#av plays

[summerhalldreams]

my buddy @vampgf very kindly tagged me to do this cute cosmic persona quiz!

It's literally so adorable, I'm tagging: @markwatnae, @thecornchips, @chibikuroneko13, @pinkished, @pyromon. @coloursofhappiness, @melonmochi, @skygarbageee, and literally anyone else that wants to play. :3

[summerhalldreams]

I'm assuming... you kinda like shanks? 🤔🧐 Can't be sure though

He's like. I mean he's okay, sure...

Like he's fine to look at

and sure he's like, soft and adorable and giggly when people are sweet to him

and yeah, he's a globally recognized badass emperor of the sea

who kicked off basically my favorite story ever by caring about a lonely little boy, and giving away his favorite hat

.......but like I could take him or leave him ya know. Not like I'm so head over heels in love with the guy that I can think of little else. I'm certainly not kept up at all hours of the night tapping out text posts about him so my brain doesn't turn into soup on me. Or anything.

>.>

<.<

(-whispering- your assumption is correct but keep this between us, okay? I've been playin it real close to the chest, wouldn't want anyone to find out. 🤫😏)

send me assumptions you have about me if you'd like!

[summerhalldreams]

which one of my selfships is your fave?

shanksav

kidav

eliasav

sanjiav

mihawkav

saboav

for me to peek

Voting ended onMar 13, 2025

[summerhalldreams]

i assume you have a favorite mug !!!

You are CORRECT! It's a big heavy black and white mug with lil cartoon cats all over it and it holds like 2.5 cups of tea at once c: (its in the wash or you'd get a picture)

[summerhalldreams]

Oh man oh man there are so many fun ones for the ask game uhhhh 5, 11, 24, 39 aaaaaand 50. 36 was calling to me just to be a butt but I restrained myself :D

Hellooooooooooooooooo my dear friend!!!

5. what color are your eyes?

they're green leaning hazel! grey ring around the outside, dark green predominant, with a kind of goldy brown in the middle. Doin things.

11. favorite extracurricular activity?

I'm the most boring person alive, when I was in school the only extra thing I ever wanted to do was crawl back into the library and read. I was in ROTC kind of accidentally in my freshman year of HS which was fun only bc the extra curriculars for it involved flying in a military transport plane and doing a submarine failure exercise where they sprayed us with water in a slowly filling room while we tried to repair broken pipes. (which sounds like a nightmare and probably was not age appropriate but I LOVED it lmfao).

24. if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

Talking about OP I would imagine, hopefully eating delicious soup and having a wonderful time c:

39. do you use lip balm?

Yes! I have a lip balm lip scrub duo that are both brown sugar vanilla flavored. :)

50. can i tag you in random stuff?

bby you never have to ask, of course!! also carte blanche for anyone reading this, I love being tagged in things!

Bonus round:

36. how many times have you changed your url?

at least once more, as always <3

ask me some random stuff if you'd like!

[summerhalldreams]

2-24 even for Shanks 💕

Oh my goodness, thank you bby!! Y'all are gonna hear about Shanks today lmfao. Most of this is gonna be under a readmore bc I've never been able to be succinct but here we goooooo!

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I love how careful he is about when and how he flexes all that power he has. It was meant to be very on the nose when we were introduced to him via Luffy in the very beginning of the series, but like. His little episode on Whitebeard's ship seemed like he had conqueror's haki out of control, but it was a very purposeful flex, if for nothing else than to show that he took approaching another Yonko seriously. Or the way he chose to handle Greenbull at the end of Wano. Sure it was hard to the new folks on his crew to handle exposure so suddenly, but he sent that like 50 miles out from the ship and hit that jerk in the heart with it. And never even raised his voice about it. Idk I think his restraint and how it manifests is a really interesting part of his characterization.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

it's probably on my mind bc of Bernard Hill's recent passing, but I think Shanks would do so well and have a grand old time being elusive and mysterious in Lord of the Rings lmfao. He's got that Aragorn quality of could be in his 20s could be in his 40s who knows, he and Gandalf would probably get a kick out of each other, he'd fucking love the hobbits I am telling you this. (he also, I am very afraid, has that Aragorn quality of 'doomed by the narrative just not quite yet,' but we'll see.)

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

this is hard, I think he's a much more complex and interesting person than I am for the most part, but like. I think it's safe to say he'd mostly rather diffuse a situation than have it become serious when the latter is avoidable, and I am that way too. If the situation is already serious and requires a throw down response that's a different matter, but if we can avoid a serious fight in favor of a little tussle and some drinks, that'd be the way he'd go, and I agree.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

take this one with a grain of salt bc I mostly try not to yuck anyone's yum or argue about differing headcanons, but I really do not fucking like the like. scumbag/villain!Shanks thing that seems to have a semi-popular following. some of that is personal bias, as I think he is a warm, good person who is doing his best, but it also kind of feels like a betrayal of the narrative for him. which I realize is funny coming from the "everything is made up including the source material" guy but here we are. there was a period a few months ago where people were basically just writing him as OP Toji and it made me want to pull all my hair out.

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

absolutely, I adore him, I think he's right about a lot of things, our ethics tend to line up where it matters, I think he's funny and would be fun to be around, he listens well and is a warm and compassionate person. I really like him and we'd get along really well I think. (mostly probably through the lens of my OC bc I'm not like. terribly convinced of my actual in person IRL likeability but in theory, absolutely yes.)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I've written about it a little before, but I think the reason he let Buggy go without telling him what Roger talked to him about after the execution wasn't because he didn't want Buggy with him anymore or didn't believe he had what it took to complete that mission, but so that Buggy would have a chance to forge his own way and have his own life. Doing what Roger asked necessitated Shanks--who was widely regarded as having the potential to be the next big legend--to drop out of the running almost entirely. He picked up his crew, he made a name for himself, he became the youngest person (at the time) to gain the title of Yonko, but he also spent a decent amount of time having to like. Lay low on beaches and dick around in the East Blue and play balance keeper and chess master until the man Roger was waiting for appeared. There are more spoilery additions to this that I'll leave out for now but yeah. I think he knew Buggy had all that same potential, and wanted to give him an opportunity to strike out on his own adventure without living in that shadow or carrying their mentor's ghost around.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

oh take this one with a grain of salt too idk that I know any of the terms correctly lmfao but he's very like. when I picture boho in my mind that seems very him. a lot of linens a lot of light flowy breathable clothes. It's pirate!Boho obviously but like. The man is out there wearing birkenstocks as we speak js.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

same standard issue disclaimer as the fandom stuff I don't like, this isn't to yuck anyone's yum, follow your bliss what people ship isn't my business, these are just the ones I personally do not like. shankslu is at the forefront, but I don't really do shanksbenn either?? a LOT of captains and first mates in this series read that way to me but those two don't for me.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

I actually really enjoy his dynamic with Marco. There are some interesting pieces of shared history there but overall the like. Friendly ribbing, amiable hanging out and willingness to cooperate between two of my faves is always very nice to see. c:

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

oh please I think he'd think Sabo was a ton of fun. I know there's an age difference there that makes peership a little different than between the other mid-40s dudes he usually hangs out with, but think about it. Two very powerful people who are carrying the weight of part of this new era on their shoulders, who have a habit of just sort of fucking off out of the narrative and doing things as they please within their own personal parameters, who will just get up and obliterate a guy when that's what the situation calls for? Funny, weird, intelligent guys that love Luffy, believe in him, and want whats best for him? Even if they weren't besties, I think there's a lot of fun overlap for general friendship there.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

something I like: when people recognize that all that soft puppy silly goofy guy exterior, while sincerely part of him, is something that he makes the decision to externalize every day, and is sat atop a deep well of like. sadness and responsibility. there are a lot of people doing a very good job making him a romantic dopey nightmare man without sacrificing that silliness or his intelligence and sense of personal responsibility.

something I don't like: when people start a fic with the disclaimer "Shanks is in here but I hate him lol so he's a lil ooc 🤭🤪" and then he's like. not only ooc but just someone's ex boyfriend or doflamingo or just off-screen doing heinous shit for no reason. Writing a character you hate: can be fun and compelling! I fucking hate Doflamingo, for example, but as a narrative device, as a villain? bar none one of the best and most interesting. Writing a character you hate with the intention of doing a shit job because you hate them? dumb, annoying, and a waste of everyone's time. why include someone you don't want to write about lmfao just pick a different character and be done.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

i'm drawing a blank, I'm going to be real with you. Like, I can think of a ton of mentor characters, but they don't really remind me of him. I can think of a bunch of like. guardian of the new era characters, that still don't super remind me of him. I think again i've got LOTR on the brain rn but the like. Fellowship of the Ring Aragorn is the closest I'm coming up with and even that's mostly in terms of like. the gentle mentorship of the hobbits, the offbeat sense of humor, and that dedication to a responsibility that he might have been scared to face. IDK. Shanks is a pretty unique guy to me. I'm sure I'm gonna sit bolt upright at 3 AM with a list of 20 people that fit the bill but rn it simply isn't clicking lmfao.

And there we have it!!! My (mostly) comprehensive analysis of Shanks, for you my dear friend. Thank you so much for asking!!!

[summerhalldreams]

My assumption is that you didn’t expect to fall for Shanks as hard as you did but now he has you in the palm of his hand

That's actually so true. I went into One Piece like. Zoro and Sanji. These are the ones I am sure of it. And that lasted for a little while but Shanks was so silly and goofy and sweet that he was always just sort of sitting off to the side in my mind (waiting to pounce), and it was one of those things where like.

The more I talked about him, and the more I theorized about what he was up to, and the more I looked at him and listened to his voice and found myself comforted by him, the more I was actively digging a hole lmfao. Until I looked up one day and was like........................................I think a future with him would actually fix me.

I'll kinda jaunt around bc One Piece is the way it is (-gestures at Crocodile-, had Kid fever for a while, I absolutely adore Sabo, I'm a lil in love with Mihawk always), but I got blindsided by the mack truck of his wonderfulness early and he's always where I end up coming back to. Not 100% sure on the definition of retirement blorbo but I do think he's the one for me.

send me assumptions you have about me if you'd like!

[summerhalldreams]

🔥Elias?

I'm so sorry beloved my brain completely died yesterday. But >:) okay let's do this.

--

I think I've talked before about how I don't think he makes sense as allegory for Capitalism before (like, at all), and I've got the post about how I don't think he's no/low empathy despite that being a pretty popular fandom device. So we're gonna go with this one: Elias has serious control over his emotions, his displays of sincere emotion, and if he did not what you to know something about him, you would not know it.

One of the most frequent things I see with fandom depictions of Elias have him as either flamboyantly, cartoonishly evil in a silly, almost clumsy sort of way. He is sprawling on his desk like it's a chaise lounge, he is getting tripped up by Archival Antics, he is falling all over himself trying to get Peter's credit card information--essentially making a public spectacle of his every movement in a way he literally never does. (That last bit about trying to secure Institute funding from Peter could be a whole dissertation its own and I think I've have another unpopular Elias opinion request so maybe we'll do it there).

The fandom also swings that pendulum all the way in the other direction and makes him this rabid, unstable, rage filled time bomb that explodes all over everyone at the slightest provocation, has him Joker monologuing and engaging in random acts of sporadic violence in a way that, again, he never does. Like the pipe murder scene is literally the only part of his character they internalized.

He's not an Avatar of the Spiral or the Slaughter, he's not tittering around in pastels twirling his mustache messing with people or looking for more brains to bash in, he's quiet and calculating and meticulous. He Watches, as he has for two centuries, acts opportunistically and deterministically to further his goals, and is a chess master to such a degree that few of the people he's manipulated ever even become fully aware that he's done so.

He's not a bumbling idiot who can't control himself, and to suggest so is to flatten and caricature a deeply nuanced and interesting guy.