#ouat fandom rant

[ouatsnark]

Hi. This isn’t an ask or anything, just me ranting since this is the only place for it tbh. I literally can’t find any OUAT blogs that have similar opinions 😢

Anyway on to the rant

I absolutely HATE that they didn’t do more with Henry’s character! Henry is my favourite character in the show for many reasons, the main one being that he is the backbone of the entire show in my eyes. Without him, Emma never would’ve gone to Storybrooke, and there wouldn’t even be a show at that point.

Henry was a child at the beginning of the series (10 or 11, I don’t remember) so it gave them a lot of room to basically do whatever they wanted with him. I personally would’ve loved to see him go dark, but maybe that’s just me. It would’ve been cool to mix it up seeing as many of the villains in OUAT had a redemption arc of some sort, so seeing someone go from good to bad, instead of good to bad to good again, would’ve been interesting. Again, maybe that’s just me lol.

My point is, Henry being so young at the beginning they basically had a blank canvas and could’ve painted anything on it. Instead he turned out to be a lot like David (one of my least favourites in the show) which kind of pissed me off ngl.

And in my opinion, it would’ve made a lot of sense for Henry to turn bad. Let’s face it, he was never exactly treated fairly to say the least, especially as a child. I know a lot of people like to try and sugarcoat this or just plain act like it didn’t happen, but Regina was awful to him. And so was Emma. I want to sit here and list out all the shit they did to him, but that would be way too long and would take forever, so go back and watch the show if you don’t remember. Let’s just say it includes years of gaslighting, manipulation, and being so ignorant to the point where he had to poison himself because no one would listen to him, and that’s not even the half of it.

Henry always came across as someone who would be pretty morally grey to me, even if he was technically on the good side. Remember his little run-in with Cruella in the Underworld? I haven’t watched the show in a while so correct me if anything is incorrect, but didn’t he literally agree to work with her for something? (I can’t remember what LMAO) Even though she’s a villain. Regardless of the reason for working with her, I doubt you’d see Snow/Mary Margaret or David/Charming working with her, or even Regina at that stage in the series.

Even if they didn’t make him evil, they could’ve done literally anything with his character besides making him a near copy of Charming. They could’ve at least given him his own storyline (I know he technically had his own in S7, but I don’t count that because it was shit lmao, it wasn’t even the same actor 😭). Those two episodes where Henry had to go into the Heroes and Villains book to save his family were the best episodes in the series for me and it would’ve been amazing to see more of it.

Anyway so sorry for the long ass rant 😭😭 Really hope you can post this to see other people’s thoughts, but no pressure since I know you’re not as insane about Henry’s character as I am lmao 💀

So what do you guys think? Leave your thoughts in the comments (or reblogs)!

I lost all interest in Henry once they retconned him and ignored Regina's abuse just so they could have her join team hero.

Personally, I have never had a need to see heroes go dark. There seems to be this huge obsession with that as of late and I honestly don't get it. Like people wanted to see Dark Swan go all the way and I am like "no, no it makes her special that she was able to resist. So no." But alas that is my opinion on that. We had enough villains. I didn't need to see Emma's son become one.

[darklybound]

Would people be interested in a watch party for Season 1 of Once Upon a Time?

I'm new to the fandom, and was thrilled by how active it still is! I've noticed there's quite a few people I've seen making posts about rewatching OUaT, so I thought I'd throw this out there to see if people were interested. I know the show's old now, but I think it'd be super cool to help the fandom come together and revitalize the love for the show. Maybe bring in new people as well!

So even though I'm a newbie, I thought I'd send this out and see what others think. Reblog/share to spread this around. Thank You!

[victoriously-regal]

my OUAT ships tier list

I had to make like, six new categories because the options that were already there could not possibly describe half of these ships. There’s wayyy too much history behind each pair to simply put them in a row called ‘I like it’ or ‘I think they’re cute’. Anyway, lmk if you agree or disagree with my rankings.

[fandom-fae]

honestly i really don’t like those hot takes that hook was the good guy/peter pan was the real villain-

first of all for the original storyt;

here it’s true that pan does morally questionable stuff and that he’s not a purely good guy in the original, that’s not wrong, but he’s also not pure evil. he was literally willing to die for wendy in the original story and he did save the lost boys and the darlings from the pirates towards the end and he did let the lost boys and the darlings all leave neverland even if he wasn’t happy about it (which imo is understandable, because what kid would ever be happy about all their friends choosing to leave them? yk) (alsohe doesn’t kidnap them, the darling siblings literally wanted to go with hims. that argument makes no fucking sense). anyway like he’s obviously no angel and these good things don’Ät cancel out his bad deed (like breathing rapidly to kill as many grown ups as possible (that was hilarious tho ngl) or killing pirates for fun or cutting off hook’s hand), but to say that he’s pure evil is just plain wrong. like i would say he’s very much chaotic neutral. and especially with the level of forgetful the original character has, i really don’t think he can be called evil. he’s just childish through and through yk? yk, careless, not thinking about consequences, selfishness, but also whimsy. i don’t to forget the line people always point to to claim that he kills the lost boys when they grow up, but i also disagree with that becuase the phrasing “thins them out” is ambiguous at best and doesn’t confirm anything.

and now for hook in the original. he’s literally the most one dimensional villain i’ve ever seen (which i think is on purpose). iirc, he explicitly kills members of his pirate crew for iirc pretty minor stuff. and he’s a child’s arch nemesis. that alone is imo enough to disqualify him as the “secret good guy” some “theorists” want to turn him into. he attacks kids guys. in what world would a secretly good guy do that? especially cuz he doesn’t even just attack pan himself, but he also kidnapped the lost boys and wendy and her brothers. people like to claim based on pretty much nothing that he wants to save the other lost boys from pan, but really i don’t think making them walk the plank is really “saving” lol. like idk about you, but that’s not my definition of saving someone. and then that idea that he’s a former/the first lost boy who escaped pan and that his crews are also former lost boys. where did they even get that from?? that has no basis in the original story unless i missed like half the book when reading it lmao. just no. like that’s a fun au, sure- but to act like it’s the “hidden true story” behind the tale is just bullshit at best.

but then sometimes people also specifically point to the (animeted) disney version of the story when discussing theory, and here i have to say that it makes even less sense tbh. like pan is morally better in that movie than the original tbh (he still does questionable stuff obviously, but still) and hook is just as one dimensionally evil as in the original imo.

the only version i know where that theory would actually make any sense is the “once upon a time” one, but ouat does not have the best track record of accurate adaptations, so idk how anyone would genuinely think that could be a good argument for that “theory”

[littleblackraincloudofcourse]

So this is not to comment on either side of the Marina vs Penelope/Lady Whistledown argument. That would be an extremely long and detailed rant that I might do later. I will say that both Ruby Barker and Nicola Coughlan seem wonderful and I have nothing negative to say about either of them (and wish to hear nothing negative of either)! This is simply because the antis are ramping up again and I keep coming across a certain video. There is one phrase people have been quoting and I cannot keep myself from saying this anymore. You are all incorrect because you can, in fact, "Disneyfy a Dichhead". *Murder, Kidnapping, Manipulation/Mind Control,Torture even Sexual Assault have all forgiven and sometimes, at least seemingly, forgotten. The worst villans have been given a redemption arc and considered good or even heroic by the end and it all started with a new look and Tale of True Love.

Whats truly insane is that It Worked! It worked so well that it ran for SEVEN season!

FOR FUCKS SAKE, It only ended 5 years ago. There was even a one season spinoff with a complete story!

And this was all done on ABC with Disney characters portrayed as adults. So maybe we're all being a little hard on the teenagers in Netflix's regency Shondaland.

[ragsweas]

Guess who has a Ko-fi now!!!

You know what this means!! Commissions are open!!!

Here's all the fandoms I write for:

Marauders Era

The Hobbit

Once Upon a Time

MCU up till Endgame

Selected Thai BLs

Original Work

Feel free to reach out for pairings, themes, stories.

What I won't write: NSFW, Gore, unhappy ending (that thats negotiable)

[grtmnick]

>;(**Rant mode activated!**>;(

For some in the SwanQueen fandom, season 6 was a bit of a mixed bag, myself included. There were certainly some high points, such as the wish realm, but so too were there low points. Some of the worst offenses took the form of missed opportunities.

One such whiff, was the character sometimes called “Hyde” Evil Queen, a doppelgänger who was the manifestation of Regina’s darker parts, and was unintentionally created by Regina’s usage of Dr. Jekyll’s serum to extract the blackness from within her heart.

“Hyde” Evil Queen could have been used to tell a variety of incredibly interesting and thought provoking stories. One of the more obvious possibilities was related to themes of identity, such as a ship of Theseus esc. narrative.

Instead, fans received the typical evil twin tropes, and not in the good way. The worst offense of which was when the writer’s engineered a way to tell the two apart, by having “Hyde” Evil Queen get her face scratched.

So much wasted potential.

(Thanks to reginamills_._._ on Instagram for bringing additional attention to the conundrum of “Hyde” Evil Queen)

[blackbird-brewster]

Meta: Jemily Queerbaiting

With the huge influx of posts saying 'Jemily is gonna be canon', I really appreciated seeing this post because OP was completely correct. I didn't want to write an entire dissertation as a reply, so I'm making my own post with my personal opinion on this. (All sources are noted in footnotes)

Before I began this rant, for anyone who thinks this is anti-Jemily. It is not. I have shipped Jemily for 18 friggin years and that's never going to change. This post is specifically my thoughts about queer baiting.

First off, I need to note that the showrunners (and the cast members who use social media) KNOW what a huge queer following this show has and that's why we got pansexual Tara Lewis in S16 [1]. Which, in itself, was SOOOOOOO important!!! Our first canonically queer main in SIXTEEN seasons was a middle-aged Black woman!!! That's phenomenal. (The fact it was horrible rep, because they instantly ruined her relationships once her queerness served it's plot point is a whole other post entirely)

In my opinion, the 'big Jemily moment' Paget posted about on Twitter [2] (and AJ hinted at during a recent IG live) is simply queerbaiting to get people to watch S17. I know a lot of you are newer to the fandom and I love your enthusiasm, I really do, ship and let ship, but listen, let's be real, Jemily is not going to be made canon. The showrunners aren't going to suddenly say (after 17 seasons) 'Surprise, Jemily is endgame'. This show has never cared about queer rep and now that CBS/Paramount have already ticked their queer rep box with Tara, they won't be in any rush to add any other characters to it.

Please buckle in, I've got a lot of thoughts on this matter --

What is Queerbaiting?

If you aren't aware of what queerbaiting is, here's a good definition:

Historically, queerbaiting has carried two meanings: the first is an act of aggressive heterosexuality to shut down queer subtext on screen while still teasing and catering to the queer audience in advertising, public relations, and fan engagement strategies; the second is an existing homoerotic tension between two characters played up on screen while met with derision by the professionals behind the scenes. [3]

The Medium article quoted here is from 2017, a time when parasocial relationships were really starting to take over social media. In 2024, actors are now only a mention or tag away online, they have direct conversations with fans, and this process has allowed for an even deeper form of queerbaiting.

Oftentimes online, actors are asked directly about certain ships and while some ignore these questions (usually to avoid breaking their contracts or other repercussions), others (looking at you, Paget) choose to instead tease fans about queer ships. She's done this for years upon years and if I've learned anything in the past twenty-years of existing in fandom spaces it's this -- don't hold your breath. In it's original meaning, for something to be deemed as queerbaiting there had to be malicious, or at least, purposeful intent to string queer fans along by teasing them with suggestive content about the ship in question, while knowing this ship will never come to fruition in canon.

The thing to remember is, Paget and AJ aren't the only ones who know about Jemily shippers -- the network and showrunners are well aware of this ship too. When networks/showrunners figure out they have a strong sapphic fanbase, they love to use that to their advantage to get more viewers and higher ratings. Queerbaiting is a goldmine to keep fans watching long running shows, look at Rizzoli and Isles, Supergirl, and OUAT for examples of this.

Jemily and Queerbaiting:

Ever since Emily joined the BAU in S2 (2006), there have always been fans who ship JJ/Emily (shoutout to the old LJ forums!). Way before celebs were just a tweet away from fans, back when all our fics began with disclaimers so we wouldn't get sued by networks, we went to great lengths to keep our fanworks far removed from actors/showrunners attention.

As far as Jemily goes, this reply from Paget in a 2009 interview with TVGuide.com [4] (which has now been deleted from their site unfortunately, but there are quotes on Tumblr still [4.a]) confirmed some fans' worst fear -- the actors had found our fanworks online.

TVGuide.com: Of course, a band of fans want her to hook up with Hotch.

Brewster: I know! I didn't realize that fans make these videos on YouTube? A.J. Cook sent me a hilarious one that made it look like Prentiss and J.J. were having a secret lesbian affair. You know, when Hotch was blown up in the SUV, we shot this scene where he's in the hospital and I'm standing next to him, looking at his bleeding ear. Our director came in and said, "Paget, you're looking at Hotch like you're in love with him. It looks really weird." So now, every day, Thomas [Gibson] and I flutter our eyelids at each other.

This was the first time I recall anyone acknowledging Jemily shippers publicly and at the time (Jan 2009), the show was still in Season Four (just before CBS fired both AJ and Paget [5]). Paget genuinely said it's 'hilarious' that fans shipped JJ/Emily. Even now, I'll see people say 'We know Paget and AJ have seen Jemily fanvids, so they obviously ship it too' -- but those same people rarely acknowledge the full context of the original answer. Paget not only thought JJ/Emily were 'hilarious', but then she doubled down and turned her reply back to how she and Thomas liked to play up the chemistry between Emily/Hotch.

While no one can say for sure which video it was that AJ sent Paget, just knowing they were watching JJ/Emily fanvids sent a bit of a shockwave through the femslash side of the fandom. To some it felt like an invasion of privacy, fanworks are by fans for fans -- knowing the cast were poking around in fandom spaces added an extra layer of worry around what we fans were posting online. Fifteen years ago, it used to be quite taboo for actors to outwardly discuss shipping or other fanon for whatever show they were in, and we fans were usually comfortably removed from the actors altogether.

Of course, now it's the norm for fans and actors/showrunners to co-exist online and interact with one another. This connection has opened new ways for shows to queerbait their fans. Pretty much every show has some form of social media account now and there is no doubt that the people running those accounts keep up with the most popular ships and hashtags. Not to mention that actors are constantly barraged with questions about whether they ship their character with x,y,z, or whether they think a ship should be made canon, etc. These interactions only serve to benefit the shows themselves, because whether the conversation is for or against a certain ship, it's all just free publicity (Why do you think CM now has a TikTok account?)

Every time AJ or Paget say anything about Jemily, the queer side of the fandom loses their minds. But this has been going on for YEARS now and every single time, it turns out to be nothing but social media hype and queerbaiting. Remember this AJ post? [6] Or what about the notorious reply by Paget to a fan, where she talks about how she and AJ held hands under the table 'for the shippers' [7] I've seen this cycle over and over again, so perhaps I am cynical, but I'm not getting my hopes up that Jemily will ever seriously be canon.

It's widely known now, after both Kirsten [8] and Paget [9] have talked about it, that there was an early idea where Prentiss was supposed to be queer, but that was ultimately scraped before it ever made it on screen. For context, please remember, this show has been airing for nearly twenty years. It began in 2005, during the highly conservative Bush administration. Queer people didn't have rights in the US, we couldn't get married, we were rarely protected under discrimination laws, and we could even be fired for simply being queer (in some states). Diverse queer representation on screen was extremely limited to things like 'The L Word' and 'Queer as Folk' (both aired on Showtime, so they were behind a paywall. And as far as tLw goes, that show was extremely male-gaze focused and is horrible in nearly all regards if you try to rewatch it now). As far as prime time shows went, queer rep was even more rare. Which is why Emily wasn't queer from the get-go.

Yes, things have changed since 2006 in terms of queer rep on TV. We have a myriad of queer identities represented in TV and film nowadays, which is why I think it's so easy for newer fans to say 'lf she was supposed to be gay anyway, they should just make Emily queer in canon!' I know this is what fuels most fans' demands for Emily being confirmed queer, and I get it, I DO. I would be all for it! However, I do not, in one hundred years, actually believe that is going to happen after they already canonically queer confirmed Tara in S16. The fact we even got ONE queer character is ground-breaking for this show.

It's also worth noting, that in the time between Paget's departure in 2012 and her return in 2016, she became very active on Twitter. This was when more and more fans began asking her about Jemily and after Kirsten's AfterEllen interview, fans also pushed for Paget to address the possibility of Emily being gay. 'Pushed' is actually an understatement for some of the outright harassment she would receive. (AJ received some of this harassment too, but less so because she doesn't use social media ass often) Back then, neither of them replied to these things directly. Yet, no matter what either woman posted, the replies were full of Jemily stans begging for her acknowledgement. (Did you know 'stan' is literally a term coined for stalker fans?) I remember one time AJ's friend was missing and she posted info on her IG about it, you know what the replies were? People asking her about Jemily. It was genuinely sickening.

Within this context, it was no surprise to fans when Emily came back in S12 , she and JJ's friendship was seemingly erased. The two women were rarely on screen together in the late seasons, plus the writers saw fit to even give Emily not only one (Mark in London, but two, on-screen boyfriends for the first time in the entire series. I personally do not think these changes to Emily's character were coincidence, I saw the hellscape of what people would say to AJ and Paget online and I fully believe that upon Paget's return to the show, the showrunners purposely tried to distance JJ and Emily to dissuade the more abusive side of the fanbase.

Can I prove that, no. But it is the only reason I can think of as to why Emily S12+ seemingly didn't care about JJ anymore, despite their deep and meaningful friendship. I mean, they both CROSSED THE WORLD to go rescue each other in prior canon -- but when Emily comes back, they acted like they barely knew each other. This was even more prevalent in S16, when JJ's main storylines all revolved around Will, and Emily barely looked at JJ in the entirety of ten episodes. (Remember how Prentiss didn't even hug JJ after bomb, but she did go hug Luke?)

So, do Paget and AJ earnestly ship Jemily, or are they continuing the long tradition of queerbaiting us? Who fucking knows, not me. But based on the history of this fandom, I think I can make a safe bet. (Interestingly, if you search all of Paget's twitter for the word 'Jemily' [10] she only has 3 direct tweets mentioning the ship. I don't think it's a coincidence that two are within the past few months since they started filming S17 (the other one was a RT of Kirsten (who tagged something Jemily)

This is all to say --

Just because Paget and AJ have publicly talked about Jemily,, this doesn't mean it's ever going to happen on screen. And you know what, THAT'S OKAY!! There has been this constant outcry (after Tara became queer confirmed) of 'Do Emily next' or 'Why wasn't it Emily with a girlfriend!?' and 'Jemily needs to be canon in S17!' -- as if people believe their ships aren't worth anything unless they are canon.

That couldn't be further from the truth! Fandom is built on headcanons and fan interpretations and rare pairs and all types of shippers. Your ship does NOT need to be canon for you to enjoy it. I will ship Jemily forever, no matter what. I don't think there will be some magical queer plot in S17, at best, we might actually get to see Emily/JJ on screen together again and after the train wreck that was S16 -- I'll take whatever I can get.

And hey -- if I am completely wrong, if Erica Messer pulls a Korrasami out of her hat, I will be ecstatic. I will be happy to be proved wrong, but at the same time, I'm not going to lose sleep over it and I'm DEFINITELY not going to go hound the actors about it on social media.

Sources:

[1] 2022 Digital Spy article about the importance of Tara's coming out

[2] 04/18/24 Paget Tweet

[3] 2017 Queerbaiting article from medium.com

[4] 2009 Broken TVGuide link

[4.a] Tumblr quote from the above TVGuide Interview

[5] 2010 Kirsten interview screenrant.com

[6] 2019 AJ Instagram Post

[7] 2020 Paget video on Twitter (via @karasluthqr)

[8] 2015 Kirsten interview AfterEllen.com

[9] 2016 Paget Interview CriminalMindsFans.com

[10] @PagetPaget search 'Jemily'

[mayormillstho]

HELLO FRIENDS I am a fandom old who's coming back after an extended hiatus to get a masters degree and i need new ouat friends! THIS IS YOUR INVITATION TO MESSAGE ME please tell me your head canons and your long rants about regina and emma and swan queen and ouat in general and even if you're a fan of other ships, please come talk, let's be friends!

I've been around in fandom since the show started airing, I have such good fic recs, I promise.

OKAY BYE.

[alpydk]

THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT MY FELLOW WRITERS

this is a super fun tag prompt list, thanks @orangekittyenergy

tagging: @sofancydancy and @senualothbrok

Right, let's see how this goes.

Last book I read: Pride and Prejudice. Had never read it before but the whole Tim Downie cameo got me doing it. Then watched the BBC series with a friend and we swooned something major over Colin Firth. I've picked up some other books since then but just haven't found the motivation to get through them. Looking at Dark Tower book 5 as well for the last year...

Greatest literary inspiration: I'm honestly not sure. My partner is the real reader of the two of us. I've enjoyed Dark Tower, The Witcher Series (Honestly still in love with Cahir from them), and Leaves of Grass is my poetry go-to. But inspiration, going to be silly but the Hardcore series by Andy Remic (RIP), is such a great series of books. They're not the most literary genius type books but the action is cool, I love the characters. They make me want to write cool shit too.

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write:

Smut. Honestly, my abilities with writing smut are limited. I have no patience for flowery language (yeah I write poetry but I know what I mean.) but it means when it comes to writing my own smut it is very matter-of-fact and lacks what I'm looking for. I'm also very picky about my smut due to an annoying logical brain. If you say someone moves their arm and then they move something else I see that and if I can't follow it directly I'm just going to put it down.

You can recognise my writing by:

Lots of short prose-type sentences. I like the effect of repetition and I especially like writing in a more personal talking type way. I especially love to monologue so if anyone does recognise my writing it's probably from these things. I especially love writing anything angst, it's so therapeutic and I love being able to draw out emotions from other people. I can do this with sweet fluff stuff too but angst really is more enjoyable.

My most controversial take ( current fandom):

I hate the word folds. (Not fandom relations but still.) Makes me think of a packed ham sandwich.

Fandom-related though - Astarion fans can get pretty feral over their views of his character. I get it, Gale fans are the same but I've left groups over the rabidness.

Current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut): Currently about a 4 but it can vary depending on the hour and the inspiration. I completed the Nana story and now feel a little lost as to what the next project will be. Ideas are escaping me.

Top three favourite tropes: The whole "enemy to lovers" thing. I mean this in a 2 people who argue and fall in love, not as in the real enemies to lovers.

Star-crossed lovers, especially if they really are both doomed. Astarion/Karlach if she is going to burn up. I love that tragic acceptance. Give me more of that.

I like a loveable rogue too. Hook from OUAT.

Share a random frustration: AU fiction losing characterisations. Once your fiction hits a point where you could replace the characters with any other from any other series I'm going to stop reading it. Great, you want X to be sub, but if he wouldn't actually act that way in canon, why are you even using him as a character? It's AU, fine but then make it OC or use another fandom. Don't force me to read through 13 chapters of semi-ok stuff just to destroy the characters so you can fulfil the soap opera-esque drama that gets you the hits. I get it's difficult but this is my pet peeve. Rant over...

[killianxswan]

Challenge for you: Rant on something ouat related but not Captain Swan

oof. you got me on this one. this will be tough.

of course i could talk about how i unironically love the musical episode and how the songs from it actually bring me so much joy and comfort. i think the melodies and overall themes are beautiful, even if the lyrics are basic and sometimes too "disney singalong" feeling.

but...i'll admit. a lot of that has to do with how it culminates with the cs wedding and their 'happy beginning' and all...so i'll steer clear of that (unless someone asks for separate post about it, which, fine, twist my arm, i'll probably write one eventually anyway) i'm going to rant about my beloved, henry swan mills. because i loved his character from the start and i always will. i know he gets a lot of shit in this fandom, and i will defend him through all of it (aside from criticisms of jared's acting, which i do think are valid, it was his first gig and he grew up on that set, etc). i think i'm in the same boat as a lot of people of not liking the entire author plot line (maybe 'not liking' isn't the right phrase, more agonizing over the lost potential), but if anyone was going to be the author i am so glad that it was henry, and i think it fits well with the canon. at the end of the day the whole show comes back to emma and henry. and if it's one thing we know about henry, it's that he has the heart of the truest believer and he cares about getting everyone their happy ending. henry and the book are the crux of the show from season one for me, so it makes sense to ME that the fate of the book be in his hands (and i love his moment of breaking the pen, such a harry potter deathly hallows part ii moment of harry breaking the elder wand if you know what i mean) additionally, i cannot pass up the opportunity to talk about captain cobra. (i actually have a side blog captain-cobra that i might end up using one day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) but yeah. their relationship means so much to me. the connection they both have to bae, the way killian gets a second chance at being a father figure to none other than bae and emma's son like agsjkfd god i don't agree with the writers a lot but to me that is truly brilliant writing. i also love the antics they get up to together, both of their mischievous plotting sides, the way they both just want the best for emma, killian teaching him to sail, etc etc.

okay okay there was a little cs in there but i TRIED to keep it brief. thank you for the ask!!! this was a really interesting challenge for my rat brain and a perfect opportunity for a henry appreciation post.

you asked for a rant and you got one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

send me more things to rant about <33

[not-wholly-unheroic]

Things that I am tired of seeing in the Peter Pan fandom:

Dark, edgy retellings with Peter as the villain. Been there, done that. It’s not new anymore. Be more creative.

Hook being turned into some goth Jack Sparrow wannabe. OUAT isn’t the only version that has done this, but it’s definitely the most popular. To be entirely fair, I enjoy OUAT…but Killian is NOT James Hook anymore than Rumple is Prince Adam. Also, just…Hook can be attractive while still actually looking like Hook. Case in point: Jason Isaacs in the 2003 film.

Sexually explicit retellings and drawings. I know everyone’s entitled to make their own fics and drawings, but please at least tag your stuff that’s explicit and stop making me need eyeball bleach. It’s a children’s story, and my mind would like to maintain the innocence. Barrie would be rolling in his grave if he saw some of the stuff out there.

Turning Hook into a pedophile. This goes along with the above but is even worse because YIKES. Hook is a lot of things, but a pedo he is not. There is literally no hint in the book or play that he feels that way about ANYONE, much less a kid, and it’s super gross. Just…no. There’s a quote from Disney’s Straight on Til Morning (Twisted Tale series) from one of the pirates talking to Wendy about Hook that I think about sums it up: “He might slit your throat, but the rest of you is safe.”

And finally…Hook is a former Lost Boy trope. This one isn’t terrible. I don’t mind it all that much. It’s just been done so many times, and it isn’t really consistent with the book. Hook canonically attended Eton, and he couldn’t have realistically done so unless he either went to Neverland BEFORE he went to Eton or left Eton after having been there only very briefly. But most of the “Hook was a Lost Boy” retellings don’t allow any room for Eton at all and I feel like it’s a pretty essential part of who he is. It’s why he’s so hung up on “good form.” Expressing his loyalty to Eton is literally the last thing Barrie’s Hook says before he dies. (“Floreat Etona” - “May Eton flourish.”) You can’t take that part of his history away from him and have the same character.

Okay, rant over. I just needed to get that out.

[ohumokay]

Hiya, this is my blog. I don't care what you refer to me as; I'm just here to rant, make you laugh (hopefully 😭), and say what people ain't willing to say.

My pronouns are She/They. I am *deep ass inhale* demiromantic, asexual (demiace questioning), biromantic, demiNB (demigirl), and a walking queer magnet.

I'm 16, but I talk like a Victorian poet on a good day (Chicago drug dealer on a bad). I am a Black American on the East Coast and I'm not really sure all what information I should put in here 😀

I like to draw (drew my pfp) and write stories, tho it's unlikely I'll post any of those here. I may, only because I use platforms like this to emote, but Anxiety still kicking my ass.

Ooo, I'm in a ton of fandoms. *Deep inhale again* PJOU, HTTYD, MLP, SBG, SAB, SOC, OUAT, TVDU, (honorary) HP, WFA, ect. (I'll add more as I find the communities on here).

Um, that's about all. You can ask whatever, I overshare and yap uncontrollably so 🤷🏾‍♀️. Okay, bye (like bye on this post, not the blog. Enjoy my blog)!

[arokel]

lol MY SISTER’S QUOTE wasn’t about you. CS = Captain Swan from OUAT. And she was talking about Gale x Katniss, and Hiccup x anyone but Astrid fics. We didn’t even know your blog existed until you started jumping to conclusions and sending me hate asks.

Dear God okay. I really, really wish I didn't have to do this because I hate fandom drama with a passion, but I mistakenly opened a can of worms and now I feel obligated to deal with it, so here we go.

1) You have reblogged and liked my fics and wip posts before. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say you don't check usernames very carefully, but to say you didn't know I was an author (as you said in your reply to my ask) or that you didn't know I existed (as you say here) is a bit hard to believe. But whatever, the post wasn't about me, apologies for jumping to conclusions.

2) I know what Captain Swan is. I also know that you've been tagging rant posts with "which cs do I mean??? I guess we'll never know", coincidentally timed with passive aggressive posts in the bitb tag directly referencing recently posted Don/Bobby headcanons. I - and everyone else - just ignore them because they're not worth starting fights over, but you're not as subtle as you think you are.

3) I don't know how to say this nicely, so I'll just say it. The fandom is not on your side. Or if they are, those people aren't in the tag. No one I have spoken to agrees with you. If there are lots of people who think like you do, great! Hang out with them! Create another tag where you don't have to deal with the kind of stuff we're posting in the main tag!

4) When you write fic about Don and Kate, is that rpf? Even though he had a girlfriend at the time the story takes place, who he later married? Because if so, you're just as bad as I am for disrespecting his memory. If not, then I'm equally within my rights to imagine a fictional relationship for him, with Bobby or with anyone I choose. Pick one or the other, but you can't set a double standard here.

5) Everything I said in my ask - which was politely worded and not nearly as hateful as it could have been - remains true. Looking through your blog it seems like seeing stuff about the boys being queer is really upsetting for you, and I reiterate what I said before: blacklist it. You're willingly subjecting yourself to stuff that upsets you and then blaming us for shoving it down your throat.

So. Can we just not do this?

To everyone else, let it lie please. I waded into a hornet's nest and that's on me, but we don't need to stir it up any more than it already has been.

[aayo-whatt]

tagged by @herefortears thanks sm lovie, i love tag games

Your name: i typically go by 'aayo' online, but sometimes it's 'lucinda' (either or i don't mind-)

Your first fandom(s): uhh, in all honesty either Haikyuu, Harry Potter, or mcyt stuff- i honestly don't remember it was so long ago-

Your current fandom(s): Supernatural, Merlin, ACOTAR, TWD, Stranger Things, Throne of Glass, TGS, POTC, OUAT, Haikyuu and MHA

How did you first get into fandom? I've honestly got no idea- uhh, i just started watching/reading a bunch of series and one day i got bored and went searching (online) for someone i could rant to about everything, and who would understand what im going on about- (totally didn't started on wattpad-)

How long have you been engaging in fandom spaces? hmm, minimum five years, but it was really scattered and i didnt do much in the early days

How often do you read fanfics? not often enough, i try to read as many as i can, though i can almost never find the time to

Top three characters from your current fandom(s): Supernatural: gabriel, gadreel, charlie Merlin: gwaine, gwen, and merlin ACOTAR: helion, cassian (pfp), tarquin/mor TWD: glenn, maggie/carl, negan Stranger Things: robin, dustin, erica (OR eddie) Throne of Glass: fenrys, dorian, lysandra/aedion (cant choose 😭😭) TGS: rachel, hyde and lanyon for sure POTC: sobbing, i havent watched this in ages (minimum 5 years) i can barely remember these people- OUAT: regina, hook and henry Haikyuu: sakusa, suna anddd either tsumu or bokuto MHA: kaminari, kirishima, sero

Have you ever written fic for a fandom? God yes. So many that were so cringe and got abandoned, and even more that have never been published.

Have you ever drawn fanart for a fandom? Yes. Never posted, but yes.

Share a personal headcanon that you feel very strongly about: aedion has the manliset man bun you've ever seen there's more, but that's a big one for me

You’re trying to convince a friend to get into your current fandom(s) with you. what episode, clip, or scene are you showing them? idek- smth that either made me laugh so hard i nearly peed myself, smile so much my face hurt for hours afterward, want to punch [character/writer/director/whatever name] in the face so many times, or made me cry so much i could barely get out of bed days later

And finally, what does fandom mean to you? hmm, being able to all caps rant to someone about this thing you hated/loved in a fandom, or just being accepted by a group of people/person who you might not know irl, but consider family/really really good friends like holy fuck we're besties, i want to marry you platonically and we can adopt all of our blorbos even from fandoms we dont share we can all be one absolutely massive family that puts the fun in dysfunctional

(no pressure) tagging @aliens-took-my-iwa-chan @reverie-starlight @gay-destiel and anyone who'd want to join!

[heddagab]

A much needed (for me) little rant

I hype up Regina's bad side not only because it is more compelling (and the writing of hers as a hero was choppy) but also because the whole fandom is so ready to jump on her defense and babygirl her no matter what, to a stupid degree

I hype up Rumple's good side not only because it got twisted and shunned by canon itself but also because the fandom is ready to blame him for everything 24/7 no matter what corner of it they come from, unless they are Rumbellers so they ultra woobify him solely because of that relationship, so they get no points on my book either. Rumple was a whole character of his own, he's not relevant because of that shitty ship, please and thank you

I probably can't talk with anyone unless they are a GQer not only because I saw that relationship from day one, from the moment they popped up on screen, but also because I recognize that almost every storyline they incorporated for Rumple and Regina, the themes, work so much better for Golden Queen or if they are related to Golden Queen. Everything makes more sense and has more depth. OQs storyline (pretty sure it was an original idea for GQ because the whole soulmate situation simply does not make sense for Robin, Regina would never even spit on him let alone having him as her soulmate while she and Rumple had parallel themes to their life and similar disposition) and the subsequent Zelena baby situation makes sense if it's about them. Rumple being forced to deal with his good side makes sense if he thinks he's losing Regina to the light and he can't follow. Regina being mad at him because he endangered Henry in some way makes sense. Belle going on and on about him hurting Gideon when in fact he didn't, does not.

I have so much more to say about them and it's just a pity that both the Ouat canon and the Ouat fandom diverged so much from what I appreciated in that show from the beginning of it. I still talk about them like a broken record because it's unfair and unlike anything I've come across in my life. The essence of Ouat I have in me was always equivalent to Golden Queen being an integral part of it from the very beginning so whatever Ouat ended up being and the fandom along with it seems to me like a monstrosity made by different part of stories that seem like they belonged somewhere else but they got bleached, painted over, scratched and cut to look like something new. And everyone's taking the final product at face value while I'm seeing a sacrilege.