#ilu fandom

[darthstitch]

I was today years old when I learned that the Phantom of the Opera's nickname amongst his tumblr fans is #melodramatic sewer goblin and I just.

All I can think of is Christine yelling during some improbable climactic phanphic moment like: YES HE IS A MELODRAMATIC SEWER GOBLIN BUT HE IS MY MELODRAMATIC SEWER GOBLIN AND I AM KEEPING HIM GDIT!!!!

Cue the Epic First Kiss.

And said Sewer Goblin is all 🥹🥺🥹🥺🥹

Shit.

I just bunnied myself didn't I?

[serpentinegraphite]

I saw a post going around recently about picking up WIPs after a long hiatus (maybe multiple years, even!) and like. Fanworks are first and foremost for you, the Creator, and audience enjoyment is a secondary goal, that's what I believe, if it sparks joy for you to finish a years-old work, then do that! For yourself! For your own fulfillment and mental health!

But also, for that little voice in the back of your head that's like "yeah okay, but I do still kind of want an audience, and what kind of person is still going to read my fic years later? I've lost my original audience." That's the voice of Anxiety, and you simply cannot trust that bitch.

However, to soothe that anxiety, I also want to say that I am exactly the kind of audience member who goes back for fics I've totally forgotten about. I see that little AO3 notification in my inbox: "Fic you've totally forgotten about by an author who left a deep impression on you just updated!" Sure, I've left that fandom. Yeah, my memory is swiss cheese so I've totally forgotten what happens, but here's the thing: that's a juicy little present from past!me, and I KNOW (unlike Anxiety) her taste is extremely reliable. If past!me says a fic is good, then i know it's going to be good, and if I've mostly forgotten what happens anyway, then i get to experience that joy of first reading an incredible fic all over again!

[gethporno]

do you have any witcher fic recs? i’ve just started diving in but I’m not sure where to start!

oooh do I ever! I have a bunch bookmarked on ao3, but here are some favourites. Starts with some OT3 but then just turns into Geralt/Jaskier:

It's Not the Size of the Sword, it's How You Swing It by Prudabaga. This is a RIDIC OT3 fic where Geralt accidentally on purpose finds out that Jaskier has a huge cock, then makes a bet with Yennefer about who can bang him first. It’s so dumb and yet so perfectly in character, I die.

some good mistakes by some_stars, which is not exactly OT3 but also not NOT OT3? Mostly it’s about Geralt being terrible at feelings and also wanting to get fucked up the ass in any and/or every way possible.

Better Than The Memory by objectlesson, which is basically just porn and filth (like literal filth) and wanking and then SURPRISE TENDERNESS. I have recced this to several people already as “the fic where Jaskier is obsessed with Geralt’s disgusting armpits” and there is truly no more pithy description. It’s SO HOT tho. 

Second Refrain by Kenjiandco. It has a plot twist like one third of the way through that hinges on Geralt being a complete dumbass, so obviously I’m obsessed with it. Jaskier saves the day, and then there is bickering and porn. chefskiss.gif

To You Always by autoschediastic is basically just porn where Geralt is an admitted cockslut who is absolutely terrible at expressing even the most basic wants. So like, canon, except he gets to fuck Jaskier.

Bardic Idyll by Lisztful on the off chance you want something not entirely porn. It’s basically crackfic where Jaskier asks Geralt to be his fake boyfriend while he performs in a week-long music competition. It’s dumb in exactly the way they canonically are, and also features Valdo Marx (sadly not Madeleine Hyland with a moustache) and Essi Daven, who is one of my favourite side characters from the books that Sapkowski totally shat on.

and yet, here we are by Shinybug, who writes THE BEST Geralt is2g. (Geralt: the OG fantasy himbo.) This is a fuck or die fic, so all the usual warnings apply, but hot damn is this my jam. If fuck or die is, for some reason, not your jam, pls just read everything else Shinybug has written because it’s all glorious.

[onlylostphysics]

.

[deadlyflan]

I'm a fandom!binger.

I will

Read all your fic.

Go through your entire blog

Kudos, Bookmark, and Like everything that tickles me

Dump a ton of reblogs out of my like list all at once

Cycle through my bookmarks to drop comments in waves

My timing on all these things is not necessarily ideal. I will annoy the creators by liking/kudosing without immediately reblogging or commenting. I will annoy folks who follow me by reblogging/reccing in giant indigestible blocks.

My point is that, regardless of when I manage to tell you how much I love and appreciate your work... I LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOUR WORK.

Thank you, fandom. <3

[randomaliha]

A, C, N, X

Thanks! :) 

A - ships that I currently like a lot.

I always have a bunch of ships I’m invested in to some degree (most sort of casual or in the background) but my main one right now is stucky so prepare yourself for a ramble, my friend. I’m a sucker for ships that span a long time frame because you get so much richness and development. So, Steve and Bucky meet as kids in 1930s Depression-era New York. They grow up together but get separated for the first time when Bucky gets drafted for the war. It’s a whole time period that’s really evocative, with heaps of scope for stories about discovering each other and ~feelings and trying to work jobs and live together and Bucky trying to find Steve a date but no one wants to date Steve but p.s. Bucky’s pretty much taking him on dates all the time soooo yeah. Then we get this second act where Steve has been transformed and Bucky has been captured and experimented on, so they’ve both changed – except for the way they feel about each other. They spend the rest of the war fighting together until Bucky is presumed killed (Steve couldn’t save him! Steve will never fail him like that again! Is what Steve says to himself every night I’m guessing!) and right after that Steve sacrifices himself and puts his plane into the ice. Ultimately, of course, the war was bigger than both of them. And that should have been the end of it, an amazing but tragic journey for those two kids from Brooklyn. But we get another act, another page, in which they find each other again and Steve breaks through Bucky’s 65 years of brainwashing pretty much by existing. Two bits I absolutely love in this third act: the first time they cross paths again since 1945 is in TWS, when Bucky/the soldier comes to kill Fury at Steve’s apartment. At that moment, ‘Its been a long, long time’ by Kitty Kallen plays on Steve’s record player, a romantic af song from 1945 about lovers reuniting after the end of the war. Never thought that you would be/Standing here so close to me… You’ll never know how many dreams I've dreamed about you/Or just how empty they all seemed without you/So kiss me once then kiss me twice, then kiss me once again/It’s been a long, long time. Wow what a totally platonic bros reunion song. And second, when they’re fighting aboard the carrier and Bucky’s struggling with his programming, Steve says “finish it. Cos I’m with you, to the end of the line” which…. you know, he’s telling Bucky/the soldier to kill him because Steve won’t kill Bucky. Will not. Full stop. He’s with Bucky even if Bucky’s not really there anymore, even if being there for Bucky means dying. And the thing about it is, that’s a promise they made to each other. To be there til the end of the line. We see Bucky say it to Steve in a flashback, it’s how Bucky has always felt about Steve, a promise he’s made to Steve as much as to himself, to be there for Steve always, and on that carrier Steve is returning that love and that unwavering loyalty. And that promise is what finally gets through to Bucky and breaks decades of brainwashing. I MEAN. This devotion to each other is absolutely core to their characters. Those birds are in love. (If Infinity War kills one of them or separates them again I will be mad as hell, dishonour on all marvel’s (cash) cows.)

C - a ship I have never liked and probably never will

I feel like all my NOPE ships are in Star Wars. Rey/Kylo is the biggest nope in the galaxy and I hated their scenes in tlj. Actually, Kylo really reminds me of Anakin in the prequels, but worse. Kylo is that kid who got a chip on his shoulder when he was a teenager and has never moved past it, and now he’s a selfish tool who causes suffering and kills people because he got his feelings hurt and it makes him so angry but he’s just misunderstood and deep down he’s a nice guy if people would just do what he wants. In a high school AU this would be the character that would need to be on some kind of fbi watch list, and I hate that Star Wars writers can’t come up with a better characterisation when they’re trying to write a complex character who turns to the dark side. Things don’t go right for angry young white man; he kills everyone? That’s basically it? Some fans might point to the influence of Palpatine and Snoke as playing a role but there are plenty of characters in the SW universe who got dealt a shitty hand in life and got tempted by the dark side and didn’t go over. Basically Anakin wasn’t good enough for Padme or Obi-Wan (nooope nope nope) and Kylo isn’t anywhere near good enough for Rey or indeed anyone in the galaxy. 

N - 3 things you wish you saw more of in your fandom(s)

1. I just found a bunch of meta posts for Bucky/stucky that included timelines and costume research and meta and it was amazing and super exciting. So I guess more of that in all my fandoms but yeah, I love world-building, I love being able to fit a character into a setting and a world, and get more context on who they are, so discussion of that stuff is great and I find it really helps and inspires me as a fic writer.

2. drabbles on my dash. Can we bring back 100 word drabbles as a thing we post on tumblr? I tend to only read longer fics on ao3 but 100 word drabbles are perfect little mouthfuls for your dash, like a gifset. Also they are a damn art form and I love them.

3. Rare pairs maybe? (says every rare pair fan ever) 

X - a trope you are certain to love in any fandom

Misunderstandings that lead to mutual pining and loads of shivery tension and a big beautiful reveal. I WILL ALWAYS READ SUCH PERFECT GOODNESS.

Tagging anyone on my dash who wants to do this or send me an ask?

[humblystark]

i’m so glad we’re all ready to ship t’chillmonger

[randomaliha]

Even at the end of a shitty day, there is fandom <3