🌱 = a plot I want to write with you🌲 = if I ship our characters together🌴 = a favorite canon character in my fandom🌵 = a disliked canon character in my fandom🌾 = my opinion on OCs
🌱 = a plot I want to write with you
Is “all the plots” an acceptable answer here? No? Well, I definitely am enjoying where our current plotting is heading (not gonna reveal too much here in case people like surprises- lookie, I’m arrogant af too! XD) and I hope we can have great fun with that! I do really want to go deeper into a relationship with these two, since it did seem very strange when their friendship was first revealed (though now after analysis it seems pretty easy to understand). I also would totally be down for like, a modern!Au sorta thing. Perhaps based off of that school omake thing. Just being coworkers and all the modern-day drama that comes of it.
🌲 = if I ship our characters together
I do like shipping these two. They’re a very interesting combination of characters, and I love the ‘super happy, bubbly person A bothers person B to no end but person B would be so sad if person A was gone so person B just deals with it’ trope. I love looking at it like if it were anyone else causing this much chaos for Mihawk, Mihawk would have little problem putting them in their place. But because it’s Shanks he puts up with it (and not just because a fight with Shanks would be a challenge). If not romantically, I do absolutely love their BroTP too. I think they would get together often to talk about the Strawhats, and their hopes for them. Maybe one day when they’re together, Mihawk starts to talk about Zoro and Shanks doesn’t even interrupt or stop him because he can tell- even though Mihawk is all monotone and showing little emotion- that Mihawk is very excited about Zoro’s future. I like imagining they can read each other very well, and Mihawk can tell when Shanks is being honest or when he’s faking. I’m rambling, but yeah, I definitely love all the relationships between these two.
🌴 = a favorite canon character in my fandom
Okay. I’m sure it’s obvious that I adore Shanks and I could write an essay as to why he’s my favorite character in the series and why love him to pieces. If it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t even have gotten into the series. So let me talk about a different favorite character.
I adore Smoker. Well, I adore both Smoker and Tashigi- but I’m going to focus on Smoker a bit right now. I love characters who are frightening on the outside but on the inside are soft as a pillow. And I think Smoker definitely fits that bill. That’s not to say he’s a pushover, of course not, but he’s a really, really kind person. We saw it at the beginning, when the little girl got his ice cream all over his pants. Before that, we had seen Marine captains with frightening reputations harming, even killing, those who crossed them. We saw a lot of corruption. And so here we have this character, introduced as a frightening, terrifying man, but we find out we’ve been tricked. We’ve been doing what we’ve been learning the Marines do to the pirates- painting them all with the same brush. Smoker isn’t angry at the girl, he’s understanding, gentle, and gives her money for more ice cream. He’s even a little silly with his words. He is a good Marine. Yes, he’s an antagonist for the Straw Hats, but he treats them with the utmost respect. Piracy is unacceptable to him, which is understandable, however he also understands the Straw Hats are not the villains most believe them to be. And Smoker takes note of that when he interacts with them. Tashigi as well, actions are more important to them than simple rumors. Smoker is strong and powerful, but he’s also kind and understanding, and he’s handsome so that doesn’t hurt.
🌵 = a disliked canon character in my fandom
Hmm. There’s not many characters that I actually dislike, I do enjoy most of them and I can find reasons to like them otherwise if I really dislike a character I just dismiss them and never think of them again, haha. Some characters do make me feel uncomfortable, and I think that’s more on me than anything. One of them is Sakazuki. I know that’s a common one, and I know there are some really talented people in the fandom that have done great work with this character- who I view as a very difficult character to handle. But this character makes me feel very, very uncomfortable. I don’t do well with extremes. Especially extreme negatives. I deal so much in my real life with people who view things as so black and white that it leads to some really bad thoughts and emotions whenever I am faced with a character like Sakazuki. I haven’t learned enough about him to see him as much more than a person who has one mindset, and who acts on that mindset regardless of what other people believe. People like that scare me, and they are so real in every day life and there is so much at risk whenever one has any power. I very much disagree with this man’s view, even if I weren’t introduced to the other side of the world, and his actions have very real in-world consequences. I want to know more about him, and I want to learn more, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to be completely comfortable with him.
I absolutely love OCs. I think they add so much to the world and they really bring a storyline to life. When you have characters existing and living their lives at the same time as chaos is reigning around them, it’s beautiful. Though, I do think that people need to be taking care when making their OCs. I’ve seen some that I start to wonder about, in terms of technicalities and I have seen a few Mary-Sues in my writing time that just make it hard to write with them. But thankfully, there are more people willing to get help for their OCs then there are people who dismiss concerns over their OCs, and it seems to provide a great learning environment for people of all stages of the character creation learning curve. If anyone has any questions or wants any feedback on their OCs, I wouldn’t mind helping out at all.
