#smallville counts as super fandom

[dubiousdisco]

For science

[sparklepocalypse]

And now for something I haven't done in an age (mostly because of that, you know, dozen-year hiatus from being active in fandom, which ended abruptly this fall)...

It's Fic Rec Friday!! I'm going to try to do this every other Friday (if not every Friday; TBH it really depends on my brain at the end of a given work week...), and share the links to 5-ish of my favorite fics. These will likely be multifandom rec posts pretty frequently, so just a heads up there, but I'll clearly mark each fandom included and chunk the recs out that way in the posts.

Will I rec new fics? Seems likely! Will I rec old fics? Signs point to yes! Will I rec WIPs? Probably just completed fics for now, but we'll see! Will I be effusive in my praise of the fics I rec? Absolutely!

Recs after the jump to save you a scroll...

Red, White & Royal Blue

With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest) by @kiwiana-writes [Alex/Henry acting AU | rated E | 65.5k words] Former child star Alex meets theatre graduate Henry in a queer stage reimagining of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

This is the first fic that I ever yelled at MJ about, and there's been plenty of yelling since then. It checks all the boxes: it's an AU (my beloved!); there's a heap of drama on and offstage; there's big huge romance; there's really delightful humor. Also, you will feel the need to give their Henry a hug. The way MJ writes Alex and Henry always reaches into my brain and scratches it in the right place, and they'll absolutely be a frequent flyer in these rec lists.

Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood by @cha-melodius [Alex/Henry corporate AU | E | 20k words] Alex and Henry are colleagues who can't stand one another. They're assigned to mandatory reconciliation by their boss, but their therapist assumes it's actually couples' therapy, and well... things escalate from there.

How do I love this fic? Let me count the ways... after I crash-landed into the RWRB fandom this fall, this is one of the fics that really stood out to me when I was sort of frantically trying to digest all the M and E-rated (I know, super shocking) fic that the fandom had to offer. Sara always handles her characters with such care, regardless of the situation she throws them into, and couples' therapy that's not supposed to be couples' therapy is no different.

What Do I Know? by @three-drink-amy [Alex/Henry amnesia AU | E | 83.6k words] Alex has a serious car accident and wakes up a week later in the hospital with no memory of the past five years. He's shocked to learn that he and Henry are married, because they hate each other... right?

Put on your favorite angst pants for this one, because it's going to hurt. I absolutely had to pause and cry during this fic, but it's so, so well written that I can forgive the face leakage. And the promised happy ending absolutely delivers! Just, you know. Brace yourself because ouch.

Star Trek

How High the Moon by kyliselle [Kirk/Spock AOS AU | E | 37.7k words] After the destruction of Vulcan, Spock shielded his mind to protect it from his broken bond with T'Pring. Little did he know another bond had already formed in its place.

This is the first Star Trek (2009 Abramsverse) fic that made me absolutely feral, and I share it now with you because it's just that good. I'm a little bummed that the author hasn't claimed it on AO3 following the original archive being shut down, because I would love to yell at them on AO3 about it and know that they see the comments. But it's so good. I am a huge sucker for soulbonds, and Vulcan bonds in particular where they've got the telepathic component, and accidental Vulcan bonds in particular in particular, and this fic absolutely delivers. Angst galore, though, so just like with the previous rec, you'll need your angst pants.

Smallville

When a Strawberry is Pushed into a Mountain by Thamiris [Clark Kent/Lex Luthor | E | 33.1k words] While studying at Metropolis University, Clark takes a literature class and, with Lex's help, finds a new appreciation for poetry.

If you have an appreciation for Beat poetry, beautiful phrasing, and the DCU/Smallville, you'll love this fic. Thamiris was an incredibly talented writer who unfortunately passed away in 2007, but a group of her friends ensured that we'd have access to her writing in perpetuity by archiving it for her on AO3. This fic was one of the influences of the body calligraphy and intercrural sex fics I wrote for Kinktober 2023; just gorgeous, gorgeous prose altogether.

[svgurl410]

T & W for the fandom ask? :)

Thanks for asking! :D

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything) I am sure I do but whenever I get a question like this, my brain wonders if it has ever come up with a single idea ever regarding my fave characters/ships. IDK if I would die defending it but here's a couple for Smallville:

Clark realized he was in love with Lois/she was the one in 9.15 'Pandora' when she asked if he meant it when he said they'll be together always & forever. His face had this 'oh' thing before he said he did.

Oliver, Lois, and Clark are all bi. Okay, Tess too. Maybe especially Tess.

Lois developed feelings for Clark by the end of s7 and buried it down, but couldn't anymore when they were working together all the time

W - 5 favorite ships and 5 kinks you like best for said ships

Is it 5 for each? I'm not super exciting (and tragically can't write smut, which is even sadder when I'm the primary writer for one of these ships) but I'll try though I am going to only stick to a couple because I'm too lazy to think

Clark/Lois (Smallville) - roleplay (she does has a lot of costumes), semi exhibition, edging, manhandling

Clark/Oliver (Smallville) - competence, power play, dirty talk, bites/bruises/marking (Clark is torn between being mortified and finding it hot, Oliver likes it and uses it to taunt Clark when they're in public)

Rory/Jess (Gilmore Girls) - being bossed around/obedience (because Jess definitely likes it when she tells him what to do), teasing/slight dirty talk

Bucky/Sam (MCU) - metal arm play, handcuffs

Diana/Steve (DCEU) - bondage (with her lasso), fem!dom, playfulness (does it count?)

[fancoloredglasses]

[RERUN] History of Doom (More hidden recording devices than even the NSA is willing to use)

[All images are owned by DC Comics and Warner Bros. Discovery. Please don’t sue me]

The final episode of Challenge of the Superfriends ends on a sorta-kinda high note. It’s another episode (kind of) dealing with time travel and visiting the origins of a few characters, in this case Lex Luthor, Apache Chief, and Giganta. We also see what would happen if the Legion of Doom actually won.

(Thanks to Pro Wrestling Fandom)

They get the tag team titles!

Wait...

Dammit, wrong LoD again!

Anyway, if you would like to see the original review, you may do so here. If you would like to watch the episode, Watch Cartoons Online has you covered!

We open on the ruins of Earth (with a montage of devastation worldwide), where we see this cheery headline.

It’s nice to know newspaper editors have their priorities straight. I can totally see Perry White at the Daily Planet screaming at his staff: “I don’t care that the world will end at dawn! We’ve got to get the Morning Edition out!”

Anyway, three aliens land in the ruins and start investigating how Earth came to be destroyed.

You can tell they’re aliens by their weird robes and the fact that their leader must be using some sort of futuristic mustache wax to get that much facial hair to suspend itself like that.

They eventually find their way to the Hall of Justice, which one of them recognize (though they don’t recall the name of the “group of super beings” that occupied it. Maybe their records keep mixing up Superfriends and Justice League as well?) They deduce that the Superfriends (or at least their records) will likely know what happened.

While searching through the remnants of the Hall of Justice’s computer, they stumble across Superman’s final recording, pinning the blame on the Legion of Doom. The aliens have never heard of them (THAT will be a blow to Lex Luthor’s ghosts’s ego!) so they check other parts of the computer’s damaged memory banks (that’s what they used before hard drives, kids!) to find out who the Legion of Doom are. I want to also point out that, once again, the writers, much like the aliens, can’t decide how the Superfriends are connected to the JLA, as the computer refers to the recordings as “Justice League memory files”

They stumble across Lex Luthor’s origins, and how he befriended Superboy.

[As a side note, ever since his creation in the 1940s, Lex Luthor has always been a redhead whenever he had hair, including on Smallville. (The movies don’t count, as he was wearing a wig by then). Nice to know DC reinforced the stereotype that gingers are evil]

When he saw that Lex’s makeshift lab was on fire, he used his super breath to put out the flames.

Unfortunately, Lex was inside and the chemical fumes were blown into him, making him lose his hair. He vowed revenge on Superboy and became a super villain (I guess bald jokes were more vicious than ginger jokes back then?)

[OK, I’m gonna hit the pause button here. During this origin, we have video documentation of Lex’s farm and Lex’s lab. Was the NSA keeping tabs on young Lex even back then?]

Next up, we have Giganta. (that’s quite a step down from Luthor. Were the tapes of the Riddler, Toyman, and Solomon Grundy destroyed?) Once again, the NSA recording devices are evident, this time on a Native American (I’m assuming Apache, since Apache Chief is involved) reservation. Exactly who are they keeping tabs on here?

(Thanks to Super Friends)

I know, not much of an origin story.

Next we see the origin of the Justice League Superfriends and the Legion of Doom. Superman pretty much gathers the heroes together and says they’re now Superfriends.

(Thanks to SuperVillainTelevision)

(OK, Superfriends debuted in 1973 (the clips didn’t have Wendy, Marvin, or Wonder Dog?), but the Legion of Doom wouldn’t start trouble until 1978. What were they doing for 5 years?!)  

We are then treated to highlights of previous episodes (obviously the animation budget was running low by now) that show the Legion winning just before the moment the deus ex Supershit kicked in...

...but no mention of what happened to the Earth. The aliens decide to find the Hall of Doom to investigate further.

Fortunately, the memory tapes told them exactly where to go. (So even though the Superfriends knew exactly where the Hall of Doom was (thanks to the NSA), they never once laid siege to it to capture the Legion?!) They find the memory taps and review “Attack Plan 1566″. (so they’ve come up with 1,565 plans that didn’t work? I think this would be beyond the point most would call it quits. At least they have tenacity)

Luthor plans on sending a rocket to the sun, (wouldn’t it burn up before it got there?) which will cause a solar flare aimed right at the Hall of Justice. ("How?” you ask? Trust me, that is the least confusing part of this plan)

The rocket reaches the sun in seconds. (those are some advanced engines on that rocket! You know, if this Luthor was the industrialist that post-Crisis Luthor was, he’d make billions off of NASA instead of slumming with a bunch of second- and third-rate villains no one heard of before this show started) Fortunately, the Superfriends have time to evacuate (ya think? I mean, it is traveling 93 million miles...), or would if Superman didn’t want to grandstand and take care of it himself. (can’t blame him. Thanks to the restrictions placed on cartoon violence, he hasn’t been able to punch anything for most of the season)

However, Luthor’s rocket (that should’ve melted by now) has a device that changes the sun’s color to red as Superman approaches the flare, robbing Superman of his powers! (you’d think Luthor would have done that earlier; also, the NSA has cameras not only in the Hall of Doom, but outer space as well? Exactly who are they spying on out there?!)

Superman somehow (given he no longer is able to fly...or breathe in space for that matter...) manages to get back to the Hall of Justice. (and no one has evacuated yet)

Green Lantern then activates the global force field (doesn’t he have an all-powerful ring that will do whatever he wants against anything that isn’t yellow? The sun’s red now, right?) which reacts to the flare, causing global devastation   (which the NSA happily records for posterity)

The aliens decide to go back in time to prevent the events of the episode from happening (wait, this takes place after Secret Origins of the Superfriends, which means not only is it documented that Flash and Black Vulcan can travel through time, but the Legion have their own time machine and Batman has Wayne Enterprises’ experimental Bat Flux Capacitor! They could have traveled back in time themselves to stop this!)...

...by shifting the moon’s orbit enough to cause an eclipse (why didn’t Superman think of that?)

The Superfriends cheer their good luck at the Legion’s miscalculation...

...when Luthor interjects (wait, so he can hack into the NSA recording devices in the Hall of Justice? And don’t even try to pretend the NSA wouldn’t have recording devices keeping tabs on them!) and says he didn’t miscalculate!

Kind of a fitting way for Challenge to end (this was the final episode of this Superfriends series, and the last original episode until Legendary Super Powers)

[bylightofdawn]

My work decided randomly at the end of last year that they were going to move the cap for PTO from 100 hours to 80.

I am a very dedicated (read stupidly obsessed with being dependable and diligent worker bee) Capricorn that exudes so much Capricorn energy you can prolly read it from orbit so suffice to it so say I have over 100 hours of banked PTO and was at risk of losing 20 some odd-hours. This is after I took two vacations last year so yeah I was kinda not happy with this new policy.

Soooooo I requested that time off before it expires on the 15th and ya girl now has 5 whole days back to back off starting tomorrow.

I'd originally planned to make a trip to Houston but sadly, I can't afford it thanks to getting the plague after my last mini vacation in December and my check on the 31st wasn't what I was expecting it to me.

Which, eh no big deal I'll just enjoy this time and do a staycation instead for the next 5 days.

I'm going to do some spring cleaning and rearranging of my apartment. My mother has been trying to fob some furniture off on me for years so I've decided to get rid of this 96 inch metal baker's rack that was housing all of my dvds and various fandom crap like lose figures and the like.

On Sunday, i went through all my DVD's BluRays etc, took them all out of the boxes and recycled them and started to put them into a binder. I had to buy a BIGGER one because 270 something wasn'r enough. All together with some DVD's being doubled up like bluray/dvs combos. I filled up a 400 space binder.

What. The. Fuck.

And that's not counting the things I didn't get rid of because it was specialty cases or things like my Red vs Blue and Star Wars stuff or ANY Of my many, many TV shows. I think I'm going to get a separate binder for those and then keep the cases but put them in a box to free up space so I can hopefully get shit down to one book shelf so I can get a small couch or love seat in my living room.

That ain't happening tomorrow though. Tomorrow is me time, I am going to play video games, read and write and then start cracking on that stuff on Monday.

The only thing that could make this vacation better was if I could get a massage or something stupidly self-indulgent like that.

So here's crossing my fingers and hoping I make some head-way in my new JasPlo fic. I'm debating breaking my own rules and posting things as I write rather than once I've finished just to see if the stress of keeping people waiting would be enough to motivate hibernating motivation or if the stress would just make me not want to write at all.

I mean is it really the end of the world if I have a WIP that hasn't been touched in six months? I dunno. I feel like my own innate sense of guilt would eat at me and I'd prolly crater like a house of cards the first time I get some shithead self-entitled comment asking why I haven't updated.

Which, LBR prolly won't happen cause how many people are going to be reading some super rarepair fic to begin with and I don't think I attract that sort of attention so no way that would even happen.

Most of the time I just feel like I'm putting stuff out into the void. Which, I'm not complaining about but I just really doubt that sort of scenario would happen.

But....you tell that to my guilt complex. I was definitely catholic in another life and have apparently carried said guilt into my next life.

Useless Edit: I ended up getting 90% of my tv series in the binder that held 270 something dvds. When did I buy all this shit that realistically I will never watch again because I own a chunk of them on digital now anyway.

I’m going to see if I can sell the random Smallvile seasons 4-10 and random Naruto seasons at Half Priced books since I’m well past my Naruto phase and what’s her faces sexual assault scandals kinda ruined the show for me forever. Same reason I got rid of all of my Kevin Spacey dvds when I was going through my dvds. But I forgot I bought both seasons do BBC’s Musketeers and I lowkey kinda want to rewatch it now. I also forgot I had seasons 1-4 of Scrubs which is one of my lowkey favorite series ever. I’m kinda excited by the things that got kinda lost in my collection. I found my Dark Angel series and kinda want to add that to the list as well

So series wise I’m pretty set. I don’t know if I’ll be watching any of my dvd or blu rays though. I plan on taking my binder of movies over to my moms house since she doesn’t know how to run Netflix ffs so the know she will get some use out of them. Or at least more than me.

I guess this semi counts as a declutter, yes? Pffft

[sarcasticfina]

Fic Writer Tag Game

How many works do you have on AO3? 263

What’s your total AO3 word count? 4,901,188

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they? including the fandoms on FFnet, that haven't yet been moved over to ao3, that'd be a total of 37. separating the larger fandoms (marvel, dcu) into their individual parts: Thor; Arrow; Smallville; The Vampire Diaries; Glee; Captain America; Supernatural; Teen Wolf; Iron Man; Life with Derek; Firefly; Friday Night Lights; X-Men; Fantastic Four; Harry Potter; Sons of Anarchy; Girl Meets World; Batman; Daredevil; From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series; Transformers; Lost Girl; Game of Thrones; Banshee; High School Musical; The OC; One Tree Hill; CSI: New York; Degrassi; Gossip Girl; NCIS; The Unusuals; Criminal Minds; iCarly; Secret Life of the American Teenager; Twilight; and The Listener

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. and I wonder (if everything could ever feel this real forever) - darcy/bucky - Steve tells him that Darcy's harmless. Bucky imagines, on paper, Darcy is harmless. HYDRA wouldn't give her a second glance. But he does. He can barely keep his eyes off her. He's not sure he wants to. | Kudos: 5576

2. I Climbed The Tree To See The World (When The Gusts Came Around To Blow Me Down, I Held On As Tightly As You Held On To Me) - darcy centric | darcy/steve - The path to self-discovery, including becoming Coulson's assistant-slash-liaison-slash-bff, Captain America's lady love, and rating fourth on the SHIELD BAMF scale, was like the yellow brick road; it was chaos and confusion around every bend. | Kudos: 3973

3. Take a little piece of my heart (and keep it for yourself) - oliver/felicity - A collection of Olicity prompts on Tumblr posted here for easier access/reading. | Kudos: 3498

4. You put your arms around me (and I'm home) - darcy/bucky - A collection of Darcy/Bucky oneshots, drabbles, and prompt fills. | Kudos: 3293

5. you (anchor me back down) - darcy/bucky - "I'll be right back." Famous last words. | Kudos: 2747

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? not all of them. i do try to keep up on them, especially on longer stories when there's been significant wait times in between chapters, or when a reader is asking a question or is unclear on something. and especially when someone writes a really indepth comment/review, i like to respond to those and talk about motivations and character growth.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I've written a number of fics that either had suicide or major character death, so i'm not sure if one outranks the other in terms of most angsty... hmm... i remember "be still and know that I'm with you (be still and know that I am here)" and "light a match, burn the world to ash (I will watch it die, and hold your hand as I fly)" both got some pretty intense reactions when they were posted. And "It's Your Song That Sets Me Free (I Sing It While I Feel I Can't Go On)" was basically just angst from beginning to end. buuuuut, i think i'll say "so you think you can tell (heaven from hell" was, only because there's a build up of everything going so right, only to pivot at the end, so it feels very bittersweet.

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? i loooooove crossovers. i find writing in the marvel fandom makes things quite easy, but also smallville. as long as i can find a common thread, i enjoy finding a way to overlap two shows. i'll say the hardest one to write was "ruby red slippers (unavailable in her size)." I'm not sure why, but i found writing each personality together just felt strange. i liked the idea behind the story, but i definitely remember feeling like i was really forcing myself to keep going, like something just didn't fit right.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? oh, definitely. you cannot please everyone, it's impossible. for the most part, hate comes and i either argue back, take the criticism for what it's worth, or just ignore it when it's baseless. i think the hate that bothered me the most was a homophobic PM someone sent me re: "you know I will adore you ('til eternity)," on FFnet. i actually went and searched it up. they've since blocked me so i can't read our whole thread back and forth. but i did put part of it on tumblr so i could rant on it a bit, so you can see that here.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? ha. yes. depending on the story, it can be really detailed or really flowery. it depends on the ship, the plot, and how graphic i feel like being. i've definitely become more comfortable over the years with my writing. that said, i think everybody likes something different. i once had a reviewer tell me a sex scene was too much, just too intense. it was a stefan/caroline story and to be fair, that entire oneshot was just them fucking, lol, but it is what it is. to each their own.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Multiple times.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! for the record, i am always happy to have my stories translated and shared. i just like having a link sent to me and to be credited.

What’s your all time favorite ship? i have a list of OTPs, because interests change and as shows come and go, my love for a ship can be shelved for a while before it pops back up at random. currently, i can't get enough of buck/eddie from 9-1-1. and, historically, chloe/oliver (smallville) and felicity/oliver (arrow) have been two of my top OTPs. but i think i'd have to go with bonnie/damon. they had all the potential and the show dropped the ball by not exploring it. at the same time, that's kind of a blessing, because i don't trust those writers to properly explore what they had without eventually destroying it for the likes of de/ena. it means a treasure trove for writing where it could have gone and all the what if's.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will? the intention is always to finish. but given how i feel about allison mack and how that impacts my feelings re: chloe sullivan, pretty much anything with her as a main character is not something i see myself returning to.

What are your writing strengths? What are your writing weaknesses? i'm putting these together because my strength is my weakness. i love to write. when i get an idea, i go all in and i will skip eating and sleeping to just write write write. but i also eventually hit a wall and i get so many ideas that i hyperfocus on one until the steam is gone and then i hyperfocus on the next one to maintain that need to keep writing, accidentally leaving the last story in the dust for entirely too long. i also have clinical depression that comes and goes, which hasn't been super great mixed with covid and isolation, so more often recently, i find myself overly exhausted and despite wanting to write, can rarely get motivated to do so. so, pre-covid, wrote so much i left entirely too many stories dangling. during covid, i've just been reading and struggling to get myself focused enough to do what i love.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? i appreciate the authenticity when possible, but i've recently been reading more about how native speakers of other languages feel when a) their language is butchered by google translate, or b) it's just not genuine in terms of how bilingual speakers act or speak.

What was the first fandom you’ve written for? it was smallville, but i remember adopting it out to someone else because i wasn't going to finish it. so if you look at my ffnet, the first fandom i wrote for appears to be x-men: the movie, but i remember writing a chloe/oliver story prior to that.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written? i have a lot. i mean, on ffnet, i have 576 stories, many of which were transferred over to ao3, with a lot of oneshots and drabbles getting joined together into collections. so there's a ton to pick from that span a 14-ish year timeline.

"you know I will adore you ('til eternity)" and "let me break (the walls that surround me)" hold a special place in my heart.

honestly, each story is important in its own way. there are bits and pieces of each that i love. every time i write something new it feels like my favorite. my best. and then a new idea comes along. there are scenes i've written that i loved more than the whole of what they became. lines that stand out that are almost too good to be a part of the larger picture.

one of my all time favorite passages i've written was bonnie's thoughts on damon and herself in 'if you love me (let me go)":

He is far from perfect. He is a novel of red, corrective ink. He is frayed pages and torn binding. His life, his choices, his mistakes leave lasting effects on everyone he meets.

She is a lifeboat with a hole in it. An anchor that drowns in the sea while everyone else remains steady above. She is both the calm and the storm, and while she screams that she will not be tamed, she cries. Bittersweet tears that go unnoticed and uncared about.

there are other stories, other pieces of dialogue, that i've been proud of. that make me laugh when i re-read them. that make me cry. and i love them. there are others that make me wilt and cringe and regret. it's a process. love and pride and growth, all bound together.

Tagging: @absentlyabbie, @anonymous033, and anyone else who'd like to fill this all out, haha

[x5red]

DCEU’s Supergirl: we don’t need another “Superman with boobs”

In 1985 Supergirl’s fate hung in the balance. On the one hand she was one of DC’s most popular female heroes, having recently had a successful stint in the Superman Family anthology book, followed by her own comic book, and was about to co-star in a new Supergirl/Superboy title. On the other hand her 1984 movie debut had massively under-performed at the box office. Ordinarily such a failure could be forgiven with the distance of a little time, but Supergirl’s failures came at entirely the wrong moment. Crisis on Infinite Earths was about to reboot the whole DC fictional universe, and in the process whole slews of incidental characters accrued during fifty years of print history were about to be wiped out. Who to keep and who to discard was the topic of perhaps a little contention within the DC offices, and in the spirit of that debate a simple hand-scrawled note landed on the desk of DC Publisher, Jenette Kahn. It asked, innocently enough, “Can we kill Supergirl in Crisis?”

The note offered four tick-box options: “yes”, “no”, “only if we have a new Supergirl soon”, and “none of the above”. Jenette ticked the last option, suggesting that she still saw enough market potential in Kara Zor-El to justify keeping her around. Then, for reasons unknown, she changed her mind, scribbled out her initial choice, and ticked yes!

And with that, the fate of the last survivor of Argo City was sealed.

Sadly some of the factors that resulted in Supergirl’s erasure in 1985 still haunt the character today. So the casting of Sasha Calle as the DCEU’s new movie Supergirl perhaps comes at a decisive time for the character -- and Sasha’s success or failure (indeed perhaps the success or failure of Supergirl herself as a popular DC character) all depend upon how bold DC are prepared to be with their new Supergirl.

A big part of the decision to kill Supergirl in 1985 had to do with her fraught relationship to her more famous cousin. Kara has always struggled to break free of Superman’s orbit, at least in the eyes of the general public, and it was that perception that was likely at the heart of the choice to wipe her clean out of existence. Regrettably, Supergirl’s track record in popular media, movies, and on television, has often only strengthened the perception that she is nothing more than a cheap Superman clone.

Dick Giordano, DC editor and author of the "kill Supergirl” note, seems to have had an ambiguous relationship with the Girl of Steel. Immediately after the Crisis miniseries all mention of Kara Zor-El was banned from DC publications (literally -- they avoided mentioning her in any editorial pages, and on the single occasion her name was mentioned in a reader’s letter, it was starred out like an expletive!) Despite this, Dick had personally ensured that a story featuring Supergirl -- or rather the ghost of a young blonde woman called Kara -- had featured in the second issue of Christmas with the Super-Heroes (1989), against DC policy. On the other hand, it was Dick who had allegedly made famous the term “Superman with boobs” to refer to Supergirl. The phrase is said to be how Supergirl was nicknamed within some quarters of the DC offices -- nothing more than a cheap Superman knock-off. It is unclear whether Dick supported this opinion, or whether his comments indicated regret at such attitudes. Either way, when Jenette found Dick’s note on her desk, one has to wonder whether Dick’s description flashed across her mind.

Of course, every true Supergirl fan will protest that Supergirl has always been far more than just a cheap photocopy of her famous cousin. Indeed in the months following her death in Crisis on Infinite Earths a number of DC staffers were reportedly surprised at the volume of fan letters and comments expressing their love of Kara. But all that love and all that respect within fandom has counted for little whenever Supergirl has broken out of comics into more mainstream media.

The 1984 Helen Slater movie has grown in popularity over the decades. Although it is still seen as a flawed movie, today’s comic book fans are far more forgiving of its shortcomings and prepared to enjoy it for what it attempts to be -- a childrens fairytale with superpowers, rather than a straight superhero adventure. But it is undeniable that the movie seriously damaged the reputation of Kara Zor-El with the general public. Rather than a strong independent character, divorced from the shadow of her cousin, they saw a confused mess of a story that presented Supergirl as a likeable and brave figure, but never really gave her the chance to fully demonstrate her true heroic qualities.

When Smallville decided to introduce a Supergirl character they challenged that perception by showing the public a confident and brave heroine, but Smallville’s Supergirl was only in a handful of episodes. Around the same time Kara had also made a handful of cartoon appearances, but nothing with a wide enough appeal to help change the general public’s perception of the character. So by the time 2015′s Supergirl tv show hit the digital airwaves, the public’s general sense of who Supergirl was (assuming they had any general sense of her at all!) was largely still shaped by the 1984 movie.

Sadly, rather than give us a Supergirl that was distinct and independent to Superman, the show chose to lean heavily into the Superman brand. Perhaps because the producers thought the show would sell better to non-geeks if they saw familiar super-tropes, the show borrowed extensively from popular Superman sources. Consider how the first couple of dozen episodes shaped the character and her world: Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl, is initially a personal assistant, but then becomes a mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, who wears glasses to protect her secret identity (ideas stolen from Superman.) Her dead mother was once a judge who sentenced criminals to the Phantom Zone -- she is able to talk to her mother thanks to a holographic artificial intelligence (Superman the Movie.) In a major story arc, said criminals escape and seek revenge on their jailer’s daughter (plot of Superman II.) In one episode an attempt to create artificial Kryptonite causes Supergirl to become evil (Superman III.) In another episode Supergirl is trapped in a coma in which all her desires come true (plot to Superman’s famous “For the Man Who Has Everything” story.) And so on...

The list of supporting characters and guest villains, particularly for the first few years of the show, borrow heavily from Superman’s canon of characters. It isn’t until Lena Luthor arrives in season two that we get a character who is historically closely associated with Supergirl in the comics, rather than her cousin or the wider DC universe. Admittedly as the seasons went by the show started to develop its own ideas, but it still borrowed far too often from Superman sources (the Red Son story arc, for example.) With sixty years in comics, Supergirl has her own roster of supporting characters and storylines -- true, they are not as iconic as Superman’s, but the tv show could have been an opportunity to give them more exposure. Instead, when borrowing from the comics, the show largely eschews Supergirl’s canon and stole from Superman.

So, as it currently stands in 2021, anyone in the general public who is aware of Supergirl now probably knows her mainly from two sources: an 1984 movie that depicted her more like a fairytale princess than a superhero, and a 2015 tv series that presented her as a so-close-to-Superman-that-DC-would-sue-if-they-didn’t-already-own-her-copyright clone of the Man of Steel.

Surely Supergirl deserves better?

The upcoming Sasha Calle DCEU Supergirl is an opportunity to change things. It needs to define Kara Zor-El as a strong hero, independent of Superman. Yes, she has his powers, and yes. she wears the same S shield on her chest -- but that is where the similarities should end. Fans didn’t write heartfelt letters after 1985′s Crisis, and stay loyal through her various re-incarnations over the decades, because Kara was just a pallid knock-off of her cousin. While the general public may not appreciate it, Supergirl has a rich history that interconnects with, but is very distinctly different to, her cousin Superman. Her personality, her attitude, her motives, her lived experiences -- they are all very different. DC needs to build on that, rather than ignore it.

If we end up with just another female echo of the Man of Steel, pilfering his supporting characters and plots while ignoring everything in the comics that makes Kara Zor-El unique, then surely the Girl of Steel be doomed forever to be seen by the general public as nothing more than “Superman with boobs.”

Here’s wishing Sasha all the best with the role.

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Superman & Lois - Ep. 102 “Heritage”

In which the Sad Dad vibes and teen angst continues!

Spoilers!

Lois gets the opening and closing narration this week! And generally has more to do, which is nice.

The fam has officially moved to Smallville, so the boys are gearing up to start school...or are they???

Well, Jon is. Jordan is told he has to stay home until he can get his nascent powers under control because they don’t want him to accidentally flash frying a classmate. Which he almost did. Last week. 

Clark calls Jordan’s accidental heat vision an ‘ocular release of energy.’

This decision, of course, leads to some FAMILY DRAMA. Jordan feels like a freak! Jonathan is upset that they’ve had to move! Clark feels like he’s failing as a parent!

Oh and also the guy in the Master Chief suit is on the hunt for Kryptonite. Which is, you know. Troubling.

SO it’s off to school for Jonathan and off to the Fortress for Jordan!

Lois, upon Jonathan asking why Jordan gets to go flying with dad: “At least we have the radio!”

One plus side about the show being ‘grounded’ and ‘prestige-y’: the high school drama is of a more believable variety. Still tedious, but at least it’s not dated 90s tropes.

...Well, okay. Not entirely true. Sarah Cushing’s personality thus far is ‘nice girl who’s dating a jerk’ and yes, the line “What do you see in that guy?” is said aloud. So.

Win some, lose some.

MEANWHILE, AT THE FORTRESS:

Love the actor they got for Jor-El. He’s perfect, in that he feels like an homage to Brando, Crowe, but is also his own distinct version. I dig it. 

But there’s no giant key made of dwarf star matter because this is GROUNDED and REALISTIC and none of that SILLY CW NONSENSE, WE GOT HBO MAX MONEY. 

Back to the Lois vs. Edge plot:

For all the folks wondering how Lois working at the Planet was going to continue, what with the show being set in Smallville...

WELL.

Edge now owns the Planet, so he re-writes a negative article she’s written about him, which leads to her quitting, and going to write for the Smallville Gazette.

Which is operated by Chrissy Beppo.

Who is...named after the super monkey? 

Does this mean we’ll eventually meet other Smallville residents named after super pets? Like Marsha Whizzy, or maybe Kenneth Comet.

Seems a weird choice when ‘Bibbo’ is right there.

ANYWAYS.

Best line of the episode: “You know what babe? You do your Superman stuff, and I will do my Lois Lane stuff.”

MEANWHILE, THE SAD DAD VIBES INTENSIFY as Grandpa Jor-El reveals: Jordan...will never be like you, Kal-El. His human DNA is too limiting.

Which is a very interesting plot point (that was sorta mentioned/explored in Future State!)

So, about the boys: I still find them...mostly annoying. But I appreciate the dynamic they’re establishing: Jordan has always required more time and attention due to his anxiety disorder, and Jonathan has always had to look after him and compensate--this carries over into the new status quo where Jordan has the super powers and Jonathan further feels that his brother is getting time and attention and he needs to make sacrifices and changes for him/the family. 

This leads to a really lovely moment between the brothers at the end of the episode that I genuinely enjoyed, so. I’m hoping that there will be more of that and less of ‘drama with Sarah’.

(Also if you think that sounds a little like another pair of Super siblings...it does! And also hold that thought.)

The OTHER big twist is that Master Chief AKA Captain Luthor comes from a world with an EVIL SUPERMAN.

To be clear, the set-up is very obviously, ‘Our Clark will prove Captain Luthor wrong re: thinking he’ll turn evil,’ so I’m not seriously suggesting we’re in for a full-on Injustice situation. I just find it funny, how quickly they pulled out the ol’ evil Supes.

(The one we saw in Elseworlds doesn’t count since that wasn’t Clark.)

And maybe this one isn’t either! I admit complete ignorance as to the comics stuff they’re pulling from; I guess it’s somehow connected to Project 7734 (Which is ‘hell’ upside down, as any fifth grader with a calculator will tell you) a counter-Kryptonian force put together by Sam Lane, I think? 

IDK. Like I said, comics blind spot.

The episode ends with Grandpa Lane looking a bit spooked at the ominous 7734 keychain Captain Luthor gave him, and Captain Luthor still on the hunt for Kryptonite! DUN DUN DUUNNNNNN.  

And now, time for a segment I’ll call: Gettin’ Super Salty w/Stranger wherein I will stash all of my frustration regarding the fact that this spin-off doesn’t really want to be a spin-off.

Okay, so first up! As mentioned, the Fortress design has been changed because the silly Supergirl version does not vibe with the new serious aesthetic.

Their loss! More Legion Rings, baby Sun Eaters, and impractical front door keys for Supergirl!

The sunstone AI details the last days of Krypton, and only one (1) pod is shown escaping the destruction.

Thanks, I hate it.

I do appreciate that Jor-El at least kinda appears to be wearing clothes that match the look of Supergirl’s Krypton. I wasn’t paying close attention to the buildings in the hologram, no clue if they match the architecture we’ve seen thus far.

Like, I get it. There’s no time to pause the plot and be like, ‘hey, just FYI, I’m not the sole survivor of Krypton, my cousin escaped as well’ but also AAAARRRRRGHHHHHH. 

You’re using the versions of the characters introduced in Supergirl, the least you can do is namedrop her once. ONCE. That’s all I’m asking. XD

They missed their opportunity, actually; when the boys were like, ‘We have so many questions!’ All you had to do was slip in, ‘Are we related to Supergirl?’ Bam. Done. Never need to go back to it, you’ve acknowledged it, continue on with your solo Sad Dad adventures!

(Except I guess that wouldn’t work, since so much of this is built on Clark being the Lone Protector of the earth. If you allude to other heroes being around, your whole character motivation/struggle makes less sense.)

I get it but I don’t have to like it. XD

They shoulda just set this on another Earth!

Circling back to the sibling dynamic: I hate how now I really want Kara to someday appear on this show and hang out with the boys and be like, ‘ah, yes, I know the feeling, my sister and I were the same.’

That’s it, that’s all the crossover content I need. I realize Melissa is moving on to bigger and better things but MAYBE SOMEDAY. XD (Or maybe I’ll just write a fic, who knows.)

I can’t remember if I brought this up already but it is hilarious to me that anyone still thinks of Superman as a reporter--most modern takes treat it as an afterthought and here, it’s dispensed in the first episode.

It has not been brought up since.

Like, much is made about Lois leaving Metropolis, and what that’ll mean for her career, but no one in Smallville is like, ‘Clark, wow! Farming? That’s quite a career change!’

(I assume he’ll be farming, since they mentioned starting the farm up again.)  

...You think anyone will drag the writers for tossing aside Clark’s ‘true calling?’ 

Who am I kidding? Supergirl fandom is not watching this show, they’re just harassing the people running the social media accounts. 

SO OVERALL: The good remains good! The meh remains meh! I appreciate that this version of Clark and Lois exist as we inch ever closer to the release of the Snyder Cut! But also the behind-the-scenes stuff continues to hang over everything like a terrible cloud! Here’s hoping those problems are addressed!

[thegirlwholied]

ten faves

Rules: name ten favorite characters from ten different things (tv, movies, books, etc.). 

Thanks for tagging me @bibliophileiz ; exactly the sort of distraction I both needed (and that my current concentration-level is capable of) at the moment! Hard choices ~ especially as many of my favorites come in pairs! ~ but my top ten today...

...after draft error #97 or so, sorry in advance for the scroll, and for anyone else who winds up responding, do not draft on your phone take my word for it... 

Princess Bride: Inigo Montoya

Which character don't I love in Princess Bride? Even Humperdink is such a pitch-perfect villain. But while I'd choose Westley if I was picking a date... Inigo's the one who captures me, every time. It's not the desire for revenge itself that's compelling; it's the love for his father - the heartbreak, the dedication, even the defeat and the rise again (the "you told me to go back to the beginning scene" comes to mind as one that stays with me and is probably a huge influence on things I think of but haven't really written yet...)

Harry Potter: Sirius Black

Yes, that's a gif of Midnight Mark from Pirate Radio, because I very much mean the book version (sorry, Gary Oldman!). Is anyone following me surprised by this one?

I'm so fascinated by all of the Marauder era characters, both as they are on the page and the hinted-at aspects of them explored in fandom; love Lily/James... but Sirius is the Harry Potter character I think of first (honorable mention to non-HP Edmond Dantès, as I love Count of Monte Cristo and think much of Sirius' plotline owes that a clear debt). Aside from being a tragedy, aside from all his great lines, what a *fascinating* character and twist, in a way, on the fairy godmother plot in his first book 3 appearance (getting Harry the Firebolt, his permission slip, etc). I could say SO much more but will avoid writing an essay.

Smallville/Superman comics/adaptations: Lois Lane

Always a favorite character for me, but Erica Durance in Smallville is my favorite version. I feel like they gave her a bit of Marian Ravenwood (specifically in the outdrinking the frat boys scene) and leaned into the modern comics "army brat" angle so well.

Anne of Green Gables: Anne Shirley.

With honorable mentions to of course Jo March, other fellow aspiring writer Emily of New Moon, and Pippi Longstocking, other fun redhead of my childhood reading... Anne, and all her drama and dreams and mishaps, wins out as most relatable for me. Book heroine of my heart.

Speaking of childhood book heroines...

Star Wars: Jaina Solo.

Look, this is partly to save me between picking a favorite between Leia and Han (a dilemma which has haunted me since childhood, in part because, guiltily, it's Han), and serious honorable mentions to Mara Jade and especially Jyn Erso here... but Jaina was *everything* I wanted in a heroine as a girl. We're talking about the Young Jedi Knights series here... though I actually started with Junior Jedi Knights featuring Anakin Solo (oh Anakin Solo 💙💔)... going into the New Jedi Order, as I stopped following the EU so passionately around there.

Jaina, who is brash and so her father's daughter but has a harder time seeing she's also her mother's, the Rogue Squadron pilot, the wielder of a purple lightsaber, the mechanic... my inner little girl will never quite forgive the sequels for failing to give me a Solo daughter (sorry, Rey; I still think Daisey Ridley was pitch-perfect Jaina Solo casting... and honestly part of me considers the sequels the "weirdest Jacen & Jaina fan fiction ever" 🤷🏻‍♀️)

BtVS (out of the whole Whedonverse really): Buffy

My other favorites in the show are really also doubles/foils for Buffy: Cordelia Chase & Faith. But the first episode of the show I ever saw was "Anne" and so I've always known I would watch an entire show with just Buffy (... I would also watch an entire show of her friends dealing with her absence, but that's more about *plot* than character). I love the concept alone of Buffy's character - overturning the blonde damsel in distress trope by making her what monsters fear - but I mostly just love her; favorite Chosen One ever. “No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away, and what's left?"/"Me."

...and now it gets very hard, where my early choices were more instinctive and now I keep thinking of others and can't decide. Tempted to make a bracket (I feel like Sirius and Inigo have some crossover, but how could I put them against each other)?

But ("if you had to choose, if you had to choose") to get at some of my other favorite character types and embodiments thereof...

2010-me would never believe I'm going to say this, but: Jaime Lannister.

I'm usually not a villain girl... but of course, he isn't a villain, though he starts out cast in that light. Slightly annoyed I’m picking Game of Thrones (yes, even grouping the books in that, as post Storm of Swords, I remember thinking "this could really benefit from the tightening the show will likely give it" ahahahahahahaha whoops). And yet. Where did that "came for the Starks; stayed for the Lannisters" quote come from? I feel very attacked by it.

"The things I do for love". The boy who wanted to be Arthur Dayne and somewhere along the way became the Smiling Knight. The reveal that he's not (or at least so much MORE than) who he seemed : perhaps not the comparison you'd expect but ah yes that Mr. Darcy twist always does it for me. So much character development (let's not speak of how the show ended, but still). 

The motives, in particular:  I love the Spike backstory reveal in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Fool for Love, and in many ways I think Spike and Jaime hit the same note for me. He’s definitely a character that stays with me. Also, he hits that "golden boy" type I also like but in a *very* interesting way (and oh no now mentioning golden boy is making me think of Aron and Cal in East of Eden, I don't have room to even consider them on this list but know I love them both...)

Speaking of golden boys (also I cannot believe this is the only character from a musical I'm choosing, and Eponine’s a character that haunts me too, but...)

Enjolras.

Michael Maguire is not a golden Enjolras but was my introduction to the character and still a (the?) favorite. Love both book & musical Enjolras in different ways. But inspiring idealists with the light of rebellion abalaze in their eyes...? Facing death & despair still waving the flag? Ah yes. Top ten, 10/10.

Favorite detective out of all mysteries really, but especially from the Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Super Mysteries: Nancy Drew.

An icon. Why is it so hard to have a good Nancy Drew adaptation? (The new TV series lost me with going with actual ghosts - I love my supernatural shows, but I don't need that with Nancy Drew.) Detective characters tend to be some of my favorites; honorable mention to Shawn Spencer from Psych here, but I was reminded in watching that recently (as Maggie Lawson, Jules on Psych, had once played Nancy Drew in a Disney movie! ... that I need to find and rewatch as I remember almost nothing about it) a) how much I love a good mystery and b) that Nancy is the OG.

Speaking of icons... out of all the folklore & mythology I love, it’s clear what character I love best: Robin Hood.

Oh, I love my Arthurian knights, but I love all Robin Hoods more. Trickster heroes, rob-from-the-rich-and-give-to-the-poor-justice, true love... cheeky 1952-movie Robin Hood is my favorite - both favorite Robin and favorite Marian, and their childhood-friends-to-lovers romance is the epitome of that trope for me! - but I also love the fox version...and am very alarmed at the prospect of a CGI remake of that; I'm sorry but that is not live action... and also Errol Flynn! It has to be Robin. If this was a ranked list (it’s not) he’d probably take #1. 

My ten slots won out to other characters, but also I love every Tamora Pierce character and if I had to pick one, it would be Daine Sarrasri, YA fantasy heroine out of all magical girls (and yes over the lady knights; sorry Alanna and Kel; Daine had wolves for friends). Also shout out that I love a LOT of characters named Marian, aside the already-mentioned Maid Marian -- Marian Ravenwood (& Indy!), Marian ‘the Librarian’ Paroo (& Harold Hill!), X-Men’s Rogue (usually named Anna Marie when a name’s revealed, but a Marian in at least one version, & her own thief Gambit)... to quote Thin Man, “You got types?”

I’ve got types. 

If you’re reading this and have types yourself, please @ me them! But tagging, if you’d like, @conniecorleone​ @aliform​ @aurorawest​ @vivacephoenix @justkeeponthegrass

[arrthurpendragon]

I’m gonna attempt to do this again, but on a smaller scale.  For starters, I will only be doing this for reviews on I receive on fanfiction.net because it is easier for me to keep track of that way.  I do appreciate reviews on other platforms though, but I got to start small if I’m gonna get back into this and not get overwhelmed.

So, here are a few stories as of 11/25/19

Back in Dillon for Senior Year by: NatBBfan

Fandom: Friday Night Lights

Summary:  Complete AU for season 3. María is Mac McGill's only daughter and comes back home for her senior year in High School after being away on a golf scholarship for the last three years. Who could help her readjusting? And who could she help in return? READ HERE

Universal Displacement: by: @universalfanfic​​

Fandom: MCU Crossover

Summary:  Sequel, AU. It's almost been a year and it's still hard for Sutton to count the Marvel universe as home. But when a mystery illness strikes her, Sutton is thrown for a loop as she finds that things can always get worse. Suddenly she's lost, with no team to back her up, and is forced to make big decisions on her own. She just might realize that the MCU can be home after all. READ HERE

Dawn by: TwilightEclps

Fandom: Twilight

Summary:  When Felicity Hall is involved in a car crash with her twin sister everything changes, she stops talking and finds her family and herself moving to a little town in Washington where she meets a wondrous boy, who is unnaturally beautiful and with that everything she knows will change, Forever. Edward/OC. READ HERE

Between the Shadows by: @crazyaboutbooks1309​​

Fandom: Smallville

Summary:  Elena's world only turned darker after her brother's death. Now shouldering the weight of a great responsibility kept in the shadows from all who trust her, she must help Clark Kent keep the town of Smallville safe from its super-powered citizens. Soon she'll discover her true purpose in Clark's life, making sure her own destiny doesn't define who she'll become.(Slowburn Clark/OC) READ HERE

The Other Stark Girl by: @a-song-of-quill-and-feather​

Fandom:  Game of Thrones

Summary:  Alys Stark was not her sister. She did not have much wolfs blood to her, timid and gentler than her twins wild and untamed spirit. But in the aftermath of her father and brothers death at the hand of a mad king, she must find her own strengths and tap into her Stark blood to survive as a hostage in Kings Landing during a war that would change the seven kingdoms. READ HERE

[kyliafanfiction]

A, F, Q for the ask game

A: Your current OTP.

Do I have to pick just one? Right now, Lex Luthor and Helen Bryce from Smallville is a ship I’m super enthusiastic about, so there’s that. I suspect it will end badly somehow because I’m only at the end of Season 2 and there’s eight more seasons and Lex becoming evil to go, so hey. That’ll be fun! (not)

Beyond that…  right now I’m most enthused by Faimy, Dramione and Lauriver as ships. I mean, I’m especially being flooded with Dramione fic ideas I don’t need, so that probably means my brain is super into Dramione right now.

F: What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? What fandom was it?

Depending on how you define ‘in a fandom’ - because I’ve drifted out of it a few times to varying degrees - has to be Harry Potter, right? I mean, if you define fandom with reading/writing/engaging with fanfiction, which is my baseline definition (that I know not everyone agrees with), has to be that. I started shipping Dramione somewhere between me being 11 to 13 (I’m not sure when, this far forward) but I was like, 9 when I first started reading HP fanfic. I was ten when the oldest HP fanfic I have memory of reading was finished (*had to check that*), and it wasn’t finished when I started reading it, so yeah, 9. I’ve drifted out of the HP fandom on and off, after periods of being overdosed and then missing it, but it’s gotta be my total longest fandom commitment (which makes it so weird I haven’t written anything for it, but then again, my one horrid attempt at a Dramione fic years back did kind of scare me off… I wonder if its still up on that other site. *shudder* I hope not)

In terms of continuous fandom engagement, the Buffyverse probably wins out, since I’ve been in the Buffyverse Fandom without ever leaving (though I have gotten closer and further from the door at various times) since… 2011 (maybe 2010? Not sure when I started reading Buffyverse fanfic), so that’s a solid 7 years of fandom time, all at once, instead of several years here, a year there, etc for HP.

Q: A ship you’ve abandoned and why.

I’m not big on ship abandonment, I tend to be pretty ride or die with my shipping. I’ve already talked about my abandonment of Mehane a few times on and off, so… lesse, what else?

In a very generalized sense, Lyn x Tactician from Fire Emblem 7? I’m not sure that counts, since I’m out of FE fandom entirely, and the Tactician is the player character (as it were) in FE7 and can be turned into any kind of character, like the PC in a game like Skyrim or Fallout, so the Tactician is an empty vessel in that sense. I abandoned it because I’m just… not into Fire Emblem anymore. Not really, anyway.

Beyond that… I kind of shipped Draco/Ginny for a while? I liked it for more or less the same reasons I liked Dramione - the same sort of fundamental qualities - but during one of my hiatuses from HP fanfic, I must have shed it, because Drinny doesn’t do anything for me anymore. I think I’m just too mono-focused on Dramione. I used to be able to enjoy the odd non-Dramione Harry potter fic a lot more often than I do now. These days, I’m really only here for the Draco/Hermione.

(another theory could be that I lost interest in Drinny because Drinny doesn’t have the quality of Ginny fundamentally changing Draco’s prejudices in the same fundamental way Hermione does, because blood traitor and poor though she may be, Ginny is still a pureblood and that clash of Draco’s upbringing and Hermione shattering all of those biases just by existing really works for me)

Fandom Related Questions

(Huh. Lots of talk about Dramione here. I really am in a Dramione state of mind)

[lupines-slash-recs]

Canon: Supergirl/DCCW Pairing: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor Rating: General [G] Word Count: 13,278 Summary: Lena has a crush on Kara. Lena's too afraid to tell Kara. Obviously the only solution is to make Kara jealous by dating Supergirl.

Rec: {Femslash Friday} So I wasn't really interested in the paring du jour from season one, because Kara/Cat has too much of an age difference and with only some rare exceptions that just isn't my bag. But low, in season two we have Lena Luthor. I have an abiding love for Super/Luthor going back to Clex from Smallville and that seems to be true with the ladies as well.

{More recs for this fandom can be found here, and the pairing here.}

[littlehollyleaf]

Ask a writer!

tagged by @mysillylittlesoapbox (yes I do still write fic... sometimes :p I’m afraid it’s all Gotham now though!) ...I don’t usually do memes about my writing though so, this should be...interesting...

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

my name is holly, holly leaves are a thing, I wanted to just be ‘hollyleaf’ but it was already taken so I figured ‘well hey, I’m also small...’ and voila! (no, I’m so sorry, but the Warrior Cats series was not involved at any point, I still haven’t read them and only know a character has my username, or a version of it, because of all the asks I keep getting about it :P)

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/favorites, follows/subscriptions, visitor hits, kudos)

So I had a quick glance at AO3 and this is something it looks like WAAAAY too much effort for my lazy ass to figure out, plus I dunno how accurate the AO3 stats would be for my stuff anyways because I only very recently put all my fic on there after having most of it posted (and therefore commented on and otherwise interacted with) solely over at LJ for years and years...

I would imagine it’s Imitating Life (spn, deancas), because that’s the one I remember getting the most feedback for. So I’ll just go with that!

3. What is your FFnNet/AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

It’s the same as my tumblr one. Because it’s me and I already had the image saved in an appropriate size. I know, dull right?? (back on LJ I was OBSESSED with finding and/or creating SO MANY different icons to convey different moods and whatnot - they were basically an oldschool version of reaction gifs I guess - but on any other platform I’ve been just... meh about the icon thing... idk!)

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

@vampirebillionaire has been a regular for my Gotham stuff, notable for jumping ship with me into foxma :) (well not jumping... simultaneously enjoying :p), for which I am profoundly grateful xx but generally my fic style and content is a bit... eclectic I guess? so no, no one who is super regular

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Of my own? Nah. Well... not AGAIN AND AGAIN like on the regular. I HAVE re-read my stuff OF COURSE :p But usually it’s me re-reading previous parts of a series/set to get the feel for the story/characters again as I write new stuff. Though admittedly I have re-read Imitating Life more than most probably, to check it still reads okay.

As to other authors’ fics - I must confess that I read less and less these days, so there is def not a single one I constantly return to.

I have, however, re-read a few by depthsofgreen since I got into Gotham, as well as some by rissalf and silentsinger

Back in the day there was this one spn last unicorn AU I used to re-read the night before each premiere, because it was a deliciously angsty way to get me in the mood for a new season and pass the time while waiting - particularly notable because AUs are not really my thing, so it was an interesting choice for me to keep returning to! Alas I have lost my link to it however :( Should anyone know the one I mean drop me a line! (Cas was the unicorn, obvs, Dean was the Prince, Sam was Schmendrick, Anna was Molly and Meg was Fortuna)

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I have ONE (1) story bookmarked - because it is a WIP I am following (and I just learnt how to bookmark the other month)

...what even is subscribing and how is it different??

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

None at all if possible. Although most of my fics end up being Canon Divergent in the end ofc they are generally canon compliant (based on my interpretation of the canon anyways) at the time of writing... Sometimes canon changes things while I am in the middle of writing stuff though ofc (*shakes fist at Gotham right now*), in which case I will unavoidably be writing something knowingly Canon Divergent/What If.

(aside - I tried to write an spn x-men AU once, but I got bored very quickly... full on AUs are just not me!)

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

OH THERE’S A STATS PAGE?

*checks*

K - 34 subscribers and 423 bookmarks (whoa that seems a lot??)

hey there’s graphs and stuff with your top five fics based on hits too - that’s pretty cool - my top is in fact Holding On and Letting Go... probably because it was one of my last big spn fics and one of the first I published on AO3...

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

No... I mean... I don’t think so? If there ever has been it’s passed me by and I’ve forgotten about it.

...for a hot minute I was into Eddie/Isabella in Gotham, and that plot was ofc (understandably) received VERY POORLY by the fandom, so I may have at one point been hesitant to explore that idea (and the related Ozzie/Eddie/Izzy thoughts I had) because of that... but I never got as far as wanting to actually WRITE anything that I recall so... I guess not really?

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

There’s a couple of dumb little grammatical things I wish I was better at remembering - like when it’s ‘passed’ and when it’s ‘past’ or when it’s ‘effect’ and when it’s ‘affect.’ Because I forget and have to look it up Every.Damn.Time!

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Well, the ship I’ve written most for is deancas - so it’s def ‘popular ships’ I write most! (though I would like to point out that it WASN’T ONE when I STARTED :p). 

I’m not opposed to writing rarepairs as well however (she says, in the middle of a huge Gotham rarepair series!). I just write... whatever I’m enjoying most at the time.

12. How many stories have you posted on FFNet/AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

I’ve got 39 works up on AO3. Never published on FFNet. Probably got a few little things that I’ve only ever published on tumblr (like my cracky spn/WtNV crossover :p), so total number published across the board is more like 40ish...

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

(not counting the abandoned spn x-men AU that will remain forever unfinished) Just one. I CANNOT work on more than one fic at a time.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

In my head (my stories are never especially complex after all). Once I’m stuck into a fic though I do tend to start creating bullet points below the main text of certain things that are coming next - like specific lines or phrases/metaphors I might think up as I go that I want to make sure I include, or the order of certain scenes if there is a series of short ones on the way, or sometimes points with question marks if I haven’t quite decided on something (eg. ‘have Eddie take his hat off here or wait until Ozzie smiles at him?’ that kind of thing...)

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

No. I came CLOSE to co-writing a DCBB with the lovely @takadainmate YEARS AGO but we never quite made it work (I got a distracted by involving Balthazar in a subplot and went on my own tangent, we had trouble even getting together to discuss it, the deadline started looming and eventually we wisely close to call it a day!). 

For a while there were VAGUE murmurings about returning to the idea... but the plot involved Dean and Cas getting trapped together in Purgatory you see aND THEN SEASON 8 HAPPENED!! So we decided to let canon run with it instead :P

16. How did you discover FFNet/AO3?

While I don’t use FFNet and don’t even read stuff there now, I did used to read fics on it early on. I discovered it while searching for info on my very first TV obsession Due South and was DELIGHTED to find a place full of stories about this thing I loved but had no new content for at the time :)

AO3 I remember being talked about and used a little by my LJ crowd, which is how I heard of it. I didn’t start using it myself until recently when I realised it had very much become the go-to hosting site used by tumblr fic writers.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on FFNet/AO3?

Nah.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

...my personal readers? As in, not the general name for the various fandoms (like ‘spn family’ or ‘Gotham fam’), but for the people who read my fic specifically?

No... that seems... weird...?

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Actually... no... no one specific. Just... reading lots of fiction by lots of different writers, fic writers included, is what inspired/encouraged me to take a crack at it myself I suppose.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Do not listen to me!

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Um... both I suppose. Only... my plotting isn’t really... plotting. 

Because I just... daydream, you know? And after a bit I’ll realise that I’m coming back to one particular daydream more often than another. And adding to it. And adding to it. Until I’ve got something at least vaguely coherent. At which point I make a decision as to whether I like the scenario enough to write it down or not and if I do, well, it’s already pretty much there and fully formed in my head, so no additional ‘plotting’ necessary (just the ironing out and researching of a few details).

But while I’m daydreaming... well that’s me ‘figuring it out as I go’ I guess.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

My first foray into writing fic was with a Clex re-write of S05 Smallville. It ended up being a sprawling, much too ambitious multi-chapter thing I had no hope of ever finishing. But hey, it kept me out of trouble :p 

Anyways, I was part of a sci-fi society at Uni at the time I was writing and each of us in the group developed these different fictional versions of ourselves over the course of our time together... because we were a sci-fi society and it was fun! And I thought it would be a laugh if, for one chapter, I put all of us into my SV fic. So I did (I made us all kryptonite infected characters who lived at Lex’s secret 33.1 facility - if any SV fans are reading) and prefaced the chapter with some disclaimer about how I was sorry if this part was a bit too self indulgent or ‘mary-sue’ or whatever, but that I couldn’t resist doing it for my friends, and that things would get back to normal next chapter.

And generally it was fine - I didn’t have many readers anyway :p 

But long LONG after the fact, when I had written many other chapters since, I got a comment on this one chapter from someone saying that they felt my self-insert characters came across as too obviously self indulgent and were unnecessary and that I shouldn’t have written them in.

And you know, it was a fair call. But since I’d actually prefaced the chapter with myself saying that’s EXACTLY what they were, it seemed a bit odd to me that this person would bother making a point of the issue. And to compound confusion - this person had actually already commented POSITIVELY on the chapter when I first posted it, so their comment read something like ‘I’ve been re-reading this and on consideration ACTUALLY I think you should know that...’

So... that was a bit odd. Not really bad, but notable enough that it’s stayed with me! Since I was many many chapters along in the story at that point though it was easy enough to just nod and shrug and move on.

I’m lucky in that I’ve never received any actual scathing or horribly negative comments otherwise. I like to think I’d be thoughtful and philosophical about any serious criticism I might receive...

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

Hmmm. Exposition probably. My focus is typically on a character’s emotion at any given time, but when the only thing happening is characters discussing what’s happening and when and why there’s not exactly much strong emotion involved you know? So I struggle, because it’s boring to write and I constantly fear I’m not describing/depicting it in a way that is interesting to the reader and blah blah.

(part of the reason I don’t often write complex stories anymore perhaps - less narrative means less exposition!)

(smut used to be hard... now it is less so... though that doesn’t mean I think I’m good at it now! I don’t think I’ll ever shake the fear that my smut is actually cringe-worthy...) 

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Just The Fox and the Scorpion :)

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

No. Like I say above - I CANNOT work on more than one fic at a time. How do people do that??? I bow to you all!

I have in the past paused in the middle of longer spn fics (like my DCBBs) to knock out some quick ‘finished in the span of an evening’ FICLETS, usually in response to specific happenings in canon (like when Gabriel died and I just HAD to type something up as an outlet). But I don’t think that’s really quite what this question means? Because those aren’t projects OR stories, they are just... SCENES, you know? Also - I haven’t written a ficlet in FOREVER, so I’m not even sure I could do it anymore...

Having said this - I DO CONSTANTLY DAYDREAM. Which involves daydreaming multiple scenarios not exclusive to whatever fic I’m in the middle of. Some of which may well end up being part of the next fic I end up writing. But that’s hardly ‘planning’ I think? Because at that stage of things I’ll have no desire to make what I’m dreaming part of an actual story/fic.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

Nah. I just write when I feel like it and keep going until I’m done.

If I’m writing for a challenge this changes ofc, because DEADLINES. So sometimes I’ve had to set goals because of that - usually it’s something vague though, like ‘you need to get to this point in the plot by tomorrow night Holly, come on!’ Nothing so regimented as a specific amount of time and/or words every day.

...generally when I’m in the middle of a fic I end up in a kind of... idk, natural momentum that pulls me on? Like there’s this constant FEELING in the back of my mind urging me to get back to the story. And not in a nagging guilt kind of way, in a ‘this is what I WANT to be doing right now’ kind of way.

Not that I end up easily writing every time I get back to the fic or anything! Sometimes I’ll get back to the page and just... be stuck, find I’m not in the mood or can’t think of the words or whatever. Which is frustrating because I still have that feeling of WANTING to continue the story, but I’ll know that I’m not in the right frame of mind so have to leave it for a bit (which can be anywhere from a few hours to a week). Generally the pull to keep writing draws me back in eventually though. 

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Goodness yes. I think if you’re writing regularly you’re just ALWAYS improving, aren’t you? Naturally my fic today is better than my first attempts, but likewise I think some of my Gotham fics are better than my spn fics in some parts. It’s a constant process isn’t it?

28. What is your favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

Imitating Life remains one of the fics I’m most proud of. Not only did the main story hold up well AND stick to overall canon (when it comes to Dean and Cas at least), so I think anyways, I also wove in a couple of subplots I very much enjoyed seeing through to the end. PLUS I really enjoyed all the meta nonsense, including messing about with the format to make it like look (a little bit) like a screenplay. So yes, that one will always hold a dear place in my heart :)

For Gotham I don’t think I’m ever gonna do better than We Are What We Are tbh

29. What is your least favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

Generally unimpressed by ALL my SV fic now. And considering I spent SO MANY HOURS/DAYS/WEEKS/MONTHS/YEARS of my life on it all I kinda feel like I should feel bad about that but... you know I really don’t? Because if it wasn’t for all the time and effort (and love and fun) I put into those not very good stories, I wouldn’t be enjoying the work I’m proud of and writing today. So *shrug emoji* 

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

5 whole years? Tbh I rather think I’ll have stopped writing by then. I’ve been winding down when it comes to fic for a LONG TIME now and writing for Gotham feels very much like a minor, brief resurgence of the hobby. Currently planning on calling it a day once I’ve finished Fox and Scorpion in fact.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

The part that doesn’t involve writing.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Trying not to be repetitive.

Have I started a paragraph with this character’s name too many times in a row? Am I using ‘furrowed brow’/’bites lip’/’narrows eyes’/’insert stock descriptive phrase here’ too often? Did I use this phrase already or was that in another fic or in the book I was just reading? Is there too much alliteration in this sentence?  - to name but a few of the questions that inevitably pop up related to my paranoia about repetition.

33. Why do you write?

Because I’m insatiable and the stories onscreen aren’t enough for me. 

...well that was exhaustingly introspective so I’m way too tired to tag! Interesting one though, made me think! (and taught me some stuff about AO3 :p)

[svgurl410]

clois role reversal/heroine big bang pt 1

Title: i’m superwoman with an s on my chest (but can someone just know me) Fandom: Smallville/DCU Pairing/Characters: Lois-centric, Lois/Clark, Lois & Diana Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 8529 (this part) Summary: role reversal AU; Lois is the surviving member of Krypton but still ends up growing up with the Lanes and Clark grows up as a normal kid in Smallville. They meet at the Daily Planet and Lois is drawn to her new partner. Unfortunately he is more interested in her alter ego. At least at first.  A/N: for my heroine big bang; special thanks to my artist @wisp-of-a-spook for being such a supportive partner!

Revealing his badge, he said, “Clark Kent, Daily Planet. Do I get the name of my savior?” “Just a friend, Mr Kent,” she said, lips twitching into a smile. Daily Planet … of course. Hearing the sirens nearby, she said, “The police are on the way. Try to stay off any rooftops in the meantime.” Before they could respond, she took a few steps back and darted into the air once more, the adrenaline running through her veins, and her smile widened as their conversation drifted to her ears. “Wow, CK,” the photographer was saying softly. “She’s … incredible.” “Super, Jimmy,” Clark was correcting him. “Super … woman.”

Read on AO3

[fancoloredglasses]

History of Doom (AKA “More hidden recording devices than even the NSA is willing to use”)

(Thanks to Superfriends Wiki)

[NOTE: I had intended on doing the Super Powers Team episode The Fear, but the streaming site I use doesn’t have it uploaded at this time. Hopefully I will be able to review this episode soon]

Another episode (kind of) dealing with time travel and visiting the origins of a few characters, in this case Lex Luthor, Apache Chief, and Giganta. We also see what would happen if the Legion of Doom actually won.

(Thanks to Pro Wrestling Fandom)

They get the tag team titles!

Wait...

Dammit, wrong LoD again!

Anyway, if you would like to see this episode, Watch Cartoons Online has you covered!

We open on the ruins of Earth (with a montage of devastation worldwide), where we see this cheery headline.

(Thanks to Mego Museum)

It’s nice to know newspaper editors have their priorities straight. I can totally see Perry White at the Daily Planet screaming at his staff: “I don’t care that the world will end at dawn! We’ve got to get the Morning Edition out!”

Anyway, three aliens land in the ruins and start investigating how Earth came to be destroyed.

(Thanks again to Mego Museum)

You can tell they’re aliens by their weird robes and the fact that their leader must be using some sort of futuristic mustache wax to get that much facial hair to suspend itself like that.

They eventually find their way to the Hall of Justice, which one of them recognize (though they don’t recall the name of the “group of super beings” that occupied it. Maybe their records keep mixing up Superfriends and Justice League as well?) They deduce that the Superfriends (or at least their records) will likely know what happened.

While searching through the remnants of the Hall of Justice’s computer, hey stumble across Superman’s final recording, pinning the blame on the Legion of Doom. The aliens have never heard of them (THAT will be a blow to Lex Luthor’s ghosts’s ego!) so they check other parts of the computer’s damaged memory banks (that’s what they used before hard drives, kids!) to find out who the Legion of Doom are. I want to also point out that, once again, the writers, much like the aliens, can’t decide how the Superfriends are connected to the JLA, as the computer refers to the recordings as “Justice League memory files”

They stumble across Lex Luthor’s origins, and how he befriended Superboy

(Thanks to Superhero Shows)

(As a side note, ever since his creation in the 1940s, Lex Luthor has always been a redhead whenever he had hair, including on Smallville. (The movies don’t count, as he was wearing a wig by then). Nice to know DC reinforced the stereotype that gingers are evil)

When he saw that Lex’s makeshift lab was on fire, he used his super breath to put out the flames. Unfortunately, Lex was inside and the chemical fumes were blown into him, making him lose his hair. He vowed revenge on Superboy and became a super villain (I guess bald jokes were more vicious than ginger jokes back then?)

OK, I’m gonna hit the pause button here. During this origin, we have video documentation of Lex’s farm and Lex’s lab. Was the NSA keeping tabs on young Lex even back then?

Next up, we have Giganta. (that’s quite a step down from Luthor. Were the tapes of the Riddler, Toyman, and Solomon Grundy destroyed?) Once again, the NSA recording devices are evident, this time on a Native American (I’m assuming Apache, since Apache Chief is involved) reservation. Exactly who are they keeping tabs on here?

We see a tribal elder testing a young Apache Chief (wait, he’s a teen and he’s already being referred to as “Chief”? Isn’t there anyone more qualified?) before giving him the magic powder (Is it ganja? I’m gonna say it’s ganja) to give him his powers. After taking it (and giving the elder a show after using his powers for the first time), the woman who would be Giganta steals the ganja and takes it herself. I know, not much of an origin story.

Next we see the origin of the Justice League Superfriends and the Legion of Doom. Superman pretty much gathers the heroes together (no Wendy, Marvin, or Wonder Dog?) and says they’re now Superfriends. (kind of anticlimactic) In retaliation, Lex Luthor forms the Legion of Doom in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse. (wait, the NSA knows how to find Luthor and records his schemes, and the man is STILL at large?!) They quickly build the Hall of Doom and transport it to “the swamp” (OK, Superfriends debuted in 1973, but the Legion of Doom wouldn’t start trouble until 1978. What were they doing for 5 years?!) We are then treated to highlights of previous episodes (obviously the animation budget was running low by now) that showed the Legion winning just before the moment the deus ex Supershit kicked in, but no mention of what happened to the Earth.

The aliens decide to find the Hall of Doom to investigate further. Fortunately, the memory tapes told them exactly where to go. (So even though the Superfriends knew exactly where the Hall of Doom was (thanks to the NSA), they never once laid siege to it to capture the Legion?!) They find the memory taps and review “Attack Plan 1566″. (so they’ve come up with 1,565 plans that didn’t work? I think this would be beyond the point most would call it quits. At least they have tenacity...?) Luthor plans on sending a rocket to the sun, (wouldn’t it burn up before it got there?) which will cause a solar flare aimed right at the Hall of Justice. (how you ask? Trust me, that is the least confusing part of this plan)

The rocket reaches the sun in seconds. (those are some advanced engines on that rocket! You know, if this Luthor was the industrialist that post-Crisis Luthor was, he’d make billions off of NASA instead of slumming with a bunch of second- and third-rate villains no one heard of before this show started) Fortunately, the Superfriends have time to evacuate (ya think? I mean, it is traveling 93 million miles...), or would if Superman didn’t want to grandstand and take care of it himself. (can’t blame him. Thanks to the restrictions placed on cartoon violence, he hasn’t been able to punch anything for most of the season) However, Luthor’s (one would think melted by now) rocket has a device that changes the sun’s color to red as Superman approaches the flare, robbing Superman of his powers! (you’d think Luthor would have done that earlier; also, the NSA has cameras not only in the Hall of Doom, but outer space as well? Exactly who are they spying on out there?!)

Superman (somehow, given he no longer is able to fly...or breathe in space for that matter...) manages to get back to the Hall of Justice. (and no one has evacuated yet) Green Lantern then activates the global force field (doesn’t he have an all-powerful ring that will do whatever he wants against anything that isn’t yellow? The sun’s red now, right?) which reacts to the flare, causing global devastation (which the NSA happily records for posterity)

The aliens decide to go back in time to prevent the events of the episode from happening (wait, this takes place after Secret Origins of the Superfriends, which means not only is it documented that Flash and Black Vulcan can travel through time, but the Legion have their own time machine and Batman has Wayne Enterprises’ experimental Bat Flux Capacitor! They could have traveled back in time themselves to stop this!) by shifting the moon’s orbit enough to cause an eclipse (why didn’t Superman think of that?)

The Superfriends cheer their good luck at the Legion’s miscalculation when Luthor interjects (wait, so he can hack into the NSA recording devices in the Hall of Justice? And don’t even try to pretend the NSA wouldn’t have recording devices keeping tabs on them!) and says he didn’t miscalculate!

Kind of a fitting way for Challenge to end (this was the final episode of this Superfriends series, and the last original episode until Legendary Super Powers)

[violetemerald]

For the shipping one, 30, 26, and 10. :)

Lol this is some reverse order kinda thing... I see what you’re doing...

OK. http://luvtheheaven.tumblr.com/post/157356117182/40-questions-meme-for-shippers

30. Name a couple of fandoms in which you have no ships. 

Well then we have to define “fandom” and “having a ship” so I can know just how to answer. Southland is a show I adored and had no ships in, from what I can remember, but while I watched it loyally and adored it I didn’t feel like it was a fandom I was engaging with. White Collar is a show where I support multiple canon romances somewhat but don’t feel major shipping feelings? Some people would say if you like Elizabeth/Peter’s marriage you ship them but idk if everyone would. I did support Neal/Alex probably the most of his canon romances and could rank each of Neal’s romances, and I felt a lot of feelings about Neal&Peter and vidded them in a platonic way and read “Gen” fics about them and stuff but like, to me that’s not shipping, when it’s not rooting for them to be anything other than the platonic loving bond that is basically already canon... I also don’t ship but really love the idea of Mozzie&Neal actually being the real committed queerplatonic partners throughout the show’s run... I could talk on that some more.

Ok fandoms in which I have no ships... thinking harder... A Series of Unfortunate Events, Heroes probably could count in this category, Criminal Minds when you squint right? Because ultimately I support all the ships in a platonic way? I don’t think BBC Sherlock counts here, because I do basically feel like I ship Johnlock even though it’s queerplatonic in my mind. I don’t know. But I don’t ship anyone in any romantic way on Sherlock either. Oh The Fosters is a huge one for me in this category, I really try to like the ships more sometimes so I can be more in the fandom but its hard, I adore the show and the characters and the family relationships and yet I have like no shipping feelings. I might’ve shipped Wyatt/Callie fairly hard but it was probably in large part because they’re just better than the main alternative ship who I consider a rare NOTP... like idk I can rank some ships as better than others but I don’t really have ships when it comes to The Fosters. Breaking Bad I have no ships. And then there are shows like Arrow or DC’s Legends of Tomorrow or The 100 where I mainly have completely AU ships and/or my only ship was killed off, so for long stretches I kinda feel like I don’t really ship on those shows.

Harry Potter is definitely a fandom where I have no ships, so I lean toward canon ones.

26. Have you noticed a pattern in your shipping? Is there a romantic dynamic you’re more drawn to? 

I’ve noticed a few patterns I think. My ships don’t all just follow the same single pattern, I have too many varied ships for that, but yeah I’ve thought about these things.

First of all there’s the cerebral/friendship leads to romance/it’s not explicitly about sexual attraction or aesthetic attraction at all ships, the kind of really chaste, slow burn, easy to fall for ships that you can explain why they are good together in terms of like, detailed explanations of which ways they complement each other, how they both are good for each other, etc. Ships that have been appealing to me as an asexual person since long before I even knew I was ace or that asexuality itself was an option. Maybe the guy clearly finds the girl beautiful but he doesn’t actually talk about wanting to date her or kiss her, doesn’t claim he’s in love until after he knows her well, he just wants to talk to her at first or something, and usually in these ships the girl is oblivious that dating could be on the horizon, or she’s completely focused on something else like an important mission, she’s in another relationship, that kind of thing while all this slow development of a friendship and slowly falling in love happens.

I’ve noticed for the vast majority of my favorite ships, I care deeply about both characters, both are main characters or you get to know a lot about both of them, you see them on their own outside of the ship, it makes the ship easier to root for and fuller and I fall harder faster if I’ve become completely invested in both characters in and of themselves.

There’s, on television and film fandoms, some degree of chemistry or how they act around each other that MATTERS. If whenever they kiss or have a sexual scene they pause for breath with enormous, uncontrollable grins on their faces, that can go a long way. If they are cute with shy smirks and they touch each other in ways that seem intimate and probably not platonic, if the way eye contact happens or something just makes me believe they really want to be together, that goes such a long way. I don’t think ships have to have eye contact, I’ve shipped blind characters like Auggie/Annie on Covert Affairs and it’s just, everything in the way Auggie expresses emotion does it just as well of course... But like... idk there can be a big component of do I believe that the characters feel truly happier in each other’s presence, etc. And usually the difference between like shipping levels of happier in each other’s presence vs platonic they’re better as friends level of happier is about the like, kind of happiness, is it too giddy or is it steady and safe? Is it connected to anything sexual or close to kissing or is it mostly connected to things that could be platonic?

There’s not a clear formula really but I think all of this is part of it, for me.

10. Do you ship any characters that have never met?

Tommy & Sara on Arrow, maybe, not super hard but I like the idea of what their interaction might be? I certainly ship Tommy with her sister Laurel, but Sara and Laurel have had the same taste in men before... (*cough*Oliver*cough*) and with Sara “dying” (or so he thought) before season 1, and then Tommy dying in the season 1 finale, and then Sara returning in season 2, we never got a chance to see what it could’ve been like. I’d like to see how Tommy handled Sara being bisexual. I assume Tommy has met her in my headcanon, before the gambit, and they have potential to still meet because of Sara being on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and traveling through time on a regular basis. But this is one ship I’ve thought a fair amount about and kind of “ship” despite them never having met. To be fair my main motivation for this particular shipping combination is just that Tommy was my favorite character and they killed him off. And then Sara entered the show and became my new favorite character. I like it when my favorite characters interact? XD

Kara (Supergirl) and Iris from The Flash have now met but barely, and I started shipping them when they hadn’t. This femslash ship is a pretty huge one for me on my mind for the past like, over a year... I really like the idea of them for a lot of reasons, especially since Iris is a reporter and so is James (albeit a photojournalist in this case), and Kara was canonically hugely crushing on James, meanwhile Iris canonically was captivated and supporting The Flash before she knew he was Barry, and eventually does love Barry, and Kara is also a superhero with a similar personality to Barry? And idk I just really love the idea of exploring them as a femslash ship.

Chloe (Smallville)/Peter (Heroes) was a ship that a few people besides me actually had. They got better and better as more seasons of each show aired. Total crazy crossover, characters never met, but Chloe loves the Superman/Clark Kent personality that Peter Petrelli in so many ways has, and Peter is an empath and would be so caring to the emotional Chloe, and the actors had good chemistry together in the show canceled after 8 episodes back in the year 2000, Opposite Sex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzjFTLGCJMs

So like I’ve actually made 2 Peter/Chloe fanvideos... let me know if anyone wants to see them lol.

In Harry Potter I kinda ship some weird combinations if I think on the hard enough, with so many characters and even generations there are some characters who have never met that might be fun to ship but no, I don’t really ship them hard or anything.

I think that’s probably it? I don’t really ship too many characters who have never met...