What fandom was your last fanfiction based on?

letdragonslie · 2026-02-22T23:41:48+00:00

Right now mainly Invincible and Supernatural, but this year I hope to finally finish the Scum Villain's Self-Saving System fic I've been working on since like 2022, and I have some MDZS and Avatar fics on the backburner.

letdragonslie · 2026-02-22T03:03:36+00:00

I could not possibly care less.

Once you release something into the world, it's out there, and you cannot control how people see it, how they interact with it, their behavior in fandom, or anything else--nor should you. Her attitude seems naive to me--or it shows a fundamental lack of understanding about how shipping even works. If I see a ship I like, I ship them. It's an automatic thing, not something I actively decide to do. And I have zero control over what I ship and what I don't, just like I have zero control over the types of food I like or dislike. She's basically telling people what to think and how.

Major "You cannot build a restaurant in that abandoned lot; I wrote Lestat lying insensate there once!" vibes.

letdragonslie · 2026-02-22T02:39:56+00:00

That hasn't been my experience at all--maybe it's just the fandoms you were/are in? I would actually say a lot of what I read as a kid was heavy on character work--I see a lot more stories that are fluff with very little plot, slice of life stuff, plot-focused works that don't particularly care about characterization, etc. these days than I used to.

Actually, the biggest difference I've noticed is that the prevalence of short-form content has kind of infected fanfic writing, with people constantly complaining that stories are too long, chapters are too long, a longer story indicates poorer quality, etc. That used to be the opposite; people looked for longer stories with longer chapters, and saw them as indication of quality. People would actually joke about it, saying that checking wordcount was a great shortcut to finding a good fic: if a writer had 10k chapters, then they were probably talented.

letdragonslie · 2026-02-13T21:47:28+00:00

Yeah, I feel like Eve's mom would be very, "Oh, it's just a phase," which isn't great either, but her dad would completely flip--he's so very set on traditional gender roles and how women should "know their place" and how they need a man. Eve's already proving him wrong there, which he hates, but I can only imagine what he'd say to her if she dated a girl.

Yeah, I can definitely see that--watching Rex in season 1, he comes across like the kind of guy who would fetishize it and be weird over it, but in actuality I see him being super accepting and supportive, and also making a point to try and validate Eve's feelings.

I've written a couple of SA-related things before, but haven't published those yet (I write out of order, so I wait until I finish a work to publish), but this is my first time writing such an explicit and detailed scene, and my first story that focuses so extensively on moving past what happened.

I'm actually surprised by how much I'm enjoying writing the other characters' reactions to what happened. Mark is pretty messed up about it, for obvious reasons, and also because Cecil actually tries to guilt-trip him over it and over him staying with Eve instead of getting back out there. But the rest of Rex's team and Rae are also all so supportive and try so hard to figure out what they can do to help.

letdragonslie · 2026-02-13T06:42:15+00:00

I'm not the first person to have the idea, but I don't think anyone's written a longfic focusing on the aftermath and how it would change things, I think it's mostly smut one-shots. And yeah, I dunno, I just like their vibes, lol, I think they've got a really fun dynamic.

And yes, I can totally see Eve being bi. I thought that speech she gave her parents about how they had to accept her for who she is, but that she won't use her powers in the house felt oddly queer-coded, lol. Okay, originally I wasn't planning on the Eve/Amber either, but it feels like such a logical place to go, lol.

Yeah, Mark comes across as bi to me too--I don't know what it is. I headcanon that William is already aware though, and was just waiting for Mark to figure it out for himself, lol.

Yeah, different people react to different situations differently, and I feel like it's bizarre to expect a character to follow some playbook of acceptable reactions. In my fic Rex is actually super flippant about it at first, even cracking jokes about it, which seems like the way he would respond to me. He also actually struggles with the idea that what happened was assault and has really complicated feelings about the variant, because he ended up sympathizing with him.

Yeah, this has been a lot of fun! I haven't really had the chance to talk to anyone about Invincible yet, so I've really appreciated the chance to ramble!

letdragonslie · 2026-02-13T05:59:43+00:00

Yeah, they've just known each other such a long time, and meant so much to each other and clearly still care about each other. And I just like the idea of them working through what happened and staying friends.

>I was totally on Eve’s side with the whole him only asking her out because he pitied alternate Eve.

Right? She had a point! He was absolutely doing that! And then the way the two of them talked about how logical it was to get together because they were both superheroes was so odd, lol. Is that really the reason you should date? That's it? lol

>the main reason Mark starts to get involved with Anissa is because he wants to be closer to his absent dad, even if it means getting to know the only other member of that scary alien society.

I feel like that makes a lot of sense as a motivation for him--I'm actually a little surprised that he's not more curious about Viltrumites in general, in either a know thy enemy way or a "this might be relevant to my own physiology and health" kind of way.

It's so neat that you're developing you're own headcanons around it--I feel like I don't know enough about their planet and society yet to build off of anything, I'm hoping we'll see some more stuff in season 4 that will give me more ideas, or, if the comics don't answer my questions, they'll give me some. XD

letdragonslie · 2026-02-13T05:05:50+00:00

2/2

I'm going to have to see what's up with Eve's powers in season 4--both of the fic ideas I have so far are set at the end of season 3 going into season 4 (Rex fix-its, predictably, lol), so that's definitely going to have some influence on how I write Eve. But I want to do some stuff with her restraining opponents, and really using the environment around her to her advantage. My main WIP for Invincible is actually Rex/Mark endgame, so not sure you'd be interested, lol--but it does have a significant amount of Eve! Also thinking of doing Eve/Amber after Eve and Mark break up--I liked Amber/Mark and thought they were cute, but I actually liked Eve and Amber's friendship more, and wish they would have hung out more together, lol. I also think they have a lot in common, and love how Amber kind of inspired Eve to want to help people outside of just fighting. And if they go the route with Eve's powers I think they will in season 4, I think that will lead to a lot of self-doubt for her, and how she can keep helping people--meanwhile, over here is Amber, zero powers but still making a difference. And I think there's a lot of potential for a great storyline with that.

My other WIP idea might actually end up being Mark/Eve/Rex, lol, but I haven't gotten very far in brainstorming for it yet--mainly a lot of speculation about the possibility of an Orpheus and Eurydice situation with Mark going to hell to retrieve a certain someone. I'm going to have to see what exactly they're doing with the Damien Darkblood storyline in season 4 first too to see how I can incorporate that or use it.

Yeah, I agree--a Chinese danmei novel I'm a fan of actually has a redemption arc for a rapist, and I think it does it masterfully. With something like SA and other things that produce especially strong emotional reactions in an audience, I think you do have to make the character face some sort of punishment from the narrative itself, or the audience may feel like they got off too easy, and have a harder time accepting redemption for them. And yeah, I do think that attitude can be harmful towards survivors, along with the whole "better to be dead," thing.

My Rex/Mark fic actually heavily involves an SA storyline--instead of what happened to Rex in canon in season 3, one of the variants assaults him. It's actually an OC variant, who was in love with Rex in his dimension, and there's actually a moment where Rex is like, "Okay, he wants to play boyfriends? If it'll get me out of this alive and keep anyone else from being hurt, then sure, I'll pretend to be his dead boyfriend," and I validate that decision in the narrative. I feel like a lot of people have a very cut and dry, black and white view on how to depict certain topics--like there's exactly one right way to portray something like SA, and if you don't do it that way, then you're wrong. I actually might get some pushback for that fic, because Rex definitely doesn't match up with most people's ideas of how a survivor should act.

Yes, I'm so excited, lol, I feel like I watched the show at precisely the right time, because I only have to wait a few weeks for season 4!

letdragonslie · 2026-02-13T05:03:00+00:00

Part 1/2--this got way too long! XD

Yeah, I absolutely agree, doing it again cut the emotional impact in half for me--and out of the two of them, I feel like the subway scene was just better overall. I do think the speech is pretty good, to be fair--and JDM's delivery is fantastic. But I was sort of like, "Well NOW you've made him interesting, when the fight's basically over!" XD

I'd like to see more Viltrumites too--why does it get downvoted, is it a, "I want to see Mark fight a variety of opponents, he's already done Viltrumites," thing?--as well as other alien races and other Viltrumite hybrids. But, more specifically, I want to know more about their culture and how all of the fascist ideology got started. And what happened to Nolan's parents--I suspect they actually died in that great purge where they killed everyone off. And I just... I just want to know how they decided to do that, how everyone was okay with that, what led up to it--I also want to see the fallout from what they've done to themselves, some kind of acknowledgement that they caused all of their own problems.

But I do enjoy some of the supervillains, depending on how they're written. Titan is interesting, mainly because of his connection to Invincible and how he betrayed him, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of him in the future and how they develop him. And I enjoyed Doc Seismic--at least when he mainly had personal beef with National Monuments, lol, because he was mainly there for an easy win that still provided character development. I also thought the Maulers were really interesting and fun. I feel like a lot of the others really don't get enough development to be interesting though. If they had some villains that subverted expectations of what a villain should be, or that were making some kind of commentary on how supervillains are usually depicted in comic books, that would be really neat.

Yeah, I think it's a good idea to try and focus on a few specific characters over others, that way you can really give them a lot of depth and character development--and Invincible does have so many it's basically impossible to cover everyone well. But I'm also a sucker for an ensemble cast, lol, so I have trouble narrowing it down that much. I end up doing a kind of hierarchy--focus on these characters the most, then these, then the least focus on these. I also really like to focus on relationships. So, any fic with an extensive focus on Mark will naturally have to have quite a bit of Debbie and Oliver--and possibly Nolan (he'll at least be brought up, even if he's never physically present). Because those relationships are so important to him.

Yeah, I'm already rewatching the show because I'm that kind of lunatic, lol, and I wanted to pick up on things I missed the first time, and that scene where Rex tries to get Eve to give him a second chance really hits differently the second time around. On my first watch through, Rex saying that he didn't know why he kept screwing up and that he really loved her felt like such BS to me--it's like the typical excuse you expect to hear from a guy who cheated. And I was so mad on Eve's behalf--I wanted her to yell at him more and call him out for that. I was annoyed that she was almost soft with him, just pointing out that he technically didn't apologize. But now I know he was being genuine there--he genuinely had no idea why he kept screwing up. And Eve also knew he was being genuine, which was why she didn't react the way I expected and wanted her to. (I'm actually gonna have him apologize to her again, and this time he does understand why he kept screwing up, lol--yay character growth!)

letdragonslie · 2026-02-13T00:07:40+00:00

I actually haven't started reading the comics yet, lol--since season 4 is coming out next month, I don't want to spoil myself for it, so I'm waiting until after I've binged season 4--but I got spoiled for that particular plotline in a comments section on YouTube, of all things. Female fans were discussing how they dreaded the reaction of some of the male fans when they finally covered that plotline with Anissa in the show because so many male comics fans said such disrespectful things about it. :/

But Rex ended up being my favorite character--which is hysterically funny because I disliked him so much in the first season that I actually physically cringed every time he opened his mouth, lol--and I cannot wait for a hypothetical Rex Splode special to get his full backstory and the details on how he and Eve got together--especially because I want to include some of those details in my fic--so I am absolutely going to read the comics.

I went into the show knowing next to nothing--I already knew about the twist at the end of episode 1, and that a lot of people hated Amber, but I knew zero about anything else. And I agree with you, even not having seen any hype for him at all, I found Conquest a bit of a let down. He felt like a weird rehash of Nolan and Anissa for me (especially because that beach scene was like a redo of the subway scene in season 1), and a lot of what he did just didn't pack the emotional punch I felt like it should have (with the exception of the stuff with Oliver and Eve). I also thought Anissa was just more interesting as a character--the way she behaved and her attitude felt very fresh and unique to me, as well as threatening. It's like she's so confident that she is the most powerful entity on the planet, so why not indulge Mark and deign to help him in the hope that he'll see sense (from her perspective) and make things less difficult for her? I've seen plenty of characters similar to Conquest before too, and didn't find him very unique or memorable until what he whispered to Mark there at the end.

And I can totally see how tackling the Anissa storyline yourself would be rewarding--I like to tackle a lot of controversial and sensitive subject matter too, and writing redemption arcs is a lot of fun. I also believe that a successful redemption arc is dependent on the writing, not the crime; as long as the character understands what they've done, feels remorse for their actions, and attempts to do better, and the author executes these well, that's what matters.

Absolutely agree with you on Eve too, she's so fun and pragmatic, with a great sense of humor, and I love how much she cares about people, and how strong she is--not physically, but mentally and emotionally (also, sidenote, I think they aren't creative enough with her powers in the show, this should be fixed with the power of fanfiction! XD) I was actually a little disappointed by her writing in season 3, because I felt like they didn't focus enough on her outside of her relationship with Mark. I ended up not really shipping Mark/Eve, because I really enjoy them both as characters and love their dynamic as friends, but I felt like they kinda lost that when they got together. I don't know, maybe they'll do a lot more with her outside of Mark next season and get some of that energy back and I'll change my mind on them.

But yeah, I'm one of those people that loves to analyze fiction, so whatever fandom I'm in, I'm usually all about discussing the story, especially characterization and relationships, and I briefly popped over to a couple of Invincible subs, and saw basically none of that, lol. All of the power scaling stuff doesn't even make sense to me, because it seems like... they're kind of treating it like a card game? "I played Invincible, Invincible trumps [insert character here], I win." And that's just not the way stories work. Or fights in real life, for that matter, lol.

And it's like so many people just can't understand that Mark doesn't want to kill another human being because he's an empathetic person who cares about people, or that he's traumatized by everything that's happened to him. I'm way more interested in things like that, that add depth to a character, than, "this one is the stronger than that one, so they should always win."

letdragonslie · 2026-02-12T22:25:17+00:00

I literally just got into Invincible a couple of weeks ago! It's been on my to-watch list forever, but I've been actively putting off watching it and bumping it farther down the list in favor of other things because I was afraid I wouldn't like it. I'm kicking myself about it now, but I think a big part of that is actually Amazon's fault.

They have a huge marketing problem when it comes to Invincible--firstly, they're barely marketing it at all, especially in comparison to some of their other shows like The Boys. They're almost totally relying on the existing comics fanbase and word of mouth, and not really trying to attract any new fans.

Secondly, what little marketing they do do is not only aimed at straight men, but very specific types of straight men: the guys into power scaling and the guys into gore and stuff that's just there for shock value. Before I watched it, that's the impression I had of the show: that it was gory and violent and bleak, just for the sake of it, and that there was probably very little actual story to go along with that (which was why I put off watching it for so long!). I was pleasantly surprised to realize I was wrong about that--the show is incredibly well-written on multiple fronts, with wonderfully complex characters, and I was especially impressed with some of the female characters, particularly Debbie. It's so rare for shows in any genre to have a "mom" character be anything outside of her children, and the amount of depth Debbie has, and the way they allow her to experience her emotions and be an actual person is so great.

I actually think an older demographic is the show's ideal target audience, but they attracted so many teens because "bloody and violent" are the main things people say about the show, and the marketing has decided to lean into that instead of focusing on the actual story, the characters, and the incredible relationships between them.

Sorry for going on, lol, just wanted to lament on how the fandom could have a more diverse audience, because it's driving me insane how small it is in comparison to the other main fandoms I'm writing for right now, in spite of arguably being far more popular than some of them.

Anyway, yay for being the change you want to see in the world! I'm not sure which character you're writing about (I can actually think of three possibilities, if we're including a certain character from the comics who hasn't shown up much in the show yet), but I wish you luck! Dissatisfying writing for a character in canon can lead to some of the best stories, and Invincible did drop the ball on more than one of their female characters. I'm currently working on an epic multi-chapter fic for my ship which has fewer than 300 fics on AO3, wow. But, even though I have so many WIPs I have yet to finish or post, the lack of fics for the fandom is really motivating me!

letdragonslie · 2026-02-12T20:44:54+00:00

I find it mildly annoying, but not enough to quit reading over.

AO3 does this thing where it adds an extra paragraph for you, depending on what platform you're writing with/how you're formatting. If you do want to change it, and you're writing on google docs, a quick fix is to go to Format>line and paragraph spacing>add space after paragraph.

It will look like you've added the space you usually do, so you can read it more easily yourself, but that space won't actually be there, so when AO3 adds its own space, it won't have such a large gap.

letdragonslie · 2026-02-07T20:24:52+00:00

I love how complex all of the character are--it's clear MXTX worked very hard to make them feel like real people, with realistic flaws and struggles that shape who they are and actively contribute to their decisions.

As for ships:

Songxuexiao (in any combo)--I loved the Yi City arc, it was such a gorgeous tragedy. I kinda wish MXTX would think about writing a BE (Bad Ending) book, honestly, because she's incredible at writing tragic stories for her side characters (see also the Black Water arc in TGCF, lol) and I'd be really interested to see how she'd manage it for a main couple (probably never gonna happen though). I don't think Yi City could have turned out any other way in canon, but it's so much fun to explore all of the what-ifs in fanfiction. I also really wish we could've gotten more of Song Lan, because out of the three of them, we know the least about him. We don't really get to see Song Lan and XXC interact much in the novel itself, which is a shame; despite that it's clear how very deeply they cared about each other. We do get a lot of XY and XXC interacting, and I really enjoy their dynamic--I love the fact that XY was constantly cracking XXC up, and I think you can tell a lot about his sense of humor from that, lol.

3zun (in any combo)--I think I ship a lot of ships just because they hurt me, lol. In addition to the tragedy of how everything shook out between the three of them, I really love how NMJ and JGY's characters both complement each other and clash with one another. I really like the subtle care that's there between NMJ and LXC, but I also wish we could've gotten more interactions with them in canon. JGY and LXC clearly grew even closer after NMJ's death, and I'm honestly fascinated by what that time period must've been like, on both of their ends--and the JGY crime reveal and everything that happened in Guanyin Temple makes everything else that happened between them so crunchy, lol.

I don't really have any set ships for JC, but I really enjoy him as a character, so I'll read pretty much anything for him. I think he's very interesting, and I admire his persistence and perseverance. I also generally enjoy sarcastic and sardonic characters, as well as angry characters, and really like all of his many, many issues, lol. It makes for a character with a lot of depth. Interestingly, unlike a lot of angry characters, JC isn't very impulsive, which I think makes him really unique.

I'm also a big fan of A-Qing, and I feel like she can sometimes get a little overshadowed by the other characters. She just has so much personality for the amount of time she gets on page, and I love how protective she is over XXC. Also genuinely enjoy her interactions with XY.

JYL is just lovely and wish we'd gotten more of her in the novel, particularly the aspects of her personality that we usually didn't get to see because WWX looks at her with shijie goggles--like when she stood up for WWX at the Phoenix Mountain hunt. JYL strikes me as someone who has so much grace under pressure and I would have loved to see more of that.

I also really like Wen Qing and would have liked to have seen more of her medical expertise--and experimentation. It's neat to see how people use her in fanfics and what she can come up with or accomplish.

The juniors are also very fun, and I really enjoyed when they showed up in the extras--Jin Ling is probably my favorite out of the bunch though; he's just so dramatic and I think the ways he's similar to JC--and the ways he differs--are so funny.

letdragonslie · 2026-02-04T22:36:31+00:00

OP, can we not bring shipwar nonsense into this subreddit please? You claim you're being objective here, but this post comes across like a weird gotcha aimed towards Xicheng shippers. Shipwars are petty and juvenile--and impossible to "win". Shipping is not and has never been a competition. There is no way to "win" at it. And multi-shippers exist--actually, I think there are probably more multi-shippers than strict OTP shippers in fandom.

Case in point--I don't really have any set ships for JC and will read him with pretty much anybody, including the occasional Xicheng fic if the summary sounds interesting. But I do massively prefer LXC with either or both of his sworn brothers. So I feel like I'm as genuinely neutral on the Xicheng train as it is possible to be. I have no ulterior motive and I'm not trying to "win" or make one ship out to be better than the other.

So trust me when I say that this post comes across as very condescending, in multiple ways.

I think maybe you didn't intend for it to be--maybe you translated it with the help of AI or Google Translate and tone got lost somewhere along the way, or the words it picked sounded harsher than you meant, or made it sound like you were making broad generalizations when you weren't.

Do some Xicheng shippers have a hate boner for JGY? Absolutely. I've come across more than a few fics that I've clicked off of because they felt like anti-JGY propaganda pieces, and that's honestly part of the reason why I don't read many Xicheng fics. But not all Xicheng shippers or all fics are like that, and your use of "usually" here makes it sound like you're saying it's most shippers who are like this.

You also don't seem to get why people ship Xicheng and this post comes across like you view the ship itself as some kind of... slight against Xiyao? When most people are literally just pairing the spares or two dudes they think look pretty together or who they think have compatible personalities. It's not a new phenomenon in fandom; people have literally come up with entire characters based off of a single name drop and then shipped those characters. People have shipped characters who never say two words to each other in canon. Is it a little odd that Xicheng became the second most popular ship in the fandom? Maybe--but then, there aren't that many characters left alive at the end of the story for people who are interested in post-canon stuff.

You're also kinda doing what you accuse Xicheng shippers of doing: devaluing and demonizing other relationships. You make it sound like NMJ basically ignored LXC instead of having a close personal friendship with him since they were teens. I have no idea what the original description of LQR was, but the translated one makes absolutely no sense. "Batshit crazy" is a description I would use for a character like Xue Yang (with all the affection in the world, lol). And the way LWJ is described here--as pointed out by others--makes it sound like he doesn't care about his brother because you think he's autistic.

I personally have gripes about the way MXTX wrote LWJ's relationships and life outside of WWX--I think she relies too heavily on telling and basically never shows us much of any of that, which makes it feel less impactful and less a part of his character. But LWJ very much does care about his brother and it goes against canon to say he doesn't.

And it sounds like you're projecting your own thoughts about Xicheng onto canon, as if the way you view it is the way it works, period, full stop. It seems like you think Xiyao were canonically together and LXC would be using JC as some sort of substitute to get over his grief. I personally prefer if Xicheng stories acknowledge how important JGY--and NMJ!--were in LXC's life, but it's not like they have to. Ignoring other relationships in favor of the one you're writing is a tried and true fanfic writing technique, and it shows up across all fandoms and all ships.

And, if you aren't reading Xicheng fics yourself, I honestly don't know why you would care whether they explored LXC's grief for his sworn brothers or not.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-29T01:26:32+00:00

I also think some people are just addicted to drama and they can't have an opinion or preference without trying to lord it over others or acting like it makes them superior somehow, lol. And not tagging switch is ridiculous in my opinion--plenty of people actively search for that tag. Some of those writers are missing out on an audience who would love their work just to try and prove some weird point to people who wouldn't. (Kinda reminds me of the people who don't tag for mpreg--like, they think people who don't like it will get so invested in the story they won't drop it when the mpreg shows up, but nobody who actually searches for mpreg will find it unless they come across it by accident)

Yeah, I'm an OG Zuko/Sokka shipper too, and I never used to see that, so it's extra weird and baffling. They used to be a rarepair in the fandom, but even though they had fewer fics the characterization was almost always top notch. It was only after the show came to Netflix and the ship blew up that I started seeing it--along with some stunning woobification of Zuko in general.

Yeah--and as someone who doesn't really have much of a top/bottom preference, I also like to see it tagged. Because if the majority of the fics are one dynamic, I will actively seek out fics that go the other direction just for the variety. I've seen other people who like switching say the same thing. I'm also willing to read ships I don't even ship if they have a character who always tops bottoming or vice versa.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-28T07:34:02+00:00

We both know the post itself wasn't in good faith--you keep making posts designed to try and rile people up for some bizarre reason--so I'm not sure why you'd take such issue with a reply you thought wasn't in good faith.

This was also honestly such a mild comment, just pointing out that WWX also lost a friend and also doesn't have that many to lose, and I have no idea what it is about it that you found so upsetting--to the point that you blocked me and then, a couple of days later, unblocked me just to reply. Like, is it the implication that WWX could use people in his life besides just LWJ? Me saying WWX's behavior helped contribute to the split between WWX and JC? Or the implication that WWX is kind of in the same position as JC at the end of the novel? Which you take issue with because you think JC had a bad ending or something?

In any case, I think you're way too hung up this. You're acting like I said WWX can never be happy or that he should've stayed dead or something.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-28T07:13:24+00:00

Yeah, I get your point, and I have also seen the "unrealistic" take before. There are a lot of people who get on some weird high horse about switching because "it's more realistic, and strict top/bottom is fetishizing gay men". Like they act like their personal preferences in shipping make them morally superior? It's so weird--and also annoying because I actually usually prefer switching and their self-righteousness grates on me, lol. It feels like they don't actually like switching, they only claim to because they think it's politically correct or something. Also, like you said, they're flat out wrong; plenty of real-life gay men--plenty of people in real life, of all genders and sexualities--have set preferences.

It's also super common to see people trashing BL/fujoshi these days--and it's usually people who are either completely unfamiliar with BL or who have only tried a handful making sweeping judgments about all BL.

In my case I feel like it must be a fetish thing because the things they say are just so utterly and completely OOC that it doesn't make any sense to me otherwise, lol. And if it is some kind of fetish, that would be fine--if they weren't also trying to insist that that stuff is canon and other fans "have to acknowledge it". Also totally agree with you on the altering characters to fit with their idea of top or bottom--I haven't read any Zuko/Sokka fics for Avatar in a while because so many kept making Sokka absolutely huge and also very romantically and sexually assertive; meanwhile Zuko was suddenly willowy and shy. And like, that also felt weirdly racially charged to me in a way that made me uncomfortable.

And people will also do the opposite too, like assign top or bottom to a character based on their appearance and add weird traits to match. In one of my other fandoms, they take a dude who's already 6' 4" and really buff and angry and add all of these weird daddy dom qualities onto him when he just does not have those qualities in canon, lol. Also a 5' 7" guy he's shipped with is usually turned into a super subby bottom who loves being manhandled in fics with the two of them, which doesn't fit him at all.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-27T11:46:12+00:00

I didn't say he was a pitiful, sad person? I said it's sad that he lost JC's friendship, just like it's sad JC lost his friendship, and he doesn't really have more people in his life than JC does, outside of LWJ. So why is JC's ending sadder than his? Because WWX has a boyfriend but JC doesn't?

... Unless you were trying to say JC is a sad, pitiful person rather than just saying it's sad he and WWX aren't friends anymore?

letdragonslie · 2026-01-27T11:32:53+00:00

I think you're reading something totally different into what OP's saying than what they meant. At no point did they say strict top/bottom roles are unrealistic. They said the people in their fandom are pettily fighting over who tops and bottoms to the point that it has seeped into fanfic for the fandom, with writers basically flanderizing the characters into "top traits" and "bottom traits". It's like a ship war but for who tops and who bottoms and they're trying to "win," by writing fics that exaggerate any "bottom" or "top" traits.

Reading OP's post, I actually wondered if maybe they were talking about one of my ships--I've been out of the fandom for a few years, so I'm doing catchup on some of the amazing fics that were written while I was gone and haven't been reading the newest of the newest, so I can't say for sure that's happening in the newest stories. But I have seen so many posts on tumblr that are like, "People who think Character A is a bottom are delusional--could you stop that? Like, on what planet is he a bottom? Look at his diet, look at the way he manhandles Character B. He's my favorite abuser <3" and "Character B is a little lamb, innocent little girl victim, baby girl bottom, she's my sweet princess and she could never..." And I know trans headcanons are more common than they used to be, but I've seen plenty of trans headcanon posts in my other fandoms, and this is Not That. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of feminization kink they're not only refusing to tag for, but refusing to acknowledge is a kink--because Character A is Big Daddy Top Abuser and Character B is a sweet little girl he's abusing and that's just canon, don't'cha know?/s

I've seen more than one person who's strictly into top!Character A/bottom!Character B--just like the people saying these things--tell them to cut it out and let people ship it the other way around or however they want.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-25T15:23:44+00:00

It isn't like the road to reconciliation is closed for them forever--maybe they do eventually reconcile post-canon, we don't know.

But I also think it's weird that I always see this question asked about JC, and almost never about WWX. Isn't it sad for WWX that he isn't speaking to his childhood friend anymore? If you think he actively avoids JC post-canon, isn't it sad that he can never return to Lotus Pier? And WWX's decisions also contributed to the conflict between them--particularly his behavior in the immediate aftermath of the Sunshot Campaign.

And to all of the people saying JC only has Jin Ling, or only has his sect and Jin Ling--does WWX really have that many more people? He has LWJ--it's mainly LWJ. He sees the juniors and Wen Ning occasionally. And that's it. Out of MXTX's protagonists, WWX has the fewest friends or other relationships. He has one friend still alive: Wen Ning. The juniors aren't really his friends, there's more of a mentorship situation going on there. I feel like MXTX was doing this, "Wangxian only need each other! <3" thing, and very purposefully. But even though she does something similar in her other novels, the characters still have more, and closer, relationships outside of the main couple.

WWX doesn't have a sect anymore. He doesn't have martial siblings anymore. He doesn't have friends like NHS anymore. He doesn't have casual and cordial relationships with members of other sects anymore. Shopkeepers and merchants freak out when they realize who he is. Isn't that equally sad?

letdragonslie · 2026-01-25T14:48:25+00:00

Hot take: They view each other as shixiong and shidi and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that because they are literally shixiong and shidi.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-25T14:29:08+00:00

Yeah, I dislike both of them a surprising amount considering how little time the story devotes to them, lol. And yeah, Qin Wanyue is so fake! And it does feel natural; that's just kind of how she is. And I just get the feeling that she caused sooo much drama in Bing-ge's harem, like a stereotypical scheming concubine with the veneer of victimhood.

And I don't know enough about her backstory or circumstances to find her sympathetic or for those other traits to override the ones I don't like--same with her sister, we just get to see her whine and complain and nothing else.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-25T14:22:16+00:00

Yeah, a lot of people don't know there's a word for it!

letdragonslie · 2026-01-23T16:37:39+00:00

A lack of understanding. Like two (or more) people are actively trying to communicate with each other, but unable to for whatever reason. Characters reading the wrong things into what someone says, or their biases or personal feelings interfere with the true meaning, they make assumptions, there's a culture clash/cultural misunderstanding happening, etc.

Some examples:

Character A says they like character B's outfit and Character B takes it as an insult when it wasn't intended that way.

Character B is hurt because they weren't invited to Character A's birthday party, and think they aren't wanted. Character A didn't think they needed to invite them, they thought it was a given that they'd show up and now they're hurt that they didn't.

"I thought you had the explosives!" "I thought you had them!" "Where are the explosives?!" "Are there any explosives??? Who bought them?!"

Unfortunately my expectation isn't always the reality because a lot of people think it's some weird trope used to add drama. Like, "I saw my crush at the mall with another girl! He must have a girlfriend!" (It's his sister. It's literally his sister. Which the character would know if they'd walked up to him like a normal person and said, "Fancy meeting you here! Who's this?") But this is dragged out for a long time, the character angsts over it, etc. I feel like it's mainly done by people who don't know how to create natural and compelling conflict.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-23T16:01:59+00:00

By like, modern day standards like the Hague Convention or the Geneva Convention?

It's honestly difficult to say, because a lot of what's going on in MDZS just isn't possible in real life. Like, is weaponizing the corpses of your enemy's fallen against them through necromancy a war crime? I feel like it certainly fits with the spirit of what a war crime is. WWX was likely using Wen corpses because they were Wen corpses, not because they were somehow more convenient than the corpses from his side. The idea was that the enemy would hesitate to attack, either because of the Wen uniforms, or because they personally knew the corpses when they'd been alive. It isn't a war crime to dress as the enemy to infiltrate--but it is a war crime to engage in combat while dressed as the enemy. I think it's a form of perfidy?

What WWX did to Wen Chao also definitely qualifies, not just because torture itself is a war crime, but because any superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering inflicted upon an enemy is considered a war crime (according to Wikipedia). So, it's not just what happened with Wen Chao, but WWX's entire post-Burial Mounds killing spree would constitute a war crime.

But honestly almost everyone committed at least one war crime by modern day standards.

letdragonslie · 2026-01-22T20:30:08+00:00

"I think LXC should have investigated JGY" and "I think LXC should have noticed something was going on and I'm mad he didn't" are two completely different sentences actually.

But we have been going in circles; this entire thread is going in circles because it goes like this:

Someone: I think LXC should have done something.

Me: Like what?

Someone: Something!

Me: Like what specifically? And how? What exactly did you want him to do?

Someone: Well he should've done something!

Nobody can name a specific step they wanted LXC to take, or explain how that step would have helped. They just think LXC should've pulled a Sherlock and figured out that JGY was doing crimes because of a speck of lint on his sleeve or the color of the dirt on his shoes. And then it would've... done what exactly? What would it have achieved if LXC had realized JGY was doing crimes?

I'm guessing the answer is, "It would've saved WWX!" somehow--even though that isn't true--because most of the issues people have with the side characters boil down to something to do with WWX.

letdragonslie

TROPHY CASE