theromanticscrooge

[theromanticscrooge]

I originally planned on covering Punching Judy but I started an essay on Fink and PV....

I might be looking at another 20 minute or longer vid once I get everything typed out. Blegh. That's probably gonna be my Big Thing this week.

[theromanticscrooge]

Thinking about how a lot of the fandom assumed Tenna was going to be a really intimidating evil figure pre-chapters 3 & 4 because of Spamton’s warnings in chapter 2 and the sweepstakes. And in retrospect it’s kind of hilarious that we were just. Wholeheartedly trusting Spamton G. Spamton as a reliable character witness and source of information

[theromanticscrooge]

Everytime I see this image, various legend of Zelda "item get" jingles go through my head.

I have played exactly one Legend of Zelda game.

[theromanticscrooge]

Um....guys.....

[theromanticscrooge]

I've been bashing my head against a wall with the final Titan fight in Deltarune for over a week now....

I suck at video games. That's why The Sims is the only game I've written any kind of in-depth, nerdy analysis stuff for. I remember a few hopeful folks wanting Shipping Corners or character analyses on video game stuff. Well, the big reason that hasn't happened yet is that I'm not keen on writing something based on watching someone else's gameplay alone. But I also don't have much experience with gaming period.

I played Pokemon for the first time at 28 even though I'm a Millennial that grew up during the height of Pokemon bullshit (I'm in my early 30's now, heh. I feel weird as a non-console gamer in circles of dorks and nerds with years of following Nintendo, Playstation, etc). I only started learning how to hold and competently work with a controller this last year or so. I can play a few rounds of Mario Kart and you can probably talk me into bashing my way through the first 1/4 of a Zelda game (My partner has been trying to get me to finish one for years now).

Rambling aside...Please tell me I'm not the only person that's at attempt no. 300 at trying to get past this boss in Deltarune. I'm trying, man, but I'm so close to trying to cheat or hack or something...

[theromanticscrooge]

Some Background on What I Originally Wanted to do With 'Scrooge' the Character

Before my current attempt no. 2 at YouTube stuff, I was actively making videos between 2014-17. At that time, a lot of folks that made any kind of reviews or media analysis stuff were heavily inspired by the AVGN or the Nostalgia Critic. AVGN, the Critic, and others also included skits where some villain or other entity "forced" them to cover or tackle a particular video game, movie, comic, whatever. That Guy With the Glasses was especially notorious for reviewers having entire character stories and ongoing arcs woven between the review stuff.

When I was first starting video stuff, I seriously considered including 'Cupid' as my equivalent of the 'force the reviewer to talk about stuff' character. So, I've always imagined Scrooge as Cupid's cartoon villain in some way, shape, or form. I wasn't 100% sure of my acting skills or what kind of voice I'd do for Cupid. And I didn't really want to pull my friends into my YouTube antics either. In my personal life, I had one friend that aspired to become a voice actor, but otherwise, I was the only weirdo dumping time into making videos. The Cupid idea was shelved and scrapped.

I never let the Scrooge v. Cupid idea go, though. O.K. K.O.'s Cupid is probably my favorite take on him hands down! And when I drummed up the courage to embrace the cringe and start writing or making stories with Scrooge...Yeah, finally playing out Scrooge as a bad cartoon villain was at the top of my list! I didn't get to make bad YouTube skits so I'm writing bad fan fics and fan art and having a fun time with it now. It's an excuse to do more with a character that was just a fun one-off in the original cartoon. And I'm doing more with this character than just setting them as my avatar or mascot. I consider this version a separate enough thing that I'm going to swap them out for a cartoon persona that looks more like me eventually.

I've been going by some variation on 'Cosmic' everywhere else. I'd like to figure out how to rebrand to that or I'll just keep the channel name 'R.Scrooge' and just refer to myself as Eldritch Horror Beast.

[theromanticscrooge]

we should have the term polyfailure for polyamorous people who are massive failures in getting bitches. specifically made for rouxls

[theromanticscrooge]

yet another reason why queer romance in media that is very subtle or more queer-coding than actual explicit rep is so much more compelling than the wealth of straight stories that are out there is bc I think a lot of romance writers forget that you have to like. show not tell. and imply things. and if you hustle things along and put two characters together for the sake of it instead of really working to build their relationship and show how well they work with each other it's not really going to be as interesting to people. and for some reason, a staggering amount of people do not know how to write romance properly so you get a very bland forced dynamic that either feels like an afterthought (he's a boy and she's a girl, hey they could be together because that's what happens!) or the only thing that matters about their characters (see her? she's the Love Interest. that is all she's there for)

however if you're being censored and you literally can't make your characters say "I love you" or kiss or maybe even hold hands you're going to have to come up with more creative ways to tell your audience that they're in love and that usually results in the most poetic beautiful stuff you've ever seen that's SO much more interesting than two characters who make eye contact and go into the slow-mo rose petals scene that's basically screaming at you "hey look at these two. they're in love. you're supposed to be invested in their relationship now. do you get it?" eye contact held for slightly too long in an emotional scene is more compelling. a hand very lightly touching their back is WAY more compelling.

and might I add this is not even impossible to achieve with uncensored straight romances at all like Pride & Prejudice is wildly popular for this exact reason. how many times have I seen people going insane over the hand flex scene. they didn't even kiss in that movie unless you count the extended ending. and everyone loves it. because it's done RIGHT.

tldr; romance is hard to write and you have to put in the effort if you want people to care about your ship. now go forth and imply something

QUICK EDIT TO ADD ALSO when things are more subtle that gives people more space to interpret the dynamic as whatever they want. something might be subtle because that's all they're allowed to show, but something might be subtle because that literally what it's supposed to be. as an aroace person I personally see a LOT of queerplatonic vibes from more subtly played relationships and it's so incredibly exciting and heartwarming for me. and that's a whole new realm of relationship that I think should also be given more attention

[theromanticscrooge]

I think I have enough material for something more than word vomit on Rouxls, Lanino, and Elnina. I already have a new blurb sitting in drafts.

[theromanticscrooge]

How Alejandro Cracked my Transmasc Egg!

It’s pride month. I’m a transmasc person. I feel like yapping about how a cartoon character was part of what cracked my trans egg and some of my experiences as a transperson in general.

Total Drama World Tour premiered in 2010 and the minute Alejandro walked on screen...Well, I didn’t have some kind of magic epiphany, but he sparked my interest and definitely had a pull to him I couldn’t properly describe at the time. I honestly thought I just found the character attractive, had a crush on him, or was stupidly invested in Aleheather as a ship. I have a few one-off ship my cartoon persona illustrations with Alejandro, but the bulk of my fanart was easily just Alejandro or Aleheather.

It started with a fun, dumb fanart of Alejandro ripping his shirt off, accompanied by sparkles and bright light. Then I wrote my first ever Aleheather fic “The Amazon” which was pretty much Alejandro and Heather getting stuck together trying to survive in the Amazon, confessing catching feelings, and then making out. After getting a feel for trying to write from Alejandro’s perspective, something clicked.

I wanted to try writing something beefier and more in-depth from first person rather than third person omniscient. The result was Captivated, a fic that started as an Aleheather-focused high school AU but quickly became a soap opera with the race for student council, petty cheating, scheming older brother Jose, and other bullshit. While I have very mixed feelings on that particular fic now, I remember how much I enjoyed writing for Alejandro. He was a pretty boy that oozed with impeccable fashion sense. He was smart, viewed himself as a 4th dimensional chess schemer, a jack of all trades with almost full mastery in all, very muscly in a way that fit both aesthetics and practical needs for endurance or strength. He was mean, petty, and cruel with a silver tongue.

In high school, I was a meek, quiet, dormouse of a person with horribly low self-esteem and crazy hair that hid in baggy T-shirts or behind books. It felt like I was either an easy target or someone people pitied. Other kids didn’t talk to me. Guys weren’t interested in my grungy self unless they were flirting with me on a dare or thought I’d be easy to break and manipulate.

Of course the world isn’t black and white. There were several kids that were actually friendly and kind to me and I’m hoping they’re all doing well now as the lonely, neurodivergent kid that didn’t quite know how to human. That said, I still didn’t like being this short, weird girl that would never get taken seriously, was laughed at or teased when I tried to speak up and got angry, or only felt validated when I leaned into being the eccentric class clown. I used to dream about being a big, burly, ugly dude. A brick wall that people were intimidated by and left alone or that I’d be able to beat up people just because I was bigger and stronger.

Writing for Alejandro was an escapist fantasy. I was writing for a character that was scary and intimidating in a subtle way and probably could win a fist fight if he had to. But he was also very desirable, sought after, and beloved by someone no matter what he did because he was a handsome young man with pretty privilege. Most of my approach to writing him was playing at or trying to convincingly portray this character but every time he became lovesick or pined after Heather, that was absolutely my hopeless romantic coming through.

I didn’t immediately clock my attachment to this character as wanting to be a pretty boy like him. There’s plenty of cishet, bisexual, and lesbian women artists that relate to, create, and write for masculine characters. I remember a book group I was part of getting to talk to one of the authors behind some bad boy/shy girl romance novel we’d read. The author was an older cishet woman that said she related more to the bad boy character and had an easier time writing from his perspective and coming up with his dialogue. That seems to be the case for and motivation behind why a lot of women write slash fanfics too.

That’s an entire rabbit hole in and of itself. I wanted to mention it more because Alejandro was just one small part of my transmasc journey overall.

I did have a real life experience with conflicting feelings over “I don’t know if I want to date this person or be him.” Granted, I didn’t know that’s what I was agonizing over until years later. The picture was: I still thought I was a cishet woman. When I met this guy for the first time, I felt drawn towards and intrigued by him. It really felt like a crush. I wanted to be around this person, enjoyed his company, admired how nice he looked wandering around in either turtleneck sweaters or a labcoat attempt at a casual Okabe Rintaro cosplay. He was a fun, eccentric anime enthusiast a year or so older than me known for sporting cat ears.

Why I’m skeptic about whether I actually had a crush on him is I remember getting the opportunity to be alone with this dude at a nature reserve. I spent the entire time anxious, wishing the third person that’d been invited would show up, feeling like horrible, awkward company. I know feelings like that can and do pop up in actual first date situations. It’s more that I could never comfortably imagine what it’d be like to just hang out with this person in a laidback setting or situation one on one.

These feelings were dramatically different from another guy I had a temporary relationship with and my current partner. In both of these relationships, I felt very attracted to the other person, highly anticipated alone time, and the feelings were enough to steamroll or work past the nervousness and anxiety. Granted, I also knew I had a green light and that the feelings were mutual.

I guess what cemented how I felt was looking back on it is that now, I’d love to look half as good as this real life Rintaro. I wanted to be as confident and openly weird as him. It was gender envy. Even if I ever had a snowball’s chance in hell with this guy, it would have been a horrible, awkward mess because I wasn’t interested in the actual person. I had an idea in my head or a loose sketch of who he was and spent far more time fantasizing about that image vs getting to know the three dimensional, real being standing in front of me. I’m glad nothing happened and that in what handful of romantic situations I’ve been in, it’s been a case of wanting this separate, distinct person.

Weirdly enough, I didn’t realize this was real life gender envy until I watched through O.K. K.O. again, looked at Professor Venomous, and had a very similar experience with what I did with Alejandro as a teenager. He’s a twink with shoulder length hair and slight stubble that wears eyeliner. He’s the older, purple, and cartoon supervillain aesthetic version of what I liked about Alejandro. I’m hoping that I reach a point where I’m confident enough to try cosplaying him. I’d be a shorter, barrel shaped version, but it’d be so fun. I might actually work up the nerve to appear on camera again if I could pull off looking good in a turtleneck and a lab coat. So far, my track record is that I’m more likely to write really long, in-depth fan fics about characters that I feel gender envy towards or very roughly fit what my ideal pretty boy image looks like. I don’t know. I guess I really want to be a snake man.

[theromanticscrooge]

Thoughts on Roulxs and the Weather Duo as a 'Throuple'

Warning: SPOILERS!!

I just started playing Chapter 3 and I've been losing my shit almost all night at Roulxs Kaard's latest antics. I haven't played through the entirety of Ch. 3 so I don't have the full picture yet, but I wanted to geek out anyway.

When players are introduced to Lanino and Elnina, they present themselves as a happy, picture perfect couple. Their aesthetics are complementary. Their opening attack in their Boss fight features a sappy, kissing couple. Their motto is "The weather is better together." For lack of a better description, they come across as the social media couple that go everywhere together, shower the other with excessive compliments, and have an unnerving layer of surface level flash over substance. They feel like a bickering sitcom couple that's dubious as to how happy they really are together.

Then Lanino asks who has the more impressive attack. No matter who the player picks out of the pair, it leads to an inflated ego and their attack icon takes up the majority of the attack field. They gloat, showboat, and brag to the degree they belittle their partner and drive them away from the fight. In the first Green Room break, the player can talk to both halves of the Duo and are confided in that they're nothing without their sweetheart. If the player tries to reassure or steer the Duo back together by repeating their mantra, both Lanino and Elnina try to puff themselves up with confident self talk that they're better off as a solo act.

Enter Roulxs Kaard. When he first appears, Kaard was originally vying for the Big Boss' second in command spot as always. He immediately shifts gears and zeroes in on the Weather Duo. He asks if both are single during their first on-screen Boss fight. The way he phrases this is interesting since he sees them as a do not separate unit but later actions show he's not averse to an opening with just one or the other.

He swoops in as the loser rebound the minute they break up. Presumably, Lanino or Elnina immediately turning around and entering a relationship with Roulxs was an attempt to drum up petty jealousy. Though, where one of the Duo sees him as an easy drama stirring stick, he cuts them both off and announces they're a throuple now.

The Duo isn't sure how to proceed because they want to get back together, but they also think the other is honestly interested in pursuing Roulxs. The Duo have a layer of passive aggressiveness to them. They probably break up once or twice a day with the expectation that they'll smooth things over later and immediately snap back to 'domestic' bliss. Where other temporary boyfriends, girlfriends, and love interests were easily disposable or steamrolled, Roulxs is too dense to read the room or understand this dysfunctional dynamic. This is further emboldened and doubled down by the Duo having very crap communication with the other.

The player finds Roulxs happily seated between the two, puppeting their hands, and speaking for them both. Neither one has really given their honest opinion of him or finds an opportunity to do so. Roulxs finally wins at his gambit of declare something is true with so much confidence and assertiveness that someone finally buys it. He forced his way into Lanino and Elnina's relationship and is attached to both like a wad of gum stuck in someone's hair.

From an allegory perspective, I love this so much. There are so many horror stories about couples opening their relationship or trying polyamory instead of working on learning how to openly and healthfully communicate with each other. New people are brought into an already dysfunctional relationship as a bandaid or means to avoid existing issues between the main couple.

While the Weather Duo weren't looking for or even want a third, Roulxs forcing the dynamic reflects real life couples stubbornly maintaining a poly dynamic where it really doesn't work and shouldn't exist instead of addressing the real issues. They'd rather hide, deflect, and try to find solutions with a whole new person rather than repair or work on things with their main partner.

That's just how I'm currently reading this throuple made in hell. My take may change as I get further into the story. Its more that I'm thrilled to see a poly dynamic pop up somewhere and in something meaningful and well known at that! So far, its been a mix of thoughtful, funny, and absurd that these games bring to most topics in general. Heh...

I may add this to my list of stuff I want to make a video on! It's just gonna be awhile since I want to finish Chapter 3 and this is a pretty quick, sloppy collection on what thoughts I have at the moment.

[theromanticscrooge]

It is almost funny how Danny Phantom is one of those rare cases that the fans don't want the creator to be involved in new sequels or entries not even with a 200 foot stick because they know that he would probably mess it up one way or another

[theromanticscrooge]

My Origins as a Fan Fic Writer

The longest fic I've ever written was a Total Drama high school AU fic focusing on AleHeather called "Captivated." It clocks in at 62k+ words with 19 chapters.

Summary: Alejandro is the new student at Cress High School. He forms a crush on the queen bee, Heather who's dating Justin. When Alejandro has to tutor Heather in Spanish, it leads to something more.

"Captivated" went from dumb romance fic to full blown soap opera because I didn't want to just end it when the leads got together and I didn't have a good grasp on what these two looked like as a happy, functioning couple. To be fair, I was 18 with very little writing and real world relationship experience when I wrote this.

It's only been in the last year or so that I feel like I could write something anywhere close to 20k+ words, let alone this long. I'm not sure if I've actually improved or I just finally found a fictional world that lets me mix my weird interests in the way I always wanted to.

I had to contrive ridiculous methods to include aliens, supernatural creatures, and Greek gods in Total Drama stuff. Yeah, there's hints at aliens and mutated creatures in the cartoon, but I'm pretty sure most fans are there for the archetypes, reality show satire, and shipping. I wanted the satire, but more than that, I wanted AleHeather surrounded by the same weird, absurd crap I'd throw at my Sims in Sims 2.

Out of all of the Total Drama fics I tried to write, my personal favorites are "One Word: Revenge" and an attempt at an overhaul/rewrite "The Word Revenge."

Summary: Al wants revenge against Heather and the mysterious cyborg Doc Renard is supposedly in on it, too, if he helps him get vengeance on Chris. While Al finds himself caught up in typical TD drama, Renard seeks aid from vampires and other supernatural beings.

This fic became an excuse to try and set up a back door pilot for a mad scientist fan character that's a cyborg, Cupid's secret affair child, and has connections to other paranormal creatures, aliens, and otherwise. While I started with AleHeather plus weird circumstances, this quickly became more about Renard, his back story, and very tenuous connections to Total Drama bullshit. The connective tissue between Alejandro and Renard was a mutual desire to seek revenge. Eventually, that'd pivot towards Alejandro teams up with the rest of the cast, gets together with Heather, and the big story is stop Renard.

Considering my track record, I feel like O.K. K.O. was made for and by weirdos like me! Instead of trying to bend and warp a fictional world to fit the ridiculous mad scientist character I wanted, I'm writing for someone else's mad scientist that I fell in love with. The bigger plus is that this world comfortably fits every ridiculous supernatural or paranormal creature I might want to include, features tropes, has room for soap operatic crap...

I've already eclipsed "Captivated" with the ridiculous number of interconnected O.K. K.O. fics I've been writing since February, heh.

I'm gonna end up making a bigger video about this. I'll reblog that and include it here once it actually exists.

[theromanticscrooge]

What Were My First Ever Ride or Die OTPs? (And Why I Stopped Shipping Both)

(Warning: I'm trying something a bit different here. I do take a few jabs at some ships here. In general, I'm going for goofy and lighthearted. If you ship one of these, don't let me take the wind out of your sails! You do you.)

Before I even knew what shipping was, let alone OTPs, my first real OTP was Rikochet and Buena Girl from Mucha Lucha. I was eight years old, just starting to develop crushes for the first time, and held a mild interest in romance.

The three mascaritas were my favorite cartoon characters in general and I avidly looked forward to new episodes every Saturday morning. Rikochet was the daring, flashy hero in training. BG was the moral rock of the group, the muscle, and the voice of reason. There's one episode that highlights these two as an effective tag team. They not only deliberately picked the other as first choice for a dynamic duo, but there’s a canon design for what a mashup of their respective themes and family legacies looks like. And there's a few scenes scattered throughout the series that younger me read as "BG thinks he's cute or has a secret crush on him."

Since Mucha Lucha is an early ’00s episodic series, continuity was shaky at best. There were more cartoons with some overarching continuity, but this wasn’t really one of those. Any scenes that I read as a ship flag didn’t carry over to other episodes and BG didn’t really have persistent interest. Honestly, Rik and BG can be read as strictly platonic even with more affectionate gestures. I've long since dropped this ship.

As I've revisited this cartoon again, I prefer Rik and BG as a lifelong platonic dynamic. The three leads are pretty much extended or found family. A do not separate unit. In my opinion, any shipping would ruin or interfere with the three musketeers motif no matter what age these characters are. A romantic relationship can play out in a three musketeers character group but it really depends on the story being told, the circumstances, and whether equal weight and consideration is given to the friendship as much as the romance. The third character is just as important to the overall dynamic as the lovebirds are. And this is considering monogamy as the sole ship option.

Also, these characters are 10. I’m not against romance subplots for 10 year olds in kid’s or general audiences cartoons. A lot of kids get their first crushes around that age and cartoons, sitcoms, books, or otherwise can be a safe place to explore these new, complicated feelings. While most kids are probably going to gravitate towards stories featuring the glamorous lives of high school aged kids, a few might appreciate a ship or two with characters that are their age and demographic too. I know I did.

That said, I strongly prefer how cartoons like Moon Girl or The Loud House approach first crushes over what I grew up with in cartoons like Jimmy Neutron or Fairly Odd Parents. Look, it’s weird to see Jimmy dressed up in a smoker’s jacket with slicked back hair trying to woo Cindy via dimmed lights and ambient music. When Jimmy and Cindy are together later in the series, there’s pecks and finger walking and little flirts. I don’t know. It feels like these scenes and situations plugs ten year olds in sequences that’d feel more appropriate with awkward young adults.

Compare this with a similar scene in Ed, Edd, N’ Eddy featuring a smarmy, obnoxious Eddy trying to flirt with Nazz and it’s treated as an absurd, over the top joke. While Eddy had a snowball's chance in hell, I like the overall levity and self-awareness of the scene. It feels more like something a 13 year old like Eddy would do or try to play out. That's what makes the sell.

These characters are 10. If they’re going to do anything romantic, they should be at a carnival, riding a Ferris wheel, acting really nervous, awkward, and doing age appropriate stuff. There’s no smoker jackets and dimmed lights. It’s kids going skating and calling a general hangout a date instead of a general hangout. Maybe I’m a bit out of touch, but when it comes to romance writing, I prefer to lean towards grounded and realistic. I’ll install suspension of disbelief for kids going on an epic quest to save the world or universe, but romance? There’s plenty of time for that kind of thing and I think it should be treated with a certain kind of gravity, nuance, and discretion.

Moon Girl has a fantastic episode where Lunella feels pressured to take her crush on a really serious, super romantic date to the dance. While she gets pushy, it’s framed with a very sympathetic light. She’s under a mix of the desire to look cool in front of her friends and societal pressure. Ultimately, the emphasis is placed on if she feels uncomfortable, there’s no need to rush into anything or even pursue a relationship at all.

It challenges stereotypes about how sought-after and prestigious romantic relationships are for teenagers and in society period. If a teenager is ready to start dating or feels comfortable doing so, go for it. If they aren’t ready or even interested, that’s fine and their desire to stay single should be encouraged and respected. Sorry to spend so much time on the soapbox here, but even as someone that’s a hopeless romantic, I can’t repeat enough how much I appreciate Moon Girl’s take and angle on a romance-centric story. I want more like this in media period. Hopefully, it helps more people place less importance on whether they’re in a relationship or not and that it’s okay to be single.

So, after Rikochet and Buena Girl, my first big-time, ride or die ship was Danny and Sam in Danny Phantom. I had a crush on Danny like 40% of the Phandom at age 12. I related to Sam since she was surface level rebellious, angsty, ambiguous Goth/punk rep. This cartoon started with cute enough, endearing ship cues. Sam asks Danny for a dance. They trade banter. It’s an organic development.

Then the Ember episode rolls around. At the time, I was heartsick over all of the Danny and Sam shipbait scenes. I could care less about the pop star with flaming hair and a punk aesthetic that really doesn’t fit her Billboard Top 40 song. I was there for Danny and Sam blushing at each other, Danny calling Sam smart and resourceful, the two sneaking away from school, Sam shooting a longing look at how pretty Danny is in Phantom form and sunlight.

Enter Lovesick Danny and he’s all wobbly smiles and popping hearts. To the cartoon’s credit, Danny’s obsessive behavior and weird Sam shrine are framed as weird and clingy. That didn’t stop younger me from swooning and squealing as a nutbar shipper, though. I’m still guilty of including and playing out honeymoon phase lovestruck idiots for as long as I can get away with it in fanfics now.

What sucks is that the majority of Danny and Sam’s writing feels so forced and unearned. The cues in the Ember episode are cute on paper, but it feels like an unsatisfying rug pull when these two slide back into their stock "just friends" dynamic by the next episode. There’s constant ship teases and will they, won’t they. If I watch back through Danny Phantom now, I want to rip my hair out at how nonexistent Danny and Sam’s chemistry is.

Look at what happens when Valerie starts getting more focus and development than just acting as a token member of the popular kids group. She has understandable motivation for becoming a ghost hunter and Phantom’s nemesis after Danny accidentally destroys her home and her dad’s career prospects. She has a back story and an active life outside of the main story with hints at her working as a fast food mascot or further developing her ghost hunting skills. When she interacts with Danny, there’s meat and substance to their conversations. She’s interesting. She’s compelling. She and Danny have chemistry. Valerie should have been endgame if Danny absolutely had to have a girlfriend by the end of the show.

Sam had potential as a character, but it felt like the story told me who she was more often than showed me. She plays off of Tucker more often than Danny so their friendship is believable at face value, if only because of how much screen time they have together. She's pretty much Danny's entourage, let alone years-long friend and girlfriend prospect. As a lead character, she deserves so much better. Let her be more than a soggy, dripping piece of cardboard.

This is just my ten-cent opinion, but I'd gladly take the early season Star Vs' shipping drama or the soap operatic theatrics surrounding early Miraculous Ladybug with its main ship. Look, both of these pairs feature characters that are actually characters outside of their ships, hamfisted ship flags included. The chemistry between Star and Marco or Ladybug and Chat Noir is believable and immediately charming too.

Whether you ship these pairs or not, both of these dynamics are enjoyable to watch play out and banter off of each other. The core likeability of these characters is exactly why I understand fans shipping Ladynoir or Starco as hard as they did and getting fed up with “will they, won’t they” garbage. I was frustrated by the constant carrot and stick dangling too. If a toon has a pair that steals hearts as wholly as Ladynoir could, I really hope more stories pull notes from Kim and Ron from Kim Possible or better yet, cement the main pair sooner. Give young shippers a story following an established couple and how they navigate learning how to talk to each other in a healthy, meaningful way!

It’s one thing when the ship has a solid core. At least it’s possible to take what foundation Starco or Ladynoir started out with and fill in blanks from there. In show, Danny and Sam are such an unfortunate wet fart. I’m absolutely giving my younger self the stink eye and begging them to raise their standards. They’re glaring skeptically back at me while I’m bashing open canon Voxman dynamics with a tire iron so I can write cool, cruel Professor Venomous as much more clingy and pathetic than he is in canon so I can pad out my fics with cuddle scenes.

Watch out. The further down the fan fic writer rabbit hole I get, the closer I am to giving Danny and Sam the penultimate ‘fix-it fic’ treatment...

[theromanticscrooge]

I have had a horrible thought

[theromanticscrooge]

Chapters 8 & 9 of "Not Quite an Elevator Pitch" are up!

Ch. 8 Summary: Was Laserblast always on the up and up or was there always a hint of 'villain' there?

Chapter 8:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56784448/chapters/170102863#workskin

Ch. 9 Summary: PV thinks about some of his earlier history and interactions with his minion/daughter Fink.

Chapter 9:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56784448/chapters/170320885#workskin

[theromanticscrooge]

“I’LL FIGHT YOU TO DEATH, BONEHILDA!”

*Bonehilda tries to convey a look of disbelief with her bones*