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firelxdykatara · 1 month

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I too ship Zutara and think they should have been canon. Although for me it's important to know how such a rewrite would go down. I tried to think, and I'm lost.

After Mai betrayed Azula for him, will he just go "sorry, not interested"? He isn't obligated to date her because of this, but her redemption hinges on Zuko and I don't see it being satisfying if he ends up rejecting her after this.

I thought the solution would be to rewrite her arc in boiling rock to make her have a moral realization, but then the problem with Maiko is practically solved. Their relationship wasn't salvaged by her redemption because last time they talked, Mai still didn't understand what's wrong with the Fire Nation and only changed because she loved Zuko. So how do you make it both satisfying & logical?

With Kataang the problem is the Chakras. The problem with the original (in my opinion) is that after he opened his chakra, letting go of his attachment to Katara, he's still attached (forcing a kiss on eip). Should TCoD get rewritten so that Azula shoots him before he opens it? Then why wouldn't he just open it later? Maybe the chakra would be locked so he feels as though he doesn't need to overcome his attachment just yet. In that situation, how would his chakra even unlock? The stone thing felt like nonsense, so how would I do it?

So yeah I have no idea how to approach this. How would you? (Thanks)

I've been rotating this ask in the back of my head like a rotisserie chicken for a few days--it's interesting because I don't generally stop to think like, how would I write them out of these relationships, I either ignore the relationships completely (which isn't hard, they were barely footnotes in the cartoon) or play a little bit with jealous exes or something. Thinking about like, In A Perfect World where Bryke wasn't in charge of ATLA post-canon (because if zutara had been canon, you can be sure they would've made us regret it) is interesting, and I do have thoughts on how I'd handle their relationships in a rewrite.

(this got long, so the rest is beneath the cut)

Assuming you mostly want to keep canon intact, I think maiko would be the easiest to work around, given how little relevance their relationship has in canon. The problem with maiko as an endgame ship is that it was not set up that way--if it had been, it would not have begun entirely off-screen and their whole relationship would not have been a study in misery and utter inability to connect emotionally. His relationship with Mai was there to showcase just how much he had changed and how little he fit into the life he had been so sure he wanted more than anything since his banishment. It worked very well to highlight Zuko's growth--how that contrasted to Mai's lack of it and why she could not understand him even at his most open and vulnerable--and did not work nearly so well when she was shoved back with him in the epilogue, after he'd quite literally forgotten her existence (he never mentions her again after Boiling Rock, not even to say a word of mourning, considering he'd have every reason to believe she was killed for defying his sister).

I don't think you can fix this by giving Mai some moral realization, because there simply is no room for it. As @araeph says in the essay I linked:

As a character, Mai is very useful to the story during Zuko’s return, because she represents everything that Zuko gains by sticking by his father. A girl who cares about him; the ability to indulge her; the authority he has over others at the palace; we see it all in his interactions with Mai. But this makes Mai a tether to a life he has long outgrown. Her function is not to advance Zuko’s character development, but to obstruct it, which also unfortunately means that Mai gaining a full understanding of Zuko’s trials would be disadvantageous to the story. If she knew everything about him and still wanted him to stay, it would give Zuko more cause than he should have to remain in the Fire Nation, but if she knew and encouraged him to leave and join the Avatar, it would rob Zuko of the triumph of making this decision on his own. In other words, there are good narrative reasons for keeping Mai in the dark; it just doesn’t make their relationship any stronger.

The seeds of a genuine redemption arc (one that includes some sort of moral realization and change to her moral framework) for Mai would have to have been planted far earlier than five episodes from the end of the series, but doing so would have of necessity detracted from Zuko's own character arc and the realizations that he makes despite his attachment to Mai (or more specifically to their relationship, which I feel like he was clinging to more out of a sense of abject loneliness he couldn't shake rather than genuine feelings and emotional connection).

So, in my mind, since we're tackling this with an eye towards getting rid of maiko with the fewest ripples to the overall story anyway, the easiest way to do this would be make one slight change to the end of the Boiling Rock two-parter--have Ty Lee (who had always been the least gung-ho of the trio about bowing to Azula's whims and had to be textually threatened into joining her in the first place) save Zuko's life, and then have Mai (who showed the most genuine affection for Ty Lee anyway) save Ty Lee. I love Zuko more than I fear you always fell flat for me as some epic declaration of love, anyway, since a) Zuko is not around to hear it, and b) unlike Ty Lee, she never showed much fear of Azula to begin with, so it wasn't a very high bar to clear. It was a cool line that was entirely unearned, and I don't think it would be missed, there would be some cute mailee crumbs this way, and a throwaway line of getting them released from the prison after the war ended could wrap up their presence in the story pretty nicely.

Now, kataang is a little trickier, if only because the last leg of Aang's character arc is almost completely derailed by his refusal to let go of his possessive attachment to Katara, to the point where he never naturally reopens his chakras, he has to have the Rock of Destiny hit him in just the right place, and the deus ex lionturtle there to give him a way out of having to make a hard moral choice. (I've maintained for years that if you work the final act of your main character's overall arc in such a way that it could have been solved by one good session with a chiropractor, something got fucked along the way.)

The thing about Aang's chakras is that, narratively, his whole thing with Guru Pathik and leaving his training early to save his friends was basically his version of Luke running away from his training with Yoda on Degobah because of his Force vision, only to find out that his friends were in the process of rescuing themselves and then losing his hand because he hadn't completed the most crucial part of his training. What's missing, therefore, from the last act of Aang's character arc, is the return.

See, in Star Wars, Luke pretty explicitly makes the wrong choice when he chooses to prioritize saving his friends over attaining enlightenment and fully mastering the Force. It was the only choice he could have made, but it was still the wrong one--because, like Aang, his friends did not actually need him to save them, he actually almost makes it harder for them to get away by requiring them to save him because, like Aang, he loses a battle in a very critical way. This was a lesson he desperately needed to learn, and it is clear he has learned it by the time he makes it back to Degobah and witnesses the end of Yoda's life, his own enlightenment having already been reached.

But Aang never goes back to the Guru.

And the text refuses to allow us to sit with the fact that he made the wrong choice in prioritizing his attachment to Katara over his ability to master the Avatar State. He is actually narratively vindicated about it, because the plot bends itself into a pretzel so that he doesn't have to spend any time during the last book trying to reopen his chakras and regain access to the Avatar State, handed both in the final battle with no excess effort on his part, and handed the girl into the bargain. (The girl who never even wanted him, so far as we can tell from all the lack of cues she gave him that she actually returned his feelings.)

And I think this could have been solved with a few scattered scenes. Let Katara actually have some agency in her own romantic relationship (or lack thereof), insofar as noticing Aang's advances and clueing the audience in to how she actually feels. Let Aang struggle with the fact that he can't reach the Avatar State, that his mastery of the elements is in limbo because he can't access his full power, rather than ignoring all of this until the end of the show. If we're trying to keep the shape of the last season roughly the same, let Katara confront Aang about the invasion kiss.

This would have been the perfect time to establish that Katara actually does feel some type of way about Aang prior to the epilogue, and it could have saved us from the exceedingly cringey EIP kiss that Aang never apologized for. How it comes across now, of course, is that Katara basically pretends it never even happened, to the point where she doesn't even know what Aang is talking about during EIP until he reminds her--the death knell for any shot their relationship had at looking requited, because I can tell you, as someone who's been a teenage girl, if someone I had conflicted but burgeoning romantic feelings for had kissed me, I would not have completely forgotten about it only a few weeks later--and we never get any indication as to what she actually felt about the kiss (which was not mutual, despite what Aang's dialogue in the EIP scene implies) except for the fact that she looked away and frowned afterwards. (A change mandated by Bryke, who wanted to leave her feelings completely ambiguous; the original storyboards had her smiling to herself.)

So, with an eye towards wrapping up Aang's puppy love crush and establishing Katara's distinct lack of romantic feelings for him, have her talk to him about the kiss. A good frame of reference for this would be Meng's conversation with Aang in "The Fortuneteller", where she finally realizes that he doesn't like her in the same way she likes him. Katara and Aang's conversation about the invasion kiss could be a callback to this, with Aang having some important realizations--that just because Katara doesn't share his feelings doesn't mean she loves him any less, and just because he can't have her the way he wanted doesn't mean he has to love her any less, that she doesn't belong to him but that's ok, because she's still his family and they'll always have each other's backs. Which could have functioned well in helping him take another step towards unblocking his chakras. Going back to the Guru directly may not have worked, since by this point in the story we're hurtling towards the final confrontation and Sozin's Comet, but let Aang reflect on what the Guru told him with new understanding granted him by his experiences throughout the first half of the season.

To keep the stakes high and up the suspense, obviously, he shouldn't have fully unlocked his chakras and the AS before the final fight, but the seeds could be planted--little moments like a talk with Katara about the invasion kiss, maybe a little more empathy and understanding from him about why Katara needs closure in TSR, etc--and then, during the final fight, rather than hand him all the answers on a silver platter, have him almost lose. He still can't go full Avatar, he's out of time, he still doesn't know exactly what to do about Ozai given his own pacifism and desire to preserve that part of his culture--he tries to fight but he's pretty quickly overpowered. Idk how I would've animated this, and maybe it wouldn't have looked as cool for the final fight, but the true climax of the finale was the Zuko and Azula agni kai anyway, so it hardly matters--I'm picturing him doing the rock-shield thing and going into a brief meditative state, where he finally achieves the enlightenment necessary to unlock the AS on his own, no rock of chiropracty necessary. And at this point, I'd give Ozai a Disney Death, since leaving him alive causes more problems than it solves and it's not necessary for Aang to kill him for him to die--they're fighting on a mountain ffs--but if you don't want to change that part then him figuring out energy bending as part of becoming a fully realized Avatar would at least feel more earned than the lionturtle just handing it to him. (And that could've been foreshadowed better by seeding the idea for it earlier in the season.)

After all of that, particularly if you up the emotions during the agni kai and have Zuko and Katara kiss there (or something less explicitly romantic but still tender, like a brief forehead touch), it'd feel pretty natural to have a just friends ending for Aang and Katara. Maybe a brief, slightly awkward but ultimately amiable conversation if Zuko and Katara had a ~thing at their final fight, and then the final shot of the series could be the gaang all together, maybe zutara holding hands or Katara resting her head on his shoulder or something, but since they already kissed there wouldn't feel like a need to end the whole show on romance, something which I've always felt missed the point of the series.

And then, y'know, after that, the world's your oyster! This is how I'd do it if I were trying to keep the bulk of the final season intact. Of course, breaking it all down to its component pieces and rebuilding from the ground up is also an option, but that'd probably be a longer post lol.

#zutara #atla #m.aiko salt #k.ataang salt #atla canon rewrite #hey albert kim if you're taking notes on how to do season 3 of the LA................#Anonymous #asked

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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 8 months

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PROPAGANDA

PADMÉ AMIDALA (STAR WARS) (CW: Pregnancy)

1.) From the beginning, she only existed to be Anakin's love interest and Luke and Leia's mother. Although she's an important political figure in all three prequels, her characterization in being Anakin's crush/maternal figure in Phantom Menace, Anakin's love interest in Attack of the Clones, and Anakin's wife and baby mama in Revenge of the Sith. She literally dies of a broken heart when Anakin turns to the dark side in RotS, right after giving birth to the twins, because her whole purpose in that movie was to motivate Anakin's fall and be the twins' incubator. What's more, she didn't even know she was carrying twins until after Luke was born because George Lucas apparently gave no thought to what prenatal care would have been like in a universe with futuristic technology despite the whole main plot revolving around Anakin thinking Padme was going to die in childbirth. There was also a subplot cut from RotS where Padme helped found the rebellion with Bail and Mon and then goes to Mustafar to kill Anakin after he falls, but it was apparently deemed not important enough to keep.

2.) Her characterization was drastically forgotten about in the prequel films in favor of her husband's (despite her being one of three main characters in the prequel franchise). She went from queen of an entire planet to a senator of a galaxy-wide political body to dying of a broken heart. She does not question the actions of those close to her despite them contradicting her character morals (which her character was built on!!). Plus, she is rarely mentioned outside of the animated series. The show, Kenobi, doesn't even mention her name, only that she was essentially kind and brave. Also, she was not approached for a cameo in any of the largest related media while the men have.

3.) oh boy. she basically dies because apparently George Lucas doesn’t realize that women’s healthcare exists??? like you could argue that she wouldn’t have died if she just had an OBGYN. in 2/3 of the movies she’s basically just used as a tool for the main male character’s development. then there’s this whole plotline in The Clone Wars (aka TCW) series where there’s all this gross stuff with her ex who literally tries to kiss her when she’s actively saying no, then her husband proceeds to lowkey victim blame her??? it’s just so unnecessary. I could go on

BUMBLE (WARRIOR CATS) (CW: Domestic Abuse)

1.) Back with another Warriors submission, I bet you’ll be getting a lot from other people too LMAO. Bumble is a kittypet (housecat) who befriends the male protagonist Gray Wing’s girlfriend, Turtle Tail, and lets her stay in her house. This gets Gray Wing all pissy because he’s controlling of Turtle Tail and shares most of the wild/clan cat’s proclivity for looking down upon kittypets. Turtle Tail gets pregnant by another kittypet, Tom, who tries to control her by hiding the fact that humans take away kittens after they’re born. Eventually Bumble comes clean about it so Turtle Tail returns to the forest. Some time later, Bumble is found in the forest seeking refuge because Tom has been physically abusing her, scratching her where the humans can’t see. So, she’s CANONICALLY ACKNOWLEDGED as a domestic abuse victim (unlike Squirrelflight who meets all the textbook signs but the narrative and authors deny it). How do you think our good guy protagonists, i.e. Gray Wing “The Wise” and Turtle Tail, respond to an abuse victim seeking refuge? They tell Bumble to go home, thinking to themselves that she’s fat and soft and therefore would be useless in their group. Bumble stands up for herself and asks to speak with the leaders of the group. One of them asks if Bumble could just get along with Tom better (bro???) and when Bumble says it’s not within her control, the leader suggests being nicer to the humans instead. Another rival leader butts in and verbally abuses Bumble again by ripping into how fat and lazy and useless she would be. Despite Turtle Tail having been friends with Bumble and Bumble had helped her through her own hard times, to Gray Wing’s approval Turtle Tail chooses not to intervene as Bumble is forcibly escorted back to her abuser. But that’s not all. Later Bumble is found in the forest maimed and dying, and it seems likely that Gray Wing’s brother Clear Sky, a male with a long history of violence, is the culprit. Rather than mourn the dying innocent cat, Gray Wing’s primary concern is how other cats might be mean to Clear Sky if they think he’s a murderer, and reassures himself that refusing to help Bumble in her time of need was still the right decision.

2.) I have no idea how she managed to be written so horrifically from an abuse victim and woman (/she-cat I guess) standpoint but here we are. Okay so my memory is a bit fuzzy but basically Bumble was a character in Dawn of the Clans and a close friend to Turtle Tail, a major character, as well as a character who lived close to Tom, an abusive dickhead of a cat. Bumble was largely depicted as just a really sweet cat. Turtle Tail was very briefly the mate of Turtle Tail, but once she got pregnant, he became super violent towards both her and our gal Bumble. Tom actively hid the fact that, once her kits were old enough, Turtle Tail’s kits would probably be taken from her, and made Bumble keep quiet about this too, but Bumble eventually told Turtle Tail the truth, Turtle Tail left and Tom became extremely violent towards Bumble because of this, and was extremely abusive towards her. Eventually, Bumble ran away from him to where Turtle Tail and co were and begged to stay, since the wilderness as a whole was genuinely more safe than being around Tom was. Naturally, this meant kitty xenophobia from cats who had only arrived in that area recently, because everybody was insistent than, since she was a kittypet/house cat, things wouldn’t work out, and even her friend Turtle Tail denied her on this, insisted she was too soft to live in the wild and only sent her towards a cat Bumble wanted to convince because she was absolutely certain she’d be denied. Also our good old protagonist Gray Wing got to spend this scene being all upset about this soft cat wanting to join them to escape an abuser and was all bitter about the fact that Turtle Tail lived with her for a short period of time, and he also got to have a sweet romantic moment with Turtle Tail after denying an abuse victim an escape from her abuser. Also as much as I like Tall Shadow usually she sucked ass in the following scene because she was essentially telling Bumble to go find a way to make peace with Tom as if she was not the one being abused (Bumble pointed out that Tom was the one who would need to make peace for it to happen, not her) and that she should just make life better by going back to being a housecat and being spoiled despite the fact that she was actively at risk with her owners because of Tom. Then she leaves after being threatened by several cats there and is called soft on the way out. The next time she appears she is literally dying, and her death is just a plot device to create a stupid little mystery which is solved in a very stupid way. Also her abuser does continue to be a shithead and for some reason is fully permitted to kidnap his own children but he also gets a heroic death and the only reason I will not rant more about him is because this is too long already. Long story short Bumble deserves the world and everybody who decided not to let her escape her abuser just because they thought she was soft sucks

3.) Is nice to the group of starving, feral wild cats that left the mountains so their friends and family could have more food to eat and befriends one of them to the point of opening her home to her after she leaves the group because the guy she likes is too dumb to notice she likes him and keeps falling for his brother’s love interests.

Unfortunately, because Bumble is a house cat who lives in a house with people and not a Wild and Free cat, this is a grave and horrible crime (luring a wild cat into the safety and comforts of domesticity) and is villainized for the rest of the arc, including for things wildly out of her control

I.E.

Her owners taking in an aggressive male cat that bullies and abuses the two female cats already living there

When Bumble’s friend leaves and goes back to the wild cats, Bumble leaves her home (as the abuse as has gotten worse) to see if she could either get help or have her friend return so the abuse isn’t as bad again)

Bumble eventually dies in the wild because the feral cats all hate her for ‘stealing’ their friend and tricking her into becoming a kittypet for awhile and refuse to help Bumble adjust to wild life or even teaching her how to hunt.

They are littl e to no hard feelings at her death beyond 'good riddance’ but the aggressive tomcat that chased her out of her home is later regarded with good feelings and regret at such a 'good, heroic cat’ passing when he dies despite him literally never doing a good or kind thing in his life and actually causing trouble for the wild cats right before dying

#polls #round 1 #week 1 #new #cw pregnancy #cw domestic abuse

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0lshadyl0 · 7 months

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Hi would it be alright to request yandere romantic hcs for Naruto please with a female reader if possible maybe she was part of his team in his younger days ; love to see what you come up with ^-^

I love this question, especially because of the concept of being a teammate, basically being the third member of team 7, since I think that another female character should have been the tri-lead and not Sakura (It's not that I dislike Sakura, in fact, I feel that she is a character with a lot of potential but undervalued by her author who only went out of her way to develop Sasuke. Sakura is a wasted potential like almost all the women in the series, which It makes me think that Kishi doesn't know how to write women… or he's lazy because they aren't Uchihas or Sasuke)

In fact, I am thinking in the future of making a fic with a team 7 made up of Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata, since they are the respective reincarnations of Indra, Asura and the descendant of Hamura, but that will be for another post

yandere Naruto Romantic Headcanons

Well, here I am going to develop Naruto in his early age, that is, Naruto from the first part of the series, it does not include shippuden, the last and I will pretend that Boruto does not exist (don't ask me questions about Boruto, I didn't see the series and I am not interested beyond the concept of Boruto's visual power but only because it would be a development of the byakugan not because I am interested in the character), so here we will see the child version of a twelve-year-old yandere Naruto (if I remember correctly, that's how old he was at that time) until he leaves the village with Jiraiya, keeping this in mind, let's continue

We all know the sad story of Naruto and how painful his childhood was, without parents, hated by the entire village, without friends and all that drama

The important thing is that from all that negligence and lack of human interaction, the need was born in him to attract attention in any way possible

basically what I want to say here is that he would turn yandere for literally anyone who pays him the slightest bit of attention and above all, this is key, who treats him well

I'm not talking about great charitable gestures or kindness, I'm talking about treating him with cordiality, basically the first principle of a decent human being (yes, that's how badly he's been treated)

He would trust you 100% if you approached and proposed to be his friend (let's remember part of a flashback in some filler chapter where he went into a dangerous forest to look for a kunai from an enemy ninja of the village just because some stupid and very bad-hearted children said that they would be his friends if he brought said weapon, basically sending him to die if it weren't for Iruka-sensei)

Another thing is that Naruto is tremendously obsessive, just look at how he behaves with his teammates, that will not compare to the obsession he developed with you.

and we must take into account, here Sakura does not exist in his head, you are the prettiest girl in the village and he has made his intentions very clear to you that in the future he wants to be your lover (boyfriend, in a innocent way since he is a kid)

He will not see mistakes or defects, he will fight with Sasuke or Kakashi if one of those two scolds you or disrespects you

he will not like your friends, not because he is jealous or that he thinks they are going to steal you from him, but it is more because of his insecurity and fear of being alone again, that is something you can repair If you make your friends also friends with him

He is clingy to the extreme but not very observant in the sense that he won't always remember your favorite color or food, but at least he remembers special dates.

your enemies are his enemies and he does hold grudges against people who hurt you

He will also see you as someone above him and everyone, he is like a worshiper (remember how he thought well of Sakura? It's the same but amplified) you are a being incapable of making mistakes in his eyes

His beloved's opinion is very important to him, so much so that it is above anyone else, above his teacher, Sasuke, Iruka, the ramen guy or even the Hokage.

At this stage he will be a little annoying, irritating and clingy, but nothing dangerous, a child in love, the most dangerous thing about his yandere side would come out later when his crush stops being childish.

#shady answer #naruto #yandere naruto #naruto imagines #naruto headcanons #yandere x reader #yandere #naruto uzumaki #naruto x reader #yandere naruto x reader #naruto uzumaki x reader

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aleksanderscult · 2 months

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Today I will rant about Malina

Because this ship tried to be passed on as an ideal relationship to have.

*spoiler: it wasn't*

Malina is a ship that was shoved down our throats throughout the trilogy. Whether you shipped it or not you were bound to read about it in literally every other page.

And what are the negative aspects of this ship?

Literally EVERYTHING.

Let's start with Mal. The number 1 asshole in this trilogy.

And yes he is the number 1 and not Aleksander since Aleksander was a character with a goal. He had a grand plan that exceeded selfishness and pure evil and he used any means necessary to fulfill it. But Mal? Remind me, what was his plan?

Well, at the start of the trilogy to fuck around girls and then, when Alina began to feel something for someone else, to undermine her, latch on her and chastise her. There you have his role.

The minute Alina started having a life of her own outside his influence, the little jerk felt overlooked and his pride got hurt.

It's evident that Alina felt quite unseen from Mal in the beginning. He flirted and fucked girls right in front of her face (since she very clearly knew) and he even stopped hanging around with her as much as he did in the past.

Quite a start.

And then when Alina found her strength, happiness and place in the Little Palace he got offended. Why isn't she tortured as the rumors had said? What are these clothes that she's wearing? Why is she happy? And, most importantly, WHY IS SHE HAPPY WITH ANOTHER MAN??

Alina at that moment felt like she was walking on eggshells around him. She didn't know what to say without provoking him further. And when she found her voice, the little prick got all puffed up and left without even apologizing for ruining her nice evening.

Then we have Mal not talking to her as if it wasn't his own decision to abandon the army and follow her and again made her feel bad for even mentioning the Darkling.

It appears that Mal had no problem when his best friend bullied Alina but went actual feral when a (powerful) guy showed interest in her. Insecure, aren't we Mal?

In the following books we have Mal being okay that Alina doesn't use her powers and therefore being weak.

We have Mal being more concerned if Alina fucked the Darkling than being tortured by him. Apparently he wanted her virginity for him, I don't know.

We have Mal acting like crazy because Alina decided to return to Ravka to lead the remaining Grisha. But what about him?? What about his needs?? And what if he decides not to follow her? What will she do then?

(people call the Darkling manipulative but let me show you another person that you overlook as manipulative, my friends)

He gets angry when she hesitates to kiss him and again makes her feel bad about it. And how does he respond with that?

Revenge!!✨✨

Kisses Zoya, a woman he fucked before, and then threw the blame to Alina ("at least she doesn't flinch when I kiss her" "why do you care? You don't care about me anyway") Gaslighting at its finest form, my friends! 👌 Knew that she would be hurt, knew that she had feelings for him and still did it.

Oh and let's forget how he wanted the good, old Alina back! The sickly one that always depended on him for company and strength. He basically asked her to tear out a piece of her soul! 🥰🥰

And then, of course, jeopardized both her image and her safety by getting drunk and getting into fights (*whispering* we, the readers, are supposed to find this very romantic, okay? A man that drinks, sulks and makes the heroine feel bad. Just so you know).

Then the author made a 360° and presented Mal in R&R as changed and a very good person. Willing to die heroically for his love. How did she do that?

💕💕With zero development!!💕💕

One minute he's up there in the chapel being a jerk and the next minute he's underground and changed. I think it must have been the change of air, what do you think?

I have a huge problem with Leigh Bardugo about this. She presents Darklina as toxic. And it is. She presents Nikolina as little to zero toxic. And it is. But when she presents Malina, it's a really good, cute ship!! Not toxic at all with lots of possibilities! Leigh has constantly defended it saying "Oh but Mal was a teenager".

Ma'am? I was a teenager once and I never made my best friends feel like shit.

And as have everyone said before, Mal hits veeery close at home. He's every jerk that you have met in your life and you will meet again.

With Darklina you have nothing to fear. Because no one will put the collar of a magical stag around your throat, no one will have a nichevo'ya bite your shoulder, no one will ask you to abandon your friends so you can save some Grisha from the persecution. But plenty of men will slut-shame you for what you're wearing, plenty will feel insecure for being stronger and more famous than them, plenty will make you feel like shit for finding happiness and plenty will sabotage you by taking revenge kissing someone else.

Malina is a ship that is REAL.

While Darklina is your typical, fantastical ship.

Her hard efforts to pass it on to the readers as something healthy and inspiring is disgusting and makes me hate it even more.

Now from Alina's perspective things are even more tragic, since Alina never grows as a character because of him.

She always thinks "What about Mal? Will Mal follow me? What if he doesn't? It's my fault. It's all my fault. Where is Mal?".

This is it. This is the trilogy in a summary.

A heroine that seems more concerned about Mal than the country and people that expect from her to save them.

"Alina doesn't want a crown. That's why she left"

Girl, I don't want to go to work every day either.

Kids don't want to wake up to go to school.

People don't want to pay taxes every year.

But we do them because we MUST.

Just like Alina should stay, lead and rule because that's what she should do as the protagonist. Not pass on her own duties to others and say "gotta go lolz". Malina could be used as a plotline for Alina to gain strength from by casting aside Mal's influence and finding her own power inside herself. Instead Leigh did the opposite: stripped her powers (her own self) to fit in Mal's world.

And this excuse that the author had given ("some women don't want to wear crowns") is pathetic and idiotic.

Frodo didn't want to carry the Ring but chose to do the right thing. Harry didn't want to fight a war with a psychopath but did because it was the right thing. The Pevensie siblings didn't want to fight the White Witch and rule a country but did both because it was the right thing. Every hero in a proper story does the right thing. He or she becomes selfless and sacrifices his own happiness and well being to stand up against the evil and corruption.

In the trilogy instead we have Alina who had a responsibility and duty but unfortunately for Ravka and the Grisha she was not a responsible person but a girl that wanted to depend on a man. She didn't want to use her influence to protect her people but hide.

Apparently the "evil villain" understood the assignment better than the author ever did.

Alina never grew as a person or as a character. It was only Mal and Mal. If only he had stayed dead in R&R then the world would shine brighter. But no! The author brought him back and gave us an explanation with how that happened that I still don't understand because it doesn't make a goddamn sense.

I guess the easy explanation is: "I brought Mal back because Alina had to end up with him somehow. Deal with it."

And we just have to accept this (just as Alina did) whether we like it or not.

Well I don't.

Because I've met people like Mal and they're assholes. They want to be the strongest one in the relationship, they want their girl to look up to them and depend on them and when they make mistakes it's none of their fault.

Because I've met people like Alina that try hard to please their man while in the meantime they "crumble down" emotionally and feel insecure. They never shine with their own light but seek only the one that their toxic partner can give to them. Without it they're lost.

Because I've met couples like Malina. And it's never a happy relationship or has a happy ending.

And when you try to pass on this relationship in fiction as something healthy, then you really need to reconsider.

#this was bullshit. the way Leigh defended it and how she presented it. it makes me sick #darklina #the darkling #pro darklina #anti mal oretsev #anti malina #alina starkov #pro alarkling #leigh bardugo #shadow and bone #grishaverse #grishaverse trilogy

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opinated-user · 1 month

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this also bother me. the fandom doesn't have a less than ideal view of anne rice because she didn't want smut of her characters. the fandom was upset at anne rice that not only would she dislike the porn, which is a perfectly normal response that anyone should be able to respect, but also went out of her way to legally persecute people to force them to take all of fanfictions down. all of it. even the most domestic coffe shop unhorny fluff was scrubbed off the face of the internet, forcing writers into create increasingly complicated way to ever publish their stories that, once again, also included the ones that were as SFW as you can get. consider again that her books themselves include things like Claudie, a vampire who eternally looks like a 8 year old child, basically in love with her own father figure and Lestat developing a sort of incestuous relationship with his own mother, that he turned into a vampire. Armand was a literal teen when he became the lover of Magnus and turned into a vampire himself, that later went to become the lover of Louis, again, while having a teen body. but a person writing about any of the adult characters having sex, that was worth having lawyers sending letters to them and scare them out of their minds. or not having sex at all, just having normal fun with these characters.

i'm not surprised that LO doesn't know or care about any of this because this is all old fandom history before she was obssesed with writing about how much Meg from FG and her self insert were so in love. i don't think either that she'd care even if she knew because when has LO ever cared about anyone but herself? have you ever wondered why people put disclaimers at the start of their fics saying "i don't own these characters"? nowadays that practice is almost completely gone for good reason, because it should be obvious that if you're making fanart then the canon is not yours anyway, but it was originated because of authors like Anne Rice who actually went out of their way to try to control fandom because they couldn't accept fandom existing.

Anne Rice was a complicated person who went through a lot of changes on her life and i'm not interested in portraying her as a eternal villain. later on her life she went out of her way to write her own smut series. as far as i know, she ended up just not caring about fanfic anymore and writers are not facing the same trouble they did before.

but to say that all she did was just say she didn't like smut of her character and nothing else is a bold faced lie, either by ignorance or pure malice i don't know, but a lie all the same.

#lily orchard

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thelustybraavosimaid · 3 months

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Bro you just killed my Kid Cudi listening sesh for this. How many times are we going to go over this with you people for fuck's sake

Rhaelya stans hate Sansa because...

Let me stop you right there. I am a Rhaelya, a Jonrya, and a Jon stan. I don't think about Sansa unless I'm forced to. My hyperfixation is on certain characters. Sansa isn't on my radar enough for me to hate her. Like Jon, I feel little else but indifference for her.

Sansa being a hostage makes Lyanna...look like she was a hostage...because there are parallels in both their situations.

But it's *not* a parallel, and here's exactly why.

Rhaegar is not like Joffrey.

Rhaegar actually died with Lyanna's name on his lips, as was confirmed in the official World of Ice and Fire App.

He was also described as a "love-struck prince" by the author himself:

At last I was able to ask him the question I had sent for the tombola. I have always been fascinated by how ASOIAF embodies the theories put forward by Acemoglu and Robinson about countries with extractive institutions (which hamper development). So my question was: Why do you think the political institutions in the Seven Kingdoms are so weak? His answer: the Kingdom was unified with dragons, so the Targaryen's[sic] flaw was to create an absolute monarchy highly dependent on them, with the small council not designed to be a real check and balance. So, without dragons it took a sneeze, a wildly incompetent and megalomaniac king, a love struck prince, a brutal civil war, a dissolute king that didn't really know what to do with the throne and then chaos. Interesting answer.

[Source]

Joffrey had no real love for Sansa. He saw her as an object to mistreat and misuse. He had no empathy and a deep lack of consideration for other people. He had her beaten because it gave him momentary gratification, because he was a psychopath. How is this comparable in any way to Lyanna at the tower of joy?

In fact, the whole point of what we are finding out about Rhaegar through Dany's chapters is to prove that Rhaegar is literally not the monster Robert has been making him out to be. That all Robert has said was due of his blind hatred of him and little more. So again, how is Lyanna's experiences in the tower of joy comparable to Sansa being beaten and harmed as a hostage in King's Landing?

How could this be a parallel, and can you back your claim with anything other than headcanons that have no basis in the books?

There is a reason why the tale of the winter rose was told to Jon specifically — because Bael the Bard and the Stark maiden is analogous to Rhaegar and Lyanna.

George says this about romance:

It's interesting, to get back to this issue of romance that you raised earlier. When I was in Spain a few years ago, I had dinner with a woman — a Spanish academic — and a big fan of both science fiction and romance, and she had read a lot of my stuff because people said I was a very romantic writer. And she sort of launched at me and said, "What are you talking about?! You are not a romantic writer, you know. Nobody ever lives happily ever after in your books!"

I was defending it, saying, "Well, but that's a different tradition of romance. I don't — I'm a romantic writer in the tradition of The Great Gatsby and Romeo and Juliet, and, you know, the Beauty and the Beast. These things don't necessarily have happy endings, but aren't the most powerful romances the unfulfilled romances — the romances where people go their separate ways, but they'll always have Paris, like in Casablanca, one of the films I showed here. You know, they go separate at the end, but they'll always have Paris." And she basically said, "No, you're wrong. They have to be happily ever after together for it to be romance, otherwise it's just sad."

[Source—clip starts at around 03:19]

This traditional telling of romance is shown quite clearly with both Bael the Bard with the Winter Rose and Rhaegar with Lyanna. Bael the Bard's tale was briefly happy:

No. They had been in Winterfell all the time, hiding with the dead beneath the castle. The maid loved Bael so dearly she bore him a son, the song says...though if truth be told, all the maids love Bael in them songs he wrote.

But also ended in tragedy:

"The song ends when they find the babe, but there is a darker end to the story. Thirty years later, when Bael was King-beyond-the-Wall and led the free folk south, it was young Lord Stark who met him at the Frozen Ford...and killed him, for Bael would not harm his own son when they met sword to sword."

"So the son slew the father instead," said Jon.

"Aye," she said, "but the gods hate kinslayers, even when they kill unknowing. When Lord Stark returned from the battle and his mother saw Bael's head upon his spear, she threw herself from a tower in her grief. Her son did not long outlive her. One o' his lords peeled the skin off him and wore him for a cloak." (Jon VI, ACoK)

Rhaegar left to fight in the War of the Usurper, lost and died. Lyanna died giving birth to Jon. And Jon died trying to save "Arya" from Ramsay.

This is what George means by a romantic love story.

And they also love Arya, because...Arya...looks like Lyanna

Or maybe we just like Arya because she's a fantastic character. Idk OP, could be that.

and isn't as hyper feminine as Sansa

This ties in quite well to the misogyny some "fans" of the series have to women like Arya. It's not because Sansa is "hyper feminine" that I don't care for her. I'm just indifferent to her. Femininity has absolutely nothing to do with it. I don't know if you know, but women can and do express themselves in different ways.

therefore her fans think she aligns with Rhaegar

?????????????

because they...hate Sansa and pretend its a love story

That is 100% the way George is taking R+L's story. This is quite literally his preferred telling of a romantic story. One where they share a brief affection for one another despite the eventual consequences, but end up separated, or worse.

Even though the point of Lyanna Stark is that her untold narrative is comparative to both Sansa and Arya

How is Lyanna's narrative comparative to Sansa? The only thing you've given was a non-parallel of being in the Red Keep/tower of joy, but there's nothing to suggest that Lyanna was trapped, beaten, or harmed there.

The king frowned. "A knife, perhaps. A good sharp one, and a bold man to wield it."

Ned did not feign surprise; Robert's hatred of the Targaryens was a madness in him. (Eddard II, AGoT)

For the first time in years, he found himself remembering Rhaegar Targaryen. He wondered if Rhaegar had frequented brothels; somehow he thought not. (Eddard IX, AGoT)

You do not find it strange that the brother of the woman who was supposedly trapped and imprisoned at the tower of joy has no ill words to say about the man who supposedly committed such heinous crimes?

#asoiaf

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cemeterything · 2 years

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wait hi you made the magic post so yes what is your opinion on eragon if you’ve read it?

i think that it's a very decent fantasy novel with a lot of potential considering that the first book was written when the author was 16 years old. it does fall victim to a lot of fantasy cliches and does at times feel derivative of existing popular scifi and fantasy stories like star wars, the lord of the rings, etc. which is a shame because it has a lot of really good and interesting worldbuilding, characters and plotlines and that can be overlooked as a result. eragon is unfortunately overshadowed by pretty much every other character, too, which can make it difficult to read at times because literally everyone is more interesting than our protagonist and i want to read more about them and less about him. also the amount of doctor who references felt... unnecessary at times. and there are some plot threads and implications of further lore behind certain characters, things and events that get brought up but never really given any sort of satisfying conclusion or explanation (angela the herbalist's entire character in particular falls victim to being too mysterious and unexplained to the point that it felt like paolini just let her do things because it was cool and never intended to explain them. which isn't the end of the world, but past a certain point it stops being funny and gets really frustrating). there were also some pacing issues at times, especially in the later books it felt like sometimes there was a lot of filler being used to pad out chapters so they didn't get to the final battle too quickly, and then the final confrontation ended up feeling a bit rushed and video-gamey.

all that being said, i absolutely love so many things about eragon. as i said, there are SO many interesting supporting characters i really enjoyed - nasuada was one of my absolute favorites; a black woman in a position of leadership with a well developed character and story and relationships and goals was really really nice to see, especially in a fantasy novel, and her pov chapters were probably some of the best in the book in my opinion. murtagh, arya, elva and roran were all really compelling characters too. and i found the magic system absolutely fantastic, it's probably one of my favorites of all time. i could write an entire essay on how interesting the concept of drawing on life energy to produce magic is and the ethical implications of it, not to mention the whole concept of the ancient language. i really loved how the books explored the consequences of misusing magic so thoroughly and answered a lot of questions in that regard (especially with elva; the idea of a child being forced to grow up too fast because they received a misworded blessing that, instead of shielding them from pain, caused them to experience everyone's agony simultaneously was SO fucked up and horrifying and absolutely delightful to read about as a result). the descriptions of different settings were also really cool; i always enjoyed reading the sections that introduced you to a new setting, especially those of the dwarven kingdom. and although it was far from being the next tolkien, it was nice to see consistent attempts at creating a fantasy language.

and then, of course, there's the dragons. i don't really have any complaints there. they're magnificent beasts and i really enjoyed that they had individual characters and weren't just dumb animals but an intelligent fantasy species with their own culture and history. my only issue is that the books never really seems able to decide how much agency they should have and how dependent on their riders they should be, but. eh. i can live with it i guess.

tl;dr it's a fun fantasy series with a LOT of good ideas that get a bit lost in the sauce sometimes but overall worth reading if you enjoy your fantasy with a heavy serving of cheese and surprisingly excellent worldbuilding.

#long post

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remyfire · 1 month

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I think the funniest thing about Hawk being Like That is that Alan Alda has writers credits on the show. This man voluntarily made his character the most touch starved needy desperate person on the planet and that's so fucking insane of him. But also Mr Alda I would like to give you a little hug and a kiss for giving him to us because I love him with my whole heart. And don't even get me started on the fact that Hawkeye yelled to a general "I want to have your baby!" In literally the first season. Like Hawkeye my love not everyone needs to know you want to be pregnant 😂 And truly he deserves to be absolutely smothered with cuddles, everyone loves him and he loves everyone and I think it could help fix him.

Listen my Trap brain is always on, he's my man, I am thinking about him quite literally daily. And now that you reminded me of the priest line I'm gonna think of that too! Like Trapper my love what happened in your past? Did your parents give you that many names in hopes you'd be a priest? Did you pick one yourself for confirmation? Why did you keep all of the names despite seemingly abandoning the religion? I am peering at him like a bug under a microscope and there's nothing he can do about it.

That little coffee through line with Margret is so cute! Even though I'm sure it was unintentional on the show's part I definitely couldn't help but think of it and flash back to The Nurses in both the scenes in Temporary Duty and CAVE. Margaret and cups of coffee representing her character growth is honestly so sweet and I love it. Also ooohhhh self proclaimed Military Brat Margaret Houlihan realizing that the Army Way isn't the only way or even the best way, and the things that would DO to her. The realization that what she's learned her whole life isn't necessarily good, and having to contend with what that means for her and her career and her personality. And also having to face her father after that, because we see in Are You Now, Margaret? that she cares very much about disappointing him and even affecting his career. Would such a realization maybe help her become more of her own person that isn't living only to make her father proud and keep up the Houlihan name? Or is her desire to be a point of pride for her family more important to her than her personal development? Truly she's so fascinating to me. And it's definitely an interesting parallel with Mulcahy, both of them having something so deeply ingrained in them that it h u r t s when it's finally inevitably broken out.

Everyone in this show suffered enough in the narrative for several lifetimes but damn if I don't wanna give them a little bit more hardship to really crack them open and wrap up their character development in the way they deserve. I'll definitely give them softness and love but first they need a little bit of pain I think 😂

(Also I am officially onto season 8! I finished Goodbye Radar last night and was a Wreck. Man I love this show)

Okay hi again anon, sorry for making this sit while thinking too hard about Hawk and Beje and Trap things.

I swear that Alan did more to break and attempt to breed Hawk than any of us fanfic authors have ever done. I am not entirely convinced that this man didn't start getting the bends once he couldn't whump Hawk anymore and instead pivoted to writing fanfics for the old distant zines that popped up in the '80s. He probably has multiple AO3 accounts right now just churning out agonizing pain. Alan we know what you are.

I do hate that we got so little development for Trap compared to Beej but it's also delightful because it means all of us get to sit here and rotate him on a merry-go-round that goes faster and faster and never stops. Anything is possible. He's so INTERESTING!!! He's like half a guy! No matter what anyone says, they could probably make it work! And that means I am in fact slam dunking the religious trauma into him at breakneck speeds. Sorry, bud (lie).

I'm so glad you mentioned Are You Now Margaret because that's one of those underrated episodes that always has its teeth so deep in me. We learn so much about her so fast. Her big friend group!! She had so many people who loved her and who she loves enough that she refuses to endanger them even though she hasn't spoken to make in years!! The fact that she will give her father that kind of deference even though we all know in our bones that he doesn't deserve it! God, Margaret.

I love people like you who run in with a wrecking ball just absolute decimating all these characters that we know and love so that I can come in after in my little clown car with hot chocolate and blankets. I am a simple author. I know what my duty is here. And it's getting everybody laid by everybody else but ALSO giving them extreme amounts of aftercare and pillow nests ;v; We all share such a vital role in this ecosystem.

#and my role is to be very simple and i know this #my ramblings #long post

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guillotinekim · 3 months

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I read Legendborn this week and it was nothing short of excellent. I'm reading Bloodmarked now and I need somewhere to dump my thoughts, so to whoever might stumble across this: bear with me.

It's definitely keeping my interest...but Bree is suddenly annoying as all fuck? So that's disappointing.

She's probably the same as she was in the first book, but I think that's the problem. The stakes are much higher and she's had next to no character development. I'm at the halfway point of the book and so far it's been full of her rushing into danger when she knows she barely has any combat training and can't control her powers, constantly not listening to the people who are literally trying to help her and throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Like girl, you are not the only one at risk. Assuming all of the information given so far about Legendborn history is true, if Bree dies, the world will literally be left vulnerable to all manner of demons, who will wreak havoc unchecked???

With that being said I find myself frequently going off on Bree in my own head. The inner rants usually sound something like, "Why can't you ever be quiet? Why can't you follow instructions? Why are you not assessing situations before reacting? You're not the only one who wants to rescue Nick. Why are you giving so much lip and resistance to the few people left that you know you can actually trust when they're just trying to protect you? And WHY are you acting like you don't need to be protected when you've almost been killed multiple times since you (technically) became king???"

I hope the second half of the book sees her grow a little more self awareness. She can't just keep fucking up and then feeling sorry afterwards. An actual war is ongoing. Lives are at stake and remorse doesn't bring people back from the dead.

But since this is my very first post about this series...let me be very clear:

Even though I'm actively beefing with the protagonist in my head, I'm still glad I discovered this series. Growing up loving Fantasy books meant growing up reading epic Caucasian tales of wonder that sprinkled in characters of color as afterthoughts. A supernatural adventure with a black girl as the lead is just something I never got to have as a kid. Aside from the premise just being interesting, there's a really refreshing amount of diversity. Not just in race, but in sexual orientation—and the inclusion of queer characters is also something I didn't get to see a lot of growing up. I'm rooting for this series to see even more success and visibility. Shout out to the author, Tracy Deonn. She deserves the world.

But Bree? Sister, please. Let's get it together!

#legendborn #bloodmarked #currently reading #tracy deonn

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monolite001 · 10 months

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I had parents who were very strict about internet usage

I never got allowed to read web comics or play mobile games so I could only get to text-heavy websites

Which led me to spending time reading Korean equivalent of Wikipedia

One day in 2016 on tis website I read an article about a trending, award-winning video game called "Undertale". I was 14.

Something about this game appealed to me immediately. I bought it on Steam. That was the first time I ever purchased a video game.

Needed a language patch because I wasn't fluent in English back then. Became a member of a video game community just to have the language patch. That was my first time I ever got into an online community.

Finished the game without searching anything up. Finished every route. I loved the game. I started to look for more secrets and info from the community mentioned above.

People posted fan arts and fan fics there. I read them. I loved them. That was my first ever exposure to a fandom.

I watched the fandom grow. AUs started to develop. I liked them. Got interested in reading the original contents for the AUs, which were mostly in English.

And that just HAPPENED to be around the time I came to America and my English started to improve

I could read so many comics. I looked at so many different Tumblr blogs. Then I learned AO3 was a thing. That was a huge different world full of fan fictions.

I found that Error was my favorite. If it involved Error, I gave it a try. Mostly oneshots tho, because English still wasn't my first language and I was the world's slowest reader.

Then one day I came across a 25 chapter, 140k-word-long fic. The prologue already was half an hour of reading for me.

And I somehow decided to keep reading it. Knowing fully well it would take me at least a month with my normal reading speed. I just felt like I would like this fic.

And that was The Council of the Inevitable. I read all of it in 3 days, from start to finish, doing nothing else during those days.

That story was breathtaking. Literally. I never felt so absorbed into anything ever before. I ranted about it in my personal notes. I ranted about how much I loved the author wrote the characters just so perfectly and how brilliant the plot was. I also started writing my own little analysis and theories amd predictions.

I re read the fic. And I re re read it. I wrote more notes. I did that for 3 years, from 2020 to 2023. I wrote over 200 notes about it.

And I decided that it was physically unberable to keep that level of excietment and passion just to myself. I wrote an ask to the author's Tumblr blog I had found, including a fanart and a message about how much I loved her fic.

And she replied. She followed me back. I posted a couple more fan arts I had made and she liked them too.

And she had a Discord server. I looked at it and thought, maybe in there are people who love this story just as much as I do. I downloaded Discord created an account. I joined the server.

And I was right. And I never knew how much fun it was to have people who love the same thing as I do. Someone to share my excitement with.

So I'm really not exaggerating when I say everything regarding TCOTI was a miracle.

If any of the things listed above didn't happen I wouldn't have been here right now. What are the odds, really?

So if THIS happened, who's to say something as good as this wouldn't happen again?

TL;DR: My parents were strict. This led me to shipping copies of the same skeleton falling in love with each other.

#Mono thinks

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susandsnell · 1 year

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You're so right about Katniss! Her feelings for Peeta always felt like obligation - because he was kind, because he loved her and he deserved to be loved back, because he was what she was supposed to want and she'd be crazy not to - and she had mad vibes with Joanna. (The Katniss thing is also why I hated all of the MCU Natasha ships with guys. She's my second pick after Nina for character I am convinced is a lesbian.)

Thank you so much for articulating all this and sending it my way because I've felt nuts for years reading it this way (+ it's a pleasure to hear from you)! And that's with Joniss as a relatively popular ship, lolol.

I won't deny that him saving her from starving and later all they did for one another during the Games isn't meaningful, but you put it perfectly; the text keeps telling us he deserved to be loved back, he's what she ought to want. It makes a point about why she doesn't owe Gale, but wholly kind of sells us on her owing Peeta. The text makes a point of how Katniss, very realistically, has hang-ups about debt, and how the nature of Panem's totalitarianism is such that all kind acts are viewed as transactional rather than genuine, but then completely undermines this by providing little to no meat to how Katniss' real feelings developed from the ones staged for the Games. It's one of those cases where even if the guy isn't a Nice Guy, there's textual Nice Guying going on lolol. (I do also acknowledge that these books were products of the aughts and queer characters in YA were almost nonexistent, but having recently read Moth Diaries from 2002 which actively engages with comphet, I'm feeling spoiled lol.)

Likewise, the having children thing is like -- I get it, people can change their minds and her not wanting to be a mother was a product of the dystopian society they subsequently rebuilt as well as her own experience of maternal neglect, but given what the real world has always been wrt reproductive rights and just in general treating female queerness/nonconformity as a "phase you'll outgrow"/"you'll find the right guy and want kids eventually", I don't think I'll ever not feel gross about a character who does not want kids eventually ~embracing motherhood~ lmao. It could happen, but when the characters are fictional and hence in the author's control...it feels like propaganda, especially coupled with her repeatedly stating she didn't want a husband. And the quote from the epilogue is literally "It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly." Which. Ew.

Contrast with Johanna, where things felt a lot more organic, less based on a sense of debt and more on some classic rivalry tropes that evolved into a sweet balance between an organic camaraderie and Stupid Sexy Flanders (I mean, the elevator scene? Straight girls do not react like that! "Johanna's motivational insults" and the relationship shift?)

Anyhow, thanks again for the message and sorry for the mini-essay/rant this turned into, haha. I'd be mega interested to hear your MCU Natasha thoughts, though, since your Nina tags were so accurate! (Equally biased because she was an early sapphic crush for me, haha.)

#the hunger games #lesbian katniss truther hours #allthestoriescantbelies #thanks for the ask! <3 #pregnancy cw

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ao3feed-piltovers-finest · 2 years

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Which caitvi fic is the BEST one you’ve read so far? (post-canon)

First of all I owe you apologies for taking so long to respond to this, but in my defense - you put me in a bit of a rough spot there, my friend. I was like - bloody hell, you had to go all out and literally kill me here, because - THE best, like, just one? Seriously?!

Lol.

But after a while, and quite a few new ones read and perused, it kinda crystalised. Mostly, since in the meantime, not sure why (supply/demand?) most of them out there seem to be AUs recently, or just (like, during this kinktober month) one-shots not really focusing on the canon... yeah. The absolutely BEST one I’ve read so far - is definitely the one I already recommended (and raved about) when asked, before. It’s...

Grenadier by antistar_e (kaikamahine)

So if it sounds familiar - that might be why? Because again, this is the most complex non-relationshippy relationship story that ever was. Completely canon-compliant and set post-finale, it is basically a character study as well as character dynamics piece, written from Vi’s perspective. It’s definitely not one of those plot-driven CaitVi focused stories, but it does explore (quite profoundly, yes) all three pivotal relationships centered around Vi - both intricate complexities of her relationship with her sister, the budding one with Caitlyn - as well as their (Jinx and Caitlyn’s) post-bombing one, where their antagonism reaches an entirely another level.

The class dynamics are really strong and I really appreciated how the author hammered home the point about that Vi didn't just disappear for seven years, and is rather the opposite - it's so heart-breaking and clearly colors every decision she makes, how she takes action like there's no time to waste. So it’s a gentle, at times funny and yet gritty and profound exploration of regret, mourning and unhealthy coping mechanisms - on everyone’s behalf, with developments between all three of them, and Cait being portrayed largely as seen through Vi’s perspective (and her guilt, of course) while right at the centre is this uniquely beautiful portrayal of the sisterly relationship. The simple way Vi explains her love for Jinx is heart-wrenching and heartwarming at the same time, because she loves her “despite everything, the guilt, lack of remorse – it’s the love that doesn’t preclude justice or exempt her from consequences, but just grows, adapts, restitches its seams.” (that one tore me apart, yes). So yes, it has elements of romantic developments (in different directions, some even surprising?) but the central part is the sisters, and the intricacy of the situation of Jinx [spoiler space] without really showing any regret or remorse (which, totally in character for her - since despite shown from Vi’s angle - her portrayal is bloody brilliant, she’s shown with all her damage and quirkiness) so I’ll say it again - perhaps it’s just my personal interest and focus (the two of them) because there is no good CaitVi story - without Vi’s anguish over her sister and their relationship. And this is definitely the best fic I’ve ever read exploring these dynamics, post finale - both characterisation as well as style wise. Now, like I already disclaimered previously, I sincerely hope that the Cait/Jinx thing won’t deter you. Because [mild spoiler ahead] it’s mostly a tool, showing how Cait works through the very difficult state Jinx’s actions left her family in, and then begrudgingly arrives to the point of acceptance (albeit in that all-around unusual way - since Jinx has absolutely no boundaries and her coping mechanisms are just as unpredictable like everything else about her) which… basically only brings Caitlyn closer to Vi. And since it’s all been portrayed from Vi’s angle… yes, it only intensifies what’s between them - but it’s shown with infinite gentleness (rather than the usual… heat?). So, not really a love triangle piece, but rather Vi-centric situational character study, where that (imho, crucial) scene between the only two people she has achingly deep feelings for - it’s totally Caitlyn. Because that’s who she is, she’ll always put herself second and be that beautiful compassionate, accepting and forgiving person, and…

Well. You get my point. Lol. I’ll end my soliloquy here just by adding that this particular scene keeps haunting me - so much that I’m actually genuinely thinking about commissioning an art piece - to grace one of my central walls. And that’s how I decided that this was the fic you asked me about. In the end simply because, as a friend (another super-talented CaitVi author - which, if you’re reading this - you know who you are, you agent of unhinged ;) said the other day “I am somewhat in awe of the creativity and imagination but also simplicity in how these emotions are portrayed” when we talked about it, and that’s just it. That’s the appeal of this entire piece.

Now, the author, @kaikamahine - definitely isn’t a predominantly Arcane writer (rather, they’re a super-gifted multi-fandom hopper, lol) and this is their only CaitVi piece (of sorts) and... while they have another incredible piece centered around Jinx (as portrayed from the perspective of a nine year old girl) it leaves me personally starved for more. I’d offer my firstborn to see them write another Cait/Vi, Vi&Jinx or even Cait/Jinx piece. But, well. Perhaps, maybe? Fingers crossed? ;)

Anyway. I hope you’ll find this (waffly) answer satisfying. Thank you for asking. Cheers. 💖🌈

#caitvi #vicait #piltover's finest #violyn #caitlyn x vi #vi x caitlyn #piltovers finest #caitjinx #arcane (league of legends) fanfiction #fic recs #mrwinterss #replies

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taldigi · 4 months

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If you can save the pre-canon characters and Kagami, then you can definitely save Ikuto Tsukiyomi.

Also, which do you think is worse, Miraculous or Shugo Chara?

rrrgh ok like

tldr: ML by a long shot.

So like, preface: I watched the anime like, 10-ish years ago and only read the first.. 2 books.

Shugo has Amu/Ikuto have the age diff thing (OBJECTIVELY why? This was an author choice when they absolutely could have been the same age or at least closer in age. Ikuto could have still been taller than Amu-- but 11 is WAY too young for ANY romance arc in general and SEVERAL characters fall into it. They literally didn't have to, as nothing story-wise is impacted by this) and also the incest thing with Utau was BAD (but sadly I've seen worse & she does eventually get over it and at LEAST Ikuto IS outwardly uncomfortable with it vs more modern takes on it where the bother is either clueless or lowkey into it. Not justification BUT still credit where it's due.).

There is a lot I like about SC in terms of how the Magical Girl/Magic system works. I like the Charas & what they represent and the Character Changes & the narrative of finding yourself and becoming the person you want to be and being happy. I like it being magical girls vs a giant corporation that is using the charas to obtain ultimate power. Also theming like said organization being called Easter and how Amu & Ikuto's power artifacts are two items that are like.. so intertwined with each other (a lock and key respectively)

That kinda stuff appeals to me. Good idea, not a great execution. I'd love to see a "Shugo Chara Remix" of sorts where a lot of the weird stuff worked out of it and maybe a better focus on story and character building.

That being said, the overall story and supporting cast never appealed to me and I fell off it when the story wasn't about Amu or Ikuto or Easter. I never grew to like the side characters and I felt it wasn't adventurous enough. But otherwise it was.. inoffensive? It's very average shoujo for it's time. I know it's one of the earlier takes & a pre-madoka magica magical girl story.. so it's not as influenced by it- which is somethin' I appreciate.

but ML has a lot of outright terrible writing, design, and people behind it. While, again, ML has ideas i like- where SC simply failed, ML tried to reinvent it and went the extra mile to infuse as much french hatred as possible into it.

ML has a lot of sexism, racism, and nationalistic issues. A big point is the appropriation of Chinese mysticism- and it's not even in a fun way like Xaolin Showdown (and iirc Omi was literally yellow) Sabine is a literal caricature, "ideal chinese wife" for TA's self-insert, Marinette needs to be taught her family's language by a rich white boy, and all of her asian traits have been washed out for blue eyes and a whitewashed design ( and don't character design me when other asian characters in the show are explicitly designed differently). and ddddd ont get me STARTED on the native american bullshit that shit was SO fucked and NOBODY talks about it anymore.

The Kwami are great and I think they're a naturally better take on the Charas from SC- at least, initially. Later development and shit like "true forms" and them being their own separate creatures that are subjugated on the regular by everyone (including the mains) is not a great take.. esp when a huge point the show AND THE FANDOM is obsessed with is this idea that "Adrien is trapped and hates it" and then turns around and is like "Well, the Kwami are happy with marinette or their holders so they're okay with being trapped and unable to say no to their owners". It is a huge yikes for me.

I think the precanon take- where they are born from wishes someone makes and has an innate connection to that person & their personality is way more intimate and interesting rather than the "miraculous" iteration. If there is one thing i HATE is when the magical companions are treated like accessories or tools by the heroes (t's an issue i have with pokemon as of late, as the series seems to be putting a backseat on pokemon to focus on the human characters) and Miraculous does that a LOT. Kuro Neko was a huge deciding factor in terms of how I feel about ML, since they not only demolished Plagg's character, but Adrien's as well- by establishing that Adrien does not give a fuck about Plagg and would gladly use him as an emotional "fuck you" to LB- a huge blow considering that Plagg has been consistently the only person to give a consistent fuck about Adrien, despite how often Adrien pushes him around.

Characters in ML are genuinely unlikable, too. I elaborated on it before with Adrien- but Alya is bad too. She's terrible to Marinette. Nino is bad, because of how he acted in Rocketear and the episode where he Akumatizes someone on purpose & targets Gabriel. Marinette is bad too, she's a mix Mary-Sue and Anti-Sue in all the worst ways. The worst part is that they could be better, they are close to being good. Their bases as characters are good. But their writing destroys them.

...and it all boils down to writing. You can have the most interesting characters and the most amazing worldbuilding and the most lovely art style and animaiton- but if the story is bad, then it's not going to be fun to watch. And while SC does stumble in that direction, ML goes full tilt, yelling "HOW MANY EPISODES CAN WE HAVE JIGGLE PHYSICS ON MARINETTES BOOBS BEFORE ANYONE NOTICES" the entire way while the camera slowly zooms in on Ladybug's inflating ass. (and I wish I was joking, but it's true. Ladybug's butt is bigger than Marinette's and one of these characters is wearing a skintight suit.)

Oh yeah, and ML's character design sucks. Objectively. Literally everyone is worse off than precanon. Marinette looks worse- the flats and pink pants look terrible! Adrien looks Worse, his model is weirdly contrasted to his kinda baby-face and his color scheme is frustrating and childish. Chloe looks worse, both in comparison to Melody and her white outfit. Alya looks worse, as she lost a lot of her charm and cuteness to some.. weird hipster vibe. The Kwami lost a TON of cuteness and look way more alien then they need to be-- All of the characters are abrasive to my design sensibilities... Except maybe Alix I like the snake thing going on. A shame they made her a fuckin' Alice in wonderland reference instead of something interesting.

so yeah, ML by a long shot.

#Anonymous

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inlocusmads · 1 month

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For Nora:

What are your character’s three most prominent features?

If your character had the opportunity, would they choose ripped or regular jeans?

When choosing their clothes, does your character base their decision on look, feel, or both?

For Trystan:

Which feature are they most insecure about?

Your character has nothing to do today; they’re staying at home and nobody super important is going to see them. How are they dressed?

Do they enjoy changing the style and color often, or will they wear it the same way their whole lives given the chance?

Thank you for the ask Tif!

For Nora:

What are your character’s three most prominent features?

Nora's three most prominent features are her hair, her hands and her facial shape (?). Her hair is literally the worst/best thing known to existence. It's messy on good days and good on bad days. It cannot be constrained and yet falls flat. Probably the first thing people notice about her. Then her face shape (? I hope that's the correct terminology lmao). It's pretty circular - like the picture-perfect circular shape you could draw. Finally, her hands - they're a lot more pronounced, rough but sculpted enough she could get into hand modelling or be able to play an instrument.

If your character had the opportunity, would they choose ripped or regular jeans?

Regular jeans. Nora cannot understand ripped jeans and knows it isn't for her anyway. Plus, she wears denim trousers literally all the time and doesn't like it if it comes with any novelty in the slightest (mostly because she prefers keeping her trousers monochrome and pattern-less). She'd rather have ripped jean jackets than ripped jeans.

When choosing their clothes, does your character base their decision on look, feel, or both?

Feel over looks anyday but ofc, Nora prioritizes both but she really thinks of the "use" more than the "look". For trousers, she prefers if it has larger pockets. She keeps her outfits simple - best to blend in with the crowd while she's on a job/off the job. She believes if she finds more than one use for an item of clothing, she's bound to use it more often and like it, instead of judging by looks alone (or any one parameter) and knowing it might only ever pair well with one other clothing and isn't that versatile in nature. So something that she can use often, she can put to good use as well, isn't a "seasonal" thing and pairs up with the rest of her wardrobe.

For Trystan:

Which feature are they most insecure about?

I'd like to think Trystan is a little bit insecure about his voice. He has an impressive vocal range no doubt, but sometimes he gets a little sick of the same old mid-baritone and doesn't like listening to clips of his own voice. Part of the reason why he sends voice messages but never listens it to them, because he thinks they sound raspy.

In his first 3-4 years in New York, he made a lot of friends, even casually dated people in the singing/songwriting or just people whose voice was somewhat crucial to their profession in practice. He'd hang around in libraries - authors hosting book readings, bars with bands performing, parks and so on in his spare time and overtime kind of developed those intense feelings to rectify his voice - make it sound either more interesting or just less of him. He can't really pinpoint the problem he has with his voice, but he knew he just didn't like it when he'd deliver those elaborate speeches at gatherings.

He's gotten a little better at dealing with it - part of the reason why Nora's willing to get dragged to go to karaoke, but that lingering sense of "ickiness" still sticks to him sometimes.

Your character has nothing to do today; they’re staying at home and nobody super important is going to see them. How are they dressed?

Answered here!

Do they enjoy changing the style and color often, or will they wear it the same way their whole lives given the chance?

Trystan loves a good change, but more so the transition into a good change. Like you can't expect him to switch over to a certain type of clothing immediately. It kind of slowly creeps up into his wardrobe and suddenly he's just all about it.

It takes him a while to "change" into a new style of clothing, but he's very adaptable in terms of colours. He doesn't shy away from designs and at the same time, will also wear monotones and rather focused on how he can style it and make it more of "his own" than the colours, patterns or any particulars themselves.

Thank you for the ask, Tif!

character appearance asks

#character appearance asks #trystan x nora #askboxed #trappedinfanfiction

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acourtofthought · 8 months

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Do you think that Elain not mentioning Azriel, rather giving Feyre the credit for saving her in acowar is another hint that el/riel isn't happening?

I might be reaching and Sjm might not have even thought of that while writing that in acosf but it was a huge thing back then when Azriel helped Feyre save Elain and so many people made it sound like he alone saved her. I mean, there's this whole "I will get her back" crap and Elain didn't really acknowledge Feyre after they saved her. Even during the saving, she seemed like she addressed Azriel with the "You came for me" line (idk) rather than Feyre.. so to have her only mentioning Feyre in acosf was a little surprising to me.

I mean, the whole book (including the bonus chapter) felt like it was completely against El/riel. I'm not sure if Sjm had always planned Elucien or just later on because I still remember that Interview (although I remember it as a IG live) of Sjm confirming that El/riel are more like brother and sister + the healing journey she talked about Elucien, but the one thing that is clear to me is that el/riel aren't going to happen.

I think it's pretty major that SJM began to downplay E/riel moments in SF. She could have easily written it so Elain said, "And I remember Feyre and Azriel saving me" because that would have been just as difficult for Nesta to hear as "Feyre saving me". Some like to claim she only threw Feyre into the mix because it was an argument between sisters but the developing romances are just as important as the sisters relationship and when SJM wants to build up a couple, she makes a pointed effort to do so. The fact that Elain chose to credit Feyre for her rescue followed by Az seeming to take offense to that fact later when we see: Azriel stiffened. "I know. I helped Elain, after all." seems to show he's a bit put out that he didn't get acknowledged. To me that says Az has just always got to be the hero rather than focusing on how Cassian is trying to talk to him about Nesta's trauma after the experience. So that's one example of oddness between them. If SJM is truly building to E/riel then why are they getting more awkward around one another than closer together? At Solstice (in the novella) they at least chatted openly about her gardens but in SF, he smiles at her and she looks away from him. And Az speaking out against Elain while AMREN needs to put him in his place was pretty much the nail in their coffin (especially when he shows ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER FEMALE, where did he ever show admiration for Elain when she stood up to Nesta?) That Elain wasn't there to witness that is probably the only reason she was willing to kiss him Solstice night. And though she was willing, they have almost nothing to say to one another. Their biggest concern is making out and that reads way too much like Feyre and Tamlin trying to have sex the night before her final trial. If Az and Elain were alone for the first time in a long time after barely speaking to one another, shouldn't they be interested in exchanging dialogue more poignant than "here's your gift, Nesta wouldn't appreciate the joke." "Here's your gift, it's beautiful, put it on me?" Literally screams epically deep romance right there, doesn't it? Listen, anytime two hot characters are about to get it on, it's going to be sexy. But sexy does not guarantee true love and it doesn't mean two characters are right for one another. The fact that SJM is an author who loves banter (she said she had to cut 15 pages of Bryce and Hunt ribbing on one another playing Mario Cart) and E/riel share none of it, I think it's fairly apparent that they don't have the endgame formula going for them. They're attracted to one another but they're surface level and that we've never witnessed them having a conversation involving the difficult stuff (which both Feysand and Nessian had before they ended up together, before they ever kissed), is pretty tell tale.

#anti e/riel

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