#i was half a mind to put a certain fandom favorite comic

[jinxhallows]

I searched it but couldn't find anything about it, but why are you only including 5 member for kinktober?

ayee thanks for stopping by to ask! nobody has ever asked so I never explained 😂 so I got into writing in this fandom like about a year and a half ago and had no idea what I was doing and kinda just spat some shit out (that I now absolutely hate lmfao 100 follower special, anyone? That fluff was garbage IMO)

I don’t write Felix often/at all because I can’t quite understand his personality enough to feel I can articulate him authentically in writing yet. Also he’s kind of juvenile in a way that reminds me of a younger sibling, making it tough to slut him out. I’m always so impressed by smut Felix writers. They capture him well! I know something freaky is lying under that golden exterior. But I’m working on it! I write about him in my other two full length fics but unfortunately, I don’t think my portrayal of him is very accurate at all. But I keep going because well, it’s already started lol.

I don’t write Seungmin yet because I’m still learning about him and his likes/dislikes and mannerisms and personality. He’s the one I know the least about. All I know is that folx call him a puppy. I don’t think I’ve heard him speak as much as I have in the recent chuseok specials. I know he’s a little terror though, lol, unsure of the origins of it though.

I don’t write IN for the same reasons as above, but lately, he’s been portrayed in a way that’s making me consider roping him in the future into something fun. Someone who met him in person said he seemed the most masculine and adult out of all the members! Surprise surprise! The baby bread shit was off putting. I was like, I’m not slutting out someone with the nickname “baby bread”; but my mind is changing, and fast lol.

-

Why do I write the fellas I write? Aka my “starting team”?

I’m most comfortable writing Chan, he’s closest to me in age and I watch him enough to know his mannerisms and personality. Down to little things like his obsession with space, the way he laughs through his teeth, and his lopsided smile when he’s being a dork. Chan doesn’t like coffee, so in one of my imagines, I made it a point to state the reader was making coffee for herself. If I read someone who has Chan drinking coffee I’d assume they either took creative liberty or have no idea that this man does not fuck with coffee lol. Fun fact: add “yeah?” To the end of a question/statement and it immediately rings Chan’s voice in your mind, doesn’t it? “Guess you’ve got a lot to think about then, yeah?” “How about we head on out to the bar, yeah?”Those details really can make/break someone’s immersion!

Next comes Hyunjin. Hyunjin was difficult for me to write at first, his personality is so multi faceted and not much like his stage persona at all, which is quite powerful! But the algorithm started forcing him onto me in candid situations and I began to understand his nuances too. I grasped an understanding of his micro expressions and mannerisms enough to feel confident writing him.

Third is Lino! I swore against writing Lino because he was such a mystery to me! I later found a video of him being weird and his quirky personality and deadpan affect when saying certain things. He reminds me of some of my closest friends. Sometimes, I feel like I don’t give Lino enough depth! I’m an experienced Scorpio wrangler, and I know he’s got some intense depths to that ocean that can be portrayed so much better. Working on it!

Fourth favorite is Jisung. I use Jisung for light hearted things and comic relief. I almost never write angst Jisung. I probably could, and probably will one day! But for now, I’ve only candidly seen him happy and funny, it’s sometimes hard to even write him in smut because I can’t see him taking much of anything seriously. I know he has bad anxiety and other various mental health concerns, so he’s not all rainbows and butterflies but he doesn’t seem to let folx in on that side of him often, if at all, so it’s difficult to imagine for me right now, so for him, I keep it light.

Fifth newest favorite is Changbin. Changbin is still a little confusing to me but I can at least pinpoint his manner of speech, he can be quite aggressive quite suddenly, in a playful manner. I’m still not too great on describing his mannerisms in literature, but I’ve grown comfortable enough to experiment with him for Kinktober.

-

So you see, my cool beautiful anon, it’s just a matter of time until I work my way down to the rest of the members :) at first, I swore I’d only write Chan, and then it exploded into five. I’m certain by next year’s kinktober, all eight members will be rightfully represented :)

[xenokattz]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @htbthomas. Hi! How've you been?

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

52

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

616, 114

3. What fandoms do you write for?

At the moment, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has eaten my soul. But I also have works in X-Men comics & movieverse (Summers brothers, Gambit/Rogue), MCU Avengers (mostly Taserhawk but a few Captain Hill thrown in there for fun), and possibly my longest running faves, Clois, in all sorts of media.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?*

Investigations Into Interoffice Relations : Outsider POV Clois. Man of Steel (13,104 words)

The Pearl I Carry in My Heart : World-building, political drama Nashuri. Black Panther MCU (115,128 words)

Peace With a Faulty Heart : Gen/Family dynamics, minor Taserhawk. MCU (7,486 words)

I Would Like To Give You the Silver Branch : Atmospheric Clois. Man of Steel (4,697 words)

Dilated Eyes Shooting the Breeze : Dramedy Taserhawk. MCU (2,620 words)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I'm trying to be better at it but I did go through about 5 years of not writing so I never answered those comments. Right now I try to reply as soon as I post the next chapter of the same fic.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A very very very VERY old Gambit/Rogue fic that I would disavow except I believe in archiving everything even your shittiest piece of work.

Angstiest ending of a fic that I don't mind naming? Toss up between Because Thorns Have Roses, a X-Men Fox movieverse involving a time-travelling Gambit; or Polish Them Rockets, Swallow Those Pills an MCU Taserhawk break-up fic (which has a sequel that negates the angst).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics end happily. They just go through the wringer to get there.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I don't think so? Unless there are some subtweet style comments out there that I'm not privy to.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yeps. Yeppers. Absolutely yes. About half of my fics have smut. I can't write PWP though; all my porn has plot.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yes. I wouldn't call them crazy by any means but I have 2 X-Men/Superman ones-- one where the Kents with a young Clark ended up adopting Scott Summers|Cyclops after his parents' plane crashes in their field. And another where FoxMovieverse Cyclops' ghost possesses Richard White from Man of Steel, just because James Marsden played both characters. Neither are on Ao3 at the moment. I should really post them there with FFN in its death throes.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so. I hope not.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nopes.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have too many control issues to co-write anything.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I don't know if I have one favourite. I don't write them if I'm not utterly compelled by their chemistry.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

LeBeau, the third installation of my D'Ancanto series. It's not a even a WIP, really, more like a detailed outline but I don't know if I'm in that headspace any more. Even if I was, I remember thinking the outline needed such a major overhaul that I'd basically have to start all over again except the very last scene.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Possibly world-building? It's my favourite part anyway. Dialogue for certain characters.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm very verbose. That world-building thing. Also, sometimes I think I rush endings especially on the longer (> 50,000 word) fics

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Depends. Long conversations in another language, I just write in English with a comment somewhere in the beginning that it's in whatever language. Phrases or words that have no "English" translation, I'll put in said language with translations in the notes. Also, if the character tends to say those words/phrases in another language. I try my best to find a real person translator though I've started to learn a few languages trying to translate it myself.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Probably X-Men. Or the Anne of Green Gables books.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh my god! I don't have just one, it rotates a lot, and usually whichever one I'm working on is my fave. My current top 3 are:

The Pearl I Carry in My Heart : The world-building, political drama Nashuri I mentioned before

Cho Chang and the Jasmine Code : an HP fic about using magic based on other cultures not just Latin/Greek/British-based lore; specifically, Chinese magic which is based on calligraphy and music/tonality.

and, D'Ancanto : an gory whodunnit X-Men FoxMovieverse, post-X2, with Rogue/Marie D'Ancanto is a detective in the first police department where mutant cops solve crimes against or by other mutants.

Soft, no pressure tags to @pilesofpillows, @gaal-dornick, and anyone else who wants to play.

[infiniteeight8]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

Tagged by @sweaterkittensahoy

I have two AO3 accounts (infiniteeight and crimsonquills) because I switched pseuds due to a troll in a fandom like, 10 or 15 years ago. So for AO3 stats questions, first number is infiniteeight, second number is crimsonquills, total in parentheses. The crimsonquills number is misleading, though--only about half my works written under that pseud are uploaded.

How many works do you have on AO3? 426 + 235 (661)

What's your total AO3 word count? 584,163 + 721,769 (1,305,932)

What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, IronStrange (MCU), Steter (Teen Wolf), and LazyTown. I have a lot of formerly serious fandoms, and I've dabbled in even more. There are 21 listed on infiniteeight and 28 on crimsonquills, to give you an idea, and that's not a complete list.

Top Five Fics by Kudos

For infiniteeight AO3 handle (all of these are Clint/Coulson, which makes sense, since it's the biggest fandom I've been in for the past 12 years):

Trump Card 

Relief 

Made Omega 

A House is Not a Home 

Five People Who Flinched From Phil and the One Person Who Never Did

For my crimsonquills AO3 handle (this is a little misleading--I have some very popular stories on this handle that aren't on AO3, though I keep meaning to upload them):

Full Body Workout (Steve/Tony, comic Avengers)

A Meeting of Minds (Steve/Tony, comic Avengers)

Beneath the Armor  (Steve/Tony, comic Avengers)

A Light To Guide You (Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon, The Phantom Menace)

Doubts  (Steve/Tony, comic Avengers)

Good grief, only now have I realized that my most popular Man from UNCLE fic (The Mirror, Mirror Affair) is not on AO3! I was certain it was. It looks like *none* of my MFU fics are on AO3. Oops? I really have to fix that...

Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I went through a period where I was very sporadic about it, but now I reply to them all. I'm even going through and answering old comments that have been there, unanswered, for years. The responses I've gotten from folks receiving a reply anywhere from a few months to 8 years later have been lovely. :D

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Definitely no heartbeat detected (IronStrange, true Drabble). I don't normally write much angst, and when I do, it's always with a happy ending. But that one was a prompt.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't think I can actually pick one? Almost all of my fics have happy endings!

Do you get hate on fics?

Nope. Which surprises me, honestly, because I've written plenty of tropes that other people get hate for all the time.

Do you write smut?

Yes! In fact, before I started writing the daily ficlets, I was primarily known as a smut writer. Almost everything I wrote was smutty. I find it kid of amusing that the drabbles have changed that.

Craziest Crossover?

Has to be the Band of Brothers/Terminator crossover. It's only posted on my old livejournal, but I'll upload it to AO3 one day and just watch people goggle at it. LOL.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. The closest that I know of is someone who copied the entire first chapter (or couple of chapters?) of one of my more popular fics and then took it in a totally different direction. I contacted them and they were apologetic--the meant to go back and rewrite the beginning once they were done with their version, but they never finished it. They put a note and an inspired by tag on it after I contacted them, and that was fine with me.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Many times! Translations are always welcome.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yup! A couple times, although it's not something I do regularly.

All time favorite ship?

Hmmm. Difficult question. Longest lasting active ship is Steter, but all time favorite? I think it might be Marcus Cole/Neroon (Babylon 5).

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

This is a weird question for me, because I don't really work on more than one thing at a time, except for brief pauses on epic fics to knock out something short. And if I start to lose steam on a story I'm writing, there's not really a "doubt" phase. I either believe I will finish it, or it gets trunked and I don't consider it a WIP anymore, because it is no longer "in progress", it's just abandoned.

What are your writing strengths?

Characterization! I've had many compliments in this area.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Visual description, definitely.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Peppering in other language words to remind me of a character's background and for flavour is useful, but writing entire sentences in another language knock me right out of the story. If I have to check a footnote or hover text to know what they're saying, I instantly lose immersion.

Other language text that you can figure out from context is better than footnotes, but in my experience people rarely do it well.

First fandom you wrote in?

Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was on paper (one of those yellow note pads), but I never shared it with anyone. First fandom I actually posted in might have been Star Trek: Voyager? Or possibly Stargate: SG1. I'm not actually sure which came first. I have the stories (I think), but they aren't dated.

Favorite fic you've written?

Oh, gosh, I'm not sure. Maybe Patterns (Marcus/Neroon)? I've written better stories and more popular ones, but I have a soft spot for that one.

Tags (very optional): @airas-story. Um, anyone else? I am bad at remembering people.

[wild-karrde]

Hello friend Karrde!

I am still slogging through writers block and as such I have been remis in reading. However I do have a few Rec's for the week.

Starting off with the triumphant return of our friend Caro @rain-on-kamino and her lovely fic Dancing in the Dark featuring the handsome and talented Commander Thorn! and who can resist dancing to such a great song.

The amazing @daimyosprincess has given us the mind (and heart) melting 5th instalment of Ex Libris - preface... READ IT! Like top tier schmexyness as always but the second half of the story got me. The absolute truly vulnerable intimacies and fierce care shown.... Chef's Kiss!

Now it is very safe to say that I am not the only one who hates to shop for a new swim suit, but after @pickleprickle tale of a certain Jedi (This is going swimmingly)..... Well lets say its less of a chore now.

Now for the Fun and Artsy submissions!

This Beautiful Portrait of Jedi Kelleran Beq @uzuriartonline

Tech By @lightspringrain

And of course I have to send in my Bebe Batch bois from @ladykagewaki for her lovely 2 part Outing and Recovery comic

I had a few other art pieces in mind but was not sure how you felt about the schmexy AO3 based art....

As always much appreciation and love to ya for putting this together every week! We are not worthy!

I've bookmarked the latest chapters for Chuckles and the kiddos to hopefully get caught up tomorrow I'm a slacker. But I must ask.... Does he ever get back to Bolts? My heart aches for our fly boy, he needs cuddles.

AHHHHH SO MANY GREAT RECS IN THIS ASK!!! AND SUCH A GREAT VARIETY!!! Thank you as always for taking the time to curate such a list (and I am totally fine with spicy art, as long as it's tagged appropriately and doesn't violate any of the other rules).

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

[aragarna]

For the ask game: 11, 14, 18 and 27. If you're comfortable answering.

Do you have specific playlists for writing fics?

Not really now. I don't have a specific setting to write. Most of the time, I write with TV in the background. Preferencially something that doesn't require too much attention, like an old fashion procedural that I feel only semi invested in or that I know well enough. NCIS, Bones, Castle... House works great too.

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

So many of them! I guess any of my long fics, those with some plot and action. The crossovers would be great. the POI/Counterpart one, or the POI/Forever one. Some of my WC fics would be fun in comic or film too. The post S5 one or my main post S6. Oh or The Fatherhood Chronicles, where we would see baby Neal growing up.

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

Honestly, I don't know. I'd have to re-read all my fics and take notes. There's probably some good lines in there (at least decent ones) but I honestly don't keep them in mind.

27. Is there a fic you were nervous to post/share? Why?

The first one, obviously. And for a very long time I was really nervous about putting my stuff out there (still am, but I feel a bit more confident about my writing now, and I know readers are always very kind). Every time I post a first fic in a new fandom, too. It feels a bit like the first day in a new school. You don't know the people there, you wonder if your story will fit in there, if this is what people want in this fandom. Also, there's a couple fics that I knew might trigger some unwanted responsse from a certain side of the fandoms at the time: writing Peter's POV during S5 even as the season unfolded, that wasn't easy. Or writing episode tags to the POI finale that respected canon while half the fandom was upset about said finale...

Also, as I almost always ask a friend to beta my work, the hardest part for me is actually to send my work to my beta. It's the first time I share a new work, it's gonna be my first reader and I'm usually super nervous about it. You have no idea how long I can procrastinate and re-re-read the fic and do minor edits before I manage to gather the courage to save it one last time and send it over.

Thank you for the asks, Anon! :)

[suakkochibitarumarigami]

I'm afraid that I only have one specific artist for

Favorite Fancomics

And the fancomics in question are basically all of the LoveSquare comics by none other than the ever-so-amazing-but-sadly-now-on-a-hiatus @spatziline

They have quite a lot going - different AUs, both humorous and feelsy comics, and very great artwork...

But like I mentioned above, they're on a hiatus it seems. That, or they're not doing ML comics anymore.

So yeah. Sorry for such a sparse post, y'all.

[uwuthatshit]

I saw that you would like to get random asks, so I want to take this opportunity to ask about a topic that feels like beyond my personal reach which I would love to hear a personal opinion on from somebody who has a better grasp. (If you don't feel like answering this that's totally okay, I'm just super curious about this topic as a whole and know pretty much nothing about it and I saw you use tags that relate to it, so I thought I'd ask you!)

I'm talking about "kin" like "kinning a character".

I talked to some friends about it to find some definitions for a start but we soon came to a point where we maybe just lack insight from a person who attributes meaning to this phenomenon. What does kinning mean? Is it like "I identify with this character" or does it go beyond feeling understood, seen, represented? If so, in which ways? What do you think could be the reason this attribution to certain characters is a "thing" right now? What do people get out of it, what function could it serve for them? Are there kin communities? What happens if two people who "literally kin" a character meet? What does "literally kinning" mean? Is that a real thing?

I come from a place of 0 opinion or judgement on this topic since I just don't know anything beyond the word and what I personally read into it in passing so far. So if you have time and this would be fun for you to write about, would you like to put together a tiny lesson or direct me to some sources if you know some? I'm super interested from a sociologist's point of view but also as a writer! Imagine inventing a character some people end up kinning! How fascinating! What does it all mean?

I hope you'll have a super good day 😊

Hi Papuru!!! Oh my goodness, you asked a question :))))) Thank you so much for interacting!!! Yay, My Papuru-senpai noticed me  \\\QwQ/// 

Oh LORD, you asked the mother of all questions. Honestly, this one got my mind reeling. 

 “What is Kinning? What does it mean?” 

I remember you asking me this question like, 2 months ago when we first started talking and I 100% remember giving you a half-ass explanation because I was tired and had a shitty day XD I’M SO SORRY I WAS SO TIRED I'M SURE MY EXPLANATION MADE NO SENSE. 

Well, no backing out of it now! I’m more than happy to dig deeper into a topic for a friend! Let’s get started. 

Kinning, in its simplest form, is a ‘relationship’ between a character and a real person in this reality. 

Kinning is an EXTREMELY touchy subject, especially since everyone has their own definition of the characters (what it is in comparison to themselves). How THEY can relate to a character can define how much they “Kin” them. 

Kinning is a term that is also used in the role-playing community, to how much “Alike” you are to a certain character during the duration of your Cosplaying, Acting, and Behaving like a specific Character. 

Now, what do I mean by “Characters?” I mean any fictional character that has ever existed. Now, Kinning is now used more mainstream because it is HUGELY Popular because of Tiktok! And Kinning (As far as I’ve seen and compared myself to) is pretty big in the Anime, DreamSMP, Comic Books, Otome Games, and Manga communities/Fandom. I compare myself to (Or “kin”) Characters that mostly belong from DreamSMP, My Hero Academia, and Diabolik Lovers. 

Kinning is like finding a space where you belong. A lot of people feel out of place, lonely, different, awkward, etc. But don’t get it confused with Stanning, though. 

When a person has a favorite character, you can “Stan” them. This means you would back them up no matter what, they are your FAVORITE character, you want them more than anything in the world. Think BTS Stans. Dream Stans. Bakugo Stans. They are people that rally behind a specific character in this imaginary boxing rink, cheering and patting their favorite character in the imaginary corner where they are sitting. Hyping them up. Crying over them. Think People crying and running after Big Time Rush or 1D, desperate to get a photograph, validation, ect.

Kinning is NOT that. 

Kinning is the feeling of having a personal connection with a character. You see parts of yourself in a character.

THIS INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO:  

Personality, interests, self-esteem issues, hidden secrets, broken relationships, tragic past, similar trauma, same amount of self hatred (or self love), the character also lost a mother and a father, a toe, a hand, tongue, the ability to walk, to care, to be a pacifist. that sort of thing.

My personal belief is that quarantine and the rise in mental illness and isolation made it difficult for people to relate or interact with one another, so then people started finding emotional solace in fictional character. Just an idea?

[veliseraptor]

got tagged for two fic writer memes yesterday! the one from @ameliarating first:

How many works do you have on AO3?

509.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

3,432,24. dang! that’s a lot of words

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

I have written for...counting the MCU as one fandom, on AO3 I have written for 32 fandoms, including at least one work in:

MCU, The Sillmarillion, Caliban Leandros, both DC and Marvel Comics, the book Barebacked by Kit Whitfield, Doctrine of Labyrinths, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Black Jewels, Dragon Age, Lucifer, Dexter, Temeraire, Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Supernatural, A Song of Ice and Fire, Greek Mythology, Lymond Chronicles, Merlin BBC, Code Geass, Good Omens,  Death Note, and White Collar.

this is not a comprehensive list of every fandom I’ve ever written for, because it is not including ones that live only on FFN or Livejournal.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Life In Reverse tops the list (11066), aka my 200k Loki-centric post-Thor AU fic that I wrote between 2012 and 2018 and with which I have a decidedly complex relationship at this point. I love it but also I no longer think it’s my best work but also I credit it with teaching me a fuck of a lot about writing and writing longer projects in general.

With Absolute Splendor is rapidly catching up, to my astonishment (6559), despite having been posted for less than half as long. Aka the wedding planning fic that’s really just me mucking about in my Jiang Cheng and my Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian feelings, at length.

some good mistakes (4618) was my first foray into the Untamed version of “characters who hate each other going on resentful roadtrips together, feat. Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng.” I have gone on to write others and will continue to write more.

Unraveling (3069) is a little bit of a surprise but also not - it was originally just sort of WWP stuff for my ‘what if people remembered that blunt force trauma is a really bad thing actually’ problem that pops up sometimes, re: Loki at the end of The Avengers, and then it kind of turned into a whole thing. I personally think it’s the weakest of the installments of the series it belongs to, but it is the first one and also the one that gets least into the broader family dysfunction and depression stuff that probably is less everyone’s thing (but is what came out this fic that mattered more to me, personally).

I am a little surprised to see Steve Rogers’ Halfway House for Notorious Supervillains (3068) here too! I was expecting one of the more...idk, mainstream concepts from the MCU to win out? But I also wasn’t expecting two Untamed fics to make it here, either. But I am stupid proud of this fic even if it is very extraordinarily unfinished. This is one of those unfinished fics that will nag at me unless and until I finish it, at least a little, because the concept - if I do say so myself - is so goddamn good and I think I was executing it pretty well, too.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Pretty much never. I was never very good at it and now I’d feel like I had to go back and reply to all of them and I just. I can’t do that. and when I do try to just start at the beginning I get overwhelmed very fast and start avoiding it.

Basically I decided that if it’s a decision between wrestling with myself to reply to comments versus actually doing more writing I’m going to end up landing on the latter as feeling both more doable and more productive.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

probably it’s The Worlds Forgotten, the Words Forbidden for sheer level of “so then what was the point” of it all. but like. I’ve definitely written a few extraordinarily miserable fics, and by “a few” I kind of mean “a lot.” Other nominees I’d put down might be nor autumn falter (for currently personally making me suffer most), once there was a way to get back home (for I think having the ouchiest summary), and Waiting for the Summer Rain (which remains one of my personal favorite Supernatural fics I wrote).

but like. there are 43 fics I have marked with Major Character Death warnings and every single one of those, pretty much, has a downer ending.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have written several though not in a long time! My craziest probably remains the Morgoth/Cthulhu short I wrote that actually got sporked because someone took it seriously (???) enough to do that. But the craziest that actually has any merit, (I’d argue) is probably the Maeglin/Viserys one.

not linking to either, if you want to go find them I don’t think it’ll be that hard.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yeah, a few times on a few different things. More if you count “people who seem to like the fic but love telling you how much they hate the female characters you’re writing about in it” as ‘hate’ which I would but isn’t, you know, quite as straightforward. If I had a nickel for every time someone bitched about Jane in Life in Reverse, though...lots of nickels.

Do you write smut? if so what kind?

Sure do! But what does ‘what kind’ mean, I don’t know how to answer that question. I feel tempted to just put in my “Mike’s Hard Kinks” image edit in this space.

I guess usually I tend to write smut that at least involves a little bit of a kink? I don’t think I’d feel comfortable writing entirely kinkless smut. I think I’d feel weird about it, the same way I do when I write really nice fic, generally.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I think I did back when but I don’t remember anything about it. I feel like it was one of those mass data scraping things where my fic happened to be among those caught up in it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! several actually, mostly into Russian and Chinese. every time it happens I’m immensely flattered that someone wants to put in that kind of work on something I wrote.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I think I’d be very, very bad at it.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Depends on when you ask me! I could probably give you a top five but then I’d remember six that I forgot to mention five minutes later. I guess if I were to think about ships that feel like they hold very special particular places in my heart... Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen, Steve Rogers/Loki, and Min/Rand come to mind.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

oh god do you want the whole list cause honestly I could just like. screencap the entirety of my “in progress” folder with a crying emoji watermarked over it. and that’s not getting into the fics that are like...half formed babies in my consciousness but not anywhere on paper.

and also I just hate to admit that I might not finish something.

you know what? the Lucifer/Good Omens crossover I started would’ve been a lot of fun. I’m probably never going to finish it, but it would’ve been great if I had. I know other people did it too but my contribution could’ve been amazing.

I can say this very boldly with the near certainty that I’m not going to finish the fic so no one will be able to disagree.

(...also the Last Herald-Mage fix it. that was going to be a good fic too, and also will probably languish unfinished forever.)

What are your writing strengths?

I’m pretty sure dialogue is my strongest point. Dialogue and emotions, which is why I always end up just wanting to write about characters talking and having feelings at each other.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing action sequences throws me into conniptions every time I have to do it and I will take drastic actions sometimes to avoid doing it at all, which probably weakens the work as a whole.

Also, I don’t plan ahead and this means I write myself into corners kind of a lot. If I wasn’t writing long, dense fic it wouldn’t be a problem but here we are.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I tend to avoid it unless it’s in the context of, as in CQL/MDZS fic, leaving certain terminology untranslated. I’m pretty sure I almost never write full exchanges of dialogue in a different language than I’m using for the narration within a fic, and generally speaking my reaction to other people doing it is at least mildly negative.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter was technically the first fandom I wrote for, but it was a crack fic I wrote to make my friends laugh more than anything; I tend to count Wheel of Time as my first actual fandom for which I wrote my first actual fic.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

some days the answer is “all of them” and some day the answer is “I don’t like anything I’ve written in my entire life” and I never like giving this a definitive answer. yesterday I reread efforts in a common cause (the bound copy!! thanks @spockandawe) and you know what, that was a good fic and I’m proud of it, so I’m going with that one, for this meme, today.

tagging: @mostfacinorous, @jaggedcliffs, @silvysartfulness, @mikkeneko, @kasasagi-eye, @curiosity-killed, how many people am I supposed to tag for this one anyway

[sunflowerheartsandstarryskies]

My Golden Curse - Maxwell Lord x Fem!Reader

Author’s Note: Hello again, I may have stumbled upon the Pedro Pascal fandom and I can’t get out, and I saw someone posted that they wanted an imagine with Maxwell Lord and the reader in which one of them gets kidnapped and the other just goes ballistic, and I basically kept getting that idea stuck in my head, this was only supposed to be a drabble but oh well. This depiction of Maxwell Lord is closer to the DC Comics version of him and not the movie but it has Pascal’s Lord’s likeness, so it’s like a combination of the two.

Also, I have survived my finals and had taken a break from writing for a while but I’m back and I have some ideas for my Lucifer multi-chapter fic as well. I also have an idea for a John Wick fic but I have no idea if anyone wants to read that.

Warnings: Typical comic-book violence, cursing (like two curse words), blood mentioned, kidnapping, bruises and injuries (like ribs breaking, a concussion, and a few lacerations

______________________________________________________________

Maxwell Lord IV prided himself on presentation. Everything had to be pristine and everything, even the garbage can by his desk had to be impeccable, because his business and himself in general, are put out on display for the public. He is a figurehead and a showman, so when you came along to be his assistant and secretary he was at first apprehensive because you didn’t dress as provocatively as he may have like and you didn’t look as model-esque as his other secretaries in the past. You didn’t apply to Chimtech to be fucked by your boss, you were good at your job and you aspire to show off your skills.

However, time went on when you first started to work for Maxwell Lord and you did a phenomenal job, whenever he was in a meeting you would always make sure to listen and take notes of what he needed while he was in the meeting. Whenever he requested for you to fax an item you would’ve made sure to have done it five minutes prior. Maxwell had no idea how you could be so efficient at your job, but he damn well appreciates it even if he rarely ever mentions it to you.

It’s an odd relationship that you guys have worked yourself in, a friendly relationship it seems, but both of you are teetering on the edge of wanting more. There have been teasing nicknames, mostly from you, you had a plethora of nicknames that you would give him, ranging from “Sandy” to “Ken”, but “Golden boy” was your favorite.

You would never admit this to him or even to yourself but you actually liked his blonde locks. In certain lightings, when you look at him you swear he was Midas, covered in his own golden curse. It was breathtaking to watch him at some points, but you always try to cover up your flustered state.

You knew Maxwell well, some may say too well for a secretary, but you rarely saw the side of him that most of his competitors and fellow businessmen saw, and that was the merciless and ruthless side to his tactics on getting what he wanted. Everyone in the public eye saw him as just the “King of Infomercials” but there was a reason why and how he got that title in the first place. Who knew the infomercial world could be so cruel and hectic?

You were able to catch glimpses of Maxwell’s amazing abilities of persuasion and showmanship, he was able to get people to admit to what they want and get them to go out and seize, whether that was good or bad. There was a particular talent that you find out he has and it was his ability to drag out people’s hidden desires, there were times when the people he used this talent were a shock as the people around them when they admitted to what they really wanted.

He was a golden idol of his own creation; he had to be especially to the people around him. However, that golden facade can only keep him held up for so long when the people he handed gold to realize that it’s fool’s gold.

______________________________________________________________

It was earlier in the day, you just woke up and got dressed in your office attire with a cup of coffee in hand as you try to will yourself to get going. You looked up at your apartment’s clock and it was 7:00 am, you needed to get going if you were to make it to Chimtech in time.

As you stepped out of your apartment building you felt a gloved hand over your mouth and panic flooding your whole body, but before your body could even fully process a flight or fight response you felt a sharp pain in your neck and you passed out.

When you come to, your vision is blurred and you can’t understand where you are and your brain just has confusion filling your senses. Why can’t you process what is around you? What happened to you? After a couple of more seconds went by you felt a rope tightly woven around your wrists, and you comprehended that you were sitting on a floor. What happened to you?

“Ah, there’s the little doll’s eyes! I was wondering if you were beginning to ever wake up,” a voice filled your ears. You blinked furiously trying to get your eyes to focus and you found yourself face to face with a man, who was grinning at you like a shark finding the prey they smelled a mile away.

“I’m sure you understand why you’re here? I don’t need to monologue it to you, do I?” the man asks.

“Mr. Vince, right? You were in a meeting with my boss Maxwell Lord, a month ago, right?” you questioned him as the drug and weariness started to seep out of you, and you gained more awareness of your surroundings. The man, Mr. Vince was a part-owner of a tech company that Chimtech was interested in making an investment in, however from what you were aware of was that the true goal of the meetings with Vince and his company was to absorb it into Chimtech, forcing Vince and the other owners to give up their powers over to Maxwell Lord and the other board members of Chimtech.

“I see the drugs didn’t impair your memory, I assume you are aware that I am no longer a CEO? That I was tricked by your goddamned boss?! That he put me in a corner to give up my company over to him!” he screamed. He was half an inch from your face and you were terrified of this man, he was unhinged.

“What does this have to do with me, Mr.Vince?” you asked, forcing yourself to not push him over the edge.

“Ooooh this has everything to do with your boss, I remembered that you are his secretary, so you must know some secret of his, something I can leverage against him to make him give me my company back,” he said.

“Even if I have any sort of information to give you, the damage is already done, your company is done in, it’s already been processed into Chimtech, there is none of your company left.”

That was the wrong thing to say as you felt a kick to your stomach. You groaned and rolled onto your side, and before you could recover from that there was another swift kick that you felt go directly to your ribs.

______________________________________________________________

Minutes blended into hours of constant yelling from Vince to him pulling you off the ground to throwing you back down like you were a piece of litter to being his personal punching bag. It was all you could do to just protect yourself and persevere through the pain because you were just a secretary, you were never trained in self-defense, hell you never even did track in high school.

Through the pain, you felt complete distortion and a high pitch whining going through your head, and you finally realized it was a telephone- a landline. Where the hell did this guy get a landline in this beat-up place?

Then, you hear Vince say, “Oh you want to hear how (Y/N) is?” you hear footsteps coming towards you then cold plastic was pressed to your cheek then Vince continued loudly, “Well here she is, talk.”

“(Y/N)?” You heard Maxwell, your golden boy, say your name and all you can do was say his name back in a raspy voice.

“What did he do to you?” Maxwell asked.

Before you could say any more the phone was taken away from you and Vince’s voice filled your ears.

“Tick tock Maxwell, I want my money and you can get your fuck toy back.”

Then silence, a sickening silence filled the room which made you feel every ache and pain that has been put on your body has made itself known by increasing levels of agony. You didn’t even feel it in you to even try to correct Vince’s words about you. You just wanted to sleep and not wake up for a whole day, maybe if you laid perfectly still and just not move a muscle the pain would go away.

As you lay there you tearily open your eyes back up and you can hear the tinny sounds of the echoing footsteps of your captor pacing back and forth in the room you were held in. It was nauseating, and you were confused as you thought, When did you close your eyes? How long were you out?

Then you fell back into your head, and you felt like you were spiraling in your own mind mixed with dizziness and nausea. You just wanted this to end.

A male voice was shouting so close to you and you can feel the panic coming out of his voice, and you can tell it wasn’t Vince because why would he do that?

You felt yourself being lifted from the ground and all you could do was cough sporadically from the new movements on your injuries. It hurt, it hurt so bad.

“I know (Y/N), but you just need to keep going a little bit longer,” the same voice told you.

You couldn’t quite pinpoint where you heard that voice before but you thought it was your boss, Maxwell Lord, but it couldn’t be. That would be the last thought that went through your mind before you lost it to the void.

All you can see at first was just bright and it hurt so bad. When you turned your head you saw a flash of gold and your first thought was, ‘Maxwell’. When your eyes adjusted to the room around you it really was your boss, Maxwell Lord in the hospital with you. He was slumped down in a chair beside your bed and you saw there were roses in a vase on the table next to you.

“Gold-golden boy, hey,” you rasped out trying to wake him. You coughed and then groaned as you felt the lacerations and bandages around your torso.

You saw him stir in the chair and his eyes opened and landed on yours. “Hey boss,” you whispered cringing at your voice. Your hands clenched at the sheets around you as you saw him blink furiously and stood up fast. You flinched at the fast movement but he didn’t seem to notice, as he moved closer to you.

“I am sorry about what happened to you, I didn’t think that our clients would go so far as to do this to you. I can’t believe that bastard did all of this to you-”

“It’s okay, I mean it hurts like a bitch but you ended up finding me didn’t you? What happened to him anyway?” you cut him off.

“Ah well, I may have gotten violent with him before the law enforcement could get him,” he said twisting his hands around and that’s when you saw the scrapes on his knuckles.

“I don’t know if you were a white knight to me but you certainly are a golden devil for doing that,” you replied.

He huffed out a laugh at your reply and he opened his mouth to say something but got interrupted when a nurse arrived.

______________________________________________________________

After the nurse left, you found out you still have a concussion lingering still, three bruised ribs and lacerations across your whole torso and arms.

When he listened to the whole list of injuries that you had gotten in the three days that you were with Mr. Vince, he felt rage boil over him but he tried to keep calm as he remembered the battered state he left Vince in. At least he made him feel some of the pain that he made you go through, Maxwell was a very prideful man in how he acts so for him to act like that was completely out of character for him.

He must be looking worried because he noticed your furrowed brows and you glancing at him every so often.

“Did you want to say something?” he asked

“Well, I was gonna ask you a similar question because I think you were interrupted by the nurse. Also are you okay?”

Your question startled him and the mention of the interruption made him clear his throat and fidget with his suit to try to hide the blush that was threatening to come up to his face. Your inquisitive expression on your face was watching him.

“I’ve been thinking that if you would like to leave the company, I won’t force you to stay, especially with what happened this week,” he said.

Listening to him say this made you panic and as you tried to sit up, Maxwell came up to you quickly as he says, “What do you think you’re doing? You got to take it easy.”

As you are situated in your bed you went to reach for Maxwell’s hand as you say, “Why would I want to quit? I love my job and I love working with you even if at times I don’t seem like it. None of what happened to me was your fault, how could you have known that Vince would react to the merger the way that he did.”

Maxwell was startled by this, he never had anyone in his family nor his company is so willing to stay with him especially when they are given an out.

He bowed his head toward you and said, “If you keep saying things like that I might want to keep you by my side for a long time.”

You laughed as you replied, “If you let me I will, you are a weird but kind man-” you stopped yourself as a thought came to your head.

“How long have you been here? What about Chimtech?”

“Ah well if my secretary didn’t get kidnapped and injured I wouldn’t be here right now, but you made me worried and how can I do my best work without my best assistant around me?”

“Now you’re just flattering me”

“But it’s true”

“Hmmm if you say so, Sandy”

______________________________________________________________

Four days have gone by and you were finally released from the hospital to go back to your apartment. You tried to go back to work at Chimtech, but Maxwell found you were released and gave you the rest of the week off to recover. You would become the envy of the company at this rate with how well the boss has been treating you.

Now that you have been just lounging in your apartment watching TV movies, and eating takeout for meals it has given you time to properly understand what happened to you for the past two weeks.

The way your boss, Maxwell, has been treating you made you see a whole new side of him. At first, you thought of working for him as both a blessing and a curse. At first, it was hell on earth, you ran yourself ragged making sure everything was up to par with Maxwell’s standards but after the next three years working with the man you considered him a friend of sorts. Even though you always tried to make sure to never consider employers and colleagues be separate from your personal life but it’s hard to do that when all you have is your work life.

Ever since the kidnapping incident, Maxwell had visited you every day in the hospital he even gave you flowers on the last day of your hospital visit, it was a beautiful vase of sunflowers.

You didn’t realize how long you were sitting on your couch thinking about your boss when you heard a knock on your door. You looked at the clock near your tv and realized it was nearly midnight.

‘Who could come by to my apartment at this hour?’ you thought.

You got up carefully minding the bruises still littering your body, and you opened the door surprised to see Maxwell.

His hair was a bit disheveled and he didn’t have a suit jacket on showing off the suspenders he likes to wear. He looked quite cute seeing him like this.

“Come in, Mr. Lord. What brings you to my place this late at night?” you inquired.

He ran his hand through his hair as he entered your apartment and he turns to look at you as you closed the door.

He sighed as he said, “I don’t know how quite to put this without sounding terrible, but after what happened to you, I can’t stop thinking about you. You are the best woman-the best person I’ve known and for you to still want to work with me after everything that has happened.”

He looked like he was getting frustrated with himself, you were shocked because how could you have gotten the king of infomercials to be so frustrated with his own words?

You took a tentative step forward to him as you placed a hand on his arm.

“Sandy, what’s going on?”

He was silent for a moment before he looked into your eyes with a strong determination as he says, “You know more about me than my own mother does, and after all this time together I’ve grown to respect you more and more. When I saw you in that hospital I wanted to kill the bastard and send him to hell when I found you like that in the warehouse.”

“I-I don’t know what to say, Mr. Lord-”

“Call me Maxwell, none of your silly names, not boss, not my last name, just Maxwell”

You could tell he was earnest with this and sincere it took your breath away to see him like this. He was beautiful and it made your heart flutter when you realize what he might be trying to confess to you.

“Maxwell” you breathed out testing his name out. You said his name once before and that was when you had gotten kidnapped but now this is completely different, almost like a prayer. A prayer to this golden devil of yours.

He smiled when he heard you say his name and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“I wish I could kiss all the scars away from your body so you never have to live with them again. I wish that I could be yours, fully and I want to be clear that I would never use you like I may have done to my secretaries in the past. I want to be yours, in any way you may want me.”

“Oh Maxwell, I think I might have to grant your wish this time,” you say blinking away tears that were threatening to spill as you were listening to his confession.

“(Y/N)” he whispered reverently.

He cradled your face with both hands as he studied your face to see any resistance than he gently placed his lips on yours.

You made a small gasp as you finally felt his lips on yours, you clutched onto his shirt as you pulled him closer to you. He tilted his head and pushed your chin up to meet in for a deeper kiss. It felt amazing and you felt loved.

When you parted you were chasing each other’s lips to crash back into each other as you kissed each other until you both need a break. Both of your lips were swollen and you looked at him with such love that when Maxwell saw, he almost wanted to take you then and there but he was mindful of how fragile this love could be.

Author’s Note: I might do a second part if people want it but whew this took a lot out of me, I hope you guys like it!

[iturbide]

If you are still up for character asks, how about Sumia. I was sad no one asked about her yet.

And your latest fan art got me interested in also hearing your thoughts on Takumi. If you feel ok answering since I know you haven't played Fates.

I’ve been sad about that too so thank you for rectifying that situation ❤

How do I feel about this character?

My girl.  I love Sumia so much, she is one of my absolute favorite characters in Awakening and one I will never pass up an opportunity to write.  I love her and how passionate she is about books, how deeply invested she gets in the stories and characters and how she uses them both as an escape from her own life (where she can’t help but dwell on her own shortcomings) and as a source of inspiration and courage.  There’s something intensely relatable about wanting an escape like that, feeling outclassed or useless and getting lost in a book as a way to cope -- and yet she’s so capable, even if she doesn’t recognize it herself.  She seems so used to people looking down on her or criticizing what she does or making fun of her slip-ups that she’s started to really believe all of it, when the reality is that her mistakes have never been her defining trait: seeing her learn to embrace her own skills and talents is so heartwarming and I find myself constantly rooting for her to succeed in everything.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

Sully!!  Sully and Sumia is one of my favorite ships in all of Awakening, honestly: I love these two ladies who are so gung-ho about horses and bond over that mutual interest and I love the idea of them getting together and learning more about each other, bolstering one another’s confidence (Sully reassuring Sumia that she’s more capable than she thinks and offering to train her if it would make her feel more assured, Sumia insisting that Sully doesn’t need to be girly to be a woman and gushing about how she admires the cavalier) and falling for one another in the process.  It’s just really warm and I love it a lot, and given how encouraging they are in their supports, I really think they’d be a fantastic match for each other.

Also, I do love her with Chrom, and I feel like she’d be an encouraging influence for him, doing what she can to give him confidence and help him keep moving forward in spite of the obstacles; she’s such a bright and refreshing character and I think they could end up working really well together, leveraging their individual strengths to make the halidom a better place.  And I really enjoy her with Robin, too, considering how they bond over their mutual love of books, and I think Robin would be one of those people who really can see her for who she is, rather than the klutz she sees herself as.  It’s especially good when it’s both of them together with her though (yes I love my OT3).

Who is my brOTP for this character?

Robin and Sully, when I’m not shipping them!  Their relationships are so strong and they’re founded on such deep rooted friendship that even when I have them in other relationships, those bonds remain.  Also, even though she doesn’t have any supports with him in the game (which is criminal), I love the idea of a Sumia and Kellam friendship.  Kellam is someone who struggles to be noticed, Sumia’s someone who often seems to wish she could disappear.  The idea of them coming together and overcoming their obstacles together is really heartwarming to me.

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

She’s so much more capable than fandom wants to give her credit for.  Most people seem to write her off as stupid, passing over her as a brainless klutz in favor of the “genius” Cordelia -- but this is such a disservice to Sumia and her character.  She’s a fantastic fighter if given the chance, outrunning and outmaneuvering enemies, and while the game loves to play her off as comic relief, she’s a character with interesting, thoughtful support conversations whose life clearly doesn’t revolve around getting a man’s attention.  She’s her own person with hopes and dreams, hobbies and interests, unique skills and charming quirks, and bothering to get to know her really allows her to shine.

And personally, I don’t think she’s actually that clumsy.  Sure, she can be a little scatterbrained sometimes, but even the smartest and most capable people can be; when she has too many things to juggle she slips up in comic ways, but when push comes to shove she’s incredibly capable; if she weren’t, she never would have been able to rescue Chrom at the Longfort (sometimes I think people forget that she’s the one who swept in and got him clear of the javelins).

(And for a bonus unpopular opinion: I hate Cordelia and Sumia as a ship.  Cordelia is so mean to Sumia in their supports, banning Sumia from telling her flower fortunes because she personally doesn’t see value in them -- she doesn’t even bother trying to understand what Sumia’s doing or why, she just decides that her own way is the only right way, which is not how friends should act; putting them in a relationship is out of the question for me.)

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

Why does she have so few supports?  It’s not fair that she can so easily end up alone because the game limits her options so much; aside from Chrom, she has the fewest marriage options, but unlike him she doesn’t have an auto-marriage after a certain point.  It’s not fair that the game treated her that way, and I wish canon had given her more supports, platonic and romantic both.  Again, seeing her with Kellam would have been incredible, and I really wish they’d bothered to give her a support chain with Maribelle, too, considering how Maribelle treats her early on; it would have been amazing to see them work things out.

and you know I was wondering if people forgot my favorite Fates character

How do I feel about this character?

I have never played Fates.  I know about these games purely through fandom osmosis.  And yet I will say, in no uncertain terms, that Takumi is my absolute favorite Fates character. Fallen Takumi is still one of my very few units at +10 merges in Heroes because I love him that much.  And it’s kind of hilarious how it came to this because it’s kind of Heroes’ fault that I’m in this situation. 

I remember when the game first launched how much of a pain he was in the early Arena before Skill Inheritance was a thing, and how the only reliable counter I had for him was Hector because I’d never gotten Takumi myself.  And then one day he randomly showed up in a summon, and I was so excited I ran off to train him immediately...and realized as I did that this guy has some massive self-esteem problems.  It’s what got me interested in him in the first place, enough to do some digging in the wikis, and I kind of fell in love with his character: he’s smart, he’s capable, but he has a massive inferiority complex since he’s grown up in the shadow of his older brother -- something Corrin’s return manages to make worse, since everyone kind of loses their minds over it and pushes him down and away despite the fact that he’s the only one being sensible and questioning whether they can really trust Corrin after they were brought up in Nohr.  While he has an attitude problem that needs to be addressed (though it’s nowhere near as bad as Felix’s), he can get better and gain confidence in himself and his abilities...but in Conquest, his fate is an absolutely tragic one, where his self-doubt and anger allow Anankos a foothold, something to prey upon, and ultimately lead to his loss of control, loss of self, and loss of life.  His story just really hits me in the heart, kind of like Lyon, and I just want to see him grow and overcome his doubts. 

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

Okay so this is probably where my not having played the game is going to bite me but I have no idea. There are so many characters in Fates and I don’t even know half of them.  I know Leo is a popular partner for him but I’ve never really seen the chemistry there so I can’t say that’s for me; I could always cheat and say I ship him with happiness because honestly that is true, I really do want him to be happy first and foremost, but I don’t have an actual character answer whoops.

Who is my brOTP for this character?

Azura.  I love the idea of the two of them coming together as friends, both haunted and hounded by nightmares and terrible thoughts they can’t seem to shake, and finding ways to support one another through it.  I get the feeling that Takumi might have treated Azura with some distrust early on, but despite the fact that she came from Nohr, I honestly think they could have ended up having a close bond in Hoshido growing up as they struggle with their own problems, and it would have been amazing to see them come together to overcome them.  Also, I love the idea of him and Sakura being close as siblings, with Takumi protecting Sakura and helping draw attention off her when she’s feeling especially shy while she tries to encourage him and give him a place where he can relax with and get away from all his issues for a little while, someone he can enjoy himself with and not have to think about his problems.

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

I actually don’t know what kind of popular opinions there are about Takumi so I have no idea what kind of unpopular opinion I could have.  Honestly I don’t see anywhere near enough to Takumi in general since he seems to be eclipsed by not only his older brother but the Nohrian royals in fandom-wide popularity; is it an unpopular opinion to want more people to give him a chance, rather than writing him off as just an angry nay-sayer?  Because honestly, he is the only one with any sense, since he’s the only one who thinks to distrust Corrin when they return.

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

Okay so this is really really niche but I really wish they’d made Takumi Corrin’s half-brother rather than just a step-brother.  It honestly would have made so much sense?  Takumi’s the only other character who has the same kind of pale hair that Corrin canonically does, even if it’s not the exact same shade, so if that came from Mikoto it would fit perfectly with not only Corrin’s and Takumi’s hair color, but Sakura’s hair being that super pale pink compared to Hinoka’s vibrant red, which is what you’d probably expect from Ikona and Sumeragi after Ryoma inherited his father’s very dark hair.  I get the feeling they didn’t do it because they wanted to make all the royals available as romance options, which is both cheap and gross (and after what they did with Azura in Revelations it’s worse), but I think it would have been a really interesting plot element if they’d taken the time.

Give Me a Character  

[davidmann95]

Got a 2020 Superman State of the Union assessment?

Not the most overtly monumental of years for big blue - a lot of the biggest news for Superman this year was about stuff we’ll see next year, which I’ll get into further below - but on the whole definitely a net positive!

Really, the only things I’d say counted ‘against’ this year were the back half of Rucka and Perkins’ Lois Lane and how badly that went off the rails - which for my money was more than counterbalanced by the conclusion to Fraction and Lieber’s Jimmy Olsen - and Romita Jr. turning in shoddy work on Action Comics. Otherwise? Bendis played out the consequences of Truth in fun ways and closed out his tenure on the main titles with a pair of artful final issues, we got Waid’s return to the character alongside Francis Manapul for a great short story, the last issue of the instantly iconic Superman Smashes The Klan, and several excellent installments in DC’s digital Man of Tomorrow series, while Commanders in Crisis introduced the Superman analogue to beat for the 2020s in Prizefighter. And in mass-media Routh’s Superman got a nice fly-by sendoff at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, there were two animated features in Red Son and Man of Tomorrow (the former of which I haven’t seen but the latter of which is probably the best official Superman movie, even if that says more about other Superman movies than anything else), and we naaaaarowly avoided the Superman logo being codified as fascist iconography for a generation. Oh and the comics industry did not in fact end due to Covid. So all-in-all a win.

Anonymous said: It’s almost New Year’s, what’s your predictions for Superman in 2021? (I guess you can do Batman too if you want)

So here’s what we do know officially for Superman in 2021:

* Superman & Lois will debut on the CW, the first Superman TV show (without substantial qualifiers) in 20+ years.

* Future State will feature Jon Kent taking on the mantle in Superman of Metropolis, Justice League, and Superman/Wonder Woman, while a now spacefaring Clark is in Worlds of War, Imperious Lex, Batman/Superman, and House of El. Meanwhile Kara graduates from Supergirl to Superwoman in her own two-parter as well as featuring in Superman of Metropolis, and Conner Kent appears to be acting as some kind of Superman in Suicide Squad.

* Phillip Kennedy Johnson takes over Action Comics and Superman in March, beginning with a two-part crossover The Golden Age illustrated by Phil Hester. After that Action Comics will be drawn by Daniel Sampere through around September, at which point Mikel Janin will be illustrating an event-scale arc for the book. Meanwhile Scott Godlewski will be the artist on Superman, but around the time of Janin’s arc on Action an entirely new, as yet unknown creative team will take over Superman while PKJ remains on Action. Both books will also have backup features spotlighting various Superman/Metropolis-adjacent characters as there’s little space for them in the cosmic direction the main story will be tilting towards for the time being.

* Superman: Red & Blue will debut in March as a counterpart to the various Batman: Black & White series over the years.

* Outside the main Superman books, Clark will star in Brian Bendis and David Marquez’s Justice League, as well as Gene Yang and Ivan Reis’s incredibly rad-looking dimension-hopping new take on Batman/Superman. Bendis is indicating we’ll be seeing the long-delayed Event Leviathan: Checkmate this year as well, which features Lois as one of the main characters.

* Not strictly Superman news, but apparently we’ll be seeing Netflix’s adaptation of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s Jupiter’s Legacy next year, which centers around the multi-generational drama of the family of Superman analogue Utopian.

* Zack Snyder’s Justice League, its hour come round at last, slouches towards HBO Max to be born.

As for predictions? Well for starters, pretty much everyone takes as a given that Mark Waid is putting together some long-form Superman project now that he’s working with DC again, and I expect to see something come of that next year; Tom King has also soft-announced he’s working on a Superman project since he’s done with scripting his three current DC minis, but I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing directly came of that until 2022. I’d also speculate that Scott Snyder has something in mind: he’s repeatedly said he’s planning on a major out-of-continuity project, and he’s made clear he’s done with Batman for the time being, I imagine he’s done whatever he wanted to for Wonder Woman with Death Metal, and anything he did with the JSA right now would be extremely in-continuity; I doubt he’s playing with anything less than the icons anytime soon and he definitely seems more engaged with Superman now than he was when he wrote Unchained (hell, the end of Last Knight on Earth can basically only be read as ‘I wanna write Superman now’). Again though, dunno that I’d put money on that being next year. 

Outside the theoretical prestige stuff, everything we’re hearing about Future State, Infinite Frontier, and PKJ’s barely-veiled discussion of his run seems to suggest Jon will end up sharing the Superman name in the present and probably taking over that book alongside the new creative team. If Batman: Urban Legends takes off then I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a Superman anthology given DC’s apparent current priorities of consolidating, testing a new publishing model, and putting the biggest names first. And maybe something will finally come of the back-and-forth over whether or not Cavill’s sticking around in the movies - if he is my first guess would be an appearance in DuVernay and King’s New Gods (which is still in progress per DuVernay as of this month) - but we can all I think be pretty sure he’s still not getting a video game anytime soon.

As for what we know for certain of Batman’s 2021:

* Future State has a whole slate of Batman-related books, but Tim Fox takes over the cape and cowl to fight the police state that’s taken over Gotham in John Ridley and Nick Derington/Laura Braga’s The Next Batman, while a resourceless Bruce on the run stars in Mariko Takaki and Dan Mora’s Dark Detective.

* James Tynion and Jorge Jimenez are solidified as the creative team on the now-monthly Batman, while Tamaki and Mora take Detective Comics, with a Damian backup by Joshua Williamson and Gleb Melnikov running through the first issues of each and apparently leading to something, probably a Robin book. Elsewhere Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo take over Nightwing, Chip Zdarsky and Eddy Barrows spearhead the new anthology title Batman: Urban Legends, and Tynion and Gullem March launch a Joker ongoing, while Bruce also stars in the aforementioned Justice League and Batman/Superman.

* The Gotham Knights game is scheduled to drop next year.

Aside from the Infinite Frontier cover suggesting Tim Fox will take on a role in the present before long as (a) Batman same as Jon Kent as Superman, hopefully with Ridley and Derington coming back, it doesn’t feel like there’s a ton of big Batman stuff to speculate on? Aside from the inevitable unannounced Black Label stuff - including probably Scott Snyder’s Nightwing book - we know the basic shape of things. The Batman is inching closer, Tynion/Jimenez are probably on Batman through at least the end of the year, Mora I don’t think stays on Detective because he’s committed to Once & Future but Tamaki presumably does, Taylor/Redondo Nightwing is immediately going to be a fandom favorite, and Gotham Knights is probably gonna suck because boy that doesn’t look very good. We know the broad strokes of where he’s headed for the time being across all media. If I had to take a whack at a big guess, I’d say I’m a touch skeptical about that HBO GCPD show or the Batmobile cartoon reaching fruition, the former because that’s an incredibly charged premise that has to act perfectly in sync with another mass-media project in another medium AND we know there’s already been behind-the-scenes drama, and the latter because that sounds incredibly stupid.

EDIT: Forgot, Bendis said in 2019 he was working on a Black Label Batman book, so wouldn’t be surprised to see that too this year.

[shinneth]

subject to future deletion

Normally I wouldn’t resort to that and I might end up being too lazy to do it anyway, but between getting sick again, dealing with some very intense verbal abuse every day irl, and the monthly burdens of the gender, I’m really not in a good place right now and I need to vent something. 

It’s officially gotten bad enough to interfere with my ability to write, even though I’m at a point in my current story that I’ve been very eager to reach... and every step of the way I’m struggling to write it and I hate what I currently have and it’s taking everything in my current power to not just scrap it entirely. 

Basically, I think I’m failing as a writer.

The irl stuff is actually not what I’m gonna get into because it’s really nothing new and it’ll probably resolve itself, but the side-effect of suffering that kind of negativity is that it enhances lingering negative feelings you’ve had about other things.

Namely, things you do to get away from the pains of the real world. The things you do to have fun and get some enjoyment out of life, no matter how challenging it is to be in this thing because it’s so wrongfully derided and demonized by the majority of your peers.

I try to keep telling myself it’s just because I’m still relatively very new to the fandom compared to my contemporaries, but as I’m typing this right now and listening to my favorite wrestler Shelton Benjamin in an interview, immediately I see the pit I’m starting to fall into. 

Like, it’s uncanny. This is what he said as I started on the above paragraph:

“If I sit and constantly compare myself to other people’s successes, you would drive yourself crazy. Because no matter what, there’s always someone who’s gonna be more successful.”

“I need to remember where I come from; how far I’ve came.”

Basically, in the very small world of Stevidot (and to a lesser extent, SU’s fandom as a whole), despite my efforts, I feel very much like the Shelton Benjamin in a small, dedicated group of talented Stevidot content creators.

Which is to say, I’m basically a midcarder in the mix with a bunch of top-tier legends. Shelton graduated from the same group as some modern very well-known mainstream stars that I can easily associate with a very well-known and accomplished Stevidot contributor.

Shelton graduated with the likes of John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Dave Batista, and Randy Orton. At least half of those names should be at least vaguely familiar for my followers as most of them have had such great success that they’re known in avenues beyond wrestling (save for Randy Orton, but he’s well past outshined his father as a legendary wrestler who’ll never be forgotten). 

I could easily say Watcher is the John Cena of Stevidot, while Platon’s probably the Brock Lesnar... sinderella0069′s the Batista. But I honestly don’t feel like I’ve done enough (or stood out enough) to even be a Randy Orton for this pairing. I’d at least give that honor to Ig just for being so active with it on Tumblr despite the wave of hatred thrown her way (even though she’s shifted focus onto Stevinel now). 

Again, I keep trying to tell myself that it’s because I’m not even remotely as tenured in the fandom as any of them are. 

Then I see this said in a review on a very recently-made Stevidot story...

And said reviewer has not once ever left a review on any Stevidot story of mine. Not even a follow or a favorite or a goddamned kudos. Considering I currently have an actively-updated Stevidot story going on (and a two-shot that I just did last month), I highly doubt my stuff was just overlooked.

Now, is it true that Stevidot is hard to come by? Of course it is. But this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a fellow Stevidot fan lament about the lack of Stevidot content while completely disregarding anything I contribute.

I know there’s one that outright doesn’t like my content based on personal taste (nothing to do with Stevidot itself, just how I execute it). There’s another big-name who shows no interest whatsoever in reading what I have to offer - and at this point I feel that’s for the best, because I have a feeling they’d hate my execution as well. 

While I’ve always primarily written for myself, I also felt a great fulfillment for providing content for a niche crowd that really deserves more than what they have. I think Stevidot’s a fantastic pairing with tons of unexplored potential and should be much more readily available than it actually is. Even if I tend to not get many reviews, I keep track of the site traffic every day on my stories and I know for sure that there are people reading my stuff. Since I’m really bad at leaving reviews myself, I go out of my way not to whine about not having very many overall for my series since I’d be a huge-ass hypocrite to do so. 

However.

Statements like the the aforementioned review and statements I’ve seen elsewhere by those who I know are at least aware of me are like stakes through the heart.

Because it can only mean one thing: my content doesn’t count.

I’m honestly not sure which is worse for me; being critically panned for the stuff I’ve put my all into over the past year, or being treated like my stuff doesn’t even exist. 

I prided myself on contributing as much as I did for Stevidot over this past year. Quantity doesn’t = automatic quality, but I’ve got 20+ years of writing experience in, so even someone with a shit self-esteem like myself can’t just say I’m an objectively bad writer, because I’m not. 

But apparently it doesn’t matter that I put in over half a million worlds in the name of Stevidot to a good chunk of the very tiny Stevidot fanbase; according to them, my contributions are irrelevant.

Is it my fault?

One thing I will admit is a detriment to my particular brand of Stevidot is that, save for one story (which happens to be by far my most successful Stevidot story in terms of recognition numbers), the rest of my series follows a continuous narrative that greatly deviates from canon as of Change Your Mind. I’m also notoriously a very verbose kind of writer - I have the tl;dr curse something fierce. 

So all stories I’ve written since my main 3-act series (which ended up being nearly 200k in length on its own) have been direct sequels to that. Because of the heavy deviation from CYM, the environment of the following stories is very different and easy to get lost in if you skipped GA entirely. 

Because there are so many dangling threads and new opportunities to be had after GA ended, I basically committed myself to my AU.

It’s not like anyone else is going to explore these possibilities.

Beyond that, honestly, I just don’t want to rewire my brain back to the canon status quo - not after the shitloads of character development I’ve not only given Steven and Peridot, but nearly everyone at this point has had a moment or two of really intense character growth. 

I like having Peridot co-star with Steven. I like having her become a more competent and active teammate than she’s portrayed in canon (while still giving her comic relief moments). I like that I didn’t redeem the Diamonds and instead had them killed off to force our protagonists to deal with the fallout of the collapse of a mighty empire on a much grander scale than what’s going on in the actual show.

In a way, this AU of mine has helped me cope with the shortcomings of the show itself. I already went on a stupid tirade once about how the sadistic nature of my writing has basically made me no-sell whatever trauma Rebecca Sugar’s throwing on Steven and upsetting everyone else. I’m still fairly certain I’m still outdoing her in that department. 

And because 100% of my passion for creating Stevidot is through this narrative I weaved, I have no desire to leave it. 

So I’ll admit my stories aren’t exactly the most accessible to the average reader who hasn’t been following my work since Day 1. 

Then again... I first got into Sinderella’s series completely ass-backwards at first. I eventually read it in the proper order, and like many of the great Stevidot epics, it’s canon divergent from a much earlier point in the series, so it was very easy to get confused about why certain things happened differently at first... but ultimately, I wasn’t that bothered by it because I just wanted some good Stevidot. I’d figure out the finer details later. 

I really do owe this author more props than I’ve actually given - she’s one out of two readers I know for a fact have been following my series since the beginning without missing a beat. I’ll probably review her newest story sooner or later now that it’s complete. 

Not gonna lie, though... when I saw our numbers side-by-side like this:

Considering they’re very similar stories (Stevidot smuts that were originally meant to be one-shots), mine is over a month old and hers is only a few days old and there’s already that big of a gap in our numbers? 

It’s hard not to feel like a failure; like I did something horribly wrong to suck this bad by comparison. 

I really should stress that I bear no ill will against Sinderella or any Stevidot author; this isn’t a competition, so this isn’t a matter of popularity. I knew coming into this that I wouldn’t get popular overnight; especially not with such an unpopular ship being the focus of my story. 

But when other Stevidot stories get frequent reviewers that I’ve never seen once acknowledge my stories even passively, I can’t help but feel like I’ve massively fucked up somewhere. That despite all my efforts, I might as well be invisible. When they say “Oh, good thing your story is here! It’s been such a Stevidot drought around here until you came along!” to other authors after I’ve written half a million fucking words in under a year for this ship...

You know, is it unreasonable to feel that I utterly fucking failed in several ways? 

I guess it’s no wonder why I’m struggling to keep writing. I still want to - like I said, I’m at a part I’ve been eager to write for a while now - but ever since I started it, I’ve just hated almost all of what I have so far (almost 8k words). And I’m really having trouble trying to salvage it.

I’m honestly not the type who’d scrap all my progress and start from scratch once I’ve gotten this far in. But maybe I’ll have to make an exception this time, because I think I finally made the mistake of trying to write while being mentally and emotionally distraught.

I thought I’d calm down once I wrote all this out, but honestly, I’m not really feeling it. Now I’m wondering if I should have just reached out to someone instead of making this, because now I’ll come off as a whiner with my pansy-ass first-world problems. 

But then again, I’d be an asshole to subject anyone to my idiotic woes. 

Maybe this’ll pass. I’m hoping it’ll pass. I really, really really really don’t want to lose my drive to write again. I was used to it coming and going in short and random spurts for almost all my life - then it finally came to me and stayed with me just a little under a year ago, and I’ve been desperate not to let it go because I’ve been more productive now than I’ve ever been in my 20+ tenure as a writer. 

I don’t want this to go away. There’s still so much more I want to tell. 

But then my logic goes... if you tell the story and no one’s there to hear it, is it ever really told?

[beyondthetemples]

Multimuse RP questions!

{{ I couldn’t figure out which RP blog to stick these on (since I have like. nine), so I figured I’d just skip to the Answering Part over here. =w=

Found here: https://memesfortheroleplayerssoul.tumblr.com/post/163688858676

is there a muse that you wish gets more attention? Honestly? Dove. There are a couple of people who've said they love reading about her, and I'm so absolutely eternally delighted for them, too deeply appreciative for words! A couple friends I met via rping her, and a couple friends I met in Certain discord servers, but that's about it anymore. But she's my baby, you know? I love her, she's amazing, and I wish more people took the time to write stories with her, because she just has so much potential! I mean, yeah, for angst of course, but also for healing and comfort, for action and fantasy, for mystical and mundane plots alike. She's so multi-faceted and fascinating to explore, I just... well, maybe it's more selfish in that I need help exploring some of the more mundane stuff with her. Because if it doesn't really Have Relevance to a Particular Plot, I generally won't wind up writing it, let alone publishing it. :P But this answer's already too long; I could rave about Dove for hours! All I'm trying to say is, I wish more people cared about OCs.

if you HAD to choose, who’s your favorite muse? Favorite to RP with? Far and away, Dove! Favorite for crack RPs, Srentha or Leyla. Favorite canon character is a GIGANTIC toss-up between Raven and Lapis. Favorite characters to explore for personal reasons are Ryou Bakura and Blue Diamond, but I have a hard time bringing myself to actually WRITE about them, for some reason...

is there a muse that not a lot of people roleplay with? (Besides the ones I haven't advertised? ^^';;) Maybe Phobia? She has only ever existed in comic canons-- though she WAS in the Teen Titans Go comics too! (The original series, not the... bastardization). Anyways, she's a much lesser-known muse. And my muse for her is wildly unreliable, she's a volatile and abrasive character, and my inspiration for her has run dry for awhile now...

if you HAD to choose, who’s your least favorite muse? Phobia. o_o See above, actually.

which one of your muses have you been playing the longest? Prooobably Dove? She was the one I started rping with, of course!

which one of your muses has the most ships? Ships in their canon, or ships in my rps? Because you're talking to a demigray here; I don't really do romance? But in my stories, Dove has 3 ships (all at different times in her life). In rps, Dove has been kinda-contemplating-it shipped a couple times, but never got to the point of, you know, kissing... and in fandom, Lapis probably has the most.

what is each of your muses’ otps? notps? ~ Dove and Srentha together~ (Don't have notps for them.) ~ Kary: food? sleep? Her canon boyfriend Eric ~ Leyla has a qpp named Toby in the stories. ~ Raven: I'm demonbirds trash. I don't even know how that happened, honestly. (Notps include B|BRae and, while not as strong of a NO in the jlvtt canon, ter/raven.) ~ Lapis Lazuli: OTP with Peridot! Intensely notp with jasper. ~ Blue Diamond: OTP with Yellow hardcore, no notps to speak of. ~ Phobia: Utterly unexplored??? I think she voluntarily abstains. ~ Ryou: OTP with Joey (thank my girlfriend for that one)! Notp with Yami Bakura, it’s absolutely 100% possibly my most violently-disgusted NOtp yet. Also with Diva because... What The Fuck??? But I won't rant about that just now. ~ Jess: I haven't really done much shipping, though Mistress and Trick are a hella canon, deeply bonded breeding couple. ~ Evangeline? Sorta-OTP with my gf's character Taex, though it's not exactly a ~romantic~ dynamic. Notp with Srentha, probably, considering she'd try to kill him, given the chance, and she’s pissed at Dove for marrying him.

why were you drawn to each one of your characters? Okay, listen, you can't just ask something like this and expect an easy answer! I could write an Actual Legitimate Essay on EACH ONE, because I only write a character when I'm Extremely Highkey Personally Emotionally Inspired by them!

UPDATE: I tried to summarize, I really did! But there's just so MUCH, and it turned into an essay on its own. --> https://beyondthetemples-ooc.tumblr.com/post/189837029682/why-were-you-drawn-to-each-one-of-your-characters

Summaries go like this: Dove is brave, complex enough to delve deeply in and constantly discover new facets of, and inspiring enough to create a positive experience while doing so. Srentha is fun, positive, and passionate, and legitimate ADHD representation. Leyla is a chill miracle child of creativity and quiet passion. Raven is the reason I'm still alive and perfectly reflected me at about age 14, so I have a very deep personal connection to her. Kary is so fun to explore because she's my polar opposite, as a temperamental pyrokinetic who revels in chaos and really just wants to have a good time. Evangeline is everything Dove suppresses, brought to life, so she's fun to explore as an extension of Dove! Lapis has a lot of struggles to explore and has done a lot of healing and growth that I'd like to expand on someday. Blue Diamond and Ryou Bakura were basically literally me, so I can explore the trauma and healing from their perspectives in a safe space. And Phobia? I just wanted to put characters' mettle to the test honestly, and see what would happen.

which muse is the most fun to write for? Oh, Srentha, absolutely hands down! Dove does have the best close-friends casual-fun kind of rp relationships, though. And Mistress the Mismagius has this sardonic teasing sense of humor that always makes me smile, especially with Murky (Murkrow).

is there another muse you’ve been thinking of adding or writing for? who? Oh stars, I don't need another one. =w= I've been... struggling to get my Ryou blog actually up and running for a long while now. Nobody new has inspired me lately, but I'm pretty stuck in my fandom ways.

what is something everyone should know about your muses before interacting? I stick it all in their bios! But, let's see... Dove: Even though she's Raven's half-sister, she keeps it DESPERATELY hidden, and nobody IC is supposed to know about that. Srentha is very deeply rooted in Azarathean pacifism and won't do much in battle besides help people retreat. Leyla has her father's heart condition and can't do anything too active. Kary will rarely use her powers, as conjuring even a simple spark stings her scar badly. Lapis is more than her toxic relationship! Blue Diamond is NOT the dictator she once was! Ryou does NOT want the spirit of the millennium ring in his life anymore! Jess just... sticks mostly to Sinnoh and rarely ever leaves. And Evangeline has a palpable evil aura about her; she makes SURE of it.

what’s a weird headcanon you have for each of your muses? Dove hates pie. Srentha loves colorful things. Leyla will cover everything in glitter if you let her. Kary will do anything for some good food and/or a nap. Ryou's hair is untamable. Lapis doesn't guard her gem as carefully as she should. Blue Diamond may be more emotional, but she won't sing about it as frequently as other Gems. Raven... doesn't wear underwear?

which muse has the most aus or verses? I mean, the Lapis I was writing for was 97% canon divergent. Evangeline only exists as her own person (and not merely a partition of Dove's mind) in a DCUO-compatible timeline. But I don't really do aus or verses otherwise; it's just more stressful for me.

can you sort your muses from youngest to oldest? Sorting based on the ages I'll generally play them: Leyla (8-14), Dove (15-25), Kary (18+), Ryou (19+), Srentha (20+), Jess (22+), Phobia (23+), Lapis (5k+), Blue Diamond (10k+).

which muse is most willing to fight another muse? Oh, definitely Kary. (She won't fight Dove or Leyla, even if there's a really good reason. And Srentha has this weird power of defusing her. But anyone else, she can easily be provoked to fight on a dime.) Or maybe Evangeline, who will fight anyone at any time for any reason whatsoever?

do your muses get along with each other? Evangeline gets along with nobody. Dove/Srentha/Leyla are all a very tight-knit family, and Kary considers herself Dove's sister and Leyla's aunt. I've thought about what might happen if Lapis met Blue Diamond, but I don’t have the faintest idea of how that'd go? I did start an RP once where Lapis met Dove, and I planned to have them bond over homesickness and purpose-seeking, but then I lost the ehd I had that prewritten on, and never had the heart to try rewriting it. Ryou and Jess kinda exist in their own universe's bubble. (Jess has a whole cast of Pokemon creature muses she very much gets along with, though~)

would you ship any of your muses together? who? Dove and Srentha are hella-canon endgame already, that's been decided for like 12 years!

for each muse, is there a character you wish had a blog so you could interact with them? You know, I've never really been one much for wishing like that. I do wish Dove had a stable Raven again, since both of my all-time favorite Raven rpers have left the rp circle... but that's about it, really.

have you ever considered making a multimuse/is it easier having a multimuse? I mean, my Pokemon blog has like 19 muses built into the breeding center... 8F But no, I prefer to keep my drafts, rps, and tag systems for each muse on separate sideblogs. Tumblr's tags break WAY too often to shove them all in one place. (And with a sideblog, I don't have to log in and out every time I want to check for replies!)

which muse is the most problematic towards other muses? Toss-up between Phobia and Evangeline, obviously. Blue Diamond is a reformed Gem, the way I play her. (I don't care what anyone says, THAT'S CANON as HELL too!) But Evangeline actively goes out of her way to hurt and/or sacrifice people to her own ends,

which muse is most likely to make new friends? Probably Leyla, though now that SU has sent out a message across the Gem universe that Gems are welcome on Earth, Lapis could wind up meeting quite a lot of new acquaintances. It's much harder to befriend her, though. Srentha has a lot of charismatic energy too, and he’ll go out and make friends with anyone, given the chance.

which muses’ fandom do you like the best? Ahhh, don't make me CHOOSE like that! ;; Fandom like being a fan of them, or fandom like, liking the other people in the fandom? Because Steven Universe, Teen Titans, and YuGiOh all have incredibly special places in my heart, while having Their Issues amongst the fandom... Pokemon seems to be the best mannered fandom though, especially amidst the RP community.

is there someone playing the same muse/s as you and you really look up to them? Ohgosh, well there's a blog called, I think, melancholeyes?, that plays Blue so well, it's like reading canon scenes. I did see a blog that played a Ryou I respected, but I can't remember their name... and of course Larissa and Pix played great Ravens, but each a different version.

which muse do people send the most asks for? Probably Dove, thanks in large part to Caleb!

which muse is most likely to have kids? Leyla is already Dove's kid, so... 8F

is there a rule that someone keeps breaking for your muses? Not to my knowledge, but my rules aren't strict anyways.

can you sort your muses from weakest to strongest? ...Oh, stars. How am I supposed to sort them? Well, let's try this.

Weakest to strongest in combat (based on their style of choice): Ryou, Leyla, Srentha, Phobia, Evangeline, Jess, Kary, Dove, Lapis, Blue Diamond, Raven. ( * i switched raven and blue diamond around SO many times. both are immensely powerful with god-like abilities, but raven can literally destroy reality itself. so...)

Weakest to strongest by strength of heart and character: Phobia, Evangeline, uh... Kary? Srentha...? Uh... frICK THIS ONE'S HARD. Because they're all so strong in their own ways. Probably Leyla? Next tier is probably Blue, Lapis, and Jess, and Dove, Raven, and Ryou are highest tier.

which muse are you considering deleting? Phobia, and maybe sometimes Blue. (I actually... never got a single RP or follower on Blue. I'm still debating if I really WANT to rp as her, at least on Tumblr, knowing how toxic the fandom can get around the Diamonds...)

most importantly, are you having fun playing each one of your muses? Pretty much! Especially Dove, Srentha, Leyla, and Raven!~ Raven's wit and clipped verbiage can be tricky to for me sometimes, but all it takes is a little tlc on her dialogue, and it doesn't slow down my enjoyment one bit. :} And when I'm in a Pokemon-hyperfocus mood, writing the Pokemon team is ALWAYS a blast! (Especially the Pokemon; their personalities are so dynamic together.) With muses like Lapis and Blue, and even Kary, the mood for their emotionality waxes and wanes, but I don't write for them unless I'm in The Right Frame of Mind to KEEP UP with them, you know? I never push myself in an rp until it's not fun anymore; at least I know where my writing burnout limits are.

Phobia and Evangeline are both sadistic, and when you're a compassionate person, that can be very hard to write out in the painstaking detail of my style. But sometimes my mind just Won't Shut UP about 'Vangie unless I WRITE IT OUT. Which is a good exercise of course, stretching my horizons and all that, and I do love writing the drama and conflict they stir up.

But beyond the momentary discomforts, I'm just so eager to explore their lives and minds and adventures, so yes, I absolutely DO have fun writing for each and every one!

[daeliariddle]

My opinion About Cassie Cage.

First of all, I write from my humblest ignorance having not read the Comics of Mortal Kombat. When I can finally read them I hope my opinion will change, or in any case, have more support.  Again, I don’t want to read myself as Cassie’s hypocritical Hater. And it’s just my personal opinion, we can discuss it, agree or disagree. Forgive my bad English. I try to learn slowly. 

I like Johnny and Cassie, but I can’t stand most of their fans, especially those who hate Sonya because "she’s mean to Johnny," "she’s boring," "she needs to be replaced by Cassie." And Cassie is a character fucking fanservice and Mary Sue lately, level with Kitana. And worse, those ridiculous arguments, usually created by men: “whose is the most beautiful, Sonya or Cassie?” Totally unnecessary and even machist Besides having her, Sonya (which is my favorite character but I hate to have her classic moves taken away, it seems that one plays with Ronda Rousey and not with Sonya Blade), I am bored by the Special Forces! Takeda and Kung Jin gave more diversity (a Shirai-Ryu with telepathic powers and a shaolin monk). I’m sick of drones and turrets for Sonya, that better be for Cassie and Jacqui. Something that I do not like is that they have (and people also think) that Sonya took hers out and will take her classic moves to give to her daughter. That would make me less like Cassie. And honestly, it wouldn’t help Cassie’s character. She already has her father’s power and personality. Her mother’s appearance and her own work, also her classical movements, which distinguish Sonya from other female characters? Oh, please don’t. That doesn’t even happen between Sindel and Kitana. Cassie seems like a mixed character of Johnny and Sonya, a mere recycling who desperately tries to grasp the trends to get attention.Something even Jacqui and the others don’t need so badly.  It’s kind of understandable because they’re her parents, but what NRS does with Cassie making her an exaggerated mix of Johnny and Sonya... It’s like seeing Kira at Deception! Who was a Black Dragon with the movements of Sonya and Kano.

Cassie is the easy way out of having a female character who’s nice to fans. And they’re wasting the genuine power that she has independently of her parents all the time remembering who they are. We know how inheritance and genetics work, we don’t need to keep mentioning it in the game, and worse fans. The obvious is not said.

Which is a shame, because for me, a more progressive evolution would have been better for Cassie. I felt very abrupt that her MKX debut was the one that defeats Shinnok, because the chance is incredible! She has the power of her father. Arguational convenience, where? I miss Kung Jin as the friend who annoys you, as the friend who puts your feet on the ground. sarcastic. Loose mouth. Sincere to the point of cynicism. (Although I don’t see people hating her character as they do Sonya when she’s not so cruel, either, but many will understand me.) That friend who will insult you in front but will defend you behind your back.  Like antithesis and some rivalry with Cassie worked great. Because I think he was helping to show more fluently and naturally Cassie’s flaws and insecurities, who’s trying to get away from her parents' shadows and make her way. But unfortunately they do not stop doing it. Kung Jin was like Jax to Sonya. And for me, he needed it. Jacqui is great, but she also had her own drama with her father.

{ And That’s Cassie, that hairstyle for her is a thousand times better than MK11’s sappy ponytail. Cassie is the cute, cool girl. Blonde with blue eyes. Centennial, modern. Fresh personality. witty, irreverent. A female Johnny with the physical appearance of her mother. Addicted to the phone, addicted to bubblegum, making the Dab. We just need to be told that he plays Fortnite in her spare time. And I’m not saying it’s wrong. It’s obvious that Cassie was created to be popular, but why not make her brown like the father, make her serious like the mother? But I don’t like the way I do it, to feel like I’m reading Ginny Weasley in Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince.

That’s the problem. The difference between making a good character, and a character that likes. When you can do both, it results in a great character! But when you can’t. It’s very easy to resort to the popular, to the comfortable. Not to put too many defects on a character for fear that he/she might be hated. Which I didn’t feel with Cassie. And personally, I love when a character is not perfect. When he/she shows flaws. When that character is afraid, he/she may fall ill to others for his actions. He/she can be cowardly, liar, irrational, .When he/she’s vain, hypocrite. He/she does not want to listen. And yet it’s believable. It’s real. And that’s why I love Sonya on MKX, because she was real. She was believable. She wasn’t a good mother, and I have already expressed that in my previous post. And not only is Cassie the problem, the daughter’s first debut of an attractive martial arts celebrity and a beautiful Special Forces blonde woman? Defeat an Elder Fallen God: Shinnok? Let’s see, Cassie is about twenty and so many years old. She has gone through a teaching and military life as her mother, but with her father at her side, being her support. While her mother was away, Sonya spent more time on her mission, according to Johnny she used to devote more to family than to work. Surely in Cassie’s early years of life, and bearing in mind that Jacqui also came to Sonya for his father. That was the breakup, I must think, in marriage and family CageBlade. But the problem is not the characters, Cassie is great, D'vorah the same, the problem is, ironically, for me the time. The problem is the Time. And it makes the evolution, the progress of the character Cassie lacks something. I even found the evolution of Jacqui more realistic. Even though Jacqui’s character is the same as Cassie’s. It’s a female version of Jax. And at the same time it’s compared to her best friend. Which is highlighted by its physical appeal, to be like her father and to have defeated Shinnok. It’s a problem. If you are going to extol a character then what happens to others? They are "unbridled". It is not equitable. Especially since Jacqui and Cassie have lived together, among them is a bit of harmless rivalry/friendship. And fandom exaggerates this (and so does Cetrion when she says that Jacqui is jealous of Cassie). The same thing happens to Sonya because of fandom and Cassie, in a way. They have a complicated relationship of mother and daughter, and fandom ends up hating Sonya. On the other hand, I think Johnny is more natural about evolution, perhaps because of the years you’ve known the character since the '90s. And his adulthood. The opposite of Cassie’s evolution in the same game (MKX). Even he realizes how annoying and, to a certain extent, machist he was with Sonya, and his younger version. 

It’s ironic that Cassie could have (at least in the game, I remember I didn’t read the Comics yet) finally had a talk with her mother. A mother who could be her sister. Although she would have wanted this sister to have her leg grab, arc kick, air drop, rising bicycle kick, kiss of death, so that they would have differentiated better, showing what Sonya was before technology, when she used her legs and brains to fight (which she tells Jax on MKDOTR) Cassie instead in John Wick mode with infinite ammo weapons, drones and turrets. It would be a better way to show the past and present among them. Not with crude comments.

If a character will do something or have a big change, why not show it better? Even I felt that Scorpion/Hanzo missed more. Because in MKX at times I found two different characters, two different bodies even though we know Scorpion is Hanzo Hasashi’s manipulated spectrum at the hands of Quan Chi. We know it’s been decades, I personally don’t feel that weight of time. Especially with Cassie. Both she and D'vorah to my view must first "pay your dues" (or “pagar derecho de piso” as we say in Argentina). Or do hazing with the new characters: KombatKids, D'vorah, Kotal Kahn, Erron Black, etc. Otherwise, it’s very shocking to see new characters from nowhere taking so much prominence in such a short time against classic characters. Especially when they don’t measure up, their story falls short, their skills. Or quite the opposite, they end up devouring too much prominence in an unreal way. 

Although well, Erron Black is not hated because everyone loves that he flirts with almost all female characters, that he has JUST killed those characters that not even the creators wanted (Kobra and Hsu Shao), the design that he has, his voice, his movements. She also sins from the same thing as Cassie (created to be popular) although in history mode she is relegated to be Kotal Kahn’s bitch and then Kano’s.

Instead, D’vorah has an unattractive design (although for me original and it was time to have more characters who do not look like humans), treacherous, seeking (just like Tanya) their own survival. It has been involved OF THE SAME WAY that Cassie in the story (taking on MKX until her chapter), many things does in one game. To be loyal to Kotal and then betray him. And even, for many, take the courage to kill Baraka, Mileena, and for worse in the next game, kill Hanzo. 

And also, where does the relationship between Jade and Kotal Kahn come from? A classic character like Jade, linked to Kitana, Sindel, Shao Kahn and other edenians. Kotal Kahn who has his story tied to Shao Kahn although he is a new character, at what point in the story have they met? Because if I’m being honest, I don’t remember anything in MK9 or MKX.

Classic characters and loved by the fandom. I don’t dislike that he killed them (although I love those three characters) but it’s definitely surprising, a completely new character, in two appearances causing so much havoc. Cassie the same, but she just “killed” a not so dear but an ELDER GOD.

For me, it was missing that one knew Cassie and the other KombatKids, like the other debutante characters of MKX (and a little Skarlet if I’m honest), more development time to adapt to them, if they are going to replace classical characters (in theory) not to give him the debut of just giving us data of his story and finally they are protagonists; he also hoped to see more Kenshi who is of the few characters of the third era that give him his space. It is not pleasant that, characters with whom one lives for decades are abruptly replaced by others (and I remove from here to Liu Kang because we go, he is the main protagonist and was present in almost all the games, and has been the Chosen One) But the others have not been so lucky. Especially since I never know in the end what canon is or not, a pity. And now, with MK11 developing every character, every change has gone to waste.

So in short. To my eyes MKX must have been mainly about how Mileena tries to be Kanhum, fighting Kotal. Sonya, Jax, SF and Johnny versus Shinnok as it happened in the beginning. And, the flashbacks of the KombatKids must have been the present. And get to know D'vorah better, Erron Black. Make a second part with a more mature Cassie but at the same time reflecting on herself. And there defeating Shinnok. And then the plot of MK11. With some changes. Timelines are a good excuse to do fanservice, do, remake and undo. And then press reset and go back to the comfort zone. But, you know, if I have a great reason to love Cassie, it’s because, after all, what got her to beat Shinnok was love for her father. And at the same time, the endings of the CageBlade family are, are seen and will be a beautiful family. And that’s the most important thing of all, that they love each other.

[arrowdaily]

Holy Smoaks! Arrow just revealed the true identity of Katherine McNamara’s character and we’re having a full-on family freakout!

Monday’s new episode of Arrow, “Star City Slayer,” dropped a bombshell in the show’s future timeline to reveal that the badass cage fighter Blackstar is actually Mia Smoak—the daughter of Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen. (We totally called it, by the way.)

Naturally, we hopped on the phone immediately to discuss the revelation with McNamara herself, who was just as excited as we are! “Oh my God, I’ve been dying to talk to someone about this,” she gushed to ET. “I‘m so glad that the cat is finally out of the bag!”

Read on for exclusive behind-the-scenes secrets about Mia Smoak’s script-to-screen reveal, whether or not Olicity fans should be worried about the fate of their favorite couple, and if McNamara is ready to take on the salmon ladder!

Entertainment Tonight: Take us back to the beginning, Kat. How did this role on Arrow first come to you and did you know all along that you were going to play Oliver and Felicity’s daughter? Katherine McNamara: So I knew before I started shooting. But when I initially auditioned, they, of course, did not reveal it to the people who were going up for casting. They [gave me] dummy sides and I believe it was a couple of scenes of a rookie cop or something, so I knew basically nothing. Then, after I was cast, I get a phone call from Beth Schwartz, the showrunner, and she said, “Oh yeah, congrats on joining the show! By the way, everything you know is a lie. You’re Oliver and Felicity’s kid—so congrats and have fun! Thanks, I’ll talk to you soon.” And I was like, “Wait, wait, wait! Hold on! Let’s press rewind—excuse me?” Immediately, my first thought was what a responsibility this is. I’ve seen the power of not only the Arrow fandom, but how much they love Olicity. How much this relationship is beloved by them and how passionate they are and how many opinions they have about it—so I know how important this is going to be for the fans if this is done right. Then I proceeded to watch all six seasons of the show and do as much research on the comic wikis and the show wikis and everything that I possibly could. Beth had said to me that they wanted her to be the perfect blend of the two of them—to be physically everything Oliver Queen and then intellectually everything Felicity Smoak, so I had my work cut out for me.

During your Arrow research, which Oliver and Felicity mannerisms did you choose to infuse into Mia? KM: Well, with Oliver’s physicality, obviously, I’m never going to look like Stephen Amell! [Laughs] No matter how much I work out or how much grilled chicken I eat—that man is on a whole different level. But what’s neat about bringing that into a character—especially a female character—is to find really interesting ways to bring those kinds of masculine physicalities and the very offensive and aggressive way of moving into this character. It adds a very interesting quality that we haven’t necessarily seen in many of the characters in the Arrow’verse yet. She is very much like him in many ways, but also, you have these qualities of Felicity in her: her wit and her tact and her intellect and the way in which she thinks about things and plans and strategizes. Something you’ll find about Mia that you’ll love, as time goes on, is she has quite the mouth on her. She’s quite snarky. We’ve seen a little bit, but it only grows and I think that comes from combining Felicity’s humor and wit with Oliver’s aggression and brutishness.

What are the chances we’re going to see you tackle the salmon ladder? KM: I have not done so as of yet, but I can only imagine that it’s going to be one of these days. That was my first question to Beth, by the way. “When do I have to do the salmon ladder? Because I have to start training, like, yesterday!” [Laughs] You know me well enough to know that I’m constantly training anyway, but that’s a new level of intensity.

In this episode, we discover that her name is actually Mia Smoak instead of Mia Queen. Can you elaborate on that a little bit and when we might be getting those surname answers? KM: I can elaborate in the sense that you will be getting those answers—but maybe not as soon as you’d like. In a few episodes, there will be an all-future episode where we really get to see a lot of Mia’s childhood and a lot of moments that really shaped her into who she became and why those qualities are the way they are, including her last name. But for now, it’s enough to know that she is Mia Smoak and she claims to be the daughter of Oliver and Felicity. So she knows that Oliver is her father, but does not take his name. Ultimately, the most important thing to know at this point is that this is indicative of how dire the world has become… To know that even having the last name Queen puts a target on your back.

You know that the Olicity fans are the best detectives of any fandom. They’re probably going to be worried when they hear that her name is Mia Smoak instead of Mia Queen and wondering what that means for Olicity’s relationship in the future. Should the fans be worried? KM: Maybe. I actually don’t know the answer to that question yet because we’re still shooting season seven right now, so I don’t even have all the answers… but, maybe. Even for me, that’s still a question mark.

Were you surprised when you realized that Mia Smoak and William Queen—who are half siblings— don’t know each other in the future? KM: I was surprised and that was another question I had for Beth. Thank god for Beth Schwartz because she has been such a lovely, collaborative wealth of information for me. There are many things that I don’t have the privilege of knowing yet, but she’s been so good to me in that I can call and ask her a question and she will give me some kind of answer to do my work off of that does not reveal what they still want to keep hidden. So thank goodness for her. But aside from my tangent, that is a very interesting question and one that we will get the answer to very soon. It all goes back to the ruin that Star City has fallen into and showing the real lengths that Oliver and Felicity had to go to to keep their children safe.

What was your first interaction with Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards like? KM: Well, it’s very interesting. I met Emily a few years ago just in passing because she and [Shadowhunters star] Isaiah Mustafa are friends, so I had already adored her because she was just so kind to me and just such a fun human being. And then re-meeting her was, of course, lovely on set because she’s just an amazing, kickass human being. I’ve really loved getting to know her and kind of pulling whatever qualities I can from her and from Felicity, and putting them into Mia because it can be a challenge to find those sorts of lighter and interesting qualities. Emily has just got this inner strength that I love at her core and that’s something that I’ve fed off of a lot with Mia. Stephen, actually, was the one that I re-met first when I was coming onto the show. I was there for a meeting of some sort and Stephen was shooting the “Slabside Redemption” episode, so he was, of course, covered in blood and scars and [had] a million other things on his mind and [was] obviously exhausted. But he happened to pop his head into the hair and makeup trailer and he stopped everything that he was doing, jumped out of his chair, came over, gave me a hug and had a long conversation with me and really, really made me feel welcome. To me, that’s such a testament to his character as a human being, and just who he is as a person and why the show has such a positive environment on set.

It’s been really fun seeing these flashforwards bringing a new chapter to the Arrowverse. What does it mean to you to be a part of the next generation of vigilantes? KM: It goes back to the responsibility that I realize I have with this character and whatever it ends up being. Just even being a part of the future and being a part of this universe is really wonderful. I mean there are so many interesting facets to the Arrowverse with the future with Nora that we have now on The Flash, and with Legends everywhere and now with having Ruby Rose as Batwoman and all of these incredible characters. There’s just so much diversity and inclusivity and all of these things that are happening in the Arrowverse. I’m so thankful to be coming from Shadowhunters which had a very similar environment, vibe and mindset. It’s really wonderful to still be part of that and I understand the responsibility and I’m excited for the challenge ahead.

Oh my God. We need you and Nora to be together and hang out! KM: [Laughs] I’m down! You set a time and we’ll be there.

We know that Mia is not necessarily a fan of vigilantes but how ready is Kat to suit up? KM: Oh, I’m so excited! I mean that was always one of my favorite elements of Shadowhunters was when Clary really got to buckle down and kick ass, and yet we really didn’t get to see that as often as we would’ve liked because Clary was so new to the world and she was still learning so much. But now we have Mia who, we’ll see very soon, is well versed in fighting and suiting up in her own way. Getting to see this character who very often finds herself in these situations, it’s a real treat. I remember watching this show as I was gearing up to start shooting Arrow and figuring out who Mia was and what this would entail. It’s so exciting. As an actor, there’s certain moments where you’re on set—whether you’re in the woods with Seelies and vampires and running around the forest with swords, or you walk into the Arrowcave, even if it’s covered with vines and waterfalls—just knowing who you are in that universe and what a thrill it is is. There are moments that are really special and you just want to pinch yourself a little bit and wonder if you’re dreaming or if this is actually what you do for a living. It just really makes me eternally grateful to be part of such a cool and interesting project.

So where do we go from here? You mentioned that we are going to have an all future episode. Now that the team knows who she is, how does this change things moving forward? KM: Well, it definitely changes things and it definitely provides a lot more information to everyone and fills in a lot of the missing pieces for both parties. Mia doesn’t know everything about her past, William obviously doesn’t know everything and neither do the characters of the future, so as all of the pieces come together and as everyone combines their knowledge or at least reveals certain pieces of information—for better or for worse things will move forward and things will progress very quickly. As you will see, time becomes of the essence and don’t forget, they did find those bomb schematics very recently, as well, so the future [could have] explosive content if you will.

[noodlemyoodles]

Voltron Season 8

Ok so I just finished season 8 and I have a lot of thoughts obviously so here we go. A few things before I start,

1. I’m writing this before going and looking at anyone’s reactions so these are only my own opinions

2. Yeah, I’m a klance shipper so though this isn’t just about klance I am biased towards our red and blue boys 

3. I have been watching voltron since the very first season and it has meant the world to me in that time, it has introduced me to friends, communities, and helped me figure myself out a lot so before all of this I want to say a major thank you to everyone on the voltron team and everyone in the fandom, regardless of any toxicity or any unexpected endings

With that let’s get into it.

1. The big glaring obvious thing in this season, Allurance. I actually don’t want to turn this into an allurance rant because I think there are a lot of other important things I liked and disliked in the season but this was definitely a biggie so I’m definitely mentioning it. I don’t think it was necessary or really had enough context and build up but it happened. It was more weird to me than anything but I definitely wish it hadn’t happened. That’s honestly all I’m going to say for now because the rest of my grievances against it come up more in context of the actual characters

Speaking of which....

The characters

Let’s start out easy

Pidge

I actually really liked her portrayal in this season, you finally got to see the bond with her family she’s been searching for throughout the show and some of the other key elements from some of her previous arcs without them becoming huge arcs of there own which has been criticized in the past. It also really reminded you that she is still a kid, more so than anyone else and I think that’s really important.

Hunk

I also liked hunks portrayal in this season, I know his character and depth has been lost a lot in previous seasons and replaced with more of a funny guy, scary cat, foodie act but this season I feel like they really managed to tie his love of food and cooking which had been kind of comical in the past to a real goal of helping others and diplomacy which is central to the yellow Paladin and they did it in a really nice way. They gave Hunk a dream and helped him reach it.

Now we get into the dicier portrayal’s

Shiro

Shiro was an interesting character in this season, he was badass as the commander of the Atlas but lost a bit of emotional depth and honestly wasn’t that prominent in this season at all. One thing I thought was really lost was his bond with Keith, it was just such a big jump from Black Paladins and Keith saying he loved him, that he was his brother to almost nothing. That being said I loved the return of Shiro as a paladin at the end and only wish it had happened sooner.

Keith

Ok, so, I am a major Keith stan, like I love him, he’s my absolute fav and I just missed him in this season. I know there has been a lot of Keith in previous seasons but it just felt like so many loose ends were left with this character. Every scene with real possibility to go into his character cut away to quickly or lacked certain dialogue or something. I’m talking his fight with Zethrid or him being left behind in Haggar’s mind, constantly we saw him left behind and separated from the others, things we know to be a huge deal for him yet it never went into it and that made me sad. What about naxela? His mom? His past? His fears? So much just felt abandoned and he felt far from what we know him to be. He makes a good Leander of voltron but that leader role felt pushed to such an extent that you lost moody, competitive, dark Keith, restless, diplomatic disaster Keith. The Klancer in me did love how moody or weird he got around Allura and Lance tho.

Next up, and probably the character I have the most of a problem with in this season, 

Lance

I don’t know where Lance was in this season, he was just missing. It was almost as if his only purpose as a character was as Allura’s boyfriend. Lance in this season was mature, solemn, and infatuated but in such a reserved way it was unrecognizable. Lance had been growing as a character and in maturaty but then maturity had come in determination, strength, awesome sharp shooting and broadswords, mastering too lions, holding the team together. This maturity came in the form of nervousness, caution, worrying for Allura, seriousness, it was just so far from everything we’ve come to know him as. Maybe the lack of jokes and cockiness was supposed to be growth but without the jokes they also lost the things the jokes covered up, anxiety and caring fro his team, passion. I almost didn’t realize how subdued Lance was until in one scene it showed him in his lion with a look of determination on his face and I was like he looks more like Lance in this shot than he has in any other and that’s just wrong. 

Alright, now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for

Klance

Before I mention Allura I want to put this in because obviously it didn’t happen but yet there were some super klance heavy moments and I just wanted more. Keith and Lance were more like themselves in these scenes together than any other and I just ugghhrheuhj. Even then though we were totally missing the friendly banter, the nicknames, the jokes, or even causal comments to eachother during the fights. THERE WERE NO MULLET INSULTS! I’m just sad, please keep making fan fics and art, I need it to fill a void in my soul.

Allura 

Allura has always been my least favorite but there were a lot of things I liked about her story line, dark Allura, ultimate sacrifice Allura, the Allura that misses Lotor (I wish there was more of that because those where some of the most emotional parts of the season) in the end there was just too much of her and I think that messed a lot with her character and the other characters too.

Secondary characters

- I loved the holts

- I liked Slav 

- Krolia didn’t speak until episode eleven (what’s up with that!)

- the generals were great and I Stan to space pirate lesbians 

- Kosmo is a very good boy

-MFE’s were pretty good

- I missed Shay but I loved her showing up like a bad ass

-I miss my marmora boys :(

The ending

Alright folks this is it, I liked the ending a lot because in the end no matter what happened that made me upset I liked how they all end up.

Pidge gets to finally be a teen again, a badass genius teen with an awesome family, also she never grows her hair back out or changes her name back, she keeps being her and I am so thankful for that.

Hunk gets to bring the world together one plate at a time along side his favorite people! I think there could be no better ending for him.

Shiro gets to do what he’s good at and kick ass with an awesome husband at his side (and do I think the whole shock gay wedding last scene was a bit gimmicky and super over delayed and should’ve been klance? Yes but let Shiro and his husband be happy)

Keith turns down being a leader, returns to the blades, get’s a new jacket, spend time with a dog twice his size. he kind of falls back into being him after the war and they never made Keith canonically hetero so thank god for that.

Lance, I honestly disliked his ending the most because after everything, against all odds proving to everyone he’s actually an amazing pilot and warrior he doesn’t follow through with that dream. And I understand that he’d want to spend as much time as he can with his family and enjoy that but I just hope that after a few years, he decided to travel the galaxy and keep being a bad ass along side his bad ass other half (Keith, if that wasn’t obvious). And in the end even tho I hated allurance I can except that it happened. Lance had a short good relationship with someone he cares about and now he’ll go on to have more relationships with lots of amazing people because he still has a long life, and maybe after enough time has passed he get’s together with the guys stuck by him through it all, the other half of a perfect red blue pair. And yeah I’ve essentially decided that after like 2/3 years Lance leaves the farm to travel and help people and the blades and the coalition, spending time with friends all over the galaxy and getting together with Keith, and after enough time has passed they go back to earth and settle down and start there own family.

So that’s all (I know it was like super long) thanks again to the whole voltron community and if you think I’m going to leave the fandom anytime soon you’re stupid.

That’s all for now,

Uchuumi