my tumblr is older than my cohort's children

The way she kinda presented it as the official new flag even though she didn't mean that to be the old flag wasn't still to be used really rubbed people the wrong way. People found this extra egregious because making the ace flag was a huge community effort made through AVEN and lots of voting all the way back in 2010, picking the asexual flag was a HUGE community thing. So seeing it get dismissed as outdated and framing its lack of changes since as a bad thing was very much a BAD WAY to express the desire for a new flag.

Especially since it seemed to not take into account any of the history and feel very focused on new aces. Along with the language again failing to sound at all like she wasn't just trying to completely change the flag for personal taste and distance the community from the one we've been using with basically no complaints for nearly two decades

From what I can find a big reason she decided on making a new ace flag was based on not agreeing? on the flag stripe meanings? Which to be honest I don't think I've met anyone who overly cares about the flag stripe meaning, I seriously doubt most people could name what each stripe of the gay flag means let alone when we get more complicated then bisexual.

Specifically with the white stripe which stands for allies, which she thought was weird to have in such a big role and be centralized in anyway. Which, having seen the shit aphobes have put our allies through and the specific dynamics that can go into asexual relationships even with straight partners, I disagree extremely heavily with this. However I also understand why a lot of people would want to change it.

So instead of just... changing the meaning, which we could totally just do without changing a single other thing because lets be so real how many aces actually knew the meanings, she made a whole new flag and presented it as just objectively superior even if she may not have meant for it. Especially since so many people didn't even know there was any sort of polling or anything about this topic. I sure didn't.

This all sparked a lot of outrage, with one big point against it being that Love is something actually very hot button controversial in the ace community. Having it so highlighted in the flag despite the efforts of those of the loveless identity to fight that derogatory "well just because we're ace doesn't mean we don't loooove" standpoint. See op above.

So people got real mad, and because Grace is black, means some people were ~really racist~ about that anger at least so I've heard since a lot of this happened on instagram and you can't make me use instagram for longer then like ten minutes if forced but I fully am willing to just believe because it feels obvious it would. Which also sparked a conversation on race in the community which some people definitely took too far in the opposite direction to say all critique of the flag was done out of racism so now everyone's agitated and annoyed!

Again, I do want to reiterate that Grace did not deserve all the racism and hate, just because a black woman did something perhaps not as well as possible or worded things badly or just made a mistake or however you read it doesn't mean she deserves to get strapped into a pyre. At worst we are two people in the same community with a disagreement over the flag and its purpose. That's it. Our community should be held accountable for the racism and we should examine our biases as a group. Though the turning the whole thing into a race thing of "only racists dont like it" to shut down all negative discussion even aimed to be constructive is kinda stupid ngl.

At the end of the day there's nothing inherently wrong with just having more flags even if it was framed poorly. I personally think its ugly and dislike how it was presented. The framing of it like its some software update or logo rebranding gives me major ick so I likely won't ever associate with it any time soon. However, if other people like it then sure, whatever, their choice, not my business.

But yeah, that's been the ace discourse for the last like month or two, I really think a lot of this could have been avoided if she just... framed it less like she was making the true successor to the ace flag everyone should use (which she very much did even if she didn't think so due to a lot of her language sounding kinda corporate talking about logo change with statements like "Whether this change to the flag will be implemented or not") and instead leaned more into it being something to go along with the ace flag as like, a bonus. Race 100% did play a role in the backlash, i dont want to understate that, but it definitely was pretty poorly presented from the start.

Honestly the whole thing is just kinda stupid and I cannot imagine it catching on but hey thats what I said about the sunset lesbian flag debacle and look at the world now so who knows, not me.

Supercarrier: fandom flagship.  Everybody and their dog ships it.  The fandom is glutted with artwork and fic.  You cannot escape this ship.

Dreadnought: massively popular.  Nearly everybody ships it.  You can, with dedication, in theory, reach the end of the AO3 archive for the ship’s tag, but it’ll take a long time.

Cruiser: pretty popular ship.  Not everyone ships it, but everyone knows about it.  Has a good amount of fic/art, and probably multiple ask blogs.

Frigate: just plain popular.  Feels like it could use more fanworks.  New people to the fandom might not know about it, but they’ll stumble across it sooner rather than later.

Gunboat: bit of a rarepair.  It might have an ask blog or two.  A couple big name fans ship it.  Probably only takes a few weeks to get through the entire AO3 backlog, and one new fic gets added during that time.

Tugboat: rarepair.  Almost never seen except as a side pairing to a more popular ship.  You can usually get through everything on AO3 in a matter of days.  You’ve forgotten what it is to be picky about what you read.

Rowboat: less than a dozen people ship it.  You all know each other.  You exist in an endless cycle of the same five people desperately producing art and fic and one person who constantly contributes headcanons.

Raft: There’s two-to-four people who Ship It Hard and a few others who grab onto the side for safety when there’s drama on their usual flagship.

Barrel: There’s orphaned fic of it. There’s unsigned art of it. There’s headcanon asks on anon. Someone must ship it, but no one knows why or who they are. Your friend got a glimpse once before they ducked back down.

Here is a free pdf of xanathars guide to everything

Here is a free pdf to monsters manual

Here is a free pdf to tashas cauldron of everything

Here is a free pdf to dungeon master’s guide

Here is a free pdf to volo’s guide to monsters

Here is a free pdf of mordenkainen’s tomb of foes

The reason the fandom is reacting this way is because Neil Gaiman changed the genre of Good Omens from adventure fantasy comedy to romance fantasy comedy, and then he broke the cardinal rule of writing romance comedy: There must be a happy ending with no tragedy.

The story stops when the couple feels the most optimistic and hopeful for their future. A tragic ending does not belong in rom-com. It does not belong because going through this emotional journey with the couple only to have it end in painful disaster makes readers angry.

Good Omens S1 introduced overtly romantic elements with scenes that did not exist in the book:

Crowley flirting with Aziraphale as they watched the animals board Noah's ark.

Aziraphale flirting with Crowley in Rome.

Saving Aziraphale's reputation and his books in the church.

"You go too fast for me, Crowley."

"We could run away together."

"I don't even like you / Yes you do."

"Your boyfriend in the dark glasses"

There are tongue-in-cheek implications of romance in the book, but it is never explicitly stated or given space on the page to explore because how Crowley and Aziraphale feel about each other is not the point of this story. The humans are. We spend far more time following the humans and their thoughts and struggles because this story is not about Heaven and Hell, it's about humanity fighting for its right to exist.

To explore Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship in the original text would have made them too important. They were not supposed to kiss, there was not supposed to be a love confession, they were supposed to run around like incompetent headless chickens and make us laugh.

This is why fanfic exists. We pick up on the context clues in the text and we write our own stories to flesh out the things we wish had more time in the canon, even when we understand why it wasn't included.

But Gaiman gave the angel and the demon a whole bunch of extra scenes in the TV series, made their interactions overtly romantic in nature, and it disturbed the balance of the story. Good Omens became about them and their 6,000 year slow-burn enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story arc. Adam and Anathema and Shadwell became moving pieces buzzing around Crowley and Aziraphale.

The building up of Ineffable Husbands diminished the importance of everybody else until they ultimately got sidelined in favor of an outright love story in S2.

It's like the significance of everything the humans did was undone by Ineffable Husbands. This is no longer a story about humanity claiming its sovereignty and choosing their own fate in spite of plans made by Heaven or Hell. It became a story of how the unlikely love between an angel and a demon is the only thing that could possibly save the universe.

No. No, no, no. That was never the story. Could never be the story. Good Omens was never supposed to be a romance with Crowley and Aziraphale at its center.

Imagine When Harry Met Sally but Sally gets hit by a car after their love confession. Imagine The Princess Bride but Prince Humperdink wins. Imagine A Midsummer Night's Dream ending in shambles. That is the level of narrative betrayal happening in this script. That is why people are angry. It's not about a kiss. It's about giving us two seasons of a rom-com and then slipping us a tragedy at the end and calling everyone ungrateful when we rightfully complain because this was always meant to be how it ended.

Which only reveals that Gaiman was planning to betray his audience from the start, because he does not write happy endings.

ANTHONY CROWLEY.

Crowley doesn’t sigh. He never needed to, but now, at the literal end of the universe, where nothing is anything more than a collection of rapidly-dissolving atoms, it seems even less necessary than previously. “Hi.”

IT IS TIME TO MOVE ON.

The vacuum of a dying universe pulls at the last molecules of his being. “Something to move on to then, is there?”

OH, YES. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING ELSE. 

“And Aziraphale’s there, yes?”

... YES.

There is hesitation there. Crowley doesn’t like that. “What’s that about?”

IT’S JUST ... HE SAID YOU MIGHT NOT BE VERY HAPPY WITH THE MANNER IN WHICH YOU WOULD ARRIVE THERE.

“Oh?” And then, in spite of the fact that the universe is crumbling into a super-dense ball of nothing (which will at some point explode again into all new shapes and stars and sizes, as universes are wont to do), and in spite of the fact that Crowley no longer technically has eyes to see with, he beholds Death, looking the part, and sitting on a pale horse.

The skeletal vision gingerly pats the horse’s rump just behind the saddle. HOP ON.

Please excuse the text and let me be cringe, that ending fucked me up so bad I’ll be recovering longer than from OFMD Izzy’s death

Plus a little extra:

Apologies for the late @buckybarnesbingo masterpost—I actually have a concussion and so am supposed to be avoiding screens but this was already half drafted so I put on my special glasses and cracked open my laptop that has a filter on it and am sending prayers to up above that this doesn't set back my recovery too much.

Many thanks to everyone in the Bucky Barnes Bingo server—I truly never could have managed this without y'all, especially considering some of these fills were only completed because of our round robins! Additional big thanks to everyone who takes the time to read these—I adore writing and I'm so glad to see others enjoying my stories too. 😊

Many thanks also to @tinysugacube for her grammatical prowess, as well as to Marvin for his official seal of approval as they helped sculpt and shape almost all of the fics I posted for this event. Any mistakes are wholly my own.

You can find all of these fics collected under my Rev's Bucky Barnes Bingo 2025 Fills series on AO3, but I've also described them briefly below.

💚 = Rated G

💛 = Rated T

❤️ = Rated E

Does the devil get scared? 💚

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): B1: Being Vulnerable Summary: Clint has a habit of late-night philosophy. Bucky is a good listener.

The Fall and the Shot (A Winterhawk Sestina) 💚

Bucky/Clint. 242 Words. Square(s): K1: Getting Together, Y3: Writing format: Non-Prose (formerly Ghosts) Summary: A sestina exploring Clint Barton and Bucky Barnes, through the repeating words of shot, line, ground, winter, word, and fall.

Live(stock), Laugh, Love  💚

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): B2: Clint Barton, U3: Domestic Fluff Summary: Bucky loves the life he’s built with Clint. Even when that means there’s goats in his living room.

i like you best (when your head's between my legs) ❤️

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): B5: Face Fucking, Y2: Kink: Untouched Orgasm Summary: Bucky has a thing for getting his face fucked.

who needs to go to sleep (when i've got you next to me?) ❤️

Bucky/Clint. 1,744 Words. Square(s): U1: Loki (formerly "Look at me"), C3: Shower Sex Summary: Plot Not Found. Enjoy a sex marathon between Bucky and Clint instead.

friday i'm in love 💛

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): K2: Sam Wilson Summary: Sam has a confession to make. The Thunderbolts New Avengerz are unsurprised.

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Trans-Dimensional Wedding Invitation, Men After Midnight Are Overrated) 💚

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): U5: Transported to an alternate universe Summary: Proving that they can’t go five minutes without supervision, Kate is interrupted from pet sitting right after she started via Clint and Bucky returning with new hair cuts, new wedding rings, and no good excuses for why Kate’s invite got lost in the time vortex.

in vobis veritas (in you there is truth) 💛

Bucky/Clint. 343 Words. Square(s): Y4: Canon Divergence Summary: A love letter from Bucky to Clint in the form of a sestina.

Day 4 i could build a castle (out of all the bricks they threw at me) 💚

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): C3: Free Space Summary: Bucky and Clint have each other, and that’s enough.

that would be enough (the fact that you're alive is a miracle) 💛

Bucky/Clint. 870 Words. Square(s): B4: Nightmares Summary:“There are some things we might never heal from—hell, I know there are things I can never forgive myself for, and I know that similarly there are things in your past that you may never come to terms with. No confession could absolve us of all our sins, but speaking aloud that which haunts us nevertheless eases our burdens. You’re the one who taught me that.” After a nightmare, the simple routine of an early morning walk reminds Clint and Bucky that they are each other’s anchor. 

lay my curses out to rest (make a mercy out of me) 💚

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): U2: Tony Stark, C4: Darcy Lewis Summary: Clint gets cursed... not that he notices.

nothing's gonna stop me (coming home to you) 💚

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): K4: Kid Fic Summary: Clint promises to come home, and he always keeps his promises

training season's over (it's all been done) 💚

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): C1: Third Date Summary: Steve and Tony are trying to set Clint and Bucky up on a date. But little do they know…

hey loverboy (what’re you doin tonight?) 💛

Bucky/Clint/Natasha, Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): Y5: Undercover in a gay bar Summary: Clint and Bucky prepare for a night on the town their latest mission.

the sound of sunshine (you are my truest feeling yet) 💚

Bucky/Clint. 100 Words. Square(s): C5: Cuddling Summary: Bucky and Clint enjoy a quiet morning together.

hate how much i love you (can't stand how much i need you) 💚

Bucky/Clint/Natasha. 100 Words. Square(s): K3: "Get Out" Summary: Natasha should probably be more surprised when her fugitive boyfriends show up with a hare-brained scheme to exonerate themselves. Unfortunately for her, she loves them. Disgusting.

when you like piña coladas (and getting caught in the rain) 💚

Bucky/Clint/Natasha. 100 Words. Square(s): B3: Fake Dating Summary: Clint needs a fake date. But is it fake after all?

‘til forever falls apart (i had the best time falling into love) 💛

Bucky/Clint/Natasha. 7,670 Words. (For now. This is a WIP!) Square(s): Y1: Thanos, September Adoptable: Arranged Marriage Summary: It wasn't that Bucky didn't like magic. He liked magic just fine. It was a natural part of the universe, the same as water or fire. But at the same time, magic sucked sometimes. Like when your house flooded or got set on fire, or your fairy guardian’s bestie needed someone who was immune to truth spells to marry his charge before his 21st birthday so that the kingdom wouldn't fall into the hands of a madman, and wouldn't you know that immunity to truth spells was the protection Bucky had been gifted with as a baby. AKA a WinterWidowHawk arranged marriage AU.

The Search is Over - A Bucky Barnes Bingo Round Robin - (November 2025) 💛

Bucky/Steve. 2,601 Words (Total), 327 (My Portion) Square(s): K5: Seeing red Summary: When Scott Lang had invited a handful of Avengers all out to Northern California, it was supposed to be for a holiday, not for a… whatever this disaster was officially classified as. Bucky refused to call it an undercover mission. Undercover implied a cohesive story. Undercover implied objectives and goals or just plain reasons for the subterfuge. Undercover implied not panic inventing a fake wedding.

show me what this life is for (i won’t run away this time) 💚

Bucky/Sam & Loki/Mobius. 8,670 Words. Square(s): U:4 Time Travel Summary: Loki got bored. Sylvie was in a betting mood. Mobius was feeling romantic. Chaos ensues. OR Trapped in a 72-hour time loop of Hydra’s takedown, Sam and Bucky get stuck on repeat. Each reset of their strange, shared purgatory brings them closer, and gives them a chance to prevent disaster, to learn, to heal, and maybe even to fall in love.

Stranded On the Ifs and Maybes: A Bucky Barnes Bingo Round Robin (January 2026) 💚

Bucky/Clint. 2,090 Words (Total), 358 (My Portion) Square(s): January Adoptable: Blanket Fort Summary: After crash-landing in the Rockies, Bucky and Clint find themselves huddling for warmth together in a cave. A light-hearted mention of blanket forts and a furnace failure some time later bring these two back together - to discover that maybe they both want to cuddle even if it isn't a life or death situation.

who knows what the future holds? (i wanna see you with laughter lines) 💛

Bucky/Clint. 1,313 Words. Square(s): February Adoptable: Nose Kiss Summary: When what should have been a routine reconnaissance mission goes awry, Bucky and Clint find themselves lost in another world, another time with only a mysterious woman called “The Doctor” as their guide through the multiverse.

Running On Empty - A Bucky Barnes Bingo Round Robin - (April 2026) 💚

Gen. 1,333 Words (Total), 280 (My Portion) Square(s): March Adoptable: T'Challa Summary: Bucky goes on a road trip and encounters a familiar face - who is not as familiar as he thought.

RT posted that nativity setup the other day, and I really wanted to draw them (having lost Mary and needing to fool Gabriel)