#stop treating it like a social issue! it's fucking FANDOM INTERPRETATION!!!!

[theorderofthetriad]

"We must assume [X] about character, it makes the most sense (to me) that that's canonical, if you assume anything otherwise you are wrong*!"

*morally!

can we PLEASE fucking stop this????

[bargledblocks]

Actually, I have something to say and that is the fact that y'all will treat fic artists like shit.

You treat ALL fan content creators like shit, but those of us who make fics especially have to deal with it.

Now, here's what I mean. Everyone will complain about some new fic with a certain au setting blowing up and then, guess what! New people make things inspired by that, and by each other! But the issue starts when you start seeing too many "bad" fics, because you think that they are poorly written. Or you have gotten tired of the AU and would like to see something else.

But you know what that says to me? It says that you have no idea how to filter out tags on ao3 and never bothered to learn. Because the the thing is, is that the tags work both ways! You get to filter out what you don't want to see, those who do, can filter it in.

You like completed fics or oneshots? Theres a filter for that. You like or dislike a certain character? Theres a filter for THAT too. You dislike certain AUs? Gotta put a little more effort in, but hey, theres still a fucking filter.

You do not complain about visual artists not being original when they hop on a bandwagon of interpreting a characters design a certain way, you just like to look at the pretty art, right?

Well what if I tell you that there us *gasp* "bad" art too! You just don't tend to see it because the way that the social medias visual artists use to present their work spits it out all in a nice little pre-filtered package.

If you were to look up fanart tags, you are bound to find something you think looks "bad" or "amateur" fairly quickly. You don't even really take note of the fact that it exists, that every single one of these artists have or had a starting point, because all you get to see is what those years of hard work become in the "most popular" or "most liked" tags.

But with fics, you need to manually sort out those things, but you find it annoying. So instead of doing that, or quietly clicking the back button when something isn't to your taste, you go and you cry bout your faves tags being flooded by badly written copycat fics that are clearly piggybacking off the success of the one that got popular. You demand that instead of you having to, god forbid, manually sort out what you don't like, the authors just stop writing it instead.

But here's the thing about that: You are owed nothing. Not by Artists or Authors or any other fan creators. We create these things because we enjoy it, because we are struck by such a strong inspiration that it pulls us to create. We share this thing that we spent hours to days to months to even years of our lives working on out of the kindness of our hearts because we want to share the emotions we felt while making it with you.

And if you do not appreciate that gift, then please, do so quietly. No one will be mad at you for not liking something if you do not insist that it is bad for them to create it simply for that same reason.

To put it in olden fandom terms: Don't like? Simply do not read, and move on with your day.

[m143ui]

A MESSAGE TO THE PJO FANDOM

so hello friends on the other side

I understand some of the major concerns regarding characters like piper and the feather and hazels description but when you bring Leo and Reyna into the fucking conversation I have lost all respect.

ANYONE CAN BE ABUSED, ETHNICITY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT

LATINO CHARACTERS

Reyna is not a negative stereotype, she isn't defined by being latina and neither is Leo, he isn't a stereotype simply because he’s latino and was abused. also him being called an elf was because he was short, which had nothing to do with him being latino. also the mamacita comment like y'all hide under the label “progressive” but ignore that mamacita has been a thing in Latin American communities for a fucking while. its not an insult dammit. its something that happens in our communities!!! its like saying muchacho y'all don't see men bitching about that.

also shocker I read the mamacita comment and I can proudly say I didn't go

“RICK YOU RACIST BITCH”

things that actually happen in communities aren't racist

and before any of y'all come at me with the usual you’re white excuse, hello friends im Peruvian and Paraguayan.

I don't think he’s perfect but bitching about characters like Leo which gave many of my Latin American friends hope for similar characters destroys your “listening to minorities” argument

also the lol “hes Mexican taco bad” argument like I live in Mexico we eat tacos like every fucking day. its literally a fact. and Leo isn't just defined as taco man.

believe it or not us latinos respect rick because he gave us role models and characters like us. we don't define a character by one line and instantly call discrimination. like yes a asian character can be snobby it has nothing to do with ethnicity. y'all are making this about ethnicity. an asian character can be anything, just like a white character or a black character or a gay character. people are not simply defined by their labels like ya’ll think. y'all are just a bunch of easily triggered snowflakes that can't live with that. they can be influenced but in the end labels are labels we are all human and should be treated as such.

LGBT REPRESENTATION

another thing Reyna was never officially a lesbian that was YOUR interpretation not riordans. IF HE DIDNT STATE IT , SORRY HONEY IT ISN’T CANON! I don't care about how she was “lesbian coded” if he didn't state it it isn't canon. 

I am so sick, as a lesbian, to see people use ALL QUEER DEATHS as a bury your gay tropes, what happened to seeing us as humans? why can't we be treated like any other character? if we die we die, it isn't always “haha gay evil boom death”. sometimes fully fledged characters have to die friends.

Nico isn't a bad gay character, he’s just a normal character who happens to be gay and has suffered major trauma. HIS TRAUMA WAS CAUSED BY HIS UPBRINGING, Nico isn't a 2000′s character, he’s from the 30′s, so obviously he woudn’t be perfect with his sexuality for gods sake it was the 30′s. the exact same thing happens with hazel, she isn't a modern black woman, she's a 30′s black woman. Nico’s coming out isn't him as a 21st century teen its from the time when the GOVERNMENT KILLED YOU FOR BEING GAY

also saying there are no lesbian characters? like wow look emmie and jo don't exist. Lavinia doesn't exist. poison doesn't exist. thanks fam you really make yourselves look smart here. simply because rick never said the word gay doesn't mean the gay characters don't exist friends. they are just labeled as what gay characters should be labeled as.... human.

LESBOPHOBIA & RACISM

im not educated in muslim or black culture so I won't mention characters like sam and hazel and piper because I respect and I am highly critical of what rick put in his books to describe these specific minorities.

HOWEVER saying rick is a lesbophobe, a homophobe, a racist a sexist cis guy is like do y’all wanna be taken seriously? use arguments don't hide behind words.

rick isn't a perfect writer but y'all really don't know how to criticise, y'all just hide behind big boy words and back it up with no evidence, just opinions.

rick doesn’t have the best minority rep out there but he is damn well trying and I respect that unlike all you fucking idiots.

SHIPS

now onto ships.... yay

frazel: im not gonna censor it like you pussies, believe it or not 13&16 year old relationships exist. they might not always be healthy but they exist. to deny this is to be stupid

solangelo:  another ship that is censored..the main argument I've seen is that it isn't developed and will isn't even a character... he was in last olympian and lost hero not my fault y'all have fish brains. I don't care if you dislike it but don't be like “ANYONE WHO SHIPS THIS IS AN ABUSIVE WHORE” like wow you always preach about accepting all ships and then throw this? also if you hate solangelo because of the “abuse” but ship percico like hi friends Nico is 4 years younger than Percy.. if y'all hate frazel because of the 3 year age difference y'all should hate this too.

CONCLUSIONS AND SHIT

not every character minority or otherwise is gonna be the way you want them to be, believe it or not any character can be anything, black characters can be loud, white characters can be loud. if they're only loud because “haha black” then THATS an issue not the simple existence of a loud black woman who has a loud personality.

y'all be here bitching about drew and I've never heard the asian perspective of this? just a bunch of black and white people telling asians they should be offended. was that just an uno reverse?

also last point stereotypes aren't always a negative thing and y'all need to get that in your heads.

anyway stay mad hoes <3

from a sane Peruvian <3

EDIT

I saw this beauty and had to comment on it

“having LGBT characters experience abuse and violence. nicos forceful outing rubs me the wrong way, especially because hes called a coward for being in the closet. its violent and kind of disturbing to make your gay character come out of the closet by force. maybe write better. additionally, alex's abusive father and subsequent homelessness because of her being trans is badly written.”

oh noooo gay characters can't deal with homophobia anymore ! like I can tell you have never been punched for being gay. is it bad to showcase how trans and gay ppl are 40% of homeless youth? or is even mentioning that discrimination? believe it or not some of us live in countries where people try to kill us. you have an advantage and it shows. about the coward thing... 

was FUCKING CUPID A GOOD CHARACTER? NO? I REST MY CASE. CUPID IS NOT SEEN AS A GOOD PERSON THEREFORE HE IS NOT A GOOD PERSON GET THAT IN YOUR THICK SKULLS.

 YOU HEARD IT HERE FOLKS LGBT FOLKS DONT GET FORCED OUT OF THE CLOSET 

#NEVER HAPPENS IN REALITY. 

JUST BECAUSE YOU WERENT FORCED OUT OF THE CLOSET DOESNT MEAN OTHER PEOPLE HAVE THAT SAME LUXURY. 

maybe stop spewing bullshit <3

(so I get that this scene can remind people of being outed and it can hurt them however this scene was never intended to be a good thing it literally says Nico is scared of facing his emotions)

EDIT NUMBER 2

oh boy rick really pissed off the snowflakes that I share a fandom with

“give Nico to the gays” no? he would be a femboy and they would yeet his trauma like ssrsly?

also hate rick? bitch no one is forcing you to read his tweets.

death of the author is such a toxic thing like the mans is alive boo he aint going nowhere..like What the fuck 

EDIT NUMBER 3

anyway final thoughts on this :

nico insn’t Uwu gay and its an insult to his character

Reyna is not a lesbian canonically (neither is Thalia)

Leo and Reyna are not racist

none of ricks characters are  written as insults to their communities

and if I see one more “but ....phobia/ ...ism I will do very illegal things

peace lol

RICK RIORDAN UPDATE:

congratulations rick antis! you have successfully harassed a  56 year old man into leaving social media! wow so progressive!!!! this totally won't backfire or anything!!!

all jokes aside all of you who harassed rick to the point of someone else taking over his social media should feel ashamed

[full-course-identity]

Give me your thoughts on uuuh Jake

wew boy

okay. gonna word dump this, and probably other interpretation asks, so I can get the words out there.

from my POV, there’s 3 types of canon Jake + 1 fanon vers + my personal interpretation. lemme explain what they are;

Book Jake, who I don’t have enough experience with bc I STILL haven’t finished the book… >_>;

2River Jake, who is kinda oblivious and very in-the-moment impulsive (not so bad he’s jumping place to place ADHD like Rich, but like, not considering that maybe dropping everything to seduce Madeline or Christine is a bad idea when he clearly really likes Chloe). these are debatably survival mechanisms bc of his family (and wealth, if you want to go into the “being rich actually traumatizes you and locks you into dissociation” theory–but to be fair, this is partially reliant on thinking Jake is Genuinely Rich. … well, not Rich as in… yeah); ignoring any pain he feels in favor of getting dicked down and forgetting about everything for a while. very “I’m not sad, I’m busy!!!!!” 

Bway (possibly the new canon general for all Jakes since it sounds like London’s is modeled after him but just… toned down), who is still oblivious, but towards other people’s emotions instead of himself; he’s manipulative, a little impulsive but a lot more malicious about it, and he knows exactly how hurt he is about his parents. this jake’s awareness of himself makes him act worse because he knows this is the only thing that seems to help and it’s basically the only thing he actually has control of. his wealthiness is undeniably present and Bad here because the reason taking what he wants and not caring that it hurts people is his main coping skill is pretty much only because he’s been allowed that privilege all his life. i tend to think this version of him should be done by a white cishet dude (despite jake’s actor on bway being genuinely FANTASTIC) bc being marginalized in a high school should’ve curved a lot of the “endless power and privilege” he gets for being rich (Not That One). 

[i… think this jake has ‘better’/more nuanced writing in BWay… but i don’t think it fits the musical nor is it the overall direction i think it should’ve gone. BMC feels best to me when there’s a heavier element of Dark Humor that briefly nods to a Larger and more Fucked Up world behind the bit we see in the musical. making it largely a twisted comedy, maybe even ramping that up further with more whiplash lines like jake’s “which means the house is empty, so that’s fun”]

Fanon Jake is… like most of the fanon characters in BMC, a bit… “bipolar” (like, radically shifting depending on the situation). the BMC fandom has been born with heavy engagement from minors in the current fascist climate of fandom as a whole. as a result, you have three general uses of jake that as “approved of” by somehow the exact same people despite being conflicting in a lot of ways. THIS IS NOT ME SHITTING ON FANON, i actually think most of this fandom is just a casual romp for most people and that shouldn’t be snatched away from them nor mocked nor treated like you HAVE to be logically consistent when this is just a fun hobby for most… but there are still trends i notice:

1: Jake the sweet bi disaster who loves their significant other and is just a little bit hopeless in their silliness and Down For Whatever-esque personality. this is often used for shippy pictures and memes and cute little oneshots, plus, of course, fluff.

2: Jake the tragic abuse victim who is extremely sad and has to learn to love again and has always been selfless, plus or minus a permanent disability post-fire. this is of course used for hurt/comfort, plus in combination kinda with michael in the bathroom-esque posts and tragic art, often also used as an example of the squip being the worst for jeremy or rich guilt trauma. also: aesthetic and moodboard posts.

3: the one I have the least good will towards: Jake the “why does everybody woobify mlm? You can’t portray him without flaws! queer boys aren’t your fetish!!!” with an attached, clunkily written reasons why he was an asshole that is also simultaneously watered down so you don’t think he’s a Monster bc then you’d be vilifying queer men (well, more like they’d feel bad about their cutesy-er ‘emotional support’ art and writing which is Totally Different from all the other cutesy emotional support art and writing). 

basically, Meta Trying To Make Jake Reasonably Flawed But Not Evil in this fandom is RARELY genuine–it’s more often than not moralistic hand-wringing made so that they can wash themselves of the guilt for actually enjoying something with a character they portray as mlm, or otherwise the guilt of enjoying anything romantic or sexual involving men or queer people period when we’re apparently not supposed to do that anymore, as decreed by the radfems infesting our spaces. 

and, well, or you’re an mlm writing this post, you’re probably young and still feeling extremely sensitive and scared about your identity. i once saw a very wise post by a trans person who had been trans for a long time, who said that when you first come out as trans (or queer in general, but especially trans people who are beginning social or physical transition and coming to terms with themselves) you are obvs on High Fucking Alert and so you’re insecure and scared of anything, ranging from “obvious transphobia” to “just trans people enjoying themselves and exploring transphobia in fiction or else their own sexuality”. again, this can relate to a lot of identities tbh, and as such young mlm either cis or trans can get very Itchy about people enjoying mlm content.

anyway.

wrapping it back around to me: i edit jake on a case by case basis (sometimes i even make him eviler or meaner based on what’s set up during Bway, he’s just not my usual go-to villain), but i tend to think of him as a tragic Mr. Peanutbutter-y sweetheart who kinda knows he feels like shit yet also knows that if he stops to assess it, it would make his life a lot harder in a time where he can’t afford that. his relationship with chloe is extremely toxic (chloe abuses him horribly, specifically), and so he tries to claw his way out of it only to be continually back in by chloe and her bullshit. 

this is why he doesn’t really get... well. he genuinely thought the thing with christine was going to be permanent; he wasn’t jerking her around, he thought he was over chloe and wanted a girl as cool and fun and genuinely nice as her. afterward he Gets It, and so feels Really Bad--at a time where he doesn’t have his house, his legs are broken (i don’t tend to put him in a perma-wheelchair), his parents have abandoned him, and he best friend is in the hospital. guilt crashes in on him from all sides, and he just has to... pretend it isn’t, even as he can no longer stop himself from thinking about it.

if i was to do a jake focused story, it’d probably be a dating sim where you play as him and watch his life change in conjunction with his attempts to find happiness again; you can either choose decisions that help him greatly or ruin his life so ver much... hmm. lets file that under hashtag “story ideas i’ll never use even though they could be great”

to wrap this up: i like jake. i don’t... really enjoy most of the written content (fanfic, meta, sometimes even the storylines on ask blogs) in this fandom about him or... really, most of the characters, which i feel bad about--i’d enjoy it more if it was every in conjunction with my usual Wants in a fic, which is, like. extreme angst.

BUT

i do still like jake, and i can super enjoy his portrayal in memes and visual art

he’s just not my total fave, but like, the reason he tends not to come up a lot in my content is more what i’m focusing on and why. i’d be happy to use him in stories if his presence fit.

as a bonus

here’s the ships i’m happy to use him for, generally: deere, michael/jake, brooke/jake, toxic chloe/jake, and of course, different ocs/jake

his identities/labels: cis, bisexual/romantic... tho sometimes i actually go for bisexual and aromantic! outside bway and eviler jakes, i’m good with him being any race, and even then it’s just a matter of suspending disbelief re: privilege theory. also, PTSD probably, and maybe generalized anxiety as a result. maaaaaybe autistic too? adhd would be a hard sell for me since he seems super put together in a way that’d be extremely difficult for every form of adhd, but i can see him being neurodivergent on the spectrum + like dyslexia maybe. oh, and i sorta-kinda think he may be color blind? but really i’d drop that at a moment’s notice if it’d be easier to write him without it lol.

his interests: one is more or less sports in general, tho i think that, unless he went straight for track or swimming or something Olympics (which he probably can’t do now...), that’s a high school or some college only focus for him. so, besides sports, i think he’d kinda like the satisfaction and steady growth of Collecting Rare Things That You Have To Look For, like cool rocks, bugs, etc. 

as for careers... some form of doctor something, maybe a businessman of some sort but he’d likely try to curve his power in that field as much as possible; he inherits his parents' assets and company or whatever, but he probably takes a backseat to that and only really has it out of a sense of ‘it’s my job as my parent’s kid to keep the company going--without engaging in the same awful legal issues they did--for as long as i can’. one of my fave jake-is-there stories, vanceypant’s spicy bis-focused fic 1999, has him owning a restaurant, and that was cool as hell.

also jake loves dogs. especially golden retrievers. yes.

[hisband]

3 , 8 , 9, 38 !!

 meme: carling shares her honest opinions. || status: no longer accepting.

3. what current rp trend do you hate?

   i find that the rpc as a whole has gotten a lot more… idk, picky & shallow about which characters they interact with? of course, no one is obligated to interact with anyone and i would never guilt-trip anybody for not being interested in specific muses of mine or not following me back. but i have notice a shift over the last four years that i don’t particularly like.

   to give you guys a better idea what i’m talking about, let me give you an example. i roleplay captain spaulding from r.ob zombie’s firefly f.amily trilogy on my multi @mnstrsqd. he’s currently my longest running muse; i’ve been writing him publicly since spring 2015 and have moved him across multiple blogs. spaulding, despite being a chubby, ill-tempered, unhygienic guy in his late 50s / early 60s ( what can i say, i have a type ), was once my most popular character. not because he was pretty to look at or digestible, but because i was told he was interesting. people were drawn to his personality. for that reason, i wasn’t afraid to approach people on him or to follow first ( though i tried to be mindful because he Is a clown character and there are people on this website with coulrophobia, which i completely understand ). it wasn’t difficult to get interactions on him at all.

   nowadays? i’m fairly reluctant to approach people on characters that are considered unconventional, like my main horror muse belial or half the roster on my multi or even murdoc himself, because it seems like the rpc has devolved in the sense that the majority of writers on here ( based on my Own Personal Experience, at least ) are looking for characters that are easy. easy to get along with ic, easy to ship with, easy on the eyes. my buddy ruben made a much more detailed post on that here if you guys wanna check that out, but yeah. shallowness ( or perhaps an extreme reluctance to go outside one’s comfort zone ) is a rampant problem on tumb.lr these days, and it wasn’t like that at all when i first started out. people were a lot more willing to give others a chance no matter how fucking weird or obscure their character was, and i miss that a lot. had the community not been so accepting when i first joined, i probably wouldn’t have stuck around.

8. name any three things about the rpc that bother you.

   besides what i mentioned above? let’s see…

here’s a controversial one: people who feel the need to go around blocks and demand to know why you cut them off. like, dude, all you’re doing is proving to me that i made the right call by removing you from my social sphere. i find this behaviour incredibly entitled & invasive and i don’t like it one bit. i don’t like the idea that you owe people explanations as to why you left, especially if the person in question has been exhibiting abusive or triggering behaviour ( unknowingly or not ). just accept you’re no longer welcome in that person’s life and move on. the length of time you’ve known that person - or favours you’ve done for that person in the past - should not be used as bargaining tools to keep them around. you can tell someone why you’re ending a friendship or writing partnership, but you shouldn’t have to.

on the flip-side of this, i don’t like vague-posting. i try not to follow people who vague-post unless they have a damn good reason to do it ( i.e. trying to warn people about a past abuser but not wanting to say the person’s name for the sake of their own safety, or somebody else’s ). i strongly dislike when vague-posting is done for the sake of guilt-tripping others or making them uneasy. that’s passive-aggressive, petty & not at all a mature way to deal with conflict. if you’re having issues with someone ( and yes, there is a Huge, Huge Fucking Distinction between miscommunications in a relationship and legitimately toxic and abusive behaviour ), talk to them or else the issue is never going to be resolved. don’t drag everyone else down because you’re feeling upset or frustrated with one person.

people making assumptions about other people’s characters seems to be a problem that’s on the rise. just… don’t do it, even if you truly believe you know the other mun’s character. even if you’ve been writing with that character for years. even if you’ve written that character before yourself. it’s really rude & disrespectful, and most writers i know don’t appreciate someone else coming in and telling them how to portray their own muse, or acting like they know them better than they do. if you’re not sure about something in regards to a partner’s character, just ask. it’s that simple.

9. what is your opinion on exclusivity? do you practice it? why / why not?

   i don’t mind exclusivity & have never seen it as a big deal! if you’re really attached to a friend’s portrayal ( and i personally get very attached to the way my friends write their characters ), i think it’s fine to stick with their interpretation and their interpretation alone. the only time it’s ever been a problem for me is when i’ve written in really small fandoms ( i.e. the fire.fly family trilogy ) and felt the need to give everyone a chance. i think that’s a little bit different than when you’re developing a whole ship or story arc with one specific character, y’know?

38. what advice would you give to someone new to rp?

   don’t make rp your only hobby - that can turn unhealthy super fast. if you rp because you like to write, as i do, find other ways to write if you ever reach a point where you don’t wanna rp but still need a way to express yourself artistically ( and believe me, this Will happen ). if writing isn’t cutting it, then try something new, like drawing, or podcasting, or scrapbooking, or arts & crafts, or even cooking. these are all creative hobbies with very similar pay-offs! 

   don’t become too emotionally dependent on rp. i understand getting invested in characters & ships - believe me, i do - but when it becomes your only source of happiness or when you can’t see yourself being able to function without these things in your life, there’s a problem. similarly, don’t become too emotionally dependent on your friends & writing partners. that isn’t fair to them; they aren’t objects or bots here to cater to you, they’re living breathing people, usually with multiple things going on at once. no one’s life should revolve around one thing or one person, period. that’s recipe for disaster.

   and please, please, don’t treat rp like a job. don’t beat yourself up over things like not writing fast enough, or not writing enough threads, or not writing with enough people or not being online enough. this is a hobby, and should be treated like a hobby, and should absolutely not take priority over things like finding / keeping a job, doing well in school, taking care of your responsibilities & spending time with loved ones. the sooner you stop taking tum.blr rp super-seriously, the happier and more fulfilled you’ll feel. promise.

[boydgearloose]

how do you feel about Fenro? do you think it has a chance when it comes to character development?

OKAY so i have been trying to figure out how to answer this without going on a whole ass tangent but however i cannot so read more it is fellas let’s do this

basically my feelings on fenro are….well i don’t wanna say complicated because i do REALLY love it and can’t deny that, even if i don’t post a lot of it here BUT i am gonna say that i’m not a huge fan of how a lot of people portray it and that might be because i tend to get super attached to how i see certain dynamics?? but still i feel the need to go off a little bit about that

let me start this off by saying one thing: as of now, fenton and gyro’s relationship is one of the most interesting things in the show to me and not even in a ship way, i just really love their scenes together and seeing them interact because hey they’re my two favorite characters! what’s not to love?

however, the fandom interpretations kinda throw me off because when i see content of these two it’s either like…..gyro currently in the show having a thing for fenton and being hard on him because he likes him or whatever OR gyro just straight-up being unforgivably terrible and awful to him for no damn reason to the point of where he’s portrayed as an antagonist 

and both of them are extremely fuckin oocfirst of all, the whole “tsundere” gyro thing is kinda….weird imo? i mean, yeah he’d probably be the type to deny his feelings at first because he’s a pretty closed off person but it’s such an overly exaggerated and boring way to go about this whole thing

gyro and fenton currently have a looong way to go like i don’t think they hate each other in the slightest (frank more or less confirmed this) but there definitely is a lot of tension there so anything romantic happening that soon feels weird to me and super uninteresting compared to the other options

in order for this to work, it would have to be a LONG way into the future but that’s still possible! one thing i find super interesting that nobody ever brings up is that their whole dynamic just changed: they’re on the same level now because they both work for scrooge, gyro has no right to boss fenton around and they’re going to have to learn how to work together as equals and develop a friendship from there

THAT’S WHY I FIND THEIR RELATIONSHIP IN THE SHOW SO INTERESTING AND NOBODY EVER PLAYS WITH IT and that makes me irrationally mad like i’m literally counting the DAYS until we get to see them interact again with this new dynamic and i know for more or less a fact that we’re gonna get some good development out of their relationship this season and everyone just….doesn’t…..talk about it……they just pull some “lol gyro is a jerk to fenton bc he likes him xD” crap AND THAT’S REALLY NOT IT MAN JUST LOOK AT THE POTENTIAL THESE TWO HAVE THAT YOU’RE WASTING ON THAT AWFUL CLICHE TROPE

now that i’ve covered that bad interpretation, let’s move on to the second take because boy it really makes me mad too!!! now i’m not trying to deny that gyro is WAY too damn harsh on fenton because he definitely is and i haven’t seen anyone try to ignore that (if they do then they’re wrong bc gyro’s an asshat)

gyro is…..not the best socially, as we all know, and he has the tendency to act like he’s above everyone else and this is definitely portrayed with how he’s treated fenton thus far and he needs a stern talking to and lesson on how to treat people the way they deserve to be treated bc damn he’s got some issues!!! but i have no doubt that will happen because the crew has nothing but positive words for gyro

however, like……okay i am really trying to think of a way to word this that doesn’t make me sound like i’m dunking on fenton bc I’M NOT HE’S SUCH A WONDERFUL CHARACTER AND GENUINELY NICE PERSON but sometimes his attempts to be helpful kind of…….are things that would make a reasonable person angry? and gyro already has a short fuse so like how else is he gonna react when he finds out someone posted his secret information online and got it stolen or that someone’s sneaking around with an unstable invention of his and doing stuff with it that he said not to do?

this ties in with the whole thing where people infantilize the shit out of fenton and refuse to see him as an adult and instead think he’s some poor wittle defenseless baby who can’t stick up for himself uwu so he needs someone to save him uwuwuwuwu which…HOO BOY I DON’T LIKE THAT ONE BIT

fenton is a bit of a pushover who tries to hard to help others, yes, but how can you watch who is gizmoduck and think he’s 100% defenseless against gyro??? the whole episode is about him pushing past misconceptions and standing up for himself so why do you think he’d have a problem telling gyro to go fuck himself if it came down to it like HE EVEN KIND OF STOOD UP TO HIM IN THAT EPISODE JUST. GOD. FENTON ISN’T HELPLESS Y’ALL HE’S A 25+-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO WANTS TO SEE THE BEST IN PEOPLE BUT ISN’T AFRAID TO TELL SOMEONE OFF WHEN THEY DESERVE IT

kinda backtracking here but fenton’s whole thing is that he wants to help people but he’s too impulsive with how he goes about it and it winds up wrong and yeah it’s the thought that counts but that’s such an interesting part of his character and others overlook it to make it seem like gyro continuously torments him or something which he really…..doesn’t, he’s not very nice to him at all but people really take it too far sometimes and act all Edgy about it and it’s a terrible take for both of their characters

honestly what’s interesting about these kind of relationships is that you get to watch them grow and look back in a few months or years at a season 1 episode and think “aww! look how far they’ve come” and it’s gorgeous 

fenro couldn’t possibly work as anything other than a REALLY SLOW BURN i mean like REALLY SLOW but y’know?? slow burns are my JAM so i’m on board! i just really wish more people felt the same way about it instead of rushing it when they haven’t even gotten to the friendship stage in canon yet 

i love where this is going and am too hyped for words to see how they’re gonna interact now that they’re on equal grounds and gyro is gonna be confronted with the fact that he can’t act like he’s above fenton whatsoever anymore (tbh i really think fenton’s gonna do the confronting himself bc like i said, he can do that y’all!!! he can stand up for himself when he’s pushed too far and you all gotta realize that and stop treating him like he’s a baby!!!!!!)

these two are my favorite characters in the show and i trust the crew to give us some good content of em and to develop their relationship in an interesting way because i have yet to be disappointed in any of the other character dynamics they’ve fleshed out and i know whatever they do is gonna kill me

also my friend and i may or may not currently be writing a fic about all of this but i’ll leave that for y’all to find on your own ;) 

SO TL;DR: YES. IT DEFINITELY HAS A LOT OF POTENTIAL AND I THINK IT’S GONNA GET SOME NICE TASTY DEVELOPMENT IN SEASON 2 BUT PEOPLE IGNORE THE DEVELOPMENT PART AND IT MAKES ME ANGRY

[symphysins]

Have any other good fics for us???

sorry this took a while to reply back to. i’ve been compiling this for a while.

since you didn’t specify what kind of fics, i’m gonna give like a smorgasbord of different ut fics i love w/ a blurb of stupid commentary from me :’D

(be warned, snas is my fav so a bunch feature him/are centered around him.)

(also be warned that not everything i like may be ur cup of tea, so make sure to read the tags/warnings.)

longpost under cut. ready? here we gooo~ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ 

Universal Displacement by knowmeknot: A forgotten doctor once theorized that when the same event occurs at the exact same time in two separate universes, they converge for a single moment and something… spectacular happens. A destabilization maybe. Or a merge. Or better yet, a displacement of two similar but different entities.

one of my favorite kedgeup things is when ut!sans or uf!paps lands in the other’s universe, and this fic expands on this idea rlly well.

A Lack of Brotherly Love by Askellie: After a brutal series of genocide runs, Sans wakes up in an alternate universe where the monsters were saved, everyone is on the surface and the future looks bright…except the fundamental difference in this universe is that its resident Sans never loved or supported his brother. As a result, Papyrus is a lonely outcast, unable to fit in and scarred from years of emotional neglect.And Sans isn’t going to let that stand.

i desperately want sans to punch the fuck out of dr.serif. and then go give poor paps all the hugs he deserves.

To Love Yourself by undertailsoulsex: UF!Sans fights with his brother and doesn’t know what to do with himself. He ends up traveling to the Undertale Universe where he meets the kindhearted Sans and Papyrus.UF!Sans has to come to terms with his depression and his newfound feelings for the other skeletons.

this fic emotionally destroyed me… but in a good way i swear! it’ll lead you on a rollercoaster of feels, but it’s worth it.

It’s A Long Story by RiseiTekiSensei: a soriel series detailing toriel and sans’ relationship in the underground and aboveground. i really like how both of them have their own issues, and how they support eachother through those issues. i also love how head over heels sans is for toriel.

A Fortune Cookie For You by Darkhymns: “In bed” jokes are the lowest form of comedy. So, of course, Sans and Toriel love them.

the jokes man. the jokes are the best.

Never a Lovely So Real by Kaesa: The city of Ebott, 193X. The market’s down, the crime rate’s up, and Sans is just trying to make a buck and keep an eye on his brother by working for the Dreemurr crime family. But after the Dreemurrs rescue a human child from their rival gang, the Flower Boys, Sans soon finds himself in way over his head. (Well. Not that that’s hard.)  

i love all the research put in to make this mob au fic really authentic. reading the little anecdotes at the end is rlly fun. 

Our Skeleton by yastaghr: The people who love him come to realise Sans may be hiding something from them. 

this. this is the fic that really got me into sansgoriel. royal goats showering tiny skele in love is the best.

for queen and country by tealmoon: Being the Judge of the Underground isn’t just a job, it’s about being chosen to carry out the infallible will of the Royal Family, to keep chaos and crime at bay, to protect all of Monsterkind.            

And for Papyrus, it’s about being helpless, and afraid, and alone.

us!paps suffering: the fic. somebody give this skele a friend. pls, he desperately needs one.   

Fired Up and Bone Weary by perniciousLizard: slowburn domestic sansby series. sans is written so in-character and grillby is really fleshed-out as a character. there’s tension and drama here and there, but it still feels mellow overall. reading this fic feels like sitting next to a warm hearth. 

These are our Days by Rehlia: Two days ago, you said goodbye to your best friend. Yesterday, you lost your job with no prior notice. And then today, you had a fight with your mom. So that’s your day today. Lonely, fighting with your mom, jobless. Perfect Day for a drink or two, right? What’s that on TV about monsters?You didn’t expect the monsters to accept that application for a social media job you sent them while you were drunk. Now you’ve suddenly moved to Ebott and spend your days hanging out with monsters, documenting your weird new life, and marvelling at how different monsters and humans can be - and how similar.  

god, i love all the worldbuilding in this fic. the little things about monster culture are so great. this fic really makes me invested in monsterkind’s integration on the surface. and the build-up to the sans/reader relationship rlly makes it all the more satisfying.

Tend to your memories by Rainbow_Sprinkles: Post-Pacifist after many, many resets. Explores political, social, and personal facets of monster integration into human society. Begins in 211X and spans over many years. Political and social climates have undergone major shifts from those of the present day. Character development and platonic-familial relationships receive the most attention. Major motifs include health, medicine, and science. 

realistically, i think a lot of the ut cast have been traumatized in some way, and this fic explores that very thoroughly. i think my favorite part about this series is the frisk, flowey, and chara development.

Kingship, And What Comes Next by CatKing_Catkin: This is the story of the Underground after Sans hung up the phone, after Papyrus took the throne. There’s no one left to guide him, no one left to look up to. Papyrus doesn’t want to let anyone down, especially not Sans when his brother is working so hard to support him. Sans doesn’t want to let Papyrus down, when his brother really is all he has left.They make mistakes, they miss one another, but together, they try to figure things out.This is a story about growing up, moving on, and what’s important in life.

this fic managed to take one of the saddest (imo) endings and turn it into something hopeful. 

lest ye be judged by nilchance: in an alternate universe, asgore became something like a parental figure to sans and papyrus. the whole series is wonderful, and i love the relationship sans and asgore have. 

Tsum Papyri by BarkingPup: In this world there is only Papyrus and… more Papyrus

the super sweet tsumtsum au made by zarla turned incredibly horrifying.

Overextension by MaxieSatan: Strength and weakness are not mutually exclusive, and neither one always looks the same.

i like reading fics about undyne & sans, bc you really never see them interact in game. it’s interesting to think about how they’d act around eachother.

Late Night Snack by EvilZebra:    

Tuesday 3:55 amRUDE SKELETON: did he ask you to help too                     

RUDE SKELETON: he did i can hear more pots dying             

RUDE SKELETON: pls spare my ketchup it does not deserve this 

papyrus cooks at 3 in the morning. sans and undyne suffer.

social links by simplycarryon: Friendship’s pretty neat, or so your video games and anime dictate. But you are not an anime protagonist, and you’re not sure you know what friendship is any more.

i love sans and alphys being science buddy friends.

Angels in the Underground by joliemariella: 200 years ago, angels were banished from the surface world after the commander of the heavenly host, Asgore, declared war on mankind. Now, young Frisk has fallen into the Underground and must conquer the angels’ seven trials if she, and the angels themselves, are to have any hope of escape. Along the way she meets Sans, a wounded seraphim who agrees to guide her through the trials at Toriel’s request. Friends are made, history unfolds, and Sans comes to hope again.

monsters with wiiiingsss. also seraphim dad sans is best dad.

Butterscotch and Bones by kaliawai512: Toriel promised herself she would never leave the Ruins. She had to stay there, to make sure that if a human fell, she could care for them - even if she couldn’t stop them from going to their deaths in time. But now and then, leaving is inevitable. The Ruins have only so many resources, after all. This time, before she heads Home from her latest expedition, she decides to stop and check in on the asocial Royal Scientist who was once her good friend.                                                   

She doesn’t find him.                                        

She finds two other someones instead.

FLUFF. SO MUCH FLUFF. some sad, bUT THAT ONLY MAKES THE FLUFF SWEETER. this fic is like a balm on the soul from the hurt of the handplates au.

Under the Veil by poplasia: Sans has gotten himself stuck in the void between worlds in a successful attempt to stop the resets of his timeline. He’s not sure how long he’s been chillin’ alone there, but eventually a chance at escape stumbles his way in from the Veil of Death. His name?—Sirius Black.

crossovers are great. crossovers with two of my favorite fandoms are even better. i’m really excited to see what these two pranksters will do next.

Missing Child Case by StoryCloud: Against all odds, the police find the four-year old that went missing around the summit of Mount Ebbot. A story from a child’s perspective has many interpretations.

it’s really rare to see fics that deal with neutral route endings, so this is a nice treat. also the fact that frisk is only four puts things into a diff. perspective.

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times by ABadTime: Set immediately after the pacifist run, the dark history of the skeleton brothers begins to surface when everything that held them together unravels, leading to the revelation of dark and transformative truths.The Best of Times, the Worst of Times sees the rise of heroes of unusual stripes in the face of unusual traumas, and explores the value of relationships in unusual times. The True Labs hold a great many terrible secrets only some of which have been able to reach their conclusion.

leaves you hanging on at the edge of your seat at some points, and has a satisfyingly happy ending. not to mention super cool gb!sans.

a lesson in grief. by ohmygodwhy:                           

you’ve got pressure dripping off your shoulders.               

or: sans tries to deal with some things.

let’s end this off with some of that sweet, sweet sans suffering. one of the first few ut fics i read. the ending was like a punch in the gut.

[aadmelioraa]

How do you feel about Octavia?

Hoooo boy. Is someone trying to get me in trouble? :)

I have some feelings about Octavia. I have some thoughts also.

Let me preface this by saying that I am well aware that Octavia is one of the most divisive characters in this fandom right now. Some people stan her, others demonize her. I’m not going to do either. If that’s an issue for you, I’d suggest you stop reading now.

Octavia “Girl Under the Floor” Blake literally only knew two (2!) people before she landed on the ground with the 100 at the age of 17 (not counting anyone she encountered on her way to solitary confinement, which would not have resulted in a meaningful relationship of any kind). Please understand that I do not blame Aurora for this. We have no textual evidence to indicate Aurora Blake was anything other than a loving person who was trying her best to keep her kids alive in a really fucked up system. The totalitarian regime on the Arc is the antagonist here.

When Octavia lands on the ground, she finally gets to be a normal, rebellious teenager. She and Bellamy clearly love each other, but there is a lot of dysfunction there. Bellamy can’t get over his fear that Octavia will be hurt, Octavia is tired of being told what to do.

Octavia definitely lacks maturity. That’s not surprising given that she’s only been socializing with people outside her immediate family since landing on the ground. She constantly judges Clarke, Bellamy, and anyone else in a leadership role for making the decisions they make, without fully appreciating the weight of those decisions or understanding that they weren’t made lightly. She loves to blame others, but refuses to accept the consequences of her own actions. She also physically lashes out at her loved ones when she’s angry (Lincoln, Indra, Bellamy). 

I know people were upset that the show didn’t explicitly condemn these actions, but I’d argue that A) that’s not what the show does and B) the show seems to be setting Octavia up as a kind of anti-hero heading into s5, or at the very least not a person to admire or emulate. That’s just my opinion. I understand why those scenes were so upsetting to people, I also found them pretty triggering. I don’t think the writers intended that scene with Bellamy in particular to be read as many people perceived it, but we can only interpret what’s put in front of us.

One of the most interesting things about Octavia to me is the fact that she feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere. She fits in with the delinquents to some extent (she has some really lovely moments with them throughout the seasons, with Jasper particularly), but quickly becomes troubled by the Skaikru-Grounder conflict. From my perspective, Arkadian culture had no chance of getting back in her good graces after killing her mother. So when she meets Lincoln, who is revealed to be a good and kind person, she sides with him and his culture. She doesn’t appreciate the fact that Lincoln has issues with his own culture, and instead makes Skaikru out to all be villains who are oppressing the grounders. Not the narrative the show is telling at all.

Octavia’s journey is hard to watch for a lot of people, myself included. It’s messy, unsatisfying, contradictory, and full of really heartbreaking moments. Watching her see Lincoln be executed always stands out to me when I think of how she’s developed since s1 (and it hadn’t been a whole lot of development up until that point, I admit). She was so helpless in that moment to save the man she loved, and though that doesn’t excuse the way she treated Bellamy afterwards, it does inform the rest of her arc. She tries to regain her power by becoming an assassin, by taking out Pike, by continuing to question each and every leadership decision.  

It’s honestly pretty funny to me that she’s the one who ended up uniting everyone in the bunker. After calling out every leader on the show who ever had to make a tough call, she’s now leading 1200 people who will mostly be at each other’s throats for the next five (six) years. Talk about a wake up call. I do need to note here that neither the show nor Octavia herself indicated that she was fit to lead or thought it was the best option—O explicitly said it should have been Bellamy or Clarke, not her.

The sizzle reel at SDCC this year revealed that Octavia is still a very important figure as we head into season 5—one of the most important, in fact. The sizzle reel referred to her as “the hero,” though I think most people agree we might see an inversion of that after the time jump. There’s always a chance for redemption and forgiveness, even on this show, but I’m not sure if and how that would present itself in Octavia’s story.

Long story short, I have my issues with Octavia’s character arc. I think that s5 will illuminate some of the previously unaddressed problems people have with her. She’s not my favorite character, but she is and has always been central to the story. We just have to wait and see which direction she ends up going in s5. I’m predicting, as are most other people, that it’s not going to be pretty.