#no because any time I get into a fandom I immediately headcanon every character as ace

[skateironicallycantskate]

asexual headcanons for international asexuality day!!

• all of them. every single character. they’re all ace

• gundham tanaka

[sassydefendorflower]

I want to talk about something. I want to talk about ableism in fandom. And sexism in fandom. Oh, and racism in fandom.

Mostly though, I wanna talk about how the discussion about these things often gets derailed because people don't understand what trends and typical behaviors actually are.

Whenever a Person of Color, a woman, someone disabled, someone queer (or an intersection of any of these groups) points out that certain fandom trends are bigoted in some shape or form, half the replies seem to be "but they are my comfort character! Maybe people just like them better because they are more interesting!" or even "people are allowed to have headcanons!" - the very daft even go for a "don't bring politics into fandom" which is a personal favorite because nothing exists in a vacuum and nothing is truly apolitical. But alas~

What most of these replies seemingly fail to understand is something very, very simple: it's not about you.

You, as an individual, are just one datapoint in a fandom. You are not the trend. You do not necessarily depict the typical behavior.

When someone points out that there is racism in fandom, that doesn't mean every fan is racist or perpetuating racist ideas*. By constantly mentioning your own lack of racism, quite often, you are actively derailing the conversation away from the problems at hand.

When someone names and describes a trend, they don't mean your headcanon specifically - they mean the accumulated number of headcanons perpetuating a harmful or outdated idea.

I am not saying this to forbid anyone from writing fics about their favorite characters or to keep anyone from having fun headcanons and sharing their theories and thoughts - quite the opposite actually. A critique of a general trend is not a critique of you as an individual - and you're going to have a much better, and more productive, time online if you can internalize that. If you stop growing defensive and instead allow yourself to actually digest the message of what was pointed out.

I am saying this to encourage some critical thinking.

Allow me to offer up some examples:

Case 1: A DC blogger made the daring statement that maybe Tim and Jason were such a popular fanfic focus because they are the only two undeniably white batboys. Immediately someone replied saying "no, it's all the fun traumatic situations we can put them in!". Which is an insane statement to make, considering the same can be said for literally ANY OTHER DC Batman and Batfam character.

The original post wasn't anything groundbreaking, they didn't accuse anyone, didn't name any names... but immediately there was a justification, immediately there was a reason why people might like these characters more. No one stopped to take a second and reflect on the current trends in fanfiction, no one considered that maybe this wasn't a declaration against people who like these characters but a thesis depicting the OVERALL trend of fandom once again focusing on undeniably white (and male) characters.

(don't get me started on the racebending of white characters in media that has a big Cast of Color and the implications of that)

Case 2: A meta posted on Ao3 about ableism in the Criminal Minds fandom caught my attention. A wonderful piece, very thoughtful, analyzing certain characterization choices within the fandom through the lens of an actually autistic person. The conclusion they reached: the writing of Spencer Reid as an autistic character, while often charming and comforting, tended to be incredibly infantilizing and at worst downright ableist. They came to that conclusion while CLEARLY stating that the individual fanfic wasn't the problem, but the general fandom trend in depicting this character.

Once again, looking at the replies seemed to be a mistake: while many comments furthered the discussion, there were quite a few which completely missed the point. Some were downright hostile. Because how dare this author imply that THEY are ableist when they write their favorite character using that specific characterization.

It didn't matter that the author allowed room for personal interpretation. It didn't matter that they noted something concerning about the entire fandom - people still thought they were attacking singular people.

Case 3: I wrote a fic about abortion in the FMA(b) fandom (actually I've written a weird amount of fics about abortion in a lot of fandoms, but alas) and I got hate comments for it. Because of that I addressed the bias in fandom against pro-choice depictions of pregnancies. I pointed out that the utter lack of abortion in many omegaverse stories or even mpreg or het romances, painted the picture of an unconscious bias that hurt people for whom abortion was the only option, the best possible ending. The response on the post itself was mostly positive, but I got anon hate.

(which I can unfortunately not show you since I deleted it in the months since)

And I'm not overly broken up about it, but it also underlines my point: by pointing at a general problem, a typical behavior, a larger trend... people feel personally attacked.

This inability to discuss sexism, ableism, racism, transphobia, etc in fandom without people turning defensive and hurt... well, it damages our ability to have these conversations at all.

Earlier I said YOU are not the problem - well, i think part of this discussion is acknowledging that: sometimes YOU are in fact part of the problem. And that's not the end of the world. But you can only recognize yourself as a cog in the machine, if you can examine your own actions, your own biases, your own preferences critically and without becoming defensive.

And, again, this is not to keep you from finding comfort in your favorite characters and headcanons. This is also not to say that I am free of biases and internalized bigotries - I am also very much a part of the system. A part of the problem.

This is so you can comfortably ask yourself "but why is there no abortion in this universe?" or "why are my favorite black characters always the top in my slash ships?" or "why do I write this disabled character as childish and in need of help?" - and sometimes the answer is "because I am disabled and I want comfort", and that's fine too.

There is no one shoe fits all in fiction. There is not a single trope that captures all members of a group. There is no single stereotype that isn't also someone's comfort. No group is a monolith, no experienced all-encompasing (or entirely unique).

There is never a simple answer.

But that doesn't mean you should stop questioning your own biases, your own ideals.

Especially, if you grow defensive if someone points out that a certain trend you engage in might be racist. Or sexist. Or queerphobic. Or fucking ableist.

*this does not mean negate the general anti-blackness perpetuated by most cultures as a result of colonialism and slavery

[sleepingdeath-hellaverse]

dominant male s/o smut headcanons ; 18+

requested by : anonymous [14/03/24]

original request : ‘There is clearly a lack of x male reader in the Hazbin Hotel fandom, so maybe I could request Lucifer and Adam with a soft dom male reader. (Im not sure If I can request more that one character tho)’

pairing : submissive leaning switch!lucifer morningstar x dominant!male!reader insert

content : dom/sub dynamic between characters, lucifer having a praise kink, brief mentions of bondage (lucifer being tied up), implied body worship if you squint at one bullet point (lucifer receiving), cock-warming (reader receiving), overstimulation (lucifer receiving), some mentions of brat!lucifer at the end of the post

warnings : sexually explicit content

note : you can absolutely request multiple characters and the second part of this request (featuring the other listed character) will be out at some point next week ^^

masterlists : sfw nsfw

minors and ageless blogs will be blocked

although lucifer himself is a switch and is more than comfortable with taking on a dominant role in the bedroom, there is definitely a very strong part of him that enjoys being able to hand over control to someone else for a change — so, needless to say, having a boyfriend that was willing and eager to take on a dominant role in his stead would be something lucifer would be extremely open to

a good 90% of the time lucifer does his best to be ‘good’ for you (following your instructions to the letter, answering your questions immediately, only allowing himself to climax when you give him permission to, and so on), because he absolutely lives for your praise and undivided attention in the bedroom after being on his own for so long

call him ‘good boy’, ‘pretty’, ‘well trained’ and the like and you’ll get to see his pale cheeks turn a gorgeous shade of red as he shuffles in place and lets himself bask in those attentions — bonus points if you gently coaxe him into meeting your gaze when you’re saying this because he gets far too flustered to speak

tie his hands behind his back or above his head (or, if you’re feeling a bit mean, simply instruct him to hold them there without binding them in anyway and test how strong his resolve really is) and spend hours at a time smothering him in affection and praise: kiss down from the column of his throat to his chest and to the apex of his thighs, gently massage his legs and sides, pepper kisses and gentle bites along his throat and jawline, whisper compliments against his skin, gently brush your fingers through the feathers of his wings when they spring up out of his back — listen to every whimper and sigh and sob that comes out of his pretty lips as he tries his best to stay still and wait for you to finally, finally, put your hands or mouth on his straining dick as a reward for being so very good and patient for you

have him cockwarm you whilst he’s sorting through documents for lulu land or the hotel, lazily stroking circles into his hips with the pads of your thumbs as you encourage him to keep on going and promise to reward him for being such a good boy for you all day

and when he’s earned it, fuck him until there are tears streaming down his cheeks and all he can do is babble something vaguely like your name as he desperately tries to pull you closer with shaking hands — he’s strong enough to take anything you give him, really he is, so feel free to keep on pushing him through orgasm after orgasm until the only thing he can remember is how good your cock feels inside of him and the shape of your name on his lips

(or until you’re too exhausted to go on… whichever comes first)

he’s also just as happy to top you if you’re more comfortable being on the receiving end — he’s nothing if not a gentleman after all — so long as you’re still praising him and telling him what to do, he’s content with making love to you in any way that you prefer

then, of course, there’s the remaining 10% where all of his patience gets thrown out of the window and you get to see just how much of a brat the prince of pride can be

he gets demanding, impatient, and desperate until he’s swiftly put in his place and reminded that you’re the one in charge and he won’t get anything from you until he starts behaving again

(in all honesty he’s a pretty easy brat to tame if you leverage his praise kink and his desperation by having him cockwarm you whilst you edge him with your hand, asking him if he’s going to start behaving and reminding him that brats don’t get rewards — he’ll break before long and get all teary eyed as he apologises and begs you to let him cum)

[takemebacktowheniwassane]

i've been seeing a lot of falsettos posts recently deconstructing the fandoms beliefs and firstly

holy fuck thank you, i try to steer clear of fandom (and fandom-izing thereof) drama but this is getting a lot more visible recently so here's some little tidbits for you

whizzer brown is not an unflawed character!

okay so i haven't seen enough dissecting this but!!! in the chess game!

the whole point of marvin using that game to determine the ending of their relationship is because he suspects whizzer is constantly deceiving him and wants to prove it.

whizzer LITERALLY proves him right!

he asks marvin to help him along (yes i know he says he doesn't want help, hear me out, it's a little more complex than that) and takes advantage of the fact that marvin is- like- infatuated with him.

he draws him into a sense of false security then starts throwing accusations at him ("since you need a man!" "what?" "who's 'brainy'," "or witty, move.") until hes able to win, which he does with ease because he's been using marvin having this idea that he isn't smart against him.

of course, marvin's side of this isn't the best either but honestly, for once the fandom should focus on a different character when they think 'insane asshole'. typically we should also probably change our perspectives a little to be more unbiased cuz fr guys, this is getting really.. annoying.

i understand he's the most visibly flawed but that doesn't excuse constantly picking the worst parts of this musical (without other context, btw) to use against him.

and this post certainly isn't here to excuse anyone either i've just got a lot of opinions that i wanted to share while falsettos is.. trending? right?

2. marvin's (headcanoned but still somewhat researched) autism

this one isn't brought up as much but when i do see it around, it's kind of a skewed viewpoint.

while rewatching bits of the proshot i realized a lot of different neurodivergent traits that he shows-

he's helpless during I Never Wanted to Love You and is childish and regressive when he's upset (not every autistic person is like this either, i know this is a bit of a touchy subject so i just wanted to add that).

usually when people depict it i see it either toned down or joked about which is fine when all in good fun, and when its done respectfully.

not here to attack anyone, just here to point it out and say that yes :) he most likely is neurodivergent, but despite that his actions aren't condoned. he's still kinda a dick who needs to get his shit together

3. ..the lesbians also have shit going on?

just putting this out there- I DON'T SEE ENOUGH FOR THE LESBIANS! OR TRINA!

the girls in this musical are like thoroughly neglected and i think that's kind of shitty just assuming the fact that william finn put them in to demonstrate how gender roles put people in degrading positions (and he even makes it more prevalent by showing marvin as something like a misogynistic character who forces whizzer into more feminine roles to show the audience what woman have to/had to go through in society).

anyways, the lesbians aren't just there guys. they have a plotline too. in Something Bad is Happening, you derive a lot from charlotte singing about the outbreak of HIV/AIDS and realize how she operates on a daily basis (she's passionate about her work and takes every bad day as a hit to her life and career, explaining in a way that as a black, jewish, lesbian, FEMALE doctor in this time, everything that goes wrong is immediately brought down on her so much more than it would as any straight white male pharmacist-).

cordelia on the other hand has to handle the fact that her girlfriend is so adamant about her work ethic that she can't actually be super present in their relationship at times like that.

but either way she still sticks by her and is constantly trying to be supportive and endearing despite feeling like she's not amounting to her gf who's basically a hero in her eyes.

i kinda just wanted to bring that up because they mean a lot to me and they don't get enough love from the fanbase, thank you for listening to my TED talk <3

[rabbitbandit05]

Headcanon:

Vox with a Famous Performer Reader

Heyyy, so this is my first time actually writing headcanons for Hazbin Hotel in general, so if its not that good thats probably why. This idea kinda sprang into my head and I really wanted to write for it without actually writing a fanfiction (though im not opposed to the idea).

On that note: Im taking requests for Hazbin Characters to strengthen my writing and really just practice. Ive gotten into the show lately. I also do other fandoms though currently just working on Hazbin. Thanks for reading!

You are a very famous Singer in hell, so I imagine that would garner a lot of attention, including Vox

He spots your talent from miles away and is immediately intrigued with you, especially if you are an upcoming singer, because he likes to be ahead of trends

He would offer you a deal with Vox tech of some sort, since he thinks your talent would go to waste with Valentino and Velvette isn't interested in you as a model, with really good benefits of course (if they have health benefits/ time off)

Definitely focuses on creating music videos of you and plastering your face on as many screens as he can to get the word out there about your music 

If you weren't spoiled before, he definitely is now gonna- best cars, best clothes, best of everything. 

Also, is sure to make every demon know that you are with him/ a vox production and a part of his employees (very prideful of this) 

I think slowly would start to gain feelings for you, however would be very unaware of these feelings and chalk it up to just thinking you are a great performer or thinking its respect

Valentino and Velette do make fun of him for how much actual effort he is putting not only into your career but into you! 

Like- he cares about your feelings and is doing way too much for someone who is just supposed to be using you for your talent for his gain. 

“Aww come on Vox, you like the little ‘estrella’. Its clear from how you treat them-” Valentino would tease  

“Yeah, your more pushy with their career than any other demon i've seen. Its clear you like them-” Velvette would back up. 

Only then does Vox begin to realize he likes you and cares about you- Like actually cares about you

Has a fear of you signing with a different agency/manager and leaving him- not because of how he benefits but because he knows others would use your talent and exploit you. 

Might do a Part 2 since its very unfinished. Okay thanks for reading!

[hetalian-veteran]

The Draw of the Hetalia Fandom (and Why You Can Never Leave)

From the perspective of a fan of (technically) twelve years or so.

Something occurred to me a while back, and I wanted to share it to get other people's thoughts. I'll try to add funny pictures and gifs to break up the wall of text so it won't be as exhausting to read.

I made a post the other day about how the Hetalia fandom always draws you back in. This was, of course, based on the joke about how you can never really leave the Hetalia fandom. A joke you can find virtually everywhere you look in fan spaces online.

But this begs the question. Why? Why can't you ever truly leave the Hetalia fandom? What is it about this fandom that consistently draws you back in?

And note that people don't talk about Hetalia itself, but rather its fandom. You could stop watching the show or reading the comics for years, but the fandom is what won't fully leave you be.

(The Hetalia fandom every time you check to see if it's dead yet).

One answer I've heard has to do with the phenomenon known as Associative Memory, where you can learn and remember the relationship between unrelated items.

For example, you watch Hetalia, a series about the countries of the world personified as anime characters. These characters have their own personalities, traits, quirks, etc. And the more you watch the show and get into the fandom, the more you start to associate these things with one another.

For instance, someone can say the word Italy, and I'll start thinking about Feliciano Vargas. Or someone could say the name Matthew Williams, and I automatically associate that with Canada. Or I could see bushy eyebrows and immediately start thinking of APH England. Heck, someone starts talking about Vikings and my thoughts almost always go to the Viking Trio of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I could go on, but you get the idea.

And there's also the fact that we live in a world full of the countries that the show has personified characters of, which would in turn likely remind you of Hetalia.

But there's something more here going on. I've thought about it for a long while, and I think I've realized one of the biggest reasons why you can't fully leave the fandom.

It's because of how versatile the characters of the series can be in fan content. Allow me to explain.

(Me preparing to explain to everyone the epiphany that came to me one dark, stormy night).

Hetalia is a series with literally no plot. Like, zero. Some episodes may impact each other, but the overall series is episodic in nature. The only episodes you'd have to watch in order would be the ones going over the miniature love story between Chibitalia and HRE. And then there's the sequence of episodes going over the Industrial Revolution in season seven, and then the sequence of episodes explaining the relationship between Czechia and Slovakia. But that's it. And the Industrial Revolution and Czechia and Slovakia episodes aired in the latter seasons, long after the fandom was already very big and well established.

The episodes are largely adaptations from the original webcomic and thus are all a bunch of skits haphazardly thrown together. So I'll reiterate what I said earlier; there is no real, canonical plot to Hetalia. There are canon events and facts about canon characters, but seeing as the show is largely skits, they aren't tied down to any real narrative.

(The Hetalia fandom whenever they're given a piece of canon they don't like).

This leaves a lot of room for headcanons. Which leads to fans sharing their headcanons online. And when headcanons get super popular, they become fanon. And when a piece of fanon gets super popular, where it finds itself getting mingled with fanart, fanfiction, and even fan theories, you'll have people who start to confuse it with actual canon. There's really a lot to be said for the wild fanon of Hetalia, but I'll get to that another day. I need to turn the focus back onto the characters themselves.

I'm just gonna put it out there. The Hetalia characters are largely one-note. This isn't to say there isn't some depth to a few of the characters, but these characters are largely the epitome of "what you see is what you get." Especially in the early days of the series. The characters all have a set of straightforward, basic character traits, with their interpersonal relationships often being displayed in a very simplistic manner.

For example, Italy is a pasta-loving coward who's a massive flirt. Germany is strict and authoritative with a no-nonsense attitude. Japan is quiet and soft-spoken, only speaking up when he feels the need. America is a bombastic dork with a hero complex. England is an arrogant stick in the mud. France is a hopeless romantic who flirts with anything that has a pulse.

(Me taking a moment to pause and push away the cringy middle school memories of me shamelessly fangirling in class).

And as I said, their relationships are typically portrayed as simplistic as well. Italy annoys Germany, but Germany doesn't want to get rid of him because he's one of his only friends. England and France hate each other. America is that hyper-extroverted friend trying to get his introverted friend, Japan, out of his shell. Switzerland and Lichtenstein have a sweet sibling dynamic. And Prussia and Austria are portrayed as old friends who like to antagonize one another.

Because of the way the characters and their interpersonal relationships are written, this also lends them open to a lot of headcanons and eventual fanon. Not to mention that most of the characters have canon, human names. So if you want to use these characters in a fanfiction, particularly one where you don't want to depict them as countries (which is most fanfics), you have names at the ready that you can use.

And because of the simple way the characters are written, you can potentially write or portray these characters however you want in fanwork without too many people complaining that someone "isn't in character." There is so much room for your own interpretations of the characters. As long as you keep some of their basic personality traits from the series intact, you can portray the characters however you want. Especially because there's no real canonical storyline to drag them down. Because of the lack of canon storyline, you don't have to worry about fanworks being canon-compliant, canon-divergent, or canon-adjacent.

(Fanfic writers when they realize canon cannot stop them from creating whatever they want).

Do you want to portray Romano as the notorious mafia boss, Lovino Vargas, in the 1930s? Go ahead. As long as you can keep some of his cowardly and stubborn nature intact, you can do what you want with little trouble.

Do you want to portray England as the infamous pirate, Arthur Kirkland, in the 17th century? As long as you maintain his disdain for France, have at it!

Do you want to write a college AU with all of the characters present? As long as you keep in mind their personalities and have a basic understanding of their interpersonal relationships, have fun!

Now you're probably sitting there thinking, "Big deal, people can create all kinds of fanwork, regardless of what its content is, or what property it's for. What makes the Hetalia fandom so special?"

It's special because, since Hetalia is a series with almost zero canonical storylines, and the characters are portrayed in such a simplistic way, both of which lend their way to boatloads of headcanons and fanon, as well as small scraps of canon information that we can choose to either ignore or elaborate like crazy on...

Hetalia is a freaking goldmine for creating all kinds of fan content.

(Hetalians when creating the 2p! variations of the characters, probably).

So much fan content is out there. From creepypastas, to Hetaoni, Dreamtalia, the 2p! characters, historically accurate AU's, school AU's, and so, so much more. All because the canon is just loose enough to allow all kinds of fan content to be created and not seem too far off from the series or characters.

And that fan content ends up being way, way more fun than the actual series itself! Don't get me wrong, I still love the show, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't (or currently don't) have a freaking blast every time I engage with fan content. The creativity is insane, and the fanon is even more fun and entertaining.

The reason you cannot fully leave the Hetalia fandom isn't just because of Associative Memory, but because of the immense amount of fan content and fanon where, because of the nature of the series, you can do, write, draw, and create whatever you want. You can project onto these characters and their stories and interpret them to your own personal tastes. And you know what? That's a heck of a lot of fun.

And there you go, that's my two cents.

[muzsmoux]

MHA headcanons bcuz the show brings me a lot of joy

If you don't agree with them or they clash with canon that's ok just scroll on, peace and love on the planet earth and whatnot.

⭐Iida is straight but is openly into BL. He's up to date on new releases, mostly pg shoujo stuff. Except for one fantasy comic that is hella explicit at some points but he is VERY passionate about the lore and characters.

⭐Bakugo has Inosuke levels of androgyny going on. He would give Shouto a run for his money in the "class 1-A's resident prettyboy" vote that was held if he 1. wasn't too scary for people to vote for him. and 2. if he stopped scowling for like two seconds.

⭐Aoyama is some flavor of nonbinary but doesn't use any labels because he HATES them. He is an ✨experience✨, a piece of art up for interpretation.

⭐Pro hero Red Riot has a line of menstrual hygiene products with cool and manly packaging because he's very popular with transmasc people and wanted to give back something helpful and validating to them.

⭐Kirishima once called Bakugo his "brofriend" and he just about had an aneurysm.

⭐ Before they got together, Kirishima wrote half the valentine's cards Bakugou recieved anonymously because he "just had so many feelings it couldn't fit just on one card!!"

⭐Bakugou is a secret romantic. He hates talking about it because it's "bad for his image" but he has a big collection of shoujo manga and internally melts whenever Kiri does something soft for him like buying flowers or holding his hand in public.

⭐Aizawa regularly gets intrusive thoughts of becoming a househusband whenever he has a particulaly annoying time. Like after his 7th parent teacher conference of the day or after a full week of falling asleep in uncomfortable beds in seedy hostels he stares at the ceiling like "Hizashi is a celebrity. He has three jobs. What am I doing here? I love him. I can't cook but I could learn 😫"

⭐Kaminari hits on Bakugo's mom every chance he gets. Bakugo's tries to blow him up, Mitsuki thinks it's fucking hilarious.

⭐Allmight has a crush on Midoriya Inko but is scared to do anything about it because A. it might upset Izuku and B. he thinks he's too old and ugly for her.

⭐You'd think Midnight would be a bad teacher based on her general sexy nature but actually she's well loved because she's the only teacher who the kids trust with advice on relationships and intimacy, especially after the dorm system set in. She has time set aside each week where she's available for anyone to pop into her office and chat about whatever they're worried about. Aizawa is endlessly thankful for this because one time Todoroki asked him what a backshot is because he heard Sero make a joke about it and he's still healing from that conversation.

⭐Since both of their quirks are food based Sato and Momo often bake together. Sato's the master decorator, Momo buys good quality ingredients and is a beast at chiffon cakes.

⭐Denki can't swim. After The Incident in primary school where he almost electrocuted a whole swimming pool of people he's been scared to try.

⭐Kirishima has two moms. His birth mom had him at like 18 and his biological father wasn't ready for that yet. Her best friend immediately stepped up to help with the baby, and that's Kiri's mama now.

Thank you for reading!! I am incredibly late to this fandom but hey I'm having fun now so. Sick.

If you liked this, you can find part 2 here :)

[leporellian]

i genuinely really think that, besides my “musicals are what you get if you make operas not autistic” theorem (another thing for another day), there is One massive thing that stands in the way of me liking (modern) musicals and it’s the relationship they have to their texts vs operas.

with an opera, it’s kind of established that part of the big game is that every production is a negotiation and not a reproduction. it’s a conversation. there is no one “canon” version of an opera and it’s the audience expectation that every production will differ somehow. this especially kicks in when we’re dealing with operas that have harmful ideas either explicitly (madama butterfly) or implicitly (die meistersinger von nurnberg) because you can turn those works into ruminations on themselves. you’re dissecting the animal but the animal is conscious and fully consenting and marvels at your work as you go.

with a musical, meanwhile, there is usually a dedicated version you are looking at and an insistence on a CANONICAL way things are Meant to be interpreted. there is One Accepted Concept and branching into reinterpretations counts as “headcanons” or another modern fan term. a musical is not seen as “sociological/anthropological record of multiple time periods” but as “Content”

musicals have two problems. 1) they don’t have the gap in time that allows for that kind of retrospective look (which is fair that’s not a them issue), and 2) they have a fandom cultivated around them and are seen as Content. they also are so “concurrent” with our time (and also very fast) that they don’t have a sense of Allowing for reinterpretation. sure, you’ll have your regional/student productions that’ll do some minor detail like a character acting slightly differently or a silent interaction included- but you aren’t going to have your deconstructed heathers that pulls apart how it’s kind of immediately fallen apart in a post-2018 world, or a lion king performed as if it was a brand new text without any regard for the details of either the original film or julie taymor’s stage treatment. god forbid you start deconstructing your musical! that’ll make the fans sad!

and until we get to the de-fandomization of musicals and acknowledge them as sociological texts and not Content(TM), we aren’t going to get there. but alas that culture is baked into musicals, especially as the shows see shorter and shorter long-term visions as the machine of broadway grows hungrier for money and so brand identity and imposition of ‘fandom culture’ grow stronger with it.

(this is also why i’m so fascinated with chess the musical, which is a musical that doesn’t work So Much that nearly every new production is some extensive revision or another (usually making it somehow more incomprehensible in the process). the idea of “musicals can be reinterpreted” is there! we’re getting there! but it’s Not Quite. and i find that Fascinating from a dramaturgical context.)

Anyway if i had my way every new musical revival would be like the daniel fish oklahoma over and over and over FOREVER!!!! YOUR BRAND IS DEAD AND BOW TO THE NEBULOUS CONCEPT OF REGIETHEATRE AS YOUR NEW KINGGGGG

[randoimago]

Aah, can I also request some letters for RK800 and RK900? M, S and Y, please!

Alphabet Headcanons

Fandom: Detroit: Become Human

Character(s): RK800 (Connor), RK900 (Nines)

Type of Request: Alphabet Headcanons

Note(s): Calling RK900 Nines just because I like that better than his model number!

M - Memory (what is their favourite memory with you?)

Connor

A favorite memory he thinks fondly of from time-to-time is when he went on a walk in the park with you. It's simple and the moment was on the casual side rather than romantic, but he noticed how relaxed and happy you looked.

The smile on your face and seeing you stress-free is kept in his memory banks. Sometimes, he finds himself smiling at the memory popping up out of nowhere.

Nines

It was after a chase with finding a deviant android, one that murdered for the sake of enjoying it than defense. Nines saw you retreat to the roof of the building and he followed you, curious as to what your intentions were. You ended up just talking, mentioning similar cases with humans. Nines added to your comments with logic and how faulty programming caused this.

Nothing romantic happened at all, but hours were spent just talking under the night sky and Nines ends up going back to that moment quite a bit, it was the first moment that he really felt that he got to see you.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Connor

I feel like Connor would be very protective over you once he's reached deviancy. He realizes his feelings and doesn't like the idea of you being hurt in any way, but he also has to stop himself from rushing to your side every time because he knows that level of protectiveness could upset you too.

Connor would prefer to not resort to violence so he tries to be charming and sly as he gets you out of any uncomfortable situations. That doesn't mean he won't punch someone for you, but he is better with his words. And as such, he's very good with giving you compliments and cheering you up in those situations too.

He usually views other's well-being over his own so having his S/O take care of him makes him happy. He does remind you that it's unnecessary to comfort him, but the smile on his face shows that he very much enjoys it.

Nines

He doesn't realize his protectiveness to his S/O. Nines sees you in danger and he ignores his programming giving him a percentage of your safety as he goes to immediately help you without a thought.

He knows he's strong and physically capable to keep you safe, but then he sees you in emotion turmoil. Nines convinces himself that he's calming you so your performance doesn't jeopardize his, but he is fast to find information and read your tells to make sure you are okay.

Nines would never ask that you protect him. He's a machine and can't feel pain. But if you defend him in conversation or even just stay by his side when he needs you (not that he'd say he needs you) then that causes some system errors that he doesn't quite know how to handle.

Y - Yearning (how do they cope when they are missing you? are they alright with being without you for an extended period of time or would they prefer to be with you every day of their life without exception?)

Connor

Definitely is a bit of a puppy when it comes to his S/O being away. He tries to not let it affect his performance, but Hank is quick to call him out on it. He ends up getting his coin out more often or trying to find ways to occupy his mind as a small timer is going on in the back of his programming for when you'll be back.

Very much would prefer you to be around him all the time, but he also knows that would be unreasonable and illogical to ask for, so he just awaits for your return.

Nines

Nothing seems to change for Nines when his S/O is gone for a while. He still performs highly and functions just fine. Nothing really seems wrong except for the fact that he acts more like a machine while you're away.

He does miss you, but he can't let it get in the way of his work. Would request that you not leave so often or not be gone for too long as he wants to make sure you're by his side and not in danger of being hurt.

[saffyspirals]

HI HI i love your writing smsmsmsm mwah ⁽˙³˙⁾ can i request blue lock characters (kaiser and literally any other characters of your choise) with a s/o who drools in their sleep? (๑ᵕ⌓ᵕ̤) if you're not comfortable or don't want to write this, it's okayyy <3

❥ fandom: blue lock

❥ includes: kaiser, isagi, chigiri, kunigami, chris, bachira, oliver, gagamaru, otoya, rin, barou

❥ warning(s): drool ? otherwise nothing!!

❥ notes: HI @heart-an0n, i’m happy you’ve been enjoying my works so far! i hope this is similar to what you had in mind :)

i. thinks it’s adorable, has pictures of you in his camera roll:

kaiser, isagi, chigiri, kunigami, bachira, chris

ii. teases you endlessly about it (affectionate)

kaiser, oliver, gagamaru, otoya

iii. thinks it’s a teeny tiny bit weird but rolls with it anyway

rin, barou

iv. teases you about drooling in your sleep, but he also drools in his sleep

gagamaru

♡︎ ♡︎ ♥︎ ♡︎

bonus! mini headcanons:

— kaiser

he finds this amusing, and for good reason.

during the day, you’re this (sometimes frustratingly) smart, cool, witty it-girl who everybody adores. so the last thing anybody, including him, would expect was for you to drool in your sleep.

it’s adorable. when you’re asleep, it’s like you’re a completely different person. a little kid who clearly loves their sleeping time! he’s got pictures of your sleepy drooly face on his phone, saved in a folder on his camera roll. 100% threatens to show them to the guys whenever you do something to him, but he’s joking!

why should anyone else other than he get to see such a wonderful sight?

— isagi

isagi finds it adorable. he finds out about it the first time you guys have a sleepover. if you’re embarrassed about him finding out, he’ll find you even cuter!

he’s also got photos of you in his camera roll, but unlike kaiser he’s happy to show it to his close friends.

“isn’t y/n just the cutest?”

— gagamaru

if you guys are having like a non-serious argument, he’ll go,

“well, i’m not the one who drools in their sleep.”

he does it every time! he’ll pinch your cheek if you start pouting about it too.

it’s usually you who falls asleep first (gagamaru purposefully stays awake until you sleep, it’s just his thing). but one time he knocks out early because he was so exhausted by the events of the day. he doesn’t start drooling immediately, but when he does, you make sure to get photographic evidence.

“well, i’m not the one who drools in their sleep.”

“we both do it, stupid!”

— bachira

he loves the fact that you drool. but hear him out first before calling him weird! (🥹)

bachira is a drooler himself, and is a firm believer that those who drool in their sleep do it because they’re so relaxed and are therefore going to wake up feeling more well rested. so, he loves that you drool because it means you’re sleeping well. that’s reason number one.

reason two: it’s yet another thing you have in common! bachira loves finding things that you have in common with each other, it makes him feel closer to you. he takes pride in liking what you like, and knowing that you like what he likes. it’s honestly just another thing on bachira’s long list of things that he loves about you!

[andromedathelovely]

hiii i saw ur list and before requesting i just wanted to tell u we have so many fandoms in common slay!!!

okay now abt requesting: may i ask hcs of sanji with a balkan s/o please?

character headcanons PT. 1☽｡⋆

sanji x balkan!reader headcanons

rating: any!

warnings: n/a

A/N: hiii!!!! omg yayyy!! (that means we have the best taste) also thank-you for requesting, i was so excited to research Balkan traditions and culture and I hope I did them justice! I tried to be vague when picking a specific country to research, i took inspiration for the readers 'hometown' more from the countries that bordered the sea (Croatia, Bulgaria, and Albania!) I also took a bit of Greek influence, since through my research of the Balkan Peninsula, Greece sometimes was included (but also sometimes not lol). I also wanted it to be more 'Mediterranean'/Beach-y since i think that it would fit very well in the One Piece world. this is more of a before the reader and sanji get together headcanon list, but I can make another post with more headcanons too! i focused a lot on the food side of Balkan Culture since... its Sanji. i also tried to cite my sources, a big sorry to Henry Cavill since i used wikipedia so very much. but please enjoy, anon!!

100% fell in love with you at first sight

like, immediately after meeting you he started following you around your small coastal village like a lost puppy dog

i personally think at first he would just stare at you, not in a creepy way, but an in-awe sort of way

then he would shamelessly flirt with you, (AKA a little bit of 'something sweet for someone sweet')

for sure making the rest of his crew groan in annoyance, and roll their eyes

i'd imagine the reason he and his crew were in your hometown in the first place, was to anchor down and collect more rations and materials for the trip to the Grand Line

eventually, after a week or so of being in your village, Luffy would invite you to join his crew

and since you've always wanted to travel the world, you said yes but maybe it was also because of a certain blonde-haired cook?

i'd imagine Sanji would always be looking out for you once you all set sail, always making sure you are safe and whatnot aboard the Going Merry

days would be hot, and nights would seem like forever, but sanji's flirty nature and the other's hilarious chemistry would entertain you

you would spend hours conversing with sanji, sitting along barrels on the deck, watching the dark waves crash along the side of the Going Merry, the moon reflecting upon the waters dark navy sheen

he's a smoker (hot oml) so he would probably pull out a smoke every once in a while, but if you didn't like the smell, he would immediately put it out, frantically exclaiming his many apologies

sanji would definitely notice how much you missed your home and would try to cook some of your favorites

with only some rations (but enough) he would make you a plentiful amount of Balkan snacks, meals, and desserts

he would absolutely make the best tarator soup for hot days onboard, or dolmas made of squash, tomatoes, or cabbage (anything that would stay preserved below deck) ((yumm omg))

(also omg stuffed peppers, i know realistically they wouldn't have fresh meat on board but guys, i love stuffed peppers and him making stuffed peppers would make him so much more attractive to me)

i think he would definitely promise to make more of your favorite foods, once you returned to land

after a while of knowing each other, i think he would confess his feelings to you first, probably tired of being constantly dismissed as you would think he was jokingly flirting with you

(i know it took a long time for a confession, but who doesn't love a bit of banter and a chase)

things would probably be pretty much the same as before, but now he would definitely be more protective and want to spend most of his time with you

after battles with rival pirates, he would instantly be by your side

"are you alright, my love?"

"yes, i'm okay."

"are you sure? 100% sure??"

he would be a very very worried lover

sorry, i totally made this food-centered, and not exactly sanji centered lolll. I'm hungry now, Balkan foods look divine! xoxo <3

[mwolf0epsilon]

Sometimes being in the SW Fandom is about diving into the annals of the internet researching the most obscure tidbit of batshit insane Canon or EU Lore imaginable to man (which is honestly my favorite thing to do because people have done some pretty insanely funny things with this universe and characters). But for the majority of the time, being in the SW Fandom is also watching people repeat a cycle of asinine arguments that make an absolute ass out of them for the worst possible reasons.

So here's a quick reminder of past arguments to be mindful of and always consider, when you see something in the tags that makes you wrinkle your nose at:

Everyone has something they like or dislike about the overall universe and story. Be it the Original Trilogy, the Prequels, the Sequels, the Animated series, the Live-Action series, EU stuff, Novels, etc. No one is above or below anyone else just because they don't love the entirety of the universe and/or the direction the current writers are taking it.

Canon can be a good baseline for your own creative purposes. You don't have to love it (because yes the whole thing can be inconsistent as hell), but don't get to a point in your fanfic/AU world-building where you vehemently deny that canon is an actual thing. This goes hand in hand with your personal depiction of characters vs someone else's depictions. Reading comprehension and the creative process depend on perspective and how you process the information you're given, so it's only normal that no two person's idea of a character is the same. But saying that your headcanons are how the characters should be written by everyone is not gonna do you any favors in the long run, because it's not up to you to decide on that. Don't forget Blorbo's actual roots and what it took to get him where you took him, but don't try to force someone else to accept the journey you orchestrated for them!

No one's OC should be put on a pedestal. It's good that people feel comfortable enough to play Barbies with each other's OCs in roleplay sessions, or even add a cameo in a fic to a character of a friend and/or artist/writer they admire from a distance. Hell, the fact many people are passionate about someone else's little fella/s is great! But the moment someone's OC becomes an object of obsession within a Fandom community, things can go a little wrong... It stops being fun to be in that kind of space that goes from welcoming OC discussions to suddenly shunning new people in favor of someone's Ultimate Blorbo who now has a Cult Following and should be written into every fanfic ever.

No one is evil for lacking knowledge or self-awareness of certain grievances that people rightfully have with the source material. The SW Fandom has always had a long-standing issue with racial stereotyping, whitewashing, cultural appropriation, sexism and many other equally serious topics that have been more eloquently explained in posts made by people much more eloquent and qualified than I am or ever will be. However, one must recognize that not everyone who joins the Fandom is immediately aware of these things. Especially the younger generations that have either not been exposed to these concepts due to one reason or another (upbringing, biased educational curriculum, etc), or because they were simply never in a position where they could delve into these topics with someone knowledgeable on them (some experiences simply aren't universal, especially if you come from a more privileged family). For the most part, SW is just a silly sci-fi universe that is nothing more than a simple means of escapism or dumb fun. Not everyone is going to study it under a microscope or go through it with a fine comb. That said, another important thing to remember is to listen to those who know their stuff and that have had personal grievances with any of the topics above. You can be excused for lack of knowledge, but you cannot be excused for purposefully ignoring the voices of those who provide you said knowledge for free if you go searching.

This is kinda returning to the second and previous topics, but I really need to put emphasis on this: If you're going to cling to certain design choices with an iron first and incorporate them into your personal ideas/headcanons, please always consider how it SOUNDS when you say characters that are written with basis on real POC people/communities are much better/superior if they have phenotypical trait expressions that are not present (or considered rare/atypical) in their real world basis. This is a CONSISTENT problem I have seen crop up specifically within the Clone Wars and Bad Batch sides of the fandom, especially when talking about Rex (who is a blond) and Clone Force 99 (who do not look like standard clones). Always remember: The problem isn't that Rex can't be naturally blond (genetics can be unpredictable and we really don't have an extensive look into the cloning process), the problem is the way some people think he'd be inferior in some way if he were a bottle blond who chose to distinguish himself (almost as if having darker skin, darker hair and darker eyes is somehow worse than having lighter skin, lighter hair or lighter eyes.. How curious isn't it?). Needless to say, I don't think I need to elaborate further on why CF99's "desirable mutations" giving them considerably lighter skin and less ethnic features, while also making their most POC presenting member look and sometimes act like a moronic brute (something which this Fandom pushes further by infantilizing him relentlessly), is a bit of a red flag...

Star Wars has always been political. It is literally in the name and in the meat of the writing. The entire thing is basically a political and social critique presented in a sci-fi/fantasy wrapper, with colorful plasma swords, cool spaceships, and kickass explosion bow on top. You cannot separate the political conversation from the universe's overall lore, and trying to do so makes you look foolish. Disney may have taken creative liberties with some of its shows, but at the end of the day they can't ever eliminate what the Original Trilogies and even the Prequels tried to tell us about. With that said, complaining about how some of the new shows are "too Woke" or PC is the equivalent of saying you read Romeo and Juliet and that the story is relationship goals. You might need to revisit the original material.

For the love of god if you don't like something, don't go after someone who does, it's not worth it. Sometimes the best thing you can do is either filter something you actively dislike/that makes you feel uncomfortable, or simply unfollow/block whoever is repeatedly bringing it onto your doorstep. And you also have no real obligation to explain your decision to block someone, especially if they hound you for questions. Rule of thumb: Don't like something? That's perfectly fine and valid. Take the steps to make yourself comfortable then, but don't go out of your way to be a royal asshole to someone else just because they themselves enjoy it. This encompasses things from anti-jedi demonization, actual ethnic cleansing in canon, siding with personifications of alt-right extremists, proshipping apologism, etc. The block button was added to this hellsite for a reason. Use it.

Sometimes you can't change someone else's opinions on a matter and that is perfectly fine. Just don't start a feud. People come and go, and their opinions vary (we're all individuals with out own perspectives and unique experiences after all), but getting up in arms every time someone either refuses to yield in a long-winded argument, or continuously tries to shove their unsolicited opinions/advice onto you, or even makes incredibly uncomfortable/forward/gross comments that they definitely shouldn't be saying to a complete stranger on the internet, is kind of pointless and will drain you of energy faster than you can say Death Star. You're not the lesser person for walking away from a lost cause. It's ultimately not your job or responsibility to fix/better someone else. Especially if they don't want to change.

[sleepingdeath-light]

friendly competition hcs ; poly julie & wally

requested by ; anonymous (11/05/23)

fandom(s) ; welcome home

fandom masterlist(s) ; here

character(s) ; julie joyful, wally darling

outline ; “Headcanons of Julie and Wally secretly battling for reader’s attention?

Reader is in a poly relationship with both but Julie and Wally are competing to win the title of favorite s/o out of the two (even though reader loves them both so much).

Nothing too violent, they all love each other but these two goobers do silly things to try and be the favorite because they just love s/o so much 🙏”

warning(s) ; silly rivalry between lovers, fluff

your relationship with your partners was, in a word, blissful — filled with endless compassion and frequent sleepovers and nights spent staring up at the stars and talking about anything and everything under the sun

you all loved each other dearly and equally, but that didn’t mean that your boyfriend and girlfriend didn’t get competitive at times

they engage in silly rivalries and meaningless competitions to get your attention and it seems like every week opens with a new strange scheme to gain your favour

it’s peculiar, but definitely flattering

like you could all be cuddled up in bed — wally lounging on his back with one arm around your waist and julie resting her head on your chest whilst tracing patters on your stomach — and they’ll find something the quietly bicker about

it can start off with wally saying something like ‘you’re prettier than any painting, (name)’

and then julie will one-up him by saying something like ‘you’re more beautiful than the night sky’

and they go back and forth exchanging compliments for you whilst glaring across your body at each other — catching you very thoroughly in the crossfire whilst they compare you to everything from the constellations to the paintings of old masters to the natural awe of an untouched desert oasis

another example was when you were over at julie’s house doing some baking and you’d mentioned your favourite baked good to them offhandedly

they shared a look and immediately set to trying to make the best version of that baked good whilst trying to sabotage each other — leaving you to potter around with your own plan whilst they went to war

the great neighbourhood bake-off — which ended with them both caked in flower, with icing in julie’s hair and wally’s trousers splotched with jam

it was a mess but their dishes were delicious so really there was no way for you to lose in that particular battle

they bicker over breakfasts in bed and compete over who can spoil you the most on your birthday — who can get the best gifts, who can wrap those gifts the best, who made the best food, etc.

anyone who gets in the way is sure to end up terribly confused

but despite it all, it’s still abundantly clear how much you all love each other

julie will still always greet wally with a tight hug and a kiss, wally will always share his favourite things with her, and you’ll always make time for your weekly dates

and you and wally will always have a soft spot for your adorable, brightly coloured girlfriend and will let her decorate you to her heart’s content — even if the new hairdo doesn’t necessarily suit you

just because they scramble over each other over who gets to be the first one to kiss you or the last one to say ‘i love you’ each night, doesn’t mean that they love each other any less

because they adore each other, they just happen to both adore you and adore being competitive over trivial things at the same time

and the title of ‘favourite spouse’ is just too dang appealing to pass up

(even if you always insist that you’ll love them both equally no matter what; they already own your heart and you can’t have more than 100%)

[stardustbuck]

toxic bwddie shippers are going to read into everything. you can’t stop it from happening. i think part of the issue is that journalists immediately started talking bwddie when bi buck came to be because it would get clicks and they knew just how popular it was. i don’t fault any of the actors for feeding into a little, they obviously thought it was fun and lighthearted to talk about, these people are not ingrained into fandom culture the way a lot of us are. what you find to be “hints” is simply an actor expressing they’d be open to a storyline if it were to be brought up. that they understand why people ship it, that the content is there and they see why people read certain scenes as romantic. sometimes two actors having great chemistry on screen is both a blessing and a curse.

tim minear is writing bisexual buck the way he wants to, not to appease a certain subset of fans. perhaps he fiddled with the idea years ago, but what we have now is bisexual buck with tommy kinard as his boyfriend. the idea of eddie and tommy was simply that, an idea, that ryan seemingly didn’t want to do because perhaps it felt wrong to him for eddie’s character. headcanoning eddie as gay or demi or anything is fine, writing him as queer is fine, but so far all i’ve heard from ryan is that he considers eddie to be a heterosexual man with an deep, meaningful friendship with a queer man and that means a lot to him considering how he feels male friendship should be.

of course buck and eddie are going to share copious amounts of screentime together. they’ve damn nearly been attached at the hip since s2 and bffs for liferz, buck and eddies friendship is important, buck is essentially christophers godfather/uncle, not his father. buck’s arc of the season was in the beginning, so we don’t focus as much on him as tommy because again, their storyline for the season was over, but tommy was brought back even just for 60 seconds to show that their relationship is still going strong, with what little time the crew had to work with this season, i think many people can agree they did a good job introducing this relationship and by the end getting people excited for season 8 to see their relationship grow and struggle with the reintroduction of captain gerrard.

but it’s clear no matter what, there is going to be people who are reading into every single thing and claiming it’s bwddie hints and well, maybe you’re right but atp im highly doubting it’s happening. especially with the way people are acting.

you’ll continue to hate tommy, you’ll continue to complain, you’ll continue to grasp at straws for how “this is how bwddie with happen still!” by the end of s8 when buck and tommy are most likely still together.

i can only hope people will come around and start to realize how amazing it is we even have bisexual buck at all and that bucktommy isn’t the evil ship you think it is now.

[noctvrnal9999]

Got a private message asking me to comment on the whole Neil stream thing so I guess here goes. Excuse my thoughts, they are never coherent.

What I liked about the stream is not what Neil said, but what he didn't say. I'm not big on watching streams, his or anyone's, but I watched some and I noticed Neil is very very careful when discussing Astarion. If anyone is aware how deranged the fandom can get - it's definitely him. I saw him dance around the topic multiple times either in streams or in clips I've seen all over the internet. I highly respect him for that because unlike someone (cough cough) he's not telling people what to think or what narrative they should take for any reason. A true professional unlike someone (cough cough).

So while he addressed operatic vs theatrical and there's no arguing that he delivered it wonderfully, what we really have is Larian saying "yeah, AA is still same Astarion, just with his most awful traits amplified" and then we have Neil saying "oh yeah, the mask is off". And that's... extremely important. I said this in tags before - what Neil doesn't say, to me, is important as well. He doesn't tell that Spawn is maskless just as AA, he just... skips over it, emphasizing that AA is the complete mask-off version of Astarion. I'm not going to cling to this because this is just something I immediately noticed and might not have been intentional on Neil's part, but... I don't know, I personally think it was done for a reason.

Anyway.

But this is what I've been saying too. Astarion is a bad person from the very beginning. I got people insult me over this take, I got told I'm a horrible garbage person for this take. But I stand by it. And even without personal interpretation you have proof of that within the game. You have a very good-aligned character (Karlach) and Astarion is at the opposite end of that spectrum. Every other companion (sans Minthara) fall somewhere between the two.

What Ascension allows Astarion is not only to live his life fear-free - it allows him to be himself. As Spawn he's constantly acting. To either get protection or simply not to turn into a mind-flayer. And Tav can take the route of trying to convince him to be better and he starts aligning his views to Tav along the road but he's still the same person. Just going to say this - nobody changes this drastically in just couple of months without pretending (which is presumed timeline for entire BG3). And people don't immediately get all better from major mental trauma in 6 months only (just sayin').

Point I'm trying to get at is this - to me Neil confirmed what I have been saying all along - Spawn is coping and still lying. Because he has no choice but to adapt. Maybe he's not lashing out or yelling, but seeing the epilogue he came off to me as grieving for things he will never have.

And then we have Ascended - a fully unleashed Astarion, who's confident and not apologetic for being himself.

That is true Astarion.

Astarion who isn't guilt-tripped or chastised into needing to change, Astarion who does not need to listen to people telling him how he's awful, Astarion who can do as he pleases without needing to explain himself to either his master or houlier-than-thou Tav.

Astarion who he was always meant to be.

Because he's a vampire. There's a reason why vampires in every single media piece are portrayed as evil. As a Spawn he's evil, as a Vampire Lord he's just doing what vampires do best - gain power and exploit that power for his own benefit. He's not just some cute boytoy with fangs, he's a vampire and he will never not be a vampire in BG3 (you can headcanon whatever you want in what happens after but that's not relevant here).

Ascended Astarion is true Astarion not because it's one of the routes we can take and headcanon that way, but because he's a vampire, and as Vampire Lord he's his own man at last, not needing to rely on anyone or to be defended by anyone. He has power now, to be whoever he wants and be true to himself while he does it. Without the fear of judgement, without the fear of being discarded if he's "too much" or not "good enough".

And with Tav at his side - he has everything he ever wanted: vampiric power that has never been witnessed before and a beloved who vowed themselves to be by his side forever, giving him ultimate assurance that there's someone there for him and will be there for eternity.

[nanaosaki3940]

Some Keisuke Baji Facts (Not headcanons)...

I got into the Tokyo Revengers fandom right after watching the 1st season of the anime and from there I started reading the manga until I got caught up with it. Now, I'm up-to-date with everything related to Tokrev, even the spin-off manga as well...

Now, I have an issue with how people interpret Baji's character and how they portray him in fanfics or headcanon posts. I know you can have your own headcanons, but there's also a thing called facts or being canonically accurate. Most people interpret Baji as:

Keisuke Baji is an idiot, a literal moron.

Keisuke Baji is reckless, restless, always causing havoc, always seeking fun and adventure; in short, an energetic thrill seeker/troublemaker.

Well, that's far from what people think about Baji...

Baji's NOT an idiot

You can't call Baji an idiot just because he isn't academically smart or doesn't get passing grades in school. Sure, he's stupid when it comes to his studies, but other than that, he's really smart and highly intellectual in every other aspect. Moreover, Chifuyu's the one who's a moron here. In many fanfics and headcanon posts, I saw people writing about how dumb Baji is and how smart Chifuyu is and then talking about how Chifuyu guides/helps Baji to understand things or solve problems. And I'm like huh?!?! Have you not read the spin-off manga yet??? (Btw, the spin-off manga is CANON since it's been made under Ken Wakui sensei's supervision and he's heavily involved with the project...)

The whole manga is about what a big dumbass Chifuyu is and how smart, intellectual, and level-headed Baji is. Heck, Chifuyu's so stupid that this is what Baji has to say about him -

So, yeah...

CHIFUYU is the moron here, NOT Baji.

Also...

Baji's NOT an adrenaline junkie

I'm not gonna share pictures for that as proof. Instead, I'll just add the links to the sites where you can read the spin-off manga. I'll say it again - Baji's NOT some reckless, restless dude who loves causing havoc/chaos any time and every time he feels like it (unlike Hanma, Smiley, or anyone batshit crazy we know from this series). Throughout the story, Baji is shown to be quite mature and sensible as a person and also as a leader. He's more responsible, wiser, and more rational than everyone around him. Sure he gets very energetic and excited when fighting other delinquents, but other than that, he's just a simple guy going on with his everyday life. I understand why people think of him like that since this is literally what wiki tells us -

But he's more than just that...

Instead in the spin-off, Baji is portrayed as a calm, collected, and composed individual in each and every scene he appears, while Chifuyu and Ryusei are the ones shown to be more chaotic in nature who love getting into trouble at every opportunity they get. Also, Baji doesn't speak too much and always observes things around him quietly from the sideline, meaning unlike others, he's pretty observant. He's never once shown to be causing problems for others, but rather, he's the one solving the issues that others cause around him, meaning he's a dependable and attentive person (just like Draken). Not only is he calm and composed, but he also immediately figures out any situation in front of him and then confidently gives orders to the others; just reading the spin-off manga will make you realize how effective Baji is as a leader/1st division captain. And, in that episode (season 1, episode 14) where Mikey tells Takemichi that Baji punches people for no apparent reason, yeah, there's actually a reason why Baji does that and such a thing happened only ONCE in his lifetime (Go read chapter 9 of the spin-off manga and you'll also understand why Baji did that). Also, this is Mikey we're talking about; do you really think he'll give us the correct info? He just dropped that info without any context, and no wonder why Takemichi went like "WTF?" after hearing that about Baji... Anyway, Baji's more like Draken in a way, so to speak, and that's why he and Draken get along really well.

No wonder Baji's spending his birthday afternoon with Draken instead of spending it with Mikey or Chifuyu...

So, in short, Baji is:

Not some rowdy, adrenaline junkie like Hanma or Smiley.

An attentive, compassionate, and dependable leader.

Confident while giving out his orders.

A calm, composed, and observant individual.

Very smart and highly intellectual.

Cautious and doesn't cause trouble to others.

Actually one of the most mature ones in the group besides Draken and Mitsuya.

Baji loves fun and adventure from time to time, sure, but he's NOT an idiotic troublemaker.

Links to the spin-off manga -