A tournament for canon aspec characters!

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swagshowdown: The Real Thing

64 challengers approach the gauntlet for round one. I'll be posting round one in batches of 8. These polls will be open for a week. Propaganda can be submitted in the askbox and is welcome and encouraged!

Round One

Elatsoe vs Nancy Whitman

Papyrus vs Shubble

Arteloth Beck vs Sir Talfryn

The Doctor vs Malcom Shingle

Sister Carpenter vs Daughter Dooley/The Witch Queen

Enjolras vs Vernestra Rwoh

Coach vs Reyna Ramírez-Arellano

Kale Romero vs Keyleth of the Air Ashari

Red Handed Robin vs Sasha Rackett

Alix Kubdel vs Percival King

Anonymous/Dareka-san vs Lisa "Tattletale" Wilbourn

Data Soong vs Murderbot

Leenik Geelo vs Connor Hawke

SpongeBob SquarePants vs Perry the Platypus

Sunil Jha vs Aled Last

Tori Spring vs Felicity Montague

[acepodcastweek]

Pick some canonically ace lead/major characters from a horror podcast:

Mina Murray & Jonathan Harker (Murray Mysteries)

Sister Carpenter (The Silt Verses)

Walt & Winnona (Hello From The Hallowoods)

Leo Moretti (The Blood Crow Stories)

Anna Enfield (Spirit Box Radio)

Nyx Ryland (The Attic Monologues)

Dr Jared Hel, Dax & Dr Christine Torres (Jar of Rebuke)

The Witch Queen (Old Gods of Appalachia)

Natalie Thurmond (The Author's Anathema)

Riley Matkins (Tell No Tales)

Voting ended onOct 11, 2023

Did I miss your favourite? Let me know!

Wondering where Jon Sims is? He is too powerful and would skew the poll, but rest assured I have not forgotten.

Don't know any of these? Pick a show and go listen!

Want to know more about Ace Week Fiction Podcast Festivities? Click here.

[canonaspecswag]

Sorry for the radio silence everyone! I got busy IRL with a new job, but I’ll be posting polls again soon.

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag Showdown: Data Soong vs Murderbot

Data Soong from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Data is an android and has no sexual attraction or desire. You can read about him as ace representation here and here

vs

Murderbot from The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Murderbot is a bot-human construct, made from cloned human genetic material and robotic parts. It has human emotions but is sex and romance repulsed.

"Martha Wells: When I was working on the first novella, it didn't seem logical that a SecUnit would be given any kind of reproductive system or any human parts that weren't directly useful for its security function. And the way Murderbot feels about humans, it didn't seem logical for its personality that it would identify with any one gender, or be interested in choosing a human gender for itself, and it sure wouldn't be interested in human sexual relations. So in a way I guess it was a coincidence, since I didn't plan it from the start, it was just part of the process of developing the character as I was writing. And thank you!"

Who has more canon aspec swag?

Data

Murderbot

Voting ended onMay 20, 2023

[grammarpedant]

Hey I guess this is a good time as any for me to put my bigass aspec Murderbot meta on tumblr, in an effort to propagandize.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

A Ship Manifesto for the Ultimate OTP: Murderbot x Respect for Its Boundaries

Summary:

“As long as people don’t know about asexuality—hell, forget about the label, so long as they don’t know that saying no forever and for any reason and in any context is okay—sex education, sex therapy, and popular depictions of sex are incomplete and people don’t have the relevant information to fully consent. Sexual rights should not be assumed and self-determination must never end upon entering a relationship. You can give a no with zero caveats in each and every situation, full stop. You can say no if someone loves you and you love them back. You can say no for the rest of your life." - Ace, by Angela Chen "No, thank you, no. No." - Murderbot in Artificial Condition, on the topic of sex A series of essays on Murderbot's non-relationship with sex, what it means for asexual and aspectrum representation, and how its disinterest in sex reinforces the series' themes of self-determination.

Click through for some of the most aspec quotes hundreds of aspec fans have ever related to. I'm not even really DONE with the meta either, there's so much more about Murderbot as aspec rep to dig into- the aromantic relationship anarchy parts of the series, the way that it exists as an asexual character among allosexual characters, the way its aspec-ness isn't JUST because of its physical body/machine-ness but something that is part of its person and preferences; given the chance to get functional sexual equipment it says HELL NO. And, of course, the meat of the essay series, which is that its ace-ness and aro-ness is tied to the thematic core of personhood and self-determination, the ability to set boundaries and say no.

We've also just recently had an Aspec Murderbot Diaries event! Check out the finished fanworks @aspec-tmbd 😎

Anyway vote for Murderbot for explicit canon aspec rep.

[bracketsoffear]

Ylfa Snorgelsson/Red Riding Hood (Dimension 20) "Forced to eat Death/the Big Bad Wolf to survive and absorbed his power (lycanthropy). She dies and is resurrected even more wolf-like, gets mentored by Death, and saves him from being destroyed. She sacrifices the memory of her grandmother—her last tether to humanity—to take up the mantle of the Big Bad Wolf (literally—she’s wearing his skin as a cloak now) and become Death. In doing so, she has a vision of killing her grandmother’s grandmother just as the Big Bad Wolf killed her--but not her, because it wasn’t her time. At the end of the campaign, she divides her human self from her wolf self—the little girl stays behind to have a mortal life, while the other half of Ylfa truly and finally embraces Death. Her story is about her grappling with the horror and grief of loss and death, culminating in her metaphorical death to become “the end of all stories”. Her grandmother was eaten, but “I met Death and Death wants me to live.”"

Death (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) "Death has been stalking Puss the whole time (even in montages and backgrounds of crowd shots) and is so fucking pissed that Puss didn’t appreciate his lives that he’s come to PERSONALLY MURDER HIM. He causes Puss to flee down a toilet, have a breakdown and retire, and later induces Puss’ panic attack just by showing up."

End Avatar Bracket Round 1 Bout 9

Ylfa Snorgelsson/Red Riding Hood (Dimension 20)

Death (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish)

Voting ended onMay 15, 2023

[canonaspecswag]

all the main tournament polls are supposed to be one week long. if you see one that’s one day long, that’s cause i messed up and i can’t edit posts with polls. sorry for the election fraud <3 live laugh love

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag Showdown: Data Soong vs Murderbot

Data Soong from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Data is an android and has no sexual attraction or desire. You can read about him as ace representation here and here

vs

Murderbot from The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Murderbot is a bot-human construct, made from cloned human genetic material and robotic parts. It has human emotions but is sex and romance repulsed.

"Martha Wells: When I was working on the first novella, it didn't seem logical that a SecUnit would be given any kind of reproductive system or any human parts that weren't directly useful for its security function. And the way Murderbot feels about humans, it didn't seem logical for its personality that it would identify with any one gender, or be interested in choosing a human gender for itself, and it sure wouldn't be interested in human sexual relations. So in a way I guess it was a coincidence, since I didn't plan it from the start, it was just part of the process of developing the character as I was writing. And thank you!"

Who has more canon aspec swag?

Data

Murderbot

Voting ended onMay 20, 2023

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag Round 1: Alix Kubdel vs Percival King

Alix Kubdel from Miraculous Ladybug who is aromantic, confirmed by word of god.

"On va dire que Max est plutôt ace et Alix plutôt aro..." trans. "Let’s say that Max is kind of ace and Alix kind of aro..."

vs

Percival King from Epithet Erased, she is asexual, confirmed by word of god.

Who has more canon aspec swag?

Alix Kubdel

Percival King

Voting ended onMay 14, 2023

[thegroundhogdidit]

bit random but i just want to shout out my favorite historical aspec character matthew cuthbert from anne of green gables. been pulling off my favorite trope "aroace man with daughter" since 1905

@canonaspecswag

[canonaspecswag]

He didn’t make it into the main bracket but he’s definitely going to be in the honorable mentions afterwards.

[canonaspecswag]

If Sister Carpenter and Daughter Dooley are still tied when the poll closes tomorrow, I’ll let them move forward as a team

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag: Daughter Dooley vs Sister Carpenter

Daughter Dooley aka The Witch Queen from Old Gods of Appalachia who is asexual and aromantic, confirmed in text and by word of god. "@oldsteveofappalachia (He/Him): Daughter Dooley has no descendents. We've been very public and very forthright about this. She's asexual and aromantic. Her line ends with her. I can promise you all right now, no one is ever going to be revealed as a secret daughter of or son of or anything tied to DD. Solitude suited her and that's how it stays."

vs

Sister Carpenter from The Silt Verses who is aro/ace, confirmed in text and by word of god.

Who has the most canon aspec swag?

Daughter Dooley

Sister Carpenter

Voting ended onMay 11, 2023

[transfaulkner]

CARPENTER SWEEP

A VOTE FOR CARPENTER IS A VOTE FOR SAD WET AXE MURDERERS EVERYWHERE

[canonaspecswag]

Ok but daughter Dooley is the epitome of swag. SHE HAS A BEAR!! SHE MAIMED A GOD!!

.

[canonaspecswag]

“She needed the company of no man, not in that way. Or woman for that matter. Solitude suited her just fine.”

We stan the aroace Witch Queen in this house

.

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag: Arteloth Beck vs Sir Talfryn

Arteloth Beck from Priory of the Orange Tree who is greysexual, implied in text and confirmed by word of god

vs

Sir Talfryn from The Penumbra Podcast: Second Citadel who is aromantic and asexual, confirmed in text.

TAL: I don’t think I like damsels. MARC: You… what? I’m guessing you don’t mean the bugs. TAL: No. MARC: So… guys, then? TAL: No. I don’t like men, or women, or bugs, or… anybody. Not that way. MARC: Huh. No joke? No interest at all? Sounds kinda nice, actually. TAL: I think it’s going to be. Now that you know.

Who has more canon aspec swag?

Arteloth Beck

Sir Talfryn

Voting ended onMay 12, 2023

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag Showdown: Kale Romero vs Keyleth of the Air Ashari

Kale Romero from Monster Prom who is asexual and aromantic and attends the Support Group for Asexual People in a World So Sexualised It Might As Well Be a Dating Sim

vs

Keyleth of the Air Ashari from Critical Role: Vox Machina who is demisexual confirmed by word of god.

Who has more canon aspec swag?

Kale

Keyleth

Voting ended onMay 12, 2023

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag Showdown: Coach vs Reyna Ramírez-Arellano

Coach from Monster Prom who is asexual, and attends the Support Group for Asexual People in a World So Sexualised It Might As Well Be a Dating Sim.

vs

Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano from Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan who is asexual, implied in text and confirmed by word of god. "In a tweet on July 3rd, 2020, Rick revealed he wrote Reyna to be romantic asexual, someone who has romantic feelings of love towards other but does not act upon those feelings in a physical manner. However, Rick also said that because he did not specify this in the books, people are free to interpret Reyna however they wish."

Who has more canon aspec swag?

Coach

Reyna

Voting ended onMay 12, 2023

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag: Daughter Dooley vs Sister Carpenter

Daughter Dooley aka The Witch Queen from Old Gods of Appalachia who is asexual and aromantic, confirmed in text and by word of god. "@oldsteveofappalachia (He/Him): Daughter Dooley has no descendents. We've been very public and very forthright about this. She's asexual and aromantic. Her line ends with her. I can promise you all right now, no one is ever going to be revealed as a secret daughter of or son of or anything tied to DD. Solitude suited her and that's how it stays."

vs

Sister Carpenter from The Silt Verses who is aro/ace, confirmed in text and by word of god.

Who has the most canon aspec swag?

Daughter Dooley

Sister Carpenter

Voting ended onMay 11, 2023