#of course I am once again thinking this with my otp in mind

[bluetraverser]

I kinda want to write a story where two guys crushing on another get peer-pressured into arm-wrestling and it’s super awkward and they get really flustered but aren’t supposed to show it cause hetero-normative jock-enviornment...

[velvet-vox]

My Top 10 Favourite Male Villains of all time.

"How arrogant of you to think that any of us are anything but irrelevant". -John Greer, Person of Interest (2011-2016).

There comes a moment in a blog's life where some things are just long overdue, and while the argument could be made that this happened way too early, I'd say that as long as this helps me to find my groove, I am free to experiment as much as I want.

So..... Villains.

Gotta love them. As long as I do not meet them in real life. This post is in particular about male villains since I have one dedicated to their female counterparts in the pipeline so expect that to come soon enough and for this part to be rewritten. By the way, "villain" is a generalisation, I can totally put antivillains, antagonists or more general antiheroes in this list; your definition of "Bad Guy" can vary greatly and so can mine, someone like Walter White from Breaking Bad could have made it in here. My taste is very unusual, so prepare yourself for some unexpected picks.

Also, since these are meant to be some big celebratory posts, for the occasion I'll reveal my Italian heritage and translate every line of dialogue in Italian and publish it separately with a link, so that English readers who are learning Italian can exercise.

But first, some honourable mentions:

Oropo (Wakfu): Once you see the number 2 spot for both this list and the female villains list you might notice that I tend to gravitate towards characters with wasted potential more often than not, but while we're just talking about this guy, I cannot stress enough the amount of unceremonious mishandling that lies within his concepts and execution. Really needed two seasons of 25 episodes each to explore it to their maximum.

Tai Lung (Kung Fu Panda): I love him, but not as much as others, it's a matter of personal preference. He's an amazing antagonist, so even if he is just an honourable mention, I wouldn't call him a lesser villain by any stretch of the imagination; I once felt like he was too sympathetic for his movie's sake, but looking back at it again, he's actually moderately evil for a lot of reasons, even if Shifu is the main one.

Bill Chyper (Gravity Falls): It's been way too long since I watched Gravity Falls, I really can't give you an accurate opinion on this guy anymore.

Flintheart Glomgold (DuckTales 2017): That season 2 episode. If you know what I'm talking about, you KNOW. Also the music for that whole sequence was a banger, really driving home the deranged nature of that twist reveal.

Big Jack Horner (Puss in Boots The Last Wish): I feel like when people praise Jack for being a breath of fresh air in a stale environment, they often forget just how good of a villain he was in his own right without the larger industry wide void of truly devious antagonists that act out of pure malice.

The Wolf (Puss in Boots The Last Wish): Two villain entries from one movie? Of course it was gonna be The Last Wish, what else could it be? Honestly I don't even wanna talk about this guy, you need to experience the movie for yourself.

Rob (The Amazing World of Gumball): Everything I have to say about this guy gets talked about much better by the number 6 Spot on this list, but as it stands Rob was my first villain OTP and the guy who opened the box of Pandora for me on what an antagonist could and should be, since then my perception of villainy only widened and now I enjoy their role in a story in much different way.

And now, with that out of the way, let's finally start with the ranking of my personal favourite male villains of all time.

Major spoilers down below:

Number 10: Silco (Arcane)

This guy is the reason that brought me to specify who or what counted for this list as trying to simplify Silco into one specific group of characters is a challenge that can only end in a misunderstanding of what makes Silco such a complex and fascinating character with an amazing character arc, that ends with him not being redeemed, mind you, but allows the audience to grieve in such a way that would make a side character death jealous.

When writing an antagonistic character, Silco is my goal and high standard, and just for that he deserves all of my respect and endless praise.

Now, admittedly, Silco's arc takes a while to kick in, but it works out to his advantage by the end of it since you don't realise just how much you've grown to care for him until he's dead and you're left with the surprise.

10 out 10, the nation of Zaun would have been much better (worse) with him than with Vander.

Number 9: The Riddler (DC)

The Riddler is literally my ride or die villain, when I'm in the mood for him, he's literally my favourite antagonist ever; when I am not in the mood for him, I completely forget about his existence.

When compared to many other entries on this list, Riddler is definitely more on the pop culture side of antagonism, and when you've been around for almost a century, you tend to have many different versions of the same character written by different writers, so I wanted to highlight here my favourite versions of him:

Arkham Games: He's hilarious. He's not my ideal Riddler, but whenever he comes on screen, his whiny rat's ass voice stimulates my pheromones.

Batman The Animated Series: I've heard somewhere that this version of him is disappointing, and to that I'll say... yeah, but only when he wasn't on screen, because otherwise, he kind of slayed.

Matt Reeves The Batman: This is the version that rekindled my love for him after so long. Out of every interpretation of The Riddler throughout the years, this is the one version that treated Edward more as a character rather than an obstacle for Batman to overcome, and for that I'll be eternally grateful.

LEGO Batman The Videogame: My very first introduction to The Riddler and the Batman universe as a whole, this version has a permanent place in my heart , I love how much information and emotion you can get out of him by just looking at his mannerisms and quirks alone; unironically, being silent helps him reach that quote on quote idealised version of Riddler that I was talking about earlier.

Number 8: The Snatcher (A Hat In Time)

There are many things that can carry on a villain in a story, their evolution, stage presence, complexity, thematic contrast to their counterpart, and so on and so forth. While an antagonist can check off many of these boxes simultaneously (like the one pictured), there's one box that is almost impossible to truly nail perfectly: comedy.

You see, comedy is subjective, and when your main antagonist is also the funniest part of a given story, it becomes hard to also match a sense of gravity and menace that allows them to also be an imposing threat, even harder is to give said antagonist depth and a tragic backstory.

But somehow, out of nowhere, The Snatcher from A Hat In Time manages to simultaneously be the funniest character in his section of the game, carrie said energy throughout the whole experience even down to the DLC, simultaneously strikes the balance between being scary, wholesome, sympathetic and tragic, exude an insane amount of charisma, all while having a deeply disturbing backstory that touches on some heavy themes and re contextualises his actions into something more complicated and out of a broken man, everything I just said + he's the biggest bastard in his videogame and never repents nor does he have his actions called out.

Snatcher really has all the right cards that make a stationary character work and uses them to his maximum potential, and it works because his character arc throughout the game is more about becoming affectionate to Hat Kid than it is about redeeming himself.

Lastly, his voice actor, Luke Sizemore, aka Yungtown, really sells the performance of this devious soul eating worm and burns his catchphrases into your brain for the rest of eternity, much like his boss theme,

Your Contract Has Expired

A song that switches around being scary, epic, energetic and desperate in a short, yet perfectly paced amount of time. You need to listen to it regardless of if you've played the game or not.

Fool.

Number 7: Judge Claude Frollo (Hunchback of Notre Dame)

You can never say no to a classic.

There's nothing that I could say that hasn't already been said by thousands of videos on YouTube, but I'll try anyway: you see, Frollo is the reason why we need a new term to identify certain villains that aren't "sympathetic" but still make you feel some sort of human emotion and a form of "I wish someone could give you the care you need to fix your life", I guess the term empathetic exists, but when do you really see it used?

Now, don't get me wrong, Frollo is absolutely not sympathetic in the slightest, he wants to r##e a Romani woman that's way younger than him, but you can still feel that he's very troubled about it in the Hellfire scene and has definitely a lot of unidentified issues and internalised bigotry that could be worked through, even if it's too late to work through them right now.

In general, I feel like people forget that the main reason why past Disney villains worked had to do more with their human traits juxtaposed to their malice rather than just their plain wickedness, otherwise the Horned King from the Black Cauldron would be top of the Disney villains league and that couldn't be further from the truth.

We should really strive towards writing more villains like Frollo, less omnipotent beings that end up falling flat because they don't have much thematic relevance aside from being a threat (Bill Chyper works because he represents Ego and he's used sparingly) and more average vicious individuals who use their power and influence to get what they want.

All in all, if you've seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame, then you know why this guy is here, but just to cite a couple of repeated points, the Hellfire scene is perfect. It's immaculate. It's unreproducible; there will never be another scene like this coming out of the House of Mouse or animation ever again, the excessive amount of stars and elements that came together to create this gothic classic is so vast that it's literally a miracle.

Frollo is truly the personification of the dark, twisted side of humanity peaking through the door and into your mind, from which he shall never escape as his performance still remains perfect to this very day.

Number 6: The Spot (Spider-man across the Spiderverse)

"You've hit me with a bagel!" It's still the greatest villain origin story of all time. There's truly something maniacal about this reveal, like the entire universe was shattered and reality was shocked at the mere realization that while Miles was having his coming of age moment back in the first film, this guy was having his normal life completely and utterly shattered by a combination of both our heroes stepping up to do the right thing and our doofus lack of foresight and self reflection; all of this stuff is hilarious and completely made up for the film but good god they did such an amazing job tying all the elements together in an unexpected way that makes sense and parallels the journey that our protagonist faced in the first movie.

Like with Rob from The Amazing World of Gumball, and a little bit like number 2 on this list, I just really enjoy the concept of turning background characters who had no relevance whatsoever into the big bad of the story who's been there all along and the heroes (and the audience) just couldn't notice.

With The Spot in particular, there's that sense of satisfaction of turning the wasted potential of a villain who has been underestimated for literal decades and treated as a "villain of the week" (God do I love the meta narrative of this movie) into an actual competent, well written antagonist that is aware of his reputation and strives towards bettering himself and his powers.

He's also the funniest character of his movie too and the voice acting of Jason Schwartzman only accentuates his mannerisms and pettyness.

He also has the coolest usage of portals I have ever seen and his whole "There's a hole inside all of us" metaphor is simultaneously hilarious and very deep personal information that can only be understood if you put yourself into his shoes.

I can't wait for Beyond the Spiderverse to come out and see how his arc resolves, more importantly, I wonder if he's going to rank higher in the future.

Number 5: Lord Shen (Kung Fu Panda)

"Happiness must be taken. And I'll take mine"

.....

What a character.

What a movie.

You cause so much pain and suffering, because you don't understand the people around you, and then those people banish you, and you can't understand why, so you start to believe that they hated you.

They never loved you, so you keep causing pain and suffering but it's not that easy anymore; the guilt starts to resurface, all those bodies keep piling up, but you can't stop because then it would have all been for nothing; so you keep chasing those dreams of grandeur because that's all you have left; the emptiness in your heart can no longer be filled by love, so you try to fill it with something else.

You try to fill it with power. You try to fill it with glory. You try to take everything else for yourself so that you can fill that cup, but it doesn't work, because that cup has no bottom.

And so you're left... with yourself.

And the damage you've done. But now it's different; you've failed. You are left with nothing. Nothing.

And so you outrage, for the last time... And then it all ends. Forever. And you've finally come to accept this, after all....... Who could ever love you?

Number 4: Spamton G Spamton (Deltarune)

You know, in retrospect, it's kind of insane what Toby Fox managed to achieve when creating Spamton.

Not only because Spamton feels like the most insane combination of ideas ever conceived, but also because Toby Fox created such a complex character with such a complicated language and personality and then not only shafted it all aside for the players to go out of their way to interact, but also made all of this in what are officially 2 or 3 cutscenes at most (4 if you consider his shop encounter as one) and only one of them being truly mandatory.

You spend so little time with Spamton, and most of that time is spent fighting him, and yet by the end of it you've become enlightened by the knowledge of him, that after a while... you forget how scary it all was.

All the memes comparing Spamton with Turbo are 100% correct and justified, Spamton truly is Turbo but better; you go through an insane rollercoaster of emotions with this character that you are left absolutely dumbfounded when it all comes to a stop and you go back to play the rest of chapter 2 normally.

His insane mannerisms and mood swings are pretty funny at first, but once you peel back the layers a bit they reveal a pretty realistic and sad portrayal of mental illness, mania and hysteria coupled with an unhealthy amount of social distancing, loneliness, and abandonment issues, that reinforce into your brain the idea of someone lacking proper healthcare and needing to be locked away from society for their (society) own good, simulating the vicious cycle that Spamton lives by: nobody wants to help him but he's still expected to act like a regular individual despite the amount of hardships he's facing and the lack of a support system keeping him from falling back into his bad habits.

I'll admit, I've considered putting Spamton in place of the Number 3 spot on this list; but then I've realised that on an objective level, the next entry totally deserves to be ranked above Spamton; plus, with at least 5 more chapters of Deltarune on our way, whose to say that one of the next gremlins won't be able to dethrone even the number 1 spot?

Drumroll for our top 3:

Nox, the Watchmaker (Wakfu)

There will never be another experience in my life as cathartic as watching the first season of Wakfu for the first time ever again.

On a later rewatch, the initial problems that you've noticed throughout the first half of the season and a little bit in the second half become too apparent to ignore, but the first time everything that goes from the ball tournament to the finale is one of the best paced arcs of television, and everything that happens when the team reaches the Sadida kingdom is just peak Wakfu.

And the king, the culprit, the crown jewel of properly paced stories and arcs is no other than the sad clockwork dilf himself: Noximilliem Coxen the Watchmaker.

Arguably, the greatest sympathetic villain of all time. There has never been another case of a character who has committed such vile, unspeakable crimes, and yet still managed to make me root for them while simultaneously not putting down the heroes.

And let's not be mistaken here, Nox is pretty evil:

Aside from the generic murder, Nox also defiled and stitched together the corpses of multiple victims and turned them into his obedient puppets in order to commit even more murder and genocide in order to achieve his goals.

Also, this is one of the funniest crimes Nox has committed: he abused his dog. It's really not that hilarious nor is it that important in the context of the show, but if you look back at it from an outside perspective then it's really like: Oh yeah. That happened too. Lol.

One of the best parts of his entire arc is his defeat. The "20 minutes" scene deserves a "One Villainous Scene" coverage video to forever immortalise it amongst the greatest. Everything from the music, the subversiveness, the cinematography, the voice acting and just the general art direction of it is worthy of an Eminem award at the Oscars, there's genuinely nothing wrong with this scene, it's truly immaculate.

Words alone cannot do justice to the treacherous, gut wrenching emotional rollercoaster that is experiencing his story for the first time. An hour long video essay would only serve to cover the basics and fundamentals, while for the real deal you need to watch the first season of Wakfu for yourself.

Number 2:

Bradford Buzzard (DuckTales 2017)

And now it's the perfect time to pull out my final wild card, the hole of the sink of my autism, the masterpiece of wasted potential that is Bradford Buzzard from the DuckTales remake of 2017.

When you'll also see the number 2 spot on my villainesses list, you'll come to realise that this spot is more of the "I really wish I could put this at number one but I can't because objectively he doesn't deserve it and the majority of things I love about him in canon were probably an afterthought and in fanon were never plausible to begin with."

And that's how I feel about Bradford Buzzard, an antagonist I spent more time thinking about than probably anybody else on the Earth.

The show runners were so genius for this: we are going to create an original character that will probably struggle to maintain a foot print on the franchise due to the way the Duck verse works, we'll give him an insanely cool backstory and motivation, all coupled with interesting character traits and ideology, we'll make him the ultimate foil to Scrooge McDuck that has been working with him for literal decades, we'll make him the one who has got the closest to isolating Scrooge and destroying his family, and THEN we'll turn him into a generic anime villain that shoots lasers and fumbles his own plan and loses because of insane plot armour and contrivance. Good job writers.

Anyway, I should probably make the case for why this guy ranks so highly in my mind to the point of almost taking the podium for my most liked villain of all time, especially when compared to the stiff competition that we just went through.

Now, part of it is just because this is a personal top 10 and so I can put whoever I want in whatever order I want. But also, with Bradford in particular, there's a personal aspect of relatability, various interests, and passions all coming together to make him stand out in my brain.

The thing is, I've had a pretty strong connection to Disney's Duck's comic books my entire life, even if my love for them came dwindling over time, so when I finally started watching the Reboot and it was amazing, all of that buried passion and love finally re emerged back to the surface, turning me into an annoying super fan. But while season 1 and 2 were great, season 3 actually gave me something to latch on for the rest of time even after the show had ended: the character of Bradford Buzzard.

You see, DuckTales, both in the shows and comics, always had a plethora of villains; from the crazy, megalomaniacal millionaires, to witches, demons, and other mythological creatures, to power hungry aliens, to straight up super-villains. But while all of that is true, there has never been another villain, aside from Magica, Glomgold and Rockerduck at traits, that was built specifically as the anti Scrooge McDuck, and even further, there has never been another antagonist who challenged the very core ideas and concepts of the entire franchise.

Bradford is like the Frank Grimes of DuckTales: just a regular, average, real world guy who's fed up with the nonsensical constant state at which their fictional universe operates and seeks to correct it in the most logical way possible. And while Frank was ultimately a victim of a world in which he couldn't conform, Bradford's outrageous and extreme plans and methods put him on everybody's hit list until he was left all alone, but not before indirectly causing every major disaster throughout the reboot's runtime.

A cold, calculating, machiavellian mastermind whose impact and presence secretly permeates the show, right till the very end.

Shame he wasn't written better.

And now, for the one and only,

Number 1:

Qilby (Wakfu)

Qilby is the biggest example of an anomaly that you could ever observe in a work of fiction. The first time experiencing a story is the most important and impactful moment of that story, as every future rewatch won't be as good as the first. In particular, this is an important aspect of twist villains, as they can only surprise you the first time, since at future rewatches the twist becomes predictable.

Furthermore, if the twist ends up ruining the character that was established up to this point, or it doesn't make any sense, then the story is kind of ruined and it only gets worse on future rewatches, since now you know that everything that you are seeing right now is ultimately worthless and doesn't provide any value.

So why do we love twist villains and keep churning them out? Well, you see, it's a matter of execution. A bad guy introduced in an unconventional manner is much more memorable than one introduced in a straightforward way; the twist can also serve to showcase different aspects of the character before becoming an obvious obstacle, be it quirks, interests, personality in casual settings, or cunning.

Let's not beat around the bush.

If Nox is the single greatest sympathetic villain of all time, then Qilby is by far the greatest twist villain of all time, and the crazy thing is, that he surprises you two times in a row, at first by revealing himself as more evil than you could ever imagine, and then, by outing himself as more complex than you could have ever anticipated.

Let me paint you the picture: you just finished the first season of Wakfu, and you are still pretty fresh of the hype surrounding Nox, so you think to yourself "Oh, now every future antagonist is ruined because nothing could ever top the emotional gut punch that I just went through. Whatever, I'm going to stick around just to see if the story gets worse" and you start the second season.

So far, everything is normal, even better of the first season in terms of engagement value, but you can't help but feel the lack of a Nox like figure inside of the story, but at this point, you just accept it.

Then the final six episodes roll around and OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING, HAS THE WHOLE SHOW JUST GONE INSANE?

Somehow, in some mystical, french, magical way, the season 2 finale is arguably even better than the ending of season 1 despite the fight having less buildup and introducing a lot of brand new characters and an entirely irrelevant faction into his conflict.

The entirety of the scene in Emrumb is some of the best writing I have ever experienced in any work of fiction, and the music accompanying it only accentuates the repressed dopamine being released after various episodes of filler, all of them important for this moment to be as impactful as it is.

Qilby is also just a great, tragic character, that is simultaneously an unforgivable bastard that tried to kill his family and doomed his entire race for a family trip, and a sad, nihilistic man still trying to reconcile his love for his family and his need for knowledge and discovery; his curse never truly allows him to move on or relate to others but his ego and need for his forgetful brothers attention just pushes him even further into resentment, ending up damaging himself and those around him, until he's finally isolated again by the vary people he harmed and showed his love towards.

He's as good as the evil secret sibling trope can get and I never get tired of watching him on screen. His reveal scene to Adamai still gives me the chills to this very day and demonstrated me just how good the surprise villain concept can get when it's executed correctly.

Just an all around great show.

[anghraine]

This is from a longer compilation I was putting together, but despite all my [redacted] years of shipping Elizabeth/Darcy as my truest OTP, I genuinely hadn't noticed a certain ... let's say, consistency about Elizabeth's feelings when Darcy is involved:

Elizabeth, upon seeing Darcy and Wickham's chance meeting:

Both changed colour, one looked white, the other red. Mr Wickham, after a few moments, touched his hat—a salutation which Mr Darcy just deigned to return. What could be the meaning of it? It was impossible to imagine; it was impossible not to long to know.

Elizabeth, in her first conversation with Wickham:

After many pauses and many trials of other subjects, Elizabeth could not help reverting once more to the first, and saying,— “I am astonished at his [Darcy's] intimacy with Mr Bingley. How can Mr Bingley, who seems good-humour itself, and is, I really believe, truly amiable, be in friendship with such a man?”

Elizabeth at the Netherfield Ball:

Nothing that she could say, however, had any influence. Her mother would talk of her views in the same intelligible tone. Elizabeth blushed and blushed again with shame and vexation. She could not help frequently glancing her eye at Mr Darcy

When Elizabeth finds out about the change in summer plans:

With the mention of Derbyshire, there were many ideas connected. It was impossible for her to see the word without thinking of Pemberley and its owner.

Elizabeth, while touring Pemberley:

She longed to inquire of the housekeeper [Mrs Reynolds] whether her master were really absent, but had not courage for it.

Elizabeth, upon hearing that Darcy hasn't spoken crossly to his housekeeper in her 24 years at Pemberley:

This was praise of all others most extraordinary, most opposite to her ideas. That he was not a good-tempered man had been her firmest opinion. Her keenest attention was awakened: she longed to hear more ... Elizabeth listened, wondered, doubted, and was impatient for more. Mrs Reynolds could interest her on no other point.

Elizabeth after the first encounter with Darcy at Pemberley:

Her thoughts were all fixed on that one spot of Pemberley House, whichever it might be, where Mr Darcy then was. She longed to know what at that moment was passing in his mind; in what manner he thought of her, and whether, in defiance of everything, she was still dear to him.

From here, of course, it goes into straight-up falling in love, and it's great, but Elizabeth's responses to Darcy before that are also super fun.

[coping-via-clint-eastwood]

*siiiiiigh* Soooooo, first of all, I would like to apologise to @jencsi for taking so long to answer the ask. But then of course when I want to answer it, Tumblr has it made it disappear. So anyway I'm posting as a post. This is for the character asks thing. Jen asked all questions for Gil Grissom.

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

EVERYTHING???????

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

HOW DO I PICK WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY ANSWERS????????

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

HOW DO I PICK WHEN THERE ARE NO ANSWERS????????

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Sherlock Holmes 🤷🏻‍♀️

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

I know that I'm the resident Linkin Park fan, and I'm all over 9x05, but, LOATR is just about one particular aspect of his life.  It doesn't encapsulate the full depth of him.  And, honestly, that's what I really hope that I captured in my video.  It's basically a marriage proposition to him at this point.  I hope I did the song and him justice.

(I am using Leave Out All the Rest this year though (:  )

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

Autistic.  Hearing impaired.  Misanthropic humanist.  I love bugs because of him.  I'm learning to sign because of him.  I got into CSI because I love bioscience.  Ghost/social outcast until we find the right people.  Struggle with emotions and relationships, and ultimately learning to choose love over fear (which is, one again, something I learned from him. If he can do it, so can I. The fact that my role model is a fictional being). Bullied because of being nerdy.  Bullied because of "weirdness" aka autism.  We're uncomfortable around people but care very deeply about them, especially if they're our loved ones.  Honestly a lot of it is the autism and everything that comes with it.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Lemme just say, boy am I glad I am on the we want to fuck that old man website.  Because, at first, I was embarrassed and self-conscious that I was in love with someone much older than me (hence why I love GSR; it gives me so much more confidence), but then as I got into the tumblr fandom I saw that I'm not alone.  So thank you everyone.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

When people hate him overall for the way he treated Sara well in the early seasons.  Like, hello *gestures to his whole development arc*  you see this?  Or were we not watching the same show?

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Oh my god it's gonna be so fucking quiet.  For once in our lives we'll have someone who'll actually respect our sensitivity/stimulation needs and not belittle us.

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

We're two of a kind.

11. Would you date this character?

I WANNA MARRY HIM!!!!!!!!!

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

His father's name is Arthur, since that's his middle name, and it's not uncommon for catholics to make their first name the middle name of their child.  And irl Billy's dad is named Arthur Edward Petersen, and his brother is Arthur Petersen Jr.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

🐛🐜🐞🦗🪲🕷️

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

GSR

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Someone jokingly tagged a post with [#otp: i have bugs in my office] and while I'm glad it's not an actual ship...yeah I'm glad it's not.  It gave me fucking whiplash.

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

Grillows.  I'm actually multiship.  I ship GSR, Grillows and Kessom.  I've even been okay roleplaying Grissom/Nick with someone in the past, and I'm also okay with Warrick and Greg being shipped with him.  Hell I even find him being dopey with Teri Miller cute XD

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Catherine.  #brotp: it will play our song forever

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

I wanna say Ecklie but that's like, everything about him

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

If not Cath then Heather XD

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I love loving him.  I write my stories with him with so much love and care.  And I'm proud that my audience say it's obvious how much I love him.

I don't like him being hurt so I never write it.  Like, I'll just say it:  I'm glad it was Nick who got caught in Grave Danger and not Gil.  If it had been him I...I don't know what I would've done.  Even though I'd have known  that he was gonna be fine in the end, during the process I'd break down, no matter how many times I've watched it.  The thought of him being hurt just...I can't say it.  Sorry Nick, I love you too but Gil...Gil is the most special to me.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

I love when people write about his disabilities.  His hearing impairment, how he signs, his experience speaking both English and ASL.  His social and emotional struggles because of his autism.

My dislike would be when people write him as allosexual...  💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

23. Favorite picture of this character?

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

Sherlock Holmes

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

First impression:  wow he's so cool and smart and good at science.  I wanna learn from him.

Now:  Will you marry me?

26.  Freebie question.

Extra headcanon:  along with riding a rollercoaster with someone every 9 years and 34 days because that's how old he was when his dad passed, his favourite is the Mosaic because his parents took him on it for his 9th birthday.  Then a month later Arthur kicked the bucket, so Gil likes the memory of his father.

[qqueenofhades]

hilary, I really love talking about history with my friends but sometimes I talk about a historical person that I'm interested in and my friends act like just because I know things about a famous historical person I support everything they did. even when I know they know I don't support slavery, racism, sexism, etc. how do I keep from losing my cool when they do this?

Look, I have no idea where the "if you talk about anything complex/consume this material/think about it in any way, YOU TOO MUST SUPPORT IT AND BE PROBLEMATIC AND BAD!!!" mindset came from, but I honestly and deeply wish it a very killed with fire. It's the same anti mindset where if you read Morally Impure Fan Fiction, you are Morally Impure, but apparently now extends to... learning about the literal entirety of human experience? Why does this not surprise me, while also making me want to put my head through a plate glass door?

Once again, I don't know what people think historians DO, but I can assure y'all, it's not sitting around talking about how Totally Great [fill in the historical person, place, or thing] absolutely was, and how there were no problems with it ever and everyone should just be like, totally down with it, man. (Tubular.) In fact, the practice of academic history is often directly focused, especially nowadays, on identifying these problems and previous interpretations, putting them into context, and discussing how they happened in the first place. Considering that we're suffering from such a profound crisis of historical ignorance, both deliberate and inadvertent, and have seen how that manifests in current events (which are just the history happening right now), I am... boggled that "we shouldn't talk about anything because it was Morally Problematic!!!" is, indeed, getting serious play. Once again, it's the anti-intellectualism that is just as rampant on the left as it is on the right, while dressing itself up in different language and pretending to support different goals. But either way, any critical philosophy based on "we can never talk about things that went wrong/people who did Wrong Things in the past" is absolutely dead on arrival as any use to anyone. Ever.

Obviously, there are complexities in how to approach this material, and I personally don't think that historical figures, especially complex ones, should be "fandomized" or treated just as Cute OTP Blorbos or sanded down to fit a sanitized fictional box (unless they are explicitly fictionalized/being used in a fictional context, and even then, yeah, it's good to keep the background in mind). It's not that this is wrong -- after all, historians get into this line of work because they have Big Thoughts and Many Feelings about historical people/places/things and want to work on those in a variety of contexts -- but it's a little uncomfortable, at least for me. That said, it's still not inherently wrong, in any way, to be interested in/want to talk about people from the past. They're human, for god sakes! You are also human! They are your ancestors! Of course you, a primate with higher reasoning and anxiety, are curious about them! You want to know their stories and consider their circumstances and ponder why they did things, including bad things! If you can't do that, shun other people from doing it, and therefore you are completely cut off from your species' entire backstory and have no frame of reference for anything at all, you're going to end up an idiot. Guaranteed.

Anyway: yet again, people talking about history (or fiction, or anything at all) in a complex way that takes into account the fact that uh, people have never been perfect in their entire existence does not mean that the person is Bad or Supports All The Evils of Human History or whatever. I'm not sure what this attempted-gotcha "don't you know they were a bad person!!!" is going to accomplish, other than giving someone the same kind of fleeting self-righteousness high that comes from Being More Correct On The Internet (or wherever), but like... if you like studying history, and they know you like studying history, I don't know why they would think you don't know that, unless you tragically failed to post a 50-page disclaimer first. And it's stupid, and it's juvenile, and it's not useful, and I think you're entitled to say much of what I've said above, in whatever amount you please, because yeah. Sheesh.

[chocolate-cringymuffin]

every even number in the love your fandom game!

Oh bro here we go...

1- 3 things you like about your fandom:

1.1- It has a lot of content!

1.2- You can experiment and play with many characters and concepts, there are no limits!

1.3- it has a lot of nice and talented people!

2- A headcanon you where not sure about first but fandom made you change your mind:

Mmmmm... not sure about this one. I think I used to Headcanon Amon as Asexual but thanks to some nice mutuals now I can see him bisexual.

3- A character that fandom made you appreciate:

Asami and Katara. Before I get in here I was neutral about all the characters (of course my three main blorbos are the exceptions), but with the right fics and art I could connect with them a little bit better.

4- Say something nice about a ship you don't ship;

Not into Korrasami really, but if there's one thing I can't deny is that the ship has good artists, (haven't read fics but I guess there are good writers too).

5- A thing you see often in fics:

We collectively refuse to accept when a character we love is dead in canon. (canon is clay and we can shape it into whatever we want).

6- A thing you see often in fan arts:

When we make Korra strong and pretty. Also Yue art, she is so pretty and I heard that if you are a cool artist you have drawn her at least once! (Please don't mind if you haven't drawn her, I am sure your art is great).

7- Tropes you enjoy to read/write/draw:

To draw- arranged marriage, basically any amorralok au where Tarrlok and Amon live, for Azulaang any modern, cute or funny comfort au, (tea or coffee shop, school au, flowershop), and love drawing dirty mechanic/prince Irosami.

I guess any cute, comfort au actually.

To read- Arranged marriage, castaway Amon, equalists plot continuation, GIMEEE.

Also love coffee shop aus and spirit traveling au's for Azulaang.

Irosami is interesting with equalist or spy Asami au's but love some good cute domestic aus.

Basically anything related with spirit travels, equalists continuation, action and fluff included.

8- Something you would like the fandom to love aittle bit more:

Any ship and character that doesn't get as much appreciation as it deserves around the fandom.

9- A ship that it's not your Otp but you ship:

Yuetara, have neglected it WAY too long but whenever I see it I appreciate it.

10- A blog or mutual that has made your experience in fandom better:

Can't name all the people that have made my experience better, fortunately, there have been too many nice mutuals. Some are no longer active but to name a few I would dare to say @flameo-trashman @crookedmouth-mountainbones @lotus-ashi @orangepanic @moreamorra @amorra-tlok @writebecauseyoucannotbreathe and @mokonahapuuuuuu

Thank you all for your kindness and your presence in this chaotic site!

11- An artwork/fic you are proud about:

12- Say something nice to a mutual!

Orange, Lotus, Crooked, Neffy, Write, Mokonahapuuuu and Moreamorra: Never stop being awesome and having cool art and fics.

And for everyone else reading this: you are great too and your presence enriches this fandom.

13- Favorite fandom event?

Ship week! (loved the avatarsunkenshipweek by the way).

14- A ship that makes you smile:

Mostly Amorra but Korrlok, Irohsami and Azulaang hold an apecial place in my heart. 💜💙🤎❤🧡💛❤️‍🔥

15- A character that makes you smile:

Baby Korra, she is too precious. Baby Noatak and Tarrlok too, must protect.

16- A thing in canon you would like to get noticed by the fandom?

THE PARALELISMS BETWEEN AMON AND KORRA, THEY ARE INSANE.

17- A thing in canon everyone likes, including you:

Seeing Iroh and Aang back in tlok and Jinora getting her tattoos.

18- A tag you follow?

Just Tlok

19- Current fandoms:

Again just Tlok haha.

20- Your first fandom:

Can't recall the first one I got interested in.

21- A fandom you miss:

Undertale.

22- Mutual you have known the longest?

Mokonahapuu, it's been a lot since we knew through this lil place.

23- A fandom you are curious about thabks to a mutual:

The dragon Prince.

24- How has fandom positively impacted in you?

Mutuals helped me to work in my art and storytelling skills. 💛

25- Advice to take care of you in fandom spaces:

Do not get too invested in any fandom, it can be overwhelming to deal with too many opinions so it's better to try to be nice and not worry about what the rest could say.

Get 2-5 psychos, (affectionate), and stick together, it will probably help you a lot.

Also, you don't have to like what everyone else does or agree to everything, not everything is made for you or a single person. Keep in mind you will have to learn to cope with the things you dislike.

Finally, look for other activities to entertain yourself, focusing too much in fandom can be bad in the long term.

[mymanyfandomramblings]

Character headcanons game: Dipper and Mabel

First--Dipper:

1: sexuality headcanon: I think he's probably primarily heterosexual, but I can imagine him being somewhere on the ace spectrum

2: otp: I don't have a huge OTP, but I am a Dipcifica fan 

3: brotp: With Soos, of course. And Wendy

4: notp: Any of the cursed ships. You know the cursed ships.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head: He's autistic and will also need glasses one day. He also is a conspiracy theorist, but doesn't believe any of the usual conspiracy theories. 

6: one way in which I relate to this character: I, too, am awkward and have very loud siblings

7: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character: Let's be honest, his awkwardness is both lovable and embarrassing

8: cinnamon roll or problematic fave? cinnamon roll

Now Mabel:

1: sexuality headcanon: I don't think Mabel does labels to be honest. I think she just loves people and falls dramatically in love every now and again.

2: otp: I don't have one tbh, although I have become attached to my version of Mabel and Kevin Corduroy 

3: brotp: With Candy, Grenda, Pacifica and Wendy

4: notp: Once more, the cursed ships.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head: AuDHD Mabel is the true Mabel in my mind. I also think Mabel would like Glee because that amount of drama, romance and random singing would delight her

6: one way in which I relate to this character: I'm loud, and get too attached and excited, and I was the oft-forgotten Loud Nerdy Weird Kid at school, and she is the representation I need

7: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character: Occasionally, some of her utter randomness does cross the line from endearing to kind of 'cringey and annoying' for me--which probably means it was right on point

8: cinnamon roll or problematic fave? cinnamon roll ofc

[stillness-in-green]

Favorite Characters of 2023

Saw this meme template by @limayde and had to drop anything more productive because I Love Character Memes. I tried to focus on characters who particularly signified 2023 in fandom for me, not necessarily just my favorites in any given fandom, and certainly not my favorites of all time! So consider it a reasonable representation of what I read/was reading/was still thinking about last year.

(I'm also relatively sure I could fill this out entirely with BNHA characters, but if I were to do that, it would be with the goal of representing how much I was thinking about said characters in terms of Fix-It Fic(s) Brainstorming, rather than simply how much I like them. Yoichi would be prominent in the former and not present at all in the latter, for example.)

Anyway, after much painstaking cropping, here it is!

(A full list of who all these people are and a blurb apiece of my thoughts on them, as well as the meme template, can be found beneath the cut!)

Most Favorite Blorbo(s) of 2023

Lord Glück and Macht of El Dorado (Sousou no Frieren) – Macht's was the arc that turned me around on Frieren's treatment of demons—he’s so interesting, and so tragic, totally set in his ways while also yearning to change them.  Glück, meanwhile, is so devoted to his word, blunt in his assessment of Macht’s character but wholly sincere about trying to give him the knowledge and environment he needs to change.  My BF asked me for the spoiler-free version of what I liked about them, and the best I can sum it up as is, “A mutual acceptance despite the parts of each other they can’t understand,” and, “They’ve made each other promises that go all the way to end, to the goddamn end.”  Thirty years of that!  I am once again begging on my hands and knees for Frieren to get a second season, and also, if the universe really loves me, to end the first season with a tease for the Golden City.[1]

(I cheated a bit here; the central square is intended for a single supreme fave, not center-mounting one's OTP. I am, however, entirely incapable of picking one of those two above the other. Also, putting them both there does bring the character count to a nice even 50.}

1: A second tease.  There’s actually been one already, a reference to Macht’s enchanted jewelry, squirreled away in some on-screen text—one of the anime’s many additions to the background detail compared to the manga.

12 Characters vs. 12 Months In A Year. Coincidence? Probably!

(Starting at the top left corner and moving clockwise.)

Shigaraki Tomura (BNHA) – 2023 was the year Shigaraki Tomura got his groove back, thank heavens.  While he didn’t get much material in which to speak his own mind—really just Chapters 379 and 411, a full year apart (the latter didn’t officially come out until just a few days ago; we just got the leaks a week early).  We’ll see how he holds up going forward, but even those few scenes effortlessly demonstrate just how profound a waste of time handing AFO the reins to the end game was.  Here’s to not letting Heroes off the hook in the new year!

Iguchi Shuuichi/Spinner (BNHA) – Spent a lot of 2023 worrying about this guy.  Still am worried about this guy.  But him turning the tides of the war at the end of 2022 shifted the whole course of the battle, and new we’ve got Shigaraki invoking The Horizon to finally give us incontrovertible evidence that Shigaraki and Spinner have talked about more than just video games!  2024 is shaping up Spinaraki!

Yotsubashi Rikiya/Re-Destro (BNHA) – I provide fanart for this man because, of course, he was in the actual canon not at all last year, absent a single flashback panel from Hose Face, not at all making up for what a caricature that character was otherwise.  All the good Re-Destro content I was getting last year was thanks to @nickfoo’s wonderful, wonderful fanart of him.  Thanks for continuing to give this guy love, foo! (full art here)

Geten (BNHA) – Himura backstory reveal!  And that revelation accounted for the only fanfic I posted last year at all, as well as being super satisfying in terms of largely clearing Todoroki Enji of the responsibility for the heteromorphobic microaggressions perpetrated by certain of his children, as well as giving us some more hints about Geten and Re-Destro’s relationship.  Exquisite. (Now just let him have something to say that isn’t mostly there to Contextualize Dabi.)

Vamirio/Anne from Management  (Helck) – I reread Helck last year in celebration of its anime, and just to reiterate this again, Vamirio and her determination lead her to make firm stands and fiery declarations about her combat role and priorities that Deku has never even fuckin’ thought about.  Vamirio a best; vote Vamirio for Head of Management.

Samuel Murphy +Hal and Nobu (Canis: The Speaker) – Sam’s my favorite of another inseparable trio, probably because, at least as an adult, he’s the most vulnerable—not simply because he lacks the firearms or goons that his partners’ positions allow them to call to hand, but also because of his struggles with insomnia.  Whip-smart, observant, and well-spoken, and I always have had a preference for the smart ones.

Jasper (Steven Universe) – I started reading @faelapis’s post-canon Jasper exploration fic Something Better last year and absolutely fell in love with it.  It reminded me all over again how much I love Jasper, and how much I wanted a story that gave her all the time she needed to change.

Somei Yoshino (Yakuza Fiancée) – Last year saw the anime announcement and Yoshino’s totally amazing bathtub fight with Azami, which I guess there are cowards out there who didn’t like?  RIP to them but I’m different, I guess!  I’ll watch Yoshino break her terrible suitors’ fingers any time!

Wolfgang Grimmer (Monster) – Reread the back half of Monster last year solely because I love Grimmer and wanted to read his material again.  A perennial favorite, manga and character alike.  I love a man held together with scotch tape, stitches and good intentions.

Boutarou the Pirate (Golden Kamuy) – Probably not my actual favorite character in the series, but I finally got to see him in anime form last year after a maddening wait thanks to the delay in 2022.  Shiraishi’s best ship and a feral merman (look at the way he uses his hair and tell me I'm wrong) that someone unaccountably let walk around on dry land. A+ character.

Sailor Cosmos (Sailor Moon) – Speaking of characters with a huge wait on seeing them in the anime..!  God, I’ve wanted anime Sailor Cosmos since high school, and I’m thrilled to finally get her (and the merch that would accompany her).

Mitaka Asa (Chainsaw Man) – I read the first half of Chainsaw Man a while back, largely on the basis of @robotlesbianjavert’s enthusiasm, and while I enjoyed it well enough, particularly Denji’s assorted travails, I never got super invested in it because, not having to wait week to week for releases, there was never really enough time to get attached to most characters before they got unceremoniously offed.  Whether it’s the week-to-week wait or just that I like Asa as a character more, she’s really done the job of getting me interested in the series.  I love this loser failgirl and I want only the best for her; while I doubt that’s what she’ll get, at least I can watch her torture logic to make sick weapons and have affecting scenes about her own crippling inadequacy issues in the meantime.

36 Others

(As before, starting on the top left and moving clockwise through the BNHA Zone.)

Scarecrow/Spinner’s Number 2 (BNHA) – Scarecrow’s big speechifying moments would have been back in autumn of 2022, but I still loved him more than enough in 2023 for him to make this grid.  He was reduced to a shallow caricature and still had to get knocked off a roof because no one could actually out-argue him, and through all of that unendurable authorial laziness, his potential still shines through for me.  Stan the MLA, MLA 5Evah.

Toga Himiko (BNHA) – The only Villain whose Hero foil plotline is working for me on any level, though a lot is hanging on whether or not she, y’know, lives.  She definitely should have gotten to stab the bejeezus out of Hawks, and Ochaco should definitely go on the run with her once Apple Cheeks realizes that the HeroAca justice system could not possibly be relied upon to do anything other than throw Toga in a hole for a few years before executing her.

Gentle Criminal (BNHA) – The only redeemed villain whose regard for Deku functions at all thematically.  Lady N’s return is hogswash on multiple levels, but I will defend Gentle’s without reservation.

Kunieda + Aoyama Yuuga (BNHA) – Consider these two to be a stand-in for all the thinking I did last year about Fix-It Fic scenarios for this whole final arc.  For example, Kunieda in the canon speaks far too knowledgeably both about and to Aoyama for them to be total strangers, so why not plant some seeds for their confrontations earlier?  I ask the reader to consider this:

In a version of the Edgy Deku arc that allowed the rest of 1-A to get out into the world to help out with relocation efforts, they one day come across a scene of dread: a neighborhood full of corpses and Kunieda’s flowers.  Aoyama has a noticeably shaken reaction, which he plays off as just horror to his similarly horrified classmates, but the truth is that he’s got prior history with Kunieda—AFO didn’t plop corpses in front of his parents to intimidate them (because that’s ham-handed and silly), but bodies were still involved.  They’d turn up buried in the family's fancy gardens sometimes, always heralded by those vivid red-black flowers…

Frieren (Sousou no Frieren) – I was relatively neutral on the title character until the anime came out and I had to suffer through The Discourse about her attitude towards demons (arguments on both sides tending to be poorly considered and ignorant, both of canonical details and real-world relevance).  That made me a bit more defensive of her, but even setting my contrarianism aside, I was also very pleased with how she navigated the manga’s most recent arc.[2]  She’s maybe the first character I can think of who I have actively wanted to write Asexual Representation fic for, if only because my answer to, “Does she Romantically Love Himmel?” is much more complex than just saying, “No, she only saw him as a friend,” or, “Yes, and now she’s going to be sad about her Tragically Lost Love for the rest of her life and we need to write all the fix-it fics about that.”

2: She wants to go home!  Her feelings for Himmel, whatever they are, are of less importance to her than going home!  Despite everything we know about how she perceives time, she still values her “now” more than her lost “then”!  My gloating aside, though, I was far more affected by the sword scene than I was the wedding attire or the near kiss.  Being trapped in a wedding illusion?  Trite, overplayed.  Being trapped in a wedding illusion yet still being able to wrap your hands around your partner’s arm and faithfully guide them into drawing the sword neither of you can perceive?  Now that’s intimacy!

Heiter (Sousou no Frieren) – While I had little overall use for the aforementioned most recent arc of Frieren, I did very much enjoy my favorite member of the Hero Party getting a moment to demonstrate what being The Priest Of The Party That Defeated The Demon King actually means in practice.  Grausam being unable to put him down with an illusion?  Being the only one who could defend his downed companions?  The sheer level of trust he has in Himmel?  A little bit of vulnerability where he’s bare seconds away from getting gibbed by Grausam?  Heiter is the member of the party that we get the least amount of in on: Sein didn’t stay with the party long enough to serve as a point of comparison, and despite Heiter raising Fern, she didn’t assume his role in the new group, like Stark did Eisen’s, nor do her reminiscences about him get anywhere near the amount of screentime that Frieren’s do of Himmel.  So for real, you guys, Chapter 118 was so good.

Edward (Shadows House) – *bangs fists on table*  WORST BOY WORST BOY WORST BOY!!  Anime Edward is pants, but Manga Edward is where it’s at, always keeping Kate scrambling, always coming out on top of his maneuverings against his peer group rivals, just flappable enough that his victories doesn’t look effortless, and engaging enough that his smugness feels earned rather than intended to turn the reader against him.  I have no idea how the story is going to deal with the adult shadows, who are after all still just as brainwashed and wronged by Grandfather’s workings as the kids are!  If anything, they’re worse off, having already been manipulated into losing the “faces” they must once have loved dearly.  Thus, while Kate and her allies certainly approach the conflict with a very Us vs. Them, Adults=The Enemy mentality, the screentime Edward’s own affairs get, fully independent of how they intersect with Kate’s, along with an avowed desire to improve the House that parallels Kate’s, make me hopeful that the authors have something a little more nuanced in mind than, “Free the current victims by wiping out all the previous ones.”

Melinda Desmond (Spy x Family) – The main cast are all perfectly fine, but Melinda is interesting.  Super curious to find out more about the Desmond family dynamics, and I love Melinda bouncing around with Yor. (I swear, though, judging by the collective response to the most recent chapter, the fandom is going to turn me into a Donovan Apologist yet. Only one member of that family has visible scars suggesting brain surgery, folks!!)

Anti/Knight/Gridknight (Gridman Universe) – Always my favorite single character from both Gridman and Dynazenon, and he was characteristically great in the movie as well.  His scene with Akane at the end was only my second favorite beat because, while it’s wonderful emotionally cathartic (more fanservice like this, please!), it’s also kind of muddled thanks to the idea of Gridman!Anti and Dynazenon!Knight being two separate entities. Churlish to hold that against it, though, when it's so heartfelt.

Minami Yume + Asanaka Yomogi (Gridman Universe) – Such a great pairing in their own show—I once saw someone call them forced, which has always struck me as just being too high on Bashing The Hets to see that Yomogi and Yume have a great arc towards getting together, actually.  Seeing them be unabashedly together and happy about it in the film was 100% delightful and deserved. Yume swooping down out of the sky on Dynarex to scoop up her wifeguy boyfriend is my actual favorite beat in the movie.

Hyura (Helck) – Firstly, the dry humor around Hyura is fantastic.  (“Something like an arm grows back simply enough.  That’s just common sense.”  “It doesn’t, right?”  “It does not.”)  Secondly, she’s the biggest badass in the secondary cast.  Thirdly, she and Edil have the designated rival ship dynamic (incredibly rare to see across gender lines in shounen manga), and Hyura holds her own all the way to the end.  Hyura is great.

Mikaros (Helck) – “Yes, we may have lost some assets and I personally shattered the mind of one of our strongest soldiers, removing him from the playing field.  But the important thing is that I personally overcame my trauma, so overall it’s a win.”  What a slimeball.  What a total heap.  And what an excellent example of the end-stage stakes driving the title character's choice in the epilogue! I love Mikaros unreservedly.

Harold Aldo Hughes and Iwaki Tadanobu + Sam (Canis: The Speaker) – Transformation, reinvention, the fierceness of devotion and the ruthlessness of rebirth—I don’t love them quite as much as I do Sam, but they’re also both great.

Hera (Lore Olympus) – Lore Olympus is one of those series I read more because it’s interesting enough while also being blisteringly gorgeous than because I’m deeply invested in the characters, but the plotline about Hera and Kronos really has pulled me all the way into active, character-specific interest.  Great, tense, painful stuff.  Can’t wait to see where she goes following recent events.

Redcloak (Order of the Stick) – His last really insightful and heartwrenching scene was in the year before last—that fantastic exchange with Oona!—but for as long as I’m reading OOTS, Redcloak is going to be a favorite.  God, the Law Elemental summoning is so funny.

Hyness (Kirby franchise) – This one’s entirely on my sis-in-law—like another character further down the list, I am not remotely “in” the Kirby fandom.  But what can I say—tell me about a warped cult leader who started in a bad place and only got worse who still managed to get saved by the Hero taking a leap of faith that paid off, and tell me the fandom calls him a horrible abuser?  Sorry, but I Have No Choice But To Stan. (full art here)

Lafcadio Boone (The Sexy Brutale) – Replayed this again last year, and it’s still great.  In a sense, despite its sizeable named cast, it really only has the one character, and his story is such that I want to make every single person on tumblr that gets hyperbolic about the forgiveness and redemption of fictional wrongdoers play this game.  “Time to move on, old man,” indeed.

Sissel (Ghost Trick) – Finally got the remaster of this and replayed it, and it’s also still great.  Knowing The Spoilers about Sissel seriously make replays such a scream, but also man is this game really sitting on some completely over-the-top darkness not at all far beneath its candy apple red and Matrix-text green surface.

Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India (Across the Spider-Verse) – Strictly in terms of character writing, he’s very fun, but I don’t think he’s as strong as Spider-Punk or Miguel O'Hara, but on the other hand, he’s so much fun, especially to simply watch in motion.  Most of the rest of the leads, however varied their artstyles might be, still feel like they move in basically the same ways, just with varying levels of grace vs. power, intent vs. controlled collapse, but because of the way Pavitr uses his thread, he moves completely differently, and it’s just a ton of fun to watch.  The first character I went hunting for fanart of when I got out of the movie theater.

Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Across the Spider-Verse) – I have outstanding affection for Spider-Gwen from reading her comics back when, but that opening Vulture fight, the fantastic look of her dimension, and all the trans signaling kept her right at the top, too.

Brutha (Discworld: Small Gods) – @codenamesazanka read this and a few of the Watch books last year, prompting me to do some rereads as well, and Brutha and Small Gods remain very dear to me.  I only wish more artists would draw versions of him that remotely resemble “fat, simple-looking young man from a desert country in fantasy!expy!Middle East�� rather than “suspiciously trim and Benedictine.”

Sam Vimes (Discworld series) – Ditto on Nal’s read above, but also chatted with foo a lot about this guy, and he’s been my favorite single character in the series since high school.  It takes very little to prompt me to reread his books generally, but last year was the first time I’ve had it in me to reread Snuff, as it was previously a little too tied up in my feelings about the last few books prior to Pratchett’s death.  Regardless of anything else, though, Snuff is the book for Sam/Sybil.

Mina Murray (#DRCL: Midnight Children) – Discovered this lush chonk of horror phantasmagoria last year and I’m kind of in love with it.  Its take on Mina anchors it well—she’s smart and fiery but up against ingrained sexism and classism in her setting, and not too Anachronistic Grrl Power to not be hurt by that sometimes; she’s stubborn, but vulnerable to the supernatural horrors in the way any child would be.  An unreliable but intriguing and sympathetic narrator.

Capone Bege (One Piece) – The other character I got onto largely without getting into the series he hails from, nickfoo—whose art I again use to illustrate—does great work with this guy, a once-jovial monster shocked back from that moral brink by marriage and fatherhood.  Still gets a bit Into It at work, but tries not to bring it home, at least as much as that can be avoided when carrying both family and crew around in the same heart/sub-dimensional space.  (Also, foo’s version of Bege is great, but her rendition of Chiffon is—speaking as someone who doesn’t read the series and can only gauge by image search or skimming the wiki—borderline miraculous, accurate to Oda’s lively caricature design, but so much more sensitive, expressive and human.)

Prince Kazu/Lady Chikako (Ooku: The Inner Chambers) – On the occasion of the Netflix anime, I finally tracked down and finished Ooku last year, and when I tell you that I laughed more and harder in the final arc than I did through the entire rest of the series combined…  The Kyoto cast members are a big part of why,[3] and none more delightful than the stuffy, prideful, possessive, and deeply impetuous Chikako, one of the most singularly human characters in the whole 19-volume melodrama.

3: Catty ex-male prostitute turned head of the Inner Chambers Takiyama is the other part of this equation, by the way.

Gao Shun (The Apothecary Diaries) – Long-suffering stoics are my absolute favorite type, and that holds true even though Gao Shun's stoicism has been largely a humorous beat thus far.  I want this guy to get more attention, but until then, I will continue to enjoy his weary exasperation every time he has to deal with Mao Mao’s eccentricities/Jinshi’s enthusiasm about same.

Mao Mao (The Apothecary Diaries) – Best female character of the season, for sure, but I’ve been reading one of the manga for a while now, and she’s a regular delight.  Eccentric and ruthless by turns, painfully aware of the limitations of her position and yet wholly willing to make her own decisions and exert her own agency within those limitations without ever concerning herself with whether she should ask permission from or report to someone above her rank.  Mao Mao’s mercy takes the form of knowing when to speak and when to demure, and every time I see some stuck-in-their-own-ethical-framework commenter complain about her moral compass, I appreciate it harder.

Accustomizer Stud/Tiffany (Angelic Acceptor Alouette) – Enthusiastically resourceful teenage girl who would probably be super into transhumanism if she hadn’t fallen in with angels (sic) instead, transforming into the gloriously nonbinary pile of muscles and amazing hair that is Accustomizer Stud, Tiffany’s ultimate expression of her inner self.  Stud is magnanimous, gracious, and well-spoken, and they are also VERY LOUD AND FIGHTY.  My absolute favorite character in a game wall-to-wall with great characters.

Yuunagi Tsubasa/Cure Wing (Hirogaru Sky PreCure) – The first Official Boy Cure with absolutely no provisos or qualifications or ways to wiggle out of it, and the show gets him just right by playing him basically completely straight.  Has a costume no one would look twice at in a magical girl line-up, wastes no time on masculine embarrassment at his frills, with the only nod he/the show make towards his gender at all being to frame his role as being a knight to a princess, rather than simply a guardian to one, but it’s not really what he’s about.  His actual character is driven by knowledge, studiousness, and a desire to overcome the limitations placed on him by being a human/pudgy flightless bird fairy.

Kei Miyama (Go With the Clouds, North By Northwest) – Something of a stand-in for his series generally, which I read the two most recent volumes of last year and fell in love with all over again—particularly the most recent one, which switches deftly between depictions of shattering, world-hollowing grief and the beguiling intimacy of the rhythms of life and nature.  But my love for the manga itself aside, Kei’s a great protagonist, full of little contradictions and snags that make him feel much more fleshed out and grounded than your average animanga male lead, even as he’s running around doing very Animanga Male Lead Things, like solving mysteries by using his Strange Power to get information a normal person could not.

Lord El-Melloi II/Waver Velvet (Fate franchise) – Waver is possibly my favorite character of all time in any medium, so it takes very little to rekindle the love.  In last year's case, it took the Fate/strange Fake special!  Love to see my boy continue to wrest more narrative space for himself than he was originally allotted by virtue of being a run-away audience favorite of the Fate/Zero anime!

Ivan (Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still) – Got the remastered Blu-ray last year as a gift, and guess what?  I still love Ivan in all his cartoonish mini-boss villainy layered over the pathos of tragic loss and resentment.  Honestly, I can only assume he’s as well-adjusted as he is because Alberto is so inspiring to work in close quarters with (mood), because otherwise I’d think it pretty unfair that the sole surviving Bashtarle national in the story gets so little to say about/to the people who blew it up.

Isurugi Camice (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) – I was a bit too preoccupied with BNHA meta last year to think much about my prior fandom phase, but I still made time to rotate Isurugi in my mind from time to time.  As one of my beloved long-suffering stoics, I can always make that kind of time for him.  (Image source is from the cover of a doujinshi I have, because melancholy BL doujinshi is definitely more the kind of tonal zone my mental rotations were occupying than they were canon’s!)

And, finally, the blank

(If anyone reading this wants to give it a whirl, I reccommend blowing it up to x2 size; makes the small squares easier to work with.)

[thatwordybirb]

4, 8, 10, 16, 20, and 23 for the ask game :D ‼️‼️💥💥💥

Thank you kindly! Heck, hope the one I sent you made it through. >< Alright, let's see:

4. say something nice about a ship you don't ship (it can be another ship in your fandom, a mutual's OTP, etc)

Um... hm, off to a rough start there! I'm not super aware of ships I don't sail, to be honest! I guess... after wracking my brain for five minutes, I really cannot see Hawks and Endeavor from My Hero Academia together, but I will say this: there is one dedicated animatic artist on Youtube that makes it enjoyable to watch.

8. you hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc)

My immediate first thought was, erm, Nezunori - as in, Nezu and Toshinori, also from My Hero Academia. >///> I think I am literally one of only two people on the internet that has even thought of that ship. In the middle of writing a novel-length fic where that is one of the (many) focal relationships, and I'm really hoping people like it once I start posting chapters, even if they don't start sailing the ship themselves. Got the first 6 chapters done!

10. a blog (mutual or one you follow) that has made your fandom experience brighter

Well... yours, honestly! Your alt is the first fandom blog I came across after my many years of not engaging with fandom at all since... well, my experience with the latter-day MLP fandom soured. Your art responses to my silly and stupid little prompts meant a lot to me, and helped make this rediscovery of a forgotten side of myself a lot more fun.

16. a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

Oof, also a tough one. I would have to say "everything about Tom Nook." There are Redd's overtly, ~flamingly~ homosexual passwords in Wild World, of course, that hint at their relationship (another novel-length fic I'm writing, have the first 13 chapters done). A lot of folks know about that, though. What I have in mind specifically is that I don't think anyone caught onto the fact that Tom Nook gives the player advice to never, ever, loan money to a friend... and the secondary fact that his only confirmed ex-friend is Sable, whose parents died when she was young and left her destitute and struggling for a lot of her life. Which paints a very tragic picture of poverty and money destroying Tom's relationship with his childhood best friend.

20. your very first fandom!

I think it was either Halo or Pokemon? They were around the same time in my life, but I thiiink it was Pokemon. Read so much fic and even joined the FFN forums for it!

23. the fandom you're curious about because of a mutual

Rainworld! @trashmammal69, that's thanks to you~! Apologies if it wasn't okay to @ you! Still need to actually set aside time to play it, though. My life keeps being on fire. x.x

Thanks again for sending this, and if my ask I sent you never made it through, let me know!

[hekateinhell]

Armand/flower imagery is THE unsung OTP of vc 🥹 there’s so much of it throughout the whole series. I’ve also been thinking about how Anne repeatedly compared him to female mythological creatures. Lestat and his “succubus” comparison immediately comes to mind of course (Anne could’ve easily had Lestat call him an incubus, the male counterpart, but she went with the female version), but also there’s Daniel saying Armand had pursued him the cunning of a “harpy” during the early stages of their relationship. So you have flowers, female demons/monsters/mythical creatures and that one red headed robot(?) lady who served as her original inspiration for Armand. Character of all time fr xoxo DA ❤️

DA! 🥹🌺🌸 I missed you (even though the fault is purely mine for purposely scaling back on Tumblr and not really posting much of anything to respond to lately, haha).

I don't think it's much of a confession if I say I'm never not thinking about Lestat referring to Armand as a succubus! Right, the distinction there with the gendered form is interesting to me as well and I got curious on the exact etymology because while Anne might have been all over the place in some regards, I do think she was very intentional when it came to mythology and overall symbolism in her work. And either way whether you take it seriously or not, it's just fun to think about!

So, aside from the obvious gender difference between male and female — incubus in itself is defined as and derived from:

"imaginary being or demon, credited with causing nightmares, and, in male form, consorting with women in their sleep," c. 1200, from Late Latin incubus (Augustine), from Latin incubo "nightmare, one who lies down on (the sleeper)," from incubare "to lie upon" (see incubate). X

Now compare that to succubus:

late 14c., alteration (after incubus, giving a masc. form to a word generally felt as of female meaning) of Late Latin succuba "strumpet," applied to a fiend (generally in female form) having sexual connection with men in their sleep, from succubare "to lie under," from assimilated form of sub "under" (see sub-) + cubare "to lie down" (see cubicle). X

Let's be clear, Lestat—proud, powerful, and apprehensive as he is during this meeting with Armand—is in no way, shape, or form going to be laying beneath anybody. It's subtle because both incubi and succubi do take advantage of their victims, but at least within the word itself, one positions the demon beneath and not above.

Fun, right?

Harpy is something to think about too! Literally a terrifying creature that carried its victims off of the face of the Earth, never to be heard from again. Yikes. Wonder if Daniel's family ever heard from him again aside from those checks going out... Oops.

Robot lady, my beloved! Moira Shearer in The Tales of Hoffman (1951). Anne did say this as far as her having served as an inspiration for Armand:

[...] there was a companion to Hoffman who had beautiful red hair and was very angelic. The character was played by a woman, but as a child, I don't remember realizing that it was a woman. I remember the character as a transcendent person, and I thought it was Hoffman's guardian angel.

Very strange, very beautiful, very Armand.

And one last thing since we're already speaking of 'guardian angels' and I can never resist this quote:

"You're looking for trouble again," he [Armand] went on, in the same slow manner, without anger or meanness. "The whole wide world isn't enough for you and never will be. This time I thought I'd try to speak to you before the wheel turns."

"Aren't you the most thoughtful of guardian angels?" I said sarcastically.

"Yes, I am," he said without so much as blinking. ~ Lestat, MtD

Armand, once again taking on the role of Lestat's guardian angel.

[thisonesatellite]

@wistfulcynic tag-summons me and of course i answer. Not least because she has written some of my favorite stories of all time. 😘

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason. <3

OK -- rubs hands. Here we go.

First fic: The road, taken (OUAT /CS)

Look. i was never going to write. i was never even going to get an AO3 account. But then i did (honestly, i'm not even sure why i decided to apply), and then i had this random thought which would not leave, and after three days of constantly imagining Emma and Killian meeting in a bar fight, well--- i wrote it.

Mostly to get it out of my head.

This fic shows very clearly that i was not yet a writer, but i think it also shows the things i would eventually gravitate towards (plot and realistic dialogue underpinned with Feelings), as well as my absolute and unwavering commitment to HEAs, you feel me.

And four short years later here we are, with four fandoms and 37 fics. What have i done.

.

Last fic: despite all my rage (stucky)

My latest OTP Bucky/Steve hath taken me over and this fic is the perfect illustration of the dangers of telling anyone about anything at all, because i mentioned working on an MMA documentary to @angelicalslayer and she said, "ooooh, stucky cage fight fic!", and then THIS HAPPENED.

i am not sorry.

.

Only once: Actually, i have two fandoms i dipped into only once.

we build our lives out of chaos and hope (dramione) a sort of homecoming (Leverage)

The dramione fic is an EWE exploration of Draco's and Hermione's lives, both of which get stuck after the war ends and remain in limbo for a decade until they are thrown together by chance. After which they are forced to work out their issues and also face a new threat.

Dramione had the great misfortune that i slid into stucky immediately after i discovered it and got stuck there (hehe). i have been trying to claw my way back to dramione ever since -- i have a really epic fic idea already in mind which i would LOVE to write. Unfortunately i am horribly linear and cannot do more than one fic at a time, and people keep bullying me lovingly into stucky events, so i won't get around to it until next year. But i will write it. i loved writing chaos and hope.

The Leverage outing? i don't know what happened. Stress, too much work, real life drama, and stucky cage fight plot boas came together and needed an outlet, and suddenly i had a Leverage fic.

i am once again not sorry.

.

Fave fic in most works: we kill the flame (OUAT /CS)

CS is my most prolific OTP so far - although i no longer write it - and this fic i think was by far my best outing. i built an entire world for it, during which i realized i love world building even though it's a ridiculous amount of work that takes a ridiculous amount of time. And this particular sandbox i built is my best one.

Cyberpunk dystopia, plot, action, Feelings, more plot, more action, and then a HEA -- i put all my favorite things into this one, and even viewed from a distance of nearly three years, i still love it.

.

Fic i wish more people had read: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (stucky)

i realize that Western AUs are not everyone's cup of tea, so i get why this one is bringing up the rear, it's just that i put so much work into the historical accuracy and transposing the canon into post-Civil War America that i kind of wish more people had given it a try. But i do get that this is a matter of taste.

i'm not angry or disappointed or anything, i loved writing it, and i worked with incredible people ( @angelicalslayer again, she is just that fabulous), as well as participated in my first bang ever, so it was totally worth it. Besides giving me a whole new appreciation for people who write historical fiction, bc omg the work.

.

Fic i agonized over the most: if you live by the word, you die by the pen (OUAT /CS)

The plot. OMFG the plot. The plot got so loose.

Look. i love wrangling my plot boas, OK? i complain about them a lot, because they always try to strangle me, but all in all i love it.

But. This fic. First of all, i tried a whole new style (noir -- basically stumbling around in the footsteps of Dashiell Hammett and James Ellroy) AND murder mystery AND magic AND linguistics AND battles AND upwards of eight main protagonists (how very LA Confidential of me) and anyway, i nearly didn't survive it.

The only reason i did survive is @wistfulcynic (because she always is) and she is also the only reason that the result is in any way worth reading (BECAUSE SHE ALWAYS IS). In this case she worked harder than ever, but also i tempted her with a linguistics component, because that is how you get the linguists to help you.

.

Fic that sprang fully formed: a handful of dust (stucky)

i had already left CS and found dramione and was nearly done with writing chaos and hope when i re-binged CATFA and CATWS for the n-th time and finally decided to check out the stucky ficdom. And promptly got sucked into the best vortex ever.

And then this fic just sprang up in my head. No warning. i looked up and there both bois were, looking at me in challenge, going, 'are you going to write us a different post-Potomac ending or what', and really--- what was i supposed to do but nod and write it?

So i did.

And i've been HEA-ing them ever since. (Usually after sending them through various types of AU hell, but as long as they end up happy together, who's counting?)

.

Fic i'm proud of: all

Look. i'll be honest. i'm proud of all of them, ngl. My writing is not as easily accessible as many others' -- both in style and in subject matter -- but i absolutely love the process of writing and i am proud of every fic i managed to finish and put out there.

.

Absolutely no pressure tags: @ohmightydevviepuu, @bittersweet-in-boston, @cable-knit-sweater, @mxaether, @greekgeek24 , @angelicalslayer 💖

[letstrywritingmaybe]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let's spread the self-love🫶🏻

I’m curious to know your personal favorites! I’ll treat it as a fic-rec hehe

You are so cute! I love you! 🩵

Hm… this is a tough question cause I guess it depends on the day and what I’m feeling. I mean all my stories are honestly the same in terms of my ship being together and it ending happily, but the journey and the way I choose to tell it can differ. What exactly are quintessential lots of love fics? I guess currently I will go with these (I’m only doing Det Co ones cause I know you’re in this fandom, plus I don’t write enough for my actual otps in other fandoms)

In no particular order cause I don’t really have a true top five:

I Can Make Your Heart Race: They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so then what’s the way to a woman’s? Obviously you have to get her heart racing. In which scare tactics does little to impress a scientist, instead it backfires on the detective. Well, maybe not completely. Rated G (ShinShi)

It’s really short, but I find myself thinking about this fic some days. Maybe cause it is a fix it fic of sorts since my heart will never keep the canon ship in tact, and it’s fluffy with the potential for more. They’re my most slowburn ship and it kills me

I Hate Accidents, Except When We Went From Friends To This: Post Black Org and Permanent Antidote. A month-long look into the relationship of Shiho and Shinichi. Written with prompts from flufftober on tumblr. Rated T (ShinShi)

I was actually proud of how I was able to follow not one, not two, but 31 whole prompts! Even though every chapter is super short, but still. I’m the worst at following prompts, so I got excited I was able to get through this and keep my brand of fluff

Lo Lo Love Me: The change from fighting to be Shinichi again, to being her Edogawa. Or the fic where Shiho becomes a little delusional.

“You’re not him.”

“I am.”

“No, you’re not Edogawa Conan. You’re Kudo Shinichi.”

Rated T (CoAi but technically it’s ShinShi)

Truthfully my ending for this verse is just the first chapter, this idea wouldn’t die and I still find myself thinking about it some days. I think I ended it too soon but also don’t think I should’ve added to it beyond the first chapter. So yes I still think about revisiting it all the time

You Belong With Me?: It’s a matter of principle. She was here first and they grew up together for goodness sake! Of course people can change their minds, but she waited patiently for two years with the title as his girlfriend, so how can it be over just like that? It’s not fair. Rated T (ShinShi told from Ran’s pov)

Who would I be if I didn’t include a song fic? And yes while I love that this love affair with this fandom began with Folklore Twist, but I really do have some strong feelings for Ran. And it’s all because of projection, so yes I want better for her and I want her to be her own knight in shining armor and let my queen be the one who gets the romance story book ending for once

A Day Out With The Kids: An impromptu date holds no weight against an already established play date with the Detective Boys. It doesn’t stop Kaito from wooing Shiho anyway, even with the children’s attempts at sabotage. Converting these CoAi shippers to board the kaishi ship may not be as difficult as one might think. It’s a good thing Kaito’s great with kids. Rated G (KaiShi)

I couldn’t resist okay, yes I know my most popular fic is probably one that’s rated E or even my fuck the childhood friends to lover fic. And yeah I do sometimes go back to those verses, but some days kaishi owns my entire heart. So yeah, I had to include one even though I know it’s a crack ship

(A bonus/ honorable mention would be the Fleeting Feelings verse. I would be unstoppable as a multishipper, but alas I’m not.)

[readersandtmnt]

Date me, kinda? Part 1???

Okay here is my Year of the OTP fic for January. Part one at least. I am a Raph fangirl sorry everyone else.

total words: 2,050

"Raphael!" The clanging of metal hits your ears as you rush into the weight room. Raph was already on his feet, his weights abandoned where he dropped them by the bench. His eyes were furrowed in confusion, hands coming to rest on your shoulders.

"You okay? What's wrong?" The last time you used his full name was when he came home with a gash running from his shoulder to his elbow. The time before that, he had eaten the last of your ice cream. Careful eyes checked you over, no sign of external trauma, no soot marks, no gun powder, your eyes weren't red so you hadn't been crying. His brows furrowed in confusion as to what would be so important, he missed how you relaxed under his hold.

"I need you to be my boyfriend." You looked up at him with those eyes and all thought just decided to clip out of his head as if he were a Bethesda game, before crashing down into his stomach all at once. He backed away from you, brows furrowing and you had to bite back the frown as his hands left you. His voice finally came back as he gazed at you incredulously.

"Run that by me again, Princess." You bit your lip, nails absentmindedly picking at the calluses on your fingers. You shot him a quick glance before beginning your pacing, he moved to the wall, leaning against it, not minding the way your eyes lingered on his arms as he got comfortable.

"not my name." You quietly grumbled before returning to the topic at hand. "Look, I just need you to pretend to be my boyfriend. Nothing crazy, a few calls to my great aunt with you next to me, maybe some flirty text messages, and your name JUST your name, no pictures, no video, just a name with red hearts on my online profile." You sigh, taking a seat on the weight bench as Raph continues to watch you.

"Okay, but why do you need a fake boyfriend anyway?" You swallowed down the real reason, covering for time by taking a few sips from his water bottle that he kept near the bench. He didn't need to know that you wanted to ask him out for real. Didn't need to know that you heard him and Leo talking in the kitchen late one night about how 'humans and mutants' just shouldn't be together.

"I need a fake boyfriend so I can continue to hang out with you guys without my great aunt thinking I'm doing drugs." He snorted, and you flashed him a grin. "She doesn't think I'm capable of making friends."

"Can't imagine why." He threw those words out, ignoring the indignant 'hey' that you countered with.

"You guys are my friends, right?" He deflated under the single question, pushing himself from the wall and casually meandering towards you.

"Yeah, course we are. Who else would be stupid enough to befriend yuh?" The bite to his words were almost tender. You stuck your tongue out at him in response.

"Anyway, there's more to it." He shrugs letting you continue, "there's this kid in my algebra class that I've turned down three times, he's just not getting it so I would like to be able to have like a few flirty texts or at least your permission to change your contact name to 'babe' or something in my phone so I have 'proof' that I 'belong' to someone." He scoffed at the air quotes. "And that way I can simply call our hang outs date nights and get out of going to parties. Because the other girls make fun of me for not inviting my friends to the parties they invite me to, but if I tell them 'sorry can't make it to your den of bad decisions because I have a date' then suddenly it's acceptable? And before you ask why I don't go to the parties alone, it's because I know that there will be underage drinking, smoking, and unprotected sex, and I wan't no part in hanging out with people I don't really know drinking lukewarm shitty beer and having some strangers try to grind on me to CBAT." You sigh looking up at Raph as he stands before you.

He takes the water bottle from you, taking a long drink and you decide to continue talking, because your brain to mouth filter just decided to shut off I guess.

"I mean most people that talk to me already know of you and Mikey, only as names on my phone screen mind you. Mikey is ‘shitty meme guy’ and you're ‘asshole with a heart of gold’. I would like for my great aunt to have a voice to go with the name, so just calling her while we're in the lair, or having you text me while I'm in school or something, maybe a phone call? They just have to know that you're not an alarm or something, they do not need to know that you're an attractive mutant turtle. " He choked on the water, the sound causing you to flinch.

"I'm what now?" Those words came out as a croak as soon as he was able to speak again. You could only scoff at his surprise.

"Oh please. You're hot Raph, besides we both know I've been checking you out for months already." His brothers would often tease him about how he 'showed off' for you when you sat in on training, and he did overhear you talking to April about how you couldn't train with the turtles because of how distracting you found him. Still you never said it so bluntly before. Not directly to him anyway.

He mulled over everything in his head before sighing.

"Fine. I'll do it." He noticed how your face lit up, "But first a few ground rules." He internally groaned as your head did the cute little tilt as you listened to his conditions. "No telling any of my brothers about this. No PDA bullshit: hand holding, cuddling, cheek kisses, none of that." You bit back a frown before nodding for him to continue. "And I don't care if you use the relationship to get out of doing dumb shit you don't want to do, but don't expect me to put off my plans jus' because you're bored." You really did frown at that, the retort withering away on your tongue at the look he gave you. "I know you would never, but still."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, you owe me a 'no questions'. Tha' means I tell you 'no questions, do x' and you do it, no asking me why no asking how, none of it. Got it?" You nod not really understanding but you knew he would never ask you to do anything that wasn't for your safety or benefit. Maybe he would just use it on a day when he wanted you out of the lair.

"Got it, you tell me to jump and I jump, won't even ask how high." He gives you a short nod, glad that you understood. "And I know it's not a requirement but I could be your designated gofer when you want something top side? Like yarn or wool from Alice's Knit shop (no idea if it's a real place), picking up pizza or groceries, though I might need your help getting it to the lair. I mean it, just say the word and I’m yours. It’s yours, it’s yours." He sighs as he takes a seat next to you, and you let the buzz of the lights fill the air for a moment before speaking again. "I know I'm asking a lot of you Raph, and I just want to give as good as I get. You know? I enjoy helping you guys out."

"Don't worry about us too much, Princess. Jus don't put anything too flowery as my contact name, got it?" His shoulder carefully bumps into yours and you smile, leaning into his arm.

"Since you seem so insistent on calling me Princess, I might have to start calling you my Prince Charming." He groans as you nudge his arm. "Relax I was thinking something simple, like Babe," you lean over placing a hand on his shoulder, "or My Hero." He stiffened as your breath hit his cheek and he hastily bumped you away.

"Whateva’. You sure you don’t want to ask Mikey to do this?” You watch as his hands tighten to fists in his lap. You swing your leg over the bench, putting your back against his arm.

“There’s a famous saying here in these sewers, that you gotta get the best turtle for the job.” He snorts, letting your body fall against his side as he moves his arms behind him.

“Is tha’ right?”

“Mhmmm, yup, and you,” you turn your head to look at his face, “you are the best turtle I know. So…” You trail off nudging him with your shoulder. “It’s you or bust babe.” You ignore the fake growl with a grin as Raph pushes you off the bench with ease, your laughter growing as he pounces on you, leading to an impromptu wrestling match.

Later that night as Raph lay in his bed, his online social page pulled up on his phone (all the brothers had one though Mikey was the most active, shortly followed by Donnie.) he quickly accepted the little prompt that was sent to him, linking the two profiles together. His name quickly appeared in your bio surrounded by two simple red hearts. He tried not to think about how he was smiling or how the little voice in the back of his head wanted it to be real. The little voice was quickly silenced with Mickey's not so little shouting.

“GUYS! RAPH FINALLY HAS A GIRLFRIEND! BETTER PAY UP DONNIE!” Well shit, so much for not letting his brothers know.

It was too much effort to tell his brothers the truth and Master Splinter had already given his blessing for the union; besides you wouldn’t mind him changing the rules too much. Would you? He buried his face in his hands and groaned, why did he let you drag him into this?

Raph had texted you about his brothers finding out, you responded by calling him and hearing Mikey tease Raph in the background was almost worth the guilt you felt.

“I am so sorry, I completely forgot about it.”

“Don’t worry about it sweetheart. Mikey I will beat the green off of you if you don’t stop! I forgot about ‘em too.” The name was new, the threatening Mikey was not.

“S-sweetheart? Did you not tell your family that you’re doing me a favor?” You could hear Raph’s fist hit something hard, and something, presumably Mikey, hit the floor.

“Told you to leave him alone Mikey.” Leo’s voice sounded in the background.

“He didn’t have to hit me so hard!” Mikey’s whining grew fainter as you presumed Raph walked away.

“Nah, it would take too much effort, ‘sides they all seem to think you got a crush on me or somethin’,” he paused imagining the way you look when you’re flustered, letting the grin creep into his voice, “jus’ no over the top pda and nothing else has to change, right?” You found yourself nodding even though he couldn't see you.

“Right, are you sure it’s okay?”

“Course I am. Not your fault my family’s a pain in the ass. Anyway,” you could hear the TV getting louder in the background, “you should get ready for school, I know you got all those test things comin up, so jus’ focus on studying. An’ don’t worry I won’t beat Mikey up too much, if he keeps his mouth shut.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll see you when the tests are over then?”

“Sounds good to me, doll.” You were almost afraid that the heat from your face would melt the phone.

“I’ll talk to you later, my valiant defender.” He sighed happily as he hung up the phone, tucking it safely into his pocket before sharply turning to give Mikey a proper beat down. You stare down at your phone briefly wondering what would happen if you told Raph you wanted the relationship to be real.

[danpuff-ao3]

23 and 43 for the ask game thingy please and thank u

Hello there! Thanks for the ask! :D

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

Answered here!

43. If you take/write prompts: what’s your favorite prompt fic that you’ve written?

Ooh this is hard! Why must I choose between my babies?? I've participated in many a fest and prompt event. Orange Blossoms was an indulgence of flowers and poetry (for HP Flowers AND my birthday!) Lover Boy At Play is to this day the most self-indulgent bit of hotness I ever wrote, written for Kinktober 2021. In fact, I'm very fond of most of my Kinkuary & Kinktober works!

But in the end I think it really comes down to 2 fest works.

Collateral Damage was written for Draco-Ron Fest 2021. It was a headache and a half to create. (In fact my first draft got to 10k words before I scrapped the whole thing and started fresh.) (Version 2, which is what is posted, ended up at 16k!) It was such a struggle to get through, but in the end I had a product I was beyond proud of!

The prompt was great. Probably my favorite prompt I've ever seen. I won't share it here since the prompt itself spoils the story a bit, but if you're very curious you can find it at the bottom of the fic itself. A friend of mine left that prompt, actually! And the moment I saw it I knew it had to be mine. It helped that, because I was friends with the prompter, they'd be thrilled with certain plot points I had in mind. I'd never had a prompt inspire me to quite that level before. Self-prompts, sure. Prompts from others? Never! I am to this day incredibly in love with that fic. Which is pretty big considering it's not my OTP!

It was a great indulgence of angst and miscommunication and inner turmoil. While also having fun with the characters. They're such a mess! Draco super bratty and dramatic, and a fun blend of insecure and vain. Then Ron this charming and funny guy who is also very oblivious and temperamental. It's a more lighthearted, fun version of the enemies to lovers dynamic that I don't often get with Snarry. Much as I love it, my OTP can be much too much sometimes!

It does make me unsure if I should write Dron again, though. I did it so well already! I'm not sure anything I write can ever compare. (Though it's not stopped me with a certain other ship, so...maybe I'll get over that hesitance one day!)

A Matter of Time was written for Snarry Adopt-a-Prompt and was posted early January 2022. While Collateral Damage was a fun spot of drama, this was a tragedy. And while the prompt for Dron spoke to me right away, I had a harder time narrowing down AAP prompts, and even once I did I had to tinker around with what, exactly, I wanted to do.

It was a different sort of structure than I normally write. Alternating POVs as well as reverse chronology. And I had it open-ended on top of that! I got to indulge in a bit of outsider perspective, and a secret (taboo) romance. It sort of delved into this awful situation without ever really resolving it. Also, I am dang proud of how it ended. Wow. Talk about a knife to the heart. (Of course I'd be proud of that, haha!)

Also...can we talk about the smut???? Very hot. Few people talk about that. Probably because on the whole it's a very depressing fic and most people are caught up in how depressing it is, but gosh dang it, that smut was good!

Anyway...it was another challenge to write, though it feels less oppressive than certain other fics. If only because I took breaks to write a comedy at the same time (Welcome to the Family for Rare Pair Fest.) It lightened my spirits enough to be able to reach the end without too much of a migraine. And in the end, I had a story I was stupidly proud of. And I considered it my best work until I posted Contempt later that same year!

(Also, I know I was supposed to stop signing up for fests, but...my best works came out of fests!!!! I did not need that to click in my brain now, oh no.)

questions for fic writers

[driftward]

Writer's Game: First Sentences

Rules: post the first sentence of your last ten fics. If you haven't written ten fics, share as many first-sentences as you have.

Tagged by @autumnslance! Gremlin ❤️

I am tagging @yloiseconeillants, @sasslett, and gosh @autumnslance already tagged pretty much everyone else I could think of, so that's the short list. 1. A Place to Call Home, a work based on a piece of art I commissioned, about when Y'shtola and Zoissette finally settle down (if they ever settle down):

She was not completely certain that she was capable of truly getting used to sharing a space with someone else once more.

2. Can Bottomless Hearts fill Bottomless Voids?, a speculative piece based on a recent ship meme, where someone asked about Zoissette and Lyse.

Zoissette walked slowly in between the cots in the infirmary in the Rising Stones, fingers barely not touching the bodies that rested in each one as she passed them by.

3. How Do You Do It, which is another piece based around a comm. Unlike A Place to Call Home, where I wrote after the art had been made, I had this piece written and in mind when I requested the comm, and then adjusted it to the comm after the art arrived.

Zoissette was asleep on her stomach in bed, the night’s activities having spent her, and Y’shtola was now wiling away the late hours of the night.

4. The Witch and the Shieldmaiden, my latest short story, about two children from very different cultures meeting one another.

She was nervous, and she was excited, both at the same time, and both feelings hummed and buzzed up and down inside of her and she was not sure where one ended and the other began.

5. Different, an entry for Year of the OTP, and it is kind of doing set up work for things to come later.

This one was different, her cousin Zel had said.

6. I know what I am doing is a series of vignettes centered on a theme throughout Zoissette’s life, which I am beginning to think may be one of my favourite styles of writing.

Zoissette looked up at the training dummy.

7. Meya (Savage) is based on a joke a friend of mine made in Discord, and which I felt compelled to expand upon. Mind the rating on this one, it has some sexual content.

Meya and Y'shtola had spent a most pleasant time together.

8. Noumenon Learning Hours, a shorter piece - I meant to write a bunch of shorter scenes, starting with this one, but that did not gel. This one shows Zoissette and Y’shtola handling the briefest moment of tension.

Y'shtola found the section she wanted to look into next, and saw Zoissette there, sitting on the floor.

9. Begin Again is, more than usual, a story that’s more for me than anything. It’s a companion piece to the next entry.

Zoissette woke up in the Baldesion Annex.

10. Icemelt is about Zoissette dealing with some extremely complicated emotions, or rather, not dealing with them, and maybe finally getting some help for that.

She held on for so long.

Looking back at all of these, I am actually surprised at how short a great many of them are. Also, when I stop to think, I usually try to -ask a question- very early on in the start of my stories, which gets answered over the course of the work. Some of these do that, but not as many as I would have guessed. I have definitely read the advice that you have about the first sentence of a story to hook a reader, and some of these I think make decent hooks, but just as many of them are simply setting up. This strikes me as okay; not everything needs to follow formula. Enlightening, in interesting ways.

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

The Song That Would Match Husk x Blitzwing’s Ship....Would be “I Kissed A Boy” by Cobra Starship.

[Note: Do Not Reblog Without Permission.] 

even though I wasn’t planning to post anything else after the last few post, and the one where it has a Sonic Prime OC called “Doctor Lady Eclair”

but after deciding to look at a few more fan arts before I sign off....

thanks to a fan art of Husk x Blitzwing.....the Crossover OTP is strong with this one.....and the song that comes to mind and that I’m listening to right now because of that fan art.....is “I Kissed A Boy” by Cobra Starship. 

I’m still gonna ship Wreckout, which is one of the ship names for TFA Wreck-Gar x TFP Knockout.

when I can, I might draw that crossover ship that has to do with Wreckout.

and yeah thanks to Husk x Blitzwing, the song “I Kissed A Boy” came to mind...

of course for Husk, it be “I Kissed A Mech” and he liked it...

wait, will they kiss....?

also I know that Devil from the Cuphead Show is a Himbo.....but I wonder if Charlie’s Dad from Hazbin Hotel will be a Himbo....

I still wish he could be voiced by Weird Al, but I know that might not be possible, but one can dream.....like the funny idea of some former humans turned sinner demons chanting for Charlie’s Dad to sing Polka Face, because he sounds like Weird Al.

I mean he voiced Wreck-Gar from TFA and even Cheese Sandwich from MLP Friendship is Magic, and he is one of the few people I’m glad are distant cousins with, which once again just because I found that out, doesn’t mean we know each other....and don’t ask me any favors that has to do with those I find out I’m distant related to....cause I know it wouldn’t be possible.

 but yeah one of my impossible dreams and wishful thinking, is that Weird Al ends up voicing Lucifer Morningstar from the Hazbin Hotel series.

once again I know it might not be possible, but we could view it that his voice sounds like Weird Al in some Fanon Timelines.

maybe weirdness runs in the family, well that would explain why we found out that Weird Al is a distant cousin.

anyway, thanks to Husk and Blitzwing being so freaking cute and showing such a cute moment, the thought of a song “I kiss a boy” by Cobra Starship comes to mind.....I guess I am weird for having it pop into my thoughts thanks to seeing them being all adorkable.

I wonder if Blitzwing knows that Lugnut is a Himbo....?

well we all know that King Dice’s on again off again boyfriend Devil from the Cuphead Show, is in deed a Himbo.....and he can’t deny it either~ XD

so the chances of Charlie’s Dad being a Himbo in the canon, is possibly very VERY small. as well as it being very small that he would be voice by Weird Al....

okay I know it might not be possible, but let me dream. lol              

now I’m going to sign off and go play on my Xbox One...