#shippers do not interact and go burn in hell

[herefortheships]

Just rewatched Beetlejuice Beetlejuice again, and I have thoughts!

But this was my first time watching it while being a Betelgeuse x Lydia shipper, so there might be some unhinged shipper takes here. I'll leave my completely speculative, potentially emotionally-charged impressions under the "read more" cut, under the list.

A lot of what I'll mention here I already noticed after my first watch, but I hadn't written a post like this about my impressions after watching the movie, so I decided to put it all here.

Here it goes!

This movie NEEDED more Betelgeuse. I'm sorry, Michael, but you are kinda wrong. It's not like we need the movie to be all about Betelgeuse, but we needed at least five or ten more minutes with the ghost with the most.

The movie sprang to life whenever Delia was onscreen. The same can be said about Betelgeuse.

The chemistry between Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder was through the roof. All scenes between them were immaculate and precisely why we needed MORE Betelgeuse!

I didn't notice how slow the first half of the movie felt, until Betelgeuse shows up. The movie picks up the pace after the couples therapy scene.

Betelgeuse is crazy about Lydia, no doubt. Was he gonna try to kiss her when he said "come here" right before she yelled "home, home, home!"? I think he definitely was going to throw himself at her. Anyway, he had several chances to do that later and he didn't try anything, but he might have been more restrained not to scare her away again.

Betelgeuse always seems to be more careful around Lydia (about checking her out, touching her, etc). Is he shy about Lydia specifically? lol

We needed more interactions between these two, especially so Lydia could see Betelgeuse wasn't the scary demon she thought him to be. He's more of a self-serving, lovable a-hole with a perverted side, than an all out evil entity. (She still got to see he's not that bad through his actions in the movie, after he saves Astrid and goes above and beyond by also exposing Rory and sending Jeremy to hell lol, but we needed a little more conversation between the two. This would help Lydia process her trauma around Betelgeuse. (*I have a point about this particular thing below, under the cut). Also would have helped the audience see why Betelgeuse's motivation to marry Lydia had nothing to do with Delores and everything to do with how he feels about Lydia herself (he was already chasing Lydia before Delores came into the picture, and had been doing so for over 30 years, as he keeps her photo on his desk and hasn't moved it from there, as shown by the cobweb behind it. Betelgeuse is looking into that portrait literally every single day).

Delores could have been entirely removed from this movie and nothing would have changed. When she shows up and says "Betelgeuse is mine" she literally does nothing to Lydia, whose photo she had literally smashed minutes earlier. When faced with the real woman who she believes to be stealing her man, she doesn't attempt anything against her? That was weak writing.

Everything around Delores was weak writing, except for her backstory.

Lydia did not leave Winter River at the end of the movie. I think the bed she wakes up in after the nightmare is still in Winter River.

As a matter of fact, the nightmare/dream sequence starts when she's quitting her show. The music that denotes that this is a dream starts there. Lydia did not quit the show. She might later on (if there's a 3rd movie we'll know if she did quit), but by the end of this movie she did not quit. That was part of the dream.

Betelgeuse starts blowing up like a balloon before Lydia says his name three times. She's said it once and he started ballooning. So I confirm: he did this himself on purpose. This man is a drama king and this was his grand exit back into the afterlife. 😂

I had this strange vibe that Astrid was bullshitting when she said that by violating code 699 the marriage contract was null and void. The contract also burned when she mentioned it. If it was null and void by Betelgeuse's violation of the code, why is it that it only burned when Astrid mentioned it?

Betelgeuse was indeed in bed with Lydia at the end. Not only is she sleeping to one side of the bed, the pillow he was in was wrinkled like he'd been lying there, and we can also hear the echo of his laugh. This makes me believe that he's the one who put the dream in her mind. Maybe to get back at her for banishing him. (This is a headcanon though, but the fact stands: Betelgeuse was truly there).

Oh before I forget, Lydia did look sad/conflicted at the end after Betelgeuse blew up and vanished. We can't know exactly how she felt after her time with Betelgeuse in this movie because it ended before we had a moment with Lydia alone after everything was said and done. Her story doesn't wrap up, because after she says her goodbye to Delia, what we have with Lydia is the dream sequence. Then she wakes up next to Betelgeuse, and again, alone, but still we can hear Betelgeuse's laugh echoing in the room as Lydia looks half scared, half confused (her face is like "wtf??") as the final scene of the movie.

And now for the potentially unhinged fangirl takes and headcanons (mostly revolving around Betelgeuse and Lydia):

Lydia has always had unresolved feelings for/around Betelgeuse. These unresolved feelings, whatever they are, has not allowed Lydia's romantic relationships to progress. The movie presents these feelings as trauma, and I find that very interesting. Let's explore this one a bit:

Early in the movie when Lydia is talking to Astrid about death and Richard is mentioned, Lydia mentions that her relationship with Richard had ended long before he left and had his accident in the Amazon. Astrid also mentions later that his dad left after his relationship with her mom had ended (If I recall correctly, Astrid says it like "after they separated, my dad left").

Then, when Lydia is talking to Delia after she's seen the Betelgeuse ad that Astrid found in the attic, she starts talking to Delia about how she met Rory at a grief retreat dealing with the loss of Richard and some unresolved feelings. Notice how she said her relationship was over long before his death. Naturally she was grieving him, but what are these unresolved feelings about? Is there guilt involved due to... :

Later, when Lydia tells Rory about Betelgeuse, she goes about it this way: She reminds Rory about their couples therapist, and how he told her that until she faced this "thing" that she was holding back, her relationship with Rory was not going to evolve. This thing of course turns out to be Betelgeuse.

So this kinda confirms that Lydia has some unresolved feelings around Betelgeuse that are holding her romantic relationships back.

As I mentioned above, this is presented as trauma. Is it because of her experiences in the first movie? I don't think so for various reasons: She not only grew up surrounded by the love and care of the Maitlands, she also hasn't seen or heard Betelgeuse in years though she's felt his presence. She also appeared to be living happily at the end of the first movie. You can't present me a traumatized character in the sequel when you showed me this character to be completely fine at the end of the previous film. Lydia also mentions to Delia that her anxiety comes from seeing ghosts every day.

So her traumatic feelings about Betelgeuse stem from something inside her that she needs to face or she won't be able to move on. Keep in mind these are my interpretations and shouldn't be taken as fact! But I believe that Lydia's trauma stems from guilt about having feelings and attraction toward Betelgeuse (possibly since she was a teenager), someone who, in her own words, she is convinced is a "trickster demon".

She may have always been attracted to him, but she pushed it down ("held it back", using her own words). She probably worries that having these feelings makes her "wrong" in some form. That she is "dirty" or even "evil" herself. How can she feel an attraction to someone like Betelgeuse, who is not only scary-looking, but also did scary things to her family and once tried to force her to marry him? These are her conflicted thoughts.

Confronting these emotions is Lydia's true path to healing wholly, because she will be faced with her own darkness. And this is what she is vehemently avoiding by wanting Betelgeuse out of her life (whilst simultaneously wanting him in her life).

This is yet ANOTHER reason why we need a third film: Lydia needs to face her own feelings about Betelgeuse or else she will always be stuck in life. Her relationships will always fail because her heart belongs to someone else; to the one person (ghost) she refuses to give it to, not because of what she feels about him, but because of what having these feelings makes her feel about herself. Only facing this will Lydia be whole again.

That's interesting material for a third and final film, but again, just my headcanons and interpretations. These movies are mostly comedy, and so it's unlikely they will go into the deep stuff. But then again, this movie at times went surprisingly deep, despite being mostly bonkers comedy, so there is a chance they will explore deeper, darker themes in the final installment. Usually the final film in a series goes harder than the rest into the deeper and more nuanced themes.

[thesweetnessofspring]

"Peeta coerced Katniss into a relationship" - He literally said that he liked her, she had no idea who he was until the Reaping, and got in with the Careers to protect her so they wouldn't have to interact much in the actual Games. In his mind, the most she would have to do is answer questions after she won about how she felt about him. Maybe say some nice things about him and wistfully say she wished they'd gotten a chance to know each other. Then go home and live her life however she could after. Even Katniss admits that Peeta made her memorable and secured her sponsors, which gave her burn cream and food. Peeta manipulated the Capitol and never even came clean to Katniss that he'd really, actually liked her for a long time until the cave--after she had risked her life to save him. Prior to that, there is an understanding between both of them that they're acting to save both of their lives. Look me in the eye and tell me that all of this was a grand plan for Peeta to lock Katniss down. Haymitch even says it--"he wanted it to be real." Like you think Peeta fantasized this is how he would first get to know Katniss? That was Plan A? That he knew the Capitol would "let" two victors win? Or, that when the audience wasn't looking, he was forcing and guilting her into being in love with him for real?

"Peeta made Katniss feel bad about not liking him back" - This traumatized sixteen-year-old amputee who just got back from hell didn't perfectly respond to thinking someone who was willing to die with him rather than live in a world without him actually wasn't sure of her feelings. The horror. Hang him for being upset and hurt! And how absolutely awful of him to apologize for being hurt and offering to be friends! Other than Katniss knowing he loved her and she wasn't sure how she cared for him, what did he do to make her feel bad? What did he do on purpose to bring out those feelings in her?

"Peeta was the Capitol's choice, not Katniss's" - Right, because I'm sure the Capitol absolutely loved the fact that the two of them outsmarted the Gamemakers and starting the rebellion with those berries--they wanted that and NOT the highly emotional, dramatic death of one of them, the reminder that humanity is evil and must be controlled. Snow just loved that so much, he thanked Seneca Crane by killing him.

"Peeta didn't know Katniss" - ok, and? That's like, literally most of the human population who don't know each other from birth? They had known each other for a year prior to Snow holding Peeta hostage. Then they had their unspecified amount of time where they "grow back together."

"They're only together because of the shared trauma of the Games" - Suzanne made it abundantly clear that these two get along really well and have a connection before the Games. Even without the bread (although that is a cornerstone of their relationship forming) the way they both silently agree to take care of Haymitch instead of call an attendant, the way they sell each other's strengths to Haymitch, the way they flirt during the Opening Ceremonies, and just about everything else points to them having a natural chemistry and interest in one another. And also, literally, what do you think make relationships stronger? Everything going perfectly, or having someone help you through a hard time, proving you can trust them to keep you safe? With this anti-shared-trauma mindset, no one in this world can love anyone else because they all have shared trauma of their oppression. Only Capitol/District matches here, people! Hayffie shippers only.

[gamergirl-06]

Nellis

For all the Nellis (Nick + Ellis) shippers out there (been seeing a lot of Nellis content lately) (also my regarding my left4dead story I posted here earlier, it was a text I sent my nan of what I had written in my journal but edited, she liked it 🥹)

Warnings: fluff

The entire saferoom was quiet. The sound that Nick used to complain about enjoying.

All of his teammates were asleep, Ellis was nestled into his side with his arms wrapped around his waist and Nick in a protective embrace.

Nick looked down at his boyfriends sleeping from and smiled. He couldn’t believe he found the southern boy amongst the chaos.

He remembered the day he met Ellis on the roof of the burning hotel.

Flashback

“Hey come back” Rochelle yelled

“Come back, come back” coach yelled out to the helicopter which just left “oh he ain’t coming back”

Nick gritted his teeth in anger “damnit”

Ellis chimed in “looks like that chopper is head in’ to the evac centre at the mall”

“Gotta agree, let’s follow em to the mall” coach agreed.

Nick walked over grabbing and a crowbar and he smiled thinking back to his time as a con man “this feels good”

He failed to notice the southern boy come up beside him until he opened his mouth.

“What does?

Nick almost shit himself as he turned beside him and looked Ellis in the eye.

“Could you not do that” he said a little annoyed a little in shock as his breathing went from fast to normal in 2 seconds.

“Sorry I apologize” Ellis said.

There was something about the boy that drew Nick in but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He watched Ellis grab the two pistols and walk into the hotel.

Flashback ends

He had to admit, he was a bit of an asshole towards the kid but that’s because he felt feelings towards him and it scared him at first.

The last time Nick loved it ended in a messy marriage he ended up being unhappy in, and after that it had been a long time that he hadn’t felt those feelings. He was so used to being the most important person to himself and so distrusting of others that he closed himself off which was why he was an asshole in the first place.

He was scared to have human interaction and at one point even going as far as saying “I trust the zombies more than I trust real people”.

But that was before Ellis and now..hell he had changed, for the better. He started to trust everyone in the group and been kinder towards others because Ellis was, coach and Ro liked this Nick better. Sometimes he would make snarky remarks but that was all in good fun. Nick even made a lot of bad dad jokes to cheer the group up which worked a lot of the time.

Nick loved Ellis so much and he didn’t want to admit it but the thought of losing the love of his life scared him.

He had reoccurring nightmares of Ellis dying at the hands of infected and everytime he would wake up in a pool of sweat.

He hasn’t told the others about them because he didn’t want to seem weak and especially not Ellis, he didn’t want to seem like he couldn’t protect him.

Tonight was one of those nights, Nick lay awake due to the same horrible nightmare and he couldn’t get back to sleep.

Laying there with Ellis on top of him, all he could do was look out of the window of a house they had found as he watched the moon in the sky.

Nick sighed “why did I do to deserve this?”

Ellis stirred slightly which caused Nick to look down at him.

“Why are ya awake?” Ellis said as he slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Nick.

“Just couldn’t sleep?” Nick replied looking back out the window “Now go back to sleep”

“No, there’s sum’n bothering ya. Ya can tell me Nicky” Ellis said as he placed a hand on his boyfriend’s cheek.

Nick looked back down out Ellis who gave him his undivided attention before sighing “ok”

He began “I’ve been getting the same nightmare a lot since we’ve been together. It’s horrible and always the same, you dying at the hands of infected and me begging you to stay awake for me…”Nick stopped and his eyes glassed over with tears.

Ellis began to rub soothing circles on Nick’s cheeks as he continued.

“I’m scared that those dreams will become reality one day and I can’t bear the thought of losing you because I love you so fucking much” his voice cracked as tears rolled down his face “I don’t want to hold your dead body sobbing for you to come back to me, I need you, I want us to have a life together. You changed me for the better Ellis”

Wiping away Nick’s tears, Ellis kisses his cheek before saying “Darlin’ you ain’t gonna lose me, I have so much dumb shit that I want to do when we are out of here and you know I can’t miss out on that”

Nick let out a giggle, an actual genuine giggle

“Thanks hon” Nik replied

“Much obliged” Ellis replied “also I’ll be damned if I die because I wouldn’t want to leave you either and I wouldn’t be able to do this anymore”

Nick is caught off guard by Ellis crashing his lips to Nicks and once realizing, Nick hold Ellis in his arms before they pull away.

“I feel weak” Nick said

“Why?”

“Because I feel like I can’t protect you if I have those dreams it makes me feel that-“

Ellis cut him off “hey hey hey, you are not weak, you’ve protected me more times than I can count”

Nick smiled “really?”

“Yes, now cuddle me” Ellis said and Nick slipped down next to him pulling Ellis into his chest.

“I love you Ellis”

“Love you too Nick”

[cakejerry]

https://www.tumblr.com/cakejerry/782653263392702464/if-you-send-me-an-ask-that-fills-up-my-phone?source=share

Oh come on please post it, tell me what you think and let me know if the non shippers also think the same way pleazzzzzzzzzzz

Ok I'm genuinely not trying to be rude right now but there's a level of social etiquette required for polite interaction on the internet that you guys seem to be severely lacking. This goes out to anyone who has ever sent me an ask. I get that you have all these big feelings and thoughts on the group/ship/idol that you're so interested in and you're burning with the desire to engage in discussion about it all with somebody- But please think again about whether sending anonymous messages is the right way to go about doing that.

I don't know if this is a symptom of joining fandom for the first time post-covid or just the toxic cancel culture environment armys in particular have fostered where sharing your opinion publicly is forbidden if it at all differs from the masses, but if you're on the internet each and every single day worrying and pouring over the hidden meaning behind the interactions of random celebrities, the right course of action is to write it all down and publish it and invite like-minded people into open discussion! Or even just sending a direct message to someone you want to befriend! Not hiding behind an anonymous front and asking someone to be your messenger pigeon.

Guess what, all of the internet is anonymous if you want it to be, idiot. You're not going to lose anything if there's a username behind the words. Hell, create an account just for that purpose! The fucking tories who were harassing me yesterday were smart enough to do that so they could send me death threats when I turned off anon messaging. Where is your passion, where is your vision, where is your aggression???? Where is your drive, where is your ingenuity????

You all cringed when I said I speak about bts to all my irl friends, but am I cringe or am I free?? If you have the time to list out 2k words of jikook moments off the top of your head in my ask box, you have the time to start curating your online experience and making friends. I don't know if you guys know this but logging on every day like kmgoogiemimi_ to mutually reassure yourselves that some guys are dating each other by regurgitating the same pool of 'moments' over and over and over and over again is CULT BEHAVIOUR. So you need to grow up and grow a pair and touch some ao3 grass because engaging your critical thinking and imagination and "discerning fiction from reality" skills is genuinely desperately needed in this space. Hope this helps and my dms are always open to talk to anybody about anything.

[dreadfuldevotee]

why the hell are loustat anons going into different inboxes to play morality olympics in the first place? or act like they're the "true louis stans"? i haven't forgotten how many of those shippers turned on louis and claudia when lestat was shown to be a violent abuser and were only appeased when they thought that louis participated in "mutual abuse" (he sure as fuck didn't). or continued downplaying lestat's role in the execution by claiming armand and the coven must have been mind controlling him, because it's so impossible to allow lestat to be accountable for his own actions.

those tired old jokes about louis being an subservient edwardian housewife begging for white cock, you all want to tell me that's respecting louis? or when shippers still circulate those gifsets of louis dissociating during sex with lestat and frame it as romantic??

also the post finale revisionism takes about how heartwarming lesdaughter is (she's conveniently evoked when people need to complete the nuclear family unit for loustat). all while lestat sat there and did nothing as she was publicly humiliated and burned to death and taunted her with her rapist. i'm expected to feel sorry for the harry styles wannabe next season as he cries on camera, hope his ass gets haunted by her 24/7.

people acting like one set of shippers cares so much more for louis.....please i've seen all kinds of fans of loustat, loumand and dm throw him under the bus one way or another, all for the sake of shipping. just as there are fans who do enjoy those relationships without glossing over abuse and other heinous shit from lestat and armand. like come on already.

Like at the end of the day, it's a need to feel morally superior. It's stupid in any fandom but I think it's especially stupid here when fanbase and author and text are rife with bigotry and apologia. It's dumb to act like by virtue of being a fan of XYZ character or ship thay you're better than anyone else. And it's especially wild to act like people who live and die by a Violent Blonde Blue-Eyed White Abuser are the ones who are the best at respecting his Black Male counterpart as a whole. I don't know what kind alternate universe that person lives in to make that statement fractionally true but I'm almost envious.

Honestly, the only thing you can do is tell the truth as you see it and surround yourself with people who make you feel comfortable and heard. There are plenty of Loumanders or Armandaniel shippers who I have blocked because I don't want to waste my life reading blog posts filled to the brim with racist rhetoric and If I felt that people I choose to interact with on a daily basis were fueling and agreeing with those ideas, I'd block them too. If that person has found fucking Black Nerd Heaven in Loustat then idk, thats great for them, I guess. But I think I'll stay right where I am, if its all the same

[lcftyambiticns]

MUNDAY

Name / Alias : Jey (they/them)

Are you over 18? : Yes / No

– W R I T I N G –

Are you selective about who you write with? : No (anyone) / Semi (most people) / Yes (some people) / Highly (few people) / Private (mutuals only).

Are you selective about who you follow? : No (anyone) / Semi (most people) / Yes (some people) / Highly (few people).

If your muse is canon, how much do you adhere to canon? : Not at all / A little / Some / Mostly / Strictly / Not Applicable.

What post lengths do you write? : One-Liners / Single-Para / Multi-Para / Novella / All of the aforementioned.

Do you use icons and/or GIFS? : No / Gifs / Icons / Yes / Sometimes

Do you write on other platforms? : No / Yes (discord)

What level of plots do you write? : Unplotted / Open-Ended Plots / Semi-Plotted / Fully Plotted Epics / All of the aforementioned

How quickly do you usually respond to threads? : Very Slow (more than a month) / Slow (3-4 weeks) / Average (1-2 weeks) / Fast (less than one week) / Very Fast (less than three days) / Depends on muse

What types of themes do you like? : Adventure / Romance / Fluff / Angst / Violence / Tragedy / Domestic / Family / All of the aforementioned

What genres do you like? : ( Feel free to add! ) High Fantasy / Supernatural / Science Fiction / Historical / Horror / Comedy / Romantic / Drama / Action / Smut / Adventure / Espionage / Dark / Emotional / All of the aforementioned

Are there any themes you’re uncomfortable writing on your blog? : (Not triggers) No / Yes / Sometimes

Do you have any triggers? Do you request it tagged? : No / Yes (very few that usually don't even come up & can be discussed in private)

– S H I P P I N G –

What types of relationships are you open to? : Romantic / Platonic / Familial / All of the aforementioned

What types of pre-established relationships are you open to? : Romantic / Platonic / Familial / All of the aforementioned (what about enemies??? Rivals?? Toxic exes???????? Huhhhh???)

Do you have OTPs? : No / Chemistry Only / Yes

Do you have NOTPS? : No / Yes (If the muns click, I'm sure we can make almost anything work. That said, Lorroakan does have a certain type, and he tends to despise those who think they're smarter or more powerful than him, try to boss him around, or display poor manners)

What is your muse’s sexual orientation? : Heterosexual / Heteroflexible / Bisexual / Pansexual / Homoflexible / Homosexual / Demisexual / Sapiosexual / Asexual / Still trying to figure it out / Depends on the muse you’re asking

What is your muse’s romantic orientation? : Heteroromantic / Heteroflexible / Biromantic / Homoflexible / Homoromantic / Panromantic / Demiromantic / Sapioromantic / Aromantic / Still trying to figure it out / Depends on the muse you’re asking

Are you comfortable writing smut? : No / Selectively / Yes (Sometimes muns and muses click right away, and we both feel comfortable writing the most raunchy, kinky smut right off the bat, which is *chef's kiss* amazing!! Other times, some easing in is required. Both is fine! I'm awkward af XD STILL, timid, "classy", vaguely descriptive smut doesn't hold my interest. I either go all in with the kinky, dirty overly descriptive henta! p0rn or fade to black - or keep it brief.)

How early in a relationship do you ship romantically? : Autoship / During plotting / After a couple IC interactions / Several IC interactions / Slow burn / Plot dependent / Never (depends on the muse & mun!)

Are you open to toxic ships? : No / Selectively / Yes / I am not sure

Are you open to problematic ships? : No / Selectively / Yes / I am not sure

Are you open to polyamory shipping? : No / Selectively / Yes / I am not sure (I am, Lorri probably isn't. The man won't share his tomes, and he sure as hell won't share his lovers----)

Are you an exclusive shipper? : Never / Sometimes / Yes

Does crack shipping ever happen? : Nope / Yes / Depends

Tagged by: @chaoticbard (thanks, DJ <3 )

Tagging: @relentlessgrief @dicethrow @dvilsdesire @shadovan @spiderwarden

[chaifootsteps]

This is Lemoncritiques, and I just wanted to thank you for at least being neutral regarding me, and my deletion. I didn't always agree with everything you posted, but that's normal. I just want to say that I deleted because I was tired of critiquing things within the show and community, and I was tired of the negativity. I know people have been trying to spin things around and act like I'm running from the shit with Raph but in reality, a bitch is just tired. It is what it is, but thanks for being a real one. Also, don't take this as a jab or anything, but even though I don't fuck with pro-shipping, I didn't want to be the type to suddenly make everything you said or did invalid because of whatever type of pro-shipping you involved yourself in. The community seems to take 'pro-shipping' to mean that anyone who calls themselves that condones every part of that community, when I'm damn sure there's pro-shippers who specifically don't like certain things within the community. There was just an overall issue constantly within the community disregarding that 'gray' area of standards that didn't take the individual into account, but that's also another reason why I left. It was constantly either right or left regarding things, and as someone who constantly stepped out of the mold regardless of what people said, getting your words taken out of context, of manipulated to mean something else also was just tiring too. Like, I'm glad to be gone from the space, but you weren't a bad part of it despite how people like to make it seem.

Sorry for rambling, I just wanted to leave you something here lmao

Hey there, thanks for the message! It's good to hear you're doing alright. Critiquing's not a paid gig, nor should be, and if a bitch is tired, a bitch should hit the bricks. Life's too short to do things you dislike for free.

As for proshipping, I don't even make a habit of calling myself a proshipper anymore -- not because I'm not, but because I can't keep up with the ever evolving definitions people keep assigning to it. Last I checked it was synonymous with Nazi pedo Frankenstein, but the truth is, I simply don't give a shit what strangers do with their imaginations. There are ships I dearly wish I could burn out of existence, ships I'm sure the world would be slightly healthier without, but I'm not going to harass anyone who has their own reasons for enjoying those ships. I'm too old and tired to police how the world interacts with Naruto.

I've always been a big believer in judging, or at least trying to judge people as they are and by what they've actually done, for better or worse. Sometimes that means I defend some pretty crazy people, and sometimes it means defending Vivzie. That's never going to change.

It was fine that you and I didn't always agree on everything. Hell, it was good. Communities need discussion, they need devil's advocates, and they need to be able to disagree -- and to seriously, deeply disagree -- without shitting in their hands and throwing it. I think that's an ability that can be hard to maintain, and takes work, but we lose it to our detriment.

Thank you for your thoughts and insights while you were around, and good luck in whatever comes next!

[gothicwitcholive]

If Beast x Ancient gets CONFIRMED impossible by Devsisters themselves, then we will throw a party.

Get the sodas, snacks, and party games, we're going to celebrate. (Warning: Long ass rant below)

God, this place is a refuge for us Beast x Ancient "antis" as they call us. Ugh, that term irks me.

"They're soulmates" "They're meant to be!" Ugh please shut up.

We just judge what's relative to canon, not when a male and female breathe near each other and the interaction is 100% toxic. Or Male/Male, Female/Female, stuff like that. It's so nrmalized that when two characters appear side by side, people will immediately go, "Ship ship ship! They will kiss and have 5 kids!"

There's people on Twitter calling out Burn1ngCh33se (filtered from attracting those shippers) and I am THANKFUL. Yes, please, do so. Call out thse mfs who get a kick out of Golden Cheese Cookie being tortured with Burning Spice Cookie. There's no love happening between those two, and if people ship them in an AU, they're mischaracterizing both the Beast and Ancient.

https://x.com/STARGUESTD0NNA/status/1909308605267845402

https://x.com/PapayaJaiya/status/1899458710063509866

FINALLY people with some goddamn common sense.

Deadass, like fuck forbid someone makes them friends only, the shippers try so hard to "convince" others to ship them! Like come on now. It's like nobody wants to keep people as friends, hell make them enemies FFS. Plus yes, call out the ones who want to see torture. They are NOT meant to be. If "meant to be" and "soulmates" meant "abuse the fuck outta the person you're supposed to love", then I don't want to find mine.

[iveraines]

god, i wish more people could drill this into their head. don’t like it? just scroll. cool.

so god forbid you ship anything else within the main squad like juzi, vuzi, envy, or oilrose!!! because nuzi is better and canon!!! fuck everything else!! (this paragraph is sarcasm please don’t eat me)

‼️disclaimer: this is just personal experience/opinions/observations. don’t harass anyone because of anything i say

lil bit of a rant below cut

hate to be that person (call me grumpy old raine if you will) but i’ve noticed that this pattern is more common in fandoms that have a lot of younger people (15 or younger). ie- there’s a level of maturity missing. i’ve been in my fair share of fandoms and it’s sad to say that shipping wars will always be a thing no matter what because of this. i burned out from fandom spaces altogether at 16 due to constantly being in crossfire of shipping wars and after that only really interacted within groupchats among my high school/cosplay/college friends. however, the majority of the people i saw getting super heated about the shippings and going out and harassing people were all under 15.

and it’s especially channeled towards WLW pairings. the amount of harassment i see channeled towards juzi or vuzi, hell, even dizzy shippers sometimes is just absolutely absurd because god forbid we ship something that’s “not canon” or “nuzi is better”. as a lesbian i prefer shipping pairings i relate to more. but when these pairings are under fire because the canon M/F ship is “better”, it just feels exhausting. do people not see the message that sends to WLW in this space?

I see people talking about glitch's newest post and how "THEY CONFIRMED NUZI WE CANT SHIP ANYTHING ELSE" and it hurts my heart like?

Thats not how a fandom works? You can still prefer other ships and see others as canon? Do you think that just because glitch supposedly confirmed biscuitbites as canon that we thuzi and envy shippers are gonna disappear? :'(

[doydoune]

random Bruno and Camilo doodles cause theater kids got to stuck together

[soft--dragon]

Light-Hearted In Limbo

Inspired by this ask here

I changed the prompt a bit, hope that's okay <3

Word Count: 3,368

Warnings: A bit of a depressive episode in the beginning but it leads to hurt/comfort and a lot of fluff :D

This is a SFW tickle fic, if you don’t like that then don’t read :)

ALL PLATONIC, PLEASE DON'T INTERACT SHIPPERS

A low, flat hum echoed in the depressive cold of the platform. It made the space horribly eerie, chilling to anything that could hear it. Though, as far as Wilbur Soot was concerned, nothing heard him. His fingers were raw with how long he’d been scratching his nails down the walls, but he couldn’t stop himself from doing it over, and over, and over again. His glazed eyes were locked to the dried blood on the concrete, the previous attempts of escape of his eternal prison stared straight back at him. 

This was his purgatory. A constant, repetitive pattern that never stopped. He was going to suffer this fate forever, he knew it, it was practically written on the wall alongside his blood. He was never escaping. Never. Never. 

“-ilbur! Oi! Wilbur!” 

Hands landed on Wilbur’s tightly drawn shoulders, the contact burning through the thick trench coat wrapped around the man’s shoulders. He couldn’t keep the scream from wrenching from his constricted lungs, swiping out at the thing attacking him and curling up tighter. 

“Hey! Jesus fucking christ, don’t hit me dickhead!”

In his panic, Wilbur tried to shove at the hands still digging into his skin. “Let go of me! Let go- don’t hurt m-me- please-”

The hands left his shoulders almost immediately and Wilbur shuddered, the cold drowning him once more and making his heart ache for the warmth to return, even if it had been overwhelming. He hunched in on himself, shivering against the freezing floor. 

The silence was louder than his previous yelling, the stillness in the air making the man’s skin crawl. Then, a small sigh sounded out, making him flinch and press closer to the wall.

“Wilbur, I’m not gonna hurt you.” The gruff voice was quiet, concern lining the edges.

Recognition tingled in the back of Wilbur’s brain and he hesitantly lifted his head to risk a look. A pair of orange eyes looked back at him, framed by mutton chops and gnarled, chipped horns. 

“S-Schlatt?” Wilbur croaked, staring at the semi-translucent ram hybrid in front of him. After all this time in his hellscape, had he finally lost it? 

The man before him let out a small breath again. “Yeah,” he moved back a bit, not to crowd the brunette. “You look like shit.”

Wilbur blinked rapidly, making the ram hybrid come more into focus. Schlatt was squatting on the concrete, watching him with careful eyes, his ears bent back in clear apprehension of Wilbur freaking out again.

So, Wilbur slowly let go of the vice grip on his knees, then kicked Schatt’s ankle.

“Fuck!” Schlatt fell back with a yell, gripping his foot tightly and gritting his teeth. “What the fuck man?! Why’d you do that?!”

Wilbur fully sat up, eyebrows high and teeth gritted together. “You scared the crap out of me!" he snapped.

Schlatt grumbled, rubbing his stinging ankle. “Yeah no shit, I can see that- fuck that hurt man, the fucks wrong with you?" 

Wilbur was too busy trying to wrap his head around the situation to really acknowledge Schlatt's griping. "How did you get here?" He asked. 

The ram glared at him but the pain in his ankle seemed to have calmed as he answered gruffly. "Got bored."

Wilbur stared at him for a moment, the cogs in his head screeching against each other as he slowly processed that nugget of information. "Bored? How the hell did you leave your limbo?" 

Schlatt shrugged. "Don't know. Don't care. I figured it out somehow." He dropped his hands behind him, propping himself up. "I wanted something entertaining after years of pure hell." 

Something angry curled in the base of Wilbur’s gut, and he glared at the man. “Don’t expect anything from me, I’m still pissed at you.”

Schlatt dipped his head to the side almost patronisingly. “Still? Dude, it’s been like, what? Ten years since everything happened? Why can’t we just go back to old times?”

“Because some people become different, Schlatt,” Wilbur curled into a ball, brown eyes burning into the ram hybrid’s own. “Things change. You changed. I changed.”

Schlatt gave a hum, considering the brunette for a moment. “...Mmm, no. No. I don’t think so.” 

Wilbur crossed his arms tighter to him. “Good thing I didn’t ask for your opinion then.”

The horned man rolled his eyes. “Humour me,” he tried. “Just for a bit. I’ve been bored shitless for ages, and by the looks of things…” His eyes trailed over the mismatched coloured concrete, noticing the stains were an uncomfortably familiar colour. “You seem like you need a distraction too.”

Wilbur glared darkly, shoulders rising to his ears defensively but didn’t retort. There wouldn’t be much point with how much evidence was painted on the walls. 

Schlatt wasn’t deterred by the lack of reply, easily shifting along with his thoughts. “So, I’m thinking we play a simple game. We both come up with something that we used to do in our younger years, and if we still did it before we died, that’s a point.” 

Wilbur raised a slow, skeptical brow. “And who wins? The person with the most points?”

“Yeah,” Schlatt grinned widely, happy that Wilbur actually looked interested despite the slightly wary gaze. “The point system is pretty much based on what we remember about each other since we separated. It can be anything.”

Wilbur curled up tighter, silent for a moment before giving a slow nod. “You go first,” he muttered, taking a fistful of his trench coat in his hand subconsciously. 

Schlatt’s grin only got wider, sitting up fully to quickly analyse Wilbur. A few mere seconds of scanning the ex-president, he clapped his hands on his knees. “Okay, okay I got one,” he said eagerly. “Do you still think Anteaters are awful?”

Wilbur blinked a bit at the question. Of all the things to start with… he was going with that? “What?”

Schlatt scoffed, waving a hand in Wilbur’s general direction. “You once told me that would commit mass genocide to anteaters because according to you they are; ‘the worst fucking animal to walk this fucking planet, fucking shit animal, should fucking die’. You said that to me when I asked you what you thought ants would taste like, and you launched into a whole ass TED talk about those fluffy bastards.”

Wilbur could only continue to stare. Schlatt remembered that? He remembered all of that? That was… gods, it must’ve been years ago now. He didn’t realise Schlatt meant bringing up things that far back. 

Schlatt waved a hand in front of him suddenly. “Oi, did you fall asleep with your eyes closed or something?”

Wilbur shoved the hand away, though it was far gentler than anything he would’ve done earlier. “No, I haven’t figured out how to do it yet.” 

“You didn’t answer my question,” Schlatt settled back once more, waiting expectantly. 

Wilbur rolled his eyes but gave a nod. “Yeah, I still hate them. Freaks”

Schlatt snorted. “Thought so. One point to me, your turn.”

Wilbur only had to think for a moment before a certain memory resurfaced. He couldn’t help his smile at the mental image of it. “Do you still ram headfirst into people that you don’t like?”

Immediately, Schlatt groaned and pinched the skin between his eyes. “I really regret telling you about that.”

A disbelieving noise worked its way out of Wilbur’s throat. “Get out, you still do that? I thought only infant rams did that-”

“Fuck off, sometimes its easier to just ram your horns into someone's ribcage rather than just telling them to go away,” Schlatt crossed his arms stubbornly, though his eyes were starting to dance a bit with mischief. 

Wilbur wheezed, his laugh a bit broken but Schlatt found something in his chest easing at the familiar sound. It was much better than the panicked gasping he was doing earlier. Though honestly, anything would be better than that. He didn’t focus on the sound though, not wanting Wilbur to realise he was only listening. He was just starting to get him out of his shell. 

Speaking of which…

“Right, what’s something else I could take the piss outta ya for?” Schlatt thought out loud, peripheral vision letting him know Wilbur had settled back against the wall. He thought for a moment then snapped his fingers, his wide grin showing all his teeth. “Did you still do that dumb hair routine? The one with all the gels and hair spray and shit?”

Wilbur immediately bristled, sitting up a tad straighter. “It wasn’t dumb,” he defended. “It looked good, and you can’t come after me about that when you used to spend ages shaping your stupid mutton chops.”

Wilbur scrunched up his nose in thought. “I didn’t do it during Pogtopia, didn’t have the stuff necessary,” he admitted. “Does that still count to you?”

Schlatt barked a laugh, the insult to his facial hair rolling off of him like water on a duck's back. “So I’m right?” He asked gleefully. “You still did it?”

“Nah, not fully. Let’s say a half point then?”

“Hmm, sure. Seems fair.”

There was a gentle kick at Wilbur’s leg from Schlatt. “It’s your turn.”

Wilbur kicked back. “I know dickhead, I’m thinking.”

The game continued onwards from there. Questions thrown back and forth and answered with either semi embarrassed or annoyed responses. The points were surprisingly even between them. Old habits die hard it seemed. 

Schlatt was lying across the floor by Wilbur’s legs, having moved closer as the game progressed and Wilbur relaxed into the rhythm of it. The ram hybrid was tapping his fingers against the floor in thought, trying to come up with a new question to test Wilbur with.

Wilbur’s eyes were fluttering closed, sinking his weight into the wall more and more as the time dragged on. The presence of someone else with him instead of the ever constant presence of crippling loneliness was making him feel much safer in limbo. Even if the person in question was Schlatt of all people.

“Oh! I know!”

Wilbur started as Schlatt’s voice rolled around the train station, eyes jolting open to see the ram hybrid smirking widely. That only spelt danger.

Schlatt snickered. “Do you still have that eighth sensitive rib that makes you fold like a lawn chair when it's tickled?”

Heat crawled up Wilbur's cheeks, accompanied by a weirdly familiar curl in his belly. He leant back into the wall, crossing his arms across his chest out of habit and cleared his throat as it had gotten a bit clogged. “No. When you fight two wars your body gets tougher and more resistant to that sort of thing. I’m not bothered by tick- by that kind of touch now.”

If anything, Schlatt’s eyes only got more excited. “Don’t get bothered by… what, Wilbur?” He was sitting up now, his full focus on the brunette who was praying a train would come down the tracks so he could be hit by it. 

Instead of giving a proper reply to the question, Wilbur simply flipped him off. “I answered,” he snarked. “You don’t get a point for that, it’s my turn now-”

“Oh, absolutely not.” Schlatt was suddenly moving, grabbing at Wilbur’s wrists to force his arms away from his chest. 

Wilbur yelped loudly at the sudden surprise of contact and the unexpected playful wrestling Schlatt had commenced. The pair hadn’t rough housed in years. Schlatt managed to take Wilbur down from the wall to the ground, the pair squabbling like youngsters as one tried to get the upper hand.

“Schlatt! Fucken- let go of me, would you?!” Wilbur yanked at his hands only for the ram hybrid to sling a leg over his waist to try and pin him down, chuckling at the ex-presidents yell of annoyance.

“You’re fightin’ awfully hard for someone who claims to be unbothered by touch, Wilbur. That is what you said, wasn’t it? That it doesn't bother you?” Schlatt managed to wrangle Wilbur’s arms down, keeping them in place as Wilbur tried to wrench them away. 

“Schlatt, I swear to god-” he growled, only to be immediately silenced by Schlatt’s fingers being poised over the side of his ribcage. He stared at the frozen hand in suspenseful anticipation, able to feel their warmth with how close they were to his shirt. 

“Something wrong Wil?” Schlatt’s teasy voice carried easily in the emptiness of the station. “You’re a bit quiet now.”

Wilbur bared his teeth, trying to press onto the coolness of the concrete away from Schlatt, only for the man’s hand to follow his side. “Schlatt- Schlatt-” Wilbur himself didn’t know what he was trying to ask, just saying the ram hybrid’s name over and over again as a smile unwillingly twitched at his mouth.

“Oooo, I’m seeing a little grin,” Schlatt cooed, his hand ghosting Wilbur’s ribs and making a slow spidering motion agonisingly close to the sensitive bones. 

Wilbur jerked away on instinct, a muffled yelp slipping through his tightly pressed lips. He was starting to realise how horribly exposed he really was. Fuck. 

There was a delightedly smug chuckle above him. “You’re still falling for that~?” Schlatt purred, wiggling his digits in the air once more at Wilbur’s rib cage just to relish in the sight of him squirming. 

“S-Stop being a prick,” snapped Wilbur, though it came out a lot weaker than he intended. 

The pair of orange eyes watching him seemed to light up at his words. “Oh? You want to skip the teasing and let me go straight into it?”

Yeah, Wilbur really wished his hands were free so that he could punch those stupid mutton chops right off Schlatt’s face. ”Shut up, that’s not what-”

Schlatt snickered, almost patronising as he cooed. “Awww, can you not handle what you dish out Mr President? Ain’t that something, that’s something else you still do! Guess that’s another point to me.”

“No it isn’t you motherfUCKER!” Wilbur’s words were swallowed up by his strangled yell, his whole body trying to collapse in on itself when Schlatt’s sharp nails gently dug into the muscle and bone.

Schlatt barked a laugh, massaging his fingers into the area, not at all deterred by the brunette’s wild squirming. “Well well well, this certainly hasn’t changed either! That’s sweet Wil, you’re still a wriggler.”

Wilbur really was twisting madly on the floor, Schlatt’s fingers kneading into his sensitive ribs making him spasm uncontrollably. Wild, unfiltered giggles tumbled out of him, his smile stretching wider across his face.

“S-Schlahaha- nOHOhohoho! Stohohohopihihit!” Wilbur howled out, trying to shift away from the probing fingers only for them to follow him, never shifting from that damn rib that made him squeal like a little kid.

“Now let’s see,” Schlatt hummed, not even paying attention to Wilbur’s giggle-fueled pleas. “What always made you shriek? Was it the rib counting game or raspberries?” 

A warm flush crept up Wilbur’s neck at the casual words, shoving his head down into his trench coat collar immediately to hide. “Schlahahatt shuhuhut uhuhup!’

“I think it was the rib counting game, raspberries got you to scream, not shriek, didn’t they?”

“IHIHI SAHAhaid shuhuhut uhuhuhup!”

“Mind yourself, Wil,” Schlatt snickered, making sure his knees were firmly planted on Wilbur’s wrists as he put both of his hands on either side of his torso. “I can always make this much worse.” 

He both felt and saw Wilbur gasp, the man flinching at the sight of the outstretched fingers, his nervous giggles picking up when they rested on his bottom ribs. 

“You ready?”

“Ihihill kihihill yohohou.”

“I’m already dead, dumbass,” Schlatt snorted and began to press his digits in, worming them into the skin and grinning when Wilbur bucked with a squeal. “One…” he drawled, dragging his nails across the bones then shifting up. “Two… Thr- Wilbur, c’mon. You’re gonna make me lose count with all the thrashing you’re doing.” 

There was an exasperated whine. “Ihihihi cahahan’t hehehelp ihihihihit!”

“Well you’re gonna have to, I need to know if you’ve lost any ribs since transitioning to the afterlife and I cannot mess it up. Now stay still.”

Wilbur whined again in the back of his throat, sinking deeper into his coat as he felt Schlatt’s hands slide back to his bottom ribs. “Plehehehease- ihihihit tihihihickles Schlahahatt!”

“I know it does idiot,” Schlatt huffed. “That’s the idea.”

His fingers pressed back into the muscle, the sensations sparking through Wilbur’s body and making him want to curl into a ball but with the ram hybrid pinning his waist and his hands, all he could do was throw his head back and giggle himself mad. The slow, tortuous counting continued, Wilbur struggling to control his every instinct to get the hell away. 

“Six…” Schlatt was wiggling his fingers into the middle of the ribcage, snickering as Wilbur fought not to flail as he neared the rib that made the man go ballistic. “Seveeeeen~” Schlatt dragged out the word, his fingers dancing along the rib and leaning forwards towards the eighth one.

Wilbur squirmed back subconsciously, his eyes squinty with how wide his smile was with a red flush colouring his cheeks. He then froze when Schlatt paused directly over the hypersensitive bones, fingers stretched out and a hair's breadth away, but not touching. Wilbur could only stand the tension for a few seconds before he melted into his trench coat, a puddle of nerves and giggly euphoria. “S-Schlatt plehehehease-” he whimpered.

The ram hybrid lunged his nails into the eighth ribs, wiggling and pinching and skittering across the bones. Wilbur’s back immediately arched with a loud shriek, the sound echoing down the train tunnel and quickly followed by hysteric cackling. 

“SCHLAHAHATT!” 

“Awww, there’s those sensitive little buggers,” Schlatt snickered, drilling into the eighth ribs mercilessly and relishing in Wilbur’s gleeful screeches of laughter. 

Wilbur kicked and squirmed wildly, throwing away his previous attempts of staying still as ticklish sparks travelled right through him. Schlatt had him pinned good however, making it impossible for him to squirm away if he wanted to. He was trapped in a different version of hell now.

He was hiccupping in laughter as he pressed out, “IHIHIT’S SOHOHO BAHAHAD SCHLAHAHATT!”

Schlatt decided to be a dick, just for old times sake. “Oh yeah? Well I told you not to move or it would get worse, and you’re just squirming away like a worm on a string.” Schlatt’s teeth clacked together in a menacing grin that sent a swarm of anticipating butterflies through Wilbur’s stomach. “Buckle up bitch.”

Schlatt yanked the helm of Wilbur’s jumper up with one hand and ducked down to press a raspberry into his eighth rib, shaking his head to brush his facial hair along the sensitive skin and using his fingers to scratch under the bone. A wild scream tore from Wilbur’s throat, his whole body convulsing at the rush of ticklish energy and cold concrete on his bare back. 

“FUHUHUHUHUCK! SCHLAHAHAHATT!” He screeched, the sensations almost overwhelming, but at the same time Wilbur relished in it, deprived of contact and laughter for so long that this was paradise. 

The horned man laughed, scribbling and pinching along Wilbur's ribs tauntingly once more. “Yes Mr President?” He teased, “Got something to say?”

“I-IHIHIHIHI- WAHAHAHAHAIT!” 

Wilbur was thrown back into hysteric laughter as Schlatt didn’t wait for his answer, dropping another raspberry into Wilbur’s ribs and deviously spidering his fingers along the bones. Schlatt wasn’t intending on stopping any time soon, and Wilbur didn’t seem to mind the childish fun at all. If anything, he was enjoying it.

The dark, depressing space of the train platform didn’t seem as gloomy with the laughter bouncing through the limbo. How could it with such a light, happy sound? And once it had finally faded, leaving a smiling brunette and a fond ram hybrid, the previous questioning game continued, light-hearted jests echoing through the station. 

Schlatt didn’t end up leaving the station, even long after the game was done, and Wilbur found himself at ease in his old friend’s company. It had been a long time since they’d shared some time like this, and Wilbur found himself thinking that maybe, just maybe, limbo wouldn’t be as horrible anymore.

[hmsharmony]

5. 10. 19.

Apologies in advance for this having nothing to do with Spider-Man until 19. 😬

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

Merlin/Arthur how I loathe thee. The racism and misogyny I had to witness (e.g., petition to replace Angel with Colin when she was scheduled to do an interview with Bradley). I began the show shipping everyone in the core four (although Arthur/Gwen was my OTP), but the treatment of Gwen by many Merthur shippers soured me on the ship. The final nail in the coffin was when a friend, an Arthur/Merlin shipper, found out I shipped Arthur/Gwen and expressed disgust. Fuck that.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

The one that immediately comes to mind (which will not come as a shock to anyone who was around in 2011/2012) is Merlin’s “Gwen is enchanted to kiss zombie!Lancelot the night of her wedding, Arthur finds them, and he banishes her from Camelot on pain of death because ‘I don’t want to see you dead but I don’t want to see you.’”

A few things that fill me with rage to this day:

zero agency for Gwen (who never finds out she was enchanted the actual fuck!!!);

Arthur using his power as king to deal with a personal issue;*

Gwen going through literal hell on her own (taken captive and visuals/language making clear her captor plans to sexually assault her; escaping when she discovers her captor is working with Morgana and they plan to harm Camelot so even though she can’t return ON PAIN OF DEATH she makes her way back anyway; almost freezing to death during said journey; getting chased down by Morgana, who knocks her out and turns her into a DEER while Arthur is going on a hunting party with a prospective bride; said woman SHOOTING DEER GWEN WITH AN ARROW)

Gwen saying she has what she deserves when she tells Merlin she can’t return to Camelot because she betrayed Arthur;

Arthur finding her ring in the middle of the forest and not wondering WHY it was there or if she’s okay; and

an underwhelming resolution where everything is swept under the rug and they IMMEDIATELY GET MARRIED DESPITE THERE CLEARLY BEING MAJOR TRUST ISSUES AND GWEN MOST DEFINITELY HAVING PTSD WHAT ARE YOU DOING

(Bonus Gwen saying she can’t forgive herself and Arthur saying he doesn’t care I am still livid and it has been more than a decade let Gwen have negative feelings!!!)

Took me literal years to love that ship again because of this storyline.

*It would have been much more interesting if it had been framed as “it’s either saving the woman you love or upholding the law” like they did in Camelot. The show (claimed) to be in large part about how Arthur would create a new, fair Camelot (lmao). They missed a perfect chance to have him wrestle with what that means and the sort of king he wanted to be. I kind of played with that in the spec fic I wrote for 4x09, but to this day I want so much more.

19. What is one thing you hate most about your fandom?

I want to preface this by saying that, because of previous fandom experiences (including the infamous Harry Potter ship wars during my formative years), I was careful to cultivate my Spider-Man fandom experience from the get-go. My first couple years I literally only talked to existing friends who also loved PeterMJ (save for one fanvid I made in late 2019, but really I was just thanking people for commenting). It’s only in the past ~year I started interacting with new people, and even then I’m still very careful about expanding my bubble. So I’ve insulated myself pretty well, and I mostly have only secondhand knowledge of the horrendous side of this fandom (versus my merlin days where I would explore outside my bubble and see so much fucked up shit, usually of the racism variety).

With that out of the way: this is so minor in the scheme of things, but whenever someone calls MCU PeterMJ a slow burn I want to rip my face off. I love these kids but what they had was the exact opposite of a slow burn. And it’s not because it was done in one movie—When Harry Met Sally is 100% a slow burn in my book, and yes, the focus is that relationship, but there WERE things homecoming or far from home could have done. Not putting in the work to establish an existing relationship and instead going straight to Peter liking her is not a slow burn. (Now the way they hinted at MJ’s feelings in Homecoming? That was slow burn potential. Would’ve killed for something similar for Peter. And I say this as someone who had the biggest goddamn smile on her face everything they interacted when I first saw Far From Home.)

Salty Ask Game

[nani-nyor]

The person didn't say they dislike their ship, they said they hate HF with "a burning passion" and that they needed to be "saved" from the prospect of seeing them together. That is not "I dislike a ship" that is very literally being hateful of two people in the same group who are close friends interacting. Legitimate hate.

I said before, I and other HFs don't care if this person prefers Chanlix or whatever ship, but they clearly don't just "dislike" HF as a "ship". This person can't even stand seeing them interact. These are real people, not fictional characters. And saying you need to be saved from seeing two friends interact jus because it's not your ship will ALWAYS be weird. So they can say they never hated H or F, no one who actually thinks that way would ever tweet out something so vile.

So no, this was not HFs just wanting someone to attack. This was probably the umpteenth person within the last few months bashing HF or shading them for harmless interactions and HFs are getting frankly sick of just being told to ignore stuff like this or that its on the same level of just not liking something. If HFs went at every person for just not liking HFs, we'd be at it 365 days a year. People are pushing into anti behavior and claiming to be OT8 while also specifically hating two people interact deserves to be called out. Unless you just consider yourself to be OT2 or OT7, in which case, fine. I'll at least have a level of respect for the honesty. Because I agree, it's not inherently anti behavior to not like a ship. But that isn't what happened. "I don't like thinking about it. I don't like seeing it" were their words. Again, if you don't like thinking about or seeing two people in a group interact, that is way way deeper than "I don't like this ship." I don't ship Chanlix but the idea of them interacting isn't so horrific to me that I would go on an unhinged coke rant about how much I hate it or need to be saved from it, which is what that person said about HF.

I never said every single HFer is just an innocent person not causing trouble. But in my experience, it's very rarely the case. If anything, most HF fighting is infighting over stupid shit. Even you admit your experience was four years ago. And while I don't agree with what was said to you (assuming you didn't say anything hateful), I don't see too much of that these days. It's frankly so normalized to hate HF, a lot of people barely even admit to shipping it and only do so in private, so I would be surprised if anyone gave a new fan shit for not being into HF. In fact, a random person was recently interested in HF and every other shipper and their mother were swift to come in to say that "HF are just friends, check out ABC ship instead". The norm these days is to sway people away from HF, not towards it.

You're right that almost every F ship (hell H ship, too) does go at HFs. And maybe you're not aware of it but a LOT of times, HFs are in fact, not the aggressors. Like I said, HFs are so despised in this fandom just for shipping what they consider "the wrong ship" together that you can't even share a moment of H/F doing something without XYZ other shipper pointing out "They do this with X member, too". "Cute how H always does this with F and Y member". "F does this with everyone, he loves them all so much" Backhanded, shady things like that come from every other shipper on the daily, so forgive HFs if we are constantly feeling defensive when no other shipper wants to let HFs have a single moment to themselves without trying to assert that it's nothing special. I promise that it will not kill anyone for HF to have one interaction a month but I guess to some shippers even that is too much. Also a lot (not all, but let's be honest here) of F shippers are akgaes who hate H, so that also contributes a lot to the hate. It's not that HFs did anything to them, they just hate H and hate the idea of H shipped with F. Same with H akgaes. It's not even usually a shipper thing outside of they will prefer ANY H or F ship that isn't HF and that's why they constantly attack HFs.

Already addressed that HFs didn't just "find" something to attack a person for and that they were very literally saying they hate seeing them together so much that they need to be saved from it. And acting like they should have to right to talk about how much they hate two people interacting. "I'll be crucified if I say it." Well yes. The normalization of this fandom being able to say they hate two people interacting as long as it's HF should continue to be called out.

Let me put it a different way. Imagine someone said those exact words, but instead of HF, it was about Seungmin and Jeongin. Is it hateful now? Are we looking at it a little differently now when it's not the fandom punching bag ship? Seriously, because I have seen people say the same thing about several other ships like that and the fandom response was immediate in that it was wrong and disgusting and should not be tolerated. When it's HF, we apparently have a right to just hate them, though. It's just a little hard to ignore, so again, forgive HFs for constantly being defensive because this happens pretty much daily.

I agree that saying Chanlix is an ick is over the top. Which is why I'm sure you would agree that it's 10X worse to say that you hate a ship (HF) with a burning passion, to not be able to stand it, and to hate to see it so much that you need to be saved from it. I'd rather a person say HF gives them "the ick" ten times over to what that person said, which is just vile and taking shipping way too damn seriously.

And I said before, I really don't have any stake in this incest thing. I don't think Chanlix is incest. Some people (Chanlixers) seem to like that concept and some people (non Chanlixers) seem to incorrectly label them that way as a diss. And I don't agree with it being used as a diss because they're obviously not related. I could not give a single care in the world about someone shipping Chanlix, ship whatever you want. I don't care.

My response was specifically directed towards the incorrect idea (whether you were just unaware of it or not because I'm giving the benefit of the doubt here) that this was HFs waking up one morning and deciding to attack a harmless Chanlixer for a ship opinion. IDK if you know this but there is a select group of Chanlixers who have admitted publicly and are doing nothing to really hide the fact that they desire to start shit with HFs for no other reason than seeing this "ship war" as a real competition that they believe they've been winning for the past few years. And these same people have very literally gone after a HFer for seeing a HF interaction, calling it a HF interaction, but Chan was there so in the Chanlixers minds, this could only have been a Chanlix moment and HFs were stupid for calling it HF. And legitimately started harassing the person for seeing an interaction as HF. This person said nothing about Chanlix whatsoever and were attacked. Is this the "let people ship whatever they want" we're supposed to be about? Is this "HFs being aggressive at people not liking HF"? Because I'm not seeing it. If anyone can't handle a difference of opinion, I promise you that in this specific case, it was not the HFs.

If you want to defend innocent Chanlixers, go for it, but these specific Chanlixers have been unable to handle the existence of HF for years and are very public and open about it so I'm sorry if in your view this was over nothing, but it's just simply not the case. These are vocal HF antis, hate seeing HF interact, arguably just hate H in general, and are basically upset that H and F are friends because they think F can only be close to Chan. And then directly attack HFs over it. I don't agree with going at Chanlix with the incest label but HFs bringing it up AS A DIRECT RESPONSE to the same Chanlixers constantly going on coke rants about HF to HFs in our tags when no one even mentioned their ship, I mean, I'm not really going to be losing sleep over it in this case. If Chanlixers are going to confidently attack HFers who didn't do anything to them just bc they dont ship Chanlix, let's not then play victim if HFs have something not so nice to say back.

I would very much prefer if our shipdoms could simply agree to ignore each other from here on out if this is what it's going to be like bc it's getting tiring. 99% of HFs I know have no problem with Chanlix and enjoy their interactions. At worst, don't ship them. Chanlixers (not all, but in my experience) seem to just outright hate H and think he's using F for popularity (as if he needs help with that) and hate his interactions w F because of it (but these are generally Fx akgaes who happen to ship Chanlix as opposed to standard Chanlixers). I'm sure you have your share of grievances with HFs, So like I said, it's been going on for months and we can all just enjoy our preferred ships in peace in an ideal world.

About Chanlix accounts on Twitter locking their doors because of ship wars… deep sigh.

Do I support all the things they’ve said? No. Do I read the fics they were talking about the last couple of days? No, but boy oh boy was their point ever proven about Hyunlixers harassing people who don’t like their ship. Because all that person said was they don’t like the ship, and Hlxrs sure enough went and hounded their account for something to cause a stir.

You guys have got to let people ship whatever they want, and allow them space to discuss things they don’t. It’s social media, not an enclosed room with a singular mic stand on a stage. That person didn’t even tag Hyunlix.

Lastly, and this is an incredibly touchy topic, there is something to be said about how often Stays will call Felix and Chan an inc*stuous ship, yet get mad at people who then go read inc*st Chanlix. I don’t read it and don’t understand why people like it, but Chan and Felix are NOT related and never have been, so it does not make sense for such a large portion of this fandom to accuse Chanlixers as being inc*st shippers based solely on them both being from Australia and calling each other brothers, yet also turn around and say people who read/write fics under that umbrella are in the wrong.

Do I think people should be writing that? No, again, I do not understand the appeal, but Stays created this beast. Multiple shippers of various pairings within Stay have called Chanlix inc*st, I’ve seen it first hand over the years, and say they don’t understand why anyone would ship them because they’re basically brothers. Yet… when said falsehood become common within their fics, those same people who said they were “basically real brothers” are now disgusted.

And Make no mistake, I am not defending inc*st shipping. I’m simply saying, non-Chanlix shippers laid this trap, but now want to send hate parties after people for taking it in stride. Y’all should have never compared Chan and Felix to inc*st in the first fucking place, because it’s just as weird and gross as shipping inc*st. Especially because we have heard FROM CHAN’S OWN MOUTH that he finds Felix pretty, feels like his soulmate, and all these other things.

Their antis and otherwise non-shippers have spent years discrediting the things Chan and Felix have said about each other, the looks they’ve given one another, and the things other members have implied about them. No one is saying you have to ship them either, but you can’t spend years calling them an inc*stous ship, then turn around and be mad that some people embraced the bullshit.

They are not related and this should have never become an issue.

That said, the person who suggested a 6-year-old inc*st fic needs to be banned from social media and probably investigated. That is unacceptable and goes beyond “kink” or whatever. Gunning for the person who said, “No thank you,” however, is ridiculous. Them not liking Hyunlix does not give y’all the right to spread the idea they are a p*dophile, just because they didn’t say “No” in a way you deem fully appropriate.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Stay is one of the wildest fandoms I’ve ever been in. Creating a problem just to get mad at people for sidestepping said problem, is insane. You can’t claim a ship between two people who are not related is gross and inc*stous, then attack people for shipping them in that way, while also getting mad because someone said they don’t ship the pair you prefer, without even insulting your preferred ship.

Y’all proved them right completely, but because the topic is inc*st and most people do in fact agree it’s a weird thing to enjoy, no one is going to look at the root of the issue. Which is Chanlix antis and non-shippers started all of this by calling Chan and Felix an inc*stous ship, just because y’all preferred a different pairing and wanted a reason to deter people from shipping them.

[anyathefandom]

To Those Fortunate Enough chapter 31:

@burned-lariat

"I don't want you here."

"No," Wallace laughed nervously, "you don't mean that…you can't mean that."

"I don't want you here," Dex shook his head slowly, his voice firm.

Me: See I don't blame him because last time he saw him he invalidated his feelings and that man got so upset he passed out🤷

Dexter Heller," Wallace replied in the same tone, "relax. You're not in any danger, no one's hurting you. You're in a safe place; nothing's going to happen to you."

"Why can't you just do what I'm telling you to do, you stupid son of a bitch? Is English that hard? Should I say it a different way for you to get it? Fine: Ich will dich hier nicht haben! Raus mit dir! Lass mich in Ruhe!"

Me: Oh you know someone is pissed with you when they switch to another language to tell you to get out.🫣

"I'll calm down when you finally screw off."

"Is that any way to talk to your father?"

Both men turned to look at the door. Ava leaned against the open doorway, looking them over. She pursed her lips before slowly walking towards the bed, standing between father and son.

"Can I help you?" Wallace asked.

"You can," she replied, "Give your son and I some space to talk, if you please. Thank you."

Me: The way I imagined ava entering the scene like:

"Why?" Dex looked at her incredulously, "Ava, you were one of the few people in the family who didn't look down upon me because I exist. You didn't know what Victor knew, and you didn't know he was going to do any of what he did. You have no reason to apologize."

"Aren't you sweet," Ava smirked, briefly glancing through the window behind her, "Mind telling me why you're so irate at your father?"

"If I remembered why, I'd tell you. I just…know I should be."

"Hopefully it'll come back to you," Ava stood up slowly, gently slapping his forearm, "Take it from me: you're in very good hands here."

"Great," Dex smiled before Ava walked towards the door, "Hey, Ava?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for visiting. It means a lot."

Me: Somehow Someway I came out of that interaction an Ava x dex crack shipper.🫢

"Valentin, you're back!" Irina rushed to hug her brother as he walked into the hotel room. He felt her squeeze him tight, earning him a giggle from Anna as she came from behind, "Where did you go?"

Me: It's really hitting that this is a relationship we've been robbed of because the writers don't respect the woman in white.😭

"Irina," Valentin looked between the two blondes, "this is Charlotte. She's my daughter, which makes her your niece. Charlotte, this is your aunt, Irina."

Me: The way my mind went "Imagine Irina took Charlotte under her wing and down the line trained her." Once again we've been robbed.

“...Something the matter?” Valentin looked at Wallace as the door closed.

“Yeah…there is,” Wallace gulped, his eyes red and bloodshot.

"And that is...?"

“My son wants nothing to do with me.”

Me: *Sings* Cause karma is my boyfriend, Karma is a god, Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend, Karma's a relaxing thought, Aren't you envious that for you it's not?

Also me: Like y'all know a love that problematic German man but...

"You look like you went through hell and back," Spencer remarked.

"Funnily enough, I just did."

"Is it as hot as people claim it is?"

"Worse. Not only is it hot, but there's mountains of corpses everywhere, so it reeks too. The world's nastiest men's locker room."

"...Shut up," Spencer playfully swiped at Dex, causing both men to laugh. Spencer felt his spine stiffen when Dex's laughter led to a fit of coughing, "You okay?"

Me: The fact that this is the only time I would ever support Spencer and Dex being friends😂

"...Touché," a smirk broke onto Dex's face, "But in all seriousness, Spencer, if you plan to cut your father out of your life, be sure that you're doing it with a sound mind. I did it while full of rage and adrenaline, and once I calmed down, I let him back in."

Me: Dex...

Let Spencer cut Nikolas out of his life it's for the best.🙈

Why did you let him back in?"

"I don't know."

"If you don't know, then why haven't you kicked him back out?"

"...I don't know," Dex frowned, looking down at his lap. The thought sat with him for a moment or two before he looked back at his cousin, "Look, Spencer, you're the only one who can decide whether or not to keep your father in your life, and whatever you choose to do, I support you."

Me: Good, because Nikolas has been a real shit father for a while now.🥴

"You're German, aren't you?"

"I am."

"So that means you speak German, right?"

"Fluently."

"Prove it."

Dex raised an eyebrow, "You want me to prove I can speak fluent German?"

"I'm trying to keep our conversation going, Dex. Humor me."

My instant thought: This is probably some bougie little test Spencer has going. He's probably going "Hmm he can't be a true Cassadine unless he knows more than one language.🧐"

"Alright," Spencer smirked, hearing the faint sound of footsteps approaching the room, "Who's standing in the doorway?"

"...Meine Mutter."

Spencer turned around to see Irina standing in the doorway, a hand on the door frame. Her eyes were bright with curiosity, fixated on Dex. The young man sucked in a breath at the sight of her, unsure of how to react. A heavy silence filled the room, crushing the atmosphere until a lone question broke the tension:

"Could I speak to my son alone?"

How I visualized Irina coming to his room:

One thing about Irina is that she's going to be excited to her baby.😂

[butwhatifidothis]

The more I read your posts the more I wonder what the fresh hell happened in the Bleach fandom lol.

I wasn't a part of it back then, but when I witnessed the collective breakdown from shippers in an ending, to the point of burning their books, I don't think I want to know...

Alright for a very, verrrry basic breakdown of what essentially happened:

Bleach starts, Ichigo meets Rukia

Early 2000's, boy meets girl in shounen and they're bickering, instantly shipped

First two arcs of Bleach focus on Ichigo and Rukia's relationship (henceforth referred to as IR)

Anime overhypes IR, downplays Orihime - Ichigo's actual love interest - and her relationship with Ichigo (the ship of which henceforth referred to as IH)

Anime makes Orihime more ditzy and air-headed + ditzy and air-headed female character in the 2000's + "potential" "love rival" of IR (Orihime is the sole love interest for Ichigo and thus there literally isn't a rivalry but you get the idea) = Orihime becomes extremely hated, consequently making IH extremely hated

Renji and Rukia's relationship (henceforth called RR, though it's less relevant in general) isn't necessarily downplayed by the anime so much as it is mostly ignored by IR because Obviously Rukia Just See Renji As A Friend (spoiler: no she doesn't)

As the manga continues passed the Soul Society arc (also known as the Rescue Rukia arc) written IR interactions drop significantly as their relationship remains as Extremely Close Friends (but like, actually)

Anime still pushes IR anyway through filler arcs + continual erasure of Orihime's moments, now with added IR implications in canon moments (i.e., Nel getting jealous of Rukia and thinking she's in a relationship with Ichigo during the beginning of the Arrancar arc - doesn't happen in the manga). IR shippers start clinging to non-canon material such as colorspreads and merch, character poems are misinterpreted to be about IR when they're not ("I wonder, can I keep up with it? The speed of the world, without you in it?" is often mistakenly said to be about Ichigo towards Rukia, I do believe it's actually about Zangetsu - this specific one happens later on, but you get the general idea), etc. etc.

Fade to Black movie drops, becomes known as "the IR movie" - then the mangaka is said to have said that Ichigo and Rukia were "more than friends, less than lovers" which somehow translates to them being lovers despite IR shippers' own wonky translation saying otherwise (this one genuinely confuses me to this day lmao)

Cycle continues

BOOM Lust Arc, Ichigo dies trying to protect Orihime and is then subsequently revived into a Hollow by her desperate pleas to save her combining with his want to protect her, only to become human again once he successfully kills what was threatening Orihime (in his mind)

Omega IH moment

IR shippers fuckin' hated it, makes the Lust Arc = Fail essay to justify why the Lust Arc actually totally definitely doesn't mean anything and IR will still totally happen

By this point they've believed IR is "basically confirmed" and they go back to hating on IH

Cycle continues, anime is still hyping up IR, though I do believe by this point they stopped downplaying Orihime/IH at least somewhat

Then we do a hard cut to the Quincy arc

Ichigo and Rukia barely interact. Are barely in the same panel. Or on the same page. Or even in the same location. Like, for the majority of the last arc.

IH moments skyrocket, as well as RR moments skyrocketing

Most notable moments for both: Renji thanking Ichigo for bring him and Rukia back together from the bottom of his heart; Ichigo bringing Orihime to fight alongside him against the last arc's main villain, something Ichigo had never done before with anyone else

IR shippers haaaaaate it, deny that anything that happens between IH and RR mean anything since IR is such a shoe-in for canon

Cut to the ending of Bleach, IH and RR are endgame because fuckin' duh

Cue infamous shit-fest from IR shippers

In essence, the breakdown that came from the ending came from a loooooooong history of IR shippers taking extensive, all-expenses-paid trips up and down The Nile about anything and everything that was slowly building up between IH and RR. They (and, to be clear, I mean "they" as in the specific IR shippers who acted like this, not all IR shippers) would also act pretty damn entitled too - they'd chase the mangaka Tite Kubo off of Twitter twice if I remember right, just cuz he wouldn't fuckin' lie and say that IR would be canon.

None of this being at all helped by the anime shitting all over Orihime's character at the crucial beginning episodes of Bleach, with them completely butchering her literal first appearance ever into something that quite literally portrays her as feeling the exact opposite feelings for Ichigo than the manga shows her feeling (and with Ichigo seeming annoyed with her presence, which is where you get the whole "Ichigo doesn't even like Orihime!" take from).

So ultimately the years of IR shippers feeling as confident as they did about IR becoming canon, shitting on IH both as a ship independent from the shippers as a "crackship" and as something that is stupid of anyone to ship and thus any shipper of IH inherently invites ridicule (of which they did a lot of), ignoring all of the signs that IR wasn't gonna happen to the point of taking words from the mangaka that outright stated even in their translation of his words they were not lovers and somehow twisting that to mean that they definitely are lover, taking any development Ichigo had as a character and making it somehow someway all about how he is nothing without Rukia and only Rukia because only Rukia ever helped him because romantic love is the only thing that could ever save Ichigo and Ichigo would totally abandon his still-living friends and family in the World of the Living to be Rukia's lieutenant (hmmm where has this theme cropped up before) - all of that culminated into the absolute STATE they fell into when it was revealed that all of their excuses for their shitty behavior meant even less than they already did because their ship didn't even become canon at the end of the day. You both had to be there and be glad that you weren't there lmao

[leather-n-laces]

I've been in fandom for a VERY long time

I was BIG into Supernatural, TWD, various games, loads of TV and movies over the years. I've been active on tumblr for over 10 years now. I've been active in fandoms (loud mouthed, sharing my opinion with the world) and I've been passive.

(THIS IS A RANT)

I don't know how much of this will make sense. It might not, who knows.

I don't think I have ever been a part of a fandom that gets so mean and toxic as the Bethyl community. Which is so surreal to me because I was in the SPN fandom. It feels like every day I log on to see some mutuals have been inundated with angry anon messages for no apparent reason. The harassment's is unreal. The worst part is, Bethyl is a small part off the TWD fandom. We are a small group of shippers, a lot of us know each other be it we are actually buddies, or e read/support each others various works. So when you say a name, chances are a lot of us know who you're talking about.

I don't, and have never ever believed bullying/harassment is the way to handle anything. I think it's gross, a bit cruel, and cowardly. I can't understand WHY someone would put so much time and effort into tearing others down. I was actively bullied in school both online and off. I've gotten my fair share of anon hate and drama sent my way. I get how it feels to be on the receiving end. It's super super shitty.

You don't have to like everyone. You don't have to interact with them. You don't have to look at their art or read their stories. There's no rule saying we've all gotta be friends. I do believe there's an unspoken rule in which we should all be civil to each other. If you can't do that for whatever reason, don't interact. Block/ignore and move the hell on. There's nothing accomplished by sock puppet accounts and anon hate. You're just continuing a very toxic and very tiresome cycle. I genuinely don't know what anyone gets out of this type of targeted harassment. Who has the time and energy? If you have some to burn why spend it on THAT??

I was AFK during the first big round of drama last summer. But I heard about it and was really confused and sad. Because if I had been around, I know one way or another I would've been roped into it.

I've tried really really hard to say absolutely nothing, I avoid the Bethyl tags (tho I love you guys and just keep my head down. )

but I'm tired.

We are all adults and we should all be a hell of a lot better than this.

I hate that this is just...the Bethyl fandom now. Every few months like clockwork, people start getting messages, names and accusations start getting thrown around. I know people say and do things when they're super fed up and people make mistakes, misdirect and stuff. Some people are gonna block/ignore messages, some people will respond. I know if you attacked me personally I wouldn't really care, but if you decided to go after a friend - yeah you know what? I'd probably post responses too! Can't fault anyone for responding/posting their anon messages.

Anon, whoever you might be. We're all really fucking tired. We have all got better things to do. I'm sure you do too. IDK what went down between people personally really, and you know what? Not my business. Just...points have been gotten across. No reason why this all keeps happening.

Feel free to anon me and tell me why we can't just MOVE ON from this.