#especially coming from the generation that thinks buffy fandom is a personality

[roguelibrarian]

"I want more YA stories where the adults are the ones saving the world so that the kids don't have to." Adult fiction what you want is adult fiction and at least half the shelf space in your nearest bookstore and local library is dedicated to it.

[romantichopelessly]

Jordeclan and Coffy for the ask meme

Jordeclan:

Whether I ship it or not: Yes !!! I do. I unfortunately don't post it very often, but I actually think they are the strongest couple in TD3 at times.

Why I ship it or not: I think she could fix him. (That's only half a joke). I think it's *chef's kiss* that everything that Jordan is challenges Declan's beliefs. I love that he becomes stability and a way out for her. Jordeclan to me is one of those ships that's like. Yes, she could do so much better than him, but I respect women's choices and good for her.

My opinion on their canon potential: One thing I will say--Greywaren lost some of their potential at the end. They absolutely SHOULD NOT have gotten married at the Barns. In no world is that a good ending for them. To me, they elope not long after the apocalypse avoiding stuff and do their art crimes farrrrr away from the Barns.

My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it: I am not Declan's number one fan, I'm pretty open on that. I think that's part of why I don't post Jordeclan much, because going into TD3 I just barely liked Declan and I am only just now doing my first reread of the trilogy with his and Jordan's arcs in mind. So generally, I'm not fully on board with a lot of Jordeclan posting because it usually boils down to Declan stan posting, and that just doesn't spark a lot of interest for me. I need more Jordeclan posting from a Jordan perspective, and maybe I'll get on that when I finish my reread.

Coffy (I am assuming Cordelia/Buffy?):

Whether I ship it or not: I could take it or leave it, I think. When watching the show, it never really appealed to me, but when I see people posting it I could get behind it.

Why I ship it or not: Why I think I didn't when watching it the first time is because I've never been too big on the rivals to lovers trope personally, especially when in canon there were more interesting options for that imo (FUFFY !!). But why I can get behind it now? I really really love both of these characters. Cordelia in her ATS era is one of my favorite characters in the BTVS catalogue overall. And Buffy is like my fav of all time. I think they could get over Angel together.

My opinion on their canon potential: There's definitely always chemistry there, but I do not think that they could have been together in high school. I think they would have to come together after graduation--maybe in an AU where ATS and BTVS join together again around Season 6 BTVS.

My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it: TBH I do not see much action from this fandom on this point. I need to be seeing more. I do love lesbian or ace interpretations of Cordy. And of course bi Buffy is basically canon to me. I also haven't seen this much at all, but I think Willow would be so jealous if they got together lmaoo.

[tandonshows]

Today is a very special episode of You Are What You Love! Host Marissa Tandon, talks about her own relationship with media and fandom, and how that relationship (especially with fan fiction) gave her the tools to become a writer herself. We're sharing the first episode of That Vampire Show on the feed, as the making of TVS was a big part of You Are What You Love coming together.

If you haven't listened to That Vampire Show yet, it's a fiction podcast that explores fandom and mainstream media's relationship with it. Kat Wright, a high school senior and fan fiction writer, wins a contest for her favorite TV show, Bloodlines. What she doesn't know is that the show's creator, Warren Young, has chosen her story because he hates the way the fandom perceives the villain of the show, Luther -- Kat's favorite character. She wins a trip to set, and her meeting with Warren derails her senior year, and changes the course of Bloodlines forever.

Some of the cast and crew of That Vampire Show has been featured on You Are What You Love's first season. Each episode, guests talk about the piece of media that changed them most as a person.

Lauren Grace Thompson, the voice of Kat Wright, talked about Supernatural, how the Winchester brothers helped her and Marissa process teenage girlhood, growing up in the superwholock generation, and how fandom has changed for the good and the bad as TV consumption has.

Gabriel Urbina, one of the writers on Season 1, talked about Buffy The Vampire Slayer, what to do when a creator lets you down, and what it was like to be the only fan of Buffy in his town growing up.

Berklie Novak-Stolz (@icaruspendragon), a new writer on Season 2, talked about Supernatural, how she wants to make everyone feel safe and seen through fandom, and how media can save us from grief and personal tragedy.

And Torian Brackett, voice of Freddy Graves / Callum Rainier, talked about Dungeons and Dragons, how the game helped him find community and healing during quarantine and life changes, and how the game has helped him with his voice acting work.

We hope you enjoy getting to know the people behind That Vampire Show in the best way we think you can: through the media that makes them up.

[smiletimeisrunningout]

a reminder from my rules:

I’m mutuals only and VERY selective because I've exhausted my creativity when it comes to certain fandoms and relationships after writing Emma for so many years, there may be exception with some people I know but if you see me interact with a character from the 'no' list it doesn't mean it's now open for all. It's nothing to do with moral judgment though, just with me either not liking certain dynamics or having done enough of them.

You have a MULTI MUSE blog and need a hint about which muses I would want to rp with OR YOU WANT TO FOLLOW FIRST and aren't sure I'd be interested?

I can't list all of them but YES YES YES to fandoms like (or are similar to): For fantasy-Emma: The Witcher, Dragon Age (especially 1 and 3, I don't know 2 well but I'm okay with it), Lord of the Rings (movies), Doctor Who (very doable especially in her fantasy verse, because her universe is parallel to canon, her timeline was rewritten), Galavant, BBC Merlin, and surely many more than right now I can't think of. If we make it work with dimension-jumping to sci-fi/magic fandoms I adore Legends of Tomorrow, Buffy and Angel.

For non magical historical fandoms: Turn: Washington Spies, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton and similar shows. Honestly if you are okay with me not knowing the show, I can work with all your Jane Austenish characters.

There is a modern Emma page for Chuck, Lost, Leverage and a few Marvel characters. Also made a The 100 full backstory. The 'personality' generic paragraph can be used for many sitcoms/dramedies/action shows too, skipping the rest, more details on that page.

Finally: in Once Upon a Time: only with Killian/Hook, David and Ingrid/Snow Queen, but there are rare exceptions for other characters, I'll let you know myself if yours is an exception so things don't get awkward with you asking and me saying no. NEVER with Regina nor oc family members. To avoid forcing her backstory on you if you write someone who is a part of it, like her father David, we can have a thread in which this Emma meets the canon one.

However (maybes and NOs):

-I don't write Emma with villains unless they are in redemption mode because she would attack them and choose not to interact (but I'm all for not confusing fiction and reality, writing a villain says nothing about you), exceptions can be made if we plot so that we aren't taking it too seriously and they won't be trying to hurt her and/or they aren't senselessly murdering and/or doing it for fun. This because I need to be certain that I'm not making you feel godmodded but also that I don't have to change Emma's entire personality.

-If your character is a stranger who wants her to go away she will, she's not going to beg for their attention, so I'll suggest reasons why they are stuck together, please don't take it as godmodding or wanting to control everything! She's got trauma, she's not begging villains to be nice either, so we have to find a compromise.

-No to horror, Game of Thrones which I don't know, and Harry Potter. No-ish to Marvel/DC due to writing in it too much (exceptions are on the modern page or yes list above). No to historical figures unless they are characters in a tvshow: as in yes if you rp as 'Queen Charlotte from Bridgerton' who is a fictional character inspired by the real woman but not meant to represent her accurately and simply follows a work of fiction, no to a fandomless Queen Charlotte meant to represent the real person.

-No to angels/demons/deities/myths, and to immortals besides the Doctor. Very very selective with vampires and other magical creatures, they often have an aesthetic that makes me uncomfortable or plots that aren't my cup of tea, Buffy/Angel are the exception, so please let me be the one asking or assume it's a no.

-No to children and teenagers besides the 100 (but she's a teen too) because I've done enough of those threads and I'm not interested in exploring them with Emma anymore.

[thechangeling]

God id literally send all the violence asks if possible but for now ill limit myself to 1,6,8

For now-

Ok I'm assuming this is just in general and not limited to a specific fandom.

1. Which character does everyone always get wrong?

God I could list so many, but the main two that come to mind are Wylan and Ty (both autistic/coded characters hmmm I'm sure that's a coincidence!/s).

Right now I'm going with Ty. A lot if people just don't write him correctly imo and you could argue that's relative, but it becomes glaringly obvious when you change the way he speaks, making it way too formal or way too casual. And yeah you could argue this is me being picky, and yeah I've definitely screwed up the voices of other characters before like Kit. (I have such a hard time nailing Kit's pov and @sandersgrey makes it look so easy I want to bite him/j)

But anyways it bugs me when people dumb Ty down on certain things for the sake of convenience for the plot or make him less competent... again for the sake of the plot and so Kit has to rescue him. He is actually a good fighter and a good shadowhunter in canon! He just doesn't LIKE doing it. He would much rather investigate shit. He hates training but not because he finds it difficult, but because getting an autistic person to do anything they don't want on your schedule is like hearding cats.

Not to mention exercise leads to sweat, and sweat is a sensory nightmare. Also this may seem petty but Ty being bad at math is super important to me. We never get ANY bad at math autistics! So it pisses me off when people try and overwrite that because they're a math gay or whatever or even if they're a math autistic. You literally have tons of math autistic characters! Leave this one alone he's OURS!

Also just the general allistic person writing autistic characters vibes I get from a lot of fics. Either they completely steamroll of his autism and don't even include it in an attempt to not other him, or they play it up in weird and incorrect ways. Or sometimes quite frankly the vibes are just off, and that's annoying because I don't have any constructive feedback for that.

Also what's annoying is sometimes canon is ableist, so sticking directly to canon like the bible will lead to you putting ableism uncritically into your fics. A good example of this is the "nobody ever tells Ty things" phenomenon which still persists in the secrets of Blackthorn Hall. It's a good plot device sure, but ableist and annoying.

6. Which ship has the most annoying fans?

Honestly there are annoying fans in every ship I can think of. But the ones that bother me the most have gotta be Certain spuffy shippers (Spike and Buffy from Buffy The Vampire Slayer) who kind of steamroll over all of the toxic shit Spike has said/done to Buffy and pretend like he is always objectively right about everything he says about or to her. Plus the lack of acknowledging the racism of the narrative in the episode "Lies my parents told me" and immediately jumping to "Spike did nothing wrong!"

Like, if I as a white person can acknowledge how poorly Robin was treated in season 7, then I can only imagine how fans of color especially Black fans feel.

Sorry I know you don't have context for any of this but just trust me lol.

Also the handling of Seeing Red into season 7 was not good imo and a lot of spuffy shippers ignore that. I love their relationship from a narrative perspective and I love analyzing it and what it says about the characters and the story they're in, but I can't interact with a lot of spuffy shippers because they get under my skin.

8. What's one popular fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about?

I don't really know if it's popular but I've been seeing it a fair amount recently. The idea that Ty looking Kit in the eye is romantic or special in some way.

We gotta nip that crap in the bud right now. Eye contact, for a lot of autistic people is not just uncomfortable but physically painful. A lot of autistic people describe it as a burning or stabbing sensation. I experience it like a giant poker stabbing through the top of my skull. Most of the time we do it because we have to, not because we want to.

Of course this isn't true for everyone. Every autistic person is different, it's a spectrum. But Ty is cannonly someone who rarely makes eye contact, presumably because he doesn't like it.

Now unfortunately CC has contributed to this problem by having Ty occassionally make eye contact with Kit or other members of his family in intimate situations, creating this idea that Ty putting himself through pain or discomfort for the people he loves is something we should admire and romanticize. But it's not.

Honestly you could solve a lot of this by actually having Ty's pov, because then you would know how he feels about it.

So yeah. Those are my hot takes lol.

[outofbluecomesgreen2]

For #spn2024event

New Beginnings,

January is over, February is about Valentine's day, right? Anyhow, yesterday I finished writing a fic, which I repost since a while on AO3.

The fic was my first long fic I posted on AO3, but I was not very fair to one person inside, so I removed the whole fic and started working with Betareaders on it.

So, this fic is a new Beginning for me... but when I think about the text itself, it is actually also about new Beginnings in General:

Police Officer Dean Winchester comes to Cape Girardeau, where Cassie Robinson lives and starts a new life with her - away from his father John, who is a Detective in Lawrence.

The fic is an AU from Seeaon 1 Episode 13 "Route 666"

This fic is not for everyone, especially not for minors, but if you go through the tags, and still ok with them, then this one might be for you

Explicit Archive Warnings:

Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceRape/Non-Con Categories:

F/MM/MMulti Fandom:

Supernatural (TV 2005) Relationships: Cassie Robinson/Dean Winchester, Jimmy Castiel Novak & Dean Winchester, Jimmy Castiel Novak/Dean Winchester, Cassie Robinson & Ellen Harvelle, Cassie Robinson & Jo Harvelle, Gordon Walker & Jimmy Castiel Novak, Gordon Walker & Dean Winchester, Gordon Walker & Cassie Robinson, Gordon Walker/Jo Harvelle, Kevin Tran & Dean Winchester Characters: Cassie Robinson, John Winchester, Rufus Turner, Dean Winchester, Benny Lafitte, Gordon Walker, Donna Hanscum, Jo Harvelle, Ellen Harvelle, Kevin Tran, Missouri Moseley, Angela Turner, Alastair (Supernatural)Zachariah (Supernatural)Dick Roman (Supernatural)Raphael (Supernatural)Jody Mills, Billy (Supernatural)Claire, Kaia, Ash (Supernatural)Gabriel (Supernatural)Victor Henriksen, Jared Padalecki Additional Tags: Police Officer Dean Winchester, Bisexual Dean Winchester, John Winchester Tries, Gordon Walker is a good guy, Bisexual Jo Harvelle, Awesome Ellen Harvelle, Mentioned Fergus MacLeod, Angel of Solitude Castiel, based on a true crime, AU Season 1 Episode 13DrugsAngstTraumaChildhood Trauma, Crossdressing Dean Winchester, Queer Themes, Shame, Loneliness, Friends to Lovers, Depression, HealingThreesome, Every chapter has a song, Family, Slice of Life, Racism, KKK | The Ku Klux Klan, Rape, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Loss of Parent(s), Family Loss, There‘s a lot of Buffy in this fic, Healing Sex, Feels, Developing Friendships, This fic is about Trauma but more about healing

Each Sunday I'll add another chapter.

[demirose-colored-glasses]

My page looks better on desktop

➳ I'm Ro. I'm in my late 20s. Please don't gender me. I'm a queer enigma. They/Them works just fine.

➳ My page looks better on desktop and I can't follow back, this is a side blog. I will interact though.

➳ I'm Demiromantic, for me this means that I can't feel romantic attraction towards people unless I have a close emotional bond with them, for me that's friendship/a platonic bond. Hence the joke in my title. (This doesn't mean I am attracted to all my friends, just that I can't feel romantic attraction to people I'm not close with.)

➳ Current hyperfixations/special interests: (most active in bold) Psych (coming back from childhoood), Glee, Stardew Valley, The Summer I Turned Pretty (I love all these characters and they can be as petty and messy as they'd like.), Arrowverse, Harry Potter (I do not support JKR and I fully acknowledge that the goblins are antisemitic, nagini and cho chang are offensive, and that her treatment of indigenous cultures is unacceptable)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (I'm late I'm sorry)

➳ Flag in banner/background is the demiromantic flag color picked from The Summer I Turned Pretty cover.

➶ I post Demiromantic and other aspec headcanons. Mostly focus on demiromantic/demisexual though. These may be hot takes, and are strictly through the lens of my own experience and you don't have to agree, in fact I vibe with canon or whatever headcanons you may have.

➶ Feel free to send asks and interact in any way possible.

➶ I'll also make icons or color picked flags at some point if people want them. There aren't very many demiromantic headcanons.

➶ reblogging an edit or a fic doesn't mean I ship the ship, I just support Fandom creators. So if you see me saying I don't ship something, then you see it in my reblogs, I'm just supporting Fandom creators.

➵ Allies, non-queer, and people uneducated on queerness are obviously welcome, this is not, nor will it ever be a queer-only space. Despite this you MUST be able to understand that is a queer amatopunk space. It rejects amatonormativity. This means that despite loving the romance genre and experiencing some romantic attraction I will be critical of amatonormativity and allonormativity.

➵I am neutral on RPF most of the time but have zero interest and will not reblog it.

➵ I am neutral on "bad" fandom content existing. As long as they're not harassing real people I'm not even looking in their direction, they tend to trigger me so I don't engage.

➴ Despite being neutral on rpf existing, "Tinhats" can fuck right off. Especially if you talk to the people involved about it or in any way harass them. I hope you have a bad day every day forever.

➴ I'm typically not interested in large age gaps ships where one person is a teenager but I don't think they're evil or whatever fanpolice are on about. Also proshippers are racist trash 99% of the time so don't lump me in with those assholes either please.

🏹 My writing (Dead link for now)

🏹 My Media Takes/Overviews

Tags:

#demirose glasses on - headcanoning characters to be on the aspec in any way shape or form, sometimes used for general queer headcanons as well.

#demirose glasses off - just a general speculation post about a piece of media.

#my stuff - edits I made

[the-bee-graveyard]

Hey so I'm a fucking dumbass and I only read part of the letter so I read the whole thing today and...am I the only one that feels a little gaslit?

Like it feels as though CC is trying to say that what happened between kitty is no big deal and Ty's not angry or upset at all.

Which is so unfair? Like if Kit's allowed to be upset then why can't Ty. Ty has every right to be angry. I'm just annoyed that, like I've said before about QOAAD the narrative prioritizes Kit and his allistic feelings.

It's this trend of not letting autistic people or characters be angry or upset about anything for long or letting them hold grudges. And if they do it's clearly framed as them being in the wrong.

What's interesting is this reminds me of a video on Buffy by one of my favorite youtubers who pointed out that there was this trend in 80s and 90s films of really shitty and almost non existent consent that was usually played for laughs. And then afterwards the girls would say it was no big deal and they weren't mad because of xyz reasons. But the video points out how these aren't real people, these are characters who are saying what the writers want them too. Because the writers want you to think it's no big deal.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

If Ty was s real person and he wanted to shake this off and say he isn't mad, then I would be 100% behind him. I support autistic people being able to make their own choices even if I disagree with those choices. But this feels like an allistic writer trying to breeze past real harm done to her autistic character because she doesn't want to understand or care about autistic trauma and how it affects us.

I'm angry. I'm tired and angry, but somebody should be.

I've been trying to reason it as we haven't seen Ty's point of view yet and he's just a private person, but I can totally see where you're coming from, and I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.

I'm truly hoping this is not where Ty's storyline goes, because Cassandra Clare's gotten backlash in the past on how she treats Ty, especially about how he was the only main character in TDA to get not one perspective chapter. For her sake I'm hoping she's realising how incredibly stupid this would be. I know I'm not the most social person in this fandom, but I don't know any autistic (or neurodivergent in general) fans who would stand by this. I'm hoping she doesn't do this shit because it's awful and dehumanizing towards autistic people, but it's also in her best interest to do this for business, if the whole being a decent human being thing does not cut it for her.

[prof-peach]

Ooc question

I personally have a hard time on settling down on ocs, and it can take me a long time to get truly happy with a character and their details. Can you tell me about you process on creating Peach? I'd love to hear about it, especially with her recent buffy development lol.

Cards on the table, there’s an unhealthy demand from fandoms and such for some artists to not flex their style, change up old OCs, and not explore ideas that may make an already fun character all the better! There is no need to change, but at the same time, there’s no need for them to stay the same! You as a human can go out, get a haircut and dye, change up the outfit, walk different, act different, so why can’t OCs? I think there’s an organic growth in characters we create, that comes when you spend enough time with or working on them.

It’s been probably like 2-3 years since peach was presented here? Maybe more idk my timeframe is awful. But in that time I’ve played the part of this woman who started life like me. She was because I wanted to see something within the fandom that wasn’t really present. What started as a mild-self insert, took on a life of her own. Each story I wrote, each bit of text or silly sketch, it pulled more and more of who she really was to the front, for all to see. She is now not all that much like me at all, (I WISH I was that buff, oh my god)

I think the more believable characters have had time poured into them, they’ve been given those months, years, more, to feel out the character. We change, we change all the time, hell, even simple designs like Ash from the Pokemon anime, it’s changed, it’s not the same it was in 1994/5 or whatever it was when it started, those designers must have thrown his characters sheets around for MOOOOOONTHS to get that just right. And yet with each new region he gets a little overhaul, a tweak in the design.

Art is hard y’all, but don’t feel bad because you keep changing stuff. Seeing an issue with your work, seeing the flaws and adding in changes is part of the process, it means you’ve grown! If you’re advanced enough to see an issue with what you made, and go to change it, that’s you advancing. It’s not a step back it’s a step forward, I cannot stress this enough.

You’re a creator, and you hold the power to your OCs and world building, so if you want to change it up, then you have to do it! We have a gift, to make and build things from nothing, makes my head spin thinking I, a modern human, can put pen to paper and create, just like the cavemen before me, and the future generations after.

Keep things fresh, trust your gut, never get complacent, change is good, change is growth.

[moss-gender]

obligatory intro post!

heya! im river. this is my tumblr!

about me

age: 29

orientation: queer/demi/arospec

gender: agender (ae/aem/aer or they/them)

neurotype: autistic/neurodivergent

disabilities: chronic anxiety, psychosis (mostly paranoia and derealization but also depersonalization and dissociation, also delusional), chronic gi issues, auditory processing issues, ptsd

ideology: leftist/ancom leaning

privileges: white, middle class upbringing

spirituality: buddhist witch, believe in a lot of weird bullshit (the line between this and psychosis is blurry sometimes)

relationship status: relationship anarchist

special interests: entomology (insects) + arachnids + isopods + myriapods, hyenas, lucid dreaming, writing, paleontology, diy dollhouses/miniatures, j-fashion (menhera, decora, spank kei, cult party kei, fairy kei, punk lolita, bittersweet lolita, gothic lolita, yami kawaii, yume kawaii, mori girl/boy, harajuku street fashion), candy gore art, farming rpgs (especially sos, ac, minecraft), personality quizzes, sanrio (cinnamoroll is fave), queer microlabels, ancient civilizations, techware fashion/art, furry art, cringe art, dreamcore, weirdcore, old web, mycology (mushrooms), mandela effect and reality shifting stories, cyberpunk fic and art, diy fashion and decor, survival skills, mythology, etc (may add to later)

what I'll post besides special interests (tag list):

me: things that i vibe with

current events: news (you can block this)

feel good: positivity

art: art i like

humor tag: shitposts and memes

queer: queer stuff

gender: gender stuff

aro: arospec stuff

friends: cute animals and critters

important: psa and important info

life hack: self improvement, etc

mental health: tips, awareness, education, etc (will probably tag specifically too like bpd, psychosis, ptsd, adhd, anxiety)

sw: sex work stuff

m a: mutual aid

fashion: j-fashion as well as faecore and punk fashion

want: things i wish i could have (may or may not have shop links)

recovery: things pertaining to either alcohol, self-harm, ed, or bpd recovery

resources: resources i want to remember

my posts (formerly “river says things”): diaryposting, life updates, thoughts, etc *I will probably just say vent posts from now on. idk my name

may tag friends if something makes me think of you!

current tags for blocking purposes: ableism, racism, transphobia, queerphobia, whorephobia, current events (rn "roe v wade" for example), sexual assault, sex, rape culture, diet culture, gore, creepy crawlies (for insects et all), hate crime, unreality, police, police brutality, abuse, addiction, ed, relapse, substance (sometimes will talk about psychedelics), slut shaming, csa, pedophilia, food (for people with ed or for during Ramadan), anti-semitism, islamophobia, please note that as of 06.28.22 i have started tagging again so be cautious going backward!! also!!! let me know if i should add something!

fandoms in case relevant (in rough order of how high the interest is): sanrio, animal crossing, minecraft, junji ito, skyrim, our flag means death (ofmd), what we do in the shadows (wwdits), king of the hill (koth), trailer park boys (tpb), russian doll, beastars, kuragehime, everything everywhere all at once, hannibal, x files, buffy... will add more as they come to mind

feel free to send me asks! im not always good at responding so if i forget it's not personal!

Edit 05.09.23: I no longer support AI art. This has been true for a while but I haven't updated my intro. If you go back far enough you may find some art. When I first got into it I thought they used only free photo databases and only art that had entered public domain. I know this was naive now. I liked the hyperrealistic style renders that could generate character inspiration. I didn't know how much art was being stolen and how many styles were being replicated nonconsenually. Honestly when I got into it I was being very delusional. So it took me a while to accept that what was happening with AI art was happening. Using AI art tools for fun was not as completely harmless as it first appeared. I don't want to help that industry, but I do hope one day AI art could be different. Not a threat. Because the programming potential would not be a replacement of human art. AI programming is a special interest bc I think the field needs people who care about the ethics of how AI technology is used. I sometimes blog about AI art in reference to this interest in understanding the industry of AI as a whole and how it can be used for justified choices.

[letteredlettered]

Hello! You already told us what you think about Ron, but what are your thoughts on Ginny Weasley? Pretty controversial figure in drarry fandom, yet you have a fanfic about her

That's one of the fics I'm prouder of! You can read it here.

This got long, so here you go:

When I first started reading HP I loved Ginny and wanted her to hook up with Harry. I really identify with youngest-girl-lots-of-brothers, so I could see the attention she wanted and the way Ron dismissed her was familiar to me. In the second book, I was a bit disappointed that she ended up mostly being a victim, but after I processed it I was happy she would have to face the darkness of being used in such a way. Ginny murdered chickens and wrote on walls in blood and was responsible for kids getting petrified; even if she was being possessed, she can remember her hands doing those things. I assumed at some point Harry would have to face a darkness within himself, and I felt like CoS positioned Ginny to understand and identify with him in a way others--who had not been possessed--could not.

Ginny wasn't a big feature in PoA or GoF, which was disappointing In OotP, I was disappointed at first that Ginny seemed to be growing up without much "screen-time", as it were, and seemed to have her own interest in guys other than Harry. I was a shipper! I'm ashamed! Once I had time to process, again, I realized I far preferred a Ginny who had moved on from Harry and could be her own person. That way, they could be more like equals when they eventually got together.

In HBP, I really rooted for her going her own way--but also began to feel pretty confused. I didn't understand how she could be Harry's love interest with so little attention paid to her. And then the romance did start, and it felt--completely out of the blue for me? Especially when it happened right after a very powerful scene in which Harry almost made someone bleed to death, and especially when it seemed to have more to do with Quidditch and Dean Thomas than Ginny herself. And then Ginny was barely in DH, which made me wonder why the romance even existed in the first place.

I think a big part of the problem for me is the love interests I enjoy in fiction share goals and are an important and equal part of both the characters' lives. Harry going camping to fight Voldemort while Ginny stays at Hogwarts feels a little to me like the fantasy of the wife you come home to, the one who waits. By DH, Ginny shouldn't join in the adventure; she has no place there. Furthermore, we all hope that Harry gets to move on and have a life after Hogwarts; Ginny can become central to him then in a way she wasn't earlier in life. People you end up with don't have to be the people who were the centers of our young lives--and in most cases, they probably shouldn't be!

But it doesn't make for a good story, and frankly, I have difficulty identifying with it. I have trouble understanding couples who seem to live in separate worlds. I don't mean that a person can't have their own friends and interests; having some aspects of your life that don't belong to your partner is good and healthy. But Harry starting a romance with Ginny when Ginny is never involved in anything he does is as weird to me as if I were to have a relationship with someone and never ever share my fandoms with them. That's just the way I am.

I do think this is a classic problem in Hero's Journey stories, in that the most important person to the hero is the villain they're trying to defeat. See Star Wars. Luke's most important relationship is with Vader, which is why it makes sense to discard Leia as his love interest by writing her as his sister. Aang's most important relationship is with Zuko and then Ozai, which is one reason Katara/Aang falls flat. I think a lot of this has to do with the propensity for creators (generally male) to make both the central hero and the central villain male, and an unwillingness to really tackle the homoeroticism inherent in the central relationships. The narratives I can think of with central female protagonists, like Buffy, are give male counterparts who function as both villains and love interests.

I'm making some sweeping statements here; it's not true for all heroes journey stories, but I think it's why you see Hermione and Ron paired off. Harry's central relationship is Voldemort, and if you scale that down, you can make Draco Harry's central relationship, because Draco is a pawn of Voldemort. Now, I have argued quite stridently that Draco is only peripheral to Harry's life, and I stand by that statement most fervently--but that is according to Harry. According to the structure of the narrative, you can replace Voldemort with Draco under and umbrella of "evil/Death Eater/foe." By doing so, you can deal with issues that are very central to Harry's story.

As for Ginny herself, in the end, she suffers from the exact same problem as Ron, and so many other characters in HP. In other words, the set-up is there, but the execution is not. Ginny is the youngest of seven in a loving, magical family. In that way, she is a perfect counterpoint to the loneliness and negligence and Muggleness Harry experiences growing up. Yet, in such a large family, Ginny has to understand what it feels like to be overlooked and ignored--in that way, she's in a perfect position to understand and identify with some of Harry's isolation.

Ginny is the only other person in the book besides Harry to be possessed by Voldemort. (The only classmate to come close to having a similar experience is Draco, and his mind and body are not possessed at all, not like Ginny's or Harry's.) As such, she's also perfectly positioned to identify with a lot of Harry's trauma. She's also perfectly positioned to hate Voldemort with a very personal passion that's different from Ron or Hermione--Voldemort befriended her in the journal, and then violated her; it's very different than hating Voldemort on principle.

But in the end these aspects of Ginny just aren't utilized. We never see what she suffers in CoS really resonate. We never really learn the effect her family has on her, or even really who she is, other than that she is sporty, tough, and pretty. It's difficult to dislike Ginny Weasley, because the way she's written does her such a disservice, and she could have been such a brilliant character. She's just a lot of wasted potential, in my opinion, but those last two books certainly killed my whole Harry/Ginny shipper heart.

[trainsinanime]

For the ask game: 13, 15, 17, 19

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

I’ve said this before: The Gorilla is not “Adrien’s only parent”. The Gorilla is the jailer who physically enforces the limits on Adrien’s freedom that Gabriel has set. That’s his job, and it’s one he actually does most of the time. In Gorizilla, Adrien and Marinette are trying to dodge him (and Adrien’s fans) long before he turns into an Akuma. In Origins, Adrien tries to dodge him when he wants to go to school.

Yes, the Gorilla is often bad at his job, and sometimes will let himself be bribed into being even worse at it. And yes, he has genuine affection for Adrien, more so than anyone else living in the Agreste mansion (Nathalie stans: Fight me). And I could imagine that someone else in the same role might be worse for Adrien. But still, when Adrien is running towards his freedom, the Gorilla is the person he is running from.

I don’t think he is irredeemable, far from it, and I’m perfectly okay with stories where Adrien decides to forgive him. I just think the fandom needs to acknowledge that there is something to forgive here in the first place.

15. Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

I’m still trying to sort my thoughts enough for a long-form post, but basically, I think the strict format hurts the show. There is only ever the one villain; there is only one plot; there is only one kind of threat. If you compare it to other shows in a vaguely similar conceptual space like The Owl House or Buffy the Vampire Slayer (what is Miraculous if not Buffy but happy), you can quickly see where it leaves a lot of development on the table because of those structural deficiencies.

Having multiple enemies in succession means the bad guys can have meaningful victories over the heroes, keeping the threat level up. At the same time, the heroes can make significant progress at times. Miraculous Ladybug just doesn’t have that, and the one time they did have a serious victory for the bad guy (exposing the other heroes), they couldn’t do anything with that.

The show also generally doesn’t have B-plots; at least no B-plots with any substance to them. The time spent on B-plots is instead given to the CGI battles, and to be fair, those can be a lot of fun. But that means there is really no opportunity to develop side characters better because there is no time; even the main plot often feels more like we’re watching a summary than a well-told story.

It also doesn’t help that the show is so strict about secret identities and amnesia for akuma victims and the like. Marinette can’t talk about superhero stuff with Alya (for most of the show anyway) and Chat Noir can’t talk about superhero stuff with Nino, which means those two don’t get any development. And Marinette can’t really reason with an Akuma victim, nor talk about personal stuff while in costume, so in the end the CGI battles are fun, but usually irrelevant when it comes to characterisation and plot developments.

The show seems to address some of these issues, especially with Rena knowing, but still, it’s far from ideal.

It’s a weird thing where it sort of balances out in the end; the show doesn’t seem to have the the time to develop any overarching story well, but it doesn’t have a good overarching story to begin, so it evens out. And they have given me enough bits for the minor characters so that I love all of them.

I’m a bit hesitant to post all this stuff because it makes the show sound horrible, which it is not. I genuinely love it and enjoy watching it. I just think that it could have been so much better if it had chosen a different format.

Not sure if this is unpopular, but it is a thing we’re not really talking about.

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

Apart from “restructure the entire show completely and rewrite every single episode”, you mean? 😁

I think we could cut Lila, and instead give more time to Chloé. People keep acting like “Zoé is supposed to replace Chloé”, and no, obviously not; Lila is. People also keep saying “the writers hate Chloé”, and again, no, obviously not; if they hate anyone, they hate Lila.

Lila’s job in the show is to be the Cordelia Chase character; the antagonist for the non-superhero side of Marinette’s life. This is the role that Chloé previously had, until Marinette realised partly through season 1 that being the bigger person in that relationship is both easy and fun. But Lila isn’t a good replacement, because Lila has absolutely no character, no depth; she’s either conspiring to make Marinette’s life harder, or, more commonly, she’s functionally completely absent. The writers seem to have no clue what to do with her.

So either expand her role, or remove her. I’m leaning towards removal because Chloé could probably be a better antagonist; she has all the motivation and backstory, and the writers seem to genuinely enjoy making her the center of attention.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Honestly I am at a point where either the salt has died down, or I’ve managed to block it well enough, that I am basically very happy with the fandom. There are certainly a lot of hot takes I don’t enjoy, but my impression is that these are mostly the results of young people trying critical analysis for the first time, and I don’t want to be too harsh on that.

So… the thing that tends to disappoint me the most is really at the other end of the scale: I think the fandom is way too serious at times. The show is blatantly silly and cracky in every aspect, from its world building right up. Marinette may seem over-the-top, but in the context of the show, she seems to have about an average level of chill. Every single episode, if written as a fanfic, would be pure crack. The fandom is by no means a joyless place, far from it! But I think it could embrace the sheer insanity that is the world of Miraculous Ladybug even more. If you write a fanfic, and the Eiffel tower remains completely stationary the entire time, what are you really doing? 😁

[pocketfulofrecs]

It's Friday and we're here with another Author Spotlight!

It’s impossible for you to be in this corner of fandom and never have heard of Vir_Abelasan. She has written some of the most interesting Wangxian fics we have read, a shade darker than usual, but so engrossing. When we want to read something a little savory, we go back to this author.

She has written 49k words in 5 fics, and we can’t wait to see what else she will come up with.

Her fics:

It’s we that you are for - [explicit | 2.5k | LWJ/WWX/LXC pwp]

to be wielded by your hands (our post) - [mature | 3k | competence kink]

Visitations - [mature | 18k | wip | modern au - corporate espionage]

Like stones on an unseen board - [not rated | 11k | dark lan wangji]

Symmetry (our post) - [mature | 13k | dark sizhui]

Dee’s favourite: I love Symmetry but my favorite happens to be Like stones on an unseen board. I have a special fondness for dark LWJ who is just as devoted to WWX as canon LWJ is. This fic has the potential age difference and teacher-student relationship but they don’t really get together in it. I like that, I like how LWJ recognizes how Jiangs are dimming WWX’s light and does things to get WWX away from them, even if it involves manipulation and subtly widening the divide between the Jiangs and WWX. Dark in a way that eventually benefits WWX.

Ju’s favourite: Ohhh I loved Symmetry. I loved to see JC getting his just deserves by Sizhui. The fic is very dark, and in many moments I was completely blown away and so angry. I love when reading makes me feel things, and I felt a lot of things reading this one. But as dark as it gets in some points, it makes sense in the story. And then we get a happy ending that is so good and perfect. Made me cry.

The Interview:

Q. When did you start writing fics? Did you have fandoms before this one?

A. Somewhere around the early 2000s with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom, and BtVS was very prolific with crossover, which just led to more fandoms, mostly Western TV series. I wrote a lot of the Dragon Age trilogy afterwards, and a lot of Pacific Rim before finding MDZS.

Q. What made you start writing for MDZS?

A. Honestly at first I was here for the porn, because the Wangxian porn is bountiful and tender and exquisite. But then I read the novel and was enamored with how much more nuanced everything was, especially the many recurring themes and motifs related to social classes and personal vs familial/communal responsibilities, which as an Asian person you don't often get to dig into in the oftentimes Western-leaning fandom spheres.

Q. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

A. In the MDZS fandom it's Symmetry, because it's literally the fic I wanted to read upon completing MDZS but was not able to find. One of the saddest thing in canon for me is the lack of consequences for any of the gentry cultivators' actions in the past, and while it's realistic to the world building, I just really want an alternative where someone could go around an inherently broken system and make it so perpetrators actually pay for their crimes and less people in general becomes collateral.

Q. What’s your favourite type of fics to read?

A. Smut, because I'm just really bad at writing it. And oh, how the MDZS fandom delivers - Pure smut, sad smut, painstakingly tender smut, existential smut, it has everything! But Wangxian smut in particular is almost always a treat because there's just always that undercurrent of trust and having a person who's just for you in every sense of the word despite everything else happening. It's such a good, affirming feeling.

Q. What’s your favourite comment? Or type of comment?

A. Any comment is always a delight! From just incoherent screaming to details of which lines spoke to them the most, every comment is a reaction and stories are out there to create conversation in the first place.

Q. What motivates you to write?

A. Writing has always felt like problem solving to me, and fanfics in general has always been really interesting to write because there's the inherent conflict and problems written into canon, but also the matter of the fandom's perception of the source material to play with and solve.

Q. Who’s your favorite author?

A. There's so many fanfic authors throughout the years who are just amazing and hit a lot of very profound places a lot of published works didn't go to, so it's really hard to choose just a few. But thank you, every single fan author out there, you've really made a lot of people's days (and lives) better with your writing.

Q. What is your favorite trope to read and/or write?

A. I'm particularly fond of the trope of characters who are normally amicable or accommodating just going apeshit, both literally or figuratively. Because both in fandom and in real life, kindness and compromise in someone are often mistaken as a free pass for others around them to be terrible.

Q. Do you have any advice for new authors?

A. Write what you feel strongly about, I guess? And it's sometimes helpful to have an objective to the whole thing, for the times when it seems the story is going nowhere or you get stuck in a particular aspect of it. Sort of like a thesis statement, so whenever you fumble you have something to refocus on.

Q. What do you think is the most important element in writing? Plot, characterization, relationship?

A. Characterization carries you a long way since they're the vehicle to bringing the readers to where you intend them to be, but I also feel like structure helps a lot with stories too. Just the way you scaffold a narrative, like laying down the kind of path you want your readers to follow and experience along the way to the end.

~

Check out their stories on ao3 and remember…

Comments and kudos feed the author’s soul.

[msevelynsilver]

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ALL FOUR SEASONS OF BLACK SAILS AND ALL SEVEN SEASONS OF BUFFY + SEASON 1 OF ANGEL

I wonder what the level of overlap between these two fandoms is. I think it’s probably low and definitely should be higher.

One thing I can’t get out of my mind is the comparison between Buffy and Faith and Flint and Silver. There’s an especially good Buffy and Faith fan video that really inspired me to think about this, so I’ll leave the link below.

Amazing Buffy + Faith video: https://youtu.be/GpIHwrPhJyQ

But essentially both of these relationships have a friends-with-homoerotic-subtext-to-enemies-with-homoerotic-subtext story arc. And both play with the idea of morality, responsibility for others, the burden of power, and being/becoming the same person.

In Season 7 of Buffy, she becomes the leader of a group of young slayers and shoulders the responsibility of looking after that. But she is seen by the Potentials as cold and standoffish and as not having their best interests at heart. (Sound like anyone we know?). Faith then tries to take control of the girls and finds that it’s hard being first in command instead of second because you have to make the hard decisions and the people under you will resent you no matter what you choose.

Buffy says to Faith: “Whether you wanted it or not, their lives are yours.”

(I’m not bothering to look up episodes right now, but I have a near encyclopaedic knowledge of Buffy and I think this is 7.19 “Empty Places”.)

Does this not sound like something Flint would say to Silver? Silver, who as quartermaster was the better liked of the two but who had to shoulder more responsibility due to Billy’s creation of Long John Silver as a pirate king and who found that he didn’t like the role he was forced to play? Silver was responsible for the lives of all the men on the Walrus crew and while he liked the power it gave him, it also terrified him to have to account for and rely on people other than himself.

Here is more dialogue from Buffy. (Technically I think this is Angel 1.19 “Sanctuary”):

Buffy: “You told me I was just like you.”

Faith: “And you can’t stand that. You’re all about control. You have no idea what it’s like on the other side. When nothing’s in control, nothing makes sense. There’s just pain, and hate, and nothing you do means anything. You can’t even-“

Buffy: “Shut up!”

Re-read that but swap Buffy’s name for Flint’s and Faith’s for Silver’s. It’s not a perfect analogy. Buffy was created to be an expendable hero and Flint is seen as a pirate menace to society, so they face completely different issues regarding their role in the narrative. Faith and Silver do better. Both have relatively unspecified tragic backstories that turned them into cynical, self-serving people who are mistrustful of authority figures (Faith’s is never specified at least in-show, and I’m not taking comic book canon into account here because I’m not caught up). In particular, I think Faith’s line about “nothing you do means anything” is something Silver would agree with. I think if he had believed that Flint’s war could succeed and that they wouldn’t all end up dead, he would have followed Flint to the ends of the earth. But he thought that none of it would mean anything and that they didn’t have the power to effect that kind of change. It also might explain why he views his own past as story-less. Nothing you do means anything. I think he, like Faith, has experienced a complete loss of control over his circumstances and himself, and thus his story at some point in the past. It is their defined roles (quartermaster and slayer) which begin to give their life some shape and meaning, only to have it fall apart because of the burdens/limits of the role they are forced to take.

But my absolute favorite comparison comes from something Faith says to Buffy in season 3. (3.17 Enemies):

Faith: “What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me. You’re not ready for that. Yet.”

Oh, the parallels. For context, if you haven’t seen the show, (and you should, it’s really good), Faith says this while she and Buffy are holding knives to each other’s throats. She then kisses Buffy on the forehead (like Judas did to Jesus) and runs away. The drama! The betrayal! The romantic subtext! The vague implications that Faith is a future version of Buffy who has lost her idealism and illusions about the world and that Buffy will one day sink to the same level of (perceived) villainy!

In this case I would flip it and say Faith is playing the role of Flint while Buffy is playing the role of Silver. Because in the end of Black Sails, isn’t this what happens? Silver kills Flint (literally/metaphorically depending on your interpretation), and in doing so assumes the role Flint had played. This is a man who has lost the two people who he loved most in the world to their dangerous idealism and who now shoulders the weight of being THE pirate in Nassau who society will brand as a monster. In killing Flint and releasing him from the torment of the ten years without Thomas (like a man waking from a long and terrible nightmare), Silver becomes Flint. He had already made so much of Flint’s mind his own and he kind of sacrifices himself so that Flint can live out his happy ending, knowing all the while that he won’t get his own (I know this is a generous reading of Silver, but I love him so I’m biased).

Faith and Buffy don’t get a story that is so neatly tied up because they’re not the two main characters. But Buffy develops a lot of Faith’s ideas about the inherent power of being a slayer (“There’s only me. I am the law”) and makes a lot of morally grey decisions that she probably would have condemned Faith for in her youth. (“Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer now?).

I need someone who’s talented at video editing to combine these two relationships because I’ve barely touched all the potential parallels (and the visual ones are so good as well!).

I feel like there’s also something to be said for “freedom in the dark” parallels in the two shows, especially with Spike and Buffy in season 6 but I haven’t thought it through and I would need to give a lot more thought to the implications of comparing society’s vilification of queer people and Buffy and Spike’s toxic straight relationship, which is nonetheless taboo for being a Slayer/vampire one.

[killianmesmalls]

On your comments about Jack: ye-es, in the sense that Jack is a character who definitely deserved better than he was treated by the characters. The way Dean especially treats him reflects very badly on Dean, no question. But, speaking as a viewer, I think the perspective needs to shift a little bit.

To me, Jack is Dawn from Buffy, or Scrappy Doo. He’s an (in my opinion) irritating kid who is introduced out of nowhere to be both super vulnerable and super OP, and the jeopardy is centered around him in a way that has nothing to do with his actual character or relationships. He’s mostly around to be cute and to solve or create problems — he never has any firm character arcs or goals of his own, nor any deeper purpose in the meta narrative. In this way, he’s a miss for SPN, which focuses heavily on conflicts as metaphors for real life.

Mary fits so much better in that framework, and introducing her as a developed, flawed person works really well with the narrative. It is easy for us to care about Mary, both as the dead perfect mother on the pedestal and as the flawed, human woman who could not live up to her sons’ expectations. That connection is built into the core of SPN, and was developed over years, even before she was a character. When she was added, she was given depth and nuance organically, and treated as a flawed, complex character rather than as a plot device or a contrivance. She was given a voice and independence, and became a powerful metaphor for developing new understandings of our parents in adulthood, as well as an interesting and well-rounded character. You care that she’s dead, not just because Sam and Dean are sad, but for the loss of her development and the potential she offered. So, in that sense, I think a lot of people were frustrated that she died essentially fridged for a second time, and especially in service of the arc of a weaker character.

And like, you’re right, no one can figure out if Jack is a toddler or a teenager. He’s both and he’s neither, because he’s never anything consistently and his character arc is always “whatever the plot needs it to be.” Every episode is different. Is he Dean’s sunny opportunity to be a parent and make up for his dad’s shitty parenting? Yes! Is he also Dean’s worst failure and a reminder that he has done many horrible things, including to “innocent” children? Yes! Is he Cas’s child? Yes! Is he Dean’s child? Yes! But also, no! Is he Sam’s child? Yes! Is he a lonely teenager who does terrible things? Yes! Is he a totally innocent little lamb who doesn’t get why what he is doing is wrong? Yes! Is he the most powerful being in the universe? Yes! Does he need everyone to take care of him? Yes! Is he just along for the ride? Yes! Is he responsible for his actions? Kinda??? Sometimes??? What is he???

Mary as a character is narratively cohesive and fleshed-out. Jack is a mishmash of confusing whatever’s that all add up to a frustrating plot device with no consistent traits to latch on to. Everything that fans like about him (cute outfits, gender play, well-developed parental bonds with the characters) is fanon. So, yes, the narrative prioritizes Mary. Many fans prioritize Mary, at least enough that Dean’s most heinous acts barely register. To the narrative (not to Cas, which is a totally different situation), Jack is only barely more of a character than Emma Winchester, who Sam killed without uproar seasons earlier. He’s been around longer, but he’s equally not really real.

I debated on responding to this because, to tell the truth, I think we fundamentally disagree on a number of subjects and, as they say, true insanity is arguing with anyone on the internet. However, you spent a lot of time on the above and I feel it's only fair to say my thoughts, even if I don't believe it will sway you any more than what you said changed my opinions.

I'm assuming this was in response to this post regarding how Jack's accidental killing of Mary was treated so severely by the brothers, particularly Dean, because it was Mary and, had it been a random character like the security guard in 13x06, it would have been treated far differently. However, then the argument becomes less about the reaction of the Winchester brothers to this incident and more the value of Jack or Mary to the audience.

I believe we need to first admit that both characters are inherently archetypes—Mary as the Madonna character initially then, later, as a metaphor for how imperfect and truly human our parents are compared to the idol we have as children, and Jack as the overpowered child who is a Jesus allegory by the end. Both have a function within the story to serve the Winchester brothers, through whose lens and with whose biases we are meant to view the show's events. We also need to admit that the writers didn't think more than a season ahead for either character, especially since it wasn't initially supposed to be Mary that came back at the end of season 11 but John, and they only wrote enough for Jack in season 13 to gauge whether or not the audience would want him to continue on or if he needed to be killed off by the end of the season. Now, I know we curate our own experiences online which leads to us being in our own fandom echo chambers, however it is important to note that the character was immediately successful enough with the general audience that, after his first episode or two, he was basically guaranteed a longer future on the show.

I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure why the perspective of how his character is processed by some audience members versus others has any bearing on the argument that he deserved to be treated better overall by the other characters especially when taking their own previous actions in mind. I’m not going to tell you that your opinion is wrong regarding your feelings for Jack. It’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it, it harms no one to have it and express it. My feelings on Jack are clearly very different from your own, but this is really just two different people who processed a fictional person in different ways. I personally believe he has a purpose in the Winchesters’ story, including Castiel’s, as he reflects certain aspects of all of them, gives them a way to explore their own histories through a different perspective, and changes the overall dynamic of Team Free Will from “soldiers in arms” to a family (Misha’s words). In the beginning he allows Sam to work through his past as the “freak” and powerful, dangerous boy wonder destined to bring hell on earth. With Dean, his presence lets Dean work through his issues with John and asks whether he will let history repeat itself or if he’ll work to break the cycle. Regarding Cas, in my opinion he helps the angel reach his “final form” of a father, member of a family, lover and protector of humanity, rebellious son, and the true show of free will. 

From strictly the story, he has several arcs that work within themes explored in Supernatural, such as the argument of nature versus nurture, the question of what we’re willing to give up in order to protect something or someone else and how ends justify the means, and the struggle between feeling helpless and powerless versus the corruptive nature of having too much power and the dangerous lack of a moral compass. His goals are mentioned and on display throughout his stint on the show, ones that are truly relatable to some viewers: the strong desire to belong—the need for family and what you’ll do to find and keep it. 

With Mary, we first need to establish whether the two versions of her were a writing flaw due to the constant change in who was dictating her story and her relationship to the boys, which goes against the idea that her characterization was cohesive and fleshed-out but, rather, put together when needed for convenience, or if they both exist because, as stated above, we are seeing the show primarily through the biased lens of the Winchester brothers and come to face facts about the true Mary as they do. Like I said in my previous post, I don’t dislike Mary and I don’t blame her for her death (either one). However, I do have a hard time seeing her as a more nuanced, fleshed-out character than Jack. True, a lot of her problems are more adult in nature considering she has to struggle with losing her sons’ formative years and meeting them as whole adults she knows almost nothing about, all because of a choice she made before they were born. 

However, her personal struggles being more “mature” in nature (as they center primarily on parental battles) doesn’t necessarily mean her story has layers and Jack’s does not. They are entirely different but sometimes interconnected in a way that adds to both of their arcs, like Mary taking Jack on as an adoptive son which gives her the moments of parenting she lost with Sam and Dean, and Jack having Mary as a parental figure who understands and supports him gives him that sense of belonging he had just been struggling with to the point of running away while he is also given the chance to show “even monsters can do good”. 

I’d also argue that Jack being many ages at once isn’t poor writing so much as a metaphor for how, even if you’re forced to grow up fast, that doesn’t mean you’re a fully equipped adult. I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but I believe Jack simultaneously taking a lot of responsibility and constantly trying to prove to others he’s useful while having childish moments is relatable to some who were forced to play an adult role at a young age. He proves a number of times that he doesn’t need everyone to take care of him, but he also has limited life experience and, as such, will make some mistakes while he’s also being a valuable member of the group. Jack constantly exists on a fine line in multiple respects. Some may see that as a writing flaw but it is who the character was conceived to be: the balance between nature or nurture, between good and evil, between savior and devil. 

Now, I was also frustrated Mary was “fridged” for a second time. It really provided no other purpose than to give the brothers more man pain to further the plot along. However, this can exist while also acknowledging that the way it happened and the subsequent fallout for Jack was also unnecessary and a sign of blatant hypocrisy from Dean, primarily, and Sam. 

And, yes, Jack can be different things at once because, I mean, can’t we all? If Mary can be both the perfect mother and the flawed, independent, distant parent, can’t Jack be the sweet kid who helps his father-figures process their own feelings on fatherhood while also being a lost young-adult forcing them to face their failures? Both characters contain multitudes because, I mean, we all do. 

I can provide articles or posts on Jack’s characterization and popularity along with Mary’s if needed, but for now I think this is a long enough ramble on my thoughts and feelings. I’m happy to discuss more, my messenger is always open for (polite) discussion. Until then, I’m going to leave it at we maybe agree to disagree. 

[dancedance-resolution]

andi mack friendom, are you interested in some more thoughts about my andi mack / american girl crossover (which is actually just a thinly veiled info dump about american girl history and drama)? if so, you're in the right place!

the andi / buffy / cyrus doll set i designed would be a contemporary line.

CONTEXT (forewarning, this is basically just an ag info dump about the 2017 contemporary line) (also, tagging @kirstensleepey because i think this write up might be useful for the ag project you're working on <3):

so in 2017, american girl did a brand new thing. they released 3 dolls who were contemporary characters but not girls of the year. (prior to these dolls' release, which are called "the contemporary line" by the ag fandom, the only categories of ag dolls were historicals, girls of the year, and just like yous.)

the contemporary line was controversial for many reasons.

first, we have our main character, tenney grant. (tenney is basically taylor swift as a doll, if taylor were uncool and a r*publican lol.)

one of the reasons why tenney is so controversial is that she overshadowed the girl of the year (henceforth abbreviated as goty) 2017, gabriella mcbride.

tenney was released only one month after gabriella's release. ag's social media gave much more focus to tenney than gabriella. upon tenney's release, gabriella's store displays were downsized (which is unheard of for a goty). tenney even had a larger collection than gabriella!

why are we mad about tenney overshadowing gabriella? well, gabriella was ag's first (and as of 2021, ONLY) black goty. also, gabriella was ag's first doll to have an explicity confirmed disability - her stutter.

BRIEF INTERMESSION - SOME STATISTICS ABOUT DIVERSITY IN CHARACTER DOLLS:

only 7 out of the 22 total historical characters have been dolls of color. only 3 out of 22 historicals have been black (one of which is now retired). only 2 out of 22 have been aapi (one of these dolls, ivy, was just a best friend doll and is now retired; and the other doll, nanea, has a problematic face mold. i wrote an essay about why her facemold is problematic here!). only 1 historical doll, josefina, is hispanic, and ag has actually misspelled her name as "josephina" on their social media before.

only 1 doll EVER has been native american, kaya'aton'my, who is a historical character from 1764. (not even any of the just like you dolls have had kaya's face mold! kaya is truly the only indigenous doll!) in fact, ag has had more colonizer characters than indigenous characters. felicity and elizabeth are white character dolls from 1776, and their books fail to address the issues surrounding colonization and treatment of native americans. and kirsten is a swedeish immigrant to wisconsin in 1854. her book does acknowledge the existence of native americans, and kirsten has an indigenous friend named singing bird. (i haven't read kirsten's books and i'm not indigenous, so i can't comment on this storyline.) ag actually had a controversy about kirsten just this year - in 2021, the t-shirt design for kirsten said "settlers gonna settle", and ag actually ended up changing the design to "cabin sweet cabin" after backlash.

moving on to the girl of the year line - out of 21 goty dolls, gabriella is the ONLY black goty. only 6 out of 21 gotys have been dolls of color. there have been 2 hispanic characters (luciana, who is generally regarded as an excellent doll; and marisol, who is controversial because her book talks about how her family moved from pilsen chicago - a real area of chicago that is home to many hispanic immigrants - to a white suburb due to crime. this storyline involves racist stereotypes.) also, goty 2016 lea clark (slightly tan skin, blonde hair, light green eyes) is 1/8th brazilian, and some brazilian ag fans consider the emphasis on lea being 1/8th brazilian racial feticization. next, there have been 3 aapi gotys. one of these dolls, sonali, was one of two best friend dolls for chrissa (goty 2009) - yep, you heard that right, yet another doll of color that is a side character! sonali is the bully in chrissa's books, but she gets a redemption arc. to this day, sonali is ag's only south asian character doll. [additionally, there has been some criticism that all of the aapi gotys are mixed race - jess mcconell (goty 2006) has a japanese mother and an irish/scottish father, kanani akina (goty 2011) has a french/german mother and a japanese/hawaiian father, and sonali matthews has an indian mother and a father of unknown race/ethincity. perhaps notably, the only aapi historical doll who is not currently retired (nanea) is also mixed race (hawaiian mother and scottish father).]

as for the disability thing i mentioned - ag also has a disappointing track record regarding disability representation, lol. it was very lightly implied that mckenna (goty 2012) had a learning disability, but that was never confirmed. mckenna's tutor, who used a wheelchair, was ag's first big disability rep, but she was just a side character in mckenna's story. then, many ag fans were disappointed when mary ellen, a historical character released in 2015, was able-bodied (in canon, she had polio as a child, so it would make sense for mary ellen to be disabled and use mobility aids). finally, in 2020, goty joss gave us some disability rep - she has a hearing aid.

ag's lack of disability rep is very frustrating, especially considering that doll companies, like our generation, have made some really cool disabled dolls. and ag has been doing this ad campaign with the paralympics that feels performative to me - like, they want to seem inclusive by featuring dolls with prostetic legs, but they don't even sell dolls like that!!!

lastly, religious diversity - iirc, there are three jewish dolls (rebecca, goty 2001/2002 lindsey, and goty 2009 chrissa). the rest of the dolls are either christian or of unspecified religion. there has never been an explicitly muslim, hindu, or buddhist doll, or a doll who is a member of any religion other than judaism/christianity/unspecified. (there is some hope that we might get a muslim doll, though, since an outfit with a hijab was leaked, and ag trademarked a persian name that i can't recall off the top of the head at my moment. but take these with a grain of salt - ag trademarks a ton of stuff that they don't use, and the leak could be false or just a truly me outfit.)

END OF INTERMISSION - BACK TO THE TENNEY/GABRIELLA CONTROVERSY:

so, we get our first black goty, and she's being totally overshadowed by tenney.

here's where a conspiracy comes in:

we can track when ag trademarks their character names. goty names are usually trademarked early in the year prior to their release (by may). but gabriella mcbride wasn't trademarked until october, iirc.

and gabriella is a very underdeveloped character in comparison to most gotys. one of her main hobbies - dancing - was the same main hobby as both marisol (goty 2005) and isabelle (goty 2014). her store displays were underemphasized in comparison to tenney's, as i mentioned before. she was the first goty who didn't get a movie in six years (since kanani, goty 2011). and gabriella didn't even have a big ticket accessory item available until summer!

so, we get our first black goty, and she's underdeveloped, underemphasized, seems to have been rushed (due to her trademark date), and overshadowed by tenney just one month after her release. why is that?

well, some people think that tenney was actually supposed to be goty 2017! (i agree)

tenney was trademarked earlier, had more development, had a bigger collection, etc. we think that tenney was supposed to be goty 2017, but ag decided to do a doll of color (gabriella) at the last minute. (keep in mind the climate of 2015/2016 - ag probably wanted some clout for doing a black goty, and they also probably heard the ag fandom's demands for more dolls of color.)

so that's tenney.

next we have logan everett. logan was ag's first boy character doll. i'm glad that ag had a boy character doll, but logan kinda missed the mark for me. the main source of controversy surrounding logan is his face mold: he, a white boy, uses the kaya face mold. !! it kinda felt like a slap in the face to many indigenous ag fans - kaya is literally The Only Doll with the kaya face mold, and when we finally get another doll with her face mold, he's not even indigenous.

lastly, we have z yang my beloved <3. z yang was done dirty - she is yet another doll of color who is a mere side character, and also, she was available for only a total of 20 months before being retired!

so, that's everything i have to say about the 2017 contemporary line.

now i'm going to talk about the 2021 contemporary line :3

so, it's summer 2020. the black lives matter is becoming more mainstream. brands are now getting clout for appearing "woke."

so, admist this climate, ag is (as always) facing demands from its fandom/collectors to diversify its doll line. so they announce that they're going to be doing a new contemporary line, to be released in "the second half of 2021"!!!! and they promise that the contemporary line will have a black lead character

fast forward to modern day. thanks to ag's trademarks, we can safely assume that the new contemporary line will be called "world by us." we can safely assume that the line will have 3 characters. the 3 characters all live in washington dc and are best friends :) we can safely assume that the characters will be maritza ochoa, evette peeters, and makena williams. i talked about makena and maritza on that ask regrettable-username sent me about my andi mack/ag headcanons! personally, i'm excited for world by us, and i think it has a lot of potential!

alright sawyer, that's the end of the ag info dump fhjhdhfskf.

now for my andi mack friends:

i think the andi/buffy/cyrus line would be structured similar to world by us: andi is the main character, and buffy and cyrus are her best friend dolls :) all 3 dolls would be released at the same time. andi would have 3 books that have buffy and cyrus as side characters, and buffy and cyrus would have one book each.

the big ticket item for this collection would be andi's andi shack. i'm imagining its design sort of like kira's tent mixed with lanie's camper mixed with blaire's farm. andi the walls of andi shack would open up so that when it's fully opened, the four walls are on an even plane with the back wall and extended out like wings. you remove the roof before opening up the walls. the shack is tall enough that the doll can comfortably stand up even with the roof still attached, and wide enough that all three dolls (andi, buffy, and cyrus) can comfortably stand next to each other inside of andi shack.

andi shack would come with a ton of craft supplies inside of it. it would also come with a little flower box that has cece's african violets, like blaire's flower box. (thanks to regrettable-username for coming up with the african violets idea fdjfsj.)

alright i have to go now, so these are all my andi mack/ag thoughts for now, but i might be back later with more thoughts fhdfjs (hopefully not though, since typing this out took me over three hours [sweating emoji]).

sorry for any typos and sorry for how scatterbrained this is! also this may have some forgotten things/mildly incorrect things bc my only source is my brain (and a photo of all the dolls so i can count how many dolls for the statistics portion) and my brain is not the most reliable thing on earth lol.