#i do have a specific ship fan in mind but i don't want to call anyone out

[tritoch]

it took me until the pelupelu quests to really get what dawntrail is trying to go for with the moblins of earthenshire.

the first time through MSQ, the feat of pots stuff really didn't land for me. a lot of emphasis is placed on the relationship between the helphands and the potsworn in a way that ends up being pretty straightforwardly and kind of boringly about the importance of artisans, craftsmen, and other skilled laborers to civil society. after the collapse of the yok huy empire, earthenshire used to abduct potsworn under exploitative terms, gulool ja ja shows up and says "not only will hiring and caring for living workers keep people from wanting to kill you, it will also lead to the production of finer arts and crafts," the moblins agree, there is much rejoicing. in the present day, wuk lamat favors gulool ja ja's "let's all benefit from peaceful urbanization and governance" approach while bakool ja ja reverts to direct violence. it's not a bad bit of story, i guess, but it's also not much, and it's soon overshadowed by wuk lamat's abduction.

but the pelupelu society quests highlight it in a different light. it emphasizes not just the potsworn, but the fact that the moblins are facing the question of how to handle a bounty of natural resources.

the moblins of earthenshire were previously oppressed and exploited by the yok huy specifically for the natural riches of southern kozama'uka. what kinds of natural riches? well, gulool ja ja specifically calls out "the quality of the materials used" in earthenshire's goldwork, so we can guess probably gold.

another big answer is staring us right in the face, in the form of earthenshire's architecture: high-quality clay (and feldspar) for ceramics, and probably a characteristic glaze known to earthenshire's artisans. the blue-green color and "cracked" quality of the finish makes me think FFXIV's writers and designers had celadon in mind, even if the final hue is heavier on the blue and lighter on the green than the color celadon is usually associated with in english.

we are told some of earthenshire's traditional industries: underground mining, fishing, alluvial (stream-bed) mining. under the yok huy empire, moblin society was focused entirely on resource extraction. the tour guide says that without the yok huy, the moblins were bereft of both "providers and protectors," suggesting that under the yok huy the moblins were neither producing their own goods nor exercising many traditional powers of government. in many ways, they still don't!

what gulool ja ja proposed, and the moblins have enacted, is now almost an inversion of traditional metropolitan-hinterland relations. under the usual paradigm, the hinterland, resource-rich but unable to resist the interference of foreign powers, is exploited by the metropole, both in terms of its natural resources (which are extracted and shipped back to the metropole for use in the production of goods, as luxuries, etc.) and its people (who are oppressed and forced to labor in extractive industries for the benefit of the metropole). and of course as is usual in colonial relations you expect the metropole to impose itself culturally on the territories it controls. that kind of exploitative relationship between foreign powers and indigenous labor & resources is exactly what some people feared in the run-up to dawntrail (if you weren't paying attention at the time, some of the initial imagery out of shaaloani made some fans leery at the possibility that FFXIV was about to do an "old west" plotline about ceruleum extraction by eorzean powers in turali lands).

by contrast, the moblins of earthenshire control their own natural resources, and the relationship is that they take skilled labor from the metropole (tuliyollal), assimilate those artisans culturally and economically into their society, mediate their access to the natural bounty of kozama'uka, and sell their wares back to the metropole as products of earthenshire. it's all a bit hand-waved in the classic fashion of ffxiv (where are all the moblin miners?), but it's clear enough what's intended. even with the yok huy gone, the moblins have largely maintained their previous way of life, but in a way that centers and celebrates their culture and allows them both civic control and a sort of intellectual property control over the products that result ultimately from their extractive labor. it inverts the traditional "resource curse" narrative in which small, resource-rich countries are "naturally" inclined to be colonized and exploited.

it also pushes back a bit on ffxiv's usual paradigm around resource extraction and arts production. disciple of the hand quests, outside of their specific storylines, often broadly celebrate the ingenuity and labor of the individual artisan. disciple of the land quests, on the other hand, are often about the relationships between labor and the land (with an emphasis on natural stewardship and learning respectfully from local cultures about their local lands) or the importance of extractive labor to broader society.

on the subject of art, what earthenshire does is uniquely honor the role that extractive and reproductive labor play in the creative and artistic process. though the craftsmanship is certainly exceedingly fine, that's not what is truly unique about moblin society or earthenshire's wares. ffxiv is well aware that art cannot exist unless we compensate artists properly (and the existence of the cracked cistern works to complicate our picture of earthenshire along these lines). but what earthenshire truly celebrates is all the labor that goes into the creation of the art that often goes unremarked: the labor of the miner and the porter, of the cook and the launderer. that is the labor which makes each and every good made there not just a product of the individual artisan, but a product of earthenshire.

[lovelypham]

ENHYPEN HYUNG LINE

prompt: how they react when you get jealous/insecure of them getting shipped with one of your group members by fans pairing:enha!hyung line X idol!fem!reader genre:fluff warnings: insecurities,self doubt,kissing,tad bit suggestive at hoon's part

hesseung (희승)

your relationship with Heeseung was one that was private, and that was due to crazy fans and the backlash you were more than sure you'd get if you ever decided to announce it

but as you kept scrolling through the comments under the video of your fellow member Karina,and your boyfriend doing the dance challenges for both of the groups comebacks you wished you could be able to risk it all and go public,but deep down you knew you'll only harm yourself and your image as well as heeseung's but both you and the fans couldn't help but notice how fit they were for eachother, how in sync they were, and how their visuals seemed flawless, perfect even

continue under the cut

you opened the comments once again

"they look so close to eachother, I bet they're dating"

"the way heeseung looks at karina in the bts video! omg i shipp🤭💓"

" karina is so classy,no wonder her and heeseung are dating they're so perfect for each other💓!!"

you knew that you shouldn't let these comments get to your head, but you couldn't help but feel insecure about your appearance, your dance, hell even the way you act!

you always knew that people preferred karina over you but it hurt so bad when your own managers who knew about your relationship decided to put the two people who have been getting shipped nonstop to do a dance challenge together, knowing extremely well that they'd spark dating rumors.

as if he read your mind, heeseung sent you a message saying

"hey baby, are you doing okay?"

even though it was a regular question he always asked it felt weirdly specific especially since you had texted him not too long ago.

you saw his icon pop up on your screen indicating an upcoming video call from him, you quickly wiped your almost dry tears and accepted the call

you saw heeseung's gorgeous face, and his sweet like honey smile appear on the little black rectangle that is your screen.

"hey heeseung" you began the conversation, he immediately knew something was up you never call him his full name unless something is making you upset

"hi baby,how are you doing" he trailed off,"I have seen better days" you mumbled "oh princess, is something bothering you? you know you can talk to me about anything right?" he suggested "yes hee I know I just don't want you to think that it's stupid" you hesitated " princess you know that's not true, I will never find anything you say stupid, now if you're comfortable then tell me what happened" he responded " I feel jealous" you whispered " m'sorry baby what did you say I didn't quite hear you" he softly replied

" I said I'm jealous"you replied with a slightly louder voice " jealous, of what baby, if you don't tell me I wouldn't know"he said,you let out a sigh before continuing

"I saw the video you did with karina and you guys look so perfect together, all the comments were shipping you with her, and I didn't want to tell you because I didn't wanna come off as insecure"you said with a slight shakiness in your voice, heeseung let out a sigh before softly replying "baby, I don't care how perfect fans think we look together, and how much they ship us, I see no one but you, I love you so much and I hope you know that, now do me a favor and stop looking at these comments I don't want you to worry your pretty little head, okay princess?" you squeaked back " I love you too heeseungie" with a slight smile on your face

jay (제이)

you loved it when jay and your members got along, it made you feel so happy seeing some of the most important people in your life interact freely with eachother without the cameras that seemed to follow you everywhere, engenes and fearnots knew about your relationship with jay and they had supported it since the very beginning always calling you the " it couple" or the " power couple"

but you didn't know how the sudden shipping of locals to yunjin and Jay happened, it made you feel weird knowing that non kpop fans had noticed the relation between your dear member and your bf, you weren't sure if it was the insecurities speaking but you noticed how similar they were , they had similar style, they listened to alot of mutual artists but you figured that was you impacting their taste in music

and lastly they both were mature and responsible.So when Jay came to your dorm with ni-ki and jake ,you took him into your room to talk to him, he looked confused 'cause you seemed fine speaking to him on the phone not too long ago. you both sat on your bed and he quickly took your hands in his once he saw you fiddling with them, a habit he noticed you did when you were nervous

the first thing you asked was "jay do you love me?" Jay furrowed his eyebrows and replied to you"of course baby I love you, why are you asking that?" you hesitated "uhmm I was just wondering you know?"you chuckled nervously you saw Jay put his serious face on and let out " are you sure princess, you never ask me that,tell me what's wrong" " nothing jay I told you" you said while slightly raising your voice as you took your hands out of his hold

" baby listen i know for sure it's not nothing okay? I want to be able to talk to you freely without making you feel uncomfortable so tell me what happened" you let out a sigh before looking up at him from your fiddling hands and told him "don't you think yunjin is a better fit for you? she's mature and older than me she takes responsibility of her actions meanwhile I'm just childish and everyone sees me as a baby no one ever takes me seriously and I'm never responsible"

jay softened his gaze and took your face in his hands "princess you know you're the perfect fit for me right? I feel in love with you since I first saw you at the HYBE carters games, I love you and I will never let you go okay, I don't care how childish people think you are but you'll always be my baby" he leaned closer and gave you a sweet and meaningful peck on your lips and he whispered to you" I love you" you put all your worries aside and replied" I love you more baby"

jake (제이크)

you were sitting in the makeup chair in your group's changing room when you overheard some of the staff gushing about how perfect Jake,and Belle , your member,were for eachother, pointing out there soft features that resembled those of an angel, you sighed loudly at their words that stung like a thorn in your heart, you knew that it was nearly impossible for you and Jake to reveal your relationship, but why where you so ready to risk it all and show the word that Jake was your man, the boy that you kiss and cuddle, well secretly of course

you knew your career would be on the edge if anyone were to find out, I mean you were newly debuted and Jake had a wide fanbase, but you couldn't help but feel helpless as you walked towards the inkigayo bathrooms looking for a distraction from the conversation you just heard,

you bumped into someone and who was it other than Jake himself ,he looked so handsome with his current outfit and you couldn't help but notice his puppy face light up when he saw you "baby, I was coming to get you" he said after double checking for any cameras or staffs "ahh really I thought you were still in your room niki told me earlier" you replied with a less excited tone "baby are you okay?, you look down" Jae trailed off "I'm fine just tired from the comeback" you gave him a small smile "aww baby don't worry it's our last day I'll treat you to dinner after this okay princess?" he said while holding your hands

"ok baby, uhmm I have to go now bye" you quickly removed your hands when you caught a glimpse of your group manager "okay bab-" he quieted down when you disappeared, Jake looked and felt confused you always tell him I love you when you say bye so why didn't you say it, "maybe it was because her manager came" jaeyun thought to himself

you had just finished your stage and enhypen were finished before you, you headed towards your changing room when you saw the same staff but this time they looked guilty, almost sulky? you were confused until you saw Belle coming your way and telling you that she came in to see the same two staff fan girling over her and Jake and she had told them that it was inappropriate to speak about such things during working hours especially infront of the idols themselves

she then hugged you and discreetly whispered in your ear "I already talked with jake about the matter and he told me you seemed off so now change your clothes, and go meet him in the parking lot okay?" she said and patted you on the back

you quickly ran towards the parking lot after you changed into your casual clothes, you spotted Jake waiting for you beside the company car while aimlessly scrolling on his phone

while panting you said to him "Jake, baby I'm really sorry I did that to yo-" he quickly shut you up by connecting your lips together and caressing your waist with one hand and holding your chin upwards with another he tilted your head to deepen the kiss and then pulled away with his forehead on yours "I love you so much baby" I love you too Jaeyun" you replied, breathless.

sunghoon (성훈)

you and everyone knew how perfect sunghoon and wonyoung were for eachother from their icy visuals to their classy vibe, but wonyoung was your member whom you loved so much and you never even once were jealous of their relationship knowing fairly well it was fan service and nothing more

but why did it feel bittersweet to see your bf and wonnie receiving best couple award at KBS when you stood at the side staring at them with a fake smile on your face, you let your insecurities take over you and that little voice in your head was telling you that wonyoung was better, she was prettier, more elegant, she was cute, she was funny, she always captivated people with her visuals,and that she was better than you at everything!

you couldn't handle the stares filled with pity from your members, leeseo came to your side and hugged you while you were going backstage and patted your shoulder, you then felt two very familiar muscular arms holding your waist and preventing you from going any further, you sighed and turned around to see sunghoon with his pretty little mole and pale skin he grabbed you towards a more secluded area and neared you towards him

he reached down to you level and kissed your lips, you took a moment to kiss him back but you eventually did so ,he then pulled away "baby ik you might be jealous of what just happened but I promise you your my one and only, I'll choose you again and again in every universe, you're so pretty, my girl" he said while pecking your lips again you couldn't help the smile that crept up on your face you slapped his muscular chest jokingly " I was supposed to be mad at you"you said while pouting at him

he chuckled teasingly and kissed you again but this time it was more heated, he took your face in his hands and brought his closer, you moaned at the feeling and you felt his tongue on yours,you both were fighting for dominance until you heard a gasp followed by a familiar voice that belonged to wonyoung saying "aigoo what did I do to see this ,whatever, _____ when you're done eating your boyfriend's face please come here we need to head back to our dorm" you looked up at sunghoon and said" I love you hoonie byee! "

" I love you too princess, make sure to call me when you arrive okay?" " yes hoonie mwah" you said while blowing a kiss he shook his head with a stupid smile on his face " aish this girl"

(a/n: haven't posted a fic in ages sorry,the jake and sunghoon parts are heavily inspired by didi aka @/enmi-land I miss didi :(( )

[awinterrosesstuff]

Kinda funny that people claim Kishimoto can't write romance... And then, when he has the occasion to write/draw about Minato, he does a whole love story. Both Minato and Kushina are the protagonists of that story. And honestly, it's quite good.

I've seen SS and NH fans desperatly trying to compare their ship to Minakushi, trying to find parallels between Kushina & Sakura and Kushina & Hinata, between Minato and Sasuke, and Minato & Hinata... and so on ! I understand the need to do it. What those ships lack, Minakushi has. But the truth is... I don't think Kishimoto bothered to develop those ships. Gaiden doesn't show SS in good light. The Last isn't his original idea/work and it's not good anyway.

So now Minakushi, I'm going to state the obvious. But it shows they both have mutual feelings for one another. It's not one sided. Kushina expressed the want to be alone with Minato, and Minato created a very powerful jutsu to protect Kushina.

So what we learn there :

- They train together for some times now. They have an appointment and Kushina teaches Minato's sealings techniques. From the Naruto's manga, we know it's one of his specialities. They like to see one another and Kushina is very exciting to see him.

- Minato wants to perfect his new jutsu so badly that he even cancelled their appointment. He takes the time to come and tells her about it. So he also likes to spend time with her. It's important to him. But what it's even more important to him is to protect her. He's creating his signature move and most powerful technique especially for her.

And look at that :

Yeah ! A love confession. And it doesn't get ignored. Kushina is touched by his words and starts crying. I can't add more than ten pictures. But just right after, Kushina remembers Mito, starts fighting back and remembers (again) Mito's words. The whole thing is a bit long, but I added the panel that matters the most in my opinion.

It's plain and simple. Kushina loves Minato. When he's fighting Kurama to protect her, she specifically remembers Mito's words about finding love. Plus, Minato is able to enter Kushina's mind. It's actually not a easy thing. And it was very special to Naruto & Sasuke's bond, the most important bond from the Naruto's manga. Minakushi is paralleling Sasunaru if anything...

They're connected on a deep level. Their feelings are mutual. And they are each other's strength.

There are more actually, because that's a real love story. So here we go :

Minato being moved by Kushina hugging him.

Kushina naming Minato's new technique and Minato agreeing with it (his original idea was terrible, Jiraiya already told him, but it's Kushina who he listens to).

And that's cute "parallel" (if we can call it like that).

So let's me list everything we get from the spin off :

- Minato and Kushina spend time together and like to see one another.

- Kushina teaches Minato's sealings techniques

- They both express their feelings for one another in different ways

- Minato created his signature move to protect Kushina

- The love confession doesn't get ignored and goes directly to Kushina's heart

- Minato can enter Kushina's mind

- Minato's fighting for her brings her strength and inspires her to fight against Kurama

- Minato is actually allowed by the narrative to witness and understand Kushina's struggles as a jinchuriki

- There are some symbols that make the ship work : the butterfly at the beginning and the end, the spiral, Minato's face next to the other's kages faces (it was already stated, in the Naruto's manga, that Kushina was his strength and his support in his path to become Hokage).

+

- Kushina goes to see Minato despite orders from the hokage, starts watching him, but doesn't stay hidden and talks to him with no problem at all when he notices her (yeah Hinata I'm looking at you)

- It stated why Minato likes Kushina.

- Kurama is very much aware of Kushina's feelings for Minato. When Minato starts telling her why he's creating his jutsu and touches Kushina's heart, Kurama tries to manipulate her.

- Minato is successful in saving Kushina (that's important, believe me).

Please just read the Minato's spin off. The whole thing is very cute.

[omgfangirlland]

Part 3 of fanfic writer/fan art drawer reader.. What do you think is the reaction of other villains to the fanfics? I feel like since reader already wrote fanfics of the batfams.. She'd include the people that knows them.. Like Superman x Lex Luther or Batman x Superman x Lex Luther.. Basically, stuff like that..

I want to know the reaction of the villains and their opinion of reader. (We already know that joker likes reader)

-🔱

I hear your Lex x Superman, and I raise you, Omega!Batman x Alpha!Penguin (I'm already laughing, can't see the screen from the tears btw.)

We're talking about this part one and this part two it's just crack. Pure fun.

Ok- first, Lexy- I think he's the type of person that by 10 pm he's dead to the world, not counting events and the few times he wakes up and needs to complete his weekly scheming, so, at 3 am on the clock, he wakes up sweating full of dread as he remembers that ONE time a student of some university he spoke at asked about him being in love with Superman.

The reason he gave? A specific fic written by one jokergagglingbatsballs35, where they go into detail on how his obsessive tendency of fighting Superman is clearly just the same yearning that Joker has for Batman. If he wasn't busy with the constant PR problems and his plans against Superman, he would have found you before the Joker. In the end, he doesn't, but the event still haunts him.

On the other hand, Superman is just digging their holes tbh. "Oh, we used to be friends, actually." and "I wish we still were," and xyz is just making the people who read the fanfics think that jokergagglingbatsballs35 is a 40 years old psychologist who sees right through everyone and just found a way to call it what it is without being sued.

Harley, if asked, she'll lie to your face, but she is the biggest Batman x Joker shipper as a guilty pleasure (she wants to see Joker being thrown around like a ragdoll) but her favorites are the Catwoman x Ivy x Harley fics batsis writes.

Selina and Pamela don't really care, but Selina has read one fanfiction regarding Batsy x Joker you wrote and had to put her phone down because from 8 pm it turned into 9 am and she had to reconsider her life choices.

You'd never write the sirens x Batman because you respect the girlies too much and don't think your father is capable of a stable relationship with one of them, let alone a polycule. BUT you do write Bruce Wayne x Two-Face.

Harvey doesn't care, he's heard his men whisper about it, but he brushes it off as something bored teens do to stir drama(which, he is right about).

Now, you've written exactly one Penguin x Batman, Omegaverse, Angst No Comfort, Major Character Death, and after you finished it, you had to take a week break for your mental health.

Cobblepot knows. He's read it out of morbid curiosity and has learned terms he wishes he hadn't. He's impressed and terrified and has buried the knowledge deep in the back of his mind. Now, every time Joker is mentioned, he shivers or twitches.

There's no way Waylon or Bundy know what is going on the internet, or what the internet is, respectively, and you honestly ship them with therapy.

...

John Constantine follows you on every social media and leaves likes on every x John Constantine you write, almost shed a tear on the King Shark x him, enemies to lovers to enemies you wrote. He also reads the Batman x Joker ones when Bruce annoys him.

Slade only knows about you because one of your edits ended up on the news, and he almost choked on the Chinese takeout he was eating. He doesn't care that much, but if those edits of him being the badass turn into a fail compilation of him tripping over his feet while walking, he'll have a bone to pick.

Jason has a mental breakdown when Red Hood starts being tagged into your Red Hood x Joker fic, and stupidly tries to go to you for comfort, only to be told to grow up.

If a Robin/Nightwing x Slade fic got popular, not yours specifically, any in general, Dick is puting Jason's breakdown to shame- he will cry and then try to go out for a "talk" after he finds who wrote it.

Speaking of- I mentioned how Cassandra already knows, the second to know is Duke. He's in denial. Steph knows because Cass was sloppy one day after you were "kidnapped" by Joker and it slipped her tongue. It was all the blonde needed to jump from the "yeah, that's fucked up" boat into the "this the best shit ever" boat.

Damian, Barbara, and Alfred are "too old"™️for such childish things. Alfred knows. He knew as soon as he found you furiously typing away on your laptop, and all you could say was "Omegaverse penguin x batman".

Dick, Jason, and Bruce find out at the same time, but by that time you're already in metropolis and planning to change your name and buy a little house in the country side somewhere.

I, however, feel batsis has bad luck, and someone would notice her and question it- maybe a Super being like "heyyy... You look oddly familiar. Have I seen you anywhere?" And batsis is just smiling and sweating bullets as she tries to keep her heart in check, knowing damn well they've met at a gala or in the batcave. "Nope."

[yamujiburo]

Some of this might sound intentionally hostile in text and I apologize.

I'm saying this as an abuse survivor mind you - don't throw "abusive ships" under the bus so easily - at least, so long as they're not actually glamorizing the abuse. I lived that irl and I personally find someone overcoming it, slowly having enough of that bullshit and getting out over time, and the other person having to wipe their own butt for once after they've made the damn mess, very refreshing. Maybe that's not a ship in the traditional sense. It's no happily ever after bc it shouldn't be, but I find stories like mine shyed away from so often because even the portrayal gets considered a "canon ship". ... that's just how media works now, I guess? I very rarely See a fictional relationship not called a ship in literally any context now so that's the definition I'm running on.

I wish more people were willing to portray the hardships of finding acceptance outside of "whoever you can find will accept you" very much, and finding the better things after. I wish people weren't terrified out of portrayimg situations like mine.

Jessie.. is not a good person in canon. You expect me to believe she moved into to hanamusa seamlessly, without falling on her ass? I never see you talk about Jessie's abusive tendencies in canon. You never talk about the inherent meanness she needed to get over to get there. She's quite aml lot like my ex in canon, actually.

What do you mean you're going to just remove from the character that she is abusive to those around her. Jessie hits people. She takes her own junk out on others all the time. Do you even like the character then, are you actually invested in her growing, or are you just making an OC at this point?

Idk. Do you, boo. But you are posting about a character who, whether you like it or not, is canonically abusive. I just don't buy that dating Ash's mom alone fixed her. That isn't... How that works. It would be excellent if it did. Part of my love of hanamusa is that it signals Jessie's change - but she could have changed for anyone before now.

What makes Delia different? How is she specifically a turning point for Jessie? Because Jessie's flaws go well beyond just bossing people around.

I would love if my abuser had the same outcome as your Jessie. I adore your portayals of hanamusa, where she's still flawed but still strives to do better. That's all I ever wanted from my ex.

What the fuck got her there tho.

Anyways I've been watching a lot of Bojack Horseman lately -

I agree with you! I don't think abusive relationships (or any tough subject matter in general) should be shied away from in media. It can be powerful when executed well and written by folks who are equipped to tell those kinds of stories. I do think it's sad when people treat it as off limits. But the ask I got was definitely more about which ships I have where I actually like the relationship between the characters. I think the semantics of the word "ship" are kind of vague or rather, over time, got so specific to only mean "absolutely love together and want them as endgame" (for most people anyways). So that's usually what I take the word to mean when people ask me about it.

I can 100% appreciate how an abusive relationship is written and handled, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna ship an abuser with their victim (that falls into the glorifying you're talking about). Love Bojack Horseman! Big fan! I think the way they handled Bojack and Sarah Lynn was beautifully and tragically well written. But does that mean I ship Bojack and Sarah Lynn? Absolutely fucking not.

I've talked about Jessie's character plenty on this blog and the way she's handled in earlier seasons specifically. This is kind of a summary: If we look at it on surface level, yes we can say she was abusive. But I think it's important to acknowledge and take into account the medium, time period and culture. Slapstick and cartoon violence was HUGE in anime and animation in the 90s (and prior to that too). Characters were always cartoonishly slapping each other around with giant mallets, folding fans, etc. Looney Tunes style. These slapstick bits were always distinct from real abuse and hurt (for Pokémon, Jessiebelle comes to mind). Mean slapstick wasn't a character trait exclusive to Jessie either. We saw it in Misty, James, Meowth, characters of the day and pretty much any character who got mad. It was a visual shortcut to show anger.

This type of slapstick has since (thankfully) died out and it hasn't really been a part of the Pokémon franchise since the early 2000s. However, Jessie was a notably special case. One of my favorite fun facts about the Pokémon anime is that there was a point in the series where Megumi Hayashibara (Jessie/Musashi's seiyuu) told the writers that moving forward, she no longer wanted Jessie to be violent or to be shown hitting James or Meowth (source: her memoir "The Characters Taught Me Everything"). She thought it directly went against the vision Takeshi Shudo had for Jessie, James and Meowth, when he created them, which was that they are good natured villains. If you watch from DP and on, Jessie never lays a hand on either of them. I think it was a such a good move on Pokémon's part to change her character like that and I'm forever grateful that Hayashibara said something! Whenever I write Jessie now, I always keep that in mind. She's mean, shouty and stupid but would never genuinely hurt those she cares about.

From then, her character becomes much more bearable. She's still bossy, mean and vain (typical cartoon villainess attributes) but I'd hesitate to say abusive. She'll still yell at James and Meowth, they all yell at each other, but in more of a sibling way (imo) rather than a "i'm actively trying to hurt your feelings way". The show makes a point especially in later seasons to show that Jessie, James and Meowth are not beyond being redeemed. From conception the whole POINT of the Team Rocket trio was that they are redeemable but their persistence and obsession keeps getting in the way of them seeing that there's a better life for them out there.

I won't deny that Jessie was unsavory in earlier seasons, but when I write her, I choose to write the version that Takeshi Shudo and Megumi Hayashibara had envisioned from the get go. She's still incredibly flawed and makes plenty missteps but wants to be better as you stated! My favorite part about Jessie is that she's a piece of shit LOL and I enjoy writing the changes she goes through to be better (but then still showing her default so some of her evil tendencies). In this AU, Delia doesn't fix Jessie. Jessie fixes Jessie because she is with someone makes her want to be a better person. She's already in the middle of turning over a new leaf before even meeting Delia, after leaving Team Rocket. Writing Jessie as legitimately abusive I think could work, but that's not my story to tell and if someone who were more equipped to tell that story did, I'd be very interested to take a listen!

I hope this doesn't come off as trying to deny or invalidate your experience. If you see that in Jessie, I hear you! This is just how I've interpreted her character over the years, having watched every episode of Pokémon and reading Japanese interviews from the cast and crew. She's such a compelling character and I love how messy she is

[sunrisecaminus]

Can you do an Airachnid x (human) fem! reader (this silly little human is enamored by this giant spider alien robot that could potentially kill her)

Message - This is adorable, but so funny! I enjoyed making this one and that is saying something, because I thought I didn't like this spider lady. Probably because of what happened to Arcee, but I guess I can just ignore the red flags. I might be a small fan of the spider lady now :3

Airachnid x Arachnologist Reader SFW

Summary - Airachnid finally feels something, but she never expected it to be for a creature like this human they kidnapped.

Warnings - Spiders?

Being kidnapped was not great, but boy did it give you some fascinating things to look at. Being known as a boring insect scientist in the City of Jasper, not much goes on except you going around and writing in your journal on what spiders you come across. One of the more common spiders you studies in Nevada was the wolf spider, as it was everywhere around the desert. You found one of the more rare spiders that live in Jasper, a Western Desert Tarantula to be exact, when you found the Decepticon fighting. All your friends tell you not to go too far in the middle of no where, but you couldn't help it when the cool spiders don't want to be near humans!

It wasn't too fun on the alien ship, though sometimes insects get inside and they need your help to catch them. Knockout hates spiders to his very core and doesn't want them near his tools so when he can find one, he calls you. Soundwave understands your fascinations and helped you meet Airachnid when she was talking to Megatron. That was when the ship got interesting. Megatron has never seen a human get so interested in one of his soldiers so much that he had to force her on long missions so you wouldn't ask her fifty questions about her culture. Airachnid was being cocky at first about it, she knows how hot she was and thinks you are looking at her because how sexy she was. She figures out that you were mostly just interested in her beast form and what she likes to eat and that made her very confused yet intrigued by your presence. You have explained to her how you studied spiders back on earth and how cool it was to see an alien look and act just like the ones they use to study. Airachnid lets you sketch her sometimes when she is bored and has grown a bit attached to you as a friend from all the things you both do together.

You were recently emailed about a new spider species that came out and so you were very busy writing in your journal, going on skype calls with other scientists to help theorize with each other while watching the very few videos you have with the small arachnid. You close your computer and continue to work on your journal, when you feel a giant claw snatch you up from behind. "Oh!" You yelp from the sudden touch and look to see Airachnid holding you in front of her face. "Hi Airachnid! You doing ok?" The smile you gave her while relaxing in her grip made her a bit annoyed. She has been trying to scare you for a week now and hasn't stopped. She knew you were only scared because you thought it was Starscream. "Y/n I don't like your tone. At least try to act scared." She huffs and puts you down back where you were. "My bad, hold on." You clear your throat and start to scream, but Airachnid glared at you and put a finger against your lips to shut up. "Never mind!" Both of you giggle from the little fun interaction as the ship lands for maintenance. "Alright, I need to go for a few days, I will see you when I get back." Airachnid steps away, but than feels your tiny body cling onto her foot. "Wait! What if I came with you? I can set up a tent near your ship and be able to go on my own adventures again!" She thinks about it, this would be risky if she said yes. First of all, Megatron specifically wants to keep you here so you wouldn't run off. Second, there would be Autobots and Decepticons walking around, who knows who could find you and try to take you away from her. She has taken you as a cute pet, and no one would want to know what would happen if they accidentally took one of her favorite little toys. "Mmmmmmm alright fine, but if you hear anybody around, you go hide on the ship or somewhere tight ok?"

…

It has been 48 hours since you guys landed in a good area to scout and relax. You have been doing nothing but sketch and follow Airachnid around like a good human. She watches you catch and release so many spiders that she gets curious on what kind of spider she would be seen as. Would she just be seen to humans as an alien spider or would they put her down to being a specific spider? Humans were very interesting to her, but she never wanted to tell you something that has been bugging her. Sense day one, she planned on killing you and displaying your head as a trophy like she does with the rest of the other species. She tries to make excuses with herself on why she hasn't killed you yet, but the excuses were dumb. She tells herself "Megatron would kill me", but Airachnid has killed people before when Megatron tells her not to, she doesn't care about his word. How about the excuse "Humans aren't really an extinct species, it would be a waste to kill them.". but that one was dumb as well when she tried to kill Jack that one time. Everything was crumbling down around her in her head, she hated caring about you. Yes, Airachnid always will think Cybertronians are a superior species; Nothing will change her arrogant views on seeing humans as a pet species…but she did still look at you like you were like the rest of the humans. When she tries to ask herself why, her processor just goes blank. It has been eating inside her for so long, though she would never end the suffering by killing you.

When she comes back to camp, Airachnid sees you with a jar. You were sketching a red crab spider and was taking down notes on what it was doing before you caught it. You had your bug hat one that protected you from flies getting in your face while also wearing a nice summer j/c (jacket color) jacket on. You always wore that jacket, but she never knew why it was so important to you. Airachnid looked closure at it, as the jacket looked a bit different and could see tiny white stitching all over it. She realizes you made the jacket have cool spiderweb patterns all over it, having the back of the jacket have a Decepticon symbol made of said webbing patterns. She wondered sometimes why you would stay up for hours at night on the ship. "You part of the Decepticons now?" Her voice made you turn toward her and look at your jacket. "Uh well, Megatron kept saying to either die or be useful, so I put the symbol on me to show him I joined. I gave papers to Shockwave and he was going to call me about whether I can join the science team or not. I can't fight like you guys can, so I might as well be useful in other areas." She knew this was one of Megatron's tactics for a lot of his soldiers. He has killed so many people who rather have died than join so anybody who cared for their lives just was forced to work under his ruling. Airachnid felt a bit guilty, but shook it off before it showed. "Well the design looks cool on you."

After a while of her writing a report about her findings, Airachnid finally had an opportunity to ask. She leaned down to your small body and watched you sketch for a while before she spoke. "What spider am I to humans?" You looked away from your drawing again to look at her in the eyes. "Well most would say a Black Widow, but you could also be good chunk of others. Grand Canyon Tarantula, Wall Jumping Spider, White-tailed spider, and so many more could look like you. Thin black spiders are one of the common types they express, so you could just name a spider and it would be you." You smiled as you finish, but Airachnid huffs and turned away. "Well, I want to be my own spider." You giggled from her little annoyance and put your hand on her digit. "Well than, I here by officially title you the Decoragnus Araneae. A new species of spider!" Airachnid feels your soft hand and turned to your small frame, confused by the scientific name. She never got use to you saying such gibberish to her and never learned how to translate the big words. "What does that mean?" You giggle from her confusion and blush a bit. "It means 'Beautiful Big Spider'. You are now your own species and can be put in my journal with the rest of the rare special spiders." She was taken aback by your answer and gets bit hot. Why is she heating up? She knows she is a hot mech! Airachnid doesn't like feeling this way, but it was a good feeling. She was so excited to know she was beautiful in your eyes. No, she shouldn't, you were nothing to her!

She covered her face to pretend to face palm in disappointment, but in reality Airachnid didn't want you to see her face. You were nothing, but sweet. You never flirted with her, never said anything cruel, and now just looked at her like any normal friend. Now she can't kill you for sure, she could never harm such an innocent soul like yours. "That was so stupid." Airachnid tells you, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't having feelings right now.

[mochinomnoms]

Silly scenario, but imagine something goes wrong in Alchemy, which results in Riddle getting turned into a fish, specifically a goldfish like a legit goldfish, not a merman. If Floyd were to find out, depending on his mood, he would either laugh or annoyed that his goldfishy quite literally turned into a goldfish. Now imagine Floyd carrying goldfish Riddle around the campus in a small tank. This was funnier in my head, I swear.

I'm so sorry, Riddle, because Floyd has the impulsive decision-making of a 2-year-old who just discovered free will.

He's dropping Riddle into his mouth and just barely registers, “oh wait, I probably shouldn't eat him lol” before spitting him back into the bowl.

If you wanted to take it on a much sweeter, shipping note, this would be a great opportunity for Floyd to show a much softer side to Riddle. I'm assuming that Riddle is still very sentient and aware in this new form, but maybe the others aren't aware of that.

This includes Floyd, for plot purposes of course, as he takes to carrying Riddle in a little baggy. Riddle's not happy, as he's been snatched from Trey and Cater's very dependable hands and is now being jostled around in this stupid eel's hands.

Imagine his surprise when Floyd, upon entering an unfamiliar part of Octavinelle, carefully drops him in a pleasantly cool, refreshing tank. It's a freshwater one, too, which doesn't match the rest of the waters surrounding the dorm. It takes a moment for him to realize that it's probably one of Jade's terrariums, perhaps gifted to Floyd, if the random knick-knacks like a small bouncy ball and a still wrapped lollipop were any indicator.

I suppose he could be fascinated with freshwater marine life, being from the sea. Still, it's much more well-kept than I'd expect from Floyd, of all people.

There's a few other small freshwater fish swimming in the small tank as well. They looked remarkably healthy and lovely, despite being mostly gray and silver. The filtration system looked expensive too, was this all really Floyd's doing?

“Floyd, did you really put Riddle into my tank?” Ah, never mind, this makes more sense. “I thought I told you after the last time, stop added things into my tank. And when did you add that candy?”

Riddle had never heard Jade speak in such an irritated tone, it reminded him of how Cater would speak with his older sisters on the phone. Siblings don't always get along, he supposes.

“Aw it's fine, the little guys love my decorations! And besides,” Floyd leaned down to stare at Riddle with his bi-colored eyes. They looked quite pretty, he'd hate to admit.

“I gotta take care of my Riddle!” Huh, Floyd never, if ever, called him by his actual name. “Sea Turtle and Seabream probably would've kept him in that stupid bag until he turned back. That's no good!”

Riddle watched as Floyd rested his head on his arms, gazing at him with an expression he'd rather not name as Riddle swam around in the water. He had to admit, the water against his scales felt quite nice, Riddle wondered if being in a merform would be the same?

“And I gotta make sure he likes the water, that way he'll agree to move into our home after we get married.”

WHAT

Riddle was glad that he couldn't do more to express himself other than fan and flutter his fins and gills, as he's sure Floyd would rub his sudden embarrassment in his face.

“Please, you have to confess for that to even happen.” Jade scoffed as he reached his hand in to pick out the toys and trash Floyd had left in the tank. “And that's if you get him to not hate your guts.”

“Jaaaaaaade! You're being meeeeean!” Floyd turned back around to wrap his arms around his brother's waist, letting himself become deadweight for Jade to drag as he tried to walk to the trashcan by his desk.

“You can't say nothing! You're in the same boat with your mate!”

“I am most certainly not!” Jade's huff was almost amusing, if not unsettling coming from him. “My darling is just shy, I need to be careful—”

“You're a scared little bitch is what you are.”

Riddle watched as Floyd immediately ran out of the room, Jade following right after him. He thinks he could make out sounds of crashing, but it was muffled from the water and glass. It took all but of a few minutes for a disheveled Floyd with a blood nose to zoom back into the room, nearly smacking against the tank as he fell to his knees.

“Sorry Little Goldfishie, didn't mean to leave ya alone. I'll stay with ya for a while until you turn back into my Riddle. 'Kay?”

Perhaps delusional lovesickness ran in the Leech family. Perhaps Riddle was also a bit delusional, as the fond look in Floyd's eyes didn't completely turn him off.

[theofthevalley]

Welcome One & All to My Wonderful Amazing Blog!

Aka, my about me:

You can call me Theo. I am a trans male (female to male), and I'm gay. This blog is going to be a multi-fandom blog where I will write headcannons, fics, oneshots- you name it here! You can check my bio for when I have requests open.

The Grand Masterlist: Here you'll find all the fan-fiction I've made from multiple fandoms!

⇢ ˗ˏˋ I will do:

-SFW and NSFW (< Only for headcanons)

-Fem!Reader, Male!Reader, GN!Reader, FTM!Reader

-AU's (Although it depends, if you're unsure just ask!)

⇢ ˗ˏˋ I don't do:

-Unfortunately, I don’t do ships with the characters I do, this is just an x reader blog!

-Anything regarding abuse, drugs (depends), anything unconsenual including rape, age play, anything pedo like, yandere, basically anything that's on the more questionable side.

-And I don't do family relations with any of the characters I write for, this is a purely romantic or platonic blog!

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Rules! (For requesting):

(The request button is the 🌾!)

I don't really have any rules, but I'll update this if I need to add anything!

-Please don't demand for me to do your request, I'll do ones I want to do.

-Don't take it to heart if I don't do your request! Please keep in mind that I’m a busy person!

-Please be specific when requesting, it helps me as a writer greatly. (I would rather have you rant to me about your request; the more info I have about what you want, the better the writing will probably be!)

-And lastly, have fun!

[insanelyadd]

#LetSansRest Day!

Hello everyone and welcome to year two of Let Sans Rest Day! Same as last year it's August 9th.

Before we get into some prompts, a little bit of a mission statement. Last year I said this day was for everyone who's a fan of Sans Undertale or anyone who's tired of every image they see of him being him Suffering. This is still true, but I do want to additionally address something I saw a few different people mention.

I have actually received criticism for daring to suggest that Sans not be tormented to the point of insanity, and that this day where I implore people to make realities where Sans doesn't become a creepypasta insane murderer man from the agony he is subjected to, isn't a stand against ableism like Let Papyrus Say Fuck Day is. *stares in bipolar psychosis and PTSD directly into your eyes* Obviously that's a load of shit, and even though Sans is more popular than Papyrus (I say, as a Papyrus Enjoyer) a lot of the content around Sans is very specifically about him suffering. So simply out of spite for these comments (including someone who saw last year's announcement and directly commented "No <3" on the post) I will be continuing this holiday indefinitely, just like LetPapyrusSayFuck Day. Die mad about it.

Just like how I have ADHD and relate to Papyrus and see the way the fandom treats him as the infantilization of neurodivergency like autism and ADHD, I can look at works in this fandom of Sans that demonize traits of mental illness like trauma, hallucinations, delusions, and mania. And I can say these are both bad actually. Not going to call anyone a bad person for engaging in these things, of course, that would be a bit goofy of me, I'm just saying the imagery used for these things is Very Loaded and a lot of people are mishandling them.

So anyways August 9th is the day we let Sans Undertale out of his Torment Nexus so he can:

Have lemonade at the beach or pool

Go stargazing while camping out in the woods with friends and family

Get smothered in cute baby kittens and puppies

Go to therapy and play with one of those magnetic sculptures all therapists seem to own

Take a nap on an inner-tube on a lazy river

Get to see the leaves change color for the first time

Play basketball with Papyrus

Fall asleep in a basket of freshly dried clothes

Go to a public greenhouse to look at all the different flowers on the surface

Perform stand-up for humans who all love his terrible puns

Please tag the post with #LetSansRest, #Sans, and #undertale as well as any other applicable tags for characters, relationships, etc. This day is primarily for classic Sans but it's not like I can stop you from drawing Fell Sans not being subjected to his own, personal, goth-themed Torment Nexus.

This is meant to be a day for everyone who wants Sans Undertale to go to therapy and feel better. People who want to put him in a hamster cage with plenty of things to prank for enrichment. People who want to win him one of those massive stuffed animals at the county fair.

If you want to participate please be mindful of some things:

I will be monitoring the tag to reblog things! I have ptsd and would appreciate if ships involving Papyrus or Frisk (and similar) with Sans are avoided. This is simply for my mental health and I greatly appreciate it. <3

Do Not post angst to the #LetSansRest tag. It is meant to be an angst free tag for him.

Don't worry if you can't participate on the exact day! Just like with #LetPapyrusSayFuck Day you can use the tag and post to it any day! :>

Hope you're able to participate and have fun! <3

[jikookuntold]

Jikook and the Untold Narratives

As a hardcore Jikooker who deep-dives into everything related to Jikook, I always have different ideas, theories, and analyses in my mind. But most of the time, I hesitate to contextualize them, develop them into actual essays, and share them in this blog. This post you are about to read was an almost a one-year-old topic running in my head, but I wasn’t sure about writing it until the Bangtan episode for D-Day Seoul concerts came out a few weeks ago, but as a professional procrastinator, it took me this long to write. According to the title this was supposed to be about the narratives related to Jikook, and I tried rooting and analyzing them, but somehow, it turned out mostly as a long rant about hypocrisy and misunderstandings in this fandom. Anyway, these are only my opinions and observations, and I don't claim to be 100% right. I hope you enjoy reading this post.

The Narratives

What do I mean by the narratives? Are there any narratives related to Jikook? Why did I even decide to write about this? Well, at some point I noticed that we, as Jikookers, have always been blamed for falling for "company narratives". It is widely said and believed by Jikook antis that the company wants to represent Jikook as the "couple/ very close and special duo" in BTS to the point that they call the Jikook ship the creation of Bang PD himself. A specific group of antis believe this is for hiding their real relationships, and the rest of them think it's just for fanservice. They think we are fools to fall for it because if Jikook were a real gay couple, they would hide it from us because of homophobia.

I know this is literally a conspiracy theory made by them, but conspiracy theories are also theories, and like any other theory, they have to be based on some external evidence. So, where is the evidence that leads antis to the conspiracy theory of Jikook being the “company couple”? Antis believe everything Jikookers get as moments, is company content, and this content is designed, faked, and manipulated to make us believe Jikook are a couple, and based on their logic, believing the things we see instead of their conspiracy theories means that we have fallen for company narratives. I can’t deny the fact that we get lots of Jikook moments from official content, but this applies to every other duo, not just Jikook. Then what is so special about Jikook that makes antis believe there is a narrative being pushed?

The answer is the nature of the Jikook moments we get. Some of the interactions between Jimin and JK are nothing like the interactions between the other members. The high dosage of couple behavior in these interactions is not justifiable with common excuses like Korean culture, flirty friends, or even KPop fanservice. Therefore, antis need to make up another excuse, which is the conspiracy theory of the company narrative. This narrative contradicts the principle of “Gays have to hide because homophobia, duh!” which their theory is based on. Also shipping culture in other boybands always insisted on the company and management hiding the gay relationship, not pushing it. And this is another thing that makes Jikook different and special.

Let’s deep dive into this contradictive narrative. Being the company couple doesn’t stop in the company narrative and spreads much further. Let’s imagine Jikook is the official couple that the company is investing in, to make fans and the general public believe they are special and gain more money from the narrative. Then the media should follow this agenda and use them together for headlines and clicks. Then fans also have to go with the flow and make their sub-narratives aligned with this agenda. But does any of this happen in reality? The following parts of this post is going to be a long answer to this question.

Company Narratives

Does BigHit/Hybe use Jikook? pairs the two of them together more than others? encourages them to behave in a certain way? includes more interactions of them in the official content intentionally? In order to answer these questions, we need to overview the official content provided by the company. First I have to clarify that not all the official content has the same weight in this examination, and we can classify them into different categories regarding the prevalence and accessibility to the public.

The first category can be called the public content. This type of content is usually free and accessible to everyone online with just a few clicks. These are the things you get when you type the names of the BTS members or songs in a Google search, like official MVs, Bangtan episodes, Run BTS, or live performance videos, that introduced most of us to the Bangtan world. The other category is a part of the main content that is mostly not for free, like documentaries, travel shows, Army zip content, seasonal packages, etc. This content is accessible in its original form to a big group of fans who can afford to pay or know their ways to pirate.

The last category is the content that not all the fans consume despite being officially released, even a big group of them are not aware that this content exists. This group of content might be free or paid, like Behind-the-scenes episodes of the main shows, official DVDs of the concerts, and memories of each year. They are like the leftovers of the main content that for some reason, didn’t end up in the public or main content, and only the dedicated fans or chronically online ones originally consume them.

Disclaimer: This classification was all done by me, and it’s not claimed to be official or accurate. Feel free to disagree and have your own categorization and conclusion. But what is the point of this classification? As I admitted earlier in this post, we get lots of Jikook interactions in official content released by BigHit/Hybe, same as the unofficial content like Vlives/Weverse, social media posts, livestreams, or fancams from concerts or award shows, which gave us so many incredible and unforgettable Jikook moments while they were not released by the company, but my focus is on the official content and how it’s connected to the narrative of comply couple.

If you pay attention to the ship moments, you will notice that they are not equally distributed in the different categories of content I named above. In the first category AKA, the public content, Jikook moments are not much dominant, and all the ships and duos pretty much equally have their moments overall. The second category is almost the same as the first one, maybe the Jikook moments in these two categories still feel more couply and spicy compared to the others but they are still balanced because the editors usually push the extra moments to the last category.

The last category which we can call as “leftovers” is where we get the most of the eyebrow raising moments of the original content, like almost kiss or hickey. It's the content all the extra Jikook moments that had to be cut out of the main content for balancing things up, end up there, and it’s the content not all the fans follow because a big portion of this fandom is not chronically online and do not have stan Twitter/X accounts or care about Twitter trends.  For me, the best example here is the second season of ITS and how all the organic Jikook interactions were pushed to the behind-the-scenes episode with viewers one-third of the main episodes. This doesn’t mean that the main episodes of ITS2 have no Jikook moments, they do, but not more than Taekook or VMin or Jihope, thanks to the modifications done by editors.

So, based on this analysis, can we say there is a narrative going on? I leave the conclusion to you, but I think there is no narrative here other than showing some fun interactions and closeness between the members. They have more of the Jimin and JK interaction moments because Jikook happen to spend more time together and interact more, and these interactions sometimes cross the platonic line regarding the nature of their relationship. I believe if BigHit wanted to palm Jikook off as a couple to the public, they wouldn’t push their couply moments into the content that the vast majority of fans don’t even know about.

Another thing we should keep in mind is that the leftover content is the most organic one, and unlike most of the moments from public or main content (for example the Run BTS episodes or Bon Voyages), there is no script involved. It’s just how members naturally interact and cameras happen to be there to film them. I’m not saying the first two categories are fake. In fact, I believe the majority of the BTS content we get is authentic, and even when there are scripts involved, it’s based on the natural dynamics between the members. If you have been following the members and listened to them carefully in the past decade, you know they are never being forced to do things together against their will, at least not after their rookie era.

Antis also bring up another argument to prove their conspiracy theory, and it is the argument that “Jikook have been paired together a lot”. I don’t have access to any reliable statistical information to confirm that Jikook had the most pairings between the BTS members, but if someone makes this claim, I can partially agree with them. This might not apply in all the eras of Bangtan group activities, but overall, this can be considered as a fact, and it has a simple explanation; Jikook get paired together a lot because they are the main/lead duo, and their vocals match very well, and they can work in sync and communicate perfectly. When a duo can do the job with great chemistry, without wasting time and energy for syncing and communicating, why the company has to give it to any other duo in the group? This is how things work in the entertainment industry, and there are no narratives and forces needed to be involved.

This is mostly about the vocal and dance projects or photoshoots Jikook have done together several times, and there have been no other examples except the potential travel show we know they filmed in 2023 that made antis stand on their conspiracy theory even stronger than before. First of all, we don’t know how and when this travel show will be aired and what agenda it will follow. Will it be this year or the next year? Will it be a whole series or just a 30-minute Bangtan episode? We know nothing until we get an update on it. We are not even sure if they traveled just for the show or if it was an excuse for Jikook to travel before their enlistment. I recommend you to read this post about an interesting theory on the travel show.

Okay, now let’s talk about the other narratives related to Jikook, the ones that were not conspiracy theories and were actually planned by the company. BigHit, as an entertainment label, debuted BTS with a narrative, and Jimin and JK, as the members and a duo, had their designated roles. At first, Jimin got the role of the macho man in the group who had to go through a physical transformation because of it. Fortunately, this harsh role changed after some time, and Jimin got a new narrative. This time, he was the awkward member who became the punchline of the jokes by losing every game, the member who got rejected several times and wasn’t supposed to debut at all.

These parts of the narrative were far from the real Jimin, but some parts were close to his real personality like he is the sweetest member, a hug and gift fairy who is there for the others. But even these positive features were misused and turned Jimin into a cheerleader and outcast who might get “left out by the heartless" bandmates he loves and supports. You may say I’m exaggerating, but these narratives are still going on to this day and feed his antis. These narratives were one of the main reasons Jimin’s successful self-made solo debut became a hard pill to swallow for the majority of fans ad even the company because they expected this triumph from any vocal line member other than Jimin.

As I said earlier, Jikook as a duo also had their narrative since their debut. This narrative was technically a roleplaying between them; Jimin was assigned to show one-sided affection to JK on camera, and JK’s role was to reject Jimin and rank him as the least handsome member. This narrative went on for some time until it stopped around 2014/2015, but the damage was already done. Some people might question this one-sided affection being a narrative by BigHit. I’m sorry, but if you think a teenage rookie idol in KPop can show real affection in public to his same-sex bandmate, the joke is on you. I know most fans believed this roleplaying, and that was where everything went wrong.

Antis may say this narrative by itself "birthed the Jikookers breed", while it did the opposite. Despite this narrative being over for years, its aftermath is still visible in the fandom, and even dramatic Jikookers use it for their “fell first, fell harder” agenda, which I find really toxic and damaging. Other than portraying JK as a mean and insensitive kid, this roleplaying with the help of the narrative of awkward Jimin, turned Jikook into something unacceptable and even cringe-worthy because “how could JK even like Jimin when he hated and rejected him for years? because Jimin is not likable and makes JK uncomfortable”. It’s ironic, but the antis who keep repeating these lies, are in fact the ones who fall for the company narratives.

If Hybe wanted to push the narrative of Jikook being in a relationship, why did they pick such an unusual approach that backfired, and turned fans against them, and drawn them to the other ships? Hybe not only doesn’t promote Jikook more than other duos but also stops them from becoming mainstream by pushing their moments to the content no one sees. Maybe this is their way of gatekeeping and protecting Jikook which I appreciate, but it’s time for this fandom to realize that Jikook has nothing to do with the company narrative, and in fact it’s the opposite.

For example, in one of the recent Bangtan episodes (public content), when JK was resting backstage at his music show, and Tae came to visit, according to the Weverse live JK had before the show, we knew they cut the part where he said “Army” was looking for his whereabouts because otherwise, it would look like he doesn’t care where he was. But in the other Bangtan episode, they didn’t hesitate to keep the part where Jimin sounded like being left out, meanwhile, we knew all of them were headed to the same destination to celebrate Yoongi’s last concert. because that’s the narrative they push, the narrative of Jimin being left alone and Jikook having nothing to do with each other.

If Jikook were the company couple, they would have sat down together to announce their ship name for the official content. If Jikook were the company couple, Hybe would not cut out their moments, and we would have gotten some content from their numerous rendezvouses during the SYS tour in the US and Europe, but we got nothing, not even for the leftover content. If Jikook were the company couple, Hybe would not released their buddy system announcement only in the Korean version of the statement. If Jikook were the company couple, the GCF videos that had started with Jimin, would have been kept that way, and wouldn’t be turned into ot7 videos. If they can’t force JK, then nothing is forced.

If Jikook were the company couple, they would not plan Yoonmin/Taekook's solo debuts at the same time to make them appear in the same promotional activities and namedrop each other. This doesn’t mean Yoonmin/Taekook are the company couple, in fact, the dumbest question is "Jikook or Taekook?" The whole point is, that there was never a ship agenda, they never tried to push any ship as the real one to the general public or common fans. But their bonds have been used a lot for clicks and clout, and as a Jikooker I am confident enough to say I was not the one falling for any narratives or mediaplay by the company or media.

Media and Jikook

It’s a known fact that all different forms of media earn money from public attention, this is what keeps them going on. I said earlier, that if Jikook were the company couple, and Hybe intended to promote them as the official duo, then the media wouldn’t lose this opportunity to chase the clout because in that case, they would have the permission to follow this agenda and use the duo for headlines and clicks, but in reality this doesn’t happen to Jikook.

I’m not saying that Jikook don’t get any media coverage, they do. The media inside or outside Korea make headlines for their duo activities like the Black Swan dance or vocal collaborations, but there are many examples that Jikook didn’t make it to the headlines while another duo did in a very similar situation. I bring an example from Dispatch that everyone knows has the closest connection to Hybe; when Jimin posted the shirtless photo of them together for JK’s birthday, this media didn’t make any headlines for it, not even as the announcement of Jimin greeting JK's birthday.

But when Tae posted the screenshot of his video call with JK the night before his enlistment, while they were both shirtless, it became a headline on the Dispatch website. If you check the Dispatch website for 2023, you will not find anything about Jikook other than their departure and arrival together for the Japan trip, even their trip together in NY was not worthy news for this outlet. Also their joint enlistment in the military, despite being the first and only case of Buddy System in the KPop industry, didn’t get much media attention or specific headlines.

Jikook have never attended any event as a duo, they never had a photocall together as a duo, and since they have never made an official name for themselves, the media can't use a duo name for them. Meanwhile, they can use “Taekook” for the Tae and JK duo in their headlines and tags because the company has permitted by making this duo name official. As I mentioned earlier, I do not believe that Taekook or any other ship is the official one, but the audacity of antis to ignore these facts and label Jikook as the company couple is just ironic.

I’m not really interested in giving examples from Taekook, but I have no other option. Everyone remembers the premiere night of the movie “Dreamers” in April last year when Tae and JK attended together and had their photocall moment. Like any other movie premiere with big stars, this event also was covered by the media, but they got the biggest attention and social media engagement because of Taekook appearing together. Even though the reports of JK being shy and having a feminine haircut caused Taekookers to think they were being announced as a couple lol, in general, it was a pleasant moment until it wasn’t anymore.

A few months later, in August, a similar event was about to happen, and the media announced that Tae was going to attend his friend’s new movie premiere along with JK. As expected, a big wave of social media engagement started, but JK didn’t show up. I don’t know if he never intended to go or if he changed his mind just before the event because according to Dispatch, his name was in the guest list. All we know is that he logged into the Bangtan official Twitter account after years and posted some random photos just an hour before the event and logged out.

After that embarrassing moment for the media, I was expecting them to stop using Taekook for mediaplay, but they didn’t stop, and again in November, the media outlets reported that Tae would attend JK’s solo concert while we knew he was busy recording his Running Man episode the same day. I’m sure the media knew it better, but chasing the clout was their priority. There are many other examples of how media doesn’t work in favor of the “company couple narrative” for Jikook, but I will stop here because this post is getting too long.

Fandom Agendas

When there is a successful narrative launched by an entertainment label, the fandoms go with the flow, and alongside accepting the main narrative they make their own sub-narratives aligned with this agenda. But in the case of Jikook, this is far from the truth. When I say fans, I mean the collective representation of a group supporting an artist, something non-fans see from the outside, not just a focus group. Yes, we Jikookers exist but we don’t represent or control this fandom. According to some unofficial polls, we are not even between the top three of the biggest groups of shippers. So, it’s safe to say the so called narrative of Jikook has not been successful. 

It’s not a secret that this fandom is against Jikook, but the discussion doesn’t end here. The sub-narratives made in the fandom have their own story. This opposition with Jikook contradicted their observations of them being close and always together, and they had to make the sub-narrative to justify it. But since they had already accepted another narrative made by BigHit, it wasn't a hard one. They decided that "Every interaction between Jikook is initiated by Jimin because he has always been in love with JK, and anything JK does is forced because he has always been uncomfortable with Jimin." This narrative and its sub-narratives caused Jimin to be labeled as the intruder and much worse names I will not mention, and it caused him to get so much hate, especially after every interaction he has with JK. It's true that he has the biggest fandom and the most devoted and supportive fans, but his anti-fans are also the biggest and the vilest ones.

JK also had his sub-narrative made by fans, and according to the vast majority of them, he is a straight playboy. I don't know where this sub-narrative comes from, maybe confessing to having a girlfriend as a teen or naming himself the "international playboy" did it for fans and made them ignore all the queerness in his personality and behavior, but this is the reason this fandom treats his "dating rumors" very differently even by his gay shippers. Army joke and say he is scared of girls, but they never make stories up about him being uninterested in women like they did for others (for example: an influencer asked Tae for his phone number, and he gave his manager's number, 100% fictional, but vastly believed as fact).

It’s actually quite funny when we see a local Youtuber is able to guess Jikook are the closest just by watching a few minutes of content, but the fans who have been here for a decade can’t and don’t want to see it, they can’t even let go of the 2013 jokes of “JK hates Jimin”, let alone accepting that they are close. They do any mental gymnastics they can to normalize, delegitimize, or ot7ify Jikook moments, meanwhile, when JK and Tae, themselves talk about drifting apart, fans dismiss it and call it fake. For example, last year, when Jikook were in Tokyo, JK was seen leaving the location of his shooting, which was a hotel different from the hotel where Jimin was staying, antis said: “They hate each other, to the point they can’t stay at the same hotel”. While a trip would have been solid proof for any duo in BTS to be close and in love, for Jikook, it becomes the reason for being distant and despising each other, and this is the hypocrisy of our fandom.

Maybe we get lots of Jikook from official content, it’s the outcome of Jikook’s closeness, but in the end, it’s Jikook themselves who confirm it with their behavior. When antis were celebrating Jikook not interacting, amid their lack of public appearance, it was JK who showed his love and support for Jimin by streaming his videos on YouTube. When antis claimed they don’t spend time together, it was JK who begged Jimin in his half-naked live to join him. He went live at his place right after the movie premiere, and musical theater, and explained the situation after Vhope did a live there. He explained Tae's claims about recording Layover at his place and talked about his delightful alone time when he was at the ski resort with Tae and his friends. He read JeonJimin comment out loud and announced that he wouldn’t stop holding Jimin. Maybe an older example is his post on Weverse right after the 2020 Taekook live apologizing for not talking much, and then a month later, when he went live with Jimin, he made it clear that he had a great time just doing the live.

These examples are countless, but there is no hope for the fans who even label the moments from unofficial content like lives and posts as planned or even forced by the company. If you think antis will let us have a happy day and enjoy the legit Jikook moments, you are mistaken. If there is Jikook, they always find a way to ruin it with their toxicity, and if there’s no Jikook, they use it to hurt us and spread their lies and fake moments on every social media platform.

Antis have the upper hand in social media because Hybe failed the so-called Jikook narrative, and it not just didn’t become the mainstream ship of Bangtan, but also fans turned against it. Despite this failure, Jikook still bothers antis so much, and they try hard to fight it and its shippers, but these fights and attacks are limited to social media. Whatever they do on social media, the hashtags they trend, the lies and hateful tweets and comments they leave out, are not gonna affect what Jikook have in real life because Jikook are real people, and against all the odds and real struggles, they are together and closer than ever.

[gophergal]

Perhaps an obvious one, but for the ship ask game – HeavyMedic? :3

"What do you mean, obvious?" I ask dumbly, looking at my laser engraved HeavyMedic coaster

What made you ship it?

Funnily enough, I do this thing when I'm considering getting into a fandom where I just kinda peruse as much of the fanworks as I possibly can. Probably very common. I saw that Heavy and Medic were a popular ship, looked into why, was rapidly convinced. Definitely helped by the similarities they have to my other Main Ships from previous fandoms.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I'm a sucker for ships that are dangerously devoted to each other. Mostly when they're dangerous to anyone who threatens their beloved. They make each other better, have one another's back, serve as a center point of the team. I think it's really beautiful how their popularity isn't just based on secondary source material (the animations and comics), but also the gameplay itself! A good Heavy/Medic duo in game is a force the whole team can rally around, and- honestly? I've got quite a few scenes in mind inspired by Heavy/Medic pairs I've seen in game (none I was part of though lmao. Forever alone medic main)

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

HEAVY IS NOT AN ACCESSORY TO MEDIC. THEY ARE EACH THEIR OWN CHARACTERS. THATS WHY THE SHIP IS SO NEAT. I can't STAND fic where Heavy's entire character boils down to "I Love Doktor <3". If you write it, thats fine, but man. I love Heavy, if I didnt like him as a character I most likely wouldn't be shipping Medic with him. Heavy CANONICALLY shows discomfort towards some of Medic's antics. Not only is is totally fine if they experience conflict on that front, it makes the ship more interesting. Let them argue and question if their relationship is going to make it. They dont need to be Goals to be worth shipping (though they certainly can be. Both Is Good is what I'm trying to say) While Red Oktoberfest is my favorite merc/merc pairing and I'm thus biased toward them, PEOPLE CAN SHIP HEAVY AND MEDIC WITH OTHER CHARACTERS. Even OCs. I know thats not specific to this ship, but by god do I see people try to enforce that "Heavy/Medic is CANON so you have to ship them". They are not canon. Makani's artwork that wasn't part of the published comics is Non-canon. The VAs' shipping them and making (psuedo official???) fanworks, despite how FUCKING COOL that is, doesn't make it canon. In the comics, SFMs, and games they are not explicitly shown to be or described as a couple in a romantic/sexual sense. Now, the ship is LAMPSHADED (alluded to by the creators) frequently. Which is fun! And they are meant to be close! But I feel like this very much a K/S situation. Yknow, since Gene Roddenberry was like "well, if I want Captain Kirk to be popular, then I have to make people associate him with Mr Spock, so now they're besties" then that close friendship and deep devotion read as homoeros to folks and was later alluded to by other writers of the source material? I'm not saying it had the same motivation. I don't think this was meant to be a way of making either Heavy or Medic more popular, but I do think Valve originally just wanted to depict them as a Duo. A well oiled machine. Doing so makes sense, given it mirrors how they work in the game. But over time they realized that fans picked up on homoeros undertones, and not wanting to alienate either the fans who saw HeavyMedic nor the homophobic fans (as alienating either would cut into their profits/cause a backlash), Valve began walking the tightrope of shipteasing, but not being too explicit I dont want to call it queerbaiting, because really? It's not used so much in the marketing. But it is kinda a frustrating thing to see. But uh, long yap short. I suppose my most unpopular opinion is "Red Oktoberfest isn't actually canon, even though it easily could be"

[dududuuuuudud]

potential rant

WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THIS.

I feel like I talked about some of this stuff already but I'm going to be talking about it more.

This scene ⬇️

"Courtney is so loyal, she would never cheat on Duncan." -Courtney stan.

Alright then, explain this. She didn't even hesitate before kissing Justin. The only thing that stopped her was invincibility.

Now tell me why you're saying that because it was confirmed that Courtney and Duncan were in a relationship and she was happily about to kiss Justin. What makes it worse is that Duncan was right there.

And it is not because of that star gazing scene since Courtney forgot about it after that first episode she came back.

To add on, the only reason why she didn't actually kiss Justin was because the chance of immunity. If that wasn't an option, Courtney would've shamelessly kissed Justin and all you Courtney fans would cheer and call her a girl boss.

Courtney had her priorities right and Duncan was not one of them.

To Courtney, Duncan was a puppet. Something which you can force to do whatever you want and discard when you don't want it anymore. That scene perfectly describes it as it shows how Courtney disregarded her BOYFRIEND and happily was about to kiss Justin.

DUNCAN WAS NOT THE ONLY PERSON TO CHEAT IN THE RELATIONSHIP

This other scene ⬇️⬇️

"Duncney was good in s1." -Duncney fan.

Care to explain this? Why did Duncan let that happen? Why was he enjoying himself? If he really cared about Courtney why did he wrap his arm around Heather's waist?

So many questions and yet people find Duncney the most 'iconic' and 'cutest' couple. Is this cute to you? May be for the Deather shipped but for Duncney? No.

The picture above practically explains it all but I want to unpack it a bit more.

Alright, Duncan is a player and was enjoying attention. No, he didn't do this because he liked the attention, he did it because he genuinely didn't care much for Courtney. There may have been a maximum is three scenes where Duncan cared but after that, he potentially saw Courtney as a one-night stand. Or in his perspective, as fire. Once the fire was over, (After the kiss/After elimination) he didn't want her anymore. He didn't care since someone else came in.

I want to put more emphasis on this, this scene happened in season 1. This season was why everyone loved Duncney.

Also, Duncan didn't cheat on Courtney in season three, she also did in season one with Heather. Well, practically but in season two he also kissed her.

DUNCAN ALSO ISN'T INNOCENT

Corresponding to the previous scene ⬇️

"Duncan didn't love Gwen." -Duncney fan.

He didn't have to say that. In season three, there were many instances.

A specific instance which no one barely catches onto was this scene. Heather helping Duncan and and tried flirting with Duncan and you wanna know what Duncan does? He walks away from her. Mind you that he was dating Gwen at the time and his eyes go straight to Gwen.

If you look at the previous one, you could see Duncan easily wrapping an arm around Heather and smirking as she laid on him. Now, he steps away.

Another time was when Heather was hugging onto Duncan and Duncan tries to pull away as Heather continued clinging onto him.

Meanwhile, while Duncan dated Courtney, when Heather came near Duncan, he ALWAYS flirted back and yeah. You know why?

BECAUSE HE NEVER ACTUALLY LIKED COURTNEY.

The only time he liked Courtney was when she kissed him and was angry and yelling. I may be talking about fire too much but it's true. I don't know what other words to say for fire but like he just liked the anger and rage from Courtney.

With Gwen, he actually liked her and stayed loyal throughout their relationship.

Also, HE DID NOT LIKE COURTNEY IN ALL STARS. Duncney fans are so unreasonable with Duncan liking Courtney again because Gwen and Duncan were in a happy relationship for TWO YEARS. He just saw Courtney and wanted to prove her that he was happy because he was. Also because of that giant ego of his. And please, the eye flinch only happened because Duncan knew that Courtney was boy crazy. If he wanted Courtney back, why didn't he flirt with her and try to piss her off? I feel like I'm repeating myself but whenever I open TikTok, I see so many Duncney fans saying they're the best couple and it's so aggravating when there are so many issues in this ship.

Overall, DUNCAN LOVED GWEN

Another blabber ⬇️⬇️

"It's so good to see you." -Duncan, Ex-Files.

Alright, DUNCAN NEVER WOULD SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT. Such simple words seem so off coming from a character from Duncan. You could hear him saying it faintly when the two bump into each other. That one sentence proved how much he truly cared and appreciated Gwen.

Next, they were so awkward. Like, if you make themselves in season one see this, you could only imagine the looks on their faces. Like, why were they so awkward? Why didn't they look like this in their relationship with Courtney and Trent? Why were they like that to each other? You could never see them be so sweet and be able to bring out a nicer side with anyone. You could never see them smile at each other so brightly when they realised it was just each other. The two really valued one another and from just the first five seconds you could see how real their relationship was. Also, Duncan had no right to be this nice with Gwen. Like, he was like go sweet and letting Gwen go first.

I don't know, this scene just hits hard.

Gwen. When she was ranting about the whole situation and talking about the kiss. Why was she so cute when she was talking about the kiss. He smile was just everything. Anyways, Gwen gave Duncan the choice to go back to Courtney. Everyone knows that Gwen was head over heels for Duncan but she wanted Duncan to be happy. She let him chose whether or not he wanted to be with her. If Courtney was in this situation, she would talk about her contracts, kiss him, hit him, cry and shout at him to stay with her. I mean you saw when she was crying on the floor and kicking her feet. It was actually very embarrassing but she still kicked him and cried.

Now, Duncan cuts Gwen off by kissing her and she was shocked at first. After that, she slowly kisses back as the two finally share their second kiss. DUNCAN LIFTS HIS LEG UP. AHHHH. Now wasn't that just adorable.

I may be comparing Gwuncan and Duncney a lot but I need to do this because Duncney fans are just really really annoying. Tbh, Gwent fans are decent so I won't go attackign them.

Anyways, after the two kiss Gwen asks, "Was that just to shut me up?" Duncan responds, "Not entirely." AHHH WHY DID THEIR DYNAMIC HAVE TO BE SO CUTE. EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT SCENE SCREAMS PERFECTION.

Now Gwen looks up and Duncan whilst resting her arms on his chest while Duncan rests his arms around Gwen's waist. Why is their height difference so cute. I'm not exaggerating but like just it's a chef's kiss. Who doesn't want a height difference like that?

I have one tiny question for all Duncney fans. Why are you saying that Gwuncan was so forced and rushed?

It took three seasons for Gwen and Duncan to kiss. Meanwhile, it took maybe ten episodes. After those ten episodes, Duncney was finished since there was nothing good afterwards. Not that in season one they were any better since they did the same things over and over again and Courtney always yelled at Duncan. Sometimes she hit him too.

After Gwen and Duncan talk to each other which was so cute because they understood each other and their needs, the two see something which could help for their team as they start running off. Their dynamic remains as Gwen trips Duncan as she runs off. "Try not to get eliminated." Gwen laughs as she gives a little salute. "Same to you." Duncan gazes in awe. Duncan was actually in love. He smiles as Gwen daydreamely. (Is that a word?) The two also were worried about each other as in the season, they always cared whether or not the other was eliminated or not. They didn't have to even say that they loved each other.

THEY LOVED EACH OTHER

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

Thanks if you read all of it and hope you've enjoyed my rant.

[emilydorp]

Do you think GTOP was just for the fan service?

Oh, what an interesting question. I shall try my best to answer this as completely as possible, so bear with me. Not sure if you want a speech (lol) but I am a certified chatterbox (and have a tinfoil hat.. that I shall be keeping at home.. unless you want me to whip it out). Lowkey wish I could just dm this cuz I am gonna take my time and be very messy plus can't easily SHOW you everything, especially because I have reblogged about a THOUSAND different (and sometimes same cuz some posts are just iconic like that) posts about gtop's relationship, have receipts that I haven't posted on Tumblr (I think, I mean I haven't) and am stupid so I didn't use tags. Feel free to ask more specific questions! IDK if I should mention which blog inspired my GTOP journey the most, since they aren't active, but if you know me personally you know how much I love that blog. Even tho this person is asking why they're not fanservice rather than why they're dating: if you ship them platonically and are NOT looking for evidence to change your mind, move along.. Unless that was your question, anon, in which case I am sorry for misinterpreting. Lez go :)).

I really, really, REALLY don't want to bring this up, but since Tumblr feels like a safe space for rpf without having consequences on the daily lives of the individuals and your question concerns fanservice.. so.. here's a special Mnet made about GTOP that was most likely released on December 11, 2012 and was shown on NATIONAL TV. (https://youtu.be/uGHwO_uuPVY?feature=shared). In the intro of TOP whispering into GD's ear, they didn't know they were being filmed. Neither did they know that when they were at the airport and TOP pulled GD to sit down next to him. GTOP isn't the only pairing they did, but it was the only pairing they used such personal moments and evidence for. It feels like an expose, even tho this isn't even 1% of the GTOP evidence we had atp. A LOT of things happened after this was released, and some need a tinfoil hat. But I shall be saying all basic observations and obvious things: -Jiko rumors, which Seunghyun himself was so ready to disprove, suddenly popped up and popped OFF. GD's old strategy of denying it like his life depended on it was gone and he instead was more.. coy? And no, this isn't because he started dating Kiko, at least in the beginning of 2012 he wasn't involved with her (after that point I can see potential) and in fact the Jiko relationship is FAR from this long term important relationship in GD's life (for which I could write a second speech). -GTOP died. Suddenly. Like someone had shot them down. From 2012-2014 people even thought they weren't friends anymore, but that is wrong because we have more than enough evidence to prove that they stayed close behind the cameras (despite the fact that there were two break ups in this period.. another speech can be held on that). And no, this isn't a normal response to being such a popular coupling. Other couples that were covered in the SAME special, (I believe 5 male x male, as they called it, couples were covered in this special) they went CRAZY when it came to fan service after their specials, because back in that era of kpop such fan service was the norm (and highly requested). And BB has done some insane fan service too.. but that insane fan service was NEVER GTOP.

Predebut GTOP and just debuted GTOP was very.. interesting. They did a lot of playful talking on Cyworld (totally how you'd text your crush.. from GD's side since we never got to see TOP's messages) and took a lot of selcas together. GD often playfully called Top “oppa” (which is a term girls use for an older brother/older male friend/or boyfriend). None of that is fan service, because this was before they truly had fans (although GD did have a few because he technically had debuted at age 12). GD would often say stuff like "Oh I'd date Taeyang if I was a girl" and he'd say it in the most DEADPAN way possible.. but once it comes to TOP he'd GUSH and get shy and describe his feelings and it's just so CUTE to hear him talk about TOP. But yeah, okay, let's ignore how obviously GD likes TOP.. There was even a radio show S*ungri was on (I pray to every God in the sky I reblogged it cuz I didn't appreciate it during my first listen and for that I will always be mad) and he said "Whenever I'm with GD, he'll start talking about TOP. He'd tell me, 'Ah, $*ungri, guess what TOP did today, he's so amusing, oh he's driving me insane', stuff like that." Now my question is; why would HE do GTOP fanservice? And this was in the early days, before he got involved in his shady dealings, his crimes, so he wasn't doing it to get brownie points and popularity, like he does later on. There are many fan accounts (one of them is VERY iconic and lives rent-free in my mind.. gosh when I find all those again.. here's one I saved cuz I loved it so damn much: https://web.archive.org/web/20240627183223/http://www.twitlonger.com/show/j8gci1) that report the two of them together without other members or friends, report GD playfully being "jealous" of others getting closer to TOP and/or report GD & TOP being so close that people believed they were dating because of how close they were (they weren't dating yet btw, just being flirty af). There are interesting stories about Nuthang (which is their friend circle). It was always commonly said that you saw GD with Top at night and Taeyang during the day. You only saw Top with GD, out of the members. Daesung was never seen much, other than at church or if he went out with the other members. Seungri was seen out partying, sometimes at the same place with GTOP but not necessarily with them. This was the consensus in the VIP fandom for the longest time, and people only started denying it later on. Unfortunately, a lot of GTOP stuff is no longer floating around, and K-VIPs also held a lot of stuff back from 2011-2012 onward, to 'protect' GD. There is one very clear instant of this protectiveness of GD, but that isn't your question soooooo.. ALSO NEVER FORGET THAT THEY MET IN MIDDLE SCHOOOOL.

Not even gonna try and explain this moment, just read this: https://www.tumblr.com/kwonaventure/172401662709/gtop-whispers-in-the-ntv7-malaysia-interview?source=share

Those subtle gestures in their body language, their laughs and smiles, their way of speaking to each other in such soft, caring, free and casual ways, and also, like, those ~obvious~ loving glances Jiyong has towards Seunghyun and Seunghyun's own ones for GD lmao. Just SOME, some of the moments I can recall of the top of my head, some of the things they do, like GD not shutting up about TOP in the Starcast call and not letting others speak to TOP during that call, the 2015 Welcoming Collection DVD, their entire body language and sneaky glaces during Night After Night (not to mention GD literally wearing the fur hat TOP gave him (GD confirmed this himself btw)), GD looking at Seunghyun, then looking at Seunghyun's lips, then looking at Seunghyun at their comeback special stage in 2015, their Insta behaviour and, ofc, the WAY he looked at TOP in 'Happy Together'.. these moments and their chemistry, their heavenly chemistry, is just too good and too disruptive to be fan service (only). There was a very VERY specific gtop moment of GD taking a selfie and TOP didn't know the camera was on while talking to GD (so he was just staring at him and said something lowkey flirty like "Are you shy?" lmao) and GD had to go all "The camera is on! :((" to chase TOP away, which is certified proof of them not being fan service but I CAN'T find itttt.

With GTOP, there are many times that the two of them were together that we’d never see. TOP is notorious for being present and just not appearing in any pictures, especially (and after awhile ONLY) when it came to GD. After all, there are at least a few instagram photos that GD has posted that Top didn’t appear in that were determined to be from a time he and GD were together. And it isn't like GD wants to not share pictures of his friends, he was very freely sharing pictures he has with everyone except TOP. There are a handful of examples I can think of where TOP was just out of sight? Ofc those are just the times we were lucky enough to realize. If they were all about fanservice, wouldn't they post selcas about hanging out, like TOP did with Daesung, the person he did most of his fan service with?

THEIR COUPLE WEAR AND OTHER INSTA BEHAVIOUR FROM THROUGHOUT THEIR CAREERS. I WISH I WAS KIDDING WHEN I SAY IT IS INSANE. INSANE. Not even gonna TRY and summerize, GD is obsessed with matching Seunghyun. There is no reason for them to do that for fan service. I just can't see it.

Listen, I can go on for YEARS (cuz that's how long they've been together lmao). There's a REASON I have reblogged a thousand posts (seriously what is wrong with me and gtop? This is insane...). All I can say is.. ask more specific questions lol. And also, if you disagree, feel free to do your own research :))). HOPE THIS POST WASN'T TOO MESSY!!

[numberonetacostan]

Thinking about the lifespans of Algebraliens compared to objects.

They do have recovery centres as well as 4 and X being able to recover people but for the sake of this it's either a 'who wants to live forever' view point or there will be a time where they suffer a perma-death somehow.

Wether you want to view it as shipping or platonic Two probably wouldn't want to let that happen to Gaty and the Sam's with 4 & X with Clock even if they're not as upset without him as Two is without Gaty they definitely seem attached if that's the right word for whatever you call what they're doing.

I don't think keeping them specifically alive in a situation where perma-death is possible (I imagine it to be old age or something, like food objects becoming moldy certain objects rotting/deteriorating or alternatively the mechanical minds getting too beat up to turn back on for the sake of the angst at least) but that would bring in angst in the way of, everyone else they knew are dead + they might not even want to live forever but the Algebraliens did it anyway (I believe the headcanon of 4 and X being so clingy just being normal for Algebraliens has been brought up before, leaning more into shipping but what's normal for Algebraliens vs what's normal for objects could cause issues, namely the lifespan one I talked about)

-🌸

Hi Flower!!^^ Welcome back, and thank you for sending in an ask!! :)

It's interesting to think about their varying lifespans, and whether or not the objects can die permanently, as in there would be a certain point or type of death from which the recovery centres wouldn't be able to recover them, or if they're semi-immortal in that way.

Either way, despite the algebraliens having favourites, I'm not sure if they'd let any of the contestants die permanently. Four, X, and Two, at least, seem to very much enjoy hosting the show, yeah? And if all their contestants die, there's no more show. Especially with Four being such a big bfdi fan anyways, I'm not sure if they especially would let any of the contestants die.

[isuckatgaymes]

rating every fandom i've been in from the last 5 or so years in no particular order. because i can do that

cult of the lamb: LIKE THE BEST FANDOM IVE BEEN IN??? omg like everyone is just chill and cool and epic. i am yet to see ANY proshipping or weird incest shit and that's a very good thing. and no ship wars! no one cares! everyone ships narilamb and if you don't that's fine no one cares!!! also am i a furry bc they draw the goat so HOT like HOLY MOLY GUYS

night in the woods: i feel like calling it a fandom is generous because i have to hunt the internet like a hungry predator to find the goodies i want but they are so nice and mentally ill 🙏 points off for the weird ppl who hear mae is a girl and draw her really sexualized but they cant all be winners

ace attorney: the fandom live been in the longest. holy molyyyyyy theres way more good than bad but the bad is pretty bad. i think the fandom is the perfect size and i never feel like im losing my mind bc theres no fic for the specific thing i want. but if there isnt then i can just make it bc these characters have been my life for 3 years! but the aa fandom has like one of the biggest proship debates i've seen. there aren't rly ship wars besides the occasional feenris shipper hating on narumitsu but OMG the narumayo trupollo and cykesquill shippers are just WILD. but as someone deep in the trenches of the fandom it honestly isn't too bad. also REALLY good fanfiction holy shit

tmnt: ok guys wtf is up with the incest. the rest of the fandom is just fine and dandy but the INCEST. jesus CHRIST guys just make ocs stop shipping the brothers together. AND STOP MAKING PORN OF TEENAGERS.

hazbin hotel: ok what the hell happened here. the fandom can be fine one second but then a radioapple fan will hate on radiostatic and then it's a whole thing. and there's that one fan. the ANGEL NOOOOOO one. also the entire internet hates the fandom but honestly whenever i check it out its just fine. but also the fandom is crazy like. delulu? viv will tweet out "i had salad for lunch" and the fandom will be theorizing that charlie will die in season 2. i have no clue what's happening man

cookie run kingdom: JESUS CHRIST YALL. ok to be fair i was in this fandom in like. 2021? early 2022? so maybe it's changed but HOLY SHIT IT IS SO TOXIC. i was deep in the fandom and i got death threats for shipping sparkherb??? like what??? and they were always so mean to beginner artists it made me so sad :( AND THE RACISM???? how are yall racist to COOKIES they are COOKIES. and the like gender debates. poor strawberry crepe cookie... istg every time there was a post abt them i would see ppl arguing that they were every gender under the sun. like. guys. what are we doing here. these are cookies.

total drama: a very. interesting fandom. the people in it are very clearly... younger? i think that's the right word. it's not outstandingly good or insanely terrible, it's just. fine???? honestly i can't really dunk on it or sing its praises. besides island of the slaughtered that was epic

gravity falls: ok i don't want to judge the fandom for what it was like in the 2010s. BUT. holy moly there's a lot of bipper shipping. i know why it was like that but jeez there is just. a lot. the fandom is much better now and very fun! but id say the fandom from the end of the show to 2020 was very... it was a fandom!! i'll give it that!

ghost trick: this fandom is hanging on with duct tape hot glue and prayers. there are like. 7 people TOPS in the fandom and i honor them o7 they are so brave and i admire how they've managed to stay sane

steven universe: another pretty mixed bag. honestly the worst part of this fandom is its haters bc like. woah the children's show about peace and love ended with peace and love instead of violently beating up white diamond. this is crazy guys. but lowkey from what i've seen it isn't too bad. it's the lesbian rock show what more does one need

sonic: inside of you there are two wolves. one of them is a sonadow shipper. the other is a sonamy shipper. and every day they are beating each other up to assert dominance while the secret third wolf in the corner is drawing little ocs to post on deviant art

a hat in time: WHY ARE YALL SO DEPRESSED???? like this is the funny little platformer game that barley has any story and everything is so SAD. ITS THE SELF PROCLAIMED CUTE AS HECK PLATFORMER. i once read a series of fics where the conductor is suicidal and tries to kill himself. and i've seen some of the most soul crushing fanart of the snatcher. DO YOU NEED A HUG????

mlp: honestly this fandom got a crazy glow up. i'm pretty sure it's bc the audience the show was MADE FOR when it was produced has grown up and still loves the show and not because they think the ponies are hot. bronies made it very hard to be into the show when you were a young girl who liked ponies and friendship. i would know bc i saw cupcakes when i was 8 and cried for 2 hours. but the show is goated and the fandom now is honestly pretty good

[ask-alien-hunter-au]

Welcome!

This is the official askblog for the II x BFDI Alien Hunter au!

A short rundown is MePhone4 is an alien hunter made by Cobs looking to redeem himself to his creator. With his team (the II contestants), they look for new aliens to capture and end up finding the Algebraliens.

So this is basically an II/BFDI crossover!

You can send asks to basically any contestant in either show, but the main characters/the ones I've fleshed out the most so far are:

any host/co-host (Including the Announcer)

OJ, Paper and Taco

Paintbrush, Test Tube, Fan and Lightbulb

Knife, Suitcase, Baseball, Nickel and Balloon

Yin-Yang, Microphone, Trophy

Death PACT members (including DPA and DPYA)

Firey, Leafy, Pin and Coiny

Winner, Clock and Loser

Golfball and Tennisball

There are NO II season 3 contestants yet! They aren't here, but they will be later!

Ships in this au (for now):

Twophone (the main focus)

4x

Payjay

The brightest lights (idk what they're called. They're in some funky unspoken polycule basically)

Knickle

Toipad

Fireafy

Coinpin

Freesmart (also a strange unspoken polycule)

Winnerclock

Astrobiology

qpr golfball/tennisball

Ask rules, further au details and about the creator are all under the cut!

Ask rules (Currently open!):

PLSPLS SPECIFY WHO YOU'RE ASKING THE QUESTION TO. I'M KINDA DUMB SO CLARIFICATION IS NEEDED

Don't ask weird things - use your common sense.

No donation asks please! This blog is for the au specifically

Don't ask about the MePhone making the contestants or try and give these guys an identity crisis /silly

Think of yourselves like interviewers or bystanders talking to these characters (or don't. Doesn't matter too much)

Please be patient! I want to try and include art when answering asks, so it'll take me a while

If your ask is a spoiler or something I can't answer at the moment for whatever reason, I'll either just ignore it or answer saying that.

As long as its credited, any fanworks are fine! You can also tag me in them or send them in /nf, I'd love to see them! /gen

Do note that I may answer things out of order. Ones that are just text may be answered first because they're easier. Ones that I'm making art for will typically take longer.

On the topic of adding art, that's a random choice of mine. If I feel like it fits the ask, I'll add it. If it's not necessary, I probably won't

More au details (this will be updated as time goes on):

Cobs created the Meeple products to hunt down and capture other alien life for him to use - what for, no one really knows. MePhone4 was once a great hunter, but his recklessness and disobedience led him to fail too many missions and get kicked out. He was told that he could return when he brings Cobs new aliens and proves himself. So MePhone4 goes to some old friends - the contestants from a tournament he held a year ago. With them, he starts a new tournament to train his own team and show Cobs he's one of the best damn hunters he ever made.

And his plan is working... that is, until he comes across the Algebraliens, a kind of alien he can't beat...

About the creator!

Hello everyone, I'm Laricina! I use he/she pronouns.

My main account is @larix-laricina, I post a lot of OSC art and stuff, as well as AvA/M, mostly. Updates about this au will also be posted there.

Please keep in mind that I am a minor, so no inappropriate asks or anything. I'm also a student working on this in my free time, so it may take me a while to answer some things. I'm only one person.

(exam season is also coming up, so if I disappear in January, assume that's why)

You can also ask me things if you'd like, or if you have questions about the au, I'll answer those too! (like if you wanna ask me about the lore or smth) I may have little creator notes at the end of asks, so I'll just mark those as "Laricina" or just as "notes" so you know it's me yapping.

I have a lot planned for this au, and I'm also gonna be posting it on ao3 (the series name is the same as the blog name), but writing normally takes me a bit, so I made this blog! Hopefully you all have fun here and I hope you enjoy the story :]