø (bristly, temperamental) or Octavia (so-called angtsy teenager), they stand out less on a first watch.

Blitzø's mistakes are bigger, volatile. His pain manifests in an uglier way. On first watch, reactors tend to dismiss him as a jerk/idiot/or even a villain. But further analysis, context, deeper thought, add complexity to his character, and the more you consider Blitzø's perspective, the more serious Stolas's (accidental) missteps feel. In light of that, seeing all the initial positive responses to Stolas can be frustrating, because it's like no one is looking deeper: so essays/videos show up detailing all the reasons that yes, Stolas is wrong too, almost as a reaction to the more positive initial Stolas takes.

I do think there are more in-depth 'Stolas messed up' essays than Blitzø ones, because everyone knows Blitzø messed up. The show makes it clear. Stolas is less obvious. His issues haven't been strongly addressed in his character arc, and sometimes get glossed over by casual reactions/analyses. And that can get frustrating to people who want to see both sides.

At the same time, if you're a Stolas fan looking for reactions, the abundance of 'this is why Stolas isn't great' content probably does get discouraging. People sort of take his sympathetic qualities for granted, and dig into his flaws. While people take Blitzø's flaws for granted and dig into his sympathetic qualities.

At least that's my two-cents for why some fans seem to feel everyone is favoring one side or another, when it seems like most the fandom does recognize mutual fault.

[hushed-chorus]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Ahhh thank you Ashton, it was so nice to get this Ask. Here are my personal faves in rough descending order. All Simon Snow, of course!

What Remains After The Storm (86K, M)

For me, getting a story idea is like being possessed, and the process of writing is the exorcism. Of everything I’ve written for the fandom, this is the one where the exorcism failed. This story still rattles around inside me. Something so tied to the moors, the ocean, the battle with inner demons, and the strangeness of the fae all just soothes my soul. That aside, I’m so happy with how the plotty plot plot came together, as well as the ‘getting together’ moment. I'm also so lucky to have @erzbethluna do so many beautiful illustrations for it, as well as a gorgeous piece by @artsyunderstudy. They make me so so happy.

Accidents Happen (42K, M) 

I’d not long finished the trilogy and got smacked by the idea for a CO-era time loop fic. I spent three days in an airbnb filling a notebook working out all the moving parts and honestly I’m pleased with how the plot came together (i.e. figuring out the best way to conduct the exorcism). It’s also the first time I pulled off twists and an ending that I'm almost entirely happy with. While there are a couple of teeny tiny things I’d now do differently, I’m very happy with how it came out.

The Danse Macabre (1.5K, T)

Pondering why the wraiths avoid Baz led to my first attempt at a ghost story since I was eight years old (yes, my teachers were worried). Also, I go long in my writing, but I managed to get this under 2K! So basically, I challenged myself in two ways with this one and I feel I pulled it off. Most importantly, this fic was the first time @erzbethluna and I worked together, so of course I love it for being the starting point for a beautiful friendship <3

Worst Disney Princess Ever (8.7K, T)

On a train and off my face on new meds, a really stupid crack idea came to me. One that involved well-meaning zombie rats and pigeons. And I write it. I then go back to it three weeks later and tidy up. I’d never written humour before so was so worried it was just weird or cringe, but my god I got such an amazing response. It made people laugh! That realisation was very good for me, and has taught me not to second-guess so much when I have a potentially witty thing to say. Also, @youarenevertooold did an absolutely wonderful podfic of this that I recommend! 

Blood, Salt and Hummingbirds (32K, T)

Oh man, I was so fed up by the time I had nearly finished writing this fic xD Which is partly why I feel so good about it now. This historical AU takes place on an island after a shipwreck. It needed a lot of research into survival, ecology, a natural historian’s trade and old techniques for making leather (brains and piss). Then I had to remind myself that romance should be happening amongst all this survival stuff. But I feel like I achieved what I set out to do - write a slow, thoughtful story steeped in nature and self-discovery. Basically, this story showed me that perseverance can really be worth it.

[carcrash429]

Fic Rec Friday: Summer Reading Challenge Masterpost Edition

for the last fic rec friday of summer, wanted to post my final bingo card and masterlist of things I read for the @ficreadingchallenge!

had a blast organizing and participating in this event, hope you all did too :) particular shout out to @therealjambery for helping me take this idea and run with it! couldn't have done it without you <3

list of fics below:

Square 1 - Happy Ending: The Bucket List by @im-95-not-dead [Marvel, Bucky/Clint, Avengers check things off of Bucky’s post-Hydra bucket list, funny all the way through and sweet at the end]

Square 7 - BFFs: The Things You’ve Done by @cookiedoughmeagain [Haven (TV), really great pre-series look at Duke and Nathan growing up and falling out with each other]

Square 8 - Ghosts: Ghostbusters by @enide-s-dear [Lord of the Rings; Gimli inherits a haunted house, Legolas helps him clear it out]

Square 10 - Fan Art: Olden Times by Merit [Divine Cities; post-canon AU where Shara and Turyin make fun of each other with the help of some civilian fan art]

Square 11 - Rec’d by a Friend: The Dragon-King’s Temple by Kryal [ATLA and Stargate (SG-1) crossover; phenomenal fic with *extensive* worldbuilding and background, incredible character interactions, and a fascinating plot]

Square 12 - New Fandom: he’s a regular disney princess by gendernoncompliant [Haven (TV); very sweet Duke/Dwight fic with a hilarious and believable Trouble to solve]

Free Space (re-read an old fave): Just a Little Bit True by @lissadiane [Avengers; a perfect Winterhawk high school AU with excellent Clint&Nat friendship]

Square 13 - 5+ year old fic: We Were Born for Shadows by scribblemyname [Marvel; Bobbi/Clint&Natasha, middle fic in a series, excellent look into the fallout of CATWS]

Square 18 - Someone Who Follows You: A Name for Forever by @merelypassingtime [Marvel; Bucky/Clint, pet rescue AU sequel, SO soft and fluffy and adorable]

Square 20 - Hurt/Comfort: the ghosts you hold, the salt you're breathing by GideonofPiratesSwoop [Emelan - Tamora Pierce; Rosethorn/Lark, nice exploration of the PTSD Rosethorn gets left with and how the two of them deal with it]

Square 21 - Small Fandom: Alliance by Merit [Divine Cities and Old Kingdom crossover; great interaction between Turyin Mulaghesh and Lirael, hiding behind a large potted plant at a party]

Square 22 - Less than 20 kudos: Made of Aether and Held Together with Love by @cookiedoughmeagain [Haven (TV); PERFECT fix-it fic for the series finale, Dwight & Duke]

Square 24 - Historical AU: there’s something fiction about the way reality’s going by homelywenchsociety [Daredevil (TV); Foggy/Matt, West Wing crossover (so set in the 90s which is I guess is historical now lmao) hilarious and well done version of Josh (Foggy) meeting Joey Lucas (Matt) with some great platonic Foggy & Karen (Donna) banter]

[justanisabelakinnie]

Dear “Realistic Madrigals” Artists

Hi, I really love your work and appreciate them a lot! Most of them look really pretty(if uncanny valley because of how Disneyfied their cartoon features are, but that’s only to be expected, anyway, I digress!), and I’m happy every time I see them! However, a lot of you(I’d even go so far as to say all of you) seem to forget the fact that Camilo has green eyes and freckles. Now, it took me a while to realize that his eyes were green and not brown, too, but the freckles? They’re very obvious, so please don’t erase and forget them, they add to his features! So long as you keep that right, your realistic recreations of the Madrigals will be so much more fantastical and magical! 

Oh, and that goes for Dolores and Luisa, too! Although I see this happen with Camilo way more, that’s why I’m pointing it out with him in particular. 

[escapekissed]

i know some people go on to frozen 2 for the plot twist but i’ve done research into saami culture and there are like. legit documentaries about people not knowing they were saami and then finding out about it.

in a way elsa is a better metaphor for being a biracial person than she is a lesbian narrative, or even a narrative about mental illness. 

elsa has been taught from a very young age to hide something very apparent to everyone despite showing royal elegance and obvious conformity to femininity. lesbian narratives, to me, are like, a ‘i found out i like girls’ in middle/high school/later in life story, unless ur like, actively gender nonconforming. there are little hints all through out ur life, of course. but when ur just a kid and u only hang out with ur sister---how are u gonna know ur gay and not just a random kid that DOESN’T like boys. like ur probably gonna just assume ur a late bloomer? and then later---why would she have to ‘hide’ that she was gay when she doesn’t hang out with literally anyone at all and she isn’t viewed as an elligible bride as much as her younger sister is (at least in the novels, by hans at least)?

of course elsa is obviously gay as hell as both an adult and child BUT. I THINK IT WOULD TAKE SOME TIME IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD FOR HER TO FIGURE THAT OUT FOR HERSELF, and she wouldn’t figure that out by having magical superpowers. she’d have to like. meet a girl or a nice english teacher she really liked u know? lmfao

'conceal don’t feel’ to me INSTEAD represents. a mother who married a boy whose father killed her tribe’s elder. who had to hide who she was, and then gave elsa & anna little hints, little secret signs of love to show them the contents of her heart and the way she learned how to love at all in a way DEFINED BY HER CULTURE-----but who had to hide who she was for her own safety. and then who then passes down that knowledge of how to protect yourself from the outside world to the daughter she views as more vulnerable and in need of help, whose ‘connection’ to their culture (through her magical abilities, as the northhuldans WHOLE THING is about magic) is more visible.

in the books, iduna goes out and learns as much as she can about magic to help elsa. but u also have to imagine that she does that a little bit to help the people she left behind. that part of her wondered---if atohollan could save her daughter, could atohollan also save her people? could elsa be some sort of key in all of this, some meeting of her old life and new, the northuldrans and their love of magic and arendelle and their resources and power?

she knew she raised strong, brave girls, even if she hid them away from the world. she did it out of a kindness and a fear that i feel like every person with parents of color understands in some way, in the same conversations we have with our parents about how to conceal the parts of urself white people find unpalatable and how that LITERALLY makes u feel less magical in the process in elsa’s case.

in frozen 2 elsa’s magic literally becomes such a powerful representation of finding ur own culture and history and heritage, and im KIND OF MAD ONE SONG OFF THE SOUNDTRACK that implies that anna goes to a secret library somewhere trying to figure out their heritage in some draft of the movie and she is denied finding out in a more character-building way about their mother.... but whatever idk this is so rambly and badly written alfjdkslfjdsklfj

anyway long story short. frozen 2 is better than frozen 1. arendelle should have been destroyed. stan anna and elsa and iduna, skinny legends.

[bestworstcase]

Hi, im a bit lost in fandom in general and just found your blog, i hope you dont mind my asking this. You mention every now and then there being some hatedom-y niches, is it related to any political or significative offline division? Not trying to make you single out anyone, just curious whether this was a bigotry problem as in star wars, hp or other bigger sagas or just people being rude (not that its very good either). Thanx

kind…of

ok

so

the hatedom-y side of the tts fandom largely exists in this weird intersection between 1. people who are outraged that the nerdy teen boy wasn’t the protagonist of the disney princess cartoon, 2. people who wanted tts to be the sweet slice of life adventures of eugene and his girlfriend, and 3. people with a bone to pick with the sexism and (more rarely) racism inherent in the narrative itself; which creates this…odd dynamic where like, you get people furiously and correctly condemning tts for, say, sidelining the only living mom in the whole series or treating the only character of color in the main cast like an idiot manbaby who needs to be babysat by a child half his age—but then those exact same people will turn around and seethe because cassandra had the audacity to be the deuteragonist instead of their male character of choice gmfjdkdh

( which imo is one of the reasons why a lot of moonvarian / moongene content isn’t… especially good; the au concepts in and of themselves have lots of potential! but more often than not they end up kind of awkwardly railroading varian/eugene into cassandra’s narrative role bc they’re coming from a place of thinking she “stole” that from one of them gkfhdks. see also, the “chris changed the story to spite varian fans” flavor of moonvarian conspiracy, in defiance of all evidence that moon!cass was the plan from the very beginning. )

and then sort of parallel to that there is a lot. A LOT. of fandom racism vis-a-vis how the separatists of saporia are handled in fanworks, particularly in varian-centric circles where they get twisted into cackling sadistic monsters in order to facilitate varian angst. but that’s not exclusive to the hatedom-y side, the whole fandom does it /:

to an extent i think the tts hatedom is kinda… like there’s always this underlying misogyny in the way hatedomy folks interpret and talk about cassandra (and often, rapunzel) but it’s also largely comprised of people who are at least nominally socially progressive and have seized on the, very real, issues tts has with its portrayals of women and people of color as a way of legitimizing their hatred of the show (and of chris sonnenburg, who of course gets blamed 100% for everything bad and given zero credit for anything good, because god forbid we acknowledge that anyone else involved in the creation of this show might have a smidgen of agency or responsibility for how it turned out! lmao surely tts would have been perfect if only the crusty cishet white man who is sort of abrasive on twitter weren’t the one in charge 🙄)—so delving into the hatedom often ends up feeling like “lol okay, nice views you have in this glass house of yours”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

worth noting here is that 9 times out of 10 when hatedom-y fans start talking about sexism or racism in tts itself it’s for the sake of shitting on sonnenburg vs like, trying to have meaningful or constructive critical discussions of the text or of trends in fanwork—as with any hatedom, when the focus is on proving the validity of one’s hatred for a piece of media, eventually the cynical hatemongering subsumes everything else and it all starts to feel more than a little unhinged. the most egregious example of this is of course the tangled salt marathon

[meme991001]

Chapters: 23/? Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard, Nathalie Sancoeur, Luka Couffaine, Juleka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Anarka Couffaine, Classmates (Miraculous Ladybug), Caline Bustier, Master Fu (Miraculous Ladybug), Chloé Bourgeois, Alix Kubdel, Ms. Mendeleiev (Miraculous Ladybug), Principal Damocles (Miraculous Ladybug), Original Characters, Marc Anciel, Aurore Beauréal, Mireille Caquet, Penny Rolling, Jagged Stone (Miraculous Ladybug), Fang (Miraculous Ladybug), kwamis, Félix Graham de Vanily, Amélie Graham de Vanily, Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Tom Dupain, Sabine Cheng, Lila Rossi, Lila Rossi's Mother, Original Miraculous Ladybug Character(s), Prince Ali (Miraculous Ladybug), Kagami Tsurugi, Emilie Agreste Additional Tags: Oneshot collection, Humor, Fluff, Teenage Rebellion, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Hair Dyeing, Style Change, Supportive Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Plagg is a Little Shit (Miraculous Ladybug), Plagg Being Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Plagg Cares (Miraculous Ladybug), Plagg Loves Cheese (Miraculous Ladybug), Identity Reveal, Damaged Miraculous Jewels, Protective Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Chat Blanc - Freeform, Akumatized Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Miraculous Side Effects, Rabbit Alix Kubdel | Bunnyx, Original Akuma (Miraculous Ladybug), Fluff and Angst, Alya Salt, class salt, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Loss of Trust, Developing Friendships, Hopeful Ending, Unhealthy Relationships, Bullying, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Adrien salt, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Strong Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Penny Rolling is Amazing, Penny becomes the new cat hero, Adrien Agreste Has Issues, adrien gets his miraculous taken away, Light Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Disney Songs, Talent Shows, Adrien is adopted by Tom and Sabine, Adrien Sugar, Mouse Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Multimouse, Shrinking, Rescue Missions, False Identity, Felix is lonely, not quite Felix salt, Lila Rossi Lies, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Accidental Identity Reveal, Fluff and Humor, Kitty Section, The Ladyblog, Some Cursing, Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain Bashing, Episode: s01 Princesse Fragrance | Princess Fragrance Spoilers, do not copy to another site, Serious Injuries, Hospitalization, Temporary Stand-In Ladybug, Stalker Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Light Marinette salt, Solitude Movie (MLB) Summary:

Requests CLOSED for the time being. When open, see first chapter for guidelines.

A few of the oneshots within (full list available on the first chapter): ⭐️Adrien has a rebellious style change ⭐️The ladybug miraculous is damaged ⭐️Chat Blanc is brought to another universe by an akuma ⭐️An akuma reveals who Ladybug trusts ⭐️Marinette tells her parents about the bullying and gets help from trustworthy adults ⭐️Marinette finally stands up for herself and makes the changes necessary for her life ⭐️ Marinette and Adrien perform at the talent show and reveal their identities after Hawkmoth's defeat ⭐️Ladybug's attempt to get Chat to stop bothering her about Multimouse accidentally backfires

[thejudgingtrash]

can we pleeeease talk about how rushed the whole Nico and Will relationship was? They talked for 2 minutes, don't see each other forever and boom they're together. Like ??? When did that happen? Certainly not in the books? (okay I haven't read the books in ages, but it felt so forced and extremely rushed or is it just me? I'm queer myself so I'm all for LGBTQ+ representation, but that's not it)

Alright let’s tackle this! Sorry for answering so late, I always answer asks that will be longer super late ^^ anyway. I’ve sorta received this ask twice but the other one has more focused on Nico with a little bit Solangelo on the side so I’ll just fully tackle the Solangelo side on this one.

I have three simple issues with Solangelo.

Age

Substance

Fandom

Alright. Let’s start off with the first point or problem. Age. Or rather time. As in timeline. Because we all know that Rick Riordan basically spins a wheel whenever it comes to his timeline and I won’t go fully into the maths because I’m terrible at it and I’m not in the mood for embarrassing myself in that metier. Anyway, let’s proceed. My question is: what is their canonical age? The one from Will and the one from Nico?

I’ve caught glimpse in a group convo at the fact that Will was supposed to be 18 actually if you pay close attention to pjo? And I mean Nico is like 15 or something? Which is also sorta wrong? Because Riordan made him younger than Hazel who was 14 in the Herpes of Olympus saga. 14 and 18 is a fuck no from me, son. I guess Riordan forgot that HOO essentially took place in two days or something.

Riordan aging his characters down or rather refusing to let them age (looking at you, Percy and Annabeth!) because it doesn't convenience him isn’t something new. So, should they be mathematically speaking have that much of an age gap, yeah. That is problematic. That’s Frazel level kinda problematic. Even worse. I know that people are more inclined to look past age gaps in same-sex relationships but I always wondered why? There’s still a disproportionate level of maturity + a mighty power imbalance. So yeah. Watch out for that. Also they’re kids. So there’s no need in tying the knot and popping expensive champagne for their wedding just yet.

I mean I don’t have a problem with the time traveling aspect as in Nico still being mentally and physically a kid/teen. A little odd, sure. It’s not like Nico and Will are Edward and Bella and Nico’s goth ass is mentally aging along and stalking Will’s sorry self. It’s still weird because it’s so unbelievable? Nico is barely struggling finding his way into the modern world, chills at Hades and calls it a day? Now that’s something I have an issue with. I need more struggle. I need more vocab mix-ups. Nico’s brain exploding at the modern world. The difference between the 1940s and the late 2000s is massive. That isn’t just oh, weird little haircuts and why are women wearing pants, it would be not being able to comprehend things and questioning every new little object. Will could’ve been an amazing support character for such an arch, buuuut I’m deviating from my actual point. The timeline/age-line in the Riordanverse is for sure more on the concerning part for all new characters + OG side characters.

Second point. Substance. The thing you’ve touched in your ask.

How and when did Nico and Will become a thing? My memory is terrible and I’m too lazy to browse the wiki. The only thing I remember was Will being a nagging bitch in Blood of Olympus after Nico essentially said “I've got to move on and be who I am, I just don't belong here, I hope you understand, we might find a place in this world someday, but at least for now... I gotta go my own way...” to Percy who just went ??? That marked the beginning for this ship. Basically. I think. Well... I said before in my Percabeth ship roast (more like ship analysis, I have to redo that, that was way too mild and unfunny, omfg): most of the romance is in your head because there’s barely anything romantic in Riordan’s books to begin with (which we all should actually be thankful for!). This applies to essentially every goddamn ship in this series but especially Solangelo. Holy fuck. Y’all are pulling out the wildest stuff out of your ass based on... what exactly? I mean props for creativity!

It is abundantly clear to me at least, that Riordan didn't write Nico with the intention of being gay. There was no real indication in the Percy Jackson series (and I refuse to believe that he was this sort of mastermind, that plotted about doing all of this behind Disney’s back to get the gays and latinos in. There’s a market for everything and diversity was a coming trend in the 2010s).

One could say: Hey! Isn’t it great that Nico wasn’t labeled as being gay? It normalizes homosexuality and makes sure that the lgbtq+ community isn’t something abstract but rather folk like me and you. And to that I’d say yes, I mostly agree if the follow-up arch is believable and plausible. Which it isn’t in my opinion. We jump from the Heroes of Olympus saga to The Trials of (Mo)Lester I mean Apollo and we’re having this HUGE jump? From barely knowing each other to being soulmates, sitting next to each other, hanging out, going on in their business, having the picket white fence, two kids, three dogs, living in a gentrified neighborhood and baking cherry pie on Sundays? HOW IN THE ACTUAL FUCK DID ALL OF THIS HAPPEN?! That is incredibly rushed. 

Aren’t...you shippers....Mad? That’s so cheap? I’d say so? Wouldn’t you like to have more pre-existing relationship and plausible development? With Percabeth you at least have a five book long progression, Solangelo is Riordan basically taking a dump on your plate and forcing you to eat it. And no, Riordan teasing the last Apollo doesn’t count.

Additionally, wouldn’t it be way better to still have a character say “Yeah, I’m gay. Pass me that salt, will ya?” without it being gimmicky or a foil or something for woke points? Just showing kids: “Hey, if you think this is a label that suits you, it’s fine! It’s perfect even! No worries!” (Also, the “coming out scene” with Jason and Cupid wasn't it, my loves. That was horrifying and insulting imo).

I mean. Show and tell are powerful tools in narration and telling more than often resolves unnecessary conflict/dialogue. And whereas season one from Percy Jackson had barely anything in that direction with Nico’s identity, season two didn’t make it any better. And season three is a complete cluster fuck.

Yeah. For me, the ship is super rushed.

Final point. The fandom.

I have to inter-subjectively state that Solangelo shippers are fucking crazy. I know Percabeth shippers (including me, helloooo) and especially the Annabeth stans for some odd reason are insane, but Solangelo shippers take the fucking cake and then some. There’s already a disconnect between the age groups in the fandom and it’s clear that more of the older teens and adults center around the Percy Jackson story and some in the Heroes of Olympus sequel, but from what I’ve seen the Trials of Apollo fandom is super young and on a whole different level. Might be the reason why facing some criticisms seems harder, because the minute you open your mouth to say something about Solangelo, you have people attacking you left and right. Chill guys, it’s not that deep? And it’s definitely not a personal attack on you. After all, I don’t know who you are and tbh Idgaf. 

Talking about the lack of substance, fanon will automatically come in and fill the gaps. Which is fine and something we all do, but I really have to wonder about the levels of extremes that some take?

We all center around certain tropes and what not and while the trope and dynamic behind Solangelo isn’t particularly something for me, I really have to ask why people are behind it. Don’t get me wrong. My question is touching on more on M/M fetishization because I think that is mostly the driving force for some people rather than liking the actual ship? I see more people projecting things into Nico and Will and it’s really turning their characters into something they aren’t? Especially with Nico, who gets turned into this 5 ft. UwU punk princess which is hella strange???

All in all, I don’t have anything against the ship apart from it’s overrushed nature and Riordan’s wacky timeline. Do whatever you want with it (apart from fetishizing and sexualizing the ship), no one’s stopping you from liking it. But I do believe there are some things to look out for, especially in the fandom.

Take it easy, guys.

[useragarfield]

Hiii Lolo!! 💕 This is for the favorite fics ask game! I got a little carried away because I was so interested/excited...here ya go! 😊 🎭 😱 🥰 👩‍👩‍👧 👩‍⚕️ 🎲 ♾

If you don’t want to answer them all that’s completely fine!! Thanks in advance! Love ya!! Hope you’re having a lovely day because of course you deserve it!!! ☀️💓

(THANK YOU FOR SENDING ME THIS DEAR. i wanted to wait to respond until i could do some deep diving and give you a real answer. as a fic writer myself, i do tend to reread my own stuff, but i don’t want to me indulgent or anything so none of it is here but sljgksg i hope YOU are having an amazing day and i’m so flattered that you cared to ask.)

😊 a fic you like to read when you’re happy

drinking salted water by grimgrace (THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN)

this fic is so familiar to me it’s like a warm, spidey scented hug. one of the first fics i read over and over because it was simply perfect with just the right amount of bittersweet. happy endings and spidey kisses? i’m S O L D

Poster Boy by MilkshakeKate (THE MAN FROM UNCLE)

milkshakekate is simply the best and my favorite tmfu writer, which is saying a lot because that is a dedicated writing fandom there and i owe them my life. anything they write is incredible, but something about the secret rendevous mid mission and all the uniform stuff really uh. got me.

Gwen Stacy and the Wonders of Spider-Sex by Jenetica (THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN)

i’ve read this so many times i could not tell you. the relationship growth? the intrigue? THE HOT SPIDEY OF IT ALL! never been and never will be disappointed by this fic.

B O N U S

the language of touch by moodyreindeer (CLOAK AND DAGGER)

alright this section of ao3 & fanfic.net is tiny for one of my favorite pairings but i fell in love with this fic the first time i read it and have never fallen OUT. it’s so genuine to them and i love it sm. idk. read it, it’s GREAT.

🎭 a fic you like to read when you’re sad―either to cheer you up or because it matches your mood

Reckless by ninemilestogo (THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN)

a truly detailed tasm au where my kids are ANGSTY but end up happy and also the best use of the comic book villian chameleon ever. although to be fair, i haven’t read enough of them.

😱 an angsty fic

may i feel, said he by sugargroupie (ONE TREE HILL)

on the surface this is smutty, but it’s my favorite naley fic OUT THERE in these streets. the writer does teenage nathan so well i yell a lot on the inside. i don’t know how many times i’ve read it.

The Man, the Mystery, Richard Castle by RachelCAstrid (CASTLE)

one of the first castle fics i stumbled upon after my rewatch and it has my whole heart!! it’s sweet and angsty and in depth, and you can’t lose by reading it. DO IT. i dare you.

B O N U S

the sole relentless tenderness by satellitesonparade (YOUNG JUSTICE)

wally and artemis will make me cry for the rest of my life, and this is one of the best writers for it, so yeah. gift yourself. read it. sob saltily.

🥰 a fic for people in love

She thinks it’s funny that they’re awkward in bed by Emma_dghc (CASTLE)

this just makes me swooooooooon. i love intimacy and little moments a lot in my fics, it’s what sells me on relationships between characters, and this did an incredible job! one of my favorite fics set in season five, which is a fic fave for me i suppose with this pairing.

by any other name by FreshBrains (DIRTY DANCING)

after i watched and fell in love with the movie i combed through the archives and THIS was my favorite one in the whole place! it’s just so, so lovely. i find that with older films it’s harder to find things that feel written true to character, and this knocked it out of the park.

Bodies at Rest by PollyLynn (CASTLE)

at this point in my life i have a read (read: a LOT) of caskett fanfics in my time and there are many more in my future, but this really stands out to me as one of my favorites. their burgeoning relationship season 5 is truly - chefs kiss - and it’s the first (or second?) fic of @pollylynn ‘s that i ever read, and without it i wouldn’t have begun to work my way through all of their incredible stuff! check them out, they are a gift.

👩‍👩‍👧 a fic that makes you your appreciate your (found) family

The Team by loveJLforever (YOUNG JUSTICE)

the og young justice crew is one of my FAVORITE found families and i envy anyone who can do GC format because that shit is taxing as hell. this is hilarious and in character and i’ve read it through multiple times.

👩‍⚕️ and a hurt/comfort fic you like.

Teach Me To Live by dontoutchthefics (PHANTOM OF THE OPERA)

at this stage in my life i kind of set up a house on ao3 and rarely dare to venture to my old place on fanfic.net, but for this story it was absolutely worth it. it’s a gorgeous phantom of the opera modern/coffeeshop au that still has singing and this authors prose is STUNNING. it was a fic i stumbled across simply due to @ilustrariane ‘s INCREDIBLE commission which i highly suggest you also check out.

🎲 one fic that made you change something about your life, and what: 

Lessons for the Lost by KayMoon24 (MULTI-DISNEY)

this was literally the first and only time that i actually connected enough to email back and forth with any fanfic writer online! their prose and respectful + in depth taking on different topics just blew my mind for a disney fic and it’s still top tier in my head. it inspired me so much i started my own (which, ain’t as good at all), but this is the best one of its kind. wherever you are kay, ilysm!

B O N U S 

The Horizons Saga by njsafkbj (link is for Part I of VII, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON) is a gorgeous fic written before we even knew there would be another HTTYD that is so well done about Toothless and Hiccup recovering from the events of the first movie and growing and yeah.

♾ one fic you tell yourself not to reread because it makes you feel SO MUCH but you always end up going back to it

the world fits inside your arms by flyingthesky

one of the first works i ever bookmarked on archive of our own, possibly the one fic about real people that i love. it’s so lovingly written, and i see it as i guess a sort of real life au idk, but i reread it whenever i’m feeling bittersweet and angsty because it sends me right back to 2013-14 when emma stone and andrew garfield owned my life and had no clue.

B O N U S

The Next Great Adventure by brella

hands down best young justice fic i have ever or will ever read. season 3 of young justice exists in a different universe to me, this is the best fix it fic ever, and i reread it once a year to put myself through hell and back, not unlike wally in the speedforce.

HONORABLE MENTIONS NO ONE ASKED FOR

royally flushed by satellitesonparade (YOUNG JUSTICE) princess diaries wally/artemis au

Mistaken Messages by MistyMountainHop (THAT 70′S SHOW) jackie/kelso soulmate au

Acts [1-5] by lone_lilly (CASTLE) castle/beckett smutty goodness

so bad but he does it so well by greenconverses (PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS) percy/annabeth college punk/princess au

Poor Unfortunate Soul by makapedia, Peregrine Williams, witchynick (SOUL EATER) maka/soul succubus au

and the camera flashes (make it feel like a dream) by ladililn (BROOKLYN 99) jake/amy celeb photographer/celebrity au

Silent Still by yaba (ONE TREE HILL) brooke/julian ANGSTY FIC set in 6.23

[carcrash429]

Summer Fic Reading Bingo Update!

Someone wrote in to suggest "re-read an old fave" and I loved that so I used it for my free space :)

Square 12 - New Fandom: he’s a regular disney princess by gendernoncompliant [Haven (TV); very sweet Duke/Dwight fic with a hilarious and believable Trouble to solve]

Free Space (re-read an old fave): Just a Little Bit True by @lissadiane [Avengers/Marvel; a perfect Winterhawk high school AU with excellent Clint&Nat friendship]

Square 21 - Small Fandom: the ghosts you hold, the salt you're breathing by @gideonofpiratesswoop [Emelan - Tamora Pierce; Rosethorn/Lark, nice exploration of the PTSD Rosethorn ends up with and how the two of them deal with it]

[imtryingthisout]

Of Flames and Fire: Prologue

[If you hate me for writing this, just remember I hate myself more and that this began because of a joke.]

Warnings: Ask to Tag

Word Count: 3627

Fandom: Disney Descendants

*************************************************

Dirt clung to the fringes of Maleficent’s robes as she descended deeper into the cavernous warren. Once upon a time her presence would have struck such fear that not even the dust mites would have dared come near her, but such a time was over now, and now the endings of her black cloak grew more and more soiled with every step she took.

She held a twisted candelabra in one hand and her faithful staff in the other. The small flame burned a deep rouge color, more red than yellow, with how thick and low the air had become. Maleficent was surprised it still burned at all. She was thankful for the candle’s valiant effort. Gone were the days where she could summon a ball of hellfire to illuminate the room, and with all the dust and filth in the air she wasn't sure her darkvision would be of any use.

A drop of hot wax struck her fingers.

Maleficent continued onwards.

As she ventured closer and closer to her destination, the sound of barking began to ring in her ears. Viscous growls, the sound of teeth hitting teeth, shrieks and yelps and oh so much barking. Were she a lesser soul it might have frightened her, or at the very least given her a pause, but she knew that no dog (three headed or otherwise) lived down here, just a lonely master trying to cope with the sound of silence.

(Out of everything her new prison tormented her with, Maleficent never thought she would grow to loathe the quiet. The silence. Even on the Forbidden Mountain she would hear the rustling of wind, the roaring cacophony of her minion’s delight, the sound of Diablo’s deep cawing. But here, even with the tumult of the budding city of thieves and villains, her thoughts screamed louder than any noise. Here she felt more alone than she ever did atop her ruined castle.)

No door was mounted to the cave’s wall, it would be far too impractical to do so, so Maleficent raised a curved fist and knocked thrice on a wooden post instead. “Who is it?” a voice called out from lower in the room, it sounded irritated and gruff, good. Maleficent smiled “Just a passing visitor Lord Hades”.

Quicker than she thought possible, the exiled Monarch of the Underworld stood leaning against the doorframe, one arm draped over the rotten wood and his head tilted with a school boy smile (if a school boy had eyes of glowing brimstone and thorny rows of sharp teeth protruding from his gums). “Why Miss Maleficent, what brings you to my little.. home away from home?”

She took a moment to drink in his sight, he looked more or less the same as he did when they first met, a little more tired, maybe, a little less put together, thick silver-colored cuffs bound round his wrists to drain his godly might. Still something about him seemed different, she couldn't quite place her finger on it, then she met his gaze. “Kohl around the eyes, Lord Hades? I do hope you aren't going Egyptain on me”

He snorted and rolled his- yes, black lined- eyes “Nah those guys are great, but they sure as Me don’t need another Death God. Besides- Blue Hair? Blue Skin? It’s already confusing enough for mortals to get us mixed up at parties, and don't even get me started on the Ptolemaic Pantheon menagerie, cultural syncretism is fun and all but all that rewriting and re-rewriting and who’s who even got my head more turned around than the gordian knot!”

Here Hades stood taller than Maleficent, even with his slumped posture and hunched back. The slope of the floor was curved in his favor. Her horns were a brandished crown growing, twisting, above her head and barely scraping the stone above her.

She let the humor linger in the air for a breath before speaking. “I have a proposition for you, my lord” she said while dismissing the candle and setting it down on a rock ledge. The light from Hades’ hair and lair would suffice to brighten her vision. Maleficent raised a free arm “Shall we continue our conversation inside? I feel it would be awfully rude to lurk in doorways.” Hades’ smile grew wider, almost splitting his face in two.

“My dearest disgrace to all things dignified, it would be my pleasure” He said, taking her arm and leading her inside. Despite herself she snorted. “My lord I am always dignified, it is deferential which I am not”

Hades’s new domain lay deep underground in the heart of the Isle. Despite his many years of hatred of being saddled with the burden of the Underworld, the room appeared very similar to his old home. ‘Perhaps that is the point’, Maleficent thought, wondering if his new dwelling was really of Hades’ choosing, or did he simply wake up on the Isle in a room modeled after his old kingdom, swapping an old prison for a new one. She wasn’t sure if Zeus had it in him...but Zeus wasn't the only one hurt by Hades’ failed machinations, and she knew that Hera certainitly did, fondness for her older brother or not- the Queen of Gods would not have hesitated to rub salt in any wounds of her child’s stealer. Especially when such irony would have been involved.

In another life, perhaps it would have been Hera who Maleficent would be conversing with, she did always have a healthy respect for the Golden Throned Goddess,like draws to like afterall, and there is nothing more similar yet individual than women with power.

Then again, in another life she wouldn't need to bargain, in another life she would have crushed Prince Phillip’s sword between her teeth and swallowed him whole, in another life she would have blessed the infant Princess with a gift of her own, something clever and far more powerful than any of the Three Sisters trivial delights. In another life---

Hades leads her to a sitting area, long tatham benches set interlocking with one another, made of dark ebony wood. Maleficent gathers the excess of her robe in her grip and takes a seat, then slowly lets the fabric flow down and unfurl on the clean gray floor. The Lord of the Dead seats himself next to her, and after a moment’s pause, she allows him to wrap one of his hands around her waist.

“I have come to reclaim my debt, Your Majesty” she begins, he laughs and jokes “I’m not a accountant dollface, you’ll have to be more specific. I think I still got some styx-water sloshing around in my skull” but she can see the tightness around his eyes, the stiffness in his fingers as he cleans his ear and flicks a droplet of water over his shoulder, he knows exactly what she is referring to. He also knows that his newfound lack of power might have put him in a very precarious situation. Maleficent smiles sharply.

The grip on her waist tightens.

“Then let me help to restart your memory, years ago you needed an elixir that would turn anything, even a God, mortal. I concocted such a potion on the clause that you would… how did you say it? ‘Owe me one bigtime mama '’” she said drolling her words and making air quotations with her slender fingers. The God of The Dead had the decency to look sheepish, a bright blue blush blooming under his siltstone skin. “Okay yeah might’ve been a bit drunk on success when I said that…”

“Mmhmm” Maleficent hummed, raising a single eyebrow.

“....sorry”

“In any case, a deal is a deal, and now I see to collect my end of our bargain”

“It would be my pleasure my lovely lady of labilzation--” “that one was better” “Thank you I do try, --- however I’m sure it has not escaped your notice that, unlike before, I no longer have the Underworld and all its resources at my disposal to grant your dark heart’s deepest desire-- “Lord Hades are you implying I ever had a heart to begin with?” “ Ha ha no. But you do have desires that our current predicament might limit me from fulfilling”

“And you do hate to leave your women unfulfilled, don’t you Hades?”

“Yes I- HEY” Hades began with his usual smooth inflection, not even really looking at her, before cutting himself on and standing up in outrage. Face pinched and flushed. He started pacing back and forth in front of her while Maleficent looked on in cruel delight. He was yammering about something, going on about respect and proper dues and getting wonderfully worked up about himself. It almost made her nostalgic.

“I mean I know I’m no roving casanova like dear little Zeus-y, Persphone would gut me for even trying that and--”

Then his body stilled and he turned to face her, running his hands through his hair to gather his thoughts. Pity, she was enjoying she show. “Alright I get it, playtimes over. What do you want Maleficent? What under this damned barrier could be so important that you need to cash in on?”

“You and I both know Lord Hades that there are forces far older and far more powerful than this Godmother’s little trick. Deals, oaths, dept, magic sworn by magic will be repaid in turn. ” Maleficent raised herself slowly, taking small measured steps to where Hades stood shadowed by the cavern’s light. “As for what I want? That's simple, I want your name”

Name, she hissed out the word, the word that had churned and boiled somewhere deeper than her stomach and rose up her throat, that fell down her tongue and turned sharp and low against her teeth. The word that made her eyes flash with a power that no well intentioned Godmother or once cursed King could contain.

The word that made the Lord of the Dead, Hades himself, fall stumbling backwards to his knees. The shadow wrenched away from him in haste, revealing his wide eyes and- oh how she missed this- positively wreaked expression. If she was someone else she would say he was nervous, his face too numb to be fearful, but Maleficent knew better. He was terrified.

Pleas spilt from his lips like ambrosia in a clumsy hand. He was almost begging her now, with more fervor than he ever begged before--

( In times of old when the earth was freshly taken and the sky still red with titan’s blood, three brothers gathered to divide the cosmos between themselves. The youngest made his claim to the sky and took it’s child, the mighty thunderbolt, as his symbol. He gifted the sea to the middle brother who accepted it glady, but to the oldest he gave no pearl-rich land or magnificent heaven, but the burden of the damned and dead. The darkest corners of the world, where no light reached and the wild souls wandered aimlessly in the eternal darkness. His older brother objected, of course, and perhaps he even set aside his pride to grovel, but the youngest was unyielding. )

“Please Mali, don’t, not that I’ll do anything--”

( Once Ra fell sick from a clay snake bite, and called a council of every man and women and God to come and aid him, but they could do nothing. Then he called for Isis, for surely she would have the answers to his prayers. “What ever you need, I will provide” And so Isis said to the sun god Ra, ‘Great king of The Heavens and all we hold dear, the venom in your blood is much too strong, the only way I can heal you is with the knowledge of your Name’. So Ra listed off all of his titles and epithets, of which he had many, but Isis was not deterred. ‘My Lord and King, though those names are as grand and great as you are, they are not the one of which I refer to. If you wish to continue as yourself, ruler of the Gods, I will need your Rem to cure you’ said Isis and Ra knew she spoke the truth. Banishing the other medicine men and healers from the room he took Isis into his wings and bared to her the fifth of his soul, the name in which all his power sprang from. Isis took the name and healed Ra, feeling the universe realign with her at its helm, Goddess above Gods, of life and moon and medicine and magic. The fruits of her cunning rewarded hundredfold. And she smiled.)

“-- you don't want that old thing, I mean, what would you even do with my name anyway? It’s not like it would be of any use to you here”

“That, Your Majesty, is where you are wrong.” Maleficent slammed the end of her staff on top of the end of Hades’ robe, catching him in place as he tried to flinch backwards. She knelt before him, his back arched so completely he resembled more of a semicircle than a fallen God, his body so small here compared to hers. The long tendrils of her cloak sprawled themselves across the floor, their edges slithering like snakes, writhing and engulfing them, Hades was a cold star trapped amidst a sea of dark fabric.

“You asked me what could be so important to me that I would risk claiming my due of our agreement here, under this hell forsaken barrier. Why would I step into the limelight after years of isolation to rule an island of filth and trash” she pressed a single nail to his face tilting it up, forcing him to meet her gaze. “Because here is where my child will be born, and no blood of mine will be powerless while I still live to conquer and provide”

Her child, who was barely an weight in her arms, hungry for magic where there was none, hungry for food unrotten and drink unspoiled. If Maleficent was kinder she would crush it’s skull beneath her feet and spare it from a life full of pain and longing. Years of torment and clawing at it’s own skin spared in a moment’s decision.

(Her child, who could one day release their Mother from her prison, if they had will to do so.)

Maleficent had never been a kind person.

She did, however, on the seldom occlusion, know mercy and how to manipulate the unwilling. She could just rip his name from his chest, leave him broken and shivering on the cold stone floor. The thought was tempting, it really had been too long since she last had the chance to destroy someone so thoroughly, but she knew it would be better in the long run if she could get Hades to cooperate. Never let it be said she wasn’t a patient Mistress.

Leaning her weight forward she gingerly took one of Hades’ wrists in her hand, turning it over and carefully inspecting the thick band that now encircled it . This close she could feel the way it softly vibrated under her touch, the binding sigils carved so delicately and deep into the metal.

Her skin burned on contact, but you would never tell by her expression, eyes trained on the way Hades’ life force flowed. Faint traces of his magic traveling down his veins and funneling into the band, which would pulse slightly and constrict, the sigils would glow and hold, before loosening its too tight grip on its host. Then the cycle would continue anew.

It was one of the most brilliantly constructed and horrid devices Maleficent had ever laid her eyes on.

It was a work of art.

And as she read the runes she began to recognize what artist could have made such a beautiful thing.

“Do you know just how luck you are Lord Hades? While the rest of us villains must serve a penance that will span the rest of our days, you sit here with shackles holding only until you meet their requirements. I always wondered why Auradon would risk the order of the world just to fulfill their pallid sense of morality, and here my questions are answered. It seems the true nature of your punishment is far more poetic than a measly imprisonment, no, the true keys to your freedom lay in siring a child,”

A cold sense of realization dawned on Hades, “Hera” he whispered.

“How does the saying go again? An eye for an eye.” Maleficent pushed her nail deeper into the skin of his arm “A lost babe for a lost babe.”

Something inside Hades’ eyes broke at her words, and he begun laughing, freely, manic not maniacal, the laugh of a man who knew the entire cosmos was a joke and now he finally got the punchline. “Oh Hera!” He cried out, gathering the shattered pieces of himself and pulling them together.

He stood up from underneath her, fluid as smoke escaping from her grasp, as if his body was still atmos and ichor- not confined to rigid flesh and blood. ( A distant part of Maleficent imagines Hades, stumbling and impaling his head against a stalagmite as he has to relearn how to walk again, learn how to live in a body so forign yet familiar.) He did not offer to help her, and she made no move to rise, instead she remained sitting, her back ramrod straight and hands folded across her staff which rested on her lap.

Over the sounds of running water and the everpresent barking, Maleficent could hear the sounds of his brain work. Spinning gears within gears furiously trying to take in the new information and generate a more beneficial outcome for himself. “Alright, you want my name, you want power, you want little Maleficent Junior to grow up with magic, which I can’t blame you for. I want to get out of here and I want my wife not to kill me on my arrival, so I propose a solution that just might work for us both”

“Go on”

“ gift part of my name to the little tyke, giving them- and by extension you- power that not even this blasted barrier can suppress. That means that in the eyes of magic, I’m basically your baby’s daddy”

“And are you willing to uphold that responsibility? I have no need for a husband nor a housekeeper, but both dragons and fae are known for their possessiveness and of them I am both”

Hades didn't miss a blink, shark toothed smiled fixed back in place on his face “My magnificent Mistress of Misery from now until my chains are unfettered and I am called away to return to my Iron throne, I do swear to treat your little demonspawn as if they were born from the rotten fruit of my loins. Now, do we have an agreement?” Now he looked down at her, hand extended for her to shake. “Going once… going twice..”

Maleficent leapt forward, her hand digging deep into the weak flesh of his arm, she used to movementum to pull herself close to him, nose to nose, sharpened teeth to sharpened teeth, her horns haloing her head- two blackened crests protruding from her skull that reflected the dull blue light of the room. “Its a deal” she declared. Smiling viscously as she felt her eyes flare, not gold, but green, green as burning hellflame, fire in its purest form.

If this were anywhere else but The Isle of The Lost, thunder would crack at their declaration, a ring of light would maifest around their grip sealing their oath in color and magic. The air would ignite at their words. However, this was The Isle, and so the only illumination of fate’s rearrangement came from the flicker of light on Hades’ wrists as the runes surged, the taste of copper under Maleficent’s tongue, and the deep bone-seated feeling that something big will come. This was the stone whose ripple will cause the wave years down the line.

Maleficent hoped it would rise and drown the whole world.

She almost smiled at the thought.

---------------------------------------

---------------------------------------

“Huh”

“What?”

“You know when you said you had a baby, I kinda pictured- you know- a baby”

“I do hope you aren't talking bad about our child, it hasn't even hatched yet”

“Maleficent thats not a child, thats an egg”

“You think I would birth a infant mammal? Don’t be so crude, egg laying is a much more civilized method of reproduction”

“Wait does that make you a reptile? Oh sweet Zeus don’t tell me you are? What can you unhinge your jaw? Do you have a hemi--”

“Silence your tongue Lord Hades before I cut it out myself”

“Sorry sweetcheeks I couldn't resist”

“....”

“...sorry”

“Now traditionally Mother and Daughter would pass on a portion of their name until the time came where the Daughter earned to full title of Maleficent, usually by slaying their Mother and taking her name for herself. Until that day a middle name would serve as a placeholder to help differentiate them, a Mal Bertha or Mal Lamia or something of the sort. If you are giving up one of your titles, perhaps Mal Aidoneus would suffice?”

“Yeah, no”

“No?”

“Listen, Fairy G’s little parasite pocket is going to hone in on quote the name of the “The Mistress of All Evil” like a cyclopes at a half-off everything sunglass sale. You want this kid to have even a smidgen of a chance we gotta change it up a bit.”

“Well then Your Majesty I don’t suppose you have any better Ideas”

“........Malenthea”

“Hm?”

“Her name, it will be Malenthea”

“Then so mote it be”

“....”

“....”

“HOLY RHEA YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THE EGG WOULD EXPLODE--”

[emeraldsage98]

hi! i was just reminiscing about your past fics and i wanted to say i really love the way you portray ivan and alfred together. especially in your more subtle fics, it’s all so soft and feels like i’m reading poetry agh! you don’t have to answer, though i’m sure as big of a contributor to the fandom/ship as you would have developed some headcanons over time? i’m genuinely curious, i love reading headcanons from creators i admire. i usually take canon with a grain of salt, lol. you?

Hi anon!!

First, wanted to say oh my god, you have no idea how happy your comment made me!  I’m so glad you enjoy my work, and I hope I’ll do it credit.

Also, yes I do take canon (no matter which fandom lol) with a grain of salt.  So I do have a number of headcanons I believe strongly in, a lot of which come through in my writing.  The crossdressing and smart Alfred one was what inspired the series A Wrinkle in Crinoline.

One of my favorites though, is definitely Multilingual Alfred.  He’s fully capable of understanding and speaking in any of his native languages, plus most of the world’s languages, and enjoys when Nations try to talk shit about him right in front of him when they have no idea he understands everything they’re saying.  Ivan is fully aware that he’s multilingual, but has no idea to what extent, though he’s the only one who’s even vaguely aware of the degree.  Part of this headcanon is that Alfred defaults to his native languages when he’s /really/ drunk, and can’t get a handle on English enough to speak it.  That’s how Ivan found out about his multilingualism. There’s a story behind that one too lol

Magic Alfie is another fave, and you better believe that one had an inspiration.  If you’ve never read the Kith and Kin series by AnAppleofDiscord on ffnet, I shall introduce you to your newest obsession.  Even before I started writing fanfic for Hetalia, I thought Alfred was a Disney Princess.  This is just the fic that persuaded me to Alfred’s green magic, although the minor shapeshifting ability I give him is just to help with disguises has its own fun origin story.

Hmm, as to RusAme specific headcanons, I’m not sure.  Although one I am sure of is that Mamma Mia (the song) really really fits the two of them.  Here we go again lol.  Definitely though, they love playing games with each other, shoving their relationship in people’s faces without having anyone realize they’re in an actual relationship.  Their relationship, for the majority of its existence, has been kept a secret.  Cold War, overprotective Empire, you name it, they had some pretty valid reasons to keep it quiet.

Another RusAme specific headcanon is their cabin in Alaska.  They built a cabin in Alaska together in the early years of their nations’ friendship, and even when Russia sold Alaska to the US, they kept both their names on the deed so they’d have a shared place to go.  In my mind, it’s a place where they check their professional lives/nation lives at the door.  Alaska is almost sacred for the both of them - it holds so much meaning for them, personally, that they can’t bear to have anyone even know about it.  Neither government know about the cabin, or the memories they share there.  It’s a safe space.

I hope these are alright and what you were looking for!  And thank you so much for your comment and your question!

[starrosefics-archive]

15 Followers!

I just found out that I have 15 followers. And while it’s not a big milestone, I wanted to celebrate by listing off my fandoms (and some of my main ships.) I am open to prompts for all of them!

Thank you, @mewwitch, @gingerdaile, @agumon1123, @trippingovermyfeet, @ladyrwby, @demigodgirl20031, @agentxx92, @momonyx, @georgenotgay, @hollowwisteria, @theballetslippertheblackhoodie, @michaelshadow7779, @naturegreenr, and @myhusbandsasemni. (There is someone else but they’re not showing up on my list so...?)

Miraculous Ladybug (Ice Art, Lukanette, Kagaminette, Felinette), Gravity Falls (Mabifica), Yandere Sim (Info Chan x Ayano), Undertale, Star Wars (Han x Leia, Finn x Poe x Rose), FNAF, Strange Magic (Butterfly Bog, Sunny x Dawn), Hamilton (Hamilza), Hadestown, ATLA/Legend of Korra (Korrasami), Hazbin Hotel, Invader Zim, Ava’s Demon (Flaming Arrow), BATIM, Villainous (Paperhat), DuckTales (Drakepad, Scroldie, Magicstone, Daisy x Donald, Della x Penny), ROTTMNT (Baronjitsu), A Hat in Time, Animal Crossing (Reddnook), Cuphead, The Owl House (Lumity), Twilight (salt), Steven Universe (Connverse), Disney (all media), OK KO Let’s be Heroes, Scooby Doo (Poly gang), Harry Potter (Drarry), Amulet (Tremily), Transformers (Megaop), Godzilla: King of Monsters, Six, Showdown Bandit, Doctor Who (Doctor x River Song), The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (Bagginshield), Mystery Skulls Animated (poly gang), Jekyll & Hyde (Henry x Emma), Coraline, Danny Phantom, The Amazing World of Gumball (Gumball x Rob x Penny), Star vs the Forces of Evil (Stomarco), Over the Garden Wall, Good Omens (Ineffiable Husbands), Once Upon a Time (Rumbelle), Hello Puppets!, Dude That’s My Ghost, Ever After High, The Princess Bride, She Ra (Catadora, Bow x Glimmer, Scorpia x Perfuma), Mystery Kids.

[muthaz-rapapa]

Happiness Charge was unpopular in Japan because at the time, Frozen was the it franchise for young girls there so it suffered poor toy sales, continuing on with Go Princess' toys. It didn't help even more that New Stage 3 was released in theaters the same day as Frozen.

Ah, that’s right. Frozen. I usually don’t correlate Precure with other franchises but can’t say it wasn’t inevitable that its toy sales would suffer when the Frozen craze hit. Especially so in Japan because Disney has a huge market there.

But please don’t imply that Frozen is the only or major reason why HaCha as a whole didn’t do well because it isn’t. Those two things are not exclusive of one another.

HaCha is not as favored simply because it wasn’t a strong Precure season. Its story wasn’t all that engaging despite the fact it was supposed to be the 10th anniversary season. Reception of the main cast is still rather mixed and how satisfactory their character arcs were handled remains in debate (Yuko didn’t even get one). The pacing was slow at the beginning, it had no concrete theme to work with, the concept of international Cures never reached its full potential. In short, HaCha didn’t live up to the hype assigned to it and had a lot of flaws that pulled it down.

And I’m just talking about what I know of the Precure fandom’s feedback, ok? Nothing else from what’s outside it. I still recall how everyone rejoiced when Go!Pri’s first episode came out, some even commenting that Go!Pri should’ve been the anniversary season instead. While Go!Pri certainly wasn’t perfect, you could already tell back then that it was going fare a lot better than HaCha did. Why? Because the writing for Go!Pri was better. That’s why a lot of fans loved it.

Now, I’m well aware that everybody knows Precure is just one giant commercial for the toys Bandai churns out every year. I’m no marketing expert nor do I have that much interest in the money-making kiddie aspects of the franchise…but it just makes sense to me that you’re more likely to buy stuff of something you really like, y’know? In other words, if a company wants their products to sell, their ad (the TV series) has to be good enough to convince their customers to buy them.

So if you were to ask me why I’m not interested in HaCha merchandise, my response would be because I didn’t like HaCha enough. If you were to ask me why didn’t I like HaCha, I wouldn’t say “it’s because I like Frozen better” because Frozen has nothing to do with what I liked or didn’t like about HaCha. I’d say because HaCha failed to generate any love from me as a viewer.

Of course, I’m not a kid. I’m an older anime fan with my own purchasing power and sometimes unnecessarily complicated thought processes. There’s a big difference there. But I think the same basic logic would apply to children anyway. If they’re not interested, they won’t want it. Even if Frozen wasn’t a factor in this case, sales would still suffer if HaCha couldn’t win over its audience. Probably not as severely without Frozen in the picture…but yea. The TV series is largely responsible for the success of its toys, too.

Finally, figure collecting. (if this is not relevant to your ask, feel free to ignore the rest under the cut. I’m gonna talk about it though cuz it’s the whole reason I have merchandise posts to begin with)

It’s like toy collecting except hellishly more expensive and soul-consuming (so don’t do it).

Unlike toys, however, which will always be made to accompany the broadcasting season, figures are a niche in the otaku community and their releases are largely dependent on how many fans are invested in a series.

Take a very recent example: Kimetsu no Yaiba. There is a truckton of new goods being announced every single month/week ever since the anime adaptation became a massive hit. More love from fans = more demand. So of course, the figure companies would want to jump in on that. It’d be dumb not to.

But then let’s put this in the mahou shoujo genre perspective. Unlike classic juggernauts like Sailor Moon and CCS or a series that was popular enough to bump it up into the mainstream crowd like Nanoha and Madoka Magica, chances for a magical girl series to get the PVC treatment are very slim because they don’t draw as much demand as say the shounen titles do. Yea, I guess we can call Precure “mainstream” at least in the mahou shoujo category because it seems like a lot of people who watch anime in general are aware of its existence (Yukari Tamura’s mom watched it so no more needs to be said there). Even so, that’s still not enough. With Precure being a children’s show and its main target are kids who would probably want the toys more than they want figures, Precure isn’t a sure fire brand that a lot of figure companies are willing to stake it out for. It’s not that there’s a lack of older fans in the Precure fandom (as pixiv can prove to you, oh lord). It’s because there’s less certainty that the majority of these older fans will absolutely buy Precure figures if they were to be released. Especially now with the increased pricing everywhere.

That’s probably why Bandai often skips over old seasons to focus on the newer, popular ones for the S.H. Figuarts. They will only make figures for a particular season that has a good profitable percentage. More recent and favorable ones like KiraPre and Hugtto would sell so those Cures will be prioritized. Older and less popular ones like HaCha and MahoPre are stuck on the waiting list because there’s no way to know how many of their figures can even sell.

And then the figures that didn’t do well at all regardless of which season (Sekai Seifuku Sakusen), those are dropped completely, never to be heard of again.

That’s just the sad reality of it. :(

Again, do keep in mind that I’m just humble collector and these are mostly speculations at best. I’m not an expert on this topic so my words should be taken with several grains of salts.

But overall, I don’t think my reasoning is far off. I mean, it’s just plain common sense. You make things that you can definitely sell. That’s all there is to it.

Why do you think Disney hasn’t stopped throwing Frozen in our faces?

EDIT: I forgot to add that since it seems Bandai still holds the license for producing Sailor Moon figures, then it’s highly likely they’re holding the license for Precure as well. This means that even if other figure companies with better reputations (ex. Good Smile Company, Alter) wanted to make Sailor Moon or Precure figures, they can’t because only Bandai has the rights to distribute products of those brands. That’s why there’s a lack of variety for these two series. Add that to the extremely slow pace Bandai takes in getting their so-so quality figures released, you can clearly see why Precure has such a hard time being relevant in the figure community even though it’s a well-known franchise that has been airing practically non-stop for almost 20 years.

[bestworstcase]

I don't want to turn into a salt flinging factory, but the fact that one of the leading Tangled BEA tumblr commentators outright boasted about cheering when Rapunzel shouts "Enough, Cassandra!", and goes on repeatedly about how Rapunzel should cut Cassandra out of her life, embodies the issues with the pro-Rapunzel bias when discussing the series. In a conflict between a known and loved character and an OC, I have a feeling that fans will always gravitate towards the former, and that's quite frustrating in a show where Rapunzel should have to come to terms with her least desirable features. Rapunzel's Kindness and compassion are not character flaws (in fact, they are her greatest strengths), and the most irritating thing about S3's writing is that the repetitive structure makes them feel that way...

... is this a bex take because it sounds like a bex take

the problem is a multifaceted one i think, and while rapunzel being an established character vs cass being a newer introduction to the series is part of it--bias in favor of older and better-known characters is very real--it's also about--well,

1. a significant contingent of the tts fandom does not want to engage in any meaningful way with the class dynamic and how the staggering degree of power rapunzel has over cassandra shapes their interpersonal relationship, which is how we get completely off-the-wall bonkers takes about cass being "controlling" or "manipulative" towards rapunzel + things like the "enough, cassandra!" moment being seen as rapunzel asserting herself instead of rapunzel abusing her power over cass to shut down an argument out of anger

2. this same contingent tends to perceive cassandra's discomfort with servitude and desperation to be on a level playing field with rapunzel as cass wanting to tear rapunzel down rather than cassandra wanting to be treated with the same basic human dignity that everybody else in the core cast gets. from this frame of mind, of course, rapunzel putting cass in her place is a good thing, because cass shouldn't be having ideas above her station in the first place.

3. rapunzel is a sweet, sunny person who is sometimes kind and always superficially nice and cloaks her worst behavior--that is, the boundary-pushing and controlling approach to her interpersonal relationships--in wanting to "help" people, whereas cass is a blunt-spoken person who is willing to state outright what her boundaries are and also very much wears her heart on her sleeve, meaning that when she's mad or upset she does not make any secret of being so--and, frankly, in fiction as in real life people side with the person who smiles and acts nice over the person who gets cranky and loud when her boundaries are violated. a lot of people care more about the appearance of niceness than about actual decency.

4. likewise rapunzel's response to trauma (appeasement and placation and hiding her bad feelings except when someone she gets teary and sad and needs to be cheered up by her boyfriend) is a lot more palatable than cassandra's response to trauma (getting angry and lashing out because she is in unspeakable pain and does not know what else to do) so rapunzel's trauma gets treated like a free pass to be...the way she is whereas cassandra gets "ugh why is she so AWFUL just because ONE BAD THING HAPPENED TO HER doesn't give her a right to be so MEAN"

5. a considerable contingent of the tts fandom takes the entire text completely at face value whilst ignoring even the slightest whiff of subtext, and because of course the story of tts was a) told through rapunzel's perspective and b) sharply constrained by disney execs who said the princess couldn't outright be wrong, s3 had to leave a lot of things unsaid, such as "cass is angry at rapunzel because rapunzel mutilated her arm" (which IS directly hinted at in the text of s3, btw--in big bad wolf zhan tiri touches cassandra's withered hand and says "remember what she took from you" there is a whole beat where we SEE zhan tiri using that injury as a focal point for cass's anger, it's just not spelled out verbally because again, rapunzel was not allowed to be wrong due to executive meddling in s3) and "the way rapunzel treated cass in s1-2 was wrong and learning that her own mother abandoned her for rapunzel was just the last straw" and because the narrative doesn't clearly and carefully hold our hands to explain these things the No Subtext contingent of the fandom just sees cass lashing out with disproportionate because she's victim blaming rapunzel for being kidnapped by gothel.

6. and then of course we have the new dreamers who view cassandra as a threat to their ship and get weirdly intense about her being ~*~toxic~*~ for rapunzel as a way of defending their otp, lmao. shippers are weird

7. the "do you think margaret thatcher had girl power?" phenomenon

[notgettingawaythistime]

Hey, guys. Sorry for being away so long. I feel like I owe you guys an explanation, both for this and for some changes I’m planning to make on this blog. Said changes are at the bottom, so if you read this I’d really appreciate it. I’m putting it under “read more” for length:

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not very good at canon divergence. This isn’t because I have any problems with it (in fact, I have a lot of respect for people who can do it); it’s because I have this need for rules and stability and, for me, that’s what canon is. It’s why so many of my headcanons involve things happening “offscreen” or filling in gaps. Basically my portrayal of Cap can be summed up with this meme I made a few weeks ago:

But I managed it, until “Flynnposter” happened. It’s not because I have anything against Eugene (he’s one of my favourite characters); it’s because of Cap getting replaced. Didn’t matter who he was getting replaced by; I was upset that he was getting replaced at all. This was on top of him being absent since “Islands Apart”, him “having yet to return”, having his relationship with Cass downplayed and so on. I gave the episode a shot, and I was grateful for that glimpse into his mindset and that he actually had a say in his own replacement, but after that? I couldn’t watch it. I was too upset. Not because of anything the characters had done, but because of what the writers had done. I couldn’t watch twenty minutes of a character who meant so much to me being written out and replaced. Nor could I pretend I was okay with it. Everyone around me seemed to be happy with it, and the ones who didn’t wanted another character to replace him. For my own sake, I had to leave.

The week after that was rough, to put it mildly. I cried a lot. I had a lot of bad thoughts. I tried to keep writing but I just couldn’t be around the fandom. At best, I’d rain on people’s parades. At worst, I’d end up taking my emotions out on people who didn’t deserve it. When the next episode aired, I tried to give it another shot. But Eugene was still in that uniform (and the writers finally remembered guard captains were important right after replacing Cap, how very convenient), people were still talking about it. I saw people praising him “as captain” and I knew I had to leave again. I couldn’t watch that episode either.

(Incidentally, I’m not blaming anyone for being happy for Eugene or making positive posts about him. They weren’t doing anything wrong; it’s not their fault I was upset by all this. So if you’re one of those people, please don’t feel bad about it. At the end of the day, it was the writers I had a problem with, not you.)

I was on the fence about watching the finale, but I did it in the end and I’m glad I did. I was satisfied with what happened with Cass and I was grateful for what we saw of Cap. But they just had to throw in that bit about “Captain Eugene” running the tightest ship Corona had seen in years, didn’t they? Writing Cap out and replacing him wasn’t enough - they had to make their replacement sound so much better, like it was such a good thing. Was that even remotely necessary? Couldn’t Eugene just be a good leader in his own right? Whether it was meant to or not, it felt like rubbing salt in the wound. I hated it.

After that, for the first time in my life, I didn’t want to work with canon. Canon had treated a character that meant the world to me like garbage. But even then I was still working on the Captain’s future, what he was doing while we hadn’t seen him, all the usual stuff. I even found a Disney Princess story I could work with. I was still working with canon despite everything. And yet I had a lot of threads on here that seemed to be set after the series but still involved the Captain, well, as captain. So I had an idea.

TL; DR I’m making a change to my main verse. It’s going to be slightly canon divergent. Cap’s still going to step down... but not permanently. He’s taking some time off, during which point Eugene will take his place. After Cassandra’s redeemed, Cap returns to his post and holds onto the position for at least a decade, although I’m pretty flexible about that at the moment.

However, I will also be making a canon compliant verse. In this, Cap retires from his post. In both verses, his personal life remains the same. His career path, obviously, does not. I’ll make a post about that in a second.

The series may have ended, but the Captain’s life has not.