#i'm writing a post-war arc fic

[ultfreakme]

Actually you know what, thinking on it, Sokka's sexism in the original was really weird and when writing fic, I had a hard time understanding where that even came from. We've been told Gran-gran left NWT because of the sexism and stayed at SWT, Hama was a fighter, Hakoda didn't condemn Katara for fighting or learning bending, there's a trivia thing where we learn Hakoda actually wanted to find a waterbending teacher for Katara. Now sure you can say fighting doesn't mean sexism wasn't present, but Sokka's conveyance of that sexism didn't work if that's the case.

Sokka specifically underestimates girls in fighting. That's how his sexism is largely expressed. Kanna wouldn't have raised Hakoda that way and in turn Hakoda wouldn't have raised Sokka like that.

He would be overprotective of Katara and stifle her as a bender, but not because he's sexist, but because Hakoda said "Hey you're our last warrior"- and this is actually the crux of his character.

One big argument people make is that Sokka's character arc with Suki apparently won't happen. But interviews state that the new focus on Sokka-Suki would be about them finding strength and solidarity as non-benders. In the original we do see Sokka trying to figure out his place and part in the war and among Gaang, he does feel insecure about his strength and ability to protect people. I think taking the new direction would connect well with the Serpent's Pass reunion.

I understand why people are hesitant but I just saw posts saying Sokka's sexism is inherent to his character as Toph's blindness is!?!?!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU????? There's so much to unpack there I don't even know where to begin. Like this is getting ridiculous and in trying to say Sokka's sexism is good actually, you guys forget that the original was kinda fumbling its way through Sokka's sexism arc. It's not that fast or easy to make someone dismantle sexism, and the Kyoshi Warriors + Suki are playing into the idea that a woman is only equal to a man when she has combat prowess (I still kinda cringe at Suki saying "I'm a warrior....but I'm also a girl" she says that about her romantic interest in Sokka and kissing him, like why is being a girl or romantic interest associated with 'girl'?). They could've stretched out the arc and included Yue in helping Sokka learn that women aren't inferior but all talks of women's equality was restricted to combat.

I ADORE the Katara v Pakku fight and I think that was a far better discussion and showcase of misogyny and commentary on inequality. Because yes it was a fight, but it was, underneath all that, about Kanna and Yue.

It is the first time we see that actually, Kanna and Yue should get to choose because that is a fundamental right they should have. Healing was allocated entirely to women, but Katara learned it and it was never seen as an inferior form of bending. Everyone should get to pick if they wanna fight or they wanna heal or both. Katara'a fighter, a healer.

So I just wanna ask; Do you want Sokka's sexism to be there to comment on the unfairness of gender inequality? Do you want it there to give this one male character a character arc (because Sokka never talks to Katara- the one whom he hurt most with that attitude- or acknowledges his contribution in suppressing her advances in bending after this little lesson he learned from Suki)? Or do you want it there because the og did it so it has to be there? Because if it's the first, KATARA's arc does it a million times better and that's still in the show.

[gffa]

Hiiii :D I was just wondering, do you have any good Marvel fic reccomendations? Your massive list of star wars fics is like the no.1 thing I go to when im in a star wars mood, and all of them have been amazing, so thanks so much for that!! I'm just curious if you have any good Marvel fic recs?? If not that's fine lol, thank you for your service 🙏

Hi! Lol, I had to sit with this post for a few days because "Marvel fic" is such a wide range of possibilities, like are we talking the comics or the live action shows? The Avengers movies? The X-Men movies? Which section of those fandoms? Avengers as a team? Captain America? Thor? Iron Man? Daredevil? X-Men: First Class? Just... anything? I don't actually have a lot of comics fic recommendations (mostly because it's too hard to wade through all the movie stuff because so many people cross-tag into the comics tags despite it not being comic fic that those tags are now useless), but my go-to for Marvel comics are always: ✦ Betrayal + Paradox Law + The Game of Empires by Valerie J It's hard to describe this series, other than that about ~15 years ago, it was an ambitious attempt at taking various elements of the X-Men comics and weaving them into a coherent whole, focusing on giving Remy an epic backstory to explain his origins and his powers. It probably wouldn't really fit with more recent comics, but if you're a fan of late '90s/early '00s X-Men comics, this was a hell of a ride with cool powers, surprising family twists, time travel, fun relationships, and incredible ramp ups to tense situations that explode in the best way. ✦ The Gestalt Arc by Lori McDonald Another old school fic centered around the Remy/Rogue relationship and taking them on an epic journey, in an alternate version of what happened after their kiss in X-Men #41. The ups and downs of how they work out their issues, the lives they try to lead with each other, finding their path forward together, it's still one of my favorites for the era. ✦ Anything by Traincat for the Young Avengers My favorite is grab a blanket, brother, but they're an author that I'd write a blanket rec for, if any of the summaries sound relevant to your interests! They also write Peter Parker/Johnny Storm, which isn't my area of comics, but I'd trust them with it! But primarily I'd route you to them for their super fun Young Avengers stories, the Teddy/Billy and Eli/Kate ones especially. ✦ Anything by silverspidertm2, X-parrot, takadainmate, or Mythtaken Identity for Journey into Mystery and Loki: Agent of Asgard-era fic. This is when I was in my prime era of reading Thor comic-centric fic, around Journey into Mystery and Loki: Agent of Asgard, when he was Kid Loki and then Teen Loki. There was a lot really fun worldbuilding or road trips or just feelings explosions fic from this era. Beyond that, my bookmarks are a bit of a mess, but you can scroll through them to see what you're looking for. My primary fandoms were: ✦ Daredevil TV, where I went in hard on Matt/Foggy (and some Matt/Foggy/Karen and Frank/Karen and a little Matt/Elektra), where I read voraciously for about a year before MCU burnout hit. Some faves are Double Blind by smilebackwards and Something Dumb to Do by poisonivory and jump, check parachute augustbird.

✦ Thor (MCU), which is actually the heart of who I was as an MCU fan, I spent a long time there reading a lot of fic and this will take you to my bookmarks with the pairings filtered out. I was a big fan of Thor & Loki's relationship so that's most of what's in there, and I always suggest starting with these three fics: ✦ Bargaining by proantagonist, thor & loki & odin & frigga & cast, time travel, 108.9k Faced with an eternity without his brother, Loki strikes a bargain to change the past. Post TDW. ✦ No Such Liberty by Xparrot, thor & loki & cast, 147.3k The first thing Loki said, after he had swiped his tongue over his lips to wet them, was, "You shouldn't trust me." ~ Following the attack on New York, Thor takes Loki back to Asgard in chains; but this does not mean that the god of mischief's schemes are ended, or that Thor has or ever will give up on his brother. But when Thanos threatens the realm to claim his lost prizes, on which side will Loki fall? [post-Avengers fix it] ✦ The Lullaby Singer by TheOtherOdinson, thor & loki & odin & frigga, 85k wip Odin hasn't left Asgard in over a thousand years. When he finds out Loki is still alive and preparing to launch an attack on Midgard, he could send Thor to stop him. Or Odin could go himself. As a bonus, I have a few more Thor genfic recs here.

✦ Captain America (MCU), where sure I liked some gen fic but lbr I was there for the Stucky. I mostly read during the height of the post-TWS fervor and then tapered off a lot after that (given how hard they swerved away from their relationship) and I haven't read almost anything in the fandom since Endgame, but if you want some fun TWS-era fic, I put together this list recently. (To be fair, I also liked a lot of Steve &/ Natasha, Bucky &/ Natasha and Sam/Natasha, so you can find that in there, too.)

✦ Iron Man (MCU), where I liked a mix of some fun gen pieces and some Tony/Pepper which put me in the minority, but I don't care because there were some banger authors for both. If you're interested in them, I always liked pretty much anything I read by roboticonography. icarus_chained wrote a wider variety of stuff, but I've always liked anything I've read from them as well.

✦ Avengers (MCU), where I read a lot of fic, but it's kind of all mixed in together, even some sprinkled in Black Panther fic, some Spideypool that was super fun for a hot minute, some Guardians of the Galaxy characters showing up, etc. Step carefully if you're not interested in pairings (I read a fair amount of Tony/Loki and Steve/Loki in amongst the other stuff), but honestly by the end I was probably reading more gen than anything.

✦ X-Men: First Class-verse, which is my exception to not reading much for the live action versions of the X-Men, because I am a long time Pietro Maximoff fan and while Peter wasn't my Pietro, I did love him and there was some absolute banger fic for the Dadneto trope, which was where my heart was at. Come Together by blarfkey is absolutely the first place to start!

Hopefully this is what you were looking for, but if you have further refinements on what you're interested in, let me know and I'll try to give some pointers! I've been out of reading Marvel for awhile, but I have a huge backlog from when I was in it, at least. 😂

[yatzstar]

In the wake of The Bad Batch finale, I have some critical thoughts. If you don't want to read criticism, then please move on. I have a lot of issues with the writing in this show, which I might reserve for a different post, but after the finale this one stands out to me.

The handling of Tech's death.

When Tech died I wasn't that saddened by it. Almost every character in this show didn't get a character arc sans Crosshair, and Tech unfortunately was one of them. They got really close to doing something good with his conversation with Omega after Echo departed, but he died not very long after that. However, his death could have been a very motivating factor for the rest of the cast.

Except it wasn't.

We don't see Crosshair's reaction to evidently being told by Omega. We don't see Omega struggling with it. We don't see Wrecker and Hunter struggling without him, or Echo's reaction. When he's mentioned they woefully look at the table for half a second then move on. Mayday got more of an emotional tribute than him, and while Mayday is integral to Crosshair's arc (though I posit it could have been much different had the writing been good and logical from season one) why do we not see them mourning for their brother?

I thought surely one of the clone operatives would be him, because if he was, then not lingering on the grief makes sense. Hemlock had the goggles that he handed over to taunt them, then these crazy brainwashed clones become a threat. We spend a lot of time with CX-2 specifically and his actions, with several parallels that mirror what Tech went through in previous seasons. Say what you will about subverting expectations, but I like it when parallels are set up then delivered upon.

But no, all the clone operatives are red herrings, nobodies, supposedly. Tech is really dead for the sake of...what, exactly? He saved them on Eriadu but we don't see them struggling with that at all. No one becomes better or changes because he dies. They hardly acknowledge him at all, and not only does that reflect poorly on Tech's sacrifice, it reflects poorly on the rest of the cast. It makes them look like a bunch of jerks who didn't care about their brother (which they kind of already were with Crosshair but that's a different rant). Why they set up the CX guy as such a parallel then didn't deliver is downright bad writing, and I am salty about it. Tech wasn't even my favorite, but he's retroactively becoming more endeared to me through What Could Have Been.

Anyway, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. I've read posts from @thecoffeelorian and @apocalyp-tech-a that sum up how I feel overall. This show had the potential to be so, so good and it ended up being mediocre at best. Only Crosshair really moved beyond the trope he embodied at the start, and Tech had the potential to, but they cut that short and not in a good or meaningful way.

I will be writing a fix-it after I finish my current "Tech is CX" fic because I'm that salty. I hope future Star Wars shows can manage to do something good and rise beyond the unfortunate writing choices.

P.S. Jimmi Simpson as Hemlock was a highlight. I will always stan Mary Lightly iykyk

[wyrmyblog]

Hey everyone! I thought I would share the love a little by making a post reccing some of my favourite GO fics. In no particular order:

The Other Arrangement; or How the Angel Got so Hungry by burnttongueontea

This is a canon-verse fic in which Aziraphale has had an eating disorder for thousands of years, and moving in with Crowley after the events of s1 makes it worse. The fic tells the story of his struggles over time, as well as how Crowley helps him to recover in the present day. it's very psychologically realistic, sweet and satisfying.

Blood of the Lamb (and other sacrifices) by PeniG

I am really weak for human AU's and I love a good outsider POV. This amazing fic alternates between both! one half of the fic is a lovely historical human AU set in the early 20th century, and the other half is a murder mystery told in the style of a golden age detective novel (specifically as fanfic of the Miss Silver novels by Patricia Wentworth).

Resurgam by HolRose

This fic has all the set-dressings I normally love, being a historical human AU, but more importantly it has wonderful characterization for Aziraphale. As our POV character, it is a pleasure to live inside his head for a little while. His gentle dignity, warmth, and slightly world-weary, self-deprecating humour make him a top-tier Aziraphale, in my professional opinion.

The End of an Era by Balder12

the Cold War spy subtext was incredibly strong in the book, and it's something i missed in the TV show adaptation. Though many authors (including myself) have had a go at a spy AU, this one, with its pervasive sense of gloom and meditation upon how spying wastes a person's life, has always been my favourite.

Shifting Heaven and Earth by BuggreAlleThis

This is, in my opinion, the best fic in the fandom. I mean, I haven't read them all. but I'm deeply skeptical that anyone else has managed to write something this good. Not only is the fic filled to the brim with the level of historical, material, and philosophical detail that truly makes the characters believable as angels, not only is the plot tight, compelling, and satisfying, not only is the premise extremely interesting, not only is the prose consistently gorgeous, but the characterization is absolutely phenomenal. BuggreAlleThis manages to write an AU Crowley who is extremely different from canon and who undergoes a massive character arc, all while seeming to still be "him". And Aziraphale in this fic is everything that an Aziraphale should be. He is sweet and excitable, yet worn-down by his long, difficult life. Riven with inner conflicts, warmly loving of all God's creatures, incisively intelligent, passionately spiritual, well-read and knowledgeable, and at his core, deeply human.

[susililys]

MY SHIKATEMA FANFIC RECS MASTERLIST PART 1

As someone who has been reading ShikaTema fanfiction for 18+ years, and who to this day reads it on a daily basis, I realized that I should probably make a fanfic recommendation post. I hope this is helpful to my fellow ShikaTema fans. I have read all of these multiple times over the years. I’ll be organizing them mostly based on setting/arc. Bold titles mean they are my all time favorites. I will place an M for Mature or any Explicit fics. I will be updating this list in the future, as I find more fics that I've might've missed in my favorites while writing this first draft, or as new fics are uploaded. Also can I just say how I can’t believe that I randomly decided to work on this throughout Shikamaru and Shikadai’s birthday?

Part 1 will include fics set during Naruto up to the Blank Period (when they were dating).

Part 2 will include a continuation of the Blank Period up to their marriage, as well as some Post Chapter 700 recs.

Part 3 will include a continuation of Post Chapter 700 recs, as well as AU's, Canon Divergent's etc.

Naruto / Naruto Shippuden / Post War / Canon Divergent

Arranged by: PSITeleport INCOMPLETE One of my all time favorites growing up.

Dear Kishimoto, You Can Bite Me by: PSITeleport ONESHOT I think about this one often!

Picture in the wallet- The Misadventure of Shiho by: XxPinkPeachesxX ONESHOT This one is such a fun one that I always find myself going back to.

On the Eve of War by: Cinder_Rose M | ONESHOT First time smut, before going to war, it's beautiful.

Self-preservation in a Teeny Tiny Fire Red Bikini by: mississippimudpiecraves M | ONESHOT Shikamaru and Temari are sent on a undercover mission that has them come to term with their feelings for one another.

A Grand Exception by: mississippimudpiecraves ONESHOT Shikamaru has to escort another girl throughout Konoha who keeps flirting with him, Temari, Ino, Chouji and Sakura follow. So good!

Perseverance by: mississippimudpiecraves ONESHOT This writer has so many good fics, I love this one regarding Temari coming to term with her feelings after the war.

Mistakes by: scavengerscab ONESHOT A masterpiece, Shikamaru has to think fast to protect Temari.

Sand By: TaintedMoonlight ONESHOT Short and cute confession fic.

Recent Photo by: PSITeleport ONESHOT Shikamaru writes a letter to Temari requesting a filled out form with a recent photo of herself as Chuunin examiner and it ends up with some cute back and forth flirting.

Catch22 by: Lotos-Eater COMPLETE Shikamaru needs to find a way to be with Temari even though they are from different villages.

Three Days by: Lotos-Eater M | ONESHOT Classic for a reason

Liar, Liar by: TaintedMoonlight ONESHOT Shikamaru gets injured on a mission and Temari must come to terms with her feelings.

Broken Promises by: loknnica ONESHOT Shikamaru finds out Temari is considering an arranged marriage and goes to Suna to put a stop to it.

The Secret is Out by: SpicedGold ONESHOT Implied ShikaTema, it's good fun.

Sidekick by: hiccupfound M | ONESHOT Can never have enough smut.

Laid Bare by: InnocentDumpling ONESHOT Post war smut.

Unmask Yourself by Image13 M | INCOMPLETE Post war, this includes some other ships that I'm not really fond of, but the ShikaTema in it is worth it.

Mr. and Miss Communication by: chaosnojutsu ONESHOT Cute miscommunication concerning Shikamaru and Mirai.

You're The Reason by: InnocentDumpling ONESHOT Post war confessions in the rain. Super sweet.

Perfume by: sentpri ONESHOT Pre war love confessions, fluff.

Gravity by: SangriaKisses ONESHOT First kiss during the war.

Bewitched by: loknnica ONESHOT Post war, Shikamaru finally confesses as they work.

Interrogation by: mississippimudpiecraves ONESHOT Yoshino comes across ShikaTema having a meal, great interactions.

Inside the Black Ant by: Troublesome Shikamaru Fan ONESHOT This one is a good time, Kankuro the meddling brother.

Together in Solitude by: SunnyD545 ONESHOT Loved this exchange!

A Little Cup of Tea by: dentsucree ONESHOT Post war, navigating feelings.

We're In This by: OstaraNight COMPLETE The feels, ST on a dangerous mission, Shikamaru asks Temari to leave him behind.

I Kind Of Might Love You by: heimai ONESHOT You don’t know how badly I love this little interaction.

A Moment by: drowninglinguists ONESHOT How Temari changed her hairstyle. I get butterflies reading this.

Overture by: Umayar ONESHOT This was a fun read, Shikamaru proposes in a cave.

Something to Prove by: Desbelleschoses COMPLETE Very nice multi-chaptered fic with a sequel (incomplete) that follows a canon divergent way on how ST got together.

It's All in Your Head by: heimai M | COMPLETE Fun fic that includes Shikamaru having naughty dreams about Temari..

Blank Period / Dating / Shinobi Union

Hotel Rooms by ArmchairAnthropologist COMPLETE One of my all time favorite fics, I read this once a day for clear skin, no but really I love it! Shikamaru trying to keep things professional, but Temari enjoys making it hard to keep appearances up.

Going in Blind by: SangriaKisses ONESHOT Can't describe how many times I've read this fic, coming to terms with feelings, confessions, due to Ino setting up Shikamaru on a blind date.

The Suite by: ladykatsuyu M | COMPLETE One of my favorite fics when it comes to good Shinobi Union period smut, not marked as completed, but only a bonus chapter is missing.

Allied Shinobi Chronicles, Story 1: Mission to Amegakure by: ladykatsuyu M | INCOMPLETE Wish this was complete because it is way too good! Warning, this does include other Naruto ships.

Poison by: ArmchairAnthropologist ONESHOT Temari gets poisoned which leads to a sweet proposition from Shikamaru.

Checkmate by silverkunai ONESHOT This is way too cute, Temari beats Shikamaru in Shogi.

Afternoon Delight by: SangriaKisses M | ONESHOT Some very good Hokage office smut.

delectable dares by: eeveleon ONESHOT Cute little oneshot involving pocky.

Label by: pieceofmind22 ONESHOT

Spring Rain Shower by: KiaraShell ONESHOT Shikamaru and Temari share a cute moment discussing their relationship status after Naruto and Hinata's wedding.

Sick Days by: Knifez COMPLETE Shikamaru goes to visit a sick Temari in Suna, in their early days of datings after Naruto and Hinata's wedding.

Mirror Mirror On The Wall by: SpellCasterLight M | ONESHOT Smut with feelings.

Pushy and Loud and Brave and Proud by: bluecatcups M | COMPLETE Temari centric, throughout her life and relationship with Shikamaru.

Of Firsts... by: cielo2018 M | COMPLETE Really incredibly well written fic that covers their relationship up till their marriage.

Clouded by: orphan_account ONESHOT Shikamaru and Temari go on their first real date fluff.

Questions by: SpicedGold ONESHOT Shikamaru gets asked questions regarding his relationship with Temari. Not sure if this is Blank Period, but it's cute.

Warmth and Wind Chimes by: Lost (Legendaerie) M | ONESHOT Too sweet and shows the progression of their relationship through Temari’s memories.

The Comparisons of Thump by: virgolinguist ONESHOT Aaaaa I think about this one all the time!

A Prickly Pair by: Endoh (xoxoEndoh) COMPLETE? This one was a lot of fun!

Six Points by: Comatosejoy M | ONESHOT Another fun one!

Dating Temari by: seor1324333 ONESHOT Sweet little interaction.

[minty-mumbles]

Linked Universe Survey 2023

The long awaited results of the survey. Sorry it took me forever, making graphs is hard.

There were 452 responses to the survey as a whole, which is almost double what we got last year, so thank you to everyone who participated!

If you want to see the raw data, you can find that here. I had thoughts about the data, but compiling that into another post would be too much of a hassle. Feel free to send me asks about it though!

The rest of the post will be under a read more as it it large

Demographics

Other: Demigirl (4), Transmasc (3), Grey genderfluid, Unlabeled, Demiboy, Demiagender

Other: Omnisexual (4), Poly (2), Trixic, Abroromantic or Bellusromantic, Demisexual

General Questions

Other: Quotev, Discord, their own google docs

Other: Discord, Variations of "I haven't posted yet, but I pan to" and "I haven't posted my fics in ages",

Other: Wattpad, Deviantart, Discord

Other: Crochet dolls, Custom dolls, Roleplay blogs (2), Fan translations, Headcanons (2), Piano music

The purple section in the “Warriors vs Warrior” chart is supposed to read “Warrior.” I made a typo.

Favorites and Least Favorites

Selected Free Response Answers

im sorry warriors i just can't play your game (it is very very hard. i am stuck very early on in the game)

I love cats meow meow meow

was extremely tempted to put twilight for least favorite. unfortunately he is my favorite to write from the perspective of (he has taken over most of my wips. help) and that probably counts for something. WILD on the other hand. hooo boy how the hell do i characterize this gargoyle. why is he Like That. least favorite it is

Twiddy

very good fandom to be in :) everybody is very nice

It's a straight up crime that Wars lost the aesthetics poll so quickly. He has such a peak Link design with the best colors. Ugh I'm getting wistful.

FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS.

I will fight Hylia herself and the next person who implies Twi can't handle spice. If we're going to lean into him being southern/Midwestern, which is an alright stero type for our rancher, please keep in mind the culture you're basing him off. The south and midwest can handle their spice, I assure you. Have you ever had authentic Louisiana gumbo? It will melt you tongue off. Or some good old fashion spicy fried chicken? I promise the real stuff has quite a kick. (In all seriousness, though. It's more important that you're having fun. And even I can admit the idea of Twi being an Ordonian who can't handle his spice is more than a little funny.)

I am an OoT Link edgelord and have been since early 2017. So, in September of that year, when an artist by the name of jojo56830 puts out a lineup of nine different Links and the Hero of Time is there – the oldest, no eye, Hero’s Shade armor? I saw that one sketch and just thought “oh this is gonna be bad.” Yeah of course he has the coolest design. By the way, it’s only a matter of time until Fierce Deity shows up in the comic and I have reason to believe it could be this current Dawn arc. Dawn … Dawn of a New Day … and who brought about the Dawn of a New Day? Fierce Deity. Twilight is recovering but still injured and what will happen if he falls again? Fierce Deity is coming and we need to be prepared. In this essay I will—

Remember that time when someone put the whole script of the bee movie in here? I’m not that dedicated, and I don’t have that time, but let us remember and hope someone else does it again this time. Cause someone is bound too. We’re all crazy enough to do it. Alright, love you and stay hydrated pls!

Hi! I joined this fandom really recent but i’ve always seen LU stuff on pinterest and elsewhere. Only recently have i actually took the time to understand the fandom and get back into LOZ stuff and i adore the characters and story! The more and more fanart, fanfics, and comics i see about the different Links the more i love them all. It’s such a pain to pick just one i like or one i don’t like because they’re all so unique. I love this fandom and hope to get more involved!! Have a wonderful rest of your day :]

Epona is an underrated queen

your mom

I really don't get why Zelda is called Artemis. Athena makes more sense???? It perplexes me

Anyone seeing this should check out Breanna’s E!Wild AU

Something something queer every Link into oblivion!

[wildlife4life]

Seven (+) Sentence Sunday

Tagged by super amazing @exhuastedpigeon @cal-daisies-and-briars @hippolotamus @disasterbuckdiaz @glorious-spoon @wikiangela @daffi-990 @tizniz @devirnis @watchyourbuck @hoodie-buck @loserdiaz @spotsandsocks and @diazsdimples. Thank you all so much!

Alright, so I know haven't been as active since dropping the first chapter of NFL Buck. I've just been sort of down because that same day, the Super Bowl Champs had their parade and rally, and just after it ended there was a mass shooting. My younger sister was there with some friends and they got away unharmed, but when she didn't answer my message for a long 30 minutes, I truly thought the worst. I've just been so sad and angry for Kansas City, for the US really and I just couldn't get into the spirit of writing. I'm not getting into the politics of it all today and my sister is coming for a visit soon, so I'm feeling marginally better. KC Strong.

First chapter of NFL Buck has been dropped, but everything else I've posted for this fic can be found here. Here is a snippet from the Eddie Begin's arc of NFL Buck.

Hurricane Harvey was relentless for almost four days, bullying southern Texas with unforgiving wind and an exurbanite amount of rain. Houston fire department and so many others worked day and night to help those who had not evacuated.  It was absolute chaos, and it blew through Eddie’s entire life. The storms had wreaked havoc on the cell towers, which meant service was spotty to none and radios became the main source of communication for rescuers. By some miracle, though, the internet connection at the firehouse held strong. It was slow and glitched out here and there, reminding Eddie too much of his time in Afghanistan. He watched his infant son grow up through a screen, with his very upset wife barely holding on and his parents hovering nearby, souring the video calls even further. Christopher was no longer a whimpering baby in his mother’s lap but looking at his saddened son on a glitching iPad screen with a tense Maddie sitting beside him, was too familiar.  Add in the argument he had with Buck just before, and the threat of danger just outside the firehouse, Eddie was back to being a scared 19-year-old in war riddled country. “Dad, grandma said we’re not going to visit Buck anymore. That he’s too busy. And Maddie tried to call him, but he didn’t answer and…” The eight-year old’s voice trails off, his lips trembling. Eddie bites his inner cheek hard. This was on him. He gave into his mother’s worries and demands about traveling through Texas during the hurricane.  Helena was too stubborn and being his mother, she knew every damn button to push, and Eddie was tired of fighting.  So, he reluctantly agreed to cancel the visit and his mother grinned a little too sharply before stating, “I’m sure Maddie will enjoy having her brother to herself.” Another ploy to take Christopher and Eddie fucking fell for it. Then his mother took it a step further by graciously telling Buck and Maddie herself, that Christopher would no longer be joining them in Dallas and to enjoy their time together for as long as they need it. Eddie knew his mother didn’t approve of his relationship with Buck, more so than his previous one with Shannon. The only reason she kept her mouth shut was the potential back lash of upsetting Christopher. But she already succeeded in having a hand in driving away Shannon and she probably believed she could do the same with Evan.

With this fic, there are a lot of canon events with twists. The usual timeline does not exists. But I hope you all enjoyed!

Tagging (no pressure): @bekkachaos @theotherbuckley @lover-of-mine @buddierights @try-set-me-on-fire @jesuisici33 @jeeyuns @aroeddiediaz @giddyupbuck @rainbow-nerdss @thewolvesof1998 @eddiescowboy @eddiebabygirldiaz @spaceprincessem @athenagranted @evanbegins @elvensorceress @malewifediaz @911onabc @911-on-abc @ladydorian05 @bigfootsmom @thekristen999 @spagheddiediaz @rogerzsteven @honestlydarkprincess @doublecheekeddiaz @buck-coded @prosperdemeter2 @lemonzestywrites @gayedmundodiaz @transboybuckley @nmcggg

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #39: Gladiator's ELEVENTH Anniversary! (+ BONUS: Fic-to-Art #36...)

And here we are! March 26th arrived and I did not forget about it, but I paid for my ambitious madness with my wrist and forearm. Somehow, I finished my intended pieces on time, but I do not advise that you ever try to make 9 artworks in 3 days. No, sir. Bad life decisions, that's what that was... but this fic, as anyone knows, moves me to do things I never thought possible, starting with writing the fic itself!

It's really crazy every time it hits me that I've been doing this for as long as I have. It's been a complicated, chaotic journey, with its many ups and downs, but ultimately, it has been our journey. For some people, this is just one more fic in the pile: for me, it's been the best adventure of my life so far. Everyone who has ever been touched by Gladiator, who has ever cherished this story, who's looking forward to the big conclusion, who wants to see how the chaotic war is going to end... you're all part of this crazy adventure along with me, and I can only thank you for joining me.

This year, I had no time to make as big a project as I usually go for. Thus, I did a sort of free-for-all edition of Fic-to-Art over at Patreon and challenged myself to draw as many scenes as I could, out of their suggestions. I even sprinkled in a few scenes I impulsively wanted to draw because I loved writing them or because I look forward to writing them... and this is the result!

In order, the scenes are as follow:

Sokka combing Azula's hair, a common occurrence throughout the story.

Azula watching over a convalescing Sokka in the Chase of Jeong Jeong arc.

The outcome of Sokka's final battle in the Superior Gladiator League, namely a moment where Sokka and Azula more or less gave away their relationship's true nature to the public by raising their hands towards each other...

And now, spoiler territory! Some were by my choice, some by Patreon requests:

An important moment shortly after Sokka and Azula reunite.

Azula confronting her father, with a LOT of backup.

Xin Long's long-awaited freedom.

The aftermath of the final battle.

The full-blown confirmation of their relationship to the general Fire Nation populace.

Sokka, Azula and Hotaru's first night together

And the big final one is ACTUALLY Fic-to-Art #36 but hahaha woops I didn't post it here on time because it was super hard to finish since I had a LOT of things going on... but here it is now! :'D it's a glimpse VERY far into the future of this fic's timeline!

Alright, that should be enough talking and explaining. Some things are vague, some things aren't, but ultimately I really hope you guys will be looking forward to the scenes you haven't seen yet, and to Gladiator's eventual outcome.

So now... with all this being said and done, I'm gonna go take a trip down memory lane and watch my Tenth Anniversary video once more! Feel free to do the same thing if you'd like to commemorate the fic, I think it's a good way to experience Gladiator all over again, hahaha.

Thank you if you read all this, and if you read all THAT: 5 million word landmark, here we come! Thanks for hanging out with me across ELEVEN years of Gladiator!

[jakes3resin]

Can you tell us about your other fics if you already have an established plot?

I'd love to! So there's quite a number of them I won't lie. I tend to get inspired by the randomest things. These are all in various stages of plotted out and written.

A/B/O fic (technically turning into 3 fics) that follows Bucky & Buck through the war, described below.

Courting Arc (top of my list to finish writing) - Bucky POV as he is anonymously courted during his time in the states just before he gets sent over to England (there's a post I'm basing my writing around I'll link it in a moment) <- published

England Arc- a quick look into their lives as they run missions with A/B/O elements (this will be pretty short I think) mostly snippets of scenes from the show just now with Omega Bucky and Alpha Buck <- published

Stalag Arc - Omega Bucky and his awful time in Germany. Here is where we see what being an Omega in war is really like in my omegaverse. Bucky is the highest ranked Omega in the camp meaning he's technically 'in charge' of keeping those Omegas in line. He's tested by his heats, keeping his pack together, and finally by a German order that could tear Buck and Bucky apart. This is a big fic for me to prepare for, and I'm building up to it by writing the Courting Arc first <- next on deck

Biker Gale AU (my beloved, genuinely obsessed with this AU) - this was inspired by one of hogans-heroes AUs. So, Gale leads an outlaw-esque biker club, and Bucky used to be his right hand (and lover) except one day out of the blue he just disappeared. Gale does everything he can to find Bucky, but there's no trail to follow, no clues to put together, nothing. Fast forward about two years, Bucky arrives on Curt's doorstep holding a small baby with the brightest blue eyes and prettiest blonde curls and begs Curt to watch his baby for 5 days. 5 days later Bucky comes back in town bruised to all hell with the FBI on his tail with their own nefarious reasons for tracking Bucky down. Bucky has nowhere else to turn especially since when he comes back to Curt's he finds Gale holding his little baby. (This could be A/B/O I haven't decided, but it's definitely at least mpreg)

Amnesia fic - this is based off of a post I made about the effects of Bucky getting hit over the head like 3 times in the span of two days, its... somewhere (edit: here). But its about Bucky waking up with no memory of who he is just before he gets interrogated by the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft III where he meets a man that his heart rejoices at seeing but his mind doesn't recognize. Buck of course has to deal with the love of his life forgetting him.

Magic AU - Bucky is a Scamander and its now everyone's problem to deal with it. The tag to find all of my ramblings for it is magic au (not that Tumblr's tag system works), and @getinthefuckingjaeger just wrote the best ever fic of Bucky and Theseus so go read that.

I've also got a few paragraphs written of Foster Kid Bucky somewhere but that might never see the light of day (that's also from a hogans-heroes AU) where Bucky is a jaded teenager just trying to make it to 18 to get out of his shitty foster placement when in comes Buck whose mother finally divorced his dad, got custody of her kids, and moved to her hometown to escape. It's about a Bright Buck meeting a Jaded Bucky (a flip on their usual dynamics)

Blonde Bucky AU - I wrote a blurb on the Twin Cleven AU post, and the idea of Bucky bleaching his hair on a drunken night out with Curt and Bubbles has haunted me since <- published as well

There might be more? But these are the only ones I can remember off the top of my head right now that are plotted out beyond oh that'd be a good fic. I have a lot of time spent sitting and waiting right now, so I have the ability to write a multitude of fics. I'm happy to talk about any of these fics if you want to come into my inbox or my messages.

[roughdaysandart]

Rough Day Comic Masterpost

Based on Rough Day by @no-droids. I am editing the smut out ("Abridged for Christian Roomates") but acknolwedge its sanctity. Filler content/arcs will be included to make up for taking it out.

"The immovable object and the unstoppable force are both implicitly assumed to be indestructible and to mutually co-exist, thereby creating an inherently unreconcilable tension. By definition, an unstoppable force, in order to become unstoppable, ought to possess infinite energy. On the other hand, an immovable object is non-submissive to any force of any magnitude, from being palpable to an asteroid attack. That is, it won’t shift from its place at all..."

But what happens when two such forces meet their match...when youre not strong enough to keep that distance any longer...nor weak enough to let go of your rules, of your past...everything?

How can it feel like it's all coming apart...

yet all coming together...

...can they really let it go?

This, dear viewers, is the predicament that our Sweet Girl and a certain tin can man have found themselves in, certainly before, but most especially after one particularly rough day. Join me fellow sickos on this journey, and watch as the unstoppible meets the immovable.

-Madison

SERIES GEN WARNINGS: NON-canon typical gore/blood/violence, emotional supression, bodily self-hatred, implied nudity, implied and explicit trauma (Blood, death, depression, anxiety, bullying, sexual), yearning for a fictional man

BOOK/SEASON 1: "THE EXCEPTIONS"

BOOK/SEASON 2: "TORN"

BOOK/SEASON 3: "TITLE TBD LOL"

BEHIND THE SCENES CONTENT (latest SNEEK PEEKS, FREE backgrounds for artists, storyboards, designing process, SW pinterest megaboard, soundtrack)

NON-RD ART/WRITING/FUN/LIFE STUFF

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

[ORIGINAL POST] (FEB 2024)

"Fuck it I'll try making a Rough Day Comic" 🤦

I just loved the process of creating that Cantina comic so much, and I really really have been a imagining how cool a comic could look for the entire fic (its just written so well) and I really wanna make it super clean so...I think imma break out the tablet and get this going. Also I just love this work so much that it would really being me so much joy (especially as my first comic) and thats what's important in the end.

No idea if it'll stick or if it'll be just a few or how soon but...I really am excited to try

Also kinda have to get used to drawing star wars environments/backgrounds/people in general, as I'm not used to that at all so here's to learning ALOT of new things ahead!

Probs will start out with the backstory drabble from @no-droids masterlist just for chronological sake and then do the chapters in order.

About the smut...🙃

*sigh* I live with my very christian siblings in a one bedroom so.....just no soft or hardcore smut (idk if i can even get away with any spicy gestures at all lol), and will probs have to clean some of the language up or leave bubbles blank until I live alone and can edit them later then re-upload 🤣

At least for now lol

So yeah I hope anyone who also enjoys this fic has as much fun observing this process as I will have making it!

[theheirofthesharingan]

I know Itachi is your number one, but in what order do you like the other uchihas? Im guessing sasuke is 2. Who is 3rd, 4th, 5th place etc?

Actually, I love both Sasuke and Itachi equally, but in a different way. Sasuke is like my son and Itachi is.. well *blushes*

The reason I write more about Itachi is because I don't see genuine love for him in the fandom. It's the extremities of either the dudebros (who also want to portray him as a flawless, did nothing wrong kind of character) or the haters who lie on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, deliberately ignoring all the good. Even he has some pick me fans, who are his haters in disguise, I guess.

He's a wonderful character who is heavily misunderstood. I love to write about him more than the powerscaling stuff and the regular takes you see on him about him being evil, him being a villain from the start, or him being an irredeemable evil and all the shitty opinions. Since I don't like replying with the negative opinions on other people's posts (or taking screenshots of their posts to secretly harass and badmouth them), I tend to write the analysis on him in my own space. Most of the things I write I haven't seen being said about him, so I feel he needs this positivity terribly.

He's tragic, he's sad, he's powerful, he's miserable, he made mistakes, he was hurt, he hurt, he had regrets. And most people reduce him to what aligns with their moral compass. I love to explore his multifaceted character without the finger-pointing or blaming other characters, because he deserves it.

When I joined Tumblr, I was a bit more pro Sasuke and pro Uchiha, but their fans in my posts back then ended up talking a lot of shit about Itachi, which made me focus a lot more on Itachi. Though I'm not going to let fandom activists dictate and change my love for Sasuke, so my interaction with most of his fans is nil. That doesn't mean I don't love him. My fics are a proof of how much I love him.

Anyway, this isn't what you asked. I love both Itachi and Sasuke. The second would be Shisui. The third would be Izumi (even though she's a "filler" character).

I like Madara too. He's a cool villain. But I'm not all that emotionally invested in him, so I don't talk about him that much. I stopped caring about the story after Itachi's death and watched the rest of the episodes of war arc for Sasuke. So, I only remember what happened to him, not Madara. And I don't care about the ship (HashiMada), so there's less interest for me there.

I like Fugaku as well. But I'm most invested in Itachi and Sasuke, and Itachi needs positivity, and I'm forming an Itachi cult, so let's go.

[gffa]

Dearest gffa, you are the only person I know whose been reading Batfamily comics. (Though I do read some of the fanfic haha). The destiel meme informed me that Bad Things just happened in the latest comics. Is there a primer to the latest drama? (Everyone seems upset). Are you ok?

Best wishes, your fandom neighbor on Star Wars Street

I assume this is about the Batman #148 leaks? I haven't seen a ton of drama (other than a couple of posts, including the Destiel meme notification that got me to go see what was happening) but if that's it, it's kind of funny, because okay. As far as I've seen (the issue isn't even out yet, so I can't read it until tomorrow, I'm only going on the leaked panels I've seen) what happens in the issue is that Failsafe-- okay, let me back up. In the current Batman run (written by Chip Zdarsky), awhile back Bruce created a super powerful robot that was meant to be activated in the case of him going rogue so that it could take him down, and it's very coldly logical, based on his patterns, so it knows him extremely well and is hard to beat. It's powerful enough that it apparently took out the Justice League awhile back (I haven't read that arc yet, so take that with a grain of salt), which means now that Failsafe has gone rogue in the current Batman series that Zdarsky's writing, Bruce is having a hell of a time fighting it, especially with his "backup personality" Zur-En-Arrh (Bruce is a paranoid shit and I love him the most) is also running amok in his head and he's fighting back against that. Back up further--in late 2023, there was an event called "Gotham War" that was basically, "Bruce has been through a lot of shit lately, so he was out of commission for several months, in that time Selina stepped up in Gotham and started training crooks to be cat burglars instead of rogues' goons, Bruce woke up, thought this was bullshit, despite that crime was down, and they basically had a turf war while Bruce was losing his goddamned mind because of what he'd been through and because Zur-En-Arrh was literally ratting the bars of the cage of his mind, and part of the fallout being that Bruce dosed Jason with a gas that basically made his adrenaline go wild any time he would do anything dangerous, so that he could no longer be in this life of crime or vigilantism, because Jason had killed a lot of people, but Bruce couldn't bear to send him to jail, so this was the only way he could live with taking Jason out of the life they lived". Gotham War was extremely controversial--I had fun with it, because it was BONKERS and I fuckin' love bonkers stuff in the "punching people in the face solves crime" genre, but a lot of people were really angry about how Jason was treated in the arc. Zdarsky co-wrote Gotham War, so this is a continuation of a lot of people's frustration and anger towards how Jason has been treated by DC especially by this author.

There's also a lot of lingering frustration and resentment in fandom because Jason is not always written well or frequently. He doesn't have his own solo book these days, half of what's written about him is written by authors with VASTLY different takes from the other half of the writers out there, and there's a lot of fanon that goes around with Jason's sub-section of fandom where I think it furthers the divide because the fic that's written about Jason delves deep into his character in specific ways that the canon doesn't match and I think it can set expectations for some fans that are just not matched by DC themselves, either because they see Jason differently or because Jason just doesn't have a lot of fans at the company itself, I couldn't say for sure. So, now comes Batman #148 leaks (it's not actually out until tomorrow), where Failsafe kills Jason and Bruce has a dramatic reaction to it, and a lot of people are furious that DC would kill Jason at all, much less with such little fanfare, after how little focus he's gotten over the last several years. The thing is, though, that Jason doesn't stay dead, he's alive again by the end of the issue (I've seen panels from later in the issue) and I'm not sure how many people are reacting just to seeing the posts flying around fandom versus how many people have actually seen the whole context. Because context is slowly rolling out, but people generally aren't soothed by that, given the lead-up to this moment. Basically, years of Jason not getting much focus in the comics + the events of Gotham War have led to a powderkeg of a situation and the contextless leaks (ie, without the panel where Jason's alive again) took a match to the whole thing. And that's what's going on, as far as I know! I personally am having a great time because I was extremely skeptical that they would actually kill Jason without any fanfare and also I like Jason as a hot mess with crunchy relationships with people and that he's done bad things and had bad things done to him/been a victim as well, so all this messy drama in the story has me living for it. (This would have been a very different situation if I'd thought Jason was really dead, but I didn't, so I'm doing fine right now. Also, my Blorbo is Dick Grayson, so I've already been through this wringer and I'm still mad at DiDio for it, so it's Jason-Blorbo's time now.)

[highlordofkrypton]

Tag game for fanfiction authors!

Thank you so much for the tag @angelosearch! I'm going to tag @goforth-ladymidnight @praetorqueenreyna @achaotichuman @yaralulu @goldheartedchaoticdisaster @thedickgraysons @chunkypossum and whoever wants to join pls! I'm really bad at remembering who are all the writers!

TELL US

The story you're proudest of

I have two fics that I'm especially proud of!

Wildflowers, which is my ACOTAR prequel. It's my first fanfiction written and posted online, and the first story I wrote start to finish. I tried my best to give depth to the world and the side characters. I do think some people are turned off by the main characters/ship, but it's so much more than that. It's also spawned so many side stories which is so exciting!

Regrets, which is my first SUPERBAT that I ever posted. I think it's a really good reflection of my style which balances emotion, humour and intimacy. I'm so happy my first attempt at writing my OTP turned out SO WELL.

Your story that's gotten the most love online:

The answers are the same as above, but for different reasons.

Wildflowers has gotten a lot of praise for multiple elements in the story, and I feel like those who read it all found different parts to enjoy. It's one of those stories that are really fun to talk about, and there's so many little nods here and there. It makes me happy to see that readers are noticing them. Wildflowers also has original additions (like family members of the main characters) that everyone loves as much as I do!

Regrets has the most kudos, but like mentioned above, it's a classic ship and a good balance of fluff and angst elements! I had so much fun writing it, and I think that came through in the piece.

Tease a current WIP or idea you're working on:

I've been wanting to tease NEEDLE & KING (wip title, subject to change), which is the prequel/side story for Rhysand's parents.

It was supposed to be a shorter, contained story about their romance, but now it's become a lore exercise, an exploration of cultural displacement in fantasy, starts off as a female-focused cast, etc.

Chapter 1 Flying

At the end of the world, Lilith thinks of nothing. No home to yearn for, no family to miss her—at least, not for long—and no future to look forward to.  She stands on the edge of a mountain’s peak, one of two Wolf’s Fangs, and feels. The world comes into her through the howls of the wind and the bite of the cold against her barely covered arms. Clouds stand between her and the bottom, if she could even see that far on a clear day. Her life, until now, has been a series of instances that have happened to her rather than experience. The absence of her father, the death of her mother, the fear that looms above her—she is at the mercy of everything around her. Here, the ice demands her wakefulness. Here, the skies challenge her. Here, every breath is earned. The height of the mountain is the only time she feels alive, so what is that feeling when she steps off its edge and careens downwards. Down, down, down, she goes with a whistle—a force against gravity. At the bottom, reality will come crashing down, but she can solve that problem quite easily. Just… fall. Her black wings strain against the fall, and she grits her teeth. It’s not in her nature to fall; she will never accept her fate. Lilith wages war against nature itself, demanding her muscles to yield to her will. A loud flapping noise signals her success, the membranes of her wings cradling the air itself to take her in an arc, a low swoop and then up again. She glides through the clouds, occasionally drawing her dark wings to herself and allowing herself to plummet before catching herself again. Lilith had taught herself to fly. It was the only thing she can control in her small, small life. Her flights have no destination, and they are timeless. She flies for as long as she can. She pushes as far as she can go because she never knows when it will be her last time.

Like any draft, this may be subject to change. The first scene I usually write for any draft is the one that 'sets' the tone of the story.

Fun fact - Lilith is a name/character that pops up in all my stories either as some weird writing signature/nod, or as a main character. She's a hyperfixation that started with Diablo and never left, but she's become her own phenomenon for me and my writing.

Your top 3 fandoms: that I write in... ACOTAR & DC Comics. I currently don't have time to write in a third one, woops.

Your top 3 ships: If it's what I've written for, then the answers are Tamlin x Rhysand, Bruce x Clark and Orm x Clark. If it's what I enjoy personally, then it's all of the above + many, many crackships.

Rec someone else's fic: Without a doubt, the people I've tagged above have amazing fics. I haven't had a chance to read their works in their entirety, but I've participated in challenges with them, creeped on their works, and they are SO GOOD! Please go check them out! Their fics are on my to-read, but part of my writing process is to just write without reading, so once I'm done my current fic, I will be going through each work to add comments and properly devote the love and attention they deserve.

Pick one!

Fluff or Angst - I cannot NOT write angst, but I believe that both (one into the other) create incomparable emotional depth.

Oneshots or longfics - I prefer reading oneshots, but I cannot stick to one chapter for the life of me.

Canon compliance or canon divergence - I have the worst memory, I couldn't be canon compliant if I wanted to...

AO3 or FF.net

[chthonion]

Pinned post

About me

I'm Chthonion (they/them) here and on Ao3. Currently I write Silmarillion fic, although honestly who ever knows what I'll do next? Not me.

If you arrived here for non-Tolkien reasons, I apologize for all the Sauron. If you arrived here for Tolkien reasons I am only slightly sorry for the occasional rock operas.

My works are archive-locked on Ao3 for several reasons, including AI scraping and privacy.

My writing

Current installments of Your Shadow Rising To Meet You, my Fourth Age Aman series:

Anastasis (complete), in which Frodo and Celebrimbor and Finrod build a friendship, talk about trauma, and deal with the fact that Sauron's dead spirit is haunting Celebrimbor.

The Harrowing (in progress), in which Sauron/Annatar takes a stab at a redemption arc and encounters many horrifying challenges, including but not limited to Celebrimbor's family, the mortifying ordeal of being known (especially by Frodo), and emotions.

Short fic:

Lost and Found, in which Finrod fights in the war of wrath, dreams of a home he has never known, and follows his dreams

Nothing left to fear, in which Celebrimbor and Sauron meet each other during the War of Wrath while they're both having a bad time and possibly change everything (prequel to Lost and Found)

Nothing Defies You, in which Annatar becomes God and finds it unsatisfying (Silvergifting Last Trial AU)

Transformative works

People sometimes ask for permission, so: if anything I wrote inspires you to write, draw, or otherwise make stuff that is related, please feel free! And when you are done, please tag me or link me or otherwise send it my way, because it makes me really happy to see these things, and I want to admire them.

Do not feed my words into any chatbot or other AI, though. My fic is archive-locked for a reason.

[hermitcraftx]

I agree with your post about hermit fans in regard to things being very popular. I’ve seen more people being angry and annoyed about scarian in the last six months than people celebrating it. Not tagging shipping is shit but it’s better than harassing people. I don’t know what was put in the water but something changed drastically and I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s seen it.

IT'S FUCKING INSANE! This fandom used to be so positive and welcoming and overall way more pleasant than some... other MCYT fandoms, but now??? I can't log on without seeing untagged negative interpretations in the main tags, can't express an opinion without getting anons calling me heterosexual sympathizers and hoping that I die, everyone has turned their back on everything that used to make this fandom really... fun? Like, I don't tag ON MY BLOG, but usually I don't maintag my shipping posts, and if I do, I tag the ship name so people can filter it.... I don't maintag duo names. What the fuck happened to make everyone so- miserable. Anons are probably going to be permanently off for me, too many people comfortable with their opinions and not comfortable with mine and desperately needing to tell me that.

And like- look. I get not liking interpretations. Personally I'm not a fan of the Double Life cheating arc because of how abusive and out of character people made Grian be, and I had to avoid ao3 for a bit because of that and filter the fucking tags. Same thing with found family dynamics. Just because you don't like something doesn't make it "overrated and popular" and just because you don't like something doesn't make it immoral or unethical either!!! People have to make everything a moral standpoint nowadays and it's really exhausting-

But that's a tirade. All over all the confessions blogs there's "scarian is overrated" despite Grian having nearly 10mil subscribers and most of them being on YouTube and considering all the hermits friends or family truthing them. Yes, there is more shipping than before- that's because Hermitcraft season 8 made it very obvious that the people on the SMP and the people IRL are very different, and it's no longer considered RPF. None of the real hermits died via moon explosion, ZombieCleo often says she's doing "lore", they make different skins, even GRIAN acknowledges that he's acting and playing a part with the permit office. Despite all that, there's STILL wars on shipping and people insisting that we're shipping real people, I fought this war on the DSMP side of things and it's SO TIRING.

DND podcast listeners, do you ship the people playing the characters? NO!!!!! Unless you do, in which case, have fun with that. I don't really care about RPF and I filtered the tags for it a long time ago, so maybe they do do that.

Every other day I see "Third life is overrated" "Last life is overrated" (LAST LIFE IS OFTEN THE LEAST FAVORITE SEASON I SEE PEOPLE SAY!), "the life series is overrated" "the cactus ring is fucking stupid" "they left the desert but we didn't" "no, THIS interpretation of scarian is bad and wrong" and like... guys. Guys. Fandom is supposed to be fun. It is not supposed to be a full time job. It is not supposed to be moral or ethical and you shouldn't feel the need to police shit. Jesus Christ, every other month there's a new fad that tumblr users flock to and once it's over everyone goes "EWWW THAT WAS LAME AND OVERRATED AND I NEVER LIKED IT ANYWAY" like.... I promise you cannibalism as an allegory for love is not mainstream you are just on Tumblr.

Like Good God. If it's so bad here go to Twitter. I'm sick of all the complaining and misery and hatred and I miss when things were fun- people are so scared of being cliche that they don't want to write things that they enjoy. Where are the coffee shop aus???? Where are the fun silly things??? Where are the 100k grimdark fics with worldbuilding??? Wheres the 500k fics that aren't even about the same characters anymore but that we love just the same??? Where are the forums and people talking to each other in comments and meeting each other that way??? Where are the roleplay servers?????? What are you all doing??????

People are scared of being judged. They want to do what everyone else is doing. They don't want to be cringe or cliche and every day I see a "cringe culture is dead" post and then someone making fun of another part of fandom, an antithesis to their previous statement. They don't want to be late to things, either. Who cares if Last Life was a couple years ago? Draw the fanart anyway!

I'm scared. Maybe I'm just old, but every post I see I notice that I get maybe a 10th in reblogs of what I do in likes, and I don't even post my art or fics to this site. Every post is like that. More and more people only like posts and they die, unseen, by everyone. More and more people misuse archive of our own's functions, treating it like it has some algorithm, when it doesn't, and it never has and hopefully never will. I see fic reuploads to "gain traction" (not how it works) and people reaching out to find RP partners (breaking TOS) and all sorts of other shit on both sites and it fucking horrifies me. I'm not even that old- I'm eighteen, and I can already tell how fandom has changed for the worst for everyone. Fandom used to be a community. Not consumption.

It's just... sad. Old fandom had PLENTY of fucking problems, and we have problems here too, but at least the positives outweighed the negatives. It's so... mean here, now. Even the happy things are mean-spirited. People treat it as if certain people have invaded this fandom space, spreading horrible opinions and ruining it for everyone, but the truth is is that shipping is always going to be a thing. It's a foundation of fandom- fandom started with housewives in the 1950s writing Star Trek fanfiction. You can never get rid of shipping. You can just interact with what you want to interact with and leave others to mind their own business.

[mmogurl]

So, last night I finally got through Daemon's arc in Fire and Blood.. There are going to be major spoilers in this post, so only click -keep reading- if you have read it already.. or don't care if I spoil it by talking frankly about its contents! I will be discussing Rhaenyra as well as Aemond. **SPOILERS!! IF YOU KEEP READING! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

So, I am just completely wrecked by his ending and how Rhaenyra basically pushes him to it with her psychotic, stupid ways. I mean.. I strongly disliked Rhaenyra after the show, before even reading the book (especially after that fight where she says she can't trust him which is not in the book). But now after reading it, I utterly despise her! She's awful! Horrible.. and the worst kind of stupid! It's like, she just goes kind of nuts, but nobody notices that she has. But it's so obvious that she is not thinking clearly, that or she truly doesn't care about anyone or anything.. Like they are all just pawns to her, dogs to use. But then she doesn't even know how to move them properly on the board - hence my calling her stupid.. I feel like her response of ordering Nettles death was the last nail in the coffin for Daemon, and he was just like.. Fuck this shit.. I mean she literally says, she doesn't care if the lord there takes her head in her sleep.. and she slept with Daemon! Can you imagine that shit?? And this is after she said it's perfectly ok for him to sleep around with Mysaria while Rhaenyra is seemingly uninterested in him, so it's not like she was jealous. But, it seemed like he might have actually cared for Nettles and so he sends her away to save her from all the fucking madness surrounding Rhaenyra and by proxy himself... The line where he and Aemond are talking and the young prince says he's lived long enough.. where Daemon simply replies.. "On that much we can agree," is just so telling.

Imagine having been instrumental in putting Rhaenyra on the throne only to have it become so fucked in the end. And ultimately, I don't think he has the heart to do what he SHOULD do.. which is kill her.. he just decides to go off and die an honorable death in battle like a fucking Viking warrior going off to Valhalla.. But it's so bittersweet.. I hated it.. hated how it all felt like it was for nothing.. because Rhaenyra's a fucking idiot who can't listen to a god damned bit of advice from her much more experienced husband! Like, he suggests TWICE in the book to give Ulf and Hugh something to keep them happy and twice she refuses! So how does it come as a surprise when they turncoat?? But let's be realistic.. the whole Red Sowing was fucking foolhardy to begin with! Tell me, does it make sense to give the power of a god to bastards with no allegiance!? And then to not even buy their allegiance!? It's. just. stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. I'm going to be writing my fic with even more fervor now, because honestly, the entire war in the book.. What happens to Maelor, what happens at Tumbleton!? It's all a nightmare and should be avoided.. A terrible, terrible wrong that must be made right! Ugh! Rhaenyra was already an opponent in my fic - In the Shadow of Dragons. Without spoiling the story, I already have it out for her, but now it's on like fucking Donkey Kong, bitch! Ugh, and to lose Daemon and Aemond at the same time!?! X_X!!! It was at least an awesome battle and the art in the book was epic level, but they are both my favorites and now they are both dead. Now all that is left is to read about how cake eating, psycho Rhaenyra gets overthrown. I am currently at the part where King's Landing has gone into revolt.. and I'm thinking it won't be pretty for her when it happens. And there's another thought.. when you see everything awful that happens under Rhaenyra's rule, one cannot help but consider.. That even Aegon might have done a better job!

/End Rant