kamand @imamesslmao - Tumblr Blog

Yes, the fics where Ilya goes to Shane's game in his jersey are cute and romantic. But why has no one even considered:

I feel like any similarities between yuna and rose come from the fact that every woman in the series is written the same way. yuna, rose, svetlana, and kip's friend (don't remember her name I rarely rewatch that episode) all take the form of, like, hagadvocate (hagvocate) where they insist on the things the men in their lives want for seemingly no reason other than their implicit understanding that those men want those things. they're an interesting kind of fantasy in the same way a dommy badboy is in a romance novel (what if a guy made you do all the things you wanted to do but at the same time he psychically knew you wanted them so you'd never have to worry about him actually crossing the line and doing something you don't want to do). it's like a platonic dom. what if this beautiful cool girl who was so cool and gorgeous and tasteful and maybe even rich or famous told you point blank what you're feeling and what you're supposed to do about it. but she never actually crosses the line because she just knows exactly what you actually feel and therefore nothing she says is presumptuous. yuna is the only one who really takes on a role more layered than this because she's shane's actual manager and she's actually in the dark about what he thinks and feels, but in some ways she's an inverse. she's the same kind of insistent archetype who's insistence is complicated by her own desires (she wants shane to have everything and be everything). she does the same thing without the telepathy, so she will actually be wrong within the logic of the show. I would phrase this as a criticism if every character of this show weren't just....openly an absolute fantasy. unlike most romances, there isn't one character who's the fantasy, and one character who's the recipient of the fantasy. it's firing on all cylinder at all times. like obviously shane and ilya have more writing and more inferiority but they're both thoroughly fantasies. what if a super tragic moody hot charismatic super hot dom who can turn into the world's best boyfriend on a dime and was one of the best in the world at what he did wanted to dom..... a super hot controlled not a hair out of place completely perfect perfectly composed but totally loving and warm despite his composure and has total discipline except for this one person who he becomes divinely almost like religiously submissive towards and he's also the best in the world at what he does.

i think this is all fair criticism. but also like... welcome to the romance novel, baby! i would disagree with your assessment that most romance novels are the fantasy + the recipient of the fantasy and so heated rivalry is like, fantasy wish fulfillment on steroids... i think the romance 'heroine' (gender neutral) is often just as much of a fantasy! she's super smart but her gifts have gone unrecognized, or she's actually beautiful underneath her dowdy clothes but nobody's taken the time to notice or care before, or she's a total klutz who never knows what to wear or do in social situations but she's secretly also sooooo super special and unique and a diamond in the rough and the romance hero is going to pluck her out of obscurity, recognize her superior qualities, and worship her as she deserves to be worshiped. and i think having side characters who basically exist to tirelessly support the romantic leads and propel them towards each other is also just part of the game, yknow? like if this were a gritty TV drama i would totally agree with you that the supporting cast feels two-dimensional and that's a problem. but it's genre fiction... it's a romance... it's allowed and encouraged lol. the relationship is the whole reason anyone's here.

NOW i think the interesting part to think about is: what will fic do with these characters? because i agree with you that it's narratively kinda boring for rose to be so tirelessly understanding, nurturing, etc. it's boring for svetlana to be like hey babe i'll be your regular woman you can have me anytime you want and i'll support you through everything but also i'll step aside without the slightest hesitation when you meet your actual love interest because i'm a cool girl and i understand you so deeply and i don't experience jealousy. maybe fic won't do anything to make these characters more nuanced, more human, more driven by their own desires that might conflict with or diverge from the desires of the male romantic leads. that seems possible just because fic is ALSO very often using the tropes and archetypes of the romance novel! but i think there's space to play there and i for one am very interested in experimenting with different ways of framing these women.

i actually think yuna is a good example of tierney starting to do this work (though i bet fic can go further just because we have more space to work with). yuna clearly DOES have her own strong desires, which are very often in direct conflict with shane's, and which create significant (if largely unvoiced) friction/conflict between them. the show doesn't dig into this (for lack of time reasons and for genre reasons), but like, what emotional need is being shane's manager fulfilling for her? what fears and anxieties and hopes drive her professionally and personally, in her relationships and in the decisions she makes and in the way she parents? i think the fact that she can't read his mind and therefore gets it wrong IS the complexity you're looking for. like yes i get how managing shane can on the surface look like she's doing the thing of tirelessly supporting him, but she wants to go to wimbledon, damn it. she wants to be in the rolex box next to the swedish princess. she can't hear her son's refusal or read his hesitation because she is in dogged pursuit of her own ambitions. and i think that's what makes her interesting, and what also to me makes her feel like a more fully realized, fully human character than rose or svetlana.

pocketsized-art

Hey y'all! GO READ THIS AMAZING ILYA ROZANOV FANFIC RIGHT THIS MOMENT>:)) (Not mine) (Very much not mine but I would die for it)

The interview

WIP fanart below. I don't know if I'll finish it or keep it as a sketch.

(Fanart is mine, with permission from the author. The watermarks are for my insta.)

Love, Keys

rylandsgrace

Ilya + Mouthing

strange-aeons

was trying to get a picture of Khoshekh pondering the orb for tumblr but uh

what the fuck is this???

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS???

naturalscienceforweirdos

my-2nd-account

17 yo autistic "he may not be the most sociable" Shane Hollander going out of his way to introduce himself to his predestined rival Ilya Rozanov and immediately complementing him "you're an awesome player to watch" as in he's watched him play and he enjoyed it and he might be the only player on his level.

18 yo hates his accent "gets under other players' skin" "you listen. Don't speak" Ilya Rozanov asking his no1 rival Shane Hollander if the draft day is everything he's dreamed of and if Montreal is nice but also if Boston is nice too as in he's worried about where he's going and the only person to ask is the one who will climb to the top side by side with him.

Which could mean nothing ofc

dailycatsblog

tostownik

muppetshow2026

ok ill bite. whats hockey

madlori

as everyone knows, it's large men wearing knife shoes fighting over the last oreo.

smokeymtnrain

Little Arthur and Tilly :(

I’ve been experimenting with my style recently, and I’ve started to enjoy this kinda storybook vibe. I hope you do too!

⁀➴ Tap for better quality.

going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi

honestly yall just gotta be comfortable reading books that make you feel stupid

going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi

read books that you don't understand. read books where you have to pay attention. read books that make you reread a page eight times to figure it out. read books that you need to take notes on. read books with words you have to google. read books that don't make sense without research on the setting. read books that make you feel stupid because otherwise you'll just be stupid.

sheisraging

the cutiest patooties

therozanov

HEATED RIVALRY 1.02

saffrondawn

#THIS WAS A FUCKING ROOOOOMAAAAAAANCE moment #one of those moments when i knew jacob tierney Got the genre #bc this look of conflict and desire and the fact that shane CANNOT SEE IT #it's that and the big spiel in russian where it's like... this is why dual POV in a romance is so important and 9/10 times the better choic #(w exceptions!) #if you're a perceptive audience member (and not everyone is lol) you can tell that shane is not getting the full picture #you know that ilya's feelings are real and intense #but shane not knowing and YOU knowing makes the tension even better (tags via @mermaidsirennikita)