#i have a hugely unpopular read on so many popular blogs lol

[kitausuret]

parksborn for the ship game? 👀

@plutojester asked for this one too, so I'm tagging him as well for my answer. (:

YES I absolutely ship them. I've actually been decidedly Not Normal™ about them lately, so I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited for this one.

What made you ship it?

I think a more interesting answer is, what didn't make me ship it. Surprisingly, I didn't ship them during the Raimi or TASM films, but as soon as I read ASM #39 last year I was like. OH. Oh. I get it now.

(Amazing Spider-Man #39; Lee, Romita Sr.)

It's Peter's first moment showing true compassion towards someone that isn't like... a direct relative, and the impact it has on Harry is immense. It's a turning point for both of them, and you really can't overstate that for a character like Peter, who now has over 900 issues in his main series alone. And so much of it started with this moment. How could I not ship them after that?

And then of course there's the roommates era, the first Goblin Jr. arc, everything after that, the second Goblin arc (internal screaming), death (!!!!!), resurrection (!!!!!!!!), and business partners, and then nothing happened after that. (:

Nobody hurt me for this, but I actually started shipping them really in earnest during the Parker Industries era, but I've blogged and also written about that. I just really loved it and that's where I really saw it for them.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Weeeelll aside from what I've said above, I go absolutely feral about their journey. Like, they weren't even friends at first! That's crazy! I wish adaptations would remember that because it's actually way more juicy when you remember that Peter didn't even LIKE Harry at first. But when Harry showed his true colors (that he did have strength and integrity) it changed like... everything.

(Amazing Spider-Man Family #4; DeMatteis, Semeiks)

I also think it's kind of incredible how they can bring out both the best and worst in each other. Some of their highest and lowest points have happened around each other, like, in the same fucking issue. (Spectacular #200, looking at you.)

I'm also admittedly a huge sucker for the resurrection era. Is it sometimes referred to as the "Parksborn bait era"? Yes. Do I care? No. Thank you for your service, Dan Slott. (Don't tell him I said that.)

Also a really big fan of this moment:

Amazing Spider-Man #573... I think (Slott, JRJr)

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Hmmm.. honestly, I'm not sure. But for the reasons I've stated above, I'm not really a big fan of childhood friends adaptations or honestly adaptations that make him Peter's friend really on (and not Flash's). Their journey is really, massively important to me. (Sorry, TSSM.) I'm also pretty sure that liking Parker Industries as much as I do is (which isn't much, to be sure lol) some kind of overall Spider-Man Fan Sin, but this is probably one of the more popular ships I enjoy.

I'm not sure what the popular Parksborn opinions are, not enough to know if my own ideas are popular or not though, otherwise. The only other thing I can think of is that American Son is really popular with Parksborn fans (for, like, super obvious reasons) but I can't forgive it for what it did to Lily Hollister.

What's the point of this beautiful drama if you're just going to throw Lily under the bus (and also whitewash her)!!!!! Sorry American Son but you lost so many points for that. :/

OVERALL THOUGH I do love Parksborn so so so sososososo much. And I'm not going to tag all the friends who have dragged me deeper into this ship because they're probably sick of me tagging them all the time anyways but YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. And you are why I'm neck deep in this.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

HSGSH @//i-am-so-strange STOP YOU GUYS ARE MAKING ME BLUSH very happy to be of service and I’m glad you guys find my translations helpful!!! Trust once Karasu and Otoya get their stories I will be running to do those too!!

But true….even Barou of the animated characters right now I’d say he’s definitely on the more unpopular side unfortunately….actually that’s a good point because iirc Niko’s wasn’t translated by one of the usual translators but a separate Niko fan!

SHDHS it honestly also doesn’t matter much either way to me either HAHAHA Just kinda a matter of ig how many posts you want under your translations tag/on your blog? Idk if you prefer to keep it more organized and all slapped into one big ask or if you wanna read it as they get done LOL

Oops I also disappeared for a bit to touch grass HAHAHA

I love dumbass toddler Karasu any dumbass Karasu is great hehe can’t wait to read his version of bfb!!

CREST SCOPE TOOTHPASTE LMFAOOOOO I CANT

-Karasu anon

where would we be without you karasu anon 😩 OMG no because if the next lineup isn’t karasu otoya shidou/someone else (kiyora??) then we must riot…given our track record at predicting things related to bllk though i think we have a good shot at manifesting it into existence

i feel like barou’s best moments come as soon as he gets subbed into the u-20 match…like he becomes a whole diff character atp HAHA i am 100% confident that he’s going to have soooo many new fans post season 2 and probs more if/when NEL is animated because he goes crazy in the ubers match!! also the evolution of the art style in the manga is most evident with him and nagi imo but someone on the 8bit team had a fat crush on nagi because they yassified him sm from the manga (not complaining ofc bc me too) but they did NOT give barou the same love…if they stick w how he’s drawn later in the manga though i knowww he’s going to get fangirls

hmm just for the sake of my stalkers if i have any maybe do separate ones so they don’t have to scroll past one huge post when they’re going through my blog??? LMAO also i would love to see what’s going on w barou hehe my green flag king…actually wait it’s crazy this ln is just best bf numbers one and two plus aryu 😭

LOOK AT US IN OUR TOUCHING GRASS ERA 🙌 so proud 🥹 hehe i actually leave for vacation on sunday august 4th so we’ve been doing packing and getting ready for that plus i’ve been hanging out with some friends and whatnot before leaving for a bit 😩 don’t fear though vacation will not stop the chronically online grind…it may slow it down but nothing can ever stop me NOTHING (i have started/finished some of my most popular and longest fics while on a completely different continent…like the last 80k words of pomegranate ink were written while i was in india HAHA i will always find a way to post no matter the odds)

BFB KARASU VERSION IS COMING ALONG!! hoping to post before my flight so within the next couple of days hopefully 😰🤞🏻 rn we are at 8k words and karasu is. uh. 7 years old 😭😭😭 so we’ll see how that goes…

it was the only thing i could think of…otoya is one of those favs that you just love to slander yk 😭 still love him though (begrudgingly 😒)

[jlf23tumble]

Mannnn, I’m sure I’ve said a lot of stupid shit in my life, but I’m glad I’ve never said--and never WILL say--”free him” about a stupendously wealthy white man who is actively handling the shit on his own plate in a way I’ll never know (or frankly care) enough about to get my own knickers in that much of a twist over, yeah, feels good--feels great, even! 

[we-pay-for-everything]

Hi!! I'm the fellow anti-Luke/Lorelai anon who asked about Gilmore Girls and loved reading your answers so much! To answer your question, I ship Rory/Logan so hard that I started a blog about them...but no one followed it, lol, since our ship is so unpopular. I may try again! Logan is not the kind of character I normally like and not someone I'd click with in real life, but I love his warmth, cleverness and energy and how he brought joy and adventure to Rory's life while she stabilized him and inspired him to become more mature and responsible. They're so compatible, they connect on every level, they communicate fairly well in general and very well by GG's low standards, and they're genuinely happy around each other. Like others have said they understand and accept each other as they are but encourage each other to be better too. Basically, they're everything LL aren't and it amazes me that fandom worships LL and hates Rogan! I did semi-ship Jess/Rory for one episode---the one where he comes back in season 6 - but overall I feel like Jess loved the girl she was, not the woman she became, and Rory chose Logan and even Dean over Jess again and again. She was basically done with him after their terrible S3 relationship, so I'd never believe their feelings were balanced and mutual. Plus, Rory needs a lighthearted extrovert like Logan to balance her out in my opinion. My UO here is that the revival was terrible but no worse than season 6, and despite the disgustingly casual attitude the show has towards cheating, the revival actually convinced me more than ever that Rory and Logan are each other's soulmate, still connected, still always there for each other, still loving each other no matter what. Rory hadn't even kept in touch with Jess, viewing him just as Luke's nephew by now, and I literally LOL when I see literati stans try to convince themselves that the revival was supposed to convey that Jess/Rory will be endgame! And Jess isn't Luke in good ways and otherwise----he isn't going to stay in Stars Hollow for decades while Rory raises another man's child and tries to make up her mind about whether to date him. Anyway, Rogan scenes are pretty much the only GG scenes I can see myself rewatching at this point---along with a couple of Paris's rants ;) Thank you again for reading!!

Hi! You're welcome to rant!

I agree with you on Rogan and I'm happy you are a Rogan shipper as well! How did you find my blog? Through Rogan, anti JavaJunkie, or Friends posts? I've written much on Rogan, Literati, JavaJunkie, etc..

Regarding AYITL, I also didn't think it was much worse than some GG episodes. And I loved how it showed that Rory and Logan were pretty much made for each other. Logan's goodbye to Rory was literally one of their best scenes ever. I think it's worth watching for them alone. I think I also liked Paris? But her storyline was weird. And was Lane even in it? I know she was, but not much, right? Emily was a mixed bag for me. Honestly, the cheating was so inconsequential that I didn't even care.

I'm sorry the Rogan sideblog didn't go well! It's hard to create blogs. It doesn't even matter how big the fandom is. Are you a gifmaker? It's hard when you're not, like me, haha. I have 4 blogs. The HP one isn't active, but the BTS one is, and BTS are huge yet I don't have many followers because I mostly just rant and reblog things. I have a blog dedicated to a Merlin ship now, that, like Rogan, is not very popular, so I get how you feel! You can always try again, if it makes you happy. Followers don't matter that much, just engagement.

Thanks for the ask!

[theunconcernedembalmer]

what’s the issue with elisop? is it just bc you hc aesop as ace? im so concerned by seeing ppl adamantly opposed to mlm/wlw ships but im also genuinely curious about why you dislike it and other lgbt ships so much lol

hmm. that is a strong accusation, n i find it just a bit odd. are you new here? or perhaps you are taking personal offense at my dislike towards a favourite ship of yours and using the lgbt argument as moral high ground?

whatever the case may be, i thank you for asking. if u r truly looking for an answer, its below the cut n it is very very long. mind u these are all my personal opinions n i am in no way policing how others enjoy ships. just in case this wasnt clear; i dont wish to start discourse on this blog, especially since my takes are probably... unpopular.

firstly i would like to address the “disliking lgbt ships” bit, because this has very strong implications in itself. i have nothing against lgbt ships. i enjoy them, even. if the two characters have chemistry between each other, i ship it. however, the moment characterization is broken for the sake of romance, i lose interest. this is generally my stance on ships in general, n this applies for both straight n lgbt ships. 

the ships themselves are fine. however, i do have issues with the ship dynamics, so ill let u in on that.

i want to touch on mlm ships in particular; i believe u are familiar with the top/bottom dynamic that is rampant in these kinds of ships? (i wont deny that this dynamic can be found in other types of ships, but for arguments sake i will be focusing on gay ships because i feel that this occurs more commonly here) its such a popular dynamic that is prone to stripping the personality from one if not both characters, only for them to be reduced to being dominant/submissive. for a character to be pigeonholed into a stereotypical category based on... preferred sexual positions? its just downright insulting, never mind the larger more problematic implications of it. top/bottom is not indicative of someones personality, by the way. flattening multi dimensional characters into these stereotypes is so so so insulting.

unfortunately this is The Most Popular portrayal of just about any gay ship around. ive seen it being used everywhere in so many fandoms n it just about becomes apparent to me that ppl come to stories looking for a Ship. not the stories, nor the characters, just a ship. while id like to say theres nothing wrong with that, keep in mind not everyone is just looking for 2 characters that look pretty next to each other. if i ship something, i see interesting n meaningful interactions between 2 characters, which is so often not the case once u bring in the top/bottom dynamic. why is it so popular? because somehow this is what ppl like from a gay ship n hence it sells. ppl want the drama, characterizations be damned. ppl want to see the big kiss that happens in the end, n maybe the sexy parts that come after. characterizations be damned.

so u can say im a little wary of gay ships when they cross my feed. hell, as a joseph aesop shipper i see this trope everywhere n im pretty disappointed as well. small tangent but i feel like this is the reason why zh0ngli n ch1lde is so popular in g3nshin. i try to see the appeal, i really do, but after a long while of analyzing their respective characters i dont think they have as much chemistry as ppl think they do. dont even get me started on how incredibly ooc they make either of these very interesting n unique characters in ship portrayals. all because of the top/bottom dynamic that ppl want to see. i say this for that particular ship, but this is pretty much the case for a lot of ships out there, n the latter part is painfully true even when the 2 characters do have potential between each other. ill say it again im disgusted by the blatant disrespect to the characterizations if all ppl ever want is 2 pretty puppets to mush lips together. cos thats what theyre essentially reduced to this way.

n its so obvious to see when an artist subscribes to this rhetoric, because u can so clearly see it in the way they draw their characters. the “top” generally has sharper features to go with their “dominating personality”, while the “bottom” has disturbingly softer, feminine, dare i say sometimes child like features “to submit”. n thats where the uwu soft gay trope comes from, i believe. which, in case u still dont know, i hate with a burning passion.

so again for ppl with impaired reading comprehension, im fine with ships, including lgbt ones, but the moment u break characterization for the sake of the ship, im not that okay with it. u want to do it for a short crack comic? fine. but if thats the only way ur portraying the 2 characters then im immediately wary of ur content. ill still look at it cos usually the art is really good, but im very very wary. so im not “adamantly opposed”, just very critical of how the ships are being portrayed. if other ppl want to enjoy their ships like that, sure. just dont expect me to join in on something i dont agree on.

.

now id like to address not shipping “because i hc aesop as ace”. for ppl who are new to the blog (hello there), im an ace in a romantic relationship, so thats definitely not the reason i dont ship elisop. its more of being in a relationship has largely shaped my views towards romance as a whole. even before i met my boyfriend, i hated the romance genre in stories n media. most of it comes off as incredibly forced, especially those love triangles they seem to love putting into teen novels. thats one reason why i stopped reading when i was younger, but i digress.

did i partake in shipping when i was younger? i did. for a gay ship too (if anyone really wants to know, its kurotsukki from haikyuu. at least this was one that i can remember, i was mostly working on my 20 odd ocs for the longest time). i also used to write little short romance ficlets that i never posted anywhere cos i hated (n still do hate) my writing. but writing romance when u dont have experience was really just a way of projecting n probably a way of coping for myself, not that i knew at that time. but after i actually started a relationship with my boyfriend (whom i love n cherish a lot thank u very much), i began to see how much all these have skewed my views towards romance n have actually done some harm to our relationship. the bullshit that the general media feeds u constantly doesnt help in the slightest either.

quick topic shift to elisop in particular (about time, right?). i already stated that i only ship characters if i sense chemistry between the two personalities, n if u have seen the part where i dont ship elisop then u must have seen how agonized i am over not being able to have a concrete personality for eli. that is the main problem i have with elisop: eli does not feel like a solid character to me. n that is a huge problem, because if he doesnt have any defining characteristics besides being mild n nice, then he can be whoever i want him to be. (i have done this in my exorcist comics, i will admit this. n the fact that i can just do that... it really does not sit well with me personally.)

n that is dangerous.

back to young me doing lil ship things. i think its also pretty safe to say when u really do ship 2 characters, chances are u kinda really relate very very hard to at least one of them. that very quickly can turn into projecting, n shipping therefore is not “exploring the relationship between 2 characters” n it becomes “my preferred dating simulator 101″. of course this isnt always the case, but at least it was for me, n subconsciously it might be for lots of ppl too. n since this is ur mental playground, u call the shots, n there is no consequences if u slightly (or even entirely) alter one or both personalities to fit ur desired narrative. n u wouldnt even notice or know, cos ur blind to ur own biasness.

we bring our perceived notions into real life, im sure u know that. so when ur partner does not become that perfect knight in shining armour, or when they get upset at things that u do (which is a very normal thing by the way), n u think (very subconsciously), That isnt what my otp would do, something is wrong here (nothing is wrong, actually its just ur skewed perception of a stable romantic relationship). why wouldnt ur otp do this? because u are both halves of ur otps, there is no hidden secrets between them (apart from the pining part but thats irrelevant), n again they have been altered to fit ur preferred narrative. 

a real relationship requires a lot of communication between parties, because newsflash, liking someone doesnt mean that u have to like every single thing they do, they will make mistakes n it will hurt u, n guess what, the reverse is also true. if u do go with absoutely anything that they would do with 0 objections whatsoever, ur not crushing on someone, ur idolizing them, n that power imbalance is detrimental to a relationship. these things are not obvious to ppl, especially when the whole climate is hell bent on getting into romantic relationships by a certain age or some bullshit. communication is key n is pretty much the only way to solve relationship issues, because the other person has a lot that u r not seeing n vice versa. as similar as 2 ppl can be, i doubt u can have 100% the same thoughts on all things. i dont make the rules.

so in ur mental playground u focus on the fluffy parts, maybe there is communication, but rarely is there any meaningful conflict. thats unrealistic, n if u bring that mindset to an actual relationship, thats not going to end well. i say meaningful conflict, because yes, generally u shouldnt have conflicts with ur significant other. but inevitably when ur with each other for long enough, u will realize that there are habits that u must change in order to be with the other person. habits that are harmful to the other person directly, or harmful habits towards yourself that indirectly harm the other person. these are meaningful in a sense that if left alone, it will manifest into larger problems that will harm u, the other person n the relationship as a whole. its meaningful to the relationship.

all these is made even worse if ur neurodivergent. maladaptive coping practices, self sabotaging behaviours, inherent disabilities. all these must be adjusted n addressed. im so incredibly thankful for my boyfriend for being incredibly patient with me when working all these out, n it has not been easy for me to work on myself n all my problems, n im still not done working on them. this aspect is often not explored in romance in general (or properly), n there is a very good chance i would have still been stuck in the unhealthy mindset of “this isnt like my otp, maybe we’re not meant to be”. because loving someone is a choice. no one is made for each other, it is a conscious choice made between 2 ppl to make things work. this is how arranged marriages work, i am told, n i do see the appeal, not that it actually does appeal to me culturally.

special mention to the kurotsukki ship, cos from there i found a very, very good fic that explored their relationship before n after getting together, n it actually showed aspects of this problem in the incredibly slow burn of (at that time) 20+ chapters. it was just one fic (n a very good one at that, i believe it was called Leviticus), but it had a lesson i never thought i needed to learn, n learn it i did, with a lot of help from my dear. 

this is also probably the reason why i dont really want to delve too much into romance now. i know its a lot of work, n everything (mostly) that the media feeds u is really false advertising, but ppl eat that shit up n so it remains one of the most popular genres to date. im just very wary that if i do start on a romantic story, i want to be able to show it in a way like that fic did, the truths of relationships, because i dont want to make something that sells, i want to make something that meaningful to me, if a little indulgent. n that also includes being very careful in how the respective characterizations will change in a relationship. almost too careful now that i think about it, but its not something that i mind. i was never one for romance from the start, n now im very careful about shipping because of what happened to me persoanlly.

okay enough about me, lets talk about aesop. in any au u put the character in, the essence of the character must remain despite the change in environment. so lets say we have ur typical modern au. dead mom, check. shitty mentor doing illegal stuff? also check. autistic boy with social anxiety? we’re good to go. all these have implications on aesop as a character, n while ppl are aware of this, again the way they go about portraying it can go, in my personal opinion, very wrong. ppl who immediately woobify aesop completely because he has autism annoy me. ppl who reduce him to uwu soft boi cos he has social anxiety do not know how the disorder really works n as someone who has that i hate it to the core. ppl who do all these for the sake of ship have lost my respect. its insulting.

remember the top/bottom dynamic? not that elisop is completely free from that (even if i dont know much about eli, to put him in either one of those stereotypes feels very insulting to his character. i wont even say anything about doing it to aesop its so upsetting), but its not entirely made up of either. but now i want to introduce another trope i am very wary of, which is “i can fix him”. im sure u guys have seen the meme going around poking fun at this trope (for those who havent, its along the lines of “u can fix him? well i can be his worst nightmare”) n no doubt yall would have seen it n gotten sick of it in some forced hetero romantic bullshit. we have one damsel in distress with a saviour that solves all their problems just by existing n being romo with each other.

remember “my preferred dating simulator 101″? this is not mutually exclusive n from my point of view this is dangerously close to this trope. lets be real, if it was actually a thing that all ur deep rooted trauma magically disappears if someone were to waltz into ur life, we would want it. definitely. no painfully dissecting ur own problems n constantly facing them head on. real life states that this is not the case, but it will not stop us from dreaming. n so this trope is born n lives n will go on.

(finally) pulling aesop n eli into this, at least in my mind, u have one severely traumatized boy with lots of issues n u have this. nice mild guy who can be anything u want him to be. i hope u can see where im going with this, n thats the direction i see some elisop heading towards (i dont read a lot of elisop to be fair). if u came from my eli character talk, i mentioned that it is incredibly one sided. this is exactly what im talking about.

putting it all together in case u havent already, aesop is the damsel in distress, whose problems magically disappear because of elis godly kindness n little to no work on improving himself, n they lived happily n gayly ever after.

can u tell how much that does not appeal to me. 

never mind the butchering of character that inevitably happens somewhere somehow, the unrealistically perfect themes n implications of this trope makes me so viscerally uncomfortable. this is, of course, due to personal reasons, n i definitely see the appeal of this dynamic because i would probably have been interested in this once upon a time as well. but as i am now, with everything i have explained up there n everything i have been through, i would politely rather not.

n its difficult to think of another dynamic, because of how little i know about eli apart from him being this saint, which easily makes him a candidate for being aesops trauma panacea. never mind aesop rarely, if ever, does anything for eli as a character in return, n its so damaging to buy into this rhetoric, where a person like this who would solve all ur issues no strings attached exists somewhere in the world. they really dont. a relationship has to be mutually benefitting, or it will be draining n disastrous. maybe u say, Oh its nice to imagine it once in a while. n yeah, i agree, except once in a while is a little difficult to keep track of n that is sort of what happened to me. id rather stay as far away as possible from this kind of unrealistic fantasy, i just got this shit sorted out with myself n my boyfriend.

i have some other reasons, but theyre more personally problematic, so i wont go into them here. but this is mostly n generally why i do not ship elisop romantically. if u do, u do u, and have fun, but again dont expect me to join u. thank u for coming to my ted talk, this took a lot longer than expected.

[readyplayerhobi]

BTS Fanfic Reader Survey Results

So! This week, I put out a request for all you lovely folk to do a survey for me. Initially, it was so that I could get a good gauge on the interest of my readers but so many people responded that I ended up just getting a pretty good idea of a lot of reader’s opinions on fanfics regarding BTS.

Now, to preface...this will be skewed obviously because I am a Hoseok majority fic blog and therefore it’s expected that will likely be the most popular member people read on here. However...the results may surprise you with what you expect.

238 people did this survey. For reference, apparently if you want only a 10% margin of error on the opinion of 10,000 people...you only need to survey 100 people. For a 5% margin, you would survey just under 400. Just the facts there for you lol

I’m not going to put these questions in order of how I put them in the survey and some had too many responses for me to make an accurate chart without it looking ridiculous so you’ll get a generalisation.

-

Question 1

Now then...who expected to see that Taehyung would be the second lowest because I didn’t. I fully expected it to read as Hoseok then the maknae line. But instead, Hoseok took the clear win but Yoongi and Namjoon were surprisingly in the top four for a while. Jimin appears to have made a leap, but he’s only 1.3% ahead. To give you clear numbers, Jimin only got 3 more votes than Namjoon.

Question 2

Pretty even split here! So don’t worry people who want to write multi-chaptered stories, you’ll find a positive reception!

Question 3

Again, an almost even split. Which is both encouraging for people writing stories but also slightly discouraging knowing that people aren’t going to bother until you’ve finished it. But hopefully that would mean people would Netflix style binge!

Question 4

This surprised no one really, huh? The stats are overwhelmingly in favour of longer fics and I understand why. You get more from it and get to stay invested in a world for longer.

Question 5

Now, this made it look like everyone only liked to read fluff or smut when I looked at it but putting it into a chart actually give me a more in depth look! So, this is very interesting to read because while smut is very popular...people seem to like it mostly with other stuff. (for some reason it’s put them both ways round so take that into account). If we combine the multiple answers, then it’s pretty clear that fluff and smut together is the most popular combination of genres to read. After this, it’s the combination of all three with angst, fluff AND smut. Angst on it’s own isn’t hugely popular but people seem to like angst mixed in with everything else.

Question 6

What is your favourite sub-genre to read?

Take this with a pinch of salt because it will include multiple answers, so some people put slice of life and fantasy. But it still gives you a pretty clear indication that slice of life and college are the two most popular. I presume this to be because the fanbase/readership is often college aged which makes sense. Fantasy and supernatural are always clear winners in the fic verse! Other answers that were given include hybrid, mafia, idolverse, OT7, CEO/businessmen, soulmates, unrequited love and office.

Question 7

What is your least favourite sub-genre to read?

Unsurprisingly, horror was the least favourite genre. I don’t think anyone will be shocked over that, but I was a little surprised at how high single parent ranked! Also, science fiction being the second most unpopular *cries in Starfire*, but again, not surprising! Other answers include: yandere, CEO, artist, florist, r*pe, historical, idol.

Question 8

True is yes, false is no. It’s nice to see that a lot of people are willing to read fics that also include members of other K-pop groups for anyone who’s wondering about whether people may be interested in that!

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And that concludes our survey! I hope it was interesting for both readers AND authors! It’s a useful insight into the mindsets of people to see what they think regarding the stories that they read! Feel free to share :)

[1-mini-1]

My 2 Cents on Translating

I was skimming through my computer and found this blog post that I never posted. I think I was hesitant because I saw varying opinions on the subject in the fandom, but idk, these are just my thoughts from my experience as a fan translator for the vocaloid/utaite fandom and what I have learned. I'm not sure if any of my thoughts are unpopular opinions or not, but I'm also not sure how much discussion there has been concerning fan translators. Also, this is really long, so if you want to skim or ignore it be my guest lol.

I guess the first thing I'll talk about is how I think writing a translation is just as much of an artform as writing original lyrics are. I know that translations aren't from scratch like an original story is, but with Japanese especially, there's sooooooo much leniency in how things can be translated into English. Here's an example of how different translations can be. This is a quote from Natsume Soseki's "Kokoro" and three published translations of it:

私は冷やかな頭で新しい事を口にするよりも、熱した舌で平凡な説を述べる方が生きていると信じています。血の力で体が動くからです。言葉が空気に波動を伝えるばかりでなく、もっと強い物にもっと強く働き掛ける事ができるからです。

"I believe that a common reply, stated with passion on one's tongue, is more impactful than novel words from a cool head. The flow of blood powers the body. Words are more than waves disturbing the air, they induce great action in greater things." - From the Soseki Project site

"I believe that commonplace ideas passionately expressed are more effective in real life than the original inventions of a detached intellect. Because it is the heat of the blood that impresses us, for in addition to the words which reverberate in the air, the emotion by its intensity pierces to the soul." - Ineko Kondo

"I believe that words uttered in passion contain a greater living truth than do those words which express thoughts rationally conceived. It is blood that moves the body. Words are not meant to stir the air only; they are capable of moving greater things." - Edwin McClellan

Anyways, you get the idea lol. As you can see from these translations, the grammar structures are completely different; sometimes words are added, sometimes words are left out, and sometimes there are grammar patterns used in Japanese that just don't work in English. All these decisions are up to the translator. I've read some translations of things where whole relevant plot details were cut out just because the translator got annoyed (I'm looking at your translation of the Tale of Genji, Seidensticker).

I should probably talk about how I translate stuff. When I first started translating, I thought my lyrics were more liberal, but as I poked around and looked at other translators, I found that mine stuck more closely to the original format of the song (such as, I would keep the same phrases on the same line in the stanza, use the same format for punctuation, etc.). Song translation is different from manga or books because sentences can be broken up over a whole stanza, so translators can play a lot with how they want to arrange phrases for lyrics. I kept mine very close to the original song because I liked being able to easily identify the Japanese line with the English. I'm not sure if that's a translating "sin" but eh, that's how I liked translating my stuff. Maybe in the future I'll try something different

However, just because I saw many different translations for songs, I wouldn't go out of my way to say that any of them were wrong or bad, per say. Translating songs is a huge pain because there's no punctuation which makes it hard to keep track of everything. I've had times where I've been able to translate a 10 page story faster than I could translate a single song, just because having context and punctuation makes everything sooooo much easier. However, even if a translation is wrong, I don't think that makes it meaningless. I'm personally of the opinion that having some sort of translation is better than nothing, but that's something you need to decide for yourself. When I was first learning Japanese and couldn't fully understand the songs I listened to, if there was even just one line that I understood, I would embrace it and really love whatever meaning I grasped from it. Even if a song is translated correctly, there are lines that will impact people differently, and even an awkward or incorrect translation can resonate with the reader. Similarly, there are many times when I translate that I look at a line and think "aaahhhhh I want to change the meaning a bit because I can make it sound cooler and give it more impact than a direct translation would".

The next thing I noticed is that I kind of feel like people value native Japanese speakers (who have English as their second language, non-native English speaker) over native English speakers more (Japanese second language, non-native Japanese speaker)? Tbh, that feels like a double standard to me. Like idk, I'm fine translating Japanese into English, but I don't think I would be able to translate English into Japanese. In fact, most professional translating jobs have you translate into your native language, so I thought it was strange when I noticed that it seemed like native Japanese speakers had more favored translations. Or another one I noticed is that if someone knew more languages, their translation would also be considered better because of the assumption that taking multiple language courses is the same as being gifted with languages. Anyways, my point is that both English native speakers and Japanese native speakers both put a lot of time into learning their languages so I don't think one side should be valued less than the other. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Native English speakers may have a harder time understanding the initial Japanese, but shape it into English better, while native Japanese speakers understand the Japanese, but have a harder time putting it into English how a native speaker would understand.

No matter what the translator's native language is though, I've learned that having skills in a foreign language isn't the only requirement to be a good translator; you also need to have proper understanding of grammar and a large vocabulary in your native language. Also, proper reading of the translation requires the same amount of understanding for English grammar and vocabulary. I realized this after I took a lot of comparative literature classes and realized how much of a potato I am lol. I think it makes sense though, as a lot of the lyrics from utaite and vocaloid songs are usually extremely well thought out poetry. Multiple songwriters I've translated for have mentioned that as they tried to write better lyrics, they eventually had to immerse themselves in studying literature and their native language much more than the average person would. I often think that since literature and translating doesn't abide by scientific law that the humanities are actually more difficult to grasp than STEM subjects (and trust me, I've studied far on both sides of the spectrum).

The last thing I'll touch on is that… just appreciate your fan translators and don't give them a hard time please. Like nobody gets paid to do this stuff and usually they do it because they really like something, so just let people learn and try their best. Yes, they won't be perfect translations, but once again, fan translators aren't paid. They're translating out of the goodness of their heart. After all, translators don't need to translate a song to understand it, so in the end they don't really lose anything if they stop translating. As international fans, I feel like there are three options that we have to choose from eventually: 1. Rely on fan translations, even with their mistakes 2. Don't use translations and just enjoy the music or 3. Learn Japanese. I think all options are great, but they are personal decisions and shouldn't be used to knock other people down and make them feel bad. If there's a mistake in a translation, it is not intentional and the translator literally has no idea unless someone tells them (as translations are a combined reflection of both Japanese AND English ability). All I know is that Vocaloid was popularized from amateur musicians just doing what they wanted for fun, and so I think a really cool thing that the international fandom has that Japan doesn't is that we have awesome fan translators that are also amateurs and are doing translations for fun.

[jonsameta]

Hi, me again!

jesuiscommejesuis: Haha, I’m on that GoT grind and probably won’t stop until the premiere 😂. I trust your opinion so unfortunately you have to endure another ask from me. Anyway…I think that most of us have considered the possibility of Jonsa not being canon. (RIP me if that happens). But my question isn’t about whether Jonsa will be or won’t be (I’ve come to terms with the fact that GoT will end how GRRM always intended it to end) it’s about what that possibility means for all of the evidence, clues, foreshadowing, etc that we’ve gathered. In your opinion will Jonsa not happening render those clues and meta meaningless and we were all crazy after all? Or do they take on a new meaning and point us in a new direction? Idk if that even makes sense. Maybe I’m just afraid that Jonsa wont happen and I’m afraid for no other reason other than that I will have looked and sounded insane to all of my GoT friends and had nothing to show for it. Also do you know of any interviews or blog posts from GRRM possibly supporting Jonsa? Same for D&D? Or any other people on or working with the show? Thank you so much!! 💙

—-

Hi there, 

The thing about theories is they’re like Shrodinger’s cat. If you try to be objective, you have to entertain the possibility that it won’t happen, but it can’t completely be false until proven otherwise. That said, some theories are more probable than others because there’s material within the text that thematically undoes something. This is because a story’s themes (which differs depending on the adaptation but it can’t be completely divorced from the original source either) define its boundaries because they essentially make up “the heart of the story”, not the plot. They give the main characters a moral dilemma that drives their journeys. Considering the themes of the story - both bookwise and showwise - Jonsa is very probable because it answers a lot of long standing character arcs that go beyond these characters and provides a bookend that Jon/Dany cannot considering R+L=J. 

I think anything in this story has to be considered according to the politics - even the fantasy part because the personal is political. With such a spread out story only the themes and the morality dilemmas of politics that the smallest moment can have is what holds it all together. And I think the strongest argument for the probability of Jonsa comes from a structural level of gauging the politics. 

Jon’s parentage is a political game changer and the way it’s been built up it cannot just be for personal angst - especially when the element of his parentage revealing him to have a higher claim than Dany is brought up. It doesn’t just affect him or his relationship with Dany. It affects Westeros and Dany’s own longstanding goal.

Jon may not want to be king, but Dany is walking in as a very unpopular figure into the North and the way she has gone about her campaign hasn’t improved her reputation and only worsened it. And Jon himself will lose popularity after having 1) bent the knee to a Targaryen, 2) consorting with a Targaryen and 3) being a secret Targaryen. 

Dany doesn’t realise that although Jon claims to have pledged his allegiance to her, it doesn’t mean the North has fallen into her hands. He’s only lost their faith from this move so no Targaryen by themselves could claim the North. Not to mention the Vale and Riverlands are more allied to Sansa than they are to Jon. To regain faith, he’d have to separate himself from Dany and the Targaryen identity a bit and yet he would need a political statement that only a marriage alliance to Stark could give if he were to remain in power. There’s also the pesky issue of how unknowingly Sansa and the Starks have more allies than Dany (or Jon without the Starks) does as everyone comes into Winterfell. So Sansa’s constant label as “key to the North” and the importance of marriage alliances becomes very important here. He can’t become king or even gain the faith of the people (back) without Sansa. So in that case, the whole notion of the Pact of Ice and Fire being fulfilled through Dany and Jon falls apart because Jon will be seen as an outsider. @thelawyerthatwaspromised has even written a post with infographics to make it easier to understand. It’s like R+L=J resets the chessboard. Ironically, what the audience thought Jon/Dany’s union would do politically is far more possible through Jon/Sansa. 

As it makes sense as a political match, the possibility of it happening and impacting the narrative increases a lot more. The original outline also matters here because clearly the pseudo-incest tag didn’t stop the author. However, as the characters haven’t interacted in real time in the books and aren’t close, there’s not much people have asked him about it nor has GRRM has said about it unless you count his vague reply once (”I won’t say more than I’ve already said in the books”). I’d say there’s more to be gauged from what he has to say about other ships that fandom roots for, that isn’t as positive as they make it out to be - whether Jon/rya, San/San, San/rion or Jon/Dany. It’s not obvious because he hardly shuts down possibilities but there’s reading between the lines. It becomes more obvious through a process of elimination. It’s also because Jon/Sansa as a ship tramples over so many ships that fandoms have banked on that people are inclined to dismiss it rather than re-evaluate the pre-existing ships. 

On the show, people have been coy too but there’s more content to gauge as the characters have already reunited and their dynamic has become pretty pivotal to the story. Where D&D shut down Dany and Yara ever happening, in the same panel they evaded a question about Jon and Sansa being developed as a romantic relationship. Aiden Gil/lian commented on how Jon’s parentage opens up possibilities for Jon and Sansa’s relationship romantically at the end of season 6. Sophie was asked about it post season 6 and she said it was possible because it’s GOT and they’re cousins. Also, there’s Liam Cunnin/gham who once liked a Jonsa fanvideo lol and he barely has any likes. Sophie has said it’s possible, even as she joked about how it would be embarrassing to film an intimate scene. Kit has somehow avoided all questioning, but he has some pretty interesting reactions regarding Jon and Sansa’s relationship - either in the words he chooses (”She twists him like no one else”) or how over the top his reaction to Sansa is when he talks about how annoying she is to the point where he’s flushed and red and laughing while saying “I’ve gotten really animated now that Sansa has come into the story”. Bryan Cogman has a lot to say regarding this dynamic too, that he even wrote Jon leaving Ghost behind to watch over Sansa when he left for Dragonstone. 

What helps regarding the show is that it’s not just the actors or the political sense, but the camerawork and visual framing that makes their scenes very confusing because they’re shot as a romantic couple about to happen, as @trinuviel has explored in her series “All is Subtext”.  This notion that it was “framed” or “shot” that way was echoed by multiple reviewers and podcasts through season 6 and even into the beginning of season 7. 

A huge part of this was because it very subtly visually paralleled more positive romantic ships on the show like Ned/Cat, Jaime/Brienne, Robb/Talisa, Sam/Gilly, Missandei/Greyworm and even Jon/Ygritte to some extent. This is over a course of 7 episodes under 5 different directors. One of the most telling scenes for me was when they did two back to back parallels to Ned/Cat and Jaime/Brienne after Jon chokeholds Littlefinger over Sansa and they go on to give a Jaime/Brienne-esque goodbye. The same director Mark Mylod directed both the season 6 Jaime/Brienne and season 7 Jon/Sansa goodbye. Bryan Cogman even confirmed that the Littlefinger chokehold was meant to parallel Ned doing the same over Cat. 

But in my opinion, what weirdly cemented it was how Jon/Dany contrasted Jon/Sansa’s dynamic and framing. There were a lot of structural decisions made that undercut the Jon/Dany “romance” and made Jon/Sansa look more compatible and romantic, which is something I explored in my “Undoing Romance” series. Again, this is looking beyond the actors. The biggest tell for me was that they never got a first kiss so romantic tension was never released but just dissipated over plot exposition. Moreover, how is it that Jon and Sansa have more parallels with romantic ships than Jon/Dany do? Why do Jon/Sansa have more Robb/Talisa framing through season 6 than Jon/Dany through season 7 if that’s what’s happening? Why was there no passionate first kiss like theirs? We just skipped to the sex in between a montage that told us how related they are. 

Why didn’t Jon look back at Dany when Jorah did, while he looked back at Sansa? Why does Jon react more violently to Sansa’s suitors than to Jorah? Why are these characters caught in triangle with interlopers, who pose a political threat but are also interested in one romantically? Why is this dynamic given so much importance where there’s tension but also there’s emotional vulnerability that pours out contrasting Jon/Sansa’s and Sansa and Arya’s season 6 and season 7 battlements scenes respectively. Why did they reveal R+L=J at the end of season 6 - the season in which people questioned what the hell was happening in the Jon/Sansa dynamic and a whole season before Jon met Dany. Both season finales also teased conflict because of political claims that change because of R+L=J. Where his parentage reveal, relieves Jon/Sansa of the direct incest factor because it biologically distances them, it makes Jon and Dany biologically more related - especially because she’s heavily inbred herself. 

So it is a situation of “will they/won’t they?” but even more subtly because the cast and crew always skips past discussing it and with Jon/Dany happening people take it as accidental chemistry. There’s no heavy dismissal from the TPTB though when there could’ve been or laughing at it like Tormund and Brienne, which is totally for laughs and a show ship. What they do keep saying is that this relationship is key to watch and you have to wonder: why is it so important? To me it’s not about the actors chemistry or singular scenes. It’s about the story’s intrinsic narrative structure and the camera framing that makes the visual subtext convey more than the text does. 

The show frames Jon and Sansa’s relationship is odd because we know they weren’t close and Arya was his favorite and yet they take up quite an important part in each other’s arc at this point, where they both want to trust each other completely but don’t and yet their vulnerability comes out most around each other in these last two seasons. They’re being built up more slowly than Jon/Dany and more subtly so while people expect a full blown romance, I expect something more subtle, more quiet and thus emotionally rewarding for these characters individual and collective arcs. If it happens, D&D are building it up as a plot twist/game changer because it’s related to politics. But it’s not to say there can’t be emotional catharsis too because these characters have a lot of issues that they answer pretty well. 

Hope that answers your questions. 

- lostlittlesatellites