hey i'm back to clear things up, i was just so quick to get my thoughts out i didn't think to properly explain them

i wanted joel to seem more dramatic was what i meant. yell leave and then turn his head to the side bc he can't look at her go, or smtn like that. idk maybe i'm too hung op on this i'll rewatch the ep tmrw to see if i still feel the same

i liked the funnier in her head line too, but the fake bite was soo cute

ok fedra time this is gonna be a long one lol. i totally got what why ellie was saying those things, it's more so about the "rules" of the show. yk how every piece of media has it's own rules about the world and how the ppl in it are allowed to function. ex if someone other than the main cast shows altruistic intentions they're hiding something (spn), everyone lies for their own benefit to some degree (house md), the people can't rule themselves (got) etc. the rules of tlou (so far at least) are that there can't be an uprising without one firm hand who has clear and realistic end goals which happen to coincide with the morals of the writers. no one firm hand and no realistic goals means the fireflies are idealistic and ineffective. the morals don't coincide with the writers and no clear end goal means kc is brutal and senseless. it's not so much about these specific groups, but what they stand for. further examples for the fact that the people can't rule themselves. (ps jackson has council representatives which is called council communism and again proves the point that in the world of tlou there need to be people who make decisions for the majority)

i totally got the type of crush you were explaining for riley, i was just lacking the feeling like the actress was actually about to blush and then try to hide it and then lovingly look back etc. idk this one is really personal i think

sorry this was so long and i also hope this doesn't come off as me arguing i'm really happy just to be sharing my thought with you <3 excited for next week!

i think it's just up to personal interpretation! maybe i'm just not looking into it hard enough, but i felt that since this is a TV show, they can only focus on a few characters at a time. even if they wanted to show us a positive society without any sort of leader, it would be difficult to follow the story if we were bouncing around through a whole bunch of people, each with their own lives and ideas about the world they live in. it's a cool idea that i would happily watch, but it wouldn't fit with the (mostly) linear story they're trying to tell here. like, it was much easier for them to give maria this sorta-leader role because then she can be used for plot purposes and exposition about jackson. and there's always going to be some element of politics involved in apocalypse stories, but tbh covid has jaded me because i saw so much selfishness and greed arise from that, to the point where i'm burnt out and uninterested in the government systems and i'm much more concerned with the individual stories within. i probably should care more considering this show is so popular and definitely has an impact, but.... idk. maybe someday i'll rewatch and skip all the emotional scenes so i can focus on the rest of the show's message!

i think where we differ is that i like a more subtle type of acting. overacting is much more egregious to me than underacting. if joel had been sobbing or screaming his head off i would've been like.... 🤨 also it's worth pointing out that riley is a bit older than ellie and she's getting ready to do this very adult thing (essentially being deployed for war), so she's not in the same headspace as ellie is for most of the night. ellie is excited that her best friend just came back into her life, she's doing all these incredible fun things, and she's got butterflies in her tummy ;-; but riley knows what this night is really about. she's just trying to give ellie a good time, she's not focused on her own feelings yet. if everything had gone as planned, riley would've walked ellie back to the dorm, left boston, and then probably would break down and feel all her feelings when she's alone. i don't think she ever expected ellie to kiss her or for their relationship to go past friendship, so she didn't even bother getting hopeful about it. it's possible that i'm projecting a lot onto riley because this is exactly how i act when i'm interested in someone lol. sometimes i over-correct so hard that it seems like i don't like you at all, let alone feel romantic feelings towards you 😭

but either way i love talking about tlou in any capacity so please always feel free to share your thoughts!!!

the post you rbed is good i love (and loathe) this discussion, mcyt fandoms have got to be the most intense policing of each other of any fandoms i've ever been in. as someone in the dreambur community i always feared for my life on twitter, in general but also cause my depictions of them aren't strictly c!, they're like a random mix of c, cc, personas they've had, and some things i just made up, and i enjoy depicting intimacy so much which also varies and has grey areas!! but because it's centered around the likeness of these real creators so many people had this twisted and hypocritical policing system in their heads about it, it was exhausting honestly

jade, i completely agree with you.

i've been in so many fandoms over the last decade, including a lot of rpf fandoms, and i've never experienced such strong and sometimes even brutal policing of people as i did when i got into dsmp/mcyt. like, it was so mind-blowing to me to experience this because in any other rpf fandom i've been in before, rule of thumb was always just "tag your shit appropriately and keep the people it's about out of it". i seriously thought it would be the same way here but boy was i surprised when i found out that's definitely not the case.

it's one of the reasons why i decided to make this tumblr account because i already knew how people would react if i openly talked about dreambur on twitter. like, i'm pretty sure that even if i emphasized again and again that what i write is based on the characters, i would've had people sending me condescending and rude dms, maybe even worse.

like, i get that the line between a content creator and their character is a lot more blurred than between for example an actor and their movie character, especially if you write in a non-canon setting and/or with different character interpretations and personas, like you mentioned. but still, there's a divide, and i oftentimes feel like a lot of people in this fandom forget that. or worse, deliberately ignore it to police and attack things they personally don't enjoy/agree with.

in my opinion, it's probably one of the worst things about this fandom.

16. 25 for being unique

Thanks for asking!

(original)

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

HOOO BOY THERE'S A LOT OF THEM AND I'LL PROBABLY FORGET SOMETHING BUT OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD:

-Abused Reigen (I just don't see that being the case in canon despite his fraught relationship with his family. A manga omake implies that he talks to his mom more after Separation Arc, and in the fanbook Reigen says there's been miscommunication on both sides so he'd like to try and patch things up again. To me, this sort of dynamic is a lot more interesting to explore than just "Reigen's family were abusers he'd be better off without". I wouldn't mind the trope as much if it weren't so, so prevalent in fanfic.)

-That Security Guard From S1 (I swear to god he's only so popular because people wanted to draw Reigen yaoi and Dimple was the only acceptable option but they couldn't ship Reigen with a green blob (cowards) so the "hot" security guard came into play) (seriously this guy is barely in the story and unnecessary in fanart/fanfic 95% of the time)

-Horny Reigen (this one is more of a personal gripe but he is so very sex-repulsed/sex-neutral asexual to me. Him being horny/flirtatious just feels so weirdly wrong.)

-Flanderized Terumob (I'm not the biggest Terumob shipper regardless but I feel like so much content has Teru being the flirtatious gay boy so down bad for Mob while Mob is the shy, naive boy and that's frankly not how either of them are by the end of the story. Confession Arc showed Teru that Mob has his weaknesses and that he shouldn't be put on a pedestal cuz they're the same. Mob is also not naive, he can be socially clueless sometimes but he understands basic stuff...)

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Oof um. Perhaps complaints about how certain characters don't show up a lot towards the end and how their character development is off screen (namely Serizawa and Shou). To me their character arcs were completed satisfactorily, and they didn't need to be given much focus because the story has always been primarily on Mob.

Serizawa's character arc was completed when he joined S&S and started going to night school. We don't need to see him doing that because he's not the narrative focus. Now of course I can understand wishing we got to see more of Serizawa, but I don't feel like it's an actual flaw of the story.

Shou's character arc was completed when his father finally backed down and tried to be better to his family. Getting his father to see sense was always Shou's driving force throughout the story and he finally got that, his arc culminating in Toichiro not sacrificing himself in Confession Arc and Shou shaving his hair in a way that resembles his father, showing they've become close.

One could argue that a character arc can't be completed based on the actions of another character, but I feel like in this case that was kind of the point? Shou felt like he was the only one who could stop his dad, but he couldn't stop him. Not only that, but his dad was never his responsibility especially since he was just 13.

*pokes head into ur askbox*

Zahra, Pike, & Gwendolyn de Rolo

welcome to the askbox!!! thank u for sending some of my fave loves, i'm so excited to ramble

okay uh because i ended up typing so much i'm gonna split this up into three posts. but i'll tag you in the others since they won't be in direct response to this ask

character headcanon ask meme

zahra

sexuality headcanon: well, mary elizabeth said that zahra didn't really have a preference for gender, and more was just attracted to souls, i think was the wording? so i usually go with pan for her, but to her the label doesn't really mean much.

favorite ship(s): BANGING POTS AND PANS TOGETHER. VEXHRA !!! IS MY FAVORITE RAREPAIR OF CR !!!!! it in no way exceeds my love for perc'ahlia, i will ALWAYS default to those two nerds, but i do have a soft spot in my heart for vex and zahra, and the flirting banter they have. i do usually have zahra as vex's amicable ex, with them still being best friends who are so incredibly affectionate that people forget they've broken up. like sometimes they'll just kiss On The Mouth, but like, platonically. this extends to the poly ship of vex/percy/zahra, because vex has a type and it's white haired, sassy, traumatized warlocks, and she deserves all of the love in the world. oh and i also love kash and zahra!!!! i think they're very sweet, and they're both so snarky i love it. and i love seeing that zahra was warmed kash up, even if it's only a little bit

brotp: vex and zahra!!! again!!!! as much as i love them as a possible ship, i also just fucking ADORE them as friends. they have one of the sweetest friendships, they get so excited when they see each other - and i think a lot of that is because of the warmth between mary elizabeth and laura, who are such close friends. regardless of the origin, their friendship just fills me with warmth. they are the wine moms who meet for brunch or evening drinks, post canon, and gush about their kids and grumpy husbands, and get utterly sloshed in the nearest tavern. also, they were both pregnant for the first time around the same time, so i imagine they spent a lot of time together, helping each other out. (i also think, after vecna and vax, zahra was a refreshing face to see who felt... just a little more disconnected from her brother and missing him. not completely, she was there when the bargain was struck, but it's a bit less sharp - especially since zahra's grief is not as deep as the rest of vox machina's

notp: uhhh i dunno. i haven't seen many of her ships?? aside from vexhra and kashra, so. i'm not picky tbh! she deserves love from everyone. except maybe not lilith cause they're cousins, which i believe you pointed out originally nfkjrnfkjew

happy headcanon: i’d like to think that, post-canon, she helps vex spearhead programs to help with displaced children - those with parents who have died, and those who have been removed from households with bad parents. vex is on the legal side of the operation, pushing for funding and legislation from the council, while zahra is on the ground, gathering funding and support. she also helps to run one of the homes in vasselheim - and, if she’s also teaching the kids magic on the side, no one’s complaining

angsty headcanon: i imagine that, when zahra found out she was pregnant, it scared the shit out of her. the whispered one is ascending, the world is in turmoil, and she hasn’t had any positive examples of a parent in her life. i also think she was a little scared that kash, known for being aggressive and abrasive, would end up like her own father - and she hated that she had that fear, because she loves kash, and he’s changed, but... still. it’s a fear that wraps its cruel arms around her until the child was born (children? i forget if them having twins was canon or headcanon). luckily, though, zahra had no reason to fear - their baby is the only person who can make kash melt even more than she can

random headcanon: i think we as a fandom have unanimously agreed that zahra and gwen bond in some way shape or form, and i wholeheartedly subscribe to this. but i Also think that zahra has an incredibly soft spot for vesper. her and kash's twins grew up playing with vesper, and zahra watched as vesper slowly figured out why her parents would go glassy-eyed sometimes, or why they clutched her so close at others (not just the tight grip of an ex-adventurer who’s seen a lot of shit, but the tight grip of someone who is used to their family being taken away, or has lived half their life thinking themself to be in a fever dream, and is expecting everything to disappear when they open their eyes). and zahra sees how vesper picks up on it so soon, when she’s still so young. vesper, not any older than five, doesn’t even understand it, but she knows something is there. and zahra knows that percy and vex don’t want her to carry that weight around - zahra doesn’t want her to carry that weight around - so she gives a little extra attention to vesper, keeps an eye out for her

general opinion: i love her. i love her so much. she’s my favorite guest pc, and she’s one of my favorite side characters, if not my favorite. mary plays her with so much energy and personality, and i love her friendship with vex, and i love just... all of her. i fucking adore her. she’s so good for vex, and she’s so good for the energy of the table, and i just. i love her. so much. thank u for ur service, mary elizabeth mcglynn