#i just love how different relationship dynamics can be between one character vs a whole bunch people yk????

[kazzastark]

I love shipping any and everything legal and moral. Like, if I have a favorite character I will find every little fragment and speck of video, writing, or audio that can successfully convince me to ship them with everything in the series that breathes (emphasis on the legal and moral, once more).

[theotterpenguin]

the performative accusation that shipping zutara (and occasionally this criticism is levied at jinko/zukka) is colonialist apologism has been addressed in some excellent posts, explaining the inaccuracies and problematic implications of this logic far better than i ever could - like this post and this one and this one and this one and this one.

and i know this topic has been talked about to death, but if you could indulge my contribution for a moment, i just find it interesting how this sentiment results from the cognitive dissonance of atla fans being unable to reconcile with the idea of their favorite show's political beliefs not lining up with their own.

atla is a largely philosophical children's show that at its core deals with themes of love, redemption, and destiny vs. free-will. atla examines these themes through an anti-colonalist, anti-imperalist lens that deconstructs the idea of racial divisiveness and the idea that people of different ethnicities are inherently different. this is message is pretty explicitly stated by guru pathik:

Guru Pathik: "The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same." Aang: "Like the four nations?" Guru Pathik: "Yes. We are all one people. But we live as if divided."

and also by uncle iroh:

"It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements and the other nations will help you become whole."

this theme is developed across three full seasons, with the crux of this message culminating in zuko's friendships with the gaang - despite coming from different nationalities and different backgrounds, they have all had their own experiences being hurt by the fire nation and work together to take down the oppressive fire nation government. the question of destiny vs. free will is also explored through zuko's character - despite starting off as an antagonist, he develops into a symbolic representation of how the fire nation's oppression hurts its own citizens. he unlearns the fire nation's imperialist propaganda while simultaneously unlearning his father's abuse. rather than following misguided beliefs of what he thought his destiny was as the heir to the throne, instead he forges his own path.

thus, to claim that zuko can never form a deep and meaningful relationship with any of the gaang because of his nationality goes unequivocally against the themes of the show. and a major part of this is because these are fictional characters being used to analyze different theoretical questions within the show and in some cases, are used as symbolic representations of different philosophical ideas - their friendships and their character arcs serve a purpose within the text that cannot be easily transcribed onto real-life dynamics between people.

it's illogical to criticize fans who are choosing to understand atla at the level of the themes that are presented by the text - who are interested in exploring similar philosophical questions brought up by the show through the context of relationships.

if you don't like the themes of forgiveness and redemption that atla explores, your criticism should be aimed at the writing of the show itself rather than other fans. because you are giving far more thought to the "implications" of a close friendship or romantic relationship between someone from an imperalist nation and someone from an oppressed nation than the writers ever did. (and if you fall in this camp of people, i would hope you wouldn't be reblogging fanart of zuko and the gaang together while simultaneously claiming zuko could can never escape the sins of his ancestors and can never form a deep relationship based on trust and intimacy with katara or sokka or jin - because that would just be hypocritical).

and as a side note, people seem to apply this flawed logic to zutara far more than other ships solely because the show spends the most time exploring the complicated nature of fire nation imperalism in the interactions between zuko and katara in the latter half of b3. this is because they've been juxtapositioned against each other and paralleled with aang since the beginning of the show in ways that toph, sokka, and suki are not, who have mostly been used to examine different themes. there simply isn't enough time to explore these complicated themes with all the other characters, even if they theoretically exist in zuko’s dynamics with these characters, so the writers focus the most on zuko's relationships with katara and aang, and these relationships are given far more narrative weight, so have more content to criticize. but zuko and katara also canonically become friends by the end of the show. if you want to discount the existence of their friendship, claiming that it will always be tainted by the fire nation's oppression regardless of what is shown in the text, then you also have to discount zuko's friendships with aang, suki, toph, and sokka - because even if this isn't shown as a permanent barrier to their friendships in the show, it’s also not shown as a permanent barrier to his friendship with katara. if your logic is solely based on the idea that a person's identity in a relationship as a colonizer or a victim is fixed and unchanging regardless of character development, this would apply to zuko's friendships with everyone else as well.

[brynnmclean]

saw a post questioning shipping Senua and Thórgestr and started to reblog it with a tag novel-- felt weird about doing that since this is lengthy and potentially derailing, so making my own post instead. Spitballing under the cut:

First off, any time someone is like, "the real reason people ship this is because they find the dude attractive," this is SO funny to me as someone who doesn't find men attractive IRL and has fiercely loved Senua since I played the first game, like-- actually I find the dynamic between those two characters to be compelling and interesting precisely because of all the baggage between them re: their backgrounds, the rough (put mildly!) beginning of their relationship, all the things they don't talk about, and them finding a common enemy/common ground to work with. The explicit parallels between them stated in-game scratched an itch in my brain. The minute they pointed out the dark rot on his arm, it was like, "oh! hello there! NOW I'm interested in whatever your whole deal is" for me. Also, idk man, I too would follow Senua around after she knocked me into the dirt and then showed me a way to fight the giants that I very much wanted to fight instead of appease.

The idea that Thórgestr was part of the Orkney Raid that killed and mutilated Dillion is VERY interesting food for thought, even if I don't personally have that headcanon (surely there are more viking raiding groups than just the Bjorg). I think the Furies or the Shadow said something similar about Fargrimr (his kin murdered yours, you shouldn't save him, etc.) so I completely get that line of thought, but I think the game left it ambiguous enough that it's up for interpretation. Would I read fic with that premise? Yeah, I'd check that out. Could Senua forgive Thorgestr if his people were involved? Sounds fun to explore.

If (ha, when?) I write fic, I'd have to think more about it especially wrt timelines, like when did the Bjorg start specifically raiding for slaves for giant food sacrifices vs. killing people for resources and wealth? How far off are we from the old gods "dying" and the volcano erupting? Was it indeed a different group of raiders who made a deal with Zynbel, attacked Senua's home, and made the sacrifice at that time to Hela?

At the very least, I think there's a time jump between the end of Hellblade I and the beginning of Hellblade II since Senua wasn't alone on that slave ship and at least one of the (brief) survivors knew her by name. I wouldn't mind exploring that gap of time, too.

In any case I do agree that it would take a VERY long time for Senua to consciously catch feelings for anyone let alone Thorgestr with all their collective baggage. The idea of them having a relationship beyond friendship in the far off future of an AU where he survives is the only one that can make sense in my brain, personally. It would take time! Time they didn't get in the game! But I think there are a lot of different roads that could take, and some of them might be healthier than others. Shipping them certainly isn't forgetting or excusing what happened to Dillion-- or even mutually exclusive from still shipping Senua and Dillion. Or, frankly, also shipping Senua and Astridr, because I can see that ship too.

One of the nice things about all the details Ninja Theory didn't expand upon and that they left that ending so open is that the sky's the limit. I'm VERY interested in seeing fandom tackle this game as we get farther from the initial release.

[spooky-hazbin-fan]

I kinda love the development of Fizz. Okay more than kinda. Hear me out.

Spoilers for the latest episode!! Also this is long.

When we first see him, he's cocky, super confident, and immediately starts shitting on Blitz and just going off on him. And I loved that, ngl. But yeah! Bold, confident, bit of an asshole.

When we next see him, we get a few sides of him:

We see him in private with his boyfriend. He's still cocky and shit, but he's also a little softer towards his lover. We also see that he clearly prefers to just avoid things he's anxious about. He doesn't want to bring up the newspaper article. He skirts around the issue of him going out without bodyguards.

We see him in private with Blitzo. We see him holding a grudge. He's angry, so lashes out, but also when Blitzo starts explaining his side to him, we can see confusion and hurt. As he relaxes around Blitzo, he becomes a bit more like he is with Ozzie: cocky, but doesn't handle anxiety well.

We see him in tricky situations. He acts confident, but he's clearly scared, and alternates between exaggerating his behaviour to hide it, and being clearly panicked. He also clearly cannot handle as much as he pretends.

By the end of this episode, we can see that his first appearance wasn't entirely who he is. He is a cocky lil shit, and that's great. But he's also not great in high stress situations. On stage he can call out his ex-best-friend-almost-boyfriend and laugh about it, because it's low stress. But put him in a hostage situation? Yeah, no, that's high stress.

This also relates to his childhood. He was a clown, and a well liked (and apparently well known) performer. He can handle a stage performance. But then he went through the massive fucking trauma of the fire and a life altering injury. It kinda doesn't shock me that he might have some anxiety problems, and be prone to panic in high stress situations.

Then there's the latest episode! We see so much of him here and I love it. Some key elements.

Him as a performer again. On stage, although we can see he's uncomfortable and nervous, he's in his natural element. He assumes the over the top persona, he interacts with the fans (although as with his first appearance, is not okay with the creepy ones.) And importantly...

He's nervous specifically because this time he's up against competition. That's a big difference between him now vs him in his first appearance. He's comfortable on stage, yes, and he's confident in his skills. He knows he's good. But in this competition, being good isn't enough. He has to be the best. And as an artist, I can relate here. I am good at art, but if I judge myself against others, or am judged against others, I fear I will fall short, because I'm good, but I'm not the best.

Him and Ozzie is interesting to me here. Yes the relationship is sweet lol. But also, it's the dynamic. Ozzie is a prince of hell. And it's very clear, imo, that Fizz typically does not need to worry about being messed with because his boyfriend will come to his rescue. But this episode, and the previous one? He's separated from him. He's held hostage, just hoping his boyfriend helps him before he's hurt. And then Ozzie can't be with him, so he's dealing with Mammon and creepy fans and the anxiety of competing all on his own. It's hard to be confident when you're on your own. Notably, whilst Blitz definitely imo plays a role, it's after he receives encouragement from Ozzie in that environment, that specifically gets to the root of the issue, that he's able to stand up to himself.

And obviously, him and Mammon. A very clear exploitative and abusive relationship there. Fizz feels he can't leave, and there's a whole mix of reasons there, but mostly the emotional part. He feels he owes Mammon, and Mammon clearly gets threatening when you try to go against him.

So where does this leave us with his character?

Fizzarolli has grown up on stage. He's confident in his performing skills, and knows just how good he is. He has a cocky persona, but as we see with the deaf fan, he does have a softer side for non-creepy fans.

Despite this confidence, he's not confident that he holds up in comparison to others. This seems to be a mix of his innate self and Mammon's abuse. On top of this, he knows that for all his skill in performing, he's not so skilled at actually looking after himself. He fails to protect himself from those who want to hurt him, he's easily exploited, and if not for dating a prince of hell, he'd probably be a lot worse off tbh.

All of that means that he's actually a fairly anxious guy, and prone to panic when things go wrong. I imagine some of his childhood might be at play here. Someone mentioned the golden child and scapegoat dynamic between him and Blitzo and...yeah. Growing up knowing that the guy who messes up on stage is all but disowned by his dad is going to make you nervous about messing up, even if you're great.

And despite it all, he also genuinely cares for others. He cares about the non-creepy fans, he loves his boyfriend very much, he forgives Blitzo pretty easily, and doesn't seem to hold grudges easily. Like to hold a grudge against Blitzo he had to sustain severe injuries resulting in the complete amputation of all four limbs and the loss of his horns!

He's outwardly confident, he's sarcastic and good humoured, if a bit of an asshole. He has a soft side in private around his loved ones, that sometimes shows publicly when he's not on stage acting the part. He's got a lot of understandable anxiety about being compared to others, and he flourishes best with the support of those he cares about. He's not just his performer persona, but he's also not just soft and anxious. There's a lot of duality in him and I love that.

[nightcolorz]

Can you talk a little more about how you view gender roles in the vampire chronicles vs amc iwtv bc I feel like sth is missing from amc compared to tvc that i can't place

I would love to !! (Explodes) I have so many tvc gender thoughts. So so many. 

I believe the major disconnect between the show vs the books and gender is the place and perspective the writer’s are coming from. Something I really love about Anne Rice’s writing (and really hate sometimes lol) is that she didn’t think about themes or implications at all when she wrote. She just purged her story onto the page and themes and patterns just end up there. This means that every bit of consistency and meaning in tvc comes from something Anne Rice had fixed into her subconscious that she without realizing is putting into her work. So when it comes to gender, in tvc it’s all personal feelings of Anne rice’s. This differs in the show that obviously has a team of writers who put a lot of thought in about public reception and meaning and all. So these perspectives color how gender (and everything basically) is presented.

Anne Rice had some complicated feelings about gender. I’m not going to go too deep into that bcus that’s not what I want this post to be about, but in summarization she had a combination of problematic biases and internalizations that came from a Catholic upbringing in the 40s-50s and some apparent gender dysphoria or at least disconnect with womanhood and gender/gender roles in general. She’s spoken about not understanding gender or feeling like a woman. This comes off very strongly in how she presents her vampires as androgynous, almost genderless beings. It’s a reoccurring theme in tvc that vampirism takes away the burdens of gendered expectations and gives vampires the freedom of self expression and androgyny. It makes sense why a concept like this would speak to a trans person like me, so it’s a big part of why I prefer the book’s handling of gender. Of course Anne Rice also has problematic gender biases, so her presentation of being an androgynous being free of gender roles is flawed, since gender roles are very ingrained in her mindset, which adds to my dissatisfaction with the show’s handling, which could’ve been so good if they took what Anne Rice tried to do and enhanced it.

Anyways, when it comes to tvc there’s also Anne Rice’s subconscious projection of her irl struggles onto her characters. A handful of Anne Rice’s insecurities and struggles came from, well, being a woman, and since her characters r so much of the time vessels to vent her problems through, a strange occurrence happens where her vastly male cast is struggling in ways that would be relatable to women and people who face misogyny and/or internalized misogyny. (Cough cough this is especially apparent with Louis and Armand cough cough).All of this wasn’t conscious on Anne Rice’s part, it’s just a natural consequence of how personal her writing was. An outlier to the “cis men experiencing misogyny” phenomenon is Gabrielle, who I could write a whole essay on, one of the few afab characters who also has projected gender problems by Anne Rice syndrome, but since she is afab she just ends up coming off as a gnc/transmasc/ftm person dealing with gender dysphoria. 

Then there’s the show, which disclaimer I like the show a lot, but boy do I have Issues with it. I could be wrong, we only have one season, but it doesn’t seem like the show is attempting to tackle the “vampires are genderless” concept. They definitely do things with androgyny and gender roles, but not in the context of “messing around with/being free of these things is amazing”. Vampirism in iwtv seems to only enforce gender, weirdly enough. Let me explain!

Ok, so what the show seems to be doing with gender roles is using the concept of a “nuclear family” and our expectations of what that entails to assert the dynamic of Louis, Lestat, and Claudia’s familial relationship. Through utilizing tropes and imagery associated with a nuclear family the viewers are easily able to pick up on the subtext and conflicts that the show is presenting us with, bcus we all know the nuclear family. I think comparing the rue royal family to a nuclear family is interesting in concept, but in execution, I’m not a fan. I think if the show went a different route, and had Louis frame the story in a way that compares his life to familiar hetero, mortal family conventions for the sake of being sympathetic and understandable to Daniel and readers, without that being the literal dynamic of the characters, that could’ve been interesting. Also, I like the concept of oppressive systems like gender roles becoming oppressive in different ways for vampires, since “vampirism isn’t freeing it just gives u different problems” is a theme of the show that I rlly like, esp bcus Anne rice was rarely able to decide if vampirism was super fun or tortuous. But that doesn’t seem to be what the show is doing. Lestat, Louis, and Claudia literally just fit into your stereotypical abusive nuclear family tropes. Sometimes things are switched around and subverted, but for the most part it’s pretty consistent. Anne Rice’s personal projections onto the characters is nearly nonexistent, most glaringly for Lestat. I don’t like this, it doesn’t make sense for the characters, and it also simplifies their dynamic and conflict in the book to be much less interesting in my opinion. 

Sometimes the show will show us characters breaking gender expectations, Lestat occasionally or Antoinette cross dressing (speaking of Antoinette I’ll get to her), but none of these moments seem to mean anything adjacent to “vampires are genderless or gender-fluid and this is freeing for them. These moments seem to align more closely with imagery associated with queer coded villains during the Hayes code era. Both Lestat and Antoinette are being particularly grotesque and villainous during their gnc moments, which aligns with the old hollywood vibe that the show seems to be going for, which is mildly cool, but not particularly compelling or relatable to me beyond that. And it definitely doesn’t have the type of resonance that the books do when it comes to gender nonconformity. 

So, I think Antoinette is the prime example of this. Antoine in the books was a young man, 19 years old, who Lestat used in a way that was reminiscent of how a cheating husband would use a mistress. He fooled around sexually with this younger man and also confided to him in ways he didn’t his “husband” (Louis), escaping to him when he was fed up with his family at home to blow off steam and vent his struggles, the way he does with Antoinette in the show. But Antoine himself did not have the stereotypical personality of a “mistress”, he was naive and well intentioned, didn’t realize he was being used and that Louis was being hurt in the process. When Lestat tells him that he needs his help fighting back against his family he’s horrified and confused. Antoinette in the show is not this, she’s very much a “mistress”, and the sex change from book to show makes this even more annoying to me. It just seems like the show writers wanted to make the subtextual coding of Antonine’s character in the books annoyingly unsubtle text, by making Antonine the stereotypical evil and seductive female mistress, which I rlly hate. And also they removed any and all sympathy attached to Antoine’s  character in the process. (Side note ik ppl are gonna come at me with “oh but it’s from Louis’s perspective! That’s why Antoinette is treated that way, he hates her! And to that I say there is no evidence to support that, it hasn’t happened in the show, you made it up. And if it’s true and done well I’ll eat my words, but for now my opinion is based on what is in the show, and it prob won’t change until we get new content.)

There’s more, like how Louis fulfills the traditionally female roles in marriage (cleaning, taking care of the kids, etc) which is kind of gnc, but only so that the show can frame him as more of a stereotypical abuse victim, and not to say anything interesting about how vampirism gives people more opportunities to explore gender fluidity in ways they find freeing. The show uses gender roles to non subtly code the characters in ways that are easily digestible and relatable to a cis audience. That’s my main gripe, gender in AMC’s iwtv is very cis. 

What I love about the books is how fluid gender is with the characters. Lestat is very feminine and very masculine, so is Louis, these traits can co exist without ever contradicting each other. But ig that was too complicated and varied for the show to want to tackle, just like the complex mutual toxicity of loustat’s relationship, which was dumbed down so much also. I feel like the show writers didn’t know what to do with a gay relationship where both men are feminine and masculine and also both men have complex trauma and traits that make their relationship unhealthy + a hot mess, and instead just reframed loustat to be traditional abusive relationship we’ve seen a billon times in media.

In conclusion, the show could very well change my mind and portray gender/gender roles in a way that I enjoy, but for now I’m unsatisfied. I want to be wrong ultimately. If you like how gender is handled in the show feel free to disagree, but plz don’t come at me with anger. I’m happy to have a discussion, I’m very interested in this topic, but I don’t want to humor you if you’re rude. And if you want to talk more about the books and gender I’d be more then happy, feel free to dm me or send me an ask or reply to this post, I love the androgyny of the books sm and love talking about it. Thank you anon sm for sending the ask <3 I’ve been wanting to talk about this.

[found-family-tournament]

Found Family Tournament Round 1 Part 17 Group 81

Propaganda and further pictures under the cut

Torchwood Team: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Owen, Toshiko

MANKAI Company: Izumi Tachibana, Sakuya Sakuma, Sakuya Sakuma, Masumi Usui, Tsuzuru Minagi, Itaru Chigasaki, Citron, Chikage Utsuki, Tenma Sumeragi, Yuki Rurikawa, Muku Sakisaka, Misumi Ikaruga, Kazunari Miyoshi, Kumon Hyodo, Banri Settsu, Juza Hyodo, Taichi Nanao, Omi Fushimi, Sakyo Furuichi, Azami Izumida, Tsumugi Tsukioka, Tasuku Takato, Hisoka Mikage, Homare Arisugawa, Azuma Yukishiro & Guy

Submissions are still open!

Torchwood Team:

they're all absolutely horrible <3

MANKAI Company:

I'm so sorry for submitting 26 characters but it's important and they canonically consider each other family. I'm so sorry. But they're so important to me.

24 gay theater kids came together and found a home

They are a big group of people that range from teenagers to adults and it’s very nice to see their dynamics as they all go through theater with different eyes, between those who have a long life in front of them and are excited to do something new, and those others who feel like they are too old for this but still do it regardless, and like the way friendships are born between those people who seem so different yet have some similarities some past memories they relate to, or also see the adults trying to be there for the younger members it’s very cute I swear. You see even if I ramble here it’s hard to explain because I would explain 6 whole years of lore but yeah overall is just a situation of, people who seem different but find similarities between one another and do their best to help who struggles and are all bond by one single aim which is bloom on stage!

These are 25 individuals that all come from completely different backgrounds, situations, and experiences that all happened to come together by chance, and formed a tight bond and family that cannot be replicated. Sakuya Sakuma, a young orphan boy who found refuge from his troubling homelife through theatre, found himself a home within this small run down theatre company, and found a family through the people in it. This isn’t a Headcanon, A3! Is a found family story. Sakuya views everyone there as a member of his family, and it’s not just him. Misumi Ikaruga, a man kicked out of his home for being “different” (cough Autistic cough), finally found a family that accepts and loves him unconditionally. Taichi Nanao had been taught that you need to always be fighting your way to the top, and whoever gets hurt along the way is nothing but a necessary casualty. So being able to find a place that is willing to work and rise with him, and care for him along the way… and the theres Azuma, a man so heavily affected by the trauma he experienced as a child, and yet has pushed it so far down to the point you wouldn’t even know it by looking at him. But here, this god who knows how old man finally found it, that home he has been searching for, and a place where he can finally break down his walls. Sure, one could argue a3! Is 4 different found families, but you would be wrong. Yes, each troupe is important, however would you then deny the importance of cross troupe relationships? The four leaders, who all encourage one another to do better, Tsuzuru and Kazunari, who allow one another to finally be honest about their feelings, Azami and Kumon who are the definition of “boys being boys”, Sakyo and Azuma, two adults who seem well past the years of found family, who found solace in one another. A3! Is about people of all ages coming together to be a family. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you come from. You could be just a random college kid off the road, or a former international spy, that doesn’t matter. Mankai has a spot for you, where you will be loved, accepted, and cherished.

[thatgirl4815]

One thing that strikes me about Ray/Sand vs Ray/Mew is that for the life of me I just can't picture the Ray who jumps on Sand and sticks his smelly pits in his face, the Ray who is cheeky and playful and a bit goofy, doing those things or acting that way with Mew. And I don't even mean within the context of any romantic relationship - I find it really hard to imagine their friendship having any such similar moments, where they're just two boys being a bit daft. With Sand Ray can be flirty, sensual, fierce, but he can also be silly, petulant, carefree (whilst sober). I just can't see him exhibiting that duality in his relationship with Mew. In their scenes previous to The Dance of Doom, he's usually been quite serious, heavy, earnest - weighed down, whether by Mew's expectations or his own feelings I don't know (likely both). He just seems so much lighter when he's with Sand (and they're apart from everyone else). I'm not saying it's Mew's fault - maybe it's a result of the pedestal he occupies in Ray's mind, but I just thought it was interesting. Ray often seems like an entirely different person when he's with Sand. And I think that's why those of us rooting for a (healthy) endgame are so invested, because in those interactions we see the person Ray COULD be, and it's pretty clear it's Sand that brings out that potential. Again, not saying he doesn't also require a shitload of soul-searching and professional help, but how could you NOT want him to reach that potential? And I'm almost certain the showrunners would agree. Now that doesn't necessarily mean the only way to get there is a Sand/Ray happy ending or that Sand owes it to Ray to put up with his bullshit in the meantime, but I think Sand wants that for Ray too and I don't think that makes him pathetic. I think Sand is pretty good at spotting when Ray's behaviour is that of someone in crisis vs being a brat/careless. It's probably why he requires an apology for Ray dropping him at the end of ep 3 but not for the insults at the end of ep 6 (well that and the whole near death experience!). No, Sand is under no obligation to keep loving/caring for Ray at his worst, but if he CHOOSES to do so because he's seen him at his best and because he knows the pain that lies beneath it all, well then actually that's something quite remarkable. Not romantic, mind you - remarkable. I'm not romanticising anything. But to me that shows a strength of character and a depth of compassion that's worthy of respect.

Great observations! I also can't really see a teasing, light-hearted RayMew relationship (at least, not when they're both sober), mostly because we haven't seen that dynamic much at all between them as friends. The thing that makes friends-to-lovers plots so successful is the chemistry between friends conjoined with romantic chemistry. And I don't get much of either of those between them (possibly because the vast majority of scenes between Ray and Mew only are about Ray's alcohol/drug problems).

A lot of this goes back to what you said about Ray putting Mew on a pedestal. It's always felt like Mew is in a superior position while Ray is only pining after him. With Ray and Sand, we see Sand acknowledge the dangers of Ray's behavior, but it never comes across as domineering or self-righteous (reminds me of @bird-inacage's analysis here about how Sand and Mew react differently to Ray's addictions).

I definitely think Ray is a better version of himself with Sand. He's noticeably less drunk around him, he opens up about his past, he apologizes and speaks relatively openly about his feelings, he makes an effort to invest in Sand's interests...the list goes on. Those are all signs of a healthy relationship built on mutual interests. For Ray and Mew, I think it's fair to say there are other motivations beyond romantic feelings.

I also admire Sand's depth of compassion. As you said, he is under no obligation to keep coming back to Ray and caring for him the way he does, but the fact that he is doing that despite knowing that he deserves better says a lot about his values. When he cares for someone, he cares for them deeply, despite the pain they might inflict upon him. For someone like Sand who seems so headstrong in other areas of his life, there's something endearing about how soft he is for Ray.

[auseyre]

So the LITA special is a whole hour of Disney(you know if Disney had lgbtq couples and kink) straight-to-DVD sequel frivolous madness about Rain and Sky being angry at their boyfriends for being hot, rich, and in demand?

Featuring the epic return of unhinged Rain(I really love the way his friends lean in hard on the teasing because Rain is all kinds of extra and it’s sweet they enjoy that most of the time.)

And sassy Dom Sky (who I did not see enough of in his story)

Y'all Prepai is so delighted here. You'd think he was some poor little innocent lamb who has been waiting his whole life for someone to guard his virtue from all the hot men and women constantly throwing themselves at him, instead of a big ole' "former" ho(affectionate).

Boys sitting around exchanging stories of getting dicked down in kinky ways.

(This boy has the appropriate level of horniness for a young, hormonal person getting that good-good on the reg and I heartily approve.)

Boys getting dicked down in kinky ways,

and one of the few solely comic relief characters in Thai BL I can stand(I love you Nawin from LoA!). 

I have to compliment them on doing a really good job of showing the difference in the relationship dynamics between the two couples even while the two “forgiveness” scenarios played out very similarly.

Prepai knows he has no clue about relationships, so he assumes that he actually did screw up somehow.

Payu knows that Rain is a pouty flibbertigibbet and, while it’s possible, he did inadvertently do something wrong. It’s more likely Rain is just being Rain. 

Also, it's a perfect demonstration of service sub/top vs bratty sub in action. (I consider Payu and Sky both soft Doms obvs with different kinks and techniques)

Man, This Prepai and Sky I really like. There was an absolutely fun RomCom about 80s-coded player Prepai hooking up for an anonymous one-night stand and then accidentally falling for 90s-coded earnest Sky just waiting for these characters/actors instead of what we got. (I originally wrote this up before I saw the trailer for Love Sea and it was like the BL gods answered my prayers.)

This special was goddamn delightful

Saw a post somewhere questioning if this special was necessary and yes, yes it was. Things that spark joy are always necessary.

Okay and I watched the LITA scenes in The Wedding Planner and I love that you can see how Rain has matured and how the relationship has matured, but that he’s still enough of a little gremlin to want to compete with Sky. 

[fatsillykewn]

Let’s talk Headcanons- or “HCs” in the Kyman fan community.

Over my time in the fandom I’ve noticed such EXTREME discourse over headcanons that are being assigned to Kyle and Cartman specifically. And as of recently, my views have shifted a little bit, as I’ve done some analysis. These are my generalized thoughts, I can get into my specific headcanons in another post.

1. First thing is first. Stop being a fucking asshole over people’s interpretations over the characters. There’s literally no point in harassment/bullying over headcanons- It’s stupid and not serious. Yes, you may hate some ships or hate specific headcanons, but this is a tv show with characters who are not real, let people enjoy fandom spaces however they please with whatever ideas and preferences they have. Us Kymanies already get enough crap as it is, lets stick out for one another! We are all here for fun!

2. “Mountain VS Pine” Most if not all kyman shippers now these terms, and they correspond to who of the two (Kyle and Cartman) is the more tall/dominate one and who is the more small/sumbissive one. I used to be pretty closed minded about this topic- I used to believe pine was the only way to go while shipping kyman and applying headcanons. But in reality, we need to come back and realize that there’s no canonical proof to who plays what role in a romantic relationship between Kyle and Cartman- yes there’s a charged dynamic between the two friends that gives us suggestions- but at the end of the day, there’s open space to fill with what we as the shippers think would work for Kyle and Cartman beyond friendship. While I still very much believe pine kyman is a great and close-to-canon dynamic, I’ve opened my mind to how well the mountain kyman dynamic can work inside and outside of the canon. Both pine and mountain can be in character headcanons and both have support from canonical events in the show, movies and the specials. If you’re a pine truther, awesome!! I love you! If you’re a mountain truther, amazing!! I love you too!! (I will not lie when I say I have read some INCREDIBLE mountain kyman fanfics) And if you’re neutral on pine/mountain kyman, or see them having pretty equivalent traits in a relationship, you rock! I love you too. That’s the boat I am currently in, I love all my pine and mountain kyman shippers and the respective content 🫶

3. “Out of character Headcanons” This is where it can get a little cloudy in the South Park and Kyman fandom. Generally, applying out of character or “OOC” traits and headcanons to a character defeats that character’s already existing purpose and identity. Sometimes, when I see OOC interpretations of Kyle and Cartman in either fics or fanart, it feels like I am reading a story with someone elses original characters or “OCs”. Other times, characters being, well, out of character, is fun! We get to experiment with alternate universes or “AUs” where the characters are nearly completely different compared to how they are in their canon universe/the show, with different purposes and different personalities- they just keep the same names, and similar appearance. For Example, the South Park Kyman Future comic is an AU, I’ve read many fics containing AUs like kyman being Cowboys, Detectives, Professor/student and college students, as well as AUs that are also canon like Post Covid as well as The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole. I’ve definitely seen a powerful split in the kyman fandom between people enjoying OOC interpretations and people hating OOC interpretations. I know, when we as kyman shippers see people getting super OOC with kyle and Cartman it can get a little frustrating, as most fans who are dedicated watchers to the tv show prefer to enjoy kyman in character and respective to canon events. We just need to remember that people come into fandom spaces to have fun and enjoy content! Wether someone is new to the fandom/new to shipping kyman, or has been in the fandom and shipped kyman for a while, let them enjoy their headcanons, no matter if it follows the show’s canon events or not. We all have preferences!

Now that I’ve got this off my chest, kind of putting it out there that I stand on pretty neutral grounds with kyman headcanons- I don’t discriminate! Most of the time 🤣- I’ll put together a post or two about my personal headcanons for Kyle and Cartman, my favorite kyman interpretations and my favorite kyman dynamic preferences!!

[silverwolf1249]

The pjo show has been super interesting so far, and I'm wondering what the show plans to do with Gabe at the end of the quest. And, I get they most likely made him less of a disgusting asshole to make it more kid friendly and possibly less triggering to people, but I still think they could've made him a worse person in the show without the implications of physical abuse like in the book. I also have a whole mini essay in my head bout the different portrayal of Sally in the show compared to the book and how that changes the dynamic between the two(and I love both portrayals), but I digress.

In any case, as it is, I can't currently find a reason why Sally would kill him by beaming Medusa at him like in the book. Like, he's still an asshole for sure, but not to the point where I can see Sally killing him instead of just divorcing him? Like apparently they watch/listen to the Knick's games together and Gabe's out here saying please and stuff(which made me have to pause and gape at the screen for a second because book Gabe would never, also the way Sally was like don't you talk to me like that was absolutely iconic) but like it seems more like they have a dysfunctional relationship rather than an abusive one, which I think is an important distinction from the show vs the book.

Maybe this will change as we get farther into the show, but right now I'm still wondering if they plan on following the book and turn Gabe to stone or if Sally will just go and serve him divorce papers after Percy comes back and she no longer needs him. Or if in some weird twist they'll somehow combine Gabe and Paul together and give him some sort of redemption arc and they stay together (unlikely but just throwing out ideas). The show has already made several plot, dialogue, and slight characters changes and I'm excited to see how this impacts things down the line.

[creativestalkerrs]

rivals and rivalries

I posted this on my Substack blog as well, subscribe to that for more content. Apart of creativestalkerr’s writing lessons.

how to write a rival character and making a good rivalry.

When writing a good rivalry there s a few things you might want to keep in mind. Although there is a handful of rivalries that could be written and looked at, we will talk about the basic tools to create a well-rounded rivalry that serves both the plot and your character as well as keeping your consumer engaged with another element of your story.

The Foil Character: Although this topic will have its own lesson, later on, it’s important to get an understanding of a foil character and the relationship t had with a rivalry.

A foil character’s purpose is to accentuate or draw attention to the qualities of your character. Having your FC be a rival to your main character can allow your consumer to see the qualities and flaws in your character and how they handle themselves in situations that arise as a result of the rivalry at hand.

The Mirror Character: Similarly to the foil character, a mirror character reflects your MC’s best and worst qualities. Having a mirror character as a rival can reflect on your character as a whole and the reasoning and details of the rival.

Overview: Writing a good rival can be tricky. We want a rival/rivalry to challenge and contrast your protagonist. You want your MC to be pushed and even bend their morals and get inside their heads, even revealing their own inner conflicts.

Look at your MC and the character they have as a rival and ask yourself what tone dose your rival your writing has. Is it serious, friendly, or somewhere in the middle? Or is it something completely different? Thinking about the tone and playing with it can see how the two characters interact with each other and even give reasons as to why they interact that way.

While writing it’s always important to not favor one character over the other, they should have an equal focus and shouldn’t be a vehicle to constantly make your MC look good.

Both characters don’t necessarily have to be opposite of each other but they should have something in common--maybe the reason why they have the rivalry in the first place.

You don’t need to worry too much about trying to make it ‘obvious’ that they are rivals. As long as the two bring out each other's qualities, and even flaws, your consumer can understand the dynamic the two have.

Your rival character might just be as important as your MC itself. Establish their relationship with your protagonist as naturally and as quickly as you can in your story.

Examples of Good Rivals:

Princess Carolyn vs. Vanessa Gekko (Bojack Horseman)

It is established that PC and Vanessa Gekko are business rivals, often comparing them and their clients. This is seen throwout the show, but at the end of it, they are seen being friendly and the two are talking about balancing work and motherhood, Vanessa states that she ‘never hated’ PC as PC made herself believe that the two did hate each other during their rivalry.

Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz vs. Perry the Platypus (Phinease and Ferb)

It is obvious these two are rivals, as the two have a ‘Tom and Jerry’ type of relationship. Although they are rivals, they do not heavily influence each other and in a way, need one another. (These two are more on the nemesis level than anything)

A Quick List of Rival Tropes (from tvtropes.com)

Betty and Veronica: Two girls are rivals in being the main character's love interest.

Dartboard of Hate: Someone throws darts at a picture of someone they dislike.

Feuding Families: A rivalry between two whole families.

Working with the Ex: A couple who have broken up are forced into a position where they have to work together.

Personal Hate Before Common Goals: These characters now have similar mindsets, and could actually be allies, if it weren't because at least one of them hates the other too much.

​​Friendly Rivalry: Rivals who are chummy and only being competitive toward each other in good fun.

Better Partner Assertion: Romantic rivals argue their superiority to the person they're fighting over.

~Vocabulary~

Accentuate: ​​make more noticeable or prominent.

Qualities: a distinctive attribute or characteristic possessed by someone or something.

Flaws: a fault or weakness in a person's character.

Reflect: think deeply or carefully about.

Challenge: a task or situation that tests someone's abilities.

Contrast: the action of calling attention to notable differences.

Tone: the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.

Dynamic: expressing an action, activity, event, or process.

[oceansatedogs]

asaden thoughts? 🙏

asaden thoughts... hm maybe i should answer this ask when my brain's actually not totally crappy but i'll give it a shot. big disclaimer, i'm not the sharpest tool in the shed

but

i like them a lot as they are right now, and i also like them for what they could be. i'm really into how asa parallels makima but Wrong, and how denji actually is shown to be a lot more aware of how people treat him & how he navigates relationships now

and i like that asa as a character has so much going on to her - she's a huge asshole who thinks she's better than everyone else, but she also feels like the fucking worst. in a way, she puts herself on a pedestal in a way that alienates her just like makima. except of course, the reasons they're standing on their respective pedestals is but a difference in how they frame how different they are from other people

that being said, i bring up makima because in part 1, she and denji's dynamic were a huge thing. we see denji still struggling with the remnants of his trauma re: makima; like, for example in the latest chapter, he questions if the way people treat him has something to do with him

but something i'd really want for asaden, even if they ended up just being platonic, is to make these makima vs asa parellels mean something - something good for denji's character development

with asa, i want to see him say "no" more. i want him to see the fuckin penguins and for asa to try and compromise instead. and most importantly i want him to know, if the truth ever came out about the whole "yoruasa possession thing", that at least asa saw some loser named denji and not chainsaw man

and that's another thing i like about asaden! asa is like, pretty much the first girl to not be after his chainsaw heart. which is. very sad because the bar is 6ft below the ground. but i am glad she actually sees him. i mean, also literally too re: when she saw him amongst the crowd from up a balcony(?) when she was considering who to turn into a weapon

i just want them to take it as slow as they possibly can within the bounds of a fujimoto story and see where it goes

i think asa could come to really care about denji. it's clear she likes him a lot (which is hilarious because instead of denji, it's HER who fell in love easily). and it's funny how she tries so hard to hate him when in reality, she knows he's genuinely a good person at heart. and looking at him probably makes her feel worse about herself. because who's really "between cat and human", her or denji?

but she keeps pushing him away because she 1) is generally afraid of letting people get too close it seems and 2) doesn't want another person to get hurt because of her

can you imagine? if she managed to turn him into a weapon? the one girl denji really believed could love him the way he always wanted, was just using him the whole time? the guilt would be immense

and what about asa? i mean like, i don't wanna get my hopes up. but i think denji could really show her a good time. he could be really good for someone like her - they're both losers who could really understand one another, and neither of them have that many friends

yeah, i like asaden. my thoughts on it are all over the place but at the end of the day i just want them to kiss. and i mean i want asa to kiss denji, not yoru lol. though asa is probably screaming, shitting, crying, etc rn

[eviltothecore13]

willsker (will/wesker I think?) and wenclair :3

Basically I STRONGLY headcanon that these two were in a relationship at some point, and while by the time canon starts Will is married to Annette (and I like that relationship and don't want to break it up or put actual cheating in there), Wesker and Will are still very close in a very queer way. And I alternate between yelling about how Wesker trusts Will with his life, going all "wait, technically, Wesker is the undead monster that Will the mad scientist reanimated", and writing silly ficlets with banter and Will complaining about the snow. (I haven't been through the whole ship tag in...a while...but I have done so, and there are some great ones in there but also still not enough, especially when we filter out the ones with Wesker characterisation that's very jarring to me, or the ones heavily based around cheating, and the ones where it's unrequited...)

I like their dynamic, I love how they grew closer over season 1, they're fun, I enjoy the ship... also saw a great post about the werewolf transformation+rescue scene paralleling Gomez rescuing Morticia in the first film, and there's also potential to contrast between Tyler (who transforms into a murderous monster--which would normally be something Wednesday would be into--but who kills people for motivations based in bigotry/resentment of a marginalised group and/or following orders from a bigot--very much not an Addams thing) vs Enid (who transforms into a much cooler monster and beats Tyler in a fight, and does it to protect someone she cares about, which is far more Addams)...

But at the same time, while they're compatible in some ways (Enid being kind and accepting for the most part towards Wednesday, and Wednesday encouraging Enid to stand up for herself more) and certainly have a great friendship by the end of s1, when it comes to them ending up in a long-term romantic relationship... there's definitely content I enjoy and if it happened in canon I'd be very happy about it, but I'm not 100% sure how much I definitively ship it yet. Their interests are very different, so when they're not investigating a murder I do wonder just what they'd do together. And I can also see the argument for it being a qpr rather than romantic. When it comes to my own fics, I still don't know if I want Wednesday to end up in a romantic relationship with Enid, in a qpr with Enid, with Joel, married to Lucas from the musical, married to a genderswapped version of Lucas from the musical, or what, and I'm just waiting to see how future seasons of the show develop things.

I'm also a bit...eh...about the insistence from some corners of the fandom that if they don't get together it's inherently queerbaiting (I think it would at this point be queerbaiting if they were both depicted as definitively straight and forced into boring straight relationships, and I am concerned about the possibility of that, but there are lots of ways to depict one or both as queer even without the two of them ending up in a definitively canon romantic relationship), and I'm outright uncomfortable with the "they MUST both be lesbians, if they're not both lesbians this show SUCKS AND IS HOMOPHOBIC, Wednesday could DEFINITELY never be into MEN I mean look at her she is OBVIOUSLY a lesbian and if you think otherwise you're wrong" I've occasionally encountered because like...bi people exist and depicting a character as bi isn't homophobic or "less representation" than her being a lesbian. And if anything there's more evidence in canon for Wednesday being bi than there is for her being either exclusively gay or straight (not that I really see any Addams as straight), since she's definitely interested in boys in various other adaptations but some productions of the musical have made her also into girls. The idea that she cannot be bi or it would be homophobic for her to be bi is just really uncomfortable to me.

Anyway it's a ship with great potential but also not one I'm insistent on as the only good option for her?

[likealittleheartbeat]

Gay Friendship

I'm feeling so warm in my heart after watching a few episodes of the Thai gay reality dating show, "Boys Like Boys."

There's so much discourse around gay happy endings, but I think I just crave gay friendship, whether happy ending or not. Shows like Boys Like Boys, Only Friends, Looking, and even the Netflix Queer Eye depict the building of intimate friendships between imperfect human beings who have been through shit. After all, it's not the suffering that's unbearable, it's the belief that we must shoulder our burdens and successes alone. They each take the romance premise as a starting point (BLB is a dating show, Only Friends is a BL series, Looking follows a classic romance plot, and the first episode of QE opens with the team trying to help a man get his life together to win back his love) but the bond among the group becomes the more central motor of the overarching narrative for the audience.

One literary scholar, Amy Hungerford at Yale, in a lecture on Philip Roth discussed how homosexuality in narratives has been historically perceived as threatening to the push-and-pull of difference and otherness created by heterosexuality that urges a story along with adequate dynamic tension. (She doesn't say it should be this way, only that it has previously been thought of this way). Even when gay narratives come into the frame, they often go back to the same kind of heterosexual romance plot and place some other kind of difference between the two characters for them to overcome (think the class distinctions in Maurice) or the plot is more about the conflict between the heterosexual society and the gay character (can they assimilate and be accepted by the straights like Love, Simon, or will we get a tragic ending where they're never accepted like Brokeback Mountain, there's a third option where they stand up to an unaccepting society and go off into a new community but within the confines of the plot device of individual vs. society, this would still be considered tragic). Centralizing a group friendship reorients these plot traditions in a compelling way for the audience.

Focusing on a developing friend group supplies adequate tension and conflict with a dynamic of individual vs. society. Rather than a heterosexual society, it emphasizes the society of other gays (within a broader heterosexually-oriented world). This society of gays is a more nebulous group as far as what they might believe and represent for an individual. It changes the conversation from a binary between straight acceptance vs. gay identity into a conversation about one's place of belonging within the broad arms of gay experience. Boys Like Boys has contestants on a scale from unclear gender identities to masculine bi guys who aren't used to spending time with gays or sharing their feelings (and those two share a room and become besties on the show. Race, class, and openness all range among the contestants, too. We watch as they attempt to discuss these differences and take care of one another, even as discomfort and conflict arise. It's heartwarming and heartbreaking to hear how novel and meaningful these relationships become for the contestants.

The friendship doesn't erase the desire for romance in any of these shows. People are still trying to date and find love. In fact, the friendship factor adds tension to the proceedings. Whereas heterosexual dynamics have an immediate thrust from the assumption that gender difference will lead to eventual romance rather than friendship, the gay relationships developed in these shows are much more unclear for those involved and the audience. Both friendship and romance seem equally important, and you hope and worry at the same time about friendships transforming into something with a more sexual thrust. You have to consider how a romantic relationship with someone within or outside of the friend group will impact the whole group. How much time will they be spending with the group while they're dating someone? What if feelings aren't reciprocated, will that disrupt the friendships? What if two people are crushing on the same person? How does a friend group survive this kind of turmoil?! And how can you tell the difference between a friendly attraction and a romantic attraction!? These all become heightened in this gay friend group dynamic.

Friendship also fails to change the broader world (even though the Platonic ideal and Forster might have it otherwise). Oppressive and marginalizing systems still chug on. Families are still families. Even the gays within the friend group are still flawed people who say the wrong thing and make mistakes. A friend group isn't a cure, it's a cushion. Nor is a friend group a found family. The friends in these shows continue to seek connection and regard for their own families, or, if not possible--Bobby from QE is a good example of this--they work on building lives and family structures outside of the friend group. (Whether you like it or not, friend groups are pretty weak social structures for funding those basic needs that we expect families to provide and support--food, shelter, purposeful employment, etc.) Emphasizing a place for family might sound like reverting to the nuclear family model but family can mean many different structures, check out wikipedia for some ideas lol. Basically the family provides security and structure. The friend group is more dynamic with its structure and has more focus on emotional support than life's necessities.

Friendship, with its emotional purpose, becomes narratively powerful in these gay stories when one appreciates both the loneliness and instability with which gay people enter into gay society. Most have had to recognize how they differ from, not only the people that raised them and provided them security but the laws and traditions that were supposed to embrace and guide them as they grew older. Gay friendship offers a respite where comfort and imagination are possible despite hardship. It's not transformation of the world, but its the balm you need (and can return to) to go out with patience and compassion and deal with life, and the opportunity for you to offer that same gift to others who are different but like you.

[liauditore]

The thoughts, hand em over. (No pressure but I wanna hear em :D)

oh god what have u done.

context.

OK SO,. (BE WARNED THIS IS LIKE. REALLY LONG AND BRAINROTTY.)

first off i must put here as per the law i am not in fact armchair psychoanalysing mc youtubers grian and mister scott S. major this is me looking at the 3L series as is it were a performance and their actions in said series as characters and blah blah blah so on so forth this is Fanfiction and Shipping and woowoOOwoo We Are Being Sillyyy with a miku song.

i'm gonna infodump abt a bunch of stuff including some heavy topics like emotional abuse and dubcon (NOT in detail the song just has those vibes)

so uh if you're reading this for Some Reason know that 👍

ALRIGHT WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY Vampire the song itself is (at least my reading of it) a song about a toxic relationship. The singer is very much not a Good Person and the main chorus is just them disregarding their partner's needs and pushing the relationship even further.

But the singer isn't completely irredeemably evil, since they really do love the person they're abusing (in a childish sense of the word love, anyway) and seem to be at least acutely aware of how they're not really a good person.

But of course, they "eh whatever" these self-reflections pretty fast cus they're having fun with the relationship. This specific set of translyrics reads to me like a bit of self-victimizing as well like "oh, I'm so tortured by feeling like a bad person because of the way I treat you. But I love you so you don't really have a choice but to forgive me."

Speaking of translyrics this is where Micchi's version comes in. While I ADORE Rachie and Anthong's version I do have some nitpicks..? And one of those that I am unreasonably pet peeved by is this right here.

In the original JP version, the lyric is simply kimi mo vampire, meaning simply You're (also) a Vampire. It's alot more obvious a change and hits harder imo than "My little Vampire" which still puts the singer in the position of power.

Micchi's version of the lyrics on the other hand stick a lot closer to the original

And I might just be imagining this but there seems to be a switch in the power dynamic in this version as well. The singer is now inviting their partner to be "rough" with them and the repeating mantra of "you're the ONLY ONE for me" sounds more desperate than anything else.

Micchi's lyrics in general are a bit more wet cat coded. I still prefer Rachie's as a whole but Micchi's singer definitely seems to be more regretful of what they've done and blame themselves for essentially turning their partner into a different, more hostile person. (aka turning them into a vampire lol)

In a lot of ways the vampire metaphor is really unsubtle. Bloodsucking parasite attaches themselves to someone and turns them into a bloodsucking parasite as well.

SO HOW THE FUCK DID I GET GRAIN AND SCOOTER FROM THIS WELL.....

When I think about 3L one of the main things that lights up the lightbulb in my mind is the parallels between all of the four "main" partnerships, with Renchantyn vs Desert Duo as the most obvious comparison point but I think they all mirror and subvert each other really well.

Grian/Scott are like birds of a feather to me in a similar sense that Scott/Cleo are, but while Scott and Cleo have this mutual understanding with each other with Grian it's a bit more complicated.

I CAN't. FOR THE LIFE OF ME. FIND IT AGAIN bUT there was a bit in Third Life when Scott said to Grian "and maybe once our husbands are dead we can be free" and Grian laughs and that basically inspired this Whole Thing 🙏🙏

(an apology for all the wholesome flower husbands shippers who i know follow me cus im about to unleash my full toxic yaoi adaptation of them) (desert duo fans from what ive seen are already insane so you're okay)

In my own mind Grian and Scott are both somewhat.. manipulative? Might be a bit harsh of a word? But they definitely play to survive more than some of the other people stuck in there with them. (cleo too but she sucks at it and she can get her character analysis essay next week)

At least in my view, their partnerships with Jimmy and Scar respectively were born more out of a need for safety in numbers and to get someone to essentially keep them safe until they're no longer of use. Grian definitely felt bad about creeper-ing Scar in the first episode but I don't think he was quite expecting to spend the whole series in debt to him 😭😭

Scott (like the singer in the song oh my god) isn't really a monster so to speak, just someone who has a messed up view of love. Probably has some sort of tragic backstory that explains the way he is that we'll get to see in the anime adaptation idk. He does care for Jimmy but in like.. the way someone might care for and love a pet. You LOVE your dog to fucking death but you wouldn't like.. trust your dog with taxes or respect its autonomy.

also these lyrics are both hilarious to me considering the uh current brainrot.

Grian on the other hand probably Wants to be like Scott and be able to have someone wrapped around his fingers like that but he can't cus it's Scar not Jimmy and he's Grian and not Scott. I imagine he'd get tired of Scar's shenanigans when he's with him but as soon as he's left the room it's all why's it so quiet D: where's scar D:

I like to think that everytime he THINKS he has a handle on Scar finally and can actually stand a chance to survive this thing Scar does something completely unhinged off the wall and Grian's like WAIT WAIT WAIT NO

basically he gets way too attached and doesn't like it and to make it worse he has no idea wtf is going thru Scar's head👍

SO when they eventually team up I think Scott and Grian would have this little "wink wink nudge nudge they don't know" kinda thing going on.

and then in my little fanfiction world somewhere along the line Scott would end up sensing that Oh, We're actually not exactly the same.. interesting.. and kind of start looking at Grian with this sense of amusement/pity cus aww, look at you getting all attached to the person you were planning to betray, that's so cute and Grian would see the worst of himself reflected back to him via Scott. It ends up strengthening Desert Duo's relationship if anything else.

Of course then Jimmy dies and Scott's emotionally destroyed by it but he's still like.. skirting around it. I'd like to think he gaslights himself with any genuine Emotions he has cus like.. he knew this was coming, this is all according to plan, so why would he feel anything for him now that he's gone?

While Scott gets some time to come to terms with the fact that he actually cared about Jimmy too late for him to repair their relationship Grian and Scar end up punching eachother to death in a cactus ring. The End 👍

tl;dr i need to pick up writing fanfics cus oh my god

[juliasnrubs]

How to write characters (fun)

Creating characters is one of my favorite parts of writing. From naming them to figuring the dynamics between them and other characters, it feels like getting to know a real person.

Naming characters. I could go on an on about this, but I’ll keep it short. Some things to keep in mind are: a characters ethnicity or background (John vs Juan vs Hanna); meaning, either symbolically (Ash, Grace, ect.) or linguistically (Alison= “noble” in German, “the tooth” in Arabic). Sometimes the name itself can give you an idea for a character— I see the name Raven and I get a teenage girl with long hair and eyeliner, possibly an assassin. I see the name Doris and I think of a receptionist at a dentist’s office with short curly hair and a mug with a cat on it. I see the name Grant and I think of a love interest in some sort of dark-academia boarding-school mystery kind of setting.

Character playlists. I don’t care what anyone says, character playlists ARE writing. What songs remind you of your character? What songs fit their vibe? What would they sing in the car? What song describes their relationship with their s/o, sibling, best friend? There’s a Taylor Swift song for every relationship. (Forbidden love? Getaway Car. Friends to lovers? It’s Nice To Have A Friend. Falling out of love? tolerate it. Abandonment issues? All You Had To Do Was Stay. I COULD GO ON). One Direction has a lot of good relationship songs, but at the end of the day, it’s your playlist. Do what feels right!

Pinterest. There are so many cool character ideas/designs/concepts on Pinterest. I’m more of a visual learner, so it’s helpful for me to actually see people and create a whole character that way. The visual range of the subject in the drawing/photo as well as the range of content creators helps so much in keeping my characters diverse in personality, ethnicity, age, body type, hair type as well as cool ideas for scars, outfits, weapons, hobbies, ect. The possibilities are endless.

MBTI personality types. Most people (myself included) don’t know enough about the personality types to be able to pull types out of the air when creating characters, but once you get to know our character, looking up the MBTI types can be helpful, especially when it comes to the strengths and weaknesses of each type. I either make my best guess per character and read through a couple different types for ideas, take the MBTI test as if I were that character, or, if I’ve based my character (i.e. Calida) off a person I know (i.e. my best friend), find out what personality type that person is (ESTP).

I also have a running list of people’s personality types on my phone, which helps when guessing characters personality types or creating a character based off an MBTI type (i.e. I want an ENFJ character. Who do I know who’s an ENFJ? Can I base a character off them? What would they do in x situation?)

Memes. Incorrect quotes, “_____ characters as Vines,” “_____ characters as TikToks,” alignment charts (chaotic good, lawful evil, ect.), that one triangle of “pulls into McDonalds while children cheer, orders a single black coffee and leaves,” or just a plain old meme, it’s a great and fun way to get to know your characters in a more informal setting and learning how they interact with each other and fit into their friend group. Sense of humor? Mom friend? Snarky or deadpan? Accident prone? These aren’t the kind of things you discover about your characters right away. It only works after you’ve spent time with them, and when writing seems too overwhelming or cumbersome, memes are the way to go.

The better you know your characters, the better you know how they’ll interact with other characters. Which leads us to…

Creating dynamics. Dynamics are all about relationships. Sibling dynamics, for example, can range from Gamora and Nebula (Guardians of the Galaxy) to Luke and Leia (Star Wars) to found family, like Kaz and Jesper (Six of Crows). Sticking to the siblings theme, clichés can be a jumping-off point— because if you truly make them your own, they’re not clichés anymore, they’re people. Overprotective, popular teenage brother and their younger sister? It’s a Wattpad classic because that’s an actual situation. A multitude of sisters and one younger brother? I’ve lived that. A messy sibling and a neat one sharing a room? I’ve lived that. There are an endless combination of people, and no two relationships are the same. As long as you take the time to do it right, there’s no way it can be cliché.

Write everything down. Whenever I can, I try to save lists of characters people wish they could see more in books. Whenever I get a character idea or an idea for a character dynamic, I write it down, even if I have no idea what to do with it later. Here’s some examples straight from my Notes app (feel free to use these to to add to them):

Two sisters with Reputation/Lover personalities, respectively. (For those who don’t know, Reputation and Lover are two Taylor Swift albums with completely opposite vibes). One is intensely scary on the outside but really wants love and security and to protect those she cares about and pretends not to care about what people think of her (Reputation). The other is bubbly and happy and friendly on the outside but will mess you upppp with zero hesitation or regret, low-key sociopathic (Lover, with a twist).

Hot jock sword girl (broadsword, or possibly a mace) (Think Jane Foster Thor) with her nerdy short cartographer boyfriend who wears glasses and gets flustered easily and can barely lift her weapon

Viking-esque (pirate?) sword/axe girl with bleach-blonde curls

Older sibling who is shorter than their younger sibling (and mad about it)

“Every firstborn daughter is the girl version of their dad.”

Upper-class character who is secretly poor but doing everything they can to hide it and keep their family out of relative poverty

Princess/gardener romance. He leaves her roses on her window but she has no idea it’s from him. He’s pretty faded into the background (a wallflower, pun intended) so she’ll just be talking to her friend trying to figure out who it is and not even noticing him but he hears every word but is too shy to say anything. Maybe she’s kind of snooty in the beginning, but changes by the end? Bonus points if he ends up saving her life. OOH what if he saves her life somehow, she’s kind of snooty and pretentious and mean to him and he loses feelings but they’re stuck together, they go on some kind of adventure, she gets humbled along the way, she finds out he was her secret admirer and falls for him, he’s going to give up on her but then she does something that shows her character tear development (parallel to the beginning of the book, but she makes a different choice?), he falls for her again and they live happily ever after, secret admirer to enemies to lovers 50K words BOOM.