Since it’s not going to be to help with calculations for the Titan landing (I really thought that would have made sense!) — what plot-relevant reason for Margo to come back can we think of now? I’ve got nothing at the moment but I’m also just not really invested in the plot of this season, so …
I’m now getting a bit worried that we’ll only see her in another brief visit after Aleida gets home and Margo won’t actually get to do anything. Hope I’m wrong about that! There does HAVE to be some interaction with Irina at least right??
Hi, I would like to know how to make a list of all the ships in a fandom on AO3. For example, I use the Tag Search on "Transformers - A Media Types", but it shows that Jetfire/Starscream is the most popular with 641, but it is actually only the 6th with 1074. Furthermore, it quickly drops to showing Relationship with a single digit when I know that there are dozens of Relationship with hundreds of Works! Why don't most Works appear? Do you know of a way to find All the ships of a fandom on AO3?
Hey! Sorry for the slow reply... I was traveling and then covid knocked me flat for several weeks. :P
So let's talk about AO3 Tag Search. In general, I'm very excited about recent improvements to this feature... There didn't used to be any way to find the top ships (or characters, or freeform/additional tags) across all of AO3. But now you can* by doing a tag search and sorting by uses (descending order):
*In practice, though you won't exactly get a trustworthy list of top tags (and, as you pointed out, in some cases tags may even be missing! we'll get to that later). You will get a list where the numbers are not correct, sometimes to a bizarre degree:
For example, when you click through on the Derek/Stiles tag, you find far fewer works using the tag (note that these are the public works -- if you're logged in, you see a somewhat higher number, but not as high as in the above screenshot):
I will be posting some stats soon that show different numbers (and a different order) for all of the above top ships. But why is there the discrepancy? Here are several guesses about why some works are wrong in Tag Search (and then I'll get to why some ships are missing and what to do about it):
TAG INFLATION #1: The above numbers probably include tags used in AO3 bookmarks, which increases some of the numbers quite a lot. [Evidence: if you search for top freeform tags, you get tags like "To Read" high on the list, and authors don't use those tags.]
TAG INFLATION #2: The above numbers seem to include draft works. [Evidence: I just tested this out by finding a rare tag with only one use... I created a draft of a new work using that same tag, and even though I didn't publish the work, Tag Search now showed 2 uses of the tag.]
TAG DEFLATION: The above numbers do NOT seem to take tag wrangling into account. Some AO3 tags have a lot of synonyms or subtags, but I think only exact uses of the tag get counted in the above list. [Evidence: I found at a tag with only one use according to tag search, but two works when I clicked the tag (Peter Gabriel/Mike Rutherford). I found that one of the works contained a synonym of the main tag ("Mike Rutherford/Peter Gabriel (Imagined)"). That would match with Tag Search only listing one of work for "Peter Gabriel/Mike Rutherford." And when I created a new draft work that used the main tag, it increase the count in Tag Search for "Peter Gabriel/Mike Rutherford" -- but when I created a new draft work that used the synonym tag, it did not.]
There may also be other factors affecting the overall Tag Search numbers.
Okay, so I suspect #3, tag deflation due to no tag wrangling, is (helping to?) create the unexpectedly low numbers you are seeing for ships like Jetfire/Starscream. I suspect that many people do not use the full canonical tag "Jetfire | Skyfire/Starscream (Transformers)", and those other uses don't get counted in Tag Search. The only way to address this issue is to click through on a tag returned by Tag Search and find out how many works the tag has once you look at its list of works.
But why aren't some ships showing up at all? That's a different question. Here, I suspect the answer again is related to tag wrangling. Every (?) canonical ship tag has at least one parent tag that is a fandom tag (as well as the relevant character tags). You can see the parent tags for Jetfire/Starscream on its tag page:
Skyfire (Transformers), Starscream (Transformers), The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers (Dreamwave Generation One), Transformers (IDW 2019), Transformers (Marvel Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007), Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Beast Wars (Cartoon), Transformers: Cybertron, Transformers: Cyberverse, Transformers: Energon, Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Shattered Glass, Transformers: The Headmasters, Transformers: War for Cybertron (Video Games)
Jetfire/Starscream has "Transformers - All Media Types" as a parent tag, and I suspect that is why it shows up in the Tag Search for that fandom. I would guess that some of the bigger Transformer ships do NOT have that broad fandom as a parent tag. Let's check the parent tags of Megatron/Optimus Prime:
Megatron (Transformers), Optimus Prime, The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers Animated (2007), Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001), Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
Megatron/Optimus Prime does NOT have "Transformers - All Media Types" as a parent tag. I suspect that's why it didn't show up in your tag search.
So what can you do? Unfortunately, I think the only way to be sure to find all the Transformers ships is to do a Tag Search within each of the different Transformers subfandoms (and I know there are a lot) and then combine the lists of ships you find for each. And then be sure to visit the tag works page for each resulting tag to get the actual number of works, as discussed above. I also discussed other ways to get the find the top relationships here, but I think they're all either less reliable or more arduous than this method, at least for a big fandom like Transformers.
Sorry for the dumb question, but could you explain why you think 'More Than Friends' isn't about Julien? I thought the "I’ve known you for so long" and "let's be more than friends until we die" theme was quite similar to her songs about Julien. THX!!
yes of course. obviously these are all my personal opinions and i am not lucy dacus nor do i speak for lucy dacus or claim to. so this is just my interpretation and speculation, so if you wish to indulge it will be under the cut
first of all the short explanation is that lucy first performed this song in november 2022 at a show at little saint, and presumably had written it before then, which timeline wise just doesn't make sense for it to be about julien.
even if it was based on whatever you wish to believe about the jblu timeline, the lyrics just don't match up with what we know about their relationship or their personalities. see a few examples below:
"You don’t talk much / And that’s fine /Most days are dull, and that’s alright / We both forget to be nice sometimes / We don’t make sense from the outside" - julien baker is yapper 3000 and is a sweetheart golden retriever butch that has never been mean a single day in her life. and also "we don't make sense from the outside" i think people that had the same thought interpreted as like internalized homophobia, but that and most days are dull are things that lucy would never say about julien or their relationship, frankly.
It all started by mistake / Getting tipsy by the lake / When our knuckles brushed / You thought I meant it / I thought you meant it / But it was an honest accident - another thing that was immediately a non julien clock to me, because no matter when the song was written and the state of julien's sobriety i wholeheartedly believe she would never write a song suggesting she had broken that even if it was the truth. remember this is the same lucy that wrote "i put your clothes on the dresser with your 60 day chip" and the entire boygenius tour was an alcohol free space, had non alcoholic branded drinks at the greek when julien was there, and had an entire birthday party catered by a sober bar, the owner of which is one of julien's longtime friends with a themed menu.
other than that, the entire tone of the song reads as very comphet and disdained. it's giving i don't like a lot of things about our relationship or you for that matter but because i've known you and trusted you for so long it felt like it made sense at the time.
i know the more than friend title makes it seem like oh my god yeah julien song, but you forget that lucy's middle name is i've never been on a real date because i've only dated friends. every relationship in her life has been friends to lovers. and with that i'm pretty sure you can guess who this one is about.
So i started playing slay the princess I'm like 30 minutes in and that game did something to me. So i've got to get these feelings out before i can go on with my day.
Spoilers for the hero and the princess; the nightmare and start of the third chapter
Tl/DR: Procrastination FTW!! I made both the narrator and the princess upset :-D!
I didn't go into this game completly blind. I watched a lets play were a therapist played the first two chapters. He became the sceptic. While watching him I wondered why he found the princess so trustworthy - her whole demeanor screamed FAY-CREATURE/COSMIC HORROR to me - the narrator was sus as hell but she was even more sus. Soooo I thought i will try my hand at it and see what will happen. This is my experience (for now)
So the first thing i tried out was what would happen if i simply walked away - it didn't do anything so i had to enter the hut. I left the knife and went straight to the basement. I knew i didn't want to slay the princess straight away and i kinda wanted to see what would happen if i refused what the narrator wanted and what the princess wanted. (look the perpetual people pleaser and coward refused to make a decision and tried to avoid conflict - who would've thought) Currently it's not going well. I found interesting that the Princess tried to act cute innocently and scared with me (while she was cold with the lets player and i noted for myself that i would trust her more if she was scared) i kinda regret that i already knew that side of her because it would've been interesting what would have happened if I didn't already knew she was SUS.AS.HELL. But because i already knew i decided to keep her locked up. And i kept her locked up. Even when she threatened hell on earth. I didn't budge. I died out of fear and the paranoid appeared (hello anxiety my old friend...) The next stage was a hellscape of darkness. And here's the thing. Im pretty stubborn in my avoidance of conflict. So i once again left the knife and went into the basement. It went even more poorly. The princess obviously had freed herself but she can't leave the cabin without me. You know what that means right - FUCK YOU NARRATOR FUCK YOU PRINCESS - You cant tell me what to do! I will procrastinate until my dying breath!! And than came the scene that did something to me: The narrator described countless lives - some happy, some lonely some normal - but during all of them the princess screamed Let!Me!Out! - until the narrator broke an i died again.
And i realized something - i think i'm both the princess and the narrator - the princess is the shadow self - the narrator is rationality. And i (as i'm doing with my own life) decided to lock away a part of me i didn't think socially acceptable/unlovable - going through you life. Living a lie to a certain point because i learned fast that myself would never be accepted. And i try to unlearn this. BUT it's hard.
Or maybe the princess is just a cosmic horror and i'm just procrastinating making some hard decision. In chapter three there are suddenly a whole bunch of voices. I'm interested where they will lead me. I'm still prepared to be stubborn. I still trust neither the narrator nor the princess. i want answers and i kinda don't feel like be bullied in one or the other direction and so I'm doing nothing (struggle of my life.. executive dysfunction here. we. come!)
Season 3 really is firing on all cylinders. WoT is a perfect example of 'let them cook' and I wish House of R also did deep dives on the show because its so good.
Season 1 had a lot of table setting to do and was hampered by the finale.
I have only vague memories of WoT the book series since I only read it once in high school and then eventually dropped the series because it got too long between book drops.
In this show, in this season, I love how everything is stitching together.
Things I love about this season:
I love that Moiraine and Siuan are still pining and yearning over each other. And that they did finally get to talk, and Moiraine admitted she would have done the same as Siuan with only the knowledge she had on hand. (And, maybe even worse). Because their instincts were the same. Unfortunately, Moiraine is also an emotional dumbass because she didn't warn Siuan that she might die.
Egwene and Rand. I honestly love how this show explores two young people who do still love each other but are not in love with each other figure out that after all this they're better off as friends and not as lovers. They are the first example of a couple who were together in the first season going into two different paths that I can legitimately say that they tried to be together but just no longer fit.
The History of the Aiel and the Tuath'an. How the Tuath'an were the original Aiel, and the Aiel chose spears because they first swore not to do violence but broke their oath over self defense. That the Aiel's true mission was to protect the people of the Leaf. And, the Way of Leaf's whole oath was based on their oath to the Aes Sedai. But because of how history goes on a lot of those motives were forgotten and twisted.
PERRIN GOLDEN EYES AND FAILE. The few things I do remember is that I loved the whole Perrin becomes Lord Perrin Golden Eyes and that I loved Faile. I don't know if it will remain true if I re-read the book. What I know is that the TV show is killing it and I love how Perrin is my favorite character this season, as he was in the books. All his stories have led up to Perrin becoming Lord Perrin. His journey with the Tuath'an and learning that constant violence is not the answer. And Faile meeting him step by step on the path and reframing what happened to his wife.
LOIAL I don't remember what happened in the books and if this diverges significantly but oh my.
God, Liandrin's whole childhood was miserable.
I have a vague recollection about what will happen to Moiraine and I am bracing myself for it. Also what happens to Siuan. Things are gonna get a lot darker before it gets better and I hope Amazon renews it for 2 more seasons because I need them to finish this story dammit.
ALSO HELLO, ELAIDA IS HERE. And the casting is pitch perfect!
Nynaeve still has a block but Moggy is here and that block's gonna end soon.
Honestly I love the friendships and dynamic in this and the combinations and I honestly kind of also ship Min and Mat. I know Min ends up with Rand and I don't actually know if Mat had a love interest in the book. But man, I kind of like Min and Mat together.
