• neko •

What I mean here is that, so often I see pairings enacting romance tropes to the point of heavily altering or downright replacing their original dynamic - as if the people behind it only understand romance as a series of checklists to tick off. Couples like to kiss and sleep in the same bed and flirt with each other, so it doesn't matter who the characters are, if they're a couple then naturally they'll do those things, right??

And that's where the whole thing starts to lose me, because I would assume that the appeal of shipping characters is, y'know... the characters? Rather than just, the idea of a couple? If I'm thinking about how it'd be cool for them to be in love, my first thought is always "so how would they show it," because just like everything else about a person, the answer is going to be different on a case-by-case basis.

Maybe the characters involved aren't really into kissing, but they like arranging date activities. Maybe they aren't committed to the structure of dating at all, and just want to be around each other whenever they can. And even if they are the types to like doing traditionally romantic things, that doesn't suddenly erase whatever else they had going on before they started adding that on top of it.

doesnt really talk, no focus, if you didnt know youd think it was a regular extra

I’m- just going to copy this in from the store page.

You've seen The Eternaut, you don't speak Spanish. Or worse, you do, but the specific dialect spoken in The Eternaut goes over your head.

The scene in the first episode where the four men play a card game (truco, it's a local thing, and a topic for another post. But to make it quick, think of poker) is filled with word games. There is this specific moment when they hear the storm, and two of them go off saying things that Netflix could never dream of effectively translating (and they didn't even try). So I'm going to try to unpack those, because I've seen the subtitles in English because the writing is pretty good, and unless you get the whole range of the word game, you may not get why they are cacking like madmen.

20+40=60

Harry was (understandably) crashing out every other chapter. Ron got protective over his friends and family sometimes, but Luna was the witch equivalent of a flat earther holding a gun to your head until you admitted lizards run the government.

Sibling Rivalry

Everyone continued to stare in stunned silence, so after a bit, Spidey awkwardly continued. “I didn’t choose for my hero half to be the guy part, but people immediately assumed I was a guy and it was…freeing. Trying to present myself as a guy in my civilian life always felt like people weren’t actually seeing me as genderfluid, it was like they just saw me as a girl most times, and then a girl dressing like a guy other times.” His tone was dejected before it started brightening up. “But as Spider-Man, no one knew me as a girl first, so I could just be Spider-Man. And that’s how it went, I was a girl in civilian life and a guy in my hero life.”

He turned his gaze to Johnny, apologetic from what everyone could tell by his mask lenses. “It’s not that I wanted to hold everyone at arm’s length, but among a whole bunch of other reasons why, I was worried that if my identity got out, then no one would ever see me as a guy. You’d all just see me as girl playing dress up.”

Before anyone could reassure him, Johnny spoke up. “Wait, so you were born as a girl? But- but, you’re wearing spandex? How does that work?”

For this explicitly^, he started off superheroing pretty young with a more baggy homemade costume so everyone decided no curves=guy, and he was like “that fucks actually, yeah, call me Spiderman”, and then got an image inducer or made his own later

and sometimes they come back when you least expect it, years later, even, and there's this sudden rush of relief like there you are, there you are, even though you barely knew each other.

there's a strange kind of love to it. i don't know you and i want to hold your hand across miles and time zones and oceans. i can still see the imprint of you in this community you left. you don't anyone will notice or care when you're gone, but we notice and we care and we wish you well.