#I will be gatekeeping clint

[busterpointisdead]

Spoiler alert I'm adding more to my self indulgent clint moss fanfic fellas I can't help myself it's so gooood I've already come up with a plot too like god damnit adhd brain stoppit why did I dream about them in joyful helping rando and beating the shit out of bolo

Can't wait to beat the shit out of bolo

#clint moss #i dont want to tag this with anything else only true clint moss fans use the clint moss tag #nah im kidding i don't want to gatekeep liking a character #the cat and the crow off to do some adventures why not yippee #who else wants to beat up bolo me i do #this post is lowkey slash dir you know who you are wink wink nudge nudge

[undatablebracket]

OUTDATED POST

Last updated 8/18/23, please check the bracket posts for the most up-to-date competitor list.

Sorted alphabetically by game for easy searching.

These are (almost) all of the bracket participants! There are a few who are still up in the air. Please do not get upset with me if your blorbo did not qualify; I did my best to research each game I was unfamiliar with. The most common reason for a character to be disqualified was being from a game without any romance at all.

Note that some of these may be removed, as my attempts at research may not have been sufficient.

Madoka Aoyagi from Aokana Four Rhythms Across the Blue

Reiko Satou from Aokana Four Rhythms Across the Blue

Nahara from The Arcana

Nazali from The Arcana

Nasmira from The Arcana

Natiqa from The Arcana

Brasidas from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Soma Jarlskona from Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Alfira from Baldur's Gate 3

Volo from Baldur's Gate 3

Mallory from Black Closet

oniontheif from Blooming Panic: Full Bloom Edition

Mossie from Cattails

Guinevere from Code: Realize

Kotoho Sakuragawa from collar x malice

Antonio from Coral Island

Helene Leventis from Crown and the Flame - Choices (mobile app)

Owen Herriot from Cupid Parasite

Viktor Vector from Cyberpunk 2077

Johnny Silverhand from Cyberpunk 2077

Goro Takemura from Cyberpunk 2077

Mayor Mingus from Dialtown

Jerry from Dialtown

Pierre from Dialtown

Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club

The Arishok from Dragon Age 2

Varric Tethras from Dragon Age 2

Avaline Vallen from Dragon Age 2

Vivienne de Fer from Dragon Age Inquisition

Cole from Dragon Age Inquisiton

Scout Lace Harding from Dragon Age: Inquisition

Cremisius "Krem" Aclassi from Dragon Age: Inquisition

Sten from Dragon Age: Origins

Quizzmaster Quinn from Dream Daddy

Morgott the Grace-Given from Elden Ring

Matthew Gursky from Emily is Away

Magnolia from Fallout 4

Nick Valentine from Fallout 4

Phila from Fire Emblem Awakening

The Gatekeeper from Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Hypnos from Hades

Orpheus and Eurydice from Hades

Chaos from Hades

Charon from Hades

Sisyphus from Hades

Alecto from Hades

Azami Koshiba from Hatoful Boyfriend

Blanc Lapin from Ikemen Revolution

Lyla Park from Life is Strange 2

Kyousuke Natsume from Little Busters!

Javik from Mass Effect

Urdnot Wrex from Mass Effect

Zaeed Massani from Mass Effect

Mordin Solus from Mass Effect 2 & 3

The Illusive Man from Mass Effect 2 + 3

Samara from Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3

Evfra de Tershaav from Mass Effect Andromeda

Zevin Raeka from Mass Effect Andromeda

Jeff "Joker" Moreau from Mass Effect trilogy

Moss Mann from Monster camp

Gerard from Monster Camp and Monster Roadtrip

Tate from Monster Prom

Sadie from Monster Prom 3: Road Trip and Monster Prom 2: Camp

Jerry the Murderer from Monster Prom series

Mali from My Time at Portia

Jaehee Kang from Mystic Messenger

Vanderwood from Mystic Messenger

Shinbi from Nameless (the one thing you must recall)

Soi from Nameless (the one thing you must recall)

Thirteen from Obey Me! One Master to Rule Them All

Aurora Emery from Open Heart - Choices

Jeremy King from Our Life: Beginning & Always

Miranda from Our Life: Beginnings & Always

Terry from Our Life: Beginnings & Always

Rio Iwasaki from Persona 3 Portable

Junpei Iori from Persona 3 Portable

Yosuke Hanamura from Persona 4

Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4

Goro Akechi from Persona 5

Yusuke Kitagawa from Persona 5

Ryūji Sakamoto from Persona 5

Eothas from Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

Grim from Romancelvania

Gaius from Rune Factory 3

Illuminata from Rune Factory 4

Porcoline Tulle De Saint-Coquille from rune factory 4

Ventuswill from Rune Factory 4

Lin Fa from Rune Factory 4

Volkanon from Rune Factory 4

Terry from Rune Factory 5

Malix from Seduce Me the Otome

Halek Prince from Shepherds of Haven

Bao-Dur from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Clint from Stardew ValleyGus from Stardew Valley

Jodi from Stardew Valley

Kent from Stardew Valley

Krobus from Stardew Valley

Linus from Stardew Valley

Marnie from Stardew Valley

Mayor Lewis from Stardew Valley

Sandy from Stardew Valley

Robin from Stardew Valley

The Wizard (aka. M. Rasmodius) from Stardew Valley

Clemens from Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town

Jacopo from Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town

Karina from Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town

Flora from Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

Lars from Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town

Brynjolf from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Cicero from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Erandur from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Faendal from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Hadvar from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

J'zargo from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Miraak from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Seranna from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Teldryn Sero from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Ondolemar from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Olivia Vanderwall Nevrakis from The Royal Romance - Choices

Iorveth from The Witcher 2

Vernon Roche from The Witcher 2

Julian Alfred Pankratz (Dandelion/Jaskier) from The Witcher 3

Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy from The Witcher 3

Karen Hanatsubaki from Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3

Arihiko Inui from Tsukihime

Yumizuka Satsuki from Tsukihime

Alicia Rosales from XOXO Droplets

#undatable bracket #unromancable bracket #wrangler.txt #bracket info

[mitigatedchaos]

2 question. 1 what was the idea behind clint manstock. 2 I’m not sure what the joke/idea behind the trans/religion post was.

Clint Manstock is a hypothetical highly prolific writer of pulpy detective fiction and science fiction, presumably from the late 1960s to around 2010, with dates applied to contextualize the non-existent stories as belonging to a particular cultural period.

For making a joke, it's not necessary to write the entire book, but just an excerpt, or even the title.

For instance, the most famous Clint Manstock post:

The year is 2056.  My name is Kal Royan, and I’m a gender hunter.  My job is to bring those who traffic in illegal modifications of the gender synthesis implant to justice.  Or at least, what they call justice. - opening lines of Clint Manstock’s The Manhunters (1972)

This hypothetical book was published in 1972, shortly after Ursula K Le Guin's 1969 genderbending The Left Hand of Darkness.

He is, in a sense, hopping on the bandwagon, but also in this case he's closer to the leading edge than with some of his other books. Clint Manstock books aren't necessarily good, though.

(The 1970s are also a time where there is more scientific uncertainty generally, more belief in things like ESP or experiments that wouldn't survive review today like the Stanford Prison Experiment.)

There's a lot going on here, but the punchline is the title of the book.

It's not just the play on words. What's the (primary) gender being regulated? It's right there in the title. Men. People talk a lot about regulation of women, but they also talk a lot about male violence, male sexuality, male competition, male hierarchy... so from an insurance-minimization standpoint, and from a blind "anti-oppression" standpoint, we could imagine a society that has set things up so that there are few men in the first place.

Such a society would not be lesbian, but sexless.

Regarding the 2019 post you're asking about,

“Certainly,” the man said, “it may seem to be in contradiction, but if I do this…”

The central sci-fi technology at play is a computer which estimates political coalitions and ideology. Political coalitions are based on a feedback between ideologies and interests. The interests and beliefs of different coalition members aren't always in alignment with each other, so every coalition will have some tension. (This may be the source of the "contradiction" mentioned here, but not necessarily.)

The presentation board even paused with a twirling icon for a moment, before the node finally came loose, and Mr. Blanstak dragged it to the other side of the board. …dropping it in a category named “religion.”

Previously, transgenderism was pursued as 'transmedicalism,' defining transgender people as a tiny minority of the population who were experiencing a diagnosable medical disorder. In this frame the rights and privileges granted would be similar to those for someone with a disability. This implies a pretty significant amount of institutional gatekeeping.

However, while the medical establishment is influential, this left the status of transgender people ambiguous (just how far can you go with a doctor's note?). As such, activists pushed for the idea of transgenderism as a 'basic human right,' with unlimited gender self-identification.

This is a bit of an all-or-nothing strategy. If activists win, they get to teach their gender views in public schools as fact. This places them above all the established religions, on the same level as the implicit peace bargain between those religions. If they lose, even the medical framework could collapse.

Positioning transgenderism as a 'religion' is a kind of fallback position. The United States has pretty substantive protections against religious discrimination, so both medical procedures and presentation would receive legal protection. However, this would be a demotion to one valid worldview among multiple competing worldviews, and rules on teaching the view in public schools would be similar to teaching "Christians believe X," not just teaching "X".

(In practice, this approach wouldn't work, as religious beliefs are generally understood as being about the supernatural, and people generally don't believe in transgenderism as supernatural.)

In this case, the reclassification causes a whole bunch of cascading updates to the ideology and coalitional makeup throughout the system.

“So you’re saying,” I said, “that this was the latent equilibrium all along?”

The perspective character asks if this is the future, because this isn't his technology and he's more of a normal guy, so he's thinking that this is the big ideological change.

Blanstak looked at me over his shoulder. “There are many semi-stable equilibria, Mr. Whipple. The matter of entering one is choice.”

However, in this case the technology's creator is using the shift as more of a demonstration not merely of the technology, but of the idea that there are other self-reinforcing states of society that can be reached.

It is likely that the book would follow on the consequences of such a technology, however...

excerpt, unpublished Clint Manstock manuscript, 1991

It wasn't considered good enough to actually publish.

#anons #asks #clint manstock #gendpol #clearing the drafts #nov 2023

[blackbat05]

Places to be 🇸🇬

Avengers x Reader (Headcanon)

A/N: Super self-indulgent but much pride 💕 I would do a few avengers first to see how it goes and the reception? PG-13

Notes: How I think the Avengers would enjoy the little red dot😬 And lemme put it out there first, I’m writing food you can find in Singapore! Not trying to gatekeep where food originates from!

***

Shangqi

He would adapt the best given his heritage.

Forget touristy traps, he’s going to the mecca of all food places. The hawker centers!

Credit: Shunfu Hawker Centre

He almost snaps his neck trying to see what to eat. In the end, he settles for a little of everything.

His favorite is prawn noodles though. Oh… the broth…🤤

Credit: Quan Ann Prawn Mee @ Shunfu Hawker Centre

Stephen Strange

The National Museum of Singapore!

He would appreciate the photographs and stories of immigrants and veterans that fought to make what the country was today.

He would get brochure and maybe even read up beforehand before coming to enhance the experience.

After the tour, he goes to grab some snacks to munch on while reading more on the history. Who could resist Kaya Balls?

Peter Parker

Cycling!

The Green Corridor is a route approximately stretching 20km/12 miles from residential areas to the city.

It’s mostly just fauna for most of the ride but he loves the feeling of whizzing by without any traffic lights and nature itself! He could use some tranquility in his life for once.

He ends of the ride outside City Hall, before scampering up to try the famous fish noodles with milk! Don’t forget the fried egg (on top left)!

Credit: Chai’s Original Sliced Fish Soup @ City Hall

Thor

This man can drink in case you didn’t know.

He’ll do great at Clark Quay, an area to catch up and let your hair down.

In his case? Literally. The people love him though, they’ve seen him on international news. A few even ask to take photos with him and he happily obliges.

But it takes three Avengers to drag him back to the hotel. Maybe four if you count Loki who doesn’t know what he’s doing there when he could be at the museum with Stephen.

Clint being the team’s unofficial dad begrudgingly goes out to the Hawker Center to grab some Lotus Soup the next day to cure his hangover. Don’t forget the rice - like don’t.

A/N: I drooled while trying to come up with this short headcanon🤤 Also, I hope it’s ok! Little nervous so will be grateful to see/hear how it goes!

#shangqi x reader #shang chi x reader #stephen x reader #stephen strange x reader #peter parker x reader #thor x reader #platonic #if you want #avengers x reader

[scarfacemarston]

I know this is going to sound controversial and bitchy but it’s my tumblr: but I don’t understand how some metas get so popular. I’m not amazing myself. FAR from it but I see things like  Red Dead Redemption :“OMG Arthur is an artist ! a really good one, look at his journal!” (The game literally shows you immediately this.)  If someone includes more and dives in , then that’s awesome, but if it’s left at that, then I don’t know how much of that is truly meta. I know I’m gatekeeping a bit, though.   Red Dead Redemption again: “Dutch treated Arthur poorly even though he was a father figure” (That’s one of the points of the game.) The type that annoys me the  most is something that is shown and answered in the cut scene. The literal cutscene is the subject of the “discovery”. Stating you noticed say. (I’m making this up) You saw that the Pinkertons came into camp in the early chapters and came in again at the end of the game - the same agency. That is NOT meta. That is a fact. Dutch tried to abandon Abigail in chapter 6. That is not Meta. That isn’t an observation. That is a fact. He bluntly says this. That is not meta.  Sadie and Charles were injured in the epilogue so John had to do xyz alone. That is not meta. That is a fact shown in the cut scene.  Marvel: or “Bucky has ptsd and has a lot of nightmares because of his time as the winter soldier. He carries a lot of guilt” (did you watch...any of the other captain America movies?) Did you know that Natasha was close to Clint’s family? Yes. It’s literally a big part of the movie. or Star Wars: “Leia is so much like her mother Padme because they’re both (insert extremely obvious reason like being strong willed, being political, etc)  (Did you watch the movies? That’s the point.) Luke’s love saved Darth Vader - literally says that.  Did anyone notice that Chewbacca wasn’t given a medal? Yes. That has been pointed out since 1977.  Interview with the Vampire: “Lestat treats Louis and Claudia horribly, but they still care for each other! (Literally the ENTIRE reason for 80% of the book. Literally Louis cannot be anymore blunt.)

I know not everyone picks up on the same things, but sometimes it is literally the easiest and low effort thing that is shoved in the player or viewer’s face. It’s been happening a lot on Reddit, too.  Like, it’s stuff like that where I truly wonder if it’s something they truly don’t know and are excited to share or are wanting easy likes. If someone is genuinely excited and didn’t notice something, that’s one thing and is different, but  I think it’s more the second.  Everyone wants to be valued and heard and have some attention /acknowledgement and people who say they don’t are likely the minority, so it’s understandable why some people do that, it’s just annoying to me.  I have heard a theory that since Literature classes are being cut in a lot of preschool through highschool (and it’s equivalent world wide) and colleges are actively trying to lessen general education requirements like history, writing and literature -s ome people truly may not be picking up on points that seem obvious because things like symbiology and tropes aren’t being taught.  If that’s the case, it’s quite sad and sadly another reason why the “Humanities” are needed. 

[zodiacemma]

Stardew Valley Hunger Games!

Hello! Welcome to a round of Stardew Valley Hunger Games! This is a Hunger Game Simulation designed with Stardew Valley characters along with custom scenarios and custom arena events!

TW: violence, weapons, and suicide. No suicide is mentioned in this post but it is a scenario that can occur in the simulation and is a default simulation, not one that I added in.

If you don’t wish to read the whole post/simulation and just want to dive into the game, here is the link! Remember to randomize the game by clicking “Edit Cast”, not actually edit anything and instead click on “Submit”. https://brantsteele.net/hungergames/r.php?c=N4haQlqY

With all of that said, here is a round of SDVHG showing off the custom work that I did (and may or may not have spent way too long on)!

Welcome! We have 36 contestants in 12 districts!

District 1: Sam, Sebastian, Abigail District 2: Alex, Evelyn, George District 3: Shane, Jas, Marnie District 4: Jodi, Kent, Vincent District 5: Caroline, Pierre, Morris District 6: Robin, Demetrius, Lewis District 7: Elliot, Leah, Gus District 8: Maru, Harvey, Grandpa District 9: Emily, Haley, Clint District 10: Krobus, Leo, Sandy District 11: Penny, Pam, Dwarf District 12: Wizard, Linus, Willy

Now knowing the characters in our simulation, let the game begin!

Why is Harvey, a grown ass adult, fighting Jas, a literal child??

Clint isn’t allowed to have anything... good

I’m beginning to notice a disturbing trend with adults fighting children...

rip George

Does Krobus even have a nose?

Good

How does the world’s nicest granny scare off a grown woman??

I added the unused bachelor(ette) weapons into the game and I’m glad that it showed up somehow with the correct bachelorette?? But also rip my number one bachelor, Harvey

These two saw the same thing back to back, so I’m sure whatever is going on can’t be good

and I was correct in that assumption... I guess Seb is the least favorite child after all--

what did Krobus ever do to you, Leo??

7 canon shots were heard: George Caroline Harvey Sandy Linus Sebastian Leo

Hey Clint, maybe don’t ask a third grader to kill you

Penny is now on a rampage...

At least someone’s feeding the child

rip Abigail, what did she ever do to you, Kent??

JojaCorp this unknown sponsor knew exactly what they were doing here

gaslight gatekeep girlboss

Something’s off here...

Dear Yoba, someone stop Penny--

Everybody is scared by Clint, I don’t blame you Haley

Worst parents of the year

3 canon shots can be heard in the distance: Gus Abigail Marnie

Damn Shane what did the Dwarf ever do to you???

Best parents of the year

Who is enabling Penny??

Only one major event happened on the third day, however...

Good.

Does dying a second time feel any different than dying the first time?

Unfortunate :/

Unfortunate :/

Considering he’s a shadow brute himself, I wonder how he wouldn’t have escaped 

At least the child murderer is dead now

Maybe stick to magic, magic man

Would their ship name be Shodi or Jane?

Penny lives.

Ellin or Robiot?

;__;

15 canon shots can be heard in the distance: Dwarf Vincent Clint Evelyn Grandpa Maru Demetrius Haley Shane Jodi Elliot Robin Jas Morris Pam

#Kizard! (#Went doesn’t sound as good)

Looks like someone didn’t pay their taxes

Alex you absolute himbo why would you do that--

Penny still lives.

Yikes. Talk about daddy issues.

The price to pay for shoplifting

The Wizard took out Alex before Penny could

In a turn of events, Lewis uses Penny’s own weapon against her!!

rip super sayan the gay bachelor

7 canon shots can be heard in the distance: Willy Kent Emily Alex Leah Penny Sam

He just wanted to go home ;__;

Oh dear, hopefully no one else--

dies...

3 canon shots can be heard in the distance: Krobus Lewis Wizard

With those canon shots ringing out, the winner of the Stardew Valley Hunger Games is...

Pierre!

Thank you to those who read the whole post and went through the rollercoaster that is SDVHG! Here is the link to the customized simulation. Remember: to randomize the game, you must select “Edit Cast” and then scroll down and select “Submit”. No need to change anything, this will just randomize the game so it’s not the same over and over again.

Play here!: https://brantsteele.net/hungergames/r.php?c=N4haQlqY

#sdv #stardew valley #hunger games #hunger games simulator #tw violence #tw weapons #tw suicide

[firelightfables-arc]

*  knowing  your  partner  well  can  potentially  make  writing  a  lot  easier,  repost,  do  not  reblog.

name :  para

pronouns :  she / her

preference  of  communication :  discordy ordy ord and tumblr IM

name  of  muse(s) :  clint barton, barney barton, steve rogers, bruce banner, richard rider, robbie rider, marc spector, foggy nelson, st. john allerdyce, angela, jim corrigan, chas chandler, swamp thing, midnighter, caitlyn kiramman, viktor, and a stranger things kid coming soon...

experience / how  long  ( months / years ? ) :  20+ years

best  experience :  can I go with the sappy answer of the people I’ve met along the way? I’ve made some of my best friends from this hobby, some of who I talk on the phone with daily and others that I now live near and go out with regularly

rp  pet  peeves / deal  breakers :  literally nothing will make me lose interest faster than someone gatekeeping their fandom. I don’t know everything about the fandoms I’m in. I will change my mind sometimes upon learning something new. this is supposed to be fun, not a test of how much I know about X, Y, and Z. I also get hesitant to engage when every meme someone posts is shippy or ship related. 

plots or memes :  I like both though I find lately that memes are turning INTO plots for me. I think most of my regular writing partners are here because we had a meme go out of control. I’ve also had ships sprout from memes, so...while I love both, if I have to choose I’ll go with memes!

preferences  fluff,  angst,  or  smut :  I love all three. if I had to choose? I feel like angst is the crux of characters evolving and it makes the fluff and smut that much sweeter.

best  time  to  write :  late nights mostly and then weekend evenings

tagged by: @starsinshadows tagging: steal it from me!

#( ooc : firelightfables )

[7igures]

Looks like the founders of @ManiereDeVoir and @CRTZ.RTW had a little twitter scuff 🥊 I personally don't like to see it, but I guess these things happen amongst competitive and driven individuals 🤷🏾‍♂️ It all started when Clint retweeted someone insinuating that MDV copied his design👀 @Clint419 has a long record of demonstrating loyalty to "the culture", avoiding big brand collaborations, rejecting high-level interviews and denouncing supposed gatekeepers within fashion. He prides himself on authenticity and is quick to point out when another brand is biting, as we've seen in the past when he put Boohoo Man on blast 😅 @ReeceWabara on the other hand has always seemed to be more money-driven and indifferent to "the culture". His response to Clint confirmed my assumptions regarding this. He couldn't care less about culture lol, certainly not #UKstreetculture anyway💩 The last slide shows a video Reece posted in January 2018 (months before Clint founded Corteiz). In the video Jay-Z speaks on avoiding what's trendy and pursuing long-term value instead. He makes references to Ralph Lauren and the Mona Lisa as examples of the latter. It would seem Reece views the Corteiz craze as an inevitably short-lived hype, and his own brand as a durable household name 💪🏾 As I always say: Time will tell ⏳️ 💥 Follow @7igures for more dope UK street content 💥 #7igures #UKstreetwear #Corteiz #ManiereDeVoir #Crtz #MDV #Clint419 #ReeceWabara #TwitterFingers #BlackOnBlack https://www.instagram.com/p/CkE8tlOI1Vl/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#ukstreetculture #7igures #ukstreetwear #corteiz #manieredevoir #crtz #mdv #clint419 #reecewabara #twitterfingers #blackonblack

[colaghost]

I don’t want any of you saying you’re a Hawkeye stan after you watch Hawkeye when I know you went on a rant for an hour about how he deserved to die on Vormir.

#I still don’t think it should have been Natasha #or Clint #there should’ve been a way #where both of them survived #I will be gatekeeping clint #especially since he’s going to be more comic accurate #marvel #Hawkeye #clint barton #Hawkeye 2021 #mcu #disney plus #hawkeye spoilers

[at1nys-blog]

I don’t want to be that person but…

IF YOU HATED ON CLINT BECAUSE “iT sHoUlD hAVe BeEn HiM” AND THEN CHANGE MIND BECAUSE OF THE SHOW LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING………

✨fuck you✨

Yeah, you read right leave my father figure alone you insolent piece of trash

#marvel hawkeye #clint barton #hawkeye #am I gatekeeping clint from his haters soon-wanna-been-fans? #yes. yes I am

[seesgood]

mentally preparing myself for when the hawkeye show comes out and everyone suddenly starts loving clint when they’ve done nothing but call him useless and say it should have been him to die 800 times because i know it will not be socially acceptable for me to be a gatekeeping bitch about it 

#but i will. i will be a gatekeeping bitch. #bc anyone who has ever said the words it should have been clint or he's useless do not deserve him #and with the quality content being churned out by phase 4 shows i do not trust the marvel fandom #this has been my salt of the day #/ salt cw. #also i'm not starting the comic vs mcu debate #bc i love mcu clint as much as i know i'll love comic clint #but god damn it this is going to TEST me

[taibhsearachd]

Frankly, one of the things that makes me angriest about the post-MCU tumblr era is that you all want to act like Avengers Tower was made up out of wish fulfillment and Disney movie marathons.

Even setting aside that, at the end of Avengers, Tony was clearly planning that... uh... this is straight comics canon. This developed not out of fanon, but out of literal comics canon. In 616 canon, the Avengers only moved their base of operations to Stark Tower after the Avengers Mansion was destroyed.

Since the Avengers era of Cap and his delinquent children (ie, the second generation of the Avengers, starting with Cap, Pietro and Wanda, and Clint), many Avengers have lived in the same building. As the team grew, obviously, many of them had their own places... but a lot of them still fucking lived together, for years. This wasn't fandom fantasizing based off of college dorms, this was literal comics canon.

So acting like "2012 MCU Fandom" was stupid for writing as if Avengers Tower was a thing... I mean, it was called Stark Tower in the comics, but it existed as a thing in comics for years. Still does, actually, if nothing catastrophic has happened in the last few years since I stopped paying attention. Clint goes there to play video games sometimes. I'm convinced Tony's programmed all the games to lead him into absurd and impossible scenarios.

...look this is the most "2012 Avengers fandom" thing I can think of, actual comics canon. Whether or not Avengers live in the Tower, they regularly come there to chill. Your condescension about the way MCU fandom wrote post-Avengers.... dude, the actual movie guided fandom in that direction, it aligns with comics canon far more than the weird distanced vibe we've got going on in current MCU... And I don't blame anyone who's managed to retain their love for the MCU for wanting to cling to that. Because frankly, it's a lot more fun and interesting. The reason we don't have the fun, interactive, deeply interconnected MCU that was implied at the end of Avengers (2012) is contracts and capitalism. That's it. Fandom was never delusional, they were responding exactly as expected. Turn your frustration to Disney/Marvel Studios for baiting the dynamic we get in comics when they never would have been able to provide that, instead of acting like fans who jumped on the ideas presented to them (AS FANS DO) are cringy and wrong by default.

If we're gonna gatekeep here, the MCU is the one that's really out of line. Just saying.

#marvel #mcu #marvel 616 #fandom #yes the above panel was from a post-avengers comic #that said... it only exists because stark tower exists in 616 #because there was a place where avengers go to chill #whereas people who hate '2012 avengers fandom' act like that's absurd #...no that's literally what the avengers are like #always has been #I've probably read more early avengers comics than anyone who wants to fight me about this #come at me bitches

[shurisneakers]

harmless (xiii)

Summary: Bucky volunteers to go stop a small time villain, but nothing can prepare him for what exactly he has to deal with. (Bucky x villain!reader)

Warnings: cursing, frustrated bucky, dramatic reader, smidge of angst, guns, little bit of violence, obnoxious flirting, and kidnapping lol

Word count: 6.2k

A/N: welcome to chaos week >:) this is the first of three updates coming out this week (if i can finish the last one in time).  big thank you to my love @no-shit-sherl0ck for the kidnaped!reader idea, and that one anon who suggested the inator that’s used here. i know you wanted to see it in a zoo but i couldn’t really figure out a way to use that so i referenced it a bunch in previous chapters. oh and also @ginevranights​ for this specific imagery 

Previous Part  || Series Masterlist

Who the fuck kidnaps a villain in this day and age?

Saturday started normally enough.

Nat kicked Bucky’s ass in training, evening the score to 120 and 120. He blames it on the lack of sleep. She tells him that it’s his fault he stayed up late to binge watch 911 Lone Star.

He still thinks it was worth it.

The team’s sunshines and rainbows that morning. Someone had cooked up a batch of pancakes and fresh orange juice. Someone else burnt the bacon but left to feed his dog before anyone could complain.

Nat opened up the newspaper. Different sections went to different people until Bucky got stuck with the entertainment section. Fun, considering that he doesn’t even recognise half the names. He’d have to pretend to be interested until the next rotation.

He watches the orange juice levitate in front of him from the corner of his eye and just assumes that Wanda’s getting a refill even though she could have just asked him to pass it. He smells the next batch of bacon burning and figures that Clint is back.

Sam’s beside him, annoying him about how long it takes for him to read about which new celebrity relationship just ended and Bucky retaliates by reading even slower. Fuck you.

He’s on his second stack of pancakes absolutely drenched in maple syrup when the doors to the elevator open and Marie steps out, laptop in her hand.

An instant chorus of hello’s and invitations to have some charred bacon resound through the table. She politely declines them with a small smile, instead opening her laptop and placing it in front of Bucky without further ado. 

He looks at her questioningly, slowly swallowing whatever was in his mouth.

“An email for you.” She tuts her head towards it. “It has a video attachment of your friend.”

Bucky has plans to not watch the video in front of everyone, given that the content could range anywhere from you reading out fanfiction about him to a deep-fake of him singing a Whitney Houston song.

Both of which you have done before and would do again, without any hesitation.

“Aren’t you gonna watch it?” Wanda asks from across the table.

He slowly shakes his head no, cutting his stack into smaller pieces.

“If what’s in it is real, it’s important,” Marie stresses.

“What’s in it?” he inquires instead, hoping that the team would stop staring at him. If Marie was implying strongly that he needed to watch then something was wrong.

“Just watch it, man.” Sam’s statement has everyone agreeing with him. Bucky can’t refuse now, and if the team makes fun of him for the next month about how he looks good belting Greatest Love of All, he’s going to personally assassinate you.

He clicks on the email, noticing it came from a throwaway address. Probably untraceable, if the cards are played right. 

The video opens to grainy footage, which is stupid considering modern technological advancements. If this is one more of your stupid LARPing sessions, it could definitely wait till after lunch. 

But, he instantly recognises your silhouette strapped to a chair and suddenly the room feels very cold around him. His hand automatically clutches onto a bead from the bracelet you gave him that still remained tied to his left arm more often than not.

“Speak,” someone commands off camera.

“About what?” You sound annoyed, exasperated even.

“Why you’re here.”

“I’m here because you have unaddressed feelings of childhood insecurity.”

“I warned you to take this seriously.”

Bucky’s eyes widen slightly but his body relaxes the minute he reads the situation. 

The team’s crowded around him, he can feel it. His attention remains on the screen in front of him.

“Who even are you sending this to?” You don’t sound the least bit threatened. “My roommate’s not at home but my cat is and I don’t think she’d care.”

”You’ve made a complete joke out of villains everywhere. Fraternising with the enemies, the Avengers,” he spits the name with so much vitriol. “You’ve erased what it’s like to be truly evil. Turned us into a laughing stock.”

“If it takes one person to undermine your whole movement then maybe it wasn’t strong enough to begin with.” You look at someone outside the lens, face scrunching in distaste. “Also your costume’s ugly.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you trace this voice?” Bucky asks, receiving an immediate confirmation. “Figure out who it is.”

“On it.”

“Tell them. Tell them we are a serious threat and are to be feared.”

"No,” you say resolutely. “You’re an overgrown manchild. Go watch Teletubbies or something.”

“She does not give a shit,” Clint marvels at the situation, a piece of half eaten burnt toast between his fingers.

You didn’t. And if he knew you in the slightest, which he prided himself on at this point, you already had six different ways of getting out of there.

“She knows she’s going to be fine,” Bucky murmurs, returning back to take a bite of his pancakes. “She’s probably still there just to irritate him.”

He zeroes in on your wrist to see if the teleportation watch was still there but no, your wrists are bare. Guess you forgot.

“You have to.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s how a real villain does it.”

“A real villain- what are you, gatekeeping the villain community?” You scoff. “You sound like a fuckin’ incel.”

“Just send them a message,” the guy bellows, hitting a table.

“She’s going to frustrate them to death.” An accurate observation, Sam.

“Okay, jeez, fine.”

Bucky just knows that you rolled your eyes at that moment.

He had faith in you, or in your abilities at the very least. While every wisecrack could possibly inch you closer towards harm, you probably wouldn’t be making them unless you felt completely secure in your situation.

“Help, I’m totally kidnapped and in danger. Save me because I can’t do it myself. This man is too powerful and strong and sooo scary.”

“Do you think she has a strategy?”

“Definitely.”

“You’re not worried, James?” Wanda asks curiously. “I thought she was your friend.”

“She is my friend.” He reaches over to take the jug of orange from across the table. “That’s why I’m not worried.”

“Are you going to fight the Avengers?” you interrupt his endless tirade. “Because that’s a stupid plan. You get how that’s a stupid plan, right?”

“Let them come. I’m prepared.”

“With what? A stick you found outside? A Nerf gun? Man, you’ve tied my hands with fuckin’ zip ties, you can’t be serious-”

“Shut up,” he roared and the stand shakes slightly from where he stamps his feet. “Our army is enough.”

“Wow,” you exhale. “I wish I had your confidence, I really do. I want to study you under a microscope.”

“I have reinforcements.” It sounds like he turns to the camera to address it directly. “This is a warning. Your friends have an hour to find you or things are gonna turn ugly. This is what real evil looks like.”

“Evil dresses in a dollar store Speedo, apparently.” The man pays you no heed, instead picking up the camera. “Hey, sarge, if you’re watching this, don’t bother. I’m fine, it’s not even the real me-”

The camera cuts to black.

“When was this video sent?” Nat looks at Marie, eyebrows drawn together.

“About ten minutes ago.”

Bucky clicks out of the email, determined to get at least half his breakfast in him before he left to see what’s up with your situation. A notification pops up immediately.

[email protected] just sent you an email.

A video attachment.

“We got another one,” Bucky informs the team, drawing their attention back to the screen from the informal conversation that had erupted between them about what they could do.

This time, there’s a subject line included.

Attack on the Clone.

"Ain’t that a Star Wars movie?" he asks, craning his neck to look at Clint.

"That's Attack of the Clones," Sam corrects. "Probably autocorrect."

Bucky narrowed his eyes in suspicion at him, jaw sliding outward before falling back into place. Enough times had Sam called him Fucky in the group chat and gotten away with it for him not to be wary.

“Or a code,” Wanda suggests, too many crime thrillers read and podcasts listened in her spare time. She occasionally brought them over to Self Care Saturday, introducing him to the world of true crime as a bit of light content while they snacked on chocolate chip cookies he baked. “Like the Zodiac.”

“For what?” Bucky peers over at her.

“All I remember from that movie is them rolling around a field together,” Clint mutters. “Maybe that’s how you’re supposed to save her.”

“I’m not saving anyone. Look at her, she’s fine.” Is he the only one who saw it?

When he’s met with skeptical looks and no other useful suggestions, he presses play on the video.

This time it's clearer footage. It hardly takes him a second to ascertain where it was.

"That's her lair." It showed the pathway leading up to the flat concrete building, exactly where the intercom should be.

There was a black Sedan parked haphazardly outside, engine still on judging by the sound of the radio blasting an AC/DC song. 

Within a few seconds, someone drags you from the entrance of the lair to the car, despite your very clear protests and opposition, shoving you inside before it takes off in full speed, tires screeching. 

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., track the car from that video. Check all the CCTV and surveillance footage from around the area that you can find," Bucky commands, taking a sip of orange juice.  

"Why would they send us that?" Clint pipes up. "They make their email untraceable but send us a video of the fuckin' abduction itself?"

"I don't know." Bucky shakes his head, setting his glass down. "She probably convinced them to."

It was an unusual scenario, he realised that. But his eyebrows lower in contemplation, his lip caged between his lip before a thought suddenly occurs to him. A laugh in disbelief almost escapes his throat ad he pushes it down with some freshly cut strawberries. 

"And they listened?"

"I don't think you realise how annoying she can be." He knows, though. He knows. "Bet they regret it, though. I should tell them to keep her for a little longer."

"Voice recognition registers voice to someone named Chad, better known by his alias Soul Crusher. Surveillance footage places the car about thirty minutes away. Exact location sent to your phone GPS."

Soul Crusher. That was worse than Dr. Strange.

"I can make that fifteen." Bucky shrugs, setting down his fork and knife. If his hunch is right, the team didn’t really have to get involved. “See you guys later.”

“Do you want any of us coming with you?” Wanda gestures to the crowd at hand.

“I got it.” He pushes away from the table, depositing his plate in the sink, dropping an extra piece of bacon on the ground for Clint’s dog. “She’ll be alright.”

They watch him trail out of the room briskly, heading up to his room to change.

“Is it just me or is he too casual about this?” Clint continues staring long after he leaves.

“Both of them are weirdos.” Nat pulls open the newspaper again, going back to the sport’s section. “Who knows what goes in their heads.”

“Can confirm that not a lot goes on in his.”

Without Bucky to retaliate or grumble, a Steve walking into the room, sweaty and shiny after training becomes the new subject of jokes that morning.

__

For the first time in months, he’s had to bring a weapon or two along with him. Two revolvers and a couple of knives kept out of plain view. He wouldn’t need more than that anyway.

True to his word, it takes only fifteen minutes to get there, thirteen if he didn’t stop for the chain of ducks that crossed the street.

He’s also dressed in a little more leather than he usually reserves for your meetings. A jacket that brings to act as a windbreaker and tightly laced up combat boots make him look like he either stepped off a runway, or more menacing than usual depending on who was looking.

The GPS points him to an old warehouse near a more subdued part of the city. It was abandoned by the looks of it, and had been for a while judging by the lack of upkeep. Prime real estate.

He pulls off his helmet, hanging it on the handlebar along with his backpack before kicking the stand into place. The bike’s a few metres away just in case they decide to blow something up.

Bucky looks up at the warehouse, assessing the most damage he could do to it if at all it was needed. That thing could barely stand on its own, a grenade would absolutely decimate it. That wasn’t good news for you.

He sighs once before putting on his death glare, straightening out his shoulders into a stature that screams stone-cold, and pushes the door open, gun raised.

A mini-army of people ranging from their early twenties to late thirties stood guard at the entrance, all with rifles pointed at him. He counts fifteen, maybe eighteen.

“Oh, hell no,” a voice erupts from the back, followed by the sound of his gun being thrown to the ground. “No one told me that he was coming.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow, his death glare not shifting and Glock not lowering.

“I’m out.” The same guy raises his hands up to show he meant no harm, slowly brushing past Bucky as he squeezed out of the building.

“You got five seconds to leave before I shut this door,” Bucky gives the rest of them an ultimatum. Not like there was a point anyway. SHIELD was sending down some people to account for the one day rise in new morons. 

They all looked at each other, swallowing thickly before raising their weapons.

“I hope he’s giving you good insurance.” The second he finishes his sentence they all cry out in what sounds like a fucking war chant, launching themselves at him. 

______

“They’re here.” Someone presses his ear to the door as if the gunshots and screaming weren’t enough. 

“Brilliant. We’re ready.” Chad picks up the knife, running his finger along the sharp end. You try to see if you can use your Twitter-ordained powers of manifestation for a paper cut.

“How much are you asking them for?” You put forth a query instead, when it disappointingly doesn’t work.

“Asking who for what?” Chad stops his dumb intimidation tactic for a second. 

“You know,” you insist like it was obvious, “my ransom. How much did you ask them to pay?”

“We didn’t-” He looks around at the other people in the room for confirmation. “-we didn’t ask for any.”

“Because I’m invaluable?” Your head droops to the side in mock flattery. “Aw, you guys.”

“We didn’t think of it,” someone from the corner behind you speaks up, coming to the aid of their boss.

“Now that’s just rude.” You tut, shifting maybe an inch or two in your bounds to try and get more comfortable. “Leaving aside your lack of preparation, let’s just assume he bursts in here, desperate and ready to bargain. How much would you ask for?”

“Three million,” Chad says confidently, gathering a nod and sounds of agreement from everyone else.

“Are you serious?” Your jaw drops, a scoff escaping you. “That’s all?”

His self-assurance falters a little bit, you can see it under his 5 Minutes Craft mask.

“Three mill-” You stop mid-sentence. “With this wiring? Ridiculous. Make it ten, I demand it.”

“We’ll ask for fifteen mil,” Chad proposes, his teammates agreeing again, a little more delighted than last time.

“Ask for thirty, you coward,” you argued. “Thirty million and a jet.”

“You’re not worth that much.” The dipshit diagonal to you pipes up with his unwanted and, frankly, useless opinion.

“And you are?” You whip around the best you can. “Henchman number four?”

“Megedagik,” he informs, standing up a little taller now that he was given some importance. “It means ‘killer of many’.”

“Did you just say your name was Mega Dick?” 

“Megedagik,” he corrects.

You stare at him hard before turning away. “Alright, other than Mega Dick here, does anyo-”

A knife lands right next to your feet, driven at least an inch into the ground. You look up at the guy you managed to piss off within four sentences, his face now a beet red. 

“These are brand new, asshole,” you barked, shaking your shoes around. “You’re gonna pay if there’s even a scratch on it.”

“Permission to kill her?” Meg growls, casting a side eye at Chad.

The boss man looks at you thoughtfully, assessing the repercussions of what might happen. You raise an eyebrow.

“Slow and painful,” he settles. 

A small smirk makes its way onto your face. 

“Title of your sex tape,” you quip as the man in the corner storms towards you.

_____

It’s all a flurry, really. A bunch of inexperienced newcomers versus one of the most skilled assassins the world had ever seen? Ten minutes tops.

Bucky doesn’t do any serious damage. A couple of broken bones but only out of necessity, a lot of concussions, and maybe a bullet wound, or three, here and there. 

Most of the time he spends thinking about things that have absolutely nothing to do with what was going on. He forgot to take his laundry out of the machine. There was a biscotti recipe he had been procrastinating on trying. His succulents needed watering but he could do that once he was back. Was he wearing his good combat pants or was it the pair that had a hole in the pocket?

His left hand thrust outwards to shove someone away while he stuck his right hand into his pocket to check if it had frayed away. The person he pushed slams into a wall with a loud groan and no, his pants didn’t have a hole in them. 

He stops to take a breather, assess what was going on. There are bodies scattered all around, mostly writhing in pain from minor injuries. Someone very bravely stands up, hands posed in front of him in a regular fighting stance.

“You sure about this?” Bucky asks, reaching for one of the concealed knives he hadn’t had a chance of using yet. It twirls rather nimbly between his fingers for something so dangerous, the hilt finally landing in his palm for a sturdy grip.

The man takes one look at the knife before sitting right back down on the ground. 

“Good choice,” his voice drops to an octave lower than his self-esteem. He’s tired of this old routine but it works like a neat little party trick, often getting him the result he wanted. “Where?”

A few fingers point down the hall to the only room whose door was closed.

He makes sure to step over everyone who was lying along the way, ears tuned in to even the smallest of noises just in case one of them decided to attack him from the back. It doesn’t come.

He doesn’t bother creeping down the hallway. With all the ruckus that just went on outside, he’s pretty sure it’s obvious that they had an intruder. 

Bucky kicks in the large steel door with ease, given that it was barely hanging on its hinges. His gun’s raised, muscles tight, and senses on high alert for any immediate threats. 

It lands with a large thud, reverberating through the room. He’s reminded of your first meeting with him.

There’s a chair in the middle of the room with a person tied to it by a mixture of rope and tape. Others found themselves slithering around on the floor in a similar fashion, trying to get out of their bondages.

“Hey, James,” you call out, drawing his attention to you. You were sitting atop a table, legs swinging back and forth without a care in the world, a blade in your hand. 

“You okay?” He tucks the gun into his waistband when he realises that none of the henchmen are going to be going anywhere soon.

“All good.” You hop off the table with a little spring in your step. “Did you bring your bike? I need a ride back to the lair. I think I left the TV on when I was, you know, getting kidnapped.”

“You coulda teleported back home before all of this even happened.” Bucky does a quick assessment of your body to make sure there weren’t any bruises or anything of the sort. “Avoided the whole thing.”

“Don’t have the watch with me.” Odd, since he knows you consider it one of your essentials but it just fuels his theory further. “Besides, if I just quit before we started, they’d keep messing with me over and over again.”

“Do you want me to punch someone’s face in?” He glances around the room at the ones wiggling about on the floor like fucking worms. “I’d be happy to.”

“Nah, I got a few in myself.” You rotate your wrist, other hand still holding onto the knife. “You know what, maybe I’ll have another go.”

He simply makes a noise in acknowledgement before he places a hand on the hem of your shirt, gently reeling you back. “I think you fixed ‘em up real good. That’s enough for today.”

“Fine but only ‘cause you said so.” You huff, looking past him and at the weirdos on the ground. “You hear that? This man just saved your life. Say ‘thank you’.”

A muffled chorus of what sounded like appreciation echoed through the room. Bucky awkwardly looks around.

“Damn right.” You walk over to the guy in charge of the whole event, bending down to his level. “If you ever try to fuck with us again...”

You stare straight into his eyes, unblinking. You hold up the knife to his Adam’s apple. Chad doesn’t dare to move other than the thick swallow.

You raise your finger and flick him in the forehead. “Get a better costume.”

The corner of Bucky’s lip quirks upward.

“Let’s go, sarge,” you announce, standing upright again and making a motion to follow you. “D’you have an extra helmet I could use?”

“Yeah.” He had brought one along in his bag, assuming that you’d need one once he noticed the watch was missing in the footage.  

“Yay.”

The only storage space on his bike was under his seat and it’s just enough for an extra revolver. Clint asked him if it was his way of flirting with someone, give ‘em a quick spin around the city and then show them his gun. If looks could kill, Clint would be 7 feet under. 

“You sure you wanna ride it, though?” He cringes immediately when he realises what it sounds like, waiting for you to smack the innuendo in his face. “We could wait for SHIELD.”

“Don’t really have another choice, Bucky,” you say absentmindedly, strolling out the room as you tossed the knife behind you.

He frowns at your indifference but turns around for a second to look at Chad. The man in question looks back viciously, his grandeur from that morning basically deflated and left to die along with his reputation.

“Might wanna reconsider the name,” Bucky remarks, doing a quick sweep of the area once more. “Soul Crusher.”

He waits until both of you are outside the cell and the door is shut on the ringleader and his circus clowns, handlebar twisted out of place so that they don’t escape for the time being.

“One second,” he calls, touch gently lingering on your forearm to stop you without even thinking twice about it. A famously uncharacteristic move for him.

"Hm?” You don’t even look like you notice his action.

“You sure you’re good?” he asks seriously, actual concern slipping through the question. “Do you need medical assistance?”

“They couldn’t hurt me anyway.” There’s something strange about the way you say it, almost assuredly. “I’m good.”

“Okay,” he concedes, his hand darting back when he realises it was still on your arm. His eyebrows furrow when he realises how instinctively he had reached out in the first place.  He didn’t touch anyone, ever.

“What are we gonna do about them?” you inquire, stepping over someone on the floor to get to the exit.

“Marie told Agent Hill. They’re sending someone over.”

“They’re sending SHIELD for these wannabes?” Someone groans in protest from somewhere and you elect to ignore them. “Ew.”

“Just to make sure confidential information isn’t compromised in any way.” There’s a large bang that comes from the room they just left. Maybe one of them shot their teammate by accident. They were more than capable of doing it.

“I would never,” you exacted a little more solemnly, pushing the door open with your elbow to let the sunlight flood in.

“I know.” He doesn’t realise how dark it was in the warehouse until he steps out into the noon sun. “I’m pretty sure this is more about the fact that you were abducted.”

“For me?” The smile doesn’t quite reach your eyes the way he kinda likes. Something definitely felt off. “I love being class favourite.”

He doesn’t reply, a small grunt as he twists the handle of the warehouse door upwards, effectively jamming it. 

“Can I drive?” You bat your eyelashes at him innocently, disregarding the loud screaming that came from inside as those less injured probably regrouped for a last ditch attempt. 

“No,” he doesn’t hesitate in replying, handing you a helmet and buckling his own securely.

“But I just got kidnapped,” you complained, watching him swing a leg over the bike and straddle it. Okay then. 

“All the more reason for you not to drive right now.” He mentions for you to get on, squinting at the warehouse a few feet away.

“Fine, but next time I’m driving,” you grumble, climbing on the back.

“Do you even know how to?” His head is tilted to look at you from the corner of his eye, voice heavier on account of the obstruction on his face.

The door starts shaking violently and he knows for a fact that it won’t hold up for much longer. Some of those who he had knocked out probably had been shaken awake again for manpower. 

“I can learn.” You take a pause, mischief seeping into your next words. “You can teach me.”

“No.” He didn’t exactly practice what was considered safe, law abiding driving. He just got from one point to another and that’s all he cared about.

“Then I’ll do it myself.” You sound determined. “I’m going to leave a note for us in the lair.”

“You do that.” He revs the engine when something solid hits the metal door. As guessed, their usage of props to push it down faster was coming into play. “Now, can you hold on to something? We need to go.”

If only those idiots just realised that the windows covered by newspapers were right there, ready to be broken.

“Only if you promise to let me drive next time,” you say defiantly, drawing this whole ordeal out.

“Whatever,” he urges. “I promise. Now can we go?”

“Wait for it...” There’s a devilish smile on your face. “One.”

There’s a loud creak as the door finally gives way.

“Two.” The same people you left tied up in the room burst out, almost stumbling over each other in the process.

“Three,” he completes it on his own, not waiting for you to finish because God knows how long you’d stretch it out just for the drama.

Your excited screech of laughter as he narrowly misses a rod that gets thrown at him like a fucking javelin temporarily distracts him from the brain freeze he gets when your arms wind around his waist to hold yourself in place. 

There’s angry screaming and bullets that whiz past in an attempt to get him to stop but a swift turn around a corner, pulling the both of you out of their sight is enough to get rid of them. 

“We should get a few weapons and go back,” you yell over the wind rushing by, barely audible.

“You do that in your own free time,” he shouts in response, yanking you through narrower lanes and less popular streets.

“Maybe I will, you bore.” 

Still, you shut up for the rest of the ride, only grumbling when he stops the bike to tell you that no, you cannot let go just because you want to throw your hands in the air like in the movies.

You hop off when he finally pulls up on the street outside your lair, adrenaline still pumping through your veins. He waits patiently as you unbuckle the helmet, switching off the engine. 

“You gonna drop me off at my door too, now?” You snicker, fingers pulling off the helmet.

He looks at you for a second before dropping the kickstand into place and dismounting from the motorcycle.

“I was kidding.” You laugh, handing him your headgear that he shoves into his backpack. 

“You’re pretty capable of gettin’ abducted along the way.” An absurd notion, considering it’s a short path from the road to the door. 

“Oh, how chivalrous.” You let him tag along anyway, for his peace of mind. 

“My ma didn’t expect any less.” A couple of sharp lessons from Winifred Barnes and Bucky was nothing short of a damn angel. 

You knock on the door three times, crossing your arms over your chest as you waited. 

“Aren’t you the one with the key?” Bucky questions, one hand on his waist. 

The door swung open in the middle of his sentence revealing... you.

Another you.

“Nah, she has it.” Ex-Kidnapped-You raises your head in acknowledgement at Doorway-You.

“Ah.” He fucking knew it. An unnatural sense of smugness blossoms in his chest. 

“Hey,” the both of you said at the same time.

Doorway-You looked way more relaxed, a little less grimy and dishevelled but exactly the same.

“Buck, I see you met my other half,” the you from the doorway greets him. “Or other whole, actually.”

“Sure did.” He sends a glance at Ex-Kidnapped-You.

“You can go on in. Big first day, huh?” Doorway-You refers to the you beside him.

“You wouldn’t believe,” Ex-Kidnaped-You mutters, pushing past the entrance and disappearing inside.

“She gonna be okay?” His gaze trails after your clone.

“Oh yeah, just needs to recharge.” You turn around to make sure she’s fine. “She’s made of some pretty strong carbon, technically almost indestructible.”

No wonder ‘you’ said they couldn’t hurt you.

“Heya, sarge.” You draw his attention back to you. “Always good to see you.”

“Can’t really say the same about you.” 

“Ever the emotional repressor, Mr Barnes. I like this little leather show you got going, did ya wear it just for me?”

He shifts his balance to his other foot, feet slightly wide apart. “Take it that the clone machine finally worked?”

“I was in the middle of celebrating.” You sigh, recalling the events of that morning. “Teleported home for a second to get some champagne and when I came back she was gone.”

“Irresponsible.” He tsks, head shaking in disappointment. 

“Sorry I didn’t take amateur kidnappers into account for my risk factor analysis, Bucky,” you shoot back, pressing on his name for added annoyance. “Anyway, I did the responsible thing. I sent all the evidence I had to you guys.”

“Real clever.” Bucky looks at you in dry amusement. “Attack on the clone? Really?”

“Hey, always make time for a good pun.” You finger gun, lopsided grin on your face. “Did the team like it?”

“They thought it was a typo.” Or a code. He really had Wanda to thank for his big revelation. “Your video didn’t help either.”

“Don’t tell me they couldn’t make out it was me.” You laugh, crossing your arms over your chest.

He doesn’t reply, pursing his lip inwards in sympathy, but more so to conceal a smile.

The happiness drops from your face slowly, horror taking its place. “Don’t tell me they couldn’t make out it was me.”

“Good job, your machine worked,” he adds helpfully.

“C’mon, there were so many differences,” you whine, the success of your endeavour the last thing on your mind. 

“That is your literal clone,” he points out, only to see you- clone you- walk into the giant box in the corner of the room, bright green light emanating from it like a xerox machine.

“How could they not tell the original apart from a copy?” You look genuinely offended. Insane. “Not even Sam?”

“Guess you’re not unique enough.” A rise and fall of his shoulders signify his attitude towards this whole thing. “Think I like your copy better, too, actually.”

“You’re so mean.” You puff in disbelief. “I’m a 100% original. How many mad scientist teachers do you know?”

“Two.” 

“I don’t mean now, that’s not even the-” You poke at his rock hard chest. “You are so much more annoying than when I first met you.”

He thinks it’s good relationship development.

“I have to deal with you every weekend.” He watches your finger drop from his chest. “Picked it up along the way.”

“Boo hoo, talking like you don’t have deep, deep feelings for me.” You roll your eyes. “I see right through you, Bucky Barnes.”

“Can you see the part that couldn’t give less of a shit?” He gestures to himself. “It’s all of it.”

“You think you’re such a comedian, huh?” You narrow your eyebrows. “How did you know she was a fake then, huh?”

Busted.

“Probably ‘cause you didn’t talk as much today,” he dodges. “Actually had some peace of mind for a change.”

“You knew before you got there, you liar.” You push past his fabrications. “You figured it out before everyone else.”

“You literally put it in the title.”

“Yeah, but the rest of the team saw it too.”

“Rest of the team didn’t know you were building a goddamn clone machine for months.”

“You remembered that?” You pulled away, palm over your heart. “Oh, sarge, you paid attention to me.”

His nose twitches.

“You said it, like, eight hundred times.” He could use both his hands to count the number of references you had offhandedly made in the last three weeks alone.

“Why'd you go save me when you knew it wasn't real?” you continue to challenge relentlessly, knowing fully well that he was fibbing. 

“Because you fuckin’ peer pressured me. Had the whole team around me when you sent your little video during breakfast.”

“Just admit it,” you coo, ignoring all his justifications. “You noticed it was fake me right away but showed up anyway because you’re wildly in love with me.”

“No,” he says stiffly. 

“No as in you won’t admit it you have a crush on me, or no as in you didn’t know it was fake me?”

There was no winning this. 

“Good day to you.” He pulls the motorcycle helmet on to hide the expression that plain as day screamed the former of your two options.

“Also,” you bring up indignantly, “she even got to ride the fucking bike and I’ve been asking to drive it for months now!”

“We-” he chooses his words carefully. “-compromised.”

“Oh, you did?” Your voice lowers at the newfound information, interest piqued. “I’m gonna hold you to that then, whatever it is.”

“Doesn’t count.”

“Absolutely does,” you huff. “A promise is legally binding. Blue’s Clues taught me that.”

“Bye, Y/N.”

“You’re my knight in leathery armour,” you swoon, switching sides immediately, “Kinda.”

“See you next week,” he says in farewell, determined to leave before you made it worse. “Try not to get killed by then.”

“Why, so you can do it yourself? Protective much?” You pull him back when he starts walking away, laughing slightly. “Wait a second, you weirdo.”

He sighs, staying put anyway, arms crossed impatiently over his chest.

You pull out the pen tucked behind your ear and slowly tap him twice on each shoulder in a makeshift knighting ceremony. “For your sacrifice.”

He rolls his eyes at the ludicrousness, tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth.

You ignore his lack of enthusiasm, pressing your fingertips to your lips in a small kiss and then to his nose, given that it was the only part of his face you had access to.

“That was for your bravery.” You grin brightly at him and he sure as hell is glad he’s wearing the stupid helmet because he can feel his cheeks light up a bright crimson.

“Thanks.” His voice sounds gruffer than a second ago. He clears his throat.

“Now you’re my knight in leathery armour,” you fawn, nearly falling over yourself dramatically. “Let’s ride into the sunset together. I love you.”

“You’re ridiculous,” he calls out over his shoulder, turning away to return to his bike. “I despise you.”

“But you don’t.”

He really didn’t.

also i managed to fuck my phone up really bad so all proceeds from my ko-fi go towards getting it fixed

Next part

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #mcu fic #bucky fic #bucky barnes fic #bucky fluff #bucky barnes fluff #bucky angst #bucky barnes angst #harmless fic #winter soldier x reader #Winter Soldier #bucky barnes #bucky

[lucianalight]

I saw someone call Loki a fascist today (a ridiculous accusation if you ask me), but what are your thoughts, And can you debunk that accusation?

This was a very interesting question, but ultimately one that was hard to answer, because the word "fascist" is misused so much these days without people actually knowing the meaning. On top of that defining "fascism" is also hard because it doesn't have a set of philosophy.

According to Robert Paxton who is widely considered the father of fascism studies, fascism is "a form of political practice distinctive to the 20th century that arouses popular enthusiasm by sophisticated propaganda techniques." fascism uses such propaganda to promote:

anti-liberalism, rejecting individual rights, civil liberties, free enterprise and democracy

anti-socialism, rejecting economic principles based on socialist frameworks

exclusion of certain groups, often through violence

nationalism that seeks to expand the nation's influence and power

People who say Loki is a fascist or compare him to Hitler, base their interpretation on Avengers movie. And the scene where he stands over Germans and Cap compares him to Hitler, doesn't really help. It might seem a correct interpretation on a surface level considering some of Loki's lines, but it's not.

Of course we know that in Avengers, Loki is under the influence of mind stone which heightens his negative traits and he is not in his right mind. He is under duress from Thanos and the Other and he is not in complete control. But even if he was that is an inaccurate comparison.

We have to consider that for Steve the events of WW2 is still fresh so when he sees someone who look down on others in Germany, the comparison to Hitler is the first thing that comes to his mind. But Hitler didn't conquer Germany, he was liked by many of his people and he didn't have to stand above them because he had lots of supporters.

Another thing that makes this comparison inaccurate, is that fascism considers a group of people based on race, religion etc, superior to others and believes in innate inequality and inescapable social hierarchies.

"Fascism requires some basic allegiances, such as to the nation and to a gatekeeping "master race" or group. The core principle — what Paxton defined as fascism's only definition of morality — is to make the nation stronger, more powerful, larger and more successful. Since fascists see national strength as the only thing that makes a nation "good," fascists will use any means necessary to achieve that goal."

You might think Loki saying to Thor that he considers himself above humans as proof of this. But it's not. Because what is his allegiance? Which group's superiority does he believe in and promotes to make them better and stronger? Asgardians? He is not an Asgardian and he doesn't fight for them. Jotuns? He literally hates that he is a Jotun and he was raised to see his own race as inferior and monsters. In fact, Asgardian considers humans in higher regards than Jotuns. Thanos and Chitauri? He is being threatened with the promise of more pain, if he doesn't bring them the Tesseract. He is not actually a volunteer ally or on their side. So the most defining aspect of fascism ideology doesn't exist in Loki's motivations.

Also Loki's behavior toward humans, specially Clint and Selvig who he has under mind control, doesn't show that he actually sees himself above them or believes in inequality. He treats them respectfully and as equals. He asks for their opinion and accept their plans without question. His behavior toward Jane in TDW shows the same thing since he treats her respectfully and protects her with his own life.

"Fascism rejects assertions that violence is automatically negative in nature and views imperialism, political violence and war as means that can achieve national rejuvenation." [X]

Loki's reason for wanting to rule humans was to end the wars because humans kill each other in droves, which is literally against fascism ideology.

So while Loki's speech at the beginning of the Avengers movie was against freedom, his ideology in that movie is nothing like fascism. He can be a metaphor for a dictator though, if we ignore the mind influence. Fascism is an ideology while dictatorship is way of ruling.

But you know who actually have similarities with fascism? Odin. Not only he conquered other realms and colonized them, according to Hela based on the notion that Asgardians were superior race and should have ruled other realms, but also like fascists he had scapegoat groups: Jotuns.

"Fascists also excel at propaganda, using it as a tool to scapegoat certain groups; however, those groups may differ from country to country."

Asgardians considered Jotuns as monsters. Monsters that parents scared the children with their stories. Odin told the story of Asgard's war with them to Thor and Loki, portraying them as cruel savages while Asgardians were heroic protectors.

Another thing that refutes the notion that Loki is a fascist and a dictator, is what he did when he actually got the throne of Asgard and ruled for four years.

"Once in power, "fascist dictatorships suppressed individual liberties, imprisoned opponents, forbade strikes, authorized unlimited police power in the name of national unity and revival, and committed military aggression."

When Loki got the power, he actually saved W4 from the consequence of their treason in TDW while he very well could take his revenge on them by this excuse. But he let them free. Even with Heimdall, it was Heimdall himself that negated his duty and Loki didn't seek to imprison him. He invested in art and literature in a society that valued war. Attempted to portray a better picture of himself and Jotuns as a result to the point that it made racist Asgardians sympathize with his story. He was seen sitting amongst common people, talking with them respectfully and kindly. He stopped Asgard's military intervention in other realms and gave them their freedom back.

In conclusion, everything Loki did when he was king and in his right mind, was opposite to fascism ideology. Therefore he is not a fascist, nor a dictator.

Source: What is fascism?

#loki #loki meta #fascisim #dictatorship #avengers #tdw #thor the dark world #thor ragnarok #thor1 #odin #jotuns #asgard #anon #messages

[nostalgicatsea]

Common questions about and excuses for racism in fandom

I noticed that the same excuses, justifications, and questions that have come up in response to racism in fandom over the years appear in the notes for my post, so here’s a FAQ of sorts to address them. Hopefully, this will help people understand why these arguments don’t stand up to scrutiny and have something to refer to in lieu of writing a new reply every time someone says these things. 

Due to the length of this post, I made a Google doc for easier reading. Please note that several points are specific to the Marvel fandom and to the post linked above and are often M/M-focused (I explain why in that post), but generally speaking, the following can be applied to any fandom and various relationships. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

I can ship whatever I want. Stop being the fandom police!

Shipping isn’t activism. 

Fandom is supposed to be fun. Being told what to do or not to do isn’t fun.

I put a lot of different people in my works, and I do research about the groups they’re in. For example, I have a *marginalized group here* character (e.g., disabled), and I did research to represent them accurately. It’s not fair to say that I don’t care about diversity.

I don’t think people should write about POC if they’re white, just like I wouldn’t want anyone to talk about *insert topic you’re passionate about or interest group you’re in here* (e.g., the BDSM community) if they didn’t know anything about it.

I really don’t have any knowledge about what it’s like to be a POC, though, so maybe I’m not the best person for this. If POC want to see themselves represented, they should make their own works.

I’m not comfortable with writing POC as I’m unfamiliar with the struggles they experience. I don’t want my writing to come off as inauthentic, inaccurate, or offensive. Why are you saying it’s harmful to use this as a reason for abstaining from writing POC?

It doesn’t make sense to include every single POC in my work.

What you said and the data you have don’t necessarily point to racism. It might just be individual preference. I prefer certain ships over others, and it has nothing to do with race/I don’t see color.

A big part of what informs my shipping is physical attraction or interest in the characters.

I don’t ship _____ because I see them as brothers/sisters/siblings.

Some white characters and ships are popular in the MCU fandom because people bring in canon characterization or material from the comics to the character(s)/ship. Your MCU-only examination fails to account for ships with one character from the MCU and one from comics (e.g., MCU Bucky/616 Clint or Spideypool).

Some subfandoms just have fewer POC which means there will naturally be fewer ships featuring POC. To say that the Marvel fandom is racist as a whole is disingenuous; you can see how more diversity in the cast leads to more diverse ships in fanworks.

Some of the characters and ships are popular because white characters get the lion’s share of screen time and development or they appeared in canon earlier.

Is it racist to racebend a character?

Racist language in fics is more important than fandom representation.

My fanworks tend to focus on one ship and don’t really include other characters in general. When they do, the others mostly talk about that relationship. Am I falling into the trap you mentioned? 

I feel guilty about not including or writing about *character of color’s name here*.

How do I ensure that I don’t offend anyone if I include POC in my work?

What should I do to examine myself for any implicit biases?

The rest of the post is under the cut.

I can ship whatever I want. Stop being the fandom police!

As explicitly stated several times in my post, I agree that you can ship whatever you want. I’m not targeting a specific ship. I’m not telling you to stop shipping what you ship. All I’m asking is for everyone, including myself and other POC, to regularly examine ourselves for any implicit biases. If you’re a multishipper, are all of your ships in the fandom white? If you only have one ship and it’s white, are most or all of your ships in your other/previous fandoms white? Is the only media you consume predominantly or all white? 

Shipping isn’t activism. 

No, it isn’t and in many cases, shouldn’t be seen or treated as the same thing. However, by responding this way to POC who want to see themselves represented in fanworks more and not be ignored or written stereotypically, you’re telling us that our mere existence is a “political issue.” 

Fandom is supposed to be fun. Being told what to do or not to do isn’t fun.

It should be fun for us POC too, and it’s not when we’re consistently misrepresented or we don’t exist in this fandom. By using this as an excuse to exclude POC from your works, you’re saying that only some people are allowed to have fun or that having fun is conditional. Also, no one is forcing you as an individual to do or not do anything. See two paragraphs above.

I put a lot of different people in my works, and I do research about the groups they’re in. For example, I have a *marginalized group here* character (e.g., disabled), and I did research to represent them accurately. It’s not fair to say that I don’t care about diversity.

Just like you do research for those groups, you can easily do research on POC. Also, please be aware that this statement is similar to the “I’m not racist because I have a ___ friend/have a ___ person in my works” argument that many people use to prove they’re not racist, homophobic, sexist, etc. We aren’t interchangeable with other groups. 

I don’t think people should write about POC if they’re white, just like I wouldn’t want anyone to talk about *insert topic you’re passionate about or interest group you’re in here* (e.g., the BDSM community) if they didn’t know anything about it.

Something like BDSM is a lifestyle and preference. It is a choice. Being a POC isn’t. We can’t take off our identity every time we leave the house, the way you might keep it secret at work that you’re in the BDSM scene. 

I really don’t have any knowledge about what it’s like to be a POC, though, so maybe I’m not the best person for this. If POC want to see themselves represented, they should make their own works.

We do. Also, all of us fanwork creators make works with characters who are different from us all the time. Fandom is largely composed of people who aren’t straight cis men, yet the bulk of works on AO3 features characters who are canonically or implied to be straight cis men even if we end up changing that in our works. Most of us aren’t billionaires, but we don’t have a problem writing Tony. We don’t know what it’s like to be a WWII-soldier-turned-brainwashed-assassin who was kept in cryo for decades except when deployed on missions, but we don’t have a problem writing Bucky. The list goes on.

I’m not comfortable with writing POC as I’m unfamiliar with the struggles they experience. I don’t want my writing to come off as inauthentic, inaccurate, or offensive. Why are you saying it’s harmful to use this as a reason for abstaining from writing POC?

Your concern isn’t harmful. Reducing us to our trauma is, and you’re doing that if the reason you’re not comfortable with writing POC is that you don’t know how to write our struggles. We’re not only our pain. We’re more than that.

Not every fic has to be about the trauma of being a POC. We deserve to have fun, silly fics in addition to serious, plotty drama. We’re not thinking about our suffering 24/7 even if we do think about or are affected by it a lot. It’s not like if you write a Sam/Bucky fic, Sam is going to randomly lecture Bucky about the history of Black people in the U.S. and modern enslavement through the prison industrial complex while Bucky is trailing kisses down his neck in bed. We don’t need everyone being racist to MJ in a Pride and Prejudice AU. If you do want to include their struggles because that informs the way the characters think or act in your story, you can do so in ways that feel organic. 

Additionally, this is an excuse that we hear often; you may have heard it as people in Hollywood have used it to explain why they don’t have any, or at least any major, characters from marginalized groups in their works. If we allowed this excuse, an overwhelming majority of who we see in the media would be straight, cis white men considering who has power in the film and TV industry—and we would have to say that’s okay. We would have to say that the only people allowed to write about a certain group are members of that group, e.g., only women can write women. That’s not acceptable especially considering the gatekeeping, oppression, and high barriers to entry and success that make it difficult for marginalized people to even be in the room let alone make a name for themselves.

Fandom is no different. You’re saying that you can’t relate to POC because you’re white, but none of us POC have any problems making fanworks with white characters even though we don’t know what it’s like to be white. There are straight women who write fics about gay men and don’t feel uncomfortable doing so when they don’t know a single thing about being a gay man and the struggles of gay men (M/M can include bi or pan men, fics about gay men by straight women can sometimes include problematic portrayals, and straight men, queer women, and non-binary people write M/M too, but this is just an example).

You should be more careful when writing a POC if you're not a POC. The same goes for men writing women, cis people writing trans people, straight people writing queer people, able-bodied people writing disabled people, etc. However, there ARE ways to go about it, and while I understand the fear of messing up, the truth is everyone is racist, sexist, etc. Everyone including people in marginalized groups. Being a white lesbian doesn’t mean you can’t be racist. Being an Asian man doesn’t mean you can’t be sexist. You can see that within groups themselves. POC are not exempt from racism against other POC or from internalized racism against themselves or their own group. Women aren't free from internalized misogyny. The best we can do is to not make that prevent us from making inclusive works; if you make a mistake, which may happen, all we can ask is that you try your best to be open to feedback and grow. 

It doesn’t make sense to include every single POC in my work.

No one is telling you to. Choose characters who make sense for the story. Don’t choose them just so you have a POC in your work. We don’t want them to be tokenized. 

What you said and the data you have don’t necessarily point to racism. It might just be individual preference. I prefer certain ships over others, and it has nothing to do with race/I don’t see color.

This argument is identical to the “not all _____” rebuttal (“not all men,” “not all white people,” etc.) which places the blame on a few lone individuals and shifts the conversation away from an existing widespread problem. When there’s a consistent pattern and there are many examples of it both within the fandom and in other fandoms, it no longer is about individual preference. 

I urge you to consider the following:

If most people say they don’t write about or include a POC in their work because it’s too difficult or they’re afraid of making that character inauthentic, but they don’t seem to have an issue with writing other characters from groups they’re not in (e.g., if you’re a straight woman who writes a lot of M/M fics despite not knowing what it’s like to be a bi, pan, or gay man), doesn’t that say something?

If most people have the same reasons you do about not being interested in POC (e.g., “they’re not fleshed out enough” while being interested in or fleshing out minor white characters who get the same or even less development as those characters) or ships with POC (e.g., saying “they’re like brothers” while being interested in a white ship with similar dynamics and tropes or seeing why other people might ship it if you don’t), doesn’t that say something?

If most people give characters of color the same roles in their works even if that makes them OOC and/or the role reduces them to a (frequently stereotypical) trope, especially if they’re never fleshed out beyond that trope (e.g., the funny sidekick, wise friend who always helps or gives advice/free therapy, or responsible, mature, and sometimes stern friend who “parents” the protagonist), isn’t that saying something?

If race truly isn’t a factor for you when it comes to liking characters and ships, then this isn’t about you and you don’t have to distract people from the conversation by announcing that. That said, we should all look at characters and ships we like anyway instead of assuming that’s the case as that’s good practice. How much of your list is white? If it’s mostly or entirely white, why is that the case and why do you feel differently about ships of color?

A big part of what informs my shipping is physical attraction or interest in the characters.

What characters and actors do you find attractive or interesting? Are they all or mostly white? If they aren’t, are you drawn to any ships that include those POC? Refer to the section above.

I don’t ship _____ because I see them as brothers/sisters/siblings.

Part of this is preference as it comes down to perceived chemistry and relationship dynamics. However, POC are often not seen as romantic leads both in fanworks and the media and are just friends or “brothers/sisters” (this is why Crazy Rich Asians was a big deal). Sometimes, people even argue against POC being or having love interests in the name of diversity. You see this a lot with WOC in the media where the explanation against a love interest is “she’s a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need a man”; yes, they don’t and sometimes the story doesn’t need a romance, but WOC deserve love too and it’s strange that while white women can get the guy and be independent, WOC can’t and it somehow belittles or reduces them if they do. 

The way you can gauge whether it’s just preference at play or biases you may not have been aware of is to see how many relationships featuring a character of color fall under the “just friends/siblings” category for you, what you need to ship something, and how you feel about white ships with the same type of relationship or same lack of chemistry. For instance, you may say that there needs to be enough interaction for you to ship something and that’s why you don’t care much for Rhodey/Sam. Do you feel the same way about Clint/Coulson then, which has much less interaction (actually much less than Rhodey/Sam in this case)? If it’s about chemistry, are Steve and Sam just “brothers,” but Bruce and Thor aren’t or, if you don’t ship Bruce/Thor, you still “see it” and get why other people might be into it?

What do you ship, or what ships do you understand even if they’re not for you, and how is that different from ships that follow the same beats? Why are Steve and Bucky not brothers, but Rhodey and Tony are (there are many parallels between the two relationships—and one can argue the latter is more nuanced—than appears at first glance, and Rhodey/Tony can be just as sweet or angsty)? If you like the rivals/enemies-to-lovers or meet-ugly aspect to Steve/Tony, Sam/Bucky, Scott/Jimmy Woo, and M’Baku/T’Challa have that dynamic. You like that superior/subordinate-to-lovers dynamic that Clint/Coulson has? Coulson/Fury. Flirty meet-cutes or love/trust-at-first-sight? Steve/Sam.

Some white characters and ships are popular in the MCU fandom because people bring in canon characterization or material from the comics to the character(s)/ship. Your MCU-only examination fails to account for ships with one character from the MCU and one from comics (e.g., MCU Bucky/616 Clint or Spideypool).

I explained why I focused on the MCU here and that most of the fics that feature an MCU character and comics ’verse character tend to be heavily or entirely MCU-influenced here.

Also, characters of color exist in the comics, cartoons, and games too. By this logic, Steve/Sam and Rhodey/Tony should be juggernauts in the MCU fandom considering the depth and history of the characters and relationships. Ask yourself why people are happy to ship MCU Spideypool, to draw on the comics for that relationship and even bring a non-MCU character into the MCU and write him based on his comics history and characterization. Ask yourself why people are unhappy with MCU Clint’s terrible writing and lack of characterization and decide to give him his 616 (usually Fraction-era) characterization. And then ask yourself why people don’t do that for characters of color and then use “___ is a minor character/doesn’t have much development” as an excuse for why they’re uninteresting or not shippable with others.

There are many strong and interesting relationships in the comics, but only a few make it to the MCU fandom and almost all, if not all, of them are white.

Some subfandoms just have fewer POC which means there will naturally be fewer ships featuring POC. To say that the Marvel fandom is racist as a whole is disingenuous; you can see how more diversity in the cast leads to more diverse ships in fanworks.

It’s more important to see how many fanworks there are for ships of color in a fandom than how many ships of color there are in that fandom. See how few works there are for POC ships other than MJ/Peter in the MCU Spider-Man fandom despite the diversity of the cast. See how the most popular ships are white and three of them involve white characters from the Iron Man fandom (explain to me how Harley/Peter has over 1,000 works, but Ned/Peter has 436). 

And sure, you can say almost all of the Black Panther ships feature a character of color so there’s “more” diversity, but see how few works there are for them and how works with a white character fare compare to POC-only ships (almost all have 100-200 or fewer fics, with many having so few that I didn’t include them in the post, while BP ships with a white character have more works despite little to no interaction between the characters). 

Both of these, by the way, are critical and box office hits with characters who are clearly supposed to be the faces of the MCU now that the OG6 are gone. Black Panther is an award-winning critical and box office hit, and it is, more than any other film in MCU history, a huge cultural phenomenon with tremendous impact. It broke so many records and milestones, and it’s STILL breaking and making them. It has the most nuanced and balanced ensemble cast with side characters just as three-dimensional as the lead, a rarity in MCU films. Yet, its tag only has 3,966 works, fewer in total for the whole fandom than some of the white M/M ships on this list. Even if you account for BP fanworks that may have been tagged as MCU instead of BP, the number is paltry as you can see in this post. People simply do not want to make fanworks for characters of color (in this case, specifically Black characters) and don’t. It’s not about how diverse or successful a film is.

Some of the characters and ships are popular because white characters get the lion’s share of screen time and development or they appeared in canon earlier.

Yes, that’s true, but fandom has no problem catapulting white ships with minor characters into extreme popularity. See Clint/Coulson. See fics prioritizing Happy and having him show up more than Rhodey in Steve/Tony fics. 

It’s not about chronology. Many ships of color came before white ships as a whole and before white ships with the same white character they have. See Bucky/Clint vs. Bucky/Sam. 

Lastly, please don’t tell me how certain white M/M ships came to be to explain how they’re exempt or how I’m failing to consider other factors for their popularity. I’ve been in the fandom since 2012, and I’ve seen almost all of the white ships in the fandom be born or boom into popularity. Don’t try to explain, for instance, that Clint/Coulson is big because Coulson has his own show and his fans followed him from the show (this logic falls flat when you look at something like Luke Cage); that ship became huge way before that happened and way before Agents of Shield became “big.” Also, see the section above regarding screen time, development, and fame. 

Is it racist to racebend a character? 

People’s opinions differ on racebending—and often that comes from personal background and on the situation—so I can’t speak on anyone’s behalf. However, I think everyone can agree on the following:

Racebending a white character is not the same thing as whitewashing a POC. For example, making Tony Stark Indian vs. turning T’Challa white or as canonical examples, making Fury black in Ultimates and the MCU vs. making the Ancient One or the Maximoffs white. The latter (whitewashing T’Challa, the Ancient One, and the Maximoff twins) is racist for various reasons. There’s a long history of POC being erased and white people taking roles from POC, a huge imbalance in representation between white people and POC, the unfortunate perception by the public and media that “white = neutral/standard” (Bruce’s whiteness doesn’t define his characterization and development), and the way race plays a role in influencing the way POC feel, act, and are treated.

Racebending a POC from one ethnicity or racial group to another is also problematic as we’re not interchangeable. Hollywood often does this and goes, “But they’re still a POC! We’re being diverse!” 

In general, people who racebend white characters to POC want to see more POC in canon and in the media! These aren’t mutually exclusive.

Sometimes people racebend because they’re not represented at all in their works. (This happens with other marginalized groups too; for instance, some people make cis characters trans in their fanworks as there are few to no trans characters in the canonical source.) For example, there are, as of now, no Latinx superheroes in the MCU films. Even if people wanted to, they can’t make works with an MCU Latinx superhero unless they bring one from the comics or the one Latinx superhero from Agents of Shield (if they know the comics or AoS), make a minor Latinx film character like Luis a superhero, or racebend their favorite white character and put a fresh spin on the character, drawing from their personal experience and background.

There’s a massive difference between fans racebending a character and a creator taking credit by pretending they viewed a character as non-white or didn’t see race all along when it’s clear that the character is canonically white (this is different from a creator saying they support anyone, POC or white, playing that character onscreen or onstage). 

Racist language in fics is more important than fandom representation.

We don’t have to pick our battles. Both are important! I focused on fandom representation as it’s much more quantifiable and easy to find and analyze data for than racist language on a fandom-wide scale on my own without any tools. You’re right that the latter is a problem as is racist representation in fanworks, though. 

My fanworks tend to focus on one ship and don’t really include other characters in general. When they do, the others mostly talk about that relationship. Am I falling into the trap you mentioned?

If the story is about a relationship (examining that relationship and the feelings of the characters in it) and there isn’t much of a plot outside of that, then that makes sense. However, even in situations like this, consider how much time you dedicate to characters of color vs. white characters. If the story is about a ship featuring a POC, do you spend more time on the white character of that relationship? Their white friends and how they feel about that relationship? If it’s about a white ship, do white side characters appear more than side characters of color even if the latter have a closer relationship with the protagonists? For example, does Wanda show up more than Sam or play a bigger role than him in a Steve/Bucky fic? Do you have Pepper show up all the time (or even Happy), but Rhodey is chronically absent? Do only the white characters get to be more than the tropes you’re using, if you’re using any, while the POC don’t get to be nuanced? Are there any stereotypes that you’re reducing the POC to?

I feel guilty about not including or writing about *character of color’s name here*.

See “It doesn’t make sense to include every single POC in my work.” Include the character(s) who make sense for the story, perspective you’re writing/drawing from if applicable, and central group or ship if this is a ship-specific work. For example, if you’re drawing the Avengers and you include the newer Avengers, Rhodey and Sam should appear too, not just Wanda, Scott, Bucky, and/or Carol (this happens a lot). If you’re writing a Tony POV fic that includes other characters, depending on the story, it may make sense that Sam doesn’t appear much as he and Tony aren’t close whereas he would in a Steve POV fic.

How do I ensure that I don’t offend anyone if I include POC in my work?

You can’t ensure anything as POC aren’t a monolith, but you can try to be as informed as possible and avoid common pitfalls while writing. You can do research, just the way you might research anything you’re not familiar with. You can ask if anyone is willing to do a sensitivity read while you write or before you post. You can look for betas. There are a lot of resources out there, but these are good places to start if you’re looking for more information and help:

Writing with Color - resources

Writing with Color - Stereotypes and Tropes page

Reference for Writers - POC tag

What should I do to examine myself for any implicit biases?

We should all take stock of:

our feelings about different characters and relationships, both platonic and romantic, who we prioritize in our works, and how much they’re prioritized

our decision whether or not to seek or make content with characters of color. This includes content for white ships because sometimes every white character in the MCU shows up as a side character, but characters of color don’t or all of the white characters play bigger roles than the POC despite how close they are to the protagonist(s)

the way we interpret and write/draw those characters. For example, is Sam a yes-man? A figurative or literal therapist for white friends? The bro who only cracks jokes and/or gives sage advice but seems to not have any flaws, struggles, or life of his own outside of his white friends? The BFF who thinks his white best friend is being ridiculous about another white guy and wants them to get their act together already? Does the character of color talk in the way you perceive everyone of that race to talk rather than the way they personally do (e.g., does Luis randomly and awkwardly switch into Spanish when he talks just because he’s Latinx despite never speaking Spanish with Scott? Does Sam use AAVE with Steve, Bucky, and Natasha when he doesn’t do that with them?)? 

Also, here’s a Google doc with more anti-racist resources.

Even well-meaning people can slip up or not be as proactive as they hoped they would be so it’s just good practice to check in with ourselves every once in a while and see if there’s anything we missed or didn’t notice.

#fandom #marvel fandom #mcu fandom #resource

[bardicious]

Are YOU Loki's Father?

(Nice hot button titling right there)

So I stumbled upon a reddit post asking fans how they would rate Loki's father figures and I didn't like any of the options, tbh. (The options being Mobius, Laufey, Odin, and Homer...). No judgment on the OP, though, I'm sure we both just see the movies way too differently.

Anyway, not asking y'all to rate anything, not even asking you to pick any real interactions or basis in the movies or shows, but I thought I'd give several of my own headcanon-y/au ones as alternatives and ones I've genuinely liked reading or making for my own fic ideas.

So here's a list of some bizarre and unexpectedly chosen fathers for our dear Loki!

Thor (If it was kid!Loki, Loki reborn and Thor learns to be more compassionate. I can see Thor making up for many past wrongs while rearing this new Loki.)

Tony Stark (Also if kid!Loki, but I can totally see Tony becoming more parental - and he's a good dad - so if Loki ever let him, he's there. I've got an AU where Tony and Loki become friends first and then Loki dies, only for him to be reborn as a baby in Tony's arms. I love these two, okay.)

Phil Coulson (I just like this dude okay? He seems real nice, I didn't actually watch Agents of Shield but I once heard that if Phil and Loki got a chance to actually know each other they'd probably be friends, and thats hella dope. I see Phil as someone who also looks after others)

Clint Barton (This ones a kid!Loki scenario too, I genuinely think they could learn to care about each other if they were in a team setting and Clint knew how similar him and Loki are, Clint also strikes me as a pretty good dad.)

Heimdallr (This one's probably especially weird? Same way I see a scenario where they can be lovers, I see one where Heimdallr is generally protective of Loki - them being two odd people in Asgard, Loki who flies unseen by so many, is constantly watched and protected by Asgard's gatekeeper!)

Odin (Only good dad!Odin fics. Canon Odin is a piece of shit, though I believe Loki still loves him so he stays on the list. Hmph)

Laufey (Only good dad!Laufey here, this one assumes that Loki was stolen as a child and Laufey did indeed love him and wanted to keep him safe - seeing as how Loki was in a goddamn temple!!! when he was left - though I don't give Laufey much credit even in my own fics I delegate Loki's birth father to someone else.)

OC/Jormungandr (Not so long ago I decided to give Loki's birth story an even more convoluted touch. Since I headcanon Loki as Hela's child, I figured why not delegate his biological father's role to another of Loki's children's namesakes, Jormungandr. In my AUs, he's Laufey's twin brother - who's also a shape shifter! :D)

I've shared mine! Now feel free to share yours!! No matter how silly, and hell, it could even be you!

#The Adventures of Loki and the Other Ones