Ok yes I may be a bit tipsy but I'm rewatching season 2 of Daredevil for the Punisher subplot and still just can't get over the relationship between Karen and Frank and how it formed. How Karen's character displays both a strong sense of strength and empathy that she then uses to help others, whether it be Frank or Grotto, and even with that conflict of interest (Frank was 110% making sure Grotto was dead and buried), Frank still gravitated to her because of her desire to help shed the truth behind the horrible tragedy that happened to him and his family. Karen was the only one in the law firm to show that empathy, and you see Frank looking over to her frequently during the interviews and when he was on the stand, because she was his anchor that he could ground himself to. Neither like to sugarcoat themselves, and because of that, the gentleness and kindness each showed each other was genuine, and culminates in their desire to protect each other in whichever way they can, and I'm dying once again I hate that we're never gonna get a Punisher s3 with these two aaaaggghhhh

Thank you so much for emphasizing the importance of the platonic friendship between the Marauders! I have always been torn about Wolfstar because while they do make sense in a way and unlike some other ships *cough* Jegulus* there actually have been hints about them in canon. But since we know that in the 1st wizarding war Sirius and Remus were mistrusting each other, I feel like the only way they could have happened was during Hogwarts times and then had a bad break up in 7th year. But somehow I could never imagine how that could have happened without the deep, beautiful platonic relationship that defined the Marauders suffering from it. There would have been so much drama and Pete and James would have constantly been caught in the middle. Same with Jegulus. Dating a best friends sibling is always problematic, but since Sirius and Reg had such a difficult relationship already, James dating his actual brother would have ruined this found brotherhood between James and Sirius

I'm gonna try to not write an essay response to this (lol). On top of being the number one fan of platonic Marauders friendship, I really struggle to see Sirius in a relationship. I could actually get on board with post-POA Wolfstar, but the school years are hard for me because of all we see during the war.

First off, I think the relationships you grow up around have an immense impact on you as a person. So I think Sirius would not see marriage as a union of love, but one of duty, a requirement to continue the bloodline and all of the "power" that came with that. Ignoring that he'd probably reject that notion while he was rejecting everything about his birth family's lifestyle, I just don't see him having interest in it. I think partly because it was presented to him as transactional ("You will marry a girl of worthy blood status and sire an heir"), but also because we see a restless energy in Sirius and marriage would be just another thing to tie him down when he sought freedom. This is a dude who'd rather have lived in a cave eating rats than return to his childhood home even years later. He charmed a motorbike to fly. He wanted to be free to be himself, not who he was born and raised to be.

Obviously this is painting with a broad brushstroke. After all, Sirius could absolutely date without marriage as the endgame but I just don't see him simping or fawning over another person, whether that be Remus or anyone else (I think back to SWM where the girl was eying him and he couldn't give two shits about it. He was looking for James!). I consider Sirius to be aromantic or just outright uninterested in making a romantic connection. Boy really needed some counseling and healthy mentorship in his life, and while I do think he saw that with the Potter family dynamic (familial and romantic), I'm not sure at 16 that would have been enough to ready him to be anyone's partner.

Anyway. Give me all of the platonic ride-or-die Prongsfoot. The boys who'd go to the ends of the earth and back for each other. If you read my works I'm sure this comes as no surprise. And just to add: I do see how people find it compelling to work through the drama of a Wolfstar breakup or the dating best friend's brother dynamic in J*gulus, but I'm generally not sold on it and not particularly interested in it for these characters.

@sandumilfshou

Okay, I didn't really explain myself when answering my previous anon, so I'm gonna do that now as well as the new editions (warning: i am a hater)

Chengxian:

Chenxian compels me so much, childhood romance, what could've been, body mutilation on two linked occasions. What more do you want? I understand why people despise it, however I am a JC stan and honestly just want at least one person from his teen years to still be with him and love him. I think that he deserves it.

Xicheng:

I am not a xicheng enjoyer. I feel like every fanfic I read of them is just Lan Xichen taming and flattening Jiang Cheng's "bad" emotions. They dull down his character until he's nothing more than a plain digestive biscuit, and all for a man. There's also something of a running theme in Jiang Cheng ships where a lot of them are centred around WWX, and I fully believe that Xicheng is one of them. "Oh, my brother has a Lan? Well then so am I!" Guys pls let him have his own things 🙏

Zhanchengxian:

I don't really have any opinions on this other than good luck trying to write the Jiang Cheng x Lan Wangji dynamic in character whilst also making it romantic and not ooc, I feel for you. I think that this is 100% just WWX trying to tie all the people he loves to himself and never let them go again, which isnt exactly healthy but where's the fun in the ship if it is. Imo, it's 50/50 on whether or not we get diluting juice Jiang Cheng or not, which can be a bit tricky. I do however understand it for the porn. Which is nice ig.

Wangningxian:

You are a WWX enjoyer and like it when he is happy. Fair enough. I think the relationship regarding Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian (platonic and otherwise) is really under explored in this fandom along with Wen Ning's lack of agency and autonomy, which would be really interesting if worked into this trio. I'm always a bit worried about Lan Wangji and throuples, just in case Lan Xichen's curse is biological.

What do you think about the four most popular ships in Amphibia (Sashanne, Sasharcy, Marcanne, and Sashannarcy)? Even if shipping and romance aren’t that important and only used to teach a lesson or for a comedy episode, it’s pretty obvious that the relationship between the girls can be seen either as platonic or romantic.

So I'm going to first give my one sentence thoughts on each by concept and then canon before going in deep on this:

Sashanne: A unique dynamic that is actually very context specific so hard to actually recreate and I'd argue most people don't even try or get close in fan works (myself included)/I do like them but I 100% think they needed a couple years to figure out their lives away from each other or else post Amphibia they would have likely become toxic in a new way.

Sasharcy: Classic nerd and popular pairing/FUCKING NONEXISTENT.

Marcanne: A bit more nuanced since it's much more the slacker and the passionate one as far as a dynamic goes but not in the way you expect./Held back by a lot more tell don't show, especially in the first couple episodes that Marcy is introduced but it's cute and you can EASILY see how this whole trip will have made Anne be able to appreciate her oldest friend more.

Sashannarcy: In concept these are actually a GREAT polyamory trio and I love that it has such mainstream appeal with a fandom/I don't think it works from the show's perspective because of how well defined Sasha and Anne's relationship is while Marcy struggles to have a presence.

In case you didn't notice a running theme, these ships have essentially the same problem as my greatest problem with the show: Marcy. Her weaker writing compared to the rest of the cast and the fact that she serves a narrative role more than she acts as her own character makes it hard for me to be compelled by her canon self in ships. It's akin to why Willow and Hunter don't appeal to me from a shipping perspective. I like characters, not plot devices. Yes, Marcy is better than both of those characters as she actually has a firmer character than either but that doesn't fix that her narrative utility comes before who she is most of the time.

The other big element that maybe has always held me back from shipping them in canon once I watched the show is actually the fact that I agree with the show: As teenagers, they were AWFUL for each other. Marcy needs her own, personal strength that she found some of in Amphibia but needs to actually put to use in the real world. Sasha brutally changed so much of herself and was clearly struggling with that, over correcting or still wanting to run even to the end. She asks if it's okay for her to abandon Marcy after all, even after she's gone so far to make up to Anne as to give up ALL power in her life which isn't healthy either. Anne is the closest to being ready for a relationship after Amphibia but Sprig's Birthday/Give a Frog a Cookie showed that her self sacrificing tendency for her friends and her desperation for approval still. She may do it for better people than for Sasha but she is still struggling.

They all just need time to figure themselves out as people because your relationships SHOULD NOT DEFINE YOU. That's kind of part of the point of the ending. Take the good and grow as a person, whether you lose someone by choice or by circumstance. That includes for the trio as friends or romantically.

Okay, but I did mention something potentially quite controversial which is my Sashanne take. See... Their dynamic in most fandom works is the overzealous, brash one versus the patient, more responsible one with Sasha and Anne respectively. That is accurate post Amphibia but it also carries NONE of their baggage and usually leans a lot more on Sasha's tomboy nature instead of the fact that Sasha is a girl who can both kick your ass and then worry about having chipped a nail. The complexities of Sashanne that make it so compelling in the show just don't show up as much except as an obstacle to get over to get together. That works for shipping but it's not why their friendship is as complicated and interesting as it is in the show. It doesn't have the punch it should and it's damn near impossible to replicate because that level of history is hard to depict. It only functions in the show as being well depicted because of how much time is spent essentially breaking Anne out of Sasha's control, which is part of it. Anne is someone who pretty much left a cult and Sashanne is her having to decide to now be with her cult leader but not slip back into the mentality the cult taught her. That's... not easy to put it mildly.

But then again, a lot of people just take Sasha and Anne working together for a greater cause to mean they have literally no issues anymore despite Sasha's Angels existing. I guess that happens when somehow the entire fandom doesn't give a fuck about Amphibia but only the trio. sigh

Let's end this on a positive note though which is that if I am so rough on essentially all the Sasha relationships for needing time for Sasha to genuinely internalize her lessons, Marcy is the opposite. While I complained about her above, the strength to the fact that she's a pretty well defined, nice character who can be used mostly to support others arcs is that she more neatly fits into a position for shipping. Her awkwardness and nerdiness is PRIME romance fodder (there's a reason a shocking amount of romantic protagonists are clumsy but that's for a different blog) and her passion makes it easy to understand why someone would want to be with her.

And I do want to say some thoughts on Marcanne. Even if they start on a rough place with more tell instead of show, it actually does kind of work in this context. A complaint I've had about other relationships is not actually knowing what the other is interested in their partner for besides "That's the hot one." There is ZERO ambiguity here. Marcy likes Anne because of her compassion, something she probably has worried about wearing out herself. Anne has always appreciated Marcy's intelligence but Amphibia has made her understand Marcy's passion far better than she did before and Anne clearly actually is into that now that she better cares about others properly. This also clearly shows their chemistry as we know the strengths and weaknesses each of them cover for the other, though not perfectly as they're both still human and the same things they admire in the other can cause anxiety and worry in themselves from comparing themselves to their partner. Marcy in Wartwood and Scavenger Hunt are all it takes for all of this to come out and it leads to more romantic chemistry, and a genuinely dynamic look at what they could be, than a lot of romance movies manage in their entire runtime.

In conclusion, I like all of them in general. In practice, I find most of them deeply compelling within the show. It's just... It doesn't drive me to want to write them during the show romantically because I agree with the show. They're complicated, both as a trio and as themselves, and they probably could use a more solid ground for themselves before they really start working on each other.

And that is honestly even better to me because it just makes them all the more interesting.

======+++++======

For anyone curious why I didn't talk about Sashannarcy at all despite literally being a polyamory writer, it's because I kind of wanted to keep it to the ships that I think are properly represented in the show and Marcy and Sasha get essentially zero time together to try and form a relationship beyond "Marcy thinks Sasha is really fucking cool while Sasha barely gives Marcy the time of day if she's not also giving attention to Anne." The theoretical would be fun to talk about but it's pretty much only the theoretical and I decided to keep the blog more focused on the practical.

Also had a moment after this of going "Huh. I wonder how much of me being demiromantic is playing a part in how I see these.?

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

there's nothing inherently wrong or unhealthy with a platonic relationship being the most intimate and important in someone's life (whether that person is also in a romantic relationship or not). this has been said before but people still treat it like its true. ESPECIALLY that a prioritized platonic relationship belies “codependency” even though no one would bat an eye at the exact same dynamic if it were romantic, because of the idea that a prioritized platonic relationship is somehow immature/unhealthy and something to grow out of/move on from.

the idea that the twins just go, well, you've been the person i felt safest loving and trusting in my entire life, our souls have been bound by fate and magic and our love for one another is one of the strongest bonds in the multiverse, transcending death and unimaginable loss, the motivation behind everything we’ve ever done, but since we're both in romantic relationships now and the story is over, the reasonable and in-character thing to do would be to split up and have separate nuclear families because that's the "healthy thing" (read: expected thing). there's no other form of a domestic happy ending than a marriage and typical nuclear family. you're everything to me, my entire world, my heart, see you later.

ok this got too long i'm putting it under a readmore.

(also why i don't really like the idea that taako adopts angus. "parent" is not the only important, loving role an adult can play in a child's life but people feel that need to shove everything into a nuclear family. also taako has too much going on to be the good parent that angus needs anyway. and magnus and lucretia are right there. but this is another post <- this is actually a fan fiction i’m writing, kind of)

i just find that frankly silly. i truly believe that the twins live together for the rest of their lives and are always each others' most important person (before anyone kills me i do think barry is there too. they also both love him so much. capacity for love INCREASES there’s no need for a replacement or a “moving on” it’s an addition). there's not any reason they wouldn't live together other than that it’s not “normal?” but why would they give a shit about that. their prioritization of one another isn't the unhealthy thing about their relationship. they do have other stuff going on that's actually codependent, but i think they eventually work past it and come to have a healthier (yet no less close) relationship. actually this post was originally just supposed to be about those codependent tendencies but i felt like i needed to compensate by clarifying that there are only a very specific few things abt their dynamic i find unhealthy and that by and large they’re fine, actually.

the main thing is, as is so succinctly put in this post—they aren't able to communicate about big, important decisions. not to say they never communicate about anything, i think they actually do communicate effectively about a lot of things—warning i’m going into a complete tangent here—i see a lot an idea that they’re not siblings who hug or really verbalize affection at all which is crazy to me (<- personal opinion alert) like they’re closed off and distrusting (taako more than lup, but she’s certainly not exempt from their trauma) to other people and the world at large but they have always always been each other’s exception, each other’s utmost safe place, the one person they could be absolutely comfortable around, who they never have to be afraid of. that’s one of the things i find so compelling about them, that they trust each other with their entire selves. they have no reason to ever feel defensive around each other. oh to be known so entirely and intimately and never feel ashamed or afraid of judgement or abandonment. augh. so i do think they hug.

also—i don't think they "don't know how to be a person without each other" like that's certainly not true for lup and i don't really think it's true for taako either. they have their own distinct personalities and identities they just also both inform each others’ lives. they're an integral part of each other's identity the way your family or best friend or partner or most important person in your life is but again i think that's fine.

but back to the topic at hand anyway they DO hide their misgivings from each other when it comes to huge shit with world-changing, life-threatening consequences lol. when it comes to, like, turning herself into a lich, or leaving to recover her dangerous magical artifact, lup feels like she needs to be entirely decisive and confident for taako, and when it comes to his sister turning herself into a lich, or proposing a dangerous magical artifact plan, taako feels like he needs to be unflinchingly supportive and loyal for lup. and those both backfire obviously. because they trust each other so completely that they don't trust each other enough to not trust each other. weird paradox.

but really its not a lack of trust in each other its their own insecurities projected onto each other. lup second guesses herself but feels like she can’t express that uncertainty so she’s alone with her doubts which increases the pressure and stress and creates a feedback loop that only makes her more insecure. and taako feels like he doesn’t have anything to bring to the table other than backing up lup and is afraid doubting her would hurt her which means he never has an opportunity to find out he does actually have good ideas and that lup would listen to him constructively. but it manifests in lup “not trusting taako” to have her back even if she doubts herself and taako “not trusting lup” to take criticism even if his idea is good.

and honestly i think the solution to this just comes with… not being in those lifethreatening situations anymore. the universe was saved and they have normal (magical fantasy world) lives. so now when they’re hiding things from each other the stakes are a lot lower. and when the stakes are lower they’re able to express uncertainty because they don’t feel that extreme and terrifying pressure anymore. lup doesn’t have to make impossible decisions and stick to them despite any doubt because she doesn’t have the survival of entire worlds on her back anymore. taako doesn’t have to always agree with lup and uncritically support her every choice because he’s not the only thing holding her together from oblivion anymore. so they're able to express doubts and nothing falls apart and they're actually stronger for it. and they’re already doing so much work on fixing their relationship just from being separated and kinda grieving for a decade too, so they eventually work past that.

and also because they have to face those insecurities and their consequences. lup got trapped in umbrella limbo for a decade and taako had his life destroyed. if lup had been able to overcome her need to put everything on her shoulders and expressed uncertainty, if taako had been able to overcome his blind loyalty and expressed doubt, would they have gone through with the relics? would they have even gone through with the lich plan? they realize only afterward that they should’ve talked about it, and so they learn from their mistakes.

another tangent—isn’t it so crazy how, by any standard, lup should be the strongwilled, passionate, heroic protagonist and taako her cynical, pragmatic, yet loyal sidekick? and yet he’s the protagonist and she the supporting character in the actual narrative? so subversive and intriguing. i cant believe this was all masterfully and purposefully written. anyway. (<- in the in-universe metanarrative version of the story, lup [and honestly, probably davenport] is the tragic ghost who haunts the narrative and lucretia & barry are the morally gray protagonist foils, and tres horny boys are supporting characters/comic relief who go on to have their own semi-important b-plot arcs that ultimately serve to further the protagonists’ arcs. btw.)

back to the twins. i also think they don't only grow post-canon, i think they grow a LOT during the century, because in the beginning, they're coming from a life where they have been not only the most important people in each other's lives, but the ONLY people in each other's lives. and now they're suddenly faced with more people, which they handle fine individually, more or less—lup is faster to warm up to the others, but even though taako's attitude is very much that he only cares about him and his, he is capable of expanding the people who are "his" (eventually). but they've never had to bring other people into their dynamic with each other before.

i don't think either of them are possessive, their relationship is built on deepest mutual respect and love and trust and "possessiveness" is kinda antithetical to that, but they can both be jealous on occasion. although there is a difference—lup is the only one who will outwardly display jealousy (and maybe a better word than jealousy would be insecurity), again because of the dynamic earlier: taako must always support whatever decisions lup makes without question. so when taako dies one cycle and all of a sudden merle and magnus and everyone else grieve him too, lup feels a sense of ownership over grief (not over taako himself, but over loving taako, just because no one else ever really has before, and she’s never had to think about the possibility that he might love other people too) that she initially may not challenge but does eventually let go of, because it's actually a good thing that other people love him now, and bringing new people into their family doesn’t make their love for each other any less. and taako has a similar experience but tbh i think its a little easier for him bc, like, who wouldn’t love lup, and lup loves other people way more freely than taako does (still not super freely, its a low bar). not that lup thinks taako is unloveable OBVIOUSLY (taako does think he’s unloveable tho) i just think they have different attitudes abt it, like they both have the moments of “but you don’t love them as much as i do!!” which is true, no one loves them as much as they do, but taako’s more willing to let that shit go bc he just doesn’t care as much what the others do as long as they don’t fuckin bother him about it. like lup sees the others equate (as she sees it, but oc they’re not actually grieving At Her) their (comparatively shallow) grief to her world-shattering loss of her best friend, only family, soulmate, silly rabbit, and she gets angry about it, but taako’s reaction is more like, “ok they’re stupid. who cares.” meanwhile and more importantly, all of a sudden lup is falling in love with barry, but taako's not one to throw a fit or demand that he's the only one who can love lup nor the only one lup can love. she’s made her decision. he just gives barry advice and lets it quietly hurt and draws distant, because he has a deep seated fear of abandonment that is now, for the first time, clashing with his unshakable trust in lup. and their relationship irrevocably changes but maybe not for the worse, because taako has, for the first time, doubted lup, a disruption to their typical (codependent) dynamic. but, of course, in the end his fears are unfounded and lup pulls him back in, because their capacity for love increases—of course lup still loves him just as much and yknow what, so does barry, and so does the rest of the crew. so he doubts and fears and is proven wrong. and so they grow and change, and their world increases from two to seven.

but that doubt doesn’t really go away for a long time, exacerbated and strained the more lup keeps secrets (especially with barry) until it reaches a head when lup finally doubts taako and does truly abandon him. but again, of course, never on purpose and never forever, they find their way back to each other despite everything and, again, come away stronger for it. the idea that the twins’ relationship is never as close again after story and song is so fucking tragic and heartrending but really i just think its unrealistic. because the rift between them is what caused their pain in the first place, of course they wouldn’t just shrug and move on. they would do anything for each other, including a lot of difficult emotional work and healing. for a little while they do have to deal with the reality that they’re not as close as they were. but they can be again. it just takes time and effort.

but anyway just to drive my point home—we mostly see taako's side of it since he is the protagonist in the real world narrative, but lup is always, always positioned within that narrative as his most important person. (and even then, lup says as much for taako! she loves barry of course but she loves taako so much he’s her heart!!) when thb see their lives after the hunger in paloma's prophecy, taako sees himself cooking with lup. she's textually representative of healing and joy in his future, and she's the main character present in his epilogue too. she's his greatest loss and his greatest love, positioned in exactly the same place as julia and merle's kids. there are a myriad of love stories going on in balance and a myriad of love stories involving taako that are all beautiful and significant in their own right but i really do think the main one in his life is lup!!

well all that to say they’re my favorite little critters ever and i’m studying them under a microscope forever. how do you end posts

Why Namor x Shuri doesn’t work from a storytelling standpoint

Before I went and watched Wakanda Forever for the first time last Christmas, I saw so many people talking about how Shuri and Namor should’ve been a romantic couple. So I walked into the movie and for the first half, I could kinda see why some people could come to that conclusion. And then the second half happened and I was genuinely wondering if we saw the same movie. 💀 And while I didn’t (and still don’t) ship them, personally, and was (and still am) very confused as to why some people did (and still do), I wasn’t really bothered by it. Initially. But the more I think about it, the ship makes even less sense when you think about from a story writing perspective.

I will (begrudgingly) give Namor x Shuri shippers one point, Namor and Shuri do have good chemistry. Letitia Wright and Tenoch Huerta do play off each other well. But I would argue that it takes just as much chemistry to play enemies/rivals/antagonistic relationships as it does to play romantic/platonic/positive relationships. Any two characters on screen (on on paper or on stage or any other narrative art form) must have chemistry. Compelling character dynamics are important to tell a good story. Imma call it negative and positive chemistry.

Positive chemistry

Let’s look at Shuri as an example cause she has no canon love interest in the comics or in the movies, so most of this is fan theory.

Shuri and Peter Parker would likely have good chemistry because

- they’re both intelligent so will likely have the same interests

- they’re around the same age so they would likely be able to relate to each other

- they have the same dry sense of humor

- they have the same goal of wanting to defeat the bad guys -eg- Thanos

Whether platonic or romantic, they would make sense as a pairing.

Another pairing post WF we can look at is Riri and Shuri, and they work because

- they’re also both very smart but are often undermined because of their ages

- they have shared trauma and as a result are fiercely protective of one another

- they also have a similar sense of humor

- they both have the same goal of wanting to defeat the Talokanil and especially Namor (He does try to kill both of them. Several times. 💀)

- they literally finish each other’s sentences

Once again, platonic, romantic or even sisterly, it makes sense.

What makes both these pairings work to a degree is the idea of them being equal in some regard. Whether equal in intellect, or age, or race, or any other metric, they clearly both see each other as equal, even with Shuri being “the Crown Princess of an international superpower” and Peter and Riri being “average” civilians. They more or less agree on a common enemy and how to deal with said enemy, with morals and values that more or less align. (Within the context of the world they inhabit.)

Negative chemistry

But Namor and Shuri have what I would call negative chemistry. They do have some things in common which can be where their chemistry stems from, such as

- they are both rulers of powerful kingdoms who love their people and will do anything to protect them

- they both experience great personal loss and therefore are motivated by grief

- the surface world poses a great threat to them and may be exploited for their resources

- they admire each other’s kingdoms (the physical spaces that their people inhabit)

However even with these similarities we see that there are some glaring differences.

- Namor does not view Shuri as an equal, despite their similarities. His line of “you are queen now” showed that he was never willing to conduct to business with Ramonda, likely because she was the only person on the surface world who bested him when she lured him out of Talokan to facilitate Shuri and Riri’s rescue mission. He was simply looking for an excuse to get her out of the picture. Also, Namor’s love only goes as far as his people. Shuri’s love of people goes far beyond Wakanda’s boarders.

- He is reckless with his grief. He is correct in hating the surface world, and in particular white people for the pain they caused his people. But wanting to wage war with the whole world is extreme. Shuri on the other hand, has a better handle on how she externalizes her grief. She recognizes that even though she is angry at T’Challa’s death, the rest of the world doesn’t deserve to feel the extent of her wrath. Even when Namor does kill her mother, she rightfully directs her anger at him. She doesn’t become antagonistic with anyone else or try to take vengeance from anyone else. Sure, she has some outbursts at Nakia and M’baku, but she never really alienates them.

- Namor and the Talokanil, immediately resort to violence and war when they feel a threat from the surface world. But since no one knows they exist, this threat is hypothetical for now. (We know it’s going to happen when they do find out, given the track record of some countries in the world, but not yet.) A direct contrast to Ramonda and Shuri, who in the face of real eminent threats, resorted to peace and showed their aggressors mercy.

- Namor, despite wanting Wakanda’s help with his mission, ultimately doesn’t view Wakanda with anymore sympathy than he does the rest of the world. He has made it clear that he hates the surface world and everyone in it, which includes the Wakandans. I mean, “no love” is literally his name. Wanting to destroy the whole world, funny enough, including other Mayan descendants who were enslaved or colonized, is no different from wanting to wage war on his so called ally, killing half of them and then killing their queen. He never liked or respected them as people. That was not going to change with Shuri.

It’s also another reason why he killed Ramonda with no hesitation despite knowing what he knew about Shuri. It would be easy to forgive him if he had never met Shuri. Then Ramonda would simply remain as the nameless, faceless monarch of a powerful country. But the fact that Shuri opened up to him about the grief she was already carrying, only to inflict more pain, makes his crimes way more egregious. He knew Shuri on a somewhat personal level and still chose to kill the queen. Knowing she was her mother. It goes back to the point of him never seeing Shuri as human or recognizing her feelings as valid. All he wanted to do was push her to the extremes of grief so she would become reckless like he was. It’s clear that Namor doesn’t see Shuri as an equal. Which means that any positive development that would happen between the two would take a long time to properly write.

I’m sure someone out there has come up with better terms than “positive and negative chemistry” in a screenwriting book somewhere, but I was just thinking about different character dynamics and how they work. Many compelling relationships have that element of chemistry. For example, in the first Black Panther, T’Challa and Shuri bounce well off of each other. Positive chemistry. It’s also why Killmonger makes the perfect antagonist to T’Challa. Negative chemistry. It’s all chemistry that translates differently. Batman and Joker. Superman and Lex Luthor. Thanos and the Avengers. Team Dynamics within the Avengers. Thor and Loki. The Guardians of the Galaxy. And so many more. It’s all different types of chemistry. So yes, Namor and Shuri are arguably both great characters with complex motivations, and together, do have stellar chemistry, but is it chemistry that produces romance? I don’t think so.

In conclusion, yes, ship who you want (even when it makes no sense), these are fictional characters (who represent real world dynamics), it’s just for fun (how?), etc. but looking at it from the perspective of a storyteller, the character dynamics would not make it work. If you write a story with two such characters and they end up in love, it wouldn’t make sense.

(These are just the 3 am thoughts of a sleep deprived college student 😀)

I know I've said this so many times before, but it is just so comforting to see your posts about love and other people agreeing. Because I thought I was weird for almost immediately wanting to put a fic down when the romance was there, with labels of "boyfriend, girlfriend, husband." It’s like I don’t understand how the other qsmp ships work 😭 But the fact that skephalo just seems to always be there... It was just natural that they could go against the world together without anyone pushing a label on it. All that mattered was their unfailing love for the other and their natural friendship that went above that. In the qsmp they already have a history together! They've been with each other for centuries and know they have been together in past lives. Bad adores Skeppy.

For me, I don't really know how I feel about 4halo? I liked it a lot in the beginning because Forever was one of the few people that had the same views on the eggs that Bad did. But it just doesn't feel like it’s going to work? Bad and Forever have such different goals, and especially with Bad... I don’t think either will change. I like starhalo because they're just fighters, both to attack and protect. It just seems a lot softer than 4halo, I guess, but that's only because that ship got sucked into political drama. 4halo has the AMAZING jealously that I love, but it’s just missing something; like both characters know it will end up being a fling. But Etoiles has been so kind to Bad throughout his memory loss, teaching him to fight again, being patient... Idk, it’s strange. I almost miss it when there was no other Bad ship but Skeppy, I didn’t realize how narrow of a box Bad sat in o_o

(also sorry for the long ask. Just adding that I feel like if Bad killed Forever, that might be a schism in their relationship, while Etoiles would just admire it. But I don’t know, I haven't followed 4halo very well)

thank you for the long ask :D also disclaimer: everything i talk about here is more about viability in canon rather than enjoyment of ships. two different things! obviously i enjoy all q!bad ships through both a shipper lens and an analyst lens.

unlabeled relationships resonates so strongly with q!bad, especially given both his species and his aromanticism, which makes everyone pushing him towards a "typical" romance feel off (i wrote an analysis a bit ago on how qbad's aromanticism is treated on the server opposed to cbad, even if its a bit dated).

4halo's dynamic changes a lot, and it's hard to predict where they'll end up, and that makes them fun (happy pills 4halo is my favorite). there definitely is a certain type of inevitable "doom" with them, though. they'll never end up wholeheartedly trusting each other, but they'll love each other regardless. this ask was sent before yesterday's stream, where forever took care of bad, which goes to show how unpredictable they can be. they really do have a soft side, its just that they always seem to fail to fundamentally understand each other. and when all of q!bad's relationships are "tiered" in some way, this makes a committed relationship, whether platonic or romantic, difficult. forever has such a big heart and bad is so guarded. their relationship does come off of uneven in these unbalanced values, while a relationship like aypierre/bbh does not because pierre simply doesn't mind how paranoid and distrustful bad is. (but, again: that's what makes 4halo more compelling. q!bad is sick in the head obsessed yet is still so restrained around him.)

i really enjoy starhalo, but i cant really see bad striking up a committed, trusted relationship with etoiles. they're both warriors, but they're values are different. etoiles is honorable: he defends the weak, he likes fair fight. bad is a bit more desperate, a bit more brutal. he fights to survive and he takes delight in killing. he likes to win. he needs to win. etoiles obviously enjoys seeing this side of bad come out (in a way many islanders do not, like you said) but i cant help but wonder what would happen when these interests come into conflict. etoiles is to bend his morals to save friendships, but bad won't do the same in return.

and there's the issue with q!bad ships: bad is willing to cut everyone off if it means saving those he holds closest to his heart. and so every ship with him will inevitably crumble because he will choose if they're not up there. he would choose dapper over skeppy, even. and if skeppy comes second to the eggs, then how does it feel to be third on his list? fourth? fifth? how many people can stomach being in a relationship with someone who already knows how expendable you are to them?

again i love shipping im a huge shipper, i love romantic q!bad ships a lot. but there's a reason he fits into an us-against-the-world, unshakeable, all-consuming, unlabeled love, as opposed to the more typical romance progressions you see from fitpac/bagina/spiderbit. there's a reason all q!bad ships have some level of toxicity, while many ships without him do not. he's an all or nothing person, and finding someone who will wholly give him his heart, and wholly receive his heart back, will take a lot. so far, the closest is still presumably q!skeppy (which could still change if he were ever on the island), and that is due to thousands of years and lifetimes together. to have someone else take that place...well, we would have certainly known by now.

Acacia, I shall be hitting you with a whole fruit salad.

I’m sorry but I do want to ask all of these. So please, take your time answering. 😅

🍒, 🍊, 🍑, 🍐, and 🍈?

Aww thank you so much, Erika! I really appreciate it. There's no need to apologize. I'd love to answer these for you. Thank you so much for sending them in. 🥰

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

I'm sure this will come as no surprise to you but I love to write brother relationships, especially in that sweet spot of they love each other deeply but the relationship between them is strained usually by external and/or internal forces and/or breakdowns in communication driving a wedge between them that makes it difficult to express how much they really care about each other. It's such a fascinating dynamic to me (I honestly don't know why, but I'm always so compelled by these kind of deeply loving but deeply broken relationships where you're looking at these fictional siblings and you just know how much they truly love each other but they just can't communicate that and can't overcome whatever it is that's tearing them apart.

(I'm going to ramble just a little bit here so please excuse me) For instance, you've got Finral and Langris who are driven apart by their own wounds & insecurities but also because they were pitted against each other by their parents and kind of had to see each other as adversaries in order to survive in their abusive home. Whereas Sanemi pushed his brother away to try to protect him and lashed out when Genya misunderstood and tried to prove himself by doing the exact thing his brother was trying to protect him from. Hero and Kel both pushed each other away because they were afraid of hurting each other. And don't even get me started about Kai and Sei because that is just... (I'm cutting myself off)

Anyway, the one underpinning thread here is that there is obviously real love between these siblings underneath all of that pain, strain, and brokeness in the relationship and therefore is a hope that they can overcome these obstacles and build a healthy bond with each other (whether that's again or, in some cases, for the first time). Even I have my limits though and there are some relationships that are clearly unhealthy and unsalvageable. When it's clear that their really is no mutual respect here and/or no potential for change or real love then I'm out. But those ones that are more nuanced where the relationship is just strained rather than permanently broken, I personally am very compelled by those and have a lot of hope of them being repaired. That's probably my favorite kind of relationship to write about.

I also love writing about platonic Male-Female friendships because I feel like those are criminally underrated.

🍊 Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more? (They’re so interesting! But maybe you have trouble pinning them down, or keep getting distracted by another blorbo…)

Gordon. I'm so sorry Gordon! He was honestly one of my favorite characters when I was watching and reading Black Clover, but he's just so hard for me to write that I've never really been able to do as much with him as I would've liked. I have half a story written from his POV for the Early Black Bulls Series but it was such a struggle that I just never finished it. I also considered making up an OC for him to marry in the future around the same time I was creating Lorelei for Henry (because he just seems like such a domestic type who'd be happy to settle down & have a family one day. Just such a loving Papa). But not a lot came of that. I name dropped his daughter (who is adopted) in one of my fics, but yeah...I really dropped the ball on poor Gordon. He deserves more love.

🍑 If you could make a connection between your favorite character and another work you care about (whether a crossover/fusion or a wonderfully “pretentious” literary reference) what would it be? How would it work?

My sister and I make jokes all the time about (a well-adjusted) Langris sort of "adopting" all the high-stress, overachieving perfectionist kiddos we tend to adopt ourselves from other media and becoming kind of father figure to them and trying to help them --convince them it's okay to have fun and that they don't have to be perfect all the time and try to "earn" love (usually with Finesse's help and/or by begging Vanessa to intervene because he has no idea what he's doing). And the kids really look up to him and think he's super cool. We call them the "Langris Squad." It's a little hard to explain but kind of wholesome in my mind.

🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a fuck-up in characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…

...that House Vaude Drama needs a resolution. I think especially for me (because I'm a biased Langris-sympathizer) something I always try to include in fics is just trying to kind of explain why in the world he is acting the way he is and is (weirdly enough) sort of helping Finral best him. It's strange from the outside (I have a lot of headcanons about it), so I really like to dive into Langris' emotions, thoughts, and motivations about what's going on there since it was really abrupt and glossed over in the actual canon. Also, again, I like to resolve this mess when I can. (Not always in the same way because there are multiple resolutions which would be fine, but I don't really care for the way it has been handled in the canon).

Another one that comes to mind is the aftermath of the Golden Dawn losing so much of their squad in the fight against Zenon. I know that was a while ago, but it still irks me that we didn't get to see a whole of them grieving and trying to rebuild. Yuno had a really great and heart-wrenching moment about it in the Spade Arc when he tapped into his grief to motivate him during his rematch against Zenon, but I feel like there's a lot of untapped potential there, especially for Mimosa who unlocks such a powerful healing ability that she could use to save other people during the Spade Arc but couldn't use to save her own squad mates. I can't imagine how hard that is for her, and I was actually so frustrated this got glossed over that I wrote a story about it called "For What It's Worth" which unfortunately I think was written in the time before Tumblr and never made it over here. Maybe I'll cross post it, if you (or anyone else is interested)?

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

From Black Clover, Langris. Hands down. He was not always (and I detested him at first), but he's definitely the character I find most interesting now. I just want him and Finral to repair their brotherly relationship so much! It's what I have wanted most out of Black Clover for a very long time. I also really enjoy his friendship with Yuno and especially with Lady Finesse.

I have way too many headcanons about him, but I think the biggest one that comes up the most and has the most bearing over how I write his character is that Langris loves so much more intensely and deeply than he is given credit for. He struggles to be vulnerable and doesn't open his heart to too many people, but when he does, he will love forever and will be willing to make great sacrifices for what is best for that person and what will make them happy.

My most strongly held Langris headcanon is that it is the love that he has for Finesse that has led him to try to help Finral take over House Vaude. I flip-flop a lot over whether it is a romantic or platonic love, but regardless, I am convinced that however you want to qualify that, Langris loves her and is so concerned with her happiness that he would willingly give up what's he has worked for his entire life, his sense of purpose, and, really, his own sense of identity (in a way) just in the off chance that Finesse would be happy. And even more than that...would be happy without him. This is not a sacrifice to get the girl. This is a purely selfless action. He knows if he does this, he will lose everything and they will never be together, but he doesn't care because what he wants more than all of that is for Finesse to be happy and he doesn't think he can be the one to make her happy, so that's why he counts himself out.

Ian and Barbara from Doctor Who! And Two/Jamie. And also Mae/Linda from DC (bc of the icon)

IanBarbara (do they have a ship name? that's what I'm calling them) is perhaps one of the most "makes sense" pairings in all of Doctor Who (bold statement but they really do work). I wouldn't say I actively ship them though because I'm kinda attached to these heteros being really good friends but they are a good pairing (I know they get together in the EU tho, which is fine because it's not a "quick! we need to pair off these characters regardless of if it makes sense!" situation). They're Mulder and Scully to me, basically.

TwoJamie as a dynamic compels me more (love whatever they got going on) but I would say it makes slightly less sense, mostly because of the age gap (not between the Doctor and Jamie because he's a Time Lord, he's always going to be old but because of the 24 year age gap between the actors. Since 450 year old people don't exist, as a viewer I can only go by actor ages really). I don't think shipping them is bad or whatever, it's just hard not to notice it. The reason they're not higher in the "compels me" section is because I haven't decided whether I view them platonically or not so they're in limbo there, and I'm probably not going to decide definitivley because it's not about that for me.

I just really love how ride or die they are for each other immediately like when Two sees him again in The Underwater Menace and he's like "JAMIE!!!" even though he was not that happy to see the others (tunnel vision frfr). And in the Jamie audio story where Raven remarks Two seems particularly find of him 💚. And! How that affection remains across incarnations. Colin Baker has functionally said his Doctor is aroace (exact quote: "Love is a human emotion and the Doctor isn't human" (which... saying love is what makes us human is not great)) but the point is Six still cares for Jamie so much, regardless of the type of love he feels. Like in the Wreck of the Titan, the first thing he does after getting Jamie back is take him on a luxury cruise he'd been saving tickets for 🥺. (Well, attempts to do that. They end up on the Titanic LMAO).

MaeLinda isn't here because I haven't read Supergirl (1996), sorry (over 700 comics read seems like a lot but it's actually nothing 😔). Mae's my icon because I liked her in the Death of Superman, but I will read more of her stuff (and then gain MaeLinda opinions) but I'm currently possessed by my Doctor Who obsession.

In general, I tend to be less of an avid romance shipper and more of a dynamic enjoyer, which sometimes means shipping and sometimes doesn't. It's about closeness, not necessarily about how that closeness is defined (platonic? queerplatonic? romantic? who knows). They're partners (ambiguous).

Thanks for asking!

In relation to the ask game, monk?

Also btw your art is great it’s been so fun following it for so long :3

Thank you so much! <3

Monk: what is your favorite canon relationship?

Hahaha. :) In case this was somehow not obvious, it’s Laudna and Imogen. They had me by the throat within seconds of their introduction.

And okay here’s the thing I’ve only ever had one (1) character relationship dynamic that I really care about. Like, this isn’t my criteria for shipping or anything it’s just that ships I get hyperfixation-level attached to happen to fall in this one weirdly specific category and it is this: romantic friendship between two magical and/or monster ladies, one pastel and one goth. One of them is doomed or carrying around some kind of Destiny and the other one is Very Concerned about it.

Whether or not they’re actually kissing doesn’t matter*, it’s the strength of the bond between them that makes my heart try to escape my ribs. Bonded like shelter cats who can’t be adopted separately. No one else more important to them than each other. A love that can (and does) save or end worlds.

It’s had a few iterations over the years but it’s never been canon before. I’ve always had to do a lot of AU heavy lifting because there’s some canon heteronormative boyfriend in the way or the setting was mostly original content and characters because the source material didn’t have many so the ship was half fanon to begin with or something. So to have the exact thing I’ve been longing for for probably close to 20 years fully realized and canonical handed to me right at the start of the campaign permanently altered my psyche. I have not cared this much about fictional characters in ever.

And what’s really special about it is that they are BOTH the magical and monster ladies!! And they are both doomed by their destiny while being very concerned about the other’s and trying to undoom each other! They understand each other on a soul-deep level – Laudna is the only person whose thoughts don’t cause Imogen psychic pain and Imogen was the first person in her whole undeath to regard her with compassion rather than fear. They were each the unique antidote for the other’s loneliness. And it’s beautiful!!!!

And they absolutely check all of the romantic friendship boxes so it was everything I wanted right from the start. While everyone was (understandably) crowing “Imodna canon!!” after episode 65 because they kissed I was kind of like Oh! Okay! This is new. :) :) but it didn’t change me as a person because that had already happened. They were canon from the beginning. The bond was always there. Imogen would have gone into hell and dragged Laudna out of it regardless of whether she had romantic feelings for her. They can’t be adopted separately!!

(CR asks)

*(I actually kind of prefer it without the conventional-romantic “dating” aspect because fandom in general tends to value the romance over the friendship but it’s not as compelling to me because I'm ace and though romantic and sexual attraction are two different things, the prevailing cultural understanding of "romance" tends to presume both and I'm just not interested. Intense friendship used to be much more of a social norm but it fell out of favor with the rise of the Standard Nuclear Family in the 20th century. But whether or not they could have remained a Strong Platonic Female Friendship has already been examined. ;) )

I have come into your inbox to rant and ramble after being blown away. I specifically ship your version/characterization of saulxandreas and romantic or platonic!saulxfarah/saul&farah, where the two dynamics are a foil for one another. Your fic, it was just red, is a masterpiece. It perfectly encapsulates the way that Andreas’s “feelings” for Saul would likely manifest, not as a healthy romantic attraction but as a twisted combination of attraction, jealousy of someone more popular and better than him (“good, kind, stupid Saul”), the desire to dominate, and the homophobic/toxicly masculine idea of owning/besting someone by fucking them. That sort of dynamic unfortunately often culminates in sexual violence, whether it be rape by deception or straight up assault. Which is made all the more heartbreaking by saul’s devotion towards Andreas and their early friendship. The contrast between Andreas being too narcissistic and insecure to love properly (“I did love you, you know,”) and the real love between Saul and his fairy, Farrah, and his other friends, made me cry.

I also ship saulxhealing because he puts on this image of even tempered mentor/guardian for the sake of his son and students, but he has got to be internally shattered, the most broken and traumatized character in the whole series, especially after season 2. Pretty much everyone he’s known and loved died violently. throughout his life, two people he trusted (Andreas and Sebastian) treated him like dirt by trying to kill him. He must have a very damaged sense of self worth and internalized guilt at being one of the last ones standing. Maybe he could find solace in being a father to sky, although i wonder how their relationship was affected by sky killing his biological father to save Saul on top of the previous trust issues that were not resolved.

Have you ever thought about writing another fic in light of all the compelling saulxandreas moments from season 2? Ken duken really amped up the tension between them, every time they appear on screen Andreas looks at Saul with such a creepy intense look that’s hard to ignore. And there’s the introduction of Sebastian, who definitely had a crush on Saul (“following saul around like a puppy”) The potential for Sebastian’s jealousy and hatred toward Andreas during their school years, and andreas being possessive of saul would be interesting. I could see your characterization of andreas continuing beautifully in a post s2 fic, with his viciousness showing in the way he relentlessly bullied Sebastian to mark his territory and because he could.

Also, it’s a testament to your writing that canon s2 Andreas pretty much acted in accordance with the Andreas in your fic! There’s always the possibility of canon work completely going against a fic, but s2 Andreas was every bit as bloodthirsty and aggressive as you wrote him (not Ben asking saul if sky inherited Andreas’s bloodlust 😭) Burning saul’s house down in jealousy, pushing students around and making sparring more violent, being emotionally unavailable towards his son, and insulting silva’s masculinity, (“did he wear an apron?”) it was amazing how you basically extrapolated his character so accurately from just a few scenes in s1.

Basically, thank you for writing it was just red, and the way you wrote it makes me yearn and wonder if you’ve ever thought about writing something post s2. The past and present structure for it was just red would be perfect in explaining the sheer depths of Sebastian’s hatred of Andreas (with Saul at the root of it all,) and the way Saul/Andreas’s scenes were so intense, culminating in Andreas sacrificing himself to save Saul, makes me wonder what kind of relationship they had in the past even if it was an unhealthy one. The show also glossed over saul’s imprisonment after he was caught returning to see sky, and the way you wrote his imprisonment in i.w.j.r. Makes me think you’d write that part wonderfully. The saul&sky&andreas conflict and dynamic (“you’re already starting to sound like him.”) was also teased but not explored in canon, and the way you described that in the last fic (“he’s in my DNA” “he’s in my bones.”) chills. I’d kill to see your exploration of that dynamic post s2. And they also didn’t include any grieving scenes for Saul after his fairy died!

Anyways, I’ll end this here. It was just red. was amazing, literally one of the best fics I’ve read and definitely the best when it comes to comparing the quality of canon to fic. You have a gift for fully fleshing out the motivations and psychology of characters, your writing is technically skilled, and you included themes beyond just shipping (about love, war, trauma, growth, and disillusionment) that I didn’t expect but were really impactful to read. I would die of happiness if you were considering writing another post s2 saundreas fic but that’s not to induce any pressure because I am already forever greatful for the fics you’ve already written. Wishing you all the best in life. Also, is it okay to send you more asks/messages about fate? This has gotten ridiculously long but I’d love to discuss more saundreas/saulbastian/saulrah things down the line with you if you’re interested.

okay anon, I hope you know this is the best ask I've ever received, my ego will never be the same after this 😅💕

I love the points you brought up in your 2nd paragraph, re: Saul x Healing. The man has been through it ALL, although I always have a hard time reconciling what he's actually been through with the mechanical way the writers had him deal with everything in S2. It's absolutely criminal we got little to no fallout from what went down in the lodge because you're so right, Sky and Saul's relationship is fundamentally changed now that Sky murdered his bio father to save his real father!! Plus Sky and Saul have both now lost their fairies, they've both killed their own fathers, their home burned down… like they have so much loss together (makes you wonder what's left to repair if they both lost so much).

I have actually started a "S2 from Saul's POV" that tries to both build on what specks of light they gave us (Ken rocking tf out of angsty Andreas, references to Sebastian and Andreas' crushes on Saul, wtf was going on that week when both Saul and Andreas were teachers at Alfea when they have this history together????) and also tries to bridge some of the gaps (where tf is the emotion? any of it? About Farah? Sky killing Andreas? Siding with Roz???)

And I'm toasting you to kingdom come, anon, for the praise re: Andreas' characterization in my fic. If you had told me when I was writing it that we were going to get as much fucked up Andreas in S2 as we did I would not have believed you. It was a dream come true--my only wish is that they hadn't killed him off so early. He was SUCH a great rogue/lesser villain. I really don't remember what happens much in s2 after Episode 4 lol that's basically It for me. I'm framing your sentence "the best quen it comes to comparing the quality of canon to fic" because ??? excuse me this is the most fantastic compliment because that's exactly what I was going for/hoping for and!!! thank you!!!!

Back to my S2 "rewrite" fic. I hadn't considered as much your particular angle, like what if Sebastian being Sebastian and not just any old blood witch was part of the reason for Andreas' sacrifice? Extra baggage between the three of them? I'm curious what you mean about "the past and present structure of IWJR would be perfect in explaining the sheer depth…" are you just referring to IWJR or are you talking about the proposed post-s2 fic you would like to see me write? Sorry I'm just curious!!

Anyway anyway anyway PHEW you are incredible for sending such a kind and gushing message and THANK YOU!!! I literally had to sit on it for a few hours bc it was like staring at the sun lol it is so bright and makes me so happy. You are ALWAYS welcome to come chat about anything Fate, on anon or off! We are a friendly bunch and love talking about our silly 13 episode fairy show!! Thank you again!!

Ford and Fiddleford's Dynamic - Pt. 1

Alright, so I had expressed not long ago that I wanted to more exhaustively discuss my thoughts on Ford and Fiddleford’s dynamic, why I love it, and why I find it so compelling and enjoyable regardless of whether it is read as romantic, platonic, something in between, or something else altogether. I'm going to break this up into parts, too, hopefully that makes it a little easier to read. I know I'm a text-heavy person, so please bear with me!

I am going to do my best to focus on canon and interpreting it and keep the headcanons to a minimum for now. As I said, I believe their dynamic is wonderfully done and equally meaningful regardless of how you want to read it (although maybe it’s meaningful in slightly different ways depending on interpretation.). Ford and Fiddleford’s ‘arc’ excellently meshes with and manages to encapsulate the themes of the show as a whole – trust, love, and the gravity of these – how they can be broken and the severity of that, how these can  be flaws, the effort it can take to rebuild them, acceptance, embracing weirdness, and mystery. It’s difficult to truly pull their whole arc out and separate it from their relationships to other characters, but I’m going to do my best to focus on them and not get too side-tracked.

Let’s start off with some words from Alex Hirsch about their dynamic (thank you to @tazmiilly for finding this! the video it is from can be found here with the quote in question at 45:48)

“Everybody has that one friend in school who, like, school would be a nightmare without them. You know, like one person who is on your level who makes the same dumb jokes, is into the same weird games that you are, just like gets your sense of humor. And like, it can be the most meaningful thing in the world to have that person. I feel like every place I’ve been I have had at least one really good friend, who like… I can get through how awful it is because they’re there. And I think, y’know…McGucket and Ford were those kind of friends.”

Between this, Fiddleford’s enthusiastic acceptance of Ford’s request to help him build the portal, and Ford’s positively giddy reaction to seeing Fiddleford again in the 80s, I think we can safely assume they had a solid, steady bond. I’m going to backtrack now to Ford pre-college to set up some context that I think makes Alex’s description of their relationship in college so much more significant.

We know that throughout Ford’s formative years, he was practically attached at the hip to Stanley. They were inseparable, they were a team (though, of course, not without their differences). They shared a dream, trusted one another, and understood each other – although despite the understanding they do have, there are aspects of each other that are going to forever be disparate and difficult for the other to get. That’s normal and good! I love that Ford and Stan share so much yet stand out as unique people with their own way of viewing the world, unique interests, ways of handling things, and so on.

With the bullying they faced and the implied pressure at home, Stanley is the only (confirmed) positive relationship Ford seemed to have during his childhood and teen years. There is a lot we don’t know about what might have happened off-screen in their lives, but we know that Stan’s role was by and far the most significant to Ford. While their home situation leaves some room for interpretation, I think it is also safe to assume that pressure was heavy on both of them and that they experienced emotional abuse, at least from Filbrick (although it’s entirely possible this went further than we know, and we don’t get a good picture of how Caryn treated them either besides potential evidence for a somewhat detached relationship to them between ATOTS and Lost Legends).

Once Stan was kicked out and Ford was alone, I would bet that nearly all that pressure was now doubled down on him and all the scrutiny Stan had been under now fell to him. Ford’s a picture ‘golden child’ and all the high hopes his family had are looming over him while he’s dealing with major changes in his life – the heartbreak of losing his shot at WCT, losing Stan (and I would LOVE to know more about his feelings and thoughts on that whole scenario and how it would have gone if their argument had not been interrupted), trying to figure out his future and backup (heheh) college plans, and so on. Even if Ford wanted time to be independent and to chase his own dreams, at least for a time, I don’t think he ever wanted it to happen like this.

We now have Ford starting as a freshman at Backupsmore – far from his first choice of school, his expectations far from high and his outlook far from rosy. He’s completely on his own for the first time, still glaringly alone in Stan’s absence, although on a more positive note this may be his chance to be away from some of that hovering shadow of pressure from his family (at least to an extent) and away from the bullying and ostracization he experienced in Glass Shard Beach. It’s not perfect, but it’s new, and it’s a fresh start…sort of.

Enter Fiddleford Hadron McGucket.

We don’t know the details of how they met or what their first impressions were of each other, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that regardless of circumstances, Ford was a little hesitant and timid at first just as a consequence of past experiences damaging his ability to readily trust others; however, while also being hesitant for good reason, we know Ford is also quite the golden retriever who is excited and happy to find people he shares interests and values with. He does place importance on connection to others. Once he likes someone, I get the impression he loves them quite fiercely, in his own way (and that he’s easily won over by kindness and compliments).

Regarding Alex’s words… well, now Ford finally has someone that not only shares many of his interests, enjoys other things he might be intrigued by, but someone who is earnest and kind, who sees him for who he is and understands him in a way he probably has not been understood before. It’s not to disparage the connection Ford had with his brother, but I think what he has with Stan and what he has with Fiddleford are two very distinct connections and types of understanding. On that note, in a way, I think that Fiddleford, initially, somewhat filled the void left in Stan’s absence for Ford, at least subconsciously (and honestly…it could have even been a bit of a Mabel and Dippy Fresh type situation with Fiddleford representing everything Ford, at the moment, wished he had all this time). I think once that he saw that Fiddleford was a genuine and kind person, that switch from hesitation to golden retriever was flipped in a nanosecond.

Unfortunately, we don’t see much of their relationship in college, but again, based on Alex’s description and how readily they connect down the line, we can assume that it was a positive situation based on trust and love. I do wish we knew more about whether they kept in contact regularly after college or not. I can see them being the type of friends who could talk weekly or not speak for years and pick up like it was yesterday. I do imagine that life got in the way and Ford’s tendency to isolate did not help, but I like to think they called and wrote from time to time, maybe in bursts of talking regularly for a bit and then not at all for quite a long stretch. I’m speculating now! Back to focus on canon…

🍒, 🍊, 🍏, 🫐, and 🍇 (any and/or all of these for the fruit ask game, please!)

Hi, thank you!!! I'm not going to do 🫐 and🍇 here, because I got another ask. :)

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

Platonic! Honestly, I love platonic relationships, they're usually very underrated and my brain usually veers towards platonic more often than romantic.

I love found family dynamics, because you can incorporate so many different kinds of relationships within the whole, from friendship to siblings to parents, to even some romantic sprinkled in there.

🍊 Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more? (They’re so interesting! But maybe you have trouble pinning them down, or keep getting distracted by another blorbo…)

John Druitt! I've done a bit with him, but not nearly enough.

He's a very interesting and compelling character and I always hesitate before I write him, because it would be very easy to slide the wrong way with him.

John is one of my favorite characters, but he does get overshadowed by other characters I find easier to write.

🍏 Is there something you overuse, whether it’s a certain phrase, trope, or piece of punctuation?

@truedairship beat you to this, but commas. I love my never-ending sentence.

I also tend to overuse characters' name in dialogue and have to remove it, because no one uses someone else's name that much.

And the word 'however'. I just love it.

This is obviously my personal opinion, but I don't see any signs that Ladynoir is dead. They are just friends, that's all. It's somewhat strange that the creators of this part of the show boasted about their incredible platonic relationship and how platonic relationships are just as important as romantic ones, but Chat Noir rejects Ladybug and somehow that became a problem.

If your concern is that Chat Noir no longer flirting with Ladybug ruins their portrayal of platonic relationships, then I have bad news for you. Those flirts were literally his desire to have a romantic relationship with her and somehow impress her. It was depicted as a character flaw, despite how Adrisalters tries to deny it, saying that his faults are not recognized in order to justify their hatred of him, which is also not true, but now we've reached the climax.

That was the whole point. In his own way of trying to impress Ladybug, Chat Noir was too insistent with her despite her unwillingness to have a romantic relationship with him, and this sometimes led to negative consequences, either caused by him or taken advantage of by villains ("Ladybug" episode as one of clearest examples). And then he came to the decision that she won't love him and simply chose to move on, using his failed experiences to try to have a relationship with Marinette, and we see how he has changed. Also, after "Jubilation," he almost cataclysmed "Darker Owl" because the latter started playing with his feelings using the Pig Miraculous, and he managed to stop himself at the last moment, realizing that he was about to cause harm. In the final scene, he agrees with the denials that it's their dream, in contrast to the scene at the end of "Oblivio" where he teased her after the photo of their kiss. And then in "Elation," he tells Marinette that his feelings for her compelled him to act at his worst. While his choices in this situation may not be objectively ideal, they are entirely understandable given Adrien's experiences.

I understand that peoples are disappointed with the absence of romance (and this part of Love Square was never canon, it was just unrequited love that was reversed for a while until they agreed to be friends). However, it doesn't kill Ladynoir, and even more so, it doesn't kill the entire love square. Saying that Ladynoir's validity depends on whether it's alive or dead is unfair and undermines the dynamics between these characters. On the contrary, the characters have undergone development that benefits all sides of Love Square. Keeping their relationship at the level of the first season would deprive them of this progression, which would be incorrect. Agreeing to a romantic Ladynoir would only push them both back because Marinette would avoid Adrien, not facing her fears, and Adrien would continue to escape problems in his civilian life by using the Cat Miraculous. However, Gabriel could take this away from him by sending him away from Paris, where he would be lonely and the key to his freedom would lose its meaning. He can't share it with Ladybug because it jeopardizes his secret identity, and they can't do it due to certain circumstances, unaware of Gabriel's real influence in this situation. With Marinette, he can share the problems in his life, and that was essentially the point of Adrienette and Ladynoir in the season 4 finale. Moreover, the show teaches both children to perceive each other platonically as well as romantically, what they have made significant progress in the fifth season, although they still need to work on it before the reveal, which will likely happen in the upcoming seasons. We shouldn't expect their dynamics to revert to their previous state in the next seasons because it would simply be a step backward for their relationships and characters development. This dynamic will remain as long as the plot requires it. As for people being disappointed that they became friends when they previously boasted their platonic relationship… Honestly, it seems like they are not truly interested in them, only about romantic part of that.

I apologize for the entire article, but there seems to be too much hysteria and bullying in the fandom because of this. Regardless of preferences, some Ladynoir stans are behaving in a similar manner to how Marichat stans behaved in previous seasons, and some even act like Blue stans, treating "competing" ships and their shippers rudely, and even using "True Selves" theory. Even Marichat stans never claimed that their ship was dead. On the contrary, it was more alive than any other ship in the fandom.

Anon I gotta say I stopped reading your whole message after like the 1/3 of the 2nd paragraph because it was too long and completely misinterpreting one (1) tag I added so I got the gig of your ask

I'm not talking about ladynoir being platonic friends as a problem. I don't mind that and I'd have loved to see more of their friendship like that bit at the start of Perfection.

I mind that we just don't see them at all lmao like when we say they're absent we mean they just literally didn't interact more than 3 minutes onscreen after Adrinette got together (minus Revolution which was great). And you can't tell me I'm not right lol they were just interacting for the bit of fights we saw onscreen and that's it rbejfje, I would have loved to see more platonic interactions they just weren't there 😂

16

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

have gone on hazmat-suited explorations into ao3 before. which was a mistake.

there is a bewilderingly large subset of the fandom that likes to take a look at the incredibly tragic & compelling dynamics btwn the undersiders--all of which are characterized by some form of imbalance or distance btwn the involved characters--and then go "actually, i think this nuanced and emotionally significant character writing would be better if everyone involved was flanderized and also all dating each other in the most boring way possible."

except for aisha, of course--she's brian's sister, so it'd be awkward if they had to account for her. the fix for this is to shove her offscreen with a bit of neat little character-lobotomy to make it so that nobody gives a shit about her. alec included. fuck that he straight up killed himself for her, fuck that taylor couldn't tell whether their relationship was platonic or romantic & estimated it could become solidly romantic in the future--just make him literally Wrinkle His Nose In Horror And Disgust at the idea of dating aisha so that we can bonk him together with op's taylor doll instead! and yes, that is an actual example from an actual fic.

oh, & aisha is apparently just, like, chill with being off doing her own thing while everyone else is going on insufferably twee dates & talking about how much they dislike her instead of inserting herself into the middle of everything in the most annoying way possible for attention. i recognize it's pointless of me to focus on aisha's out-of-character reaction to inane and implausible fandom tropewriting when the tropes themselves are inherently founded on 50 layers of They Would Not Fucking Say That, but there's just something particularly funny to me about how aisha's Entire Goddamn Problem is that everyone ignores/dismisses her and the fandom not only constantly perpetuates that but gets the one (1) character who did Not dismiss her in canon (alec) in on it.

(to be clear if i was in charge of making worm good (lgbt) i would immediately and without hesitation make both taylor & tattletale and taylor & rachel's dynamics gay. she wouldn't, like, date-date either but it'd be a thing. i would not remove brian/taylor. the undersiders are a team of people psychosexually obsessed with taylor and also alec and aisha are there. worm is about the tragedy of loving taylor hebert, and also alec and aisha are there.)

anyway tl;dr i think the twee-ass flanderizing "fuck the plot and themes everyone is going out for a pizza date and then collectively telling emma to kill herself when she randomly manifests to bully taylor in the middle of the pizza restaurant" (also a real example) shit this fandom does in their 5 million all-the-undersiders(-sans-aisha-who-doesn't-exist-)are-dating fanfictions sucks and is bad and furthermore i don't like it at all. surely there is other more tonally appropriate media people could make these fanfictions about instead of Tragic Relationships: The Book. [poking wormfic writers w/ a stick] you guys don't like tragic dysfunctional relationships :(?

trope talk

Hello friends!

As I stated in last week’s post, I will not be posting anything too grandiose today, as I have been focusing on my original story for NaNoWriMo and do not want to get burnt out. So, I decided that, much like last week, I would put another in-class assignment to use and give you a short listicle about my favorite inter-character relationship tropes! I hope you enjoy! ᕱ__ᕱ 

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6 of the best fiction tropes for inter-character relationships

(in my opinion)

By Clem

Any writer worth their salt these days knows what a trope is. And no, I’m not talking about the traditional definition of a trope, i.e. synonymous with figurative language, though it is indeed important to know that meaning as well. I’m instead speaking of the more recent, broader definition of a trope. As writer Dave Chesson puts it in an article all about tropes on his website kindlepreneur.com, “a trope is a plot structure, theme, storyline, character trait, motif, or plot device that is commonly used in storytelling.” 

It’s these types of tropes that you can find on one of my favorite websites tvtropes.org. Tropes have become such a pop culture, as well as fan culture, phenomenon in the past few years that even those who have never heard the term “trope” before can recognize some of the common ones: the damsel in distress, the chosen one, a friends to lovers romance, a tragic backstory. In fact, some tropes have become so popular that they are deciding factors in whether or not people consume a piece of media. I know this is often the case for me, and in the following list I have provided 6 of my favorite tropes about inter-character relationships that I just can’t get enough of.

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Found Family

Not all tropes about relationships have to be romantic in nature! In fact, a good portion of the tropes on this list are more platonic or familial, and found family is one of them. One of my favorite tropes of all time, found family refers to when a group of individuals, usually a group of misfits or outcasts, come together and form a close platonic, near familial, bond with each other. As many characters in a found family situation don’t have good or close biological families (or any family at all), they become each other’s family.

The Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom duology by Leigh Bardugo includes an excellent example of the found family trope. The six main characters of the books, some of which are pictured above, are a ragtag group of criminals, each with tragic pasts. Eventually they come together and learn to love and care about one another as they pull off an impossible heist. The found family dynamic between them adds a softness to each character that helps smooth their rough edges. This makes them feel more human and their story all the more captivating.

Golden Retriever & Black Cat

A yes, the good old black cat/golden retriever relationship dynamic. Only given this name in recent years, this character dynamic is much older. Simply put, this trope refers to a relationship, whether romantic or platonic (or even familial), between one character who is very excitable, sweet, and happy (the golden retriever) and one character who is cool, often rude, and grumpy (the black cat). The conflicting personality types is what makes this relationship trope compelling. As they say, opposites attract!

The example I have chosen here is Enid Sinclair and Wednesday Addams from the new Netflix adaptation of The Addams Family, a show entitled Wednesday. Enid and Wednesday are roommates at a boarding school in the show and could not be more different: Enid a bubbly, optimistic werewolf (talk about a golden retriever!) obsessed with pastels and Wednesday a deadpan, pessimistic psychic allergic to color. However, throughout the show they eventually become close friends. It is intriguing to watch this golden retriever/black cat duo interact and try to solve the mysteries that crop up in the show, as their personalities and perspectives on the world couldn’t be more different.

Enemies to Lovers (or at least Rivals to Lovers)

The enemies to lovers trope is the first specifically romantic trope in this list (though there is a parallel trope used for platonic relationships called enemies to friends). This trope, as the name suggests, involves two characters whose relationship with each other develops from enemies to romantic partners. While some may call this trope toxic, and I admit, I can see how it could be written that way, it’s personally one of my favorite tropes when done correctly. This is especially so when between a male and female character. I typically read fantasy or action/adventure novels, genres in which female characters’ skills (particularly in combat) are often looked down upon or patronized by the male characters who are interested in them. However, if an action novel has a well written enemies to lovers side plot, I know I can be sure that at all points in their relationship, a female character’s love interest is taking her seriously.

One of my all time favorite examples of enemies to lovers, albeit in its lesser form rivals to lovers (which is saved for media that does not have characters trying to kill each other), is from the classic romance novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet start out loathing each other, but eventually, through various family dramas, learn to understand and respect each other, and in the process, fall in love.

Girl Boss x House Husband

Technically, this trope is actually titled “girl boss x male wife,” but I prefer the term “house husband” as I have seen the phrase “male wife” used with degrading connotations as well, and that is far from what I am trying to convey. This is another relationship trope most often used for romantic couples, however I believe it can be translated to platonic or familial relationships as well (with some finagling). Whatever the context, this trope contains a strong, independent female character and a male partner who cares for her and holds her stuff when she needs to go beat some sense into someone. As a reversal of the typical gender roles where the male is assertive and protective and the female is the caring and supportive, this trope provides a breath of fresh air and an interesting dynamic to explore.

A great example of the girl boss x house husband trope is Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase from Rick Riordan’s Greek mythology books. Percy is definitely a powerhouse character in his own right, but is 100% willing to step back and let Annabeth take the reins in their relationship while making sure she's taking care of herself in the process.

Naive Hero & Mentor Figure 

The mentor figure trope is basically what it says on the tin: a naive character, typically the main character, is taken under the wing of an older and wiser mentor. Oftentimes, the mentor figure fills a familial void in the naive hero’s life. If you’re lucky, the mentor figure survives. If you’re not, then, in the words of Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte, “sorrows, sorrows, prayers.” This trope is a great way of giving the character, and the audience, the background information they need to know while showcasing the main character’s development. 

Often, this trope appears in superhero fiction, such as one of my favorite examples for this trope, IronDad and SpiderSon Tony Stark aka Ironman, and Peter Parker aka Spiderman from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tony recognizes the raw talent that Peter has, as both a superhero and a tech genius, and does his best to guide him, by protecting him and steering him away from the same mistakes Tony himself made in the past. It will forever be a crime that we didn’t get to see their relationship develop further before… you know… “Sorrows, sorrows, prayers.” 

Bros before Hoes

While it does have a bit of a vulgar name, this trope is actually one of the sweetest on this list. Usually, at least one of the characters in friend groups with this relationship dynamic is involved in a romantic relationship outside their group, and at some point will have to choose between their friends and their lover. When this relationship dynamic comes into play, characters will always choose their friends. 

Unless, of course, their friends are wrong. My favorite example of this dynamic comes from The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani. The two main characters are the best of friends. While throughout the series they have their fair share of disagreements (if that's what you call it when your best friend keeps falling in love with men who try to kill you and your boyfriend), they ultimately pull through and choose each other over boys, proving that romantic love is not the only love that can vanquish evil. Though not every story with a Bros before Hoes dynamic is full of life-and-death decisions, this relationship trope provides a sweet nod to platonic love in any story.

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So, the next time you sit down to write media, or consume it, pay attention to the tropes you may include or notice. Do they make the media better? More compelling? Or do they take away from the main message or storyline? (For some reason writers love to include love triangles. I abhor love triangles thrown into media just for kicks). For all you writers out there, maybe consider including one of the tropes listed above. If you do, send me a link! Like I said, I just can’t get enough!

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So... do y’all like any of these tropes?? Do you hate them? Please do let me know, I’d love to hear it! And if this post was not your cup of tea, I apologize, but don’t worry, we should be back to our regularly scheduled programming in another 2 weeks! ᕱ__ᕱ Good luck to those of you also participating in NaNoWriMo!! 

And just remember, dot your j’s and cross your t’s! 

~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷