#the foundation of this blog tbh

[zarstarss]

been meaning to do something like for this for a while, still kind of in disbelief that anyone interacts with this blog in the first place but. whoever you are, seriously thank you for making tumblr such an amazing community to be a part of. i've never really been good at social things, but being on here with so many cool people is just. aaaaa!!! i love y'all. i am not worthy

[neversetyoufree]

This has absolutely nothing to do with vnc, but someone on my main set me off earlier talking about my other favorite death-themed "Vanitas" story about a guy trying to unravel his suicidal situationship's bizarre psyche, so I'm here to un-subtly try to pspsps more or y'all into reading that post lmao.

Anyone want a homestuck fic rec?

[visenyaism]

I’m sorry? Visenya is the creator of what? Tell that to Aegon and Rhaenys lol

Visenya was cool during the Conquest, let’s give her that, but after she gave birth to her stupid waste of a son she did nothing but helped him to usurp the throne almost killing all of her siblings legacy. Her solo goal after the Conquest was to put Maegor on the throne so she could finally be superior to Rhaenys’s bloodline because obviously she always lived in the shadow of her sister, of whom she was jealous. Rhaenys was the true Queen, loved by Aegon, by smallfolk and nobles and Visenya was just a “dark sister”.

let’s see i said “creator of the targaryen legacy” which like. sure i’ll stand by that. I think the Targaryen legacy is visenya’s in part BECAUSE she is hypocritical and self-destructive. they are not exactly a stable family that can be normal about succession the dynastic politics pretty consistently drive them all insane and turn them into the worst possible version of themselves. the whole point to me is that rhaenys is the one everyone actually descends from, aegon is the idea of a perfect king that no one can actually emulate, and that visenya is the one who passes down that legacy of blood curses, might makes right mentality, second son complexes, and the attitude around power related to their dynasty. simple as

[skhardwarevers1]

tbh I think my top (kinda shitty) coping mechanism is just posting here

[nofr1lls]

girl help destiny is fate and fate is death

[autism-alley]

i don't know if you answer asks but you're one of the few blogs still consistently posting pjo tv crit and it's been such a relief. with the amount of praise it's gotten i feel so gaslit like am i just being a baseless hater?? but no there's a reason a lot of the people criticizing the show are writers. it's a poorly written show and the more i think about it the more problems i find

like i was thinking about the way the kids in the show just know everything and how boring it is to watch, especially the casino scene, and something hit me

the lotus casino functions perfectly as a metaphor for traits associated with adhd--the need for stimulation and time blindness. anyone would fall for the casino's lure, but especially adhd kids. the fact that the show takes that away is REALLY weird to me, to put it kindly

if i were being less kind? i would say there's grounds to argue that having these characters, who are children with adhd, be impervious to something that is designed to trap people exactly like them is, on some level, erasure of their disabilities. especially since the one character who does get affected by it is the one who doesn't have the same neurodivergencies as the two who don't. the explanation for why percy and annabeth didn't start to forget themselves was such a lazy cop out and i can't believe people ate it up

i don't know what that writers' room has against literal adhd children falling for traps that are designed to trap people, but it's embarrassing for them tbh

i’m so glad to hear it anon!! i’m a little surprised to hear it too tbh, i wasn’t sure if anyone else was still. interested in discussing it? it seems like the pjo/atla fanbase overlap means most people have moved onto to the live action atla show. and while i am an atla fan, i didn’t grow up with the show the same way i grew up with the pjo books, so based on what we’d already seen/heard of the natla show before it even released + my utter disappointment and heartbreak regarding the pjo show, i decided to spare myself the watch. i would rather keep my memories of the original show untainted; what i have seen of the show resonates with people’s criticisms of the writing (and as someone who has done costuming work. one look is all you need to understand THAT criticism lmfao).

but i’m honestly… surprised? the pjo show did not get the same level of criticism as the natla show? it’s not like pjo is not also very popular with that same generation, sure, atla being a show perhaps made it more appealing and accessible to more kids, etc etc, sure. but from the fan bases themselves, size aside? proportionately? the pjo fandom is FULL of show defenders just blatantly ignoring the show’s major foundational issues if not just outright parading them around as successes, meanwhile the critics are in the minority. compare that with what i’ve seen where the complete opposite is true of the atla fandom, it’s weird!! and especially jarring to me bc it seemed pretty clear to everyone in the atla fandom the show had Issues, meanwhile the pjo fandom heard the promise from rick riordan’s very own mouth this show is going to be faithful to the series’ spirit. it’s so weird to see the wildly different responses to what i think are prolly equally bad reboot shows, with a fandom of similar demographics (clearly not the SAME demographics or the response would prolly be more aligned but you get my point). so i agree anon, i do feel a little gaslit by the pjo fandom, and watching the atla fandom’s very reasonable response to the natla show is like. whiplash. another sign you and i are not losing it lmao

as for the lotus casino, this is an excellent point! i don’t even think it can be called unkind to point out how this episode is a symptom of the show’s overall disability erasure. i would say it’s unkind of the show to erase adhd and dyslexia representation. in fact, because of the explicit promise by its creator to see that representation, i would go as far as to call it cruel to then erase it. if anything, based on rick’s promises to add more representation, i was hoping for elements like autistic annabeth confirmation, since when pjo was first written, it was based off rick’s son and his friends who were all ND, and at the time it wasn’t thought to be possible to be AuDHD, but likely some of those kids probably were (and that then made its way into the books in characters like annabeth!). that would have been the perfect opportunity to add something with the foresight of modern times, but instead we got… absolutely no disability rep from the show aside from a few short lines of dialogue as a lame-ass bone-toss to the book fans.

the pjo show’s biggest crime is its lack of spirit of the original book series, and that book series cradled myself and every other ND child or child in an abusive situation who read it. it offered us a mother who never got angry with us when we showed “difficult” symptoms. it offered us camp half-blood, the idea of a place, a home, where people like us were not just accepted, but thrived. it offered us a new world. it offered us a friend in percy jackson. i do not feel the show truly offers anything substantial. it only takes.

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

Hey, I stumbled across your last post addressing the toh blog critiquing fans of belos and how they engage with the show and i'd like to put my 2 cents in as an au creator who has belos featured in my aus.

When I made arofam, I was just goofing around, it was before s2 officially aired and I thought at work one day "oh, belos and this gg kid look like parallels to luz and eda, wouldn't an au swapping them be funny?". I made that au based solely on that, and everything after that was straight up just me trying to work around everything the show was throwing at me and try and adapt it in the au. It became more emotional with time, but it wasn't built on a foundation of trying to make his canon self less bad nor excuse anything he did. (Undoubtedly that goofy au just made me more invested in those characters over time).

Like we didn't even know belos's plans, his abuse of the ggs, his brother, nothing, when I made the au. The show really had to make me work to make belos likable in my au after that.

I say this because it's why it's wrong to always make assumptions about ppl based on what they create or are engaged in. You don't have to like the content yourself, but there's a variety of reasons ppl make aus with philip in a prominent role. Some wanna explore him in unique ways that canon can't, some are intrigued by his backstory and wanna play with that, and some are like me who just woke up one day and thought " Ok, but what if we did a silly with him?".

It would be wrong to categorize everyone into one box, with the same ideals and same opinions. Not everyone will have the same draws but assuming the worst of a fan who likes to play with the main antagonist in noncanon work or personally have different opinions on his execution in the show is extremely judgemental and hurtful because a lot of these fans are just having fun and have very little malicious intent.

If you have criticism of the work and wanna kindly address it to the creator, then sure, they might be allowed to give their opinions on where they were coming from while they're at it in case the work was misinterpreted.

But you can genuinely hurt ppl and creators by throwing them under a " bad person" label without allowing yourself to understand them or their work and why they made the choices they did.

I guess the point I'm making here is, fans engage with the media they like for a number of reasons, if you're going to make accusations on them, at least have clear solid reasons rather then basing it on pure assumptions based on work that might not even really be that deep in the first place or even just the comments of a few fans.

If they're being purposely malicious and awful then sure.

But sometimes it's really not that deep, some ppl just wake up one day and wanna imagine a swap au with belos or wanted a cooler death.

People shouldn't be crucified online for that.

100% agree with you there! I've stated before that this fandom has a tendency to connect a person's morality to the type of media they consume or how they engage with it. It's really unsettling, tbh.

You don't like AUs that redeem Belos? Or make him a goofy uncle? Or make Caleb the evil emperor?

Then don't read them. You're not the target audience.

In other words...

I hope any and all creators with a Belos AU aren't discouraged because some ninny on the net, who thinks they're the arbiter of social justice, got mad because they decided to have fun with a fictional character.

Fandom is not activism.

Just chill and let people put the old man in a dress.

[ofstormsandfire]

yharnam archaeology??? 👀👀👀

hi I forgot that the blog I was rbing that from was a blog I followed for bloodborne stuff LMAO

okay so. this is heavily inspired by

Me being an anthropology student (who got into it because Cynthia pokemon is an archaeologist and I adore her, I took one (1) class and then got really invested, the important thing is. Archaeology go brr)

Me taking a very interesting class this semester that focuses on paleopathology, which is as my professor put it "the study of ancient suffering" but realistically is figuring out whatever you can from human remains. Whereas archaeology as a whole is about human culture from material remains, which can be actual bodies but can also be other things like pottery and building foundations.

Me teetering on the brink of being way too into Bloodborne for my own good despite not normally being much of a horror fan or a fan of particularly grimdark things. I Don't Know What's Different About Bloodborne. (it's probably that I'm a lesbian and I like lady maria, sue me)

Anyway. I got to thinking one time after class. That archaeologists would be SO FUCKING CONFUSED BY YHARNAM.

I'm tentatively placing Bloodborne as somewhere in the nineteenth century based on general vibes (according to my dad and his deep passion for weaponry of all kinds, a lot of the things in the game would have been derived later, but tbh if I lived in a place that constantly had to deal with people turning into horrifying beasts I think I'd innovate the hell out of things to get better weaponry so I didn't die too) and this theoretical au would be set in the modern day. so it's been a Hot Minute since the game ended and I think I was considering Yharnam Sunrise as the ending for. Reasons.

There's this group of researchers who end up heading to Yharnam, bankrolled by some rich heir or something who's got more money than sense (he dies or possibly turns into a beast from stupidity very early on) and possibly they're the last in a bunch of groups who went there and died because even hundreds of years after the horrors there are still So Many Ways For It To Go Badly? Undecided on that front, I'm still trying to figure out what (if anything) would actually be preserved.

Highlights of my vague plans:

The team finds Gilbert's journal. They all get really attached to Gilbert because that just kind of tends to happen. Which is unfortunate because they know damn well he probably didn't survive very long after the last page in his diary, but they didn't find a body, so...?

It takes a while for them to realize that the very canine skeletons have human DNA. At which point everyone is just. Very fucking confused. And also are realizing that maybe all those writings about the beast plague weren't actually about rabies (which does not leave a trace on the skeleton, fun fact! I wanted to do my project on rabies but I had to pick a pathology that had an effect on the skeleton. Alas)

There are so many arguments over who that grave behind the Hunter's Workshop belongs to. SO MANY. (I personally think it's very likely that is Maria's, but the team won't have any way of knowing that! If the headstone is unreadable by game times it's not gonna be any more readable centuries later!)

You determine whether something is bone by licking it. Someone finds an Amygdala skull and somehow, through the sort of stupidity that only happens in horror movies before people realize they're in horror movies, someone gets dared to lick it. This results in a very horrified Insight increase and the revelation that the weird fucking thing is made of bone. Also, that Amygdala's ghost is interested in the team now. Oops. This probably will go fine, right...?

What the FUCK are they going to think of all the statues of Great Ones. Probably (reasonably) that they are statues portraying something with great cultural significance to Yharnam, and possibly religious significance. Less reasonable is the fact that Great Ones... actually exist... and that SOMEONE is going to get enough Insight by the end to see those Amygdalas. Possibly the whole team tbh.

There is going to be so much arguing over how the fuck to cite shit. How do you cite some guy who supposedly disappeared centuries ago and is still hanging around in another dimension that you honestly aren't sure how to leave But You'll Worry About That Later, The First Hunter Is A Primary Source!!! How do you cite a ghost. How do you cite hallucinations and visions.

Possibly the Doll sneaks onto the team by pretending to be a survivor of a previous expedition, because tbh I think the Moon Presence can do what it wants and I think it would be VERY interested in these new bitches rocking up to Yharnam after a while. And, y'know, that goes fine until someone finds a picture of her. Or of Lady Maria. (Or until they reach the Abandoned Old Workshop, depending on the situation and if there's another version of said doll there to be found.)

Every. Single. Member. Of the team. Has some connection to Yharnam. Almost none of them know this originally. They will find out. Rip to Rom the Vacuous Spider's great-great-grandniece who discovers the hard way (finding Byrgenwerth's paperwork) why she was the first in her family to graduate uni, just not the first to attend it.

(Notable exception to this rule is the person who is convinced that his great-great-great-probably a few more in there-grandmother is Lady Maria. This gets very funny when the descendant of the player Hunter trips into the Hunter's Nightmare, which still exists due to said player Hunter poking their head in and wisely dipping immediately, and who manages to prevent a bossfight by blurting out "oh shit you're Jerry's great-grandma!")

(There may be lesbianisms involved. And some light necromancy. Idk I like Lady Maria a lot and I got enabled too damn much and I think it would be very funny for the group to return to civilization with an extra person. Or two.)

In summary, I have no plot (yet) apart from archaeology and being way too invested in the game, but I really want to write this someday once I actually finish said game. And also I'm having a grand old time coming up with characters to put through the Horrors. The archaeologist is named Cynthia Parker and. Well. If you remember the superhero identity of a certain character called Peter Parker, you might be able to figure out who she's distantly related to.

Other ideas include: player Hunter descendant, someone very distantly descended from a Cainhurst exile, and Jerry who is 100% certain his great-several-times-great-grandmother is Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower and is 100% wrong about that. Jerry is the single party member with no actual connection to Yharnam and we love him for it.

Thanks for the ask I'm incredibly flattered that you were intrigued enough to ask about this from my tags given that I followed you for your BB fics :>

[torchickentacos]

Sad that we don’t see as much Zuki activity on tumblr as we used to but that’s how the whole atla fandom has been lately. I’m glad you ship them tho!

Do you have any spicy Zuki headcanons you’d like to share? 👀 If not that’s fine! Just curious.

Hi anon! God, I haven't been in the ATLA fandom for a long while now, goes to show how dead the zuki fandom is if you're coming to me for it 😭😭😭Rarepair so rare you have to go to an entirely different fandom's blog for your ship. Sad. BUT I APPRECIATE YOU COMING TO ME SO MUCH!!! I am a pokeani blog in spirit but a whateverthefuck/multipurpose blog in practice. I will say though, spicy headcanons are kinda far out of my wheelhouse, and also that fandom's age-up discourse (and everything else discourse) terrifies me so I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole tbh, BUT I can always give other stuff! Ramble under cut.

So, I think I'll just ramble instead of spicy headcanons- one INCREDIBLY FUNNY aspect of Zuki to me is that, in the comics, Suki's kind of giving 'I can fix him', ngl. BUT SHE ACTUALLY CAN, THAT'S THE THING. It's so interesting to me because canon Zuki in the comics is very much founded on that bodyguard/royalty dynamic trust- they have to trust each other with their life if they're going to do the whole bodyguard thing well. And from that trust comes Suki's trust in Zuko as a PERSON. Even when LTIERALLY THE ENTIRE GAANG is like 'ehhh idk he kinda sucks again', Suki's the one who's like 'can you guys chill for .5 seconds and trust him? look at him. he's sad. he needs therapy, not to be killed'.

I think Zuki just WORKS because of that trust. And FROM THAT TRUST, she actually is one of the key reasons they're able to help bring him back from the path he goes down in the comics (which i have not read in forever so pardon innacuracies). So, SHE ACTUALLY CAN FIX HIM. /half joking because obviously it was a ton of his own internal work and growth, but like, from a shitposter's perspective, #icanfixhim.

And that trust goes the other way around the entire way. Not only in Zuko trusting the kyoshi warriors to keep him alive, but Zuko also actually TALKS to Suki and opens up to her in the comics. ZUKO. OPENS UP. TO SOMEONE. AND TALKS TO THEM. AND COMMUNICATES. TO THEM. obviously he trusts her as a bodyguard and a friend IMMENSELY, which provides that super good foundation for something more. He feels safe around her, physically and emotionally, which I think is an incredibly rare honor. (lol, honor. zuko. ykwim. )

I just like bodyguard royalty ships tbh, I'm also a zelink hoe (my main three ships have always been zuki/zelink/contestshipping. not sure what that says about me tbh, other than 'likes m/f but undeniably bisexual ships'), but like, despite being a rarepair, the comics gave us a GOOD DAMN BASIS FOR IT!!!! IT'S ABOUT THE TRUST! THE VULNERABILITY!!!! ramble over, ty for listening to my ted talk.

[otherkin-confessional]

The combination of alterhumanity and spirituality (Paganism specifically) is a friggin trip sometimes tbh. On the 16th I decided to finally take the plunge and begin working with the planet Uranus, and on the 18th I got hit with the most unhinged divine revelation that I AM a divine being of some kind! I had the deities I honor confirm it through tarot and I've been piecing this all together as I go, this is such a huge foundational aspect of my identity that I've finally recognized, now I'm just trying to figure out things I can do to feel more comfortable with myself as a weird oceanic divinity that was also gifted a bit of space from Uranus. So any general gear recommendations are appreciated! (Fav color is blue btw)

-💙🧜🏼‍♀️✨❄️ (until I figure out if I wanna make an alterhuman specific side blog I'll be staying kinda anonymous)

🔮

[hamsterclaw]

Hi, I wanted to tell you something. I have been a long time fan of the vows story. I really really really like the couple. I don’t wanna overstep and tell you what to do but I just wanted to give you my point of view. In the recent part switch 2 , I will be straight to the point in saying I didn’t like it. Yoongi and reader were such a good couple. Both balancing each other out. Including Seokjin between them was not necessary. Seokjin liked her but being intimate went to far even if it was in presence of Yoongi. If it was any other relationship it would have been fine (I still don’t think it was)but being married and including a third person did not feel right. Especially when they were perfectly fine with each other. There was no empty feeling and no longing for something more. That was purely lust from both the side. And in my opinion lust with the third person is never right when in a relationship married or not. Again this is my opinion, I don’t wanna tell you what to do. Maybe you can give my your opinion on why this is what it is. And we can discuss further about this situation…

Hi! You know, I debated about whether to post this and decided I ought to, to make it clear what my views are.

To give you context about my writing - I've never had an issue with writing unconventional relationships. I've written about marital infidelity (7 hours), polyamorous relationships (Double Team), threesomes (take your pick - Top Boy, Replay, Foundation, Logbook, Security, Sake, Daiginjo), mem x mem kissing (Poster Boy), subverting gender norms (Pow).

To give you more context about Vows the series - Seokjin's featured from the original story, written a year ago, and his role has evolved to voyeurism (Schooled) as well as being a hot sidekick who's never shied away from expressing his interest in reader (take your pick - Doll, the drabbles - the suit, Choices, Geneva, Sire). Switch pt 2 for me was a natural progression as I wrote my story.

You've given your opinion, let me give mine:

I don't believe that it's my place to judge what happens between consenting adults.

If your life views disagree with mine then my blog is not the place for you. Yoongi arranged marriage fics are a dime a dozen on this site tbh, I hope you find one that suits your sensibilities.

[theetherealraphael]

remaking my intro post go!

howdy! im raphael, or raph for short! im a transgender demiboy, and im also aroace, lithoromantic biromantic homoromantic!! any except she/her pronouns for me! im also a minor, so no funny business!

so, tags!

- raphael talks: i say something, even as silly as tagging my brother in something!

- ethereal reblogs: i reblog things!

- raph answers: i answer asks ive gotten! this is my least used tag tbh lol

oh yeah, and my old tags!

- raphs hoard of genders: any genders i may identify will be tagged with this!

- raph writes: any writing i publish here is on this tag!!

- underside rambilides: my old tag for talking!

- only reblogs: my old tag for reblogging!

other blogs i own!

@our-demiboy-experience: my blog for talking about being a demiboy!

@hands-spotted: my gimmick blog where u try to find hands in posts!

@your-gimmick-has-been-stolen: my gimmick thief related blog!

@raphs-studying-blog-ig: my blog for when i start college later this year!

and a special mention: @cookie-block! hes my brother, although he tends to use a sideblog more!

dni!

dont interact if youre here to start discourse, or are 18+ only! other than that feel free, ill block if your like, super transphobic or whatever!

please do interact if you like:

the henry stickmin collection; the scp foundation; the magnus archives; creepypasta; regretevator; hermitcraft; empires; welcome to nightvale; or ni no kuni!

enjoy my blog!

[impishtubist]

Just popping by to say 1) thank you for all your Sirius Black content, so good to see canon accurate Sirius who loves his godson and is a fantastic godfather. 2) Do you have any thoughts for how it would have gone if Wormtail hadn't escaped and it proved Sirius innocent? I just think you'd have a really good take on that and I didn't see anything looking through your blog. 3) Aromantic Sirius as a platonic life partner with Jilly (or just James, tbh, really but Lily is there, chilling) Thoughts?

Thank you so much! I'm always happy to talk about canon Sirius and how much he canonically loves his godson! I know everyone is here for the Wolfstar, but like I've said before, Sirius didn't break out of prison for Remus (and never would have). It's also stated canonically that Harry is the person Sirius cares about the most, not Remus. Yeah, yeah, I know, fuck canon and all that, but you have to have some canon as a foundation when you're writing fanfic. Otherwise you're just writing original stories with the names Sirius and Remus slapped on them. Anyway, Sirius loves Harry the most <3

I do have many thoughts about this! Unfortunately, most of those thoughts are contained in a 30K Raising Harry fic that I've since removed from AO3. But if Wormtail hadn't escaped that night, Sirius would have gotten his freedom and immediately petitioned for custody of Harry. He would have fought tooth and nail for it, fuck what Dumbledore thinks is best. He would have gotten it, too, and he would have figured out a loophole to keep Harry out of the tournament, and he also would have solved the whole Horcrux thing, rendering the last two books pointless. Honestly, JKR had to keep him from getting his freedom and then kill him off because he was too damn smart and would have ended the series after book 4.

I'm always intrigued by aro and/or ace Sirius! I also don't think Sirius was all that close to Lily or cared about her that much. Yeah, she wrote a letter to him once, but also he was her husband's other half and her son's godfather, she couldn't exactly ignore his existence. He was ALWAYS going to be part of their lives, so she might as well make peace with it. I am totally on board with a situation where James is with Sirius (whatever that means to you - romantically, sexually, queerplatonically, etc) as well as Lily (but Lily and Sirius are not involved with each other.) Even better, I'm here for a situation where James is cheating on Lily with Sirius ;) If it was anyone else, I don't think Sirius would put up with being someone little secret, but when it's James, I think he likes it just fine. Or it might not even be that much of a secret - he's sleeping with her husband and doesn't care if she knows or not. I'd actually kind of like him to flaunt it, now that I think about it.

Sorry, that last one ran off the rails right into toxic territory, but if anyone has a fic rec like that, give it to me immediately.

[lovemyromance]

They post all that but not a peep of all the nasty comments on SJMs post yesterday about Elain. Tbh there’s crappy people in each ship and it’s very narrow minded and immature when they assume it’s just their anti ship but what can you expect from people who can’t read context clues and proper foreshadowing 🤷🏼‍♀️

There's no point in arguing with people who use random words pulled out of context and fanon/HCs to form entire arguments for the foundation of their ship.

If you disagree with them, you are "rude and dumb". We are using canon to back our ship and they are using their personal feelings on the matter because all they have in canon is 3-4 uncomfy Elucien interactions and a ribbon(?) and sparky sparky glow glow.

Every time I've told an anti (and mind you, they come to my posts, I don't go out and comment on anti-Elriel posts unless for it's truly a diff reason altogether) that their argument isn't wholly correct because it goes against canon, here are screenshots from the text - I get called stupid and dumb and "toxic to the fandom" and blocked.

If someone genuinely calls out something incorrect I have said from canon (which, mind you has only happened once and wasn't even the related to the purpose of my post), I have thanked them for keeping me honest because sometimes we all make mistakes. That same person has gone on to trash me on their blog and other blogs indirectly for that one interaction where I was nothing but kind to them.

They love to point fingers a lot and say "well I've only encountered Ewriels that are mean" like they aren't incredibly biased and ofc other Eluciens wouldn't snap at you like y'all snap at us. There are bad apples on every side of this fandom and to act like "oh well I've only encountered mean Ewriels so therefore that is the case" should tell you all you need to know about their logic.

I can't control what they think. What I can control is how I react to things and how I treat people. If everyone else took a little more accountability for their actions, this fandom would be a better place to be in, but alas.

So... yeah... I don't like to interact with antis because citing the actual text of the book hurts their feelings and threatens their personal (mis)interpretations of canon. Then they feel like that gives them authority to be rude and mean and so the toxicity continues.

[posi-pan]

Sorry for the negativity, but something that's always made me feel disillusioned about the whole pansexual discourse is that I see the phrase "pansexuals are biphobic and transphobic" alongside extremely similar talking points both from otherwise far-left, pro-queer people trying to present themselves as radical and progressive, and those old anti-MOGAI, anti-nonbinary, transmedicalist, "anti-SJW", etc. blogs.

Like, you have one group of panphobes who are saying "pansexuality is bad because that's the progressive viewpoint, actually" and another group that go "pansexuality is bad because it's a cringe Tumblr SJW identity" but despite supposedly having entirely different stances, here they are saying nearly the exact same anti-pan talking points. You kinda have to wonder why that is.

exactly that. insert that spiderman meme here. queer folks who hate pansexuality more often than not are also some other kind of queerphobic, usually transphobes/terfs, and think tumblr ruined queerness (but that doesn’t stop them from using it lol) or that mogai queers make the community look bad or that self-identification and validity are harmful or think science/academia is the final say on queerness or or or or. just a lot of general shitty views on queerness that go beyond their panphobia and it’s very telling. like, their panphobia is a one off. it’s a product of a foundational hatred of queer people, a backwards, oppressive view of queerness, and a desperate desire to be one of the good queers. they’re just a sad, hateful group of people tbh. (and no worries, i didn’t find the message negative. it’s a good point to be made!)

[the-power-of-stuff]

Just sat through the first three NATLA live els and have so many thoughts - the first thing I did was come straight over to your blog because why wouldn’t I?!?

A part of me LOVES Suki’s awkwardness. In fact, none of the gripes I have with Suki and Sokka aren’t about Suki and Sokka and their characterisation themselves, but rather just the execution.

But anyways — the vibe I’m getting is that Season 2 (Book 1? I’m not sure if they’re going by seasons or books) is laying down the groundwork for some of the characters. We know they’re doing that with Azula (and the Fire Lord fam as a whole), but it seems like they’re sort of doing the same with Katara, where they’re starting off with her being a traumatised, almost-shy 14 year old girl who comes into her own as the season progresses.

While I haven’t watched the show in it’s entirety — I probably should have before sending this ask in — I’m assuming this is all leading up to her confrontation with Pakku and role in defending the Northern Water Tribe towards the end of the season. And then that new found confidence in herself and her waterbending carries though to season 2, where we’ll (presumably) find a more fiery, outspoken Katara after I’m guessing a somewhat lengthy time jump?

Anyway — back to Suki. My question to you is, if I’m right in my theory about Katara (and all the others, tbh… I feel like what I said for K can apply to pretty much any of the gaang at this point), do you think the same could be said for Suki and her own development?

We see Suki at the start of ep 2 as a fierce yet slightly socially awkward, sheltered warrior who wants to leave her village and aid in the fight against the Fire Nation and travel the world. As it goes, she does leave her village, and perhaps becomes the confident and sassy (and awful at puns) girl we all know and love, all through her experiences aiding in the war and travelling the world?

Of course, this would mean that her development would largely happen off-screen… but even still, Suki was more familiar towards the end of the episode. She was the one who initiated the kiss, she made her feelings and mostly gratitude known to Sokka by giving him her fan, she told the gaang they had to leave.

It feels like that’s the route Albert Kim is going. He’s made it clear that it’s a re imagination and not a 1:1 adaptation. He clearly wants the show to have its own identity to some extent (e.g. the genocide actually being shown and basically being a mini prologue to the series) and this is his way of doing so through characterisation.

I’ve written way more than I intended, so sorry for this long winded tangent. But what I mean to ask is, do you think in season 2 we’ll see a Suki more similar to the og (while of course still being her own).

I’d love to know what you think! x

Ahh, this makes me so happy!! Thank you so much for enjoying this blog, and for sharing your thoughts and sending this ask! <3 (And absolutely no need to apologize for writing so much, either! Goodness knows I could go on forever about this stuff.)

I think you make a really good point about characterization in the LA, and the potential for certain traits (like Katara's fieriness) to develop more over time. And I've been thinking about it in terms of what we already know about LA Suki that could get built upon in later seasons.

I definitely think it would make sense for us to see Suki come out of her shell a bit more in season 2, although there are some things in the LA that make it hard for me to imagine Suki being quite as sassy as her animated counterpart, just because of the sort of foundation it gives us for her personality.

For one, there's Suki's interactions with her mother. If anyone were going to be on the receiving end of a teenage daughter's sass, even if that sass is buried too deep in shyness to come out around said daughter's crush, it would be her mother. And while we kinda sorta see Suki get a little petulant with Yukari (her delivery of "I'm not too young, I just haven't seen the world" is kind of a swipe? but is really very heartfelt), she overall seems like a well-behaved, obedient daughter. This isn't a King Triton/Ariel situation where you get the impression they've had this conversation a million times before and Yukari is exasperated by Suki always questioning her authority. In fact, it feels like the first time Yukari's even considered that Suki might want something more, and she seems pretty amenable to it, if the fact that she didn't storm into the dojo to break up Sokka and Suki's near-makeout session is any indication. So, even in these private moments where you'd assume Suki is more herself, there isn't much sass to be seen.

(Somewhat related to this, I had a funny sort of "Huh!" reaction to Yukari's, "Such a fierce warrior. And yet such a kind heart." Not that I don't think Suki is kind! It's just not one of the first words I would use to describe her. And not that I would've expected Yukari to say, "Such a fierce warrior. And yet also kind of a pill because you're always giving me lip." But that bit of dialogue is there for the audience's benefit; it was a choice the writers made to tell us what they think is important for us to know about Suki's character. So I had a moment of, "Oh, that's the takeaway we're supposed to have? Interesting...")

And then there's Suki's later interactions with Sokka. On the one hand, when they're training together, the romantic tension is through the roof; it's all very new and interesting for them and it makes sense that they'd still be a little shy about it. On the other hand, Suki gets comfortable enough around Sokka at this point to 1) remove her makeup, 2) have a deep conversation with him, and 3) touch him on the chest. We don't see her show the same awkwardness from earlier in the episode, but she also continues to be very serious. When Sokka pins her, and then she flips them over while he's mid-celebration, she follows up with a useful tip about fighting, and it's delivered completely straight (if a little breathless). No little jokes or jabs. No "Don't get cocky" or knowing smirks.

However, we are not completely without sass! There are a couple moments in particular that I feel have some of that familiar Suki flair.

First...

Lookit her smirky little "come at me, bro" face! That face 100% says, "C'mon then, let's see it, if you're so tough." There's a playfulness here, too, which we know is very much a part of her relationship with Sokka in the animated show. (This Suki up here? I could easily see this Suki saying, "😠I'm an elite warrior who's trained for many years in the art of stealth... I think I could get you backstage!😁")

And then...

The thing I love about this is that she's all, "Nuh uh, I don't think so" (her little head wiggle!), but a fraction of a second ago she was staring blatantly at that boy's mouth. Nice try, sweetheart, but you ain't foolin' anybody. (This Suki is the Suki who smacks her forehead when her boyfriend tells terrible puns to actor-Sokka but who later gazes at him adoringly when he absolutely loses his shit because actor-Sokka actually said "rocky relationship" on stage.)

So...I guess the tl;dr answer to your question is, kind of? I can't see LA Suki getting to "Sorry, Warden, you're my prisoner now" levels of sass, but that's not really the tone the LA is going for anyway. I think we'll see her being very bold (a la taking the initiative to kiss Sokka) and very compassionate (saving Appa—I hope!!), and it makes total sense that, next time we see her, she'll be way more confident than the girl who could barely say a single word to Sokka before attempting to strangle him by way of flirtation. I also hope we'll get to see more of her playfulness! Maybe even some successful flirting? Probably not as forward as "Look at you, sleeveless guy...been workin' out?" but I'd settle for a sly head tilt and a cheeky little grin. And based on what we know of her so far, I don't think that's too much to ask. ;)