FE – going to have to do Pokémon separately when I get the time.
Character I first fell in love with:
Going to have to go with FE7 here as my first game in the series, so Kent for being a duty-bound knightly type with one of those ambiguously close male friendships. Not too bad to look at either, if a little bland (though of course I was 14 in 2003, so take that as you will).
Character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Camilla. She’s very clearly not designed to appeal to a man of my inclinations…except that she kind of is? I’ve already pointed out once before that she’s exactly the kind of exaggerated hyper-feminine diva figure that makes for popular drag act material, and on a more personal level she’s got quite the nuanced characterization under that giant bust. Being almost Seth-tier in Conquest doesn’t hurt either.
Character everyone loves but I don’t:
Ike. I do like the paired endings, but that’s practically the only part of his character that doesn’t get on my nerves…and then the endless fandom wank over his sexuality partially ruins even that. If he’d had a canon wife like Marth or a female harem like Roy he’d easily be in my bottom three for lords.
Character I love but everyone else hates:
Camilla would count here too, but for someone different – Peri doesn’t bother me quite as much as she does most people. I can’t really explain why; maybe it’s just that she’s so ridiculous that I can’t take her homicidal psychosis as seriously as I really should.
Character I used to love but don’t any longer:
Seth. Hot piece of ass and hot on the marriage market he may be, but the fandom has a tendency to sand down his rougher, more interesting edges. He also has a distressing lack of homoerotic subtext going for him.
Character I would kiss:
Just one? And kiss *where*? Xander is the perfect blend of sexy, dumb, rich, and powerful, so he’s still my #1.
Character I want to slap:
Conrad, for narrative justice that would segue seamlessly into kink because he seems like the kind of guy who’d be into the fun stuff.
A pairing I love:
Ike/Ranulf, in spite of the above. What can I say, Ranulf makes everything more fun. Also I like the catboy angle.
A pairing I hate:
Hector/Lyn is similar to Ron/Hermione from HP in that I really don’t care for the abusive undertones excused away as romantic bickering, though admittedly FE7 pulls off the dynamic better. For a really bad Hector pairing I have to go with him and Florina, since it flies in the face of her androphobia for apparently no reason beyond comedy and doesn’t lead organically to a romantic relationship at all.
Random thought of the day: Micaiah’s narrative is actually a great deal like the narratives told about General Lee–the champion of the homeland who doesn’t support the cultural causes around which the homeland has rallied for the war. I wonder if fandomers hailing from the American South tend to view Micaiah in Part 3 more favorably?
Honestly it’s funny how American Tellius ends up feeling, even though I doubt it was ever intended that way. You’ve got Ike–the embodiment of American working-class masculinity–for a protagonist, you’ve got a continent grapping with racism in the aftermath of slavery, you’ve got General Lee in the sequel…
And meanwhile you’ve still got firmly Japanese beliefs about blood ties and monarchies, Japanese coding in the divinity of India-esque Goldoa, Japanese yaoi tropes, and even Japanese units of timekeeping lel
It wouldn’t be in my case, as I have nothing but contempt for the Anglo idiot who allowed the Confederacy’s only real city and only hope of receiving assistance from France or Spain to be captured barely a year into the war. Even during the lengthy debate over Confederate monuments in New Orleans that ultimately resulted in their removal this past spring Lee’s statue – the largest of the four in question, placed atop a massive column at the center of a circle in the American Section that had been renamed in his honor – was not the biggest focus of arguments against their removal; rather, it was the one of Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard at the north end of the Avenue Esplanade, as he was a Frenchman and native New Orleanian with a statue on the Creole and more tourist-heavy side of the city. Even among the numerous non-French protesting the monuments’ removal Beauregard plays right into the states’ rights and individual state identity rhetoric at the heart of attempts to label the Civil War as about anything other than slavery, whereas Lee is barely relevant at all.
I digress however, as Daein has nothing like Louisiana (especially antebellum Louisiana) to muddle its own nationalism. Even if it didn’t though the American history parallels work better in a time before Micaiah takes up the villain role, with FE9 as the better comparison to the Civil War itself and Part 1 of FE10 as Reconstruction…if racism were completely irrelevant in the latter somehow which obviously wasn’t the case historically. By Part 3 the analogy is rather flimsy, because now there’s a Blood Pact and Crimea and Begnion – who acted in combination as the Union analogue back in Path of Radiance – fighting each other and the Daeins either are being forced to fight or are fighting for reasons they don’t understand. Maybe the Micaiah-as-Lee parallel works if you restructure the analogy with the Begnion Senate as the Confederate slave-owning elite (minus the Creoles for the aforementioned reasons), Daein as the poor whites and loyal blacks (free or otherwise) manipulated into upholding a system from which they could never hope to benefit, and Micaiah and the other main characters trapped between them. That still feels like a stretch to me though.
And anyway, another pillar of Lost Cause rhetoric is that the Confederacy had more skilled and experienced leaders, and from both a gameplay and story perspective that absolutely does not describe Micaiah or the Dawn Brigade.
Oh, I don’t mean that Tellius is a wholesale allegory. Just that the choices Micaiah is known for making (choosing her homeland over any number of principles, even though racism affects her personally) struck me as most similar to Lee out of all the famous historical figures I know.
I didn’t send this post to you because I figured you’d say something to the effect of “pah who cares about the Anglos” :p but the specifics into New Orleans’s role is quite interesting. (In Lee’s defense, he was busy defending the Confederate capital, and the Confederacy apparently didn’t have a few more of him to defend the West.)
Daein is in an odd position with its racism. It was historically part of a slave-owning state but has no slaves itself, probably out of poverty what with being in the frozen wastelands, and in the present day decides to execute fugitive slaves rather than put them to work. I actually wonder if the latter is done under pressure from Begnion… after all, recognizing the existence of fugitive slaves means recognizing ongoing slavery in Begnion. Perhaps Daein was cleaning up after Begnion long before Pelleas and the Blood Pact.
From someone who’s family is of the poor southern white variety, I can say that Daein’s position with racism makes perfect sense. (This also happens to be a significant focus of my university studies.)
To put it simply, it benefits the rich to keep the poor separated into groups. The rich cannot afford the significantly more numerous poor to rise up, so they give them a reason to stay separate, and introduce hierarchies with tangible differences. The lowest is the slave, and just above that are the poor with hardly a thing to their names. This is where Daein’s execution of slaves, and it’s wealth relative to Begnion comes in. In this system it becomes crucial to enforce the idea, that at least we don’t have it as bad as that guy. The poor become the most vicious racists to ensure their position is not the lowest, even though they have no hope of benefitting from the system. It’s socialized and enforced over generations, and becomes deeply entrenched in the culture.
Perhaps Daein doesn’t put them to work because, as we see with Sanaki and the senate, it is becoming politically unsound to have slaves. Because racism is deeply ingrained into the culture of Daien they’d rather execute the slaves than admit any level of equality.
I recommend the books Traces of History: Elementary Structures of Race by Patrick Wolfe and How Race is Made in America: Immigration, Citizenship, & the Historical Power of Racial Scripts by Natalia Molina (in that order) for a much more in-depth explanation if the subject is of interest to you.
We’re told (albeit not well shown) that the marked ones/Branded/Parentless are shat upon by both sides because miscegenation is the worst thing evar, but Ashnard seems to take a gens de couleur view of “well there’s enough beorc in there, sure why not.”
Ashnard doesn’t really seem to genuinely hold racist views so much as he has a single-minded obsession with strength and obtaining more power for himself. He doesn’t take an ideological stance on drugging and enslaving Rajaion any more than he has any qualms trying to make a superhuman Branded baby with a dragon princess. His extreme social darwinism reads like populism to the people of Daein (and invites parallels to Ike’s disdain for hereditary social and military structures as well as to how the laguz choose their leaders) but it’s obvious that he doesn’t care about his country at all from how quick he is to leave Nevassa behind and set up his court in Crimea. I don’t think you can apply real-world parallels to Ashnard unless we’re talking about power-obsessed demagogues riding a wave of populist support, like Louisiana’s most infamous governor Huey Long or certain…more recent developments in American national politics. Ashnard seems equally contemptuous of beorc, laguz, and Branded. unless they can empower him in some way.
Incidentally, is it ever established that Ashnard knows that Petrine and Zelgius are Branded, or even that he knows who the Black Knight is? I just remember one scene where he chides the BK for being so enigmatic, so I can easily believe that he never gets the whole story about what’s going on with Sephiran and the guy with the goddess-blessed armor. As for Petrine, her Brand may be visible in her official art, but I get the impression that it’s not actually supposed to be that apparent or else everyone would know and react to it. Even in the conversation with Soren that reveals that she’s a Branded it’s Petrine who acknowledges the similarity between them by Soren’s much more obvious Brand.
Random thought of the day: Micaiah’s narrative is actually a great deal like the narratives told about General Lee–the champion of the homeland who doesn’t support the cultural causes around which the homeland has rallied for the war. I wonder if fandomers hailing from the American South tend to view Micaiah in Part 3 more favorably?
Honestly it’s funny how American Tellius ends up feeling, even though I doubt it was ever intended that way. You’ve got Ike–the embodiment of American working-class masculinity–for a protagonist, you’ve got a continent grapping with racism in the aftermath of slavery, you’ve got General Lee in the sequel…
And meanwhile you’ve still got firmly Japanese beliefs about blood ties and monarchies, Japanese coding in the divinity of India-esque Goldoa, Japanese yaoi tropes, and even Japanese units of timekeeping lel
It wouldn’t be in my case, as I have nothing but contempt for the Anglo idiot who allowed the Confederacy’s only real city and only hope of receiving assistance from France or Spain to be captured barely a year into the war. Even during the lengthy debate over Confederate monuments in New Orleans that ultimately resulted in their removal this past spring Lee’s statue – the largest of the four in question, placed atop a massive column at the center of a circle in the American Section that had been renamed in his honor – was not the biggest focus of arguments against their removal; rather, it was the one of Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard at the north end of the Avenue Esplanade, as he was a Frenchman and native New Orleanian with a statue on the Creole and more tourist-heavy side of the city. Even among the numerous non-French protesting the monuments’ removal Beauregard plays right into the states’ rights and individual state identity rhetoric at the heart of attempts to label the Civil War as about anything other than slavery, whereas Lee is barely relevant at all.
I digress however, as Daein has nothing like Louisiana (especially antebellum Louisiana) to muddle its own nationalism. Even if it didn’t though the American history parallels work better in a time before Micaiah takes up the villain role, with FE9 as the better comparison to the Civil War itself and Part 1 of FE10 as Reconstruction…if racism were completely irrelevant in the latter somehow which obviously wasn’t the case historically. By Part 3 the analogy is rather flimsy, because now there’s a Blood Pact and Crimea and Begnion – who acted in combination as the Union analogue back in Path of Radiance – fighting each other and the Daeins either are being forced to fight or are fighting for reasons they don’t understand. Maybe the Micaiah-as-Lee parallel works if you restructure the analogy with the Begnion Senate as the Confederate slave-owning elite (minus the Creoles for the aforementioned reasons), Daein as the poor whites and loyal blacks (free or otherwise) manipulated into upholding a system from which they could never hope to benefit, and Micaiah and the other main characters trapped between them. That still feels like a stretch to me though.
And anyway, another pillar of Lost Cause rhetoric is that the Confederacy had more skilled and experienced leaders, and from both a gameplay and story perspective that absolutely does not describe Micaiah or the Dawn Brigade.
While I usually think of Tibarn/Reyson when it comes to Raven/Lucius’s (and Perceval/Elffin’s) influences on Tellius – understated gay pairing of supporting characters, with one being blond and extremely androgynous to the point of being their own archetype – but you’re right that the dynamic also appears in Ike/Soren. They’re even cribbing off the Lachesis archetype like Raven and co. do, with Boyd as a partial Ike clone Mist can latch onto since her actual brother isn’t into girls. On a whole Tellius is pretty free about playing around with archetypes and character arrangments.
agoddamn said
I’m eternally heartbroken you did Fates before you got going on the long-form version of these judgements, because these narratives are so engrossing (and hilarious, even though I don’t know enough Jugdral to properly appreciate them)
With enough motivation I may revisit the other settings one day. There’s certainly much more silly and weird characterization quirks to pull from in Awakening and Fates (and 7-10 to a lesser extent) than there is in Jugdral.
And here we have FE4′s second generation, that fount of fresh-faced eugenics babies and aspiring daddies who’ve been around the block a few times…whether that means saving and/or screwing up the world or screwing each other, either works. Additionally, after consulting a noted local Jugdral expert I’ve decided to include the substitute units as well. I was a little on the fence as I’ve never actually used them myself and the joke about them being sub boys works exactly once, but it seems like they’d be worth eyeing up in my usual fashion.
You’ve heard of him long before you ever clicked on his profile; indeed, it’s downright appalling that he’s so open about who he is when he’s related to someone as famous as he is. Less of a wide-eyed innocent than he might seem at first glance, because it turns out he’s freshly out and feeling free and righteously vindicated in his brazenness. Likes long romantic dates and not getting down to business in anything resembling a reasonable timeframe, but at least unlike some others who prefer to dawdle he will get there eventually. Commanding but not aggressive in sex, he knows what he wants and will set about getting it in the most mutually pleasurable way possible. As such he gives fantastic head, and he’s an accomplished vers who actually does live up to that description. He’ll be just as bold in dating as he is with everything else in his life at the moment, and even though he’s bound to slow down at some point he won’t lose any of his passion. Has a deeply-buried curiosity about incest kink that only a devoted lover (or enough alcohol) will be able to bring out of him.
Athletic – but not headless – profile with a professed hatred of drama. Life may not have dealt him the best hand and he’s fully aware that there are hotter and *ahem* better-endowed guys out there, but he’s confident that he can find something real given enough persistence and gradually lowered standards. He’s got a flair of the exotic himself but finds quiet nights in, stable finances, and occasional vanilla sex to be the most attractive traits of a prospective relationship, and he’s hoping that it will all balance out at some point. Foreplay is on the rough side but he’s got the skill to make up for it and deliver a solid pounding or an only slightly less solid power bottom fuck. The most scandalous thing he’s ever done is trade handjobs with cousins, and that barely counts anyway. He might have a cuck fetish, but it’s one he’ll only venture to explore several years into a relationship.
An old-fashioned circle-jerk loving bro type, if everyone willingly ignores his requests for hung tops DTF bareback and an impressive array of anally-focused toys. The enormous levels of cognitive dissonance involved haven’t caught up to him yet, possibly because he’s got a longtime friend from school or an early job who knows his pleasures and who can match him in bro-ish insecurities. He may never mature beyond that point, but it’s not clear if he necessarily wants to. Best off as a dependable quickie at one in the morning when everyone’s just on the verge of passing out, when he can perform at his best without any pressure or awkward pillow talk. His hookups might even get lucky and get a friend or two of his to join in. Definitely has a cuck fetish although he’ll never get the opportunity to explore it.
His personality is just as awkwardly dated as his pornstache. It may be inferred from the car he drives, the clothes he wears, and the somewhat faded decor of his home that his early life was a rough one and only now does he have the freedom to live as he pleases. Much as he may act a bit like an overgrown teenager – particularly in bed, where he’s an unstretched and mostly untested bottom – he also has a strong responsible streak, and he won’t hesitate to adopt some paternal mannerisms toward the boys just now learning how to give a man a good solid fuck. He may not be the most glamorous catch, but you could do much worse. Is unlikely to date anyone closer to his own age, likely on account of a relationship that ended badly or, worse, never really even got started. It might even be the reason behind the pornstache for all anyone knows.
The clean-cut sort of college boy who speaks mostly in earnest exclamation points and smiley faces, and would absolutely love to take you out for coffee or a light lunch. Is almost definitely a virgin despite his appealing features, and as he apparently has never taken a nude selfie before either it’s a wonder what he’s even doing on hookup apps. No doubt some more active friend got him to make a profile by slightly misrepresenting the product, but he’s determined to make something good out of the opportunity. Is a total momma’s boy and probably has some serious issues regarding his parents and/or other relatives, but don’t expect that to come up until you’re Facebook official and he’s learned how to put on a condom and clean himself properly (he’ll gravitate toward bottoming after enough experience, but it will take a while for him to psychologically sync up his bedroom proclivities with his mildly submissive disposition). Is a younger sibling and is very used to being overshadowed as a result, so Type A extrovert or not he’ll feel most comfortable with a man who’ll take the lead for him. Kink makes him blush, and is a topic that’s probably better off leaving alone except for the patient.
Masc and muscled by his own description, but his extreme reluctance to share anything other than dick pics or meet somewhere more exposed than a glory hole will cue all but the horniest in that he’s not as built as he claims. Still, his dick pics are nice, and he loves making guys gag on it.
Everyone who’s met him expects that he’s a closet case, but he’s actually been comfortably out for some time even if his tales of conquest are most likely exaggerated.
Not really into anal or romance, but a sufficiently dedicated FWB might eventually be able to coax one or both out of him. These guys should be forewarned, however, that he’s secretly very clingy once he gets regularly involved with someone, and is prone to jealousy and all manner of possessive posturing. It’ll be worth putting up with in the end, because he’s amazing in the sack once he learns to diversify his skill set. One of those guys who will never, ever bottom because he’s too tight for it – not that he’ll ever admit that as the reason.
His idea of leather is more Grease and less Tom of Finland, but he pulls off the retro look reasonably well in his preferred circles. Likes to tease with snarky one liners and almost-nudes, which means he gets significantly more action at bars where everyone’s had a few drinks and he doesn’t have as many opportunities for one-on-one trolling. A fun hookup partner and even more fun at an orgy, and he’s got a decent range of gear to bring out when he’s looking to show off or someone’s looking to get kinky. His own tastes run more toward food oddly enough, so if he can land a chef he’ll be set for life. He rarely invites his partners to family gatherings, but it’s only there that anyone will learn that his bad boy image is largely an act of rebellion against a sedate and wholly strait-laced upbringing that doesn’t really begrudge his behavior anyway. Doesn’t have the most enticing professional prospects, but when you get down to it he’s really best kept as serial hookup material.
Uncommonly short and fully aware that there are men who are totally into that. Quickly developed into the bottom everyone immediately pegged him as, but as self-conscious as he can be in bed (among other places) he’s probably better off not having to worry about performance anxiety too. He’s a good-hearted kid who’ll make someone an excellent boyfriend someday – most likely someone who appreciates that it takes almost nothing to shove him to his knees – but at the same time he’s so blandly cute that guys tend to genuinely forget about him after the first date or tipsy hookup. If he takes enough of an interest himself he’ll be the one to remind them of his existence, at which point they’ll be tripping over themselves to make another invitation. Gives fantastic head and can transition to rimjobs more effortlessly than many bottoms, but 69ing probably isn’t in the cards without some contortion or a partner who’s about on his level.
Comfortably genderfluid/nonbinary, as he (or whatever pronoun he prefers) will be happy to let anyone know who asks about the hair or the curious clothing choices. His femme looks belie his aggressive demeanor, and he’s as comfortable topping as he riding a guy to completion after hours of edging or bondage or whatever else his freaky mind cares to propose. He can be sweet and romantic after a fashion, but the jump from passing hookup to date material is bound to be a rough one since he claims he’s not really looking for a relationship. To the surprise of not many he’s been through some rough times with family, leaving him abrasive and wary of attachment. Maybe that’s why the hookup space suits him so well, not to mention why he hates the uncomfortable conversation while dressing afterward. Might have some carefully hidden anger management problems he’ll need to talk through at some point, so any potential partners – and he’s not against the idea of there being more than one at a time – will have to be on their toes emotionally as well as sexually.
See above minus the gender fluidity – he’s just as wild and just as emotionally immature behind his confident sex maniac front.
A pair of brothers with separate accounts, they don’t acknowledge their relationship online and hate getting constantly asked about it by all the guys who put two and two together from their resemblance and regular proximity. The younger one eventually switches to a headless torso pic specifically to discourage this (and to show off his progress on a four pack). In spite of this enmity casual conversation with either will reveal that they’re not all that different; one might be a bit more suave with his initial pic offerings and date plans while the other just wants to get to the fucking, but the night will end basically the same either way: a lot of grunting and sweating that finishes just a little too early to be all that satisfying. If you end up seeing one as a FWB (never more than that, at least not for a while yet) you can expect the other one to block you instantly despite it not being at all obvious how he could have found out. A good way to get them to block you simultaneously is to suggest a threeway with both of them. If they’ve ever fooled around together on their own they’ll never speak of it.
As a twunk entering his thirties he’s frequently astonished that he gets approached by so many boys a decade or more his junior looking for a father figure (even if they don’t say it in so many words) along with a good time. He’s made a name for himself among his peers by his accomplishments and his fairly enviable body, even if he doesn’t get nearly as much action as his friends expect. Though he’s an excellent top and a patient teacher in the delicate art of fucking he does appreciate a man who can match his skill and push him to his rather considerable limits, and his experience with toys is such that he’s never without the right tool to keep himself and his lovers satisfied. If he ever settles down it’ll probably be more for professional reasons than on account of age or personal desire, but with the right partner he’ll be able to adapt to monogamy quite well. Not great with kids however…or AB/DL guys, for that matter.
His profile is visually conservative but textually overwhelming, as he’s an opinionated and angry young man who makes no secret of his beliefs about politics, lifestyle choices, and pretty much every other subject you should never bring up on a first date. Anyone who makes it past that initial salvo to make further inquiries will find a kid who’s been hardened before his time by a harsh life and a difficult family situation that once encouraged him to keep his thoughts to himself. Now he’s out in more ways than one and DTF as much out of some bizarre sense of duty as horniness. Still, he’s far from a bad catch and will undoubtedly mellow out as his situation improves and he gets laid regularly. Actually is compensating for something and blows his loads entirely too quickly, but somehow he makes it work. Averse to bottoming for similar reasons but he doesn’t advertise that fact as it would seem too close-minded. If he doesn’t end up in a committed relationship by the time he’s out of his twenties he’ll make for a great sugar daddy, as he’s already got the spending habits of one.
He might be bright for a Camus archetype, but compared to men who aren’t so tragically fatalistic he’s a bit…off. He’s not exactly vain, but he takes such pride in his image (both figuratively and literally – his private album is unreasonably overstuffedand more underwear than nudes) that he comes off that way regardless. A top who leans toward a well-developed sense of traditionalism, which manifests as a desire for a settled monogamous life and some degree of feminization kink he performs without really examining – to either the amusement or annoyance of his dates. As much as he might be only one melodramatic step above being just a dumb blond with a mullet he’s seriously packing below the belt and knows what to do with it too. P2P guys should be forewarned that upon meeting them he will attempt to reenact the plot of Pretty Woman…though on the plus side that means he’s essentially the perfect sugar daddy. Owns an impressively-sized dildo he’s dubbed the Black Knight or something equally grandiose and ridiculous, but it’s presumably only for his partners’ pleasure as no one’s ever seen him use the thing on himself.
Not the type to wine and dine his dates and curiously hesitant about bringing them home; semi-public hookups are more his speed. After a few handjobs in bathroom stalls and clumsy anal in the backseats of cars (good thing he knows how to bottom in cramped quarters) he’ll gradually open up about his particular circumstances: although he’s unashamed to be working class – he might even mention his actual job(s) in his profile – limited funds and a deeply-held duty to care for others don’t give him many solid opportunities for fun on the side. He best gets along with guys who can meet him on the same wavelength, and he has a pretty good feeling for the ones that are looking down at him during the initial encounter. He’s a worthwhile long-term investment for anyone willing to wait until his dedication finally pays off, and in the meantime he’ll keep them thoroughly entertained. Is significantly less skilled and confident at topping, but he’ll give it his all regardless and might even discover that he’s better at it than he thinks. May have been involved with drugs and/or low level sex work at some point, and as such he’s strongly averse to the use of both even recreationally.
Dedicated himself to bottoming after developing a complex (probably from too much porn) that he wouldn’t be big enough to satisfy as a top. Unfortunately he’s not too great at his chosen field of, er, study, even if there are alpha tops who get off to his inadequacy entirely too much for his liking. Works just as hard and is just as proud to be where he is as the guy he replaces, but it’s less likely that everything will come up roses in the end unless he lands himself a generous sugar daddy with a low libido. If he ever sneaks some of his partners’ Viagra they’d better watch out, because he will want to top…and probably suck at it. At least he’ll always have oral.
Easy on the eyes but a pain to get a hold of with any consistency. After one or two hookups he’ll disappear from the apps for months at a time until most guys assumed he’s blocked them. It’s always a pleasant surprise when he does show up again, bearing stories about where he’s been that are almost plausible and a host of new selfies ranging from the tamely scenic to the surprisingly filthy. Seems to be naturally blessed as he stays fit and handsome despite never exercising or putting much effort into his appearance, and even with only scattered experience he also displays a lot of natural talent in bed regardless of what’s being asked of him. Sex and relationships are more distractions for whatever lofty personal goals he’s set for himself, and so he may not make for great boyfriend material until he’s a little older and more settled. He may just be worth adding to your favorites list until then. (But don’t worry, he’d never actually block anyone.)
Same as above, but the bush in your face when you’re sucking him off won’t be the color of a literal bush. That alone should make up for his lower social status.
A long conversationalist, and it seems like a strange move on his part when he shares his private album after only a bit of small talk until you see that all his pics are fully clothed public shots of him with friends and relatives in a variety of local tourist destinations. Maybe he’s a widower just getting into the scene, or a single father having a very subdued midlife crisis; either way he’s a little past his prime and not the most sexual of men, but he may break out the Cialis and the poppers the first night just to make sure his partner has a good time. His idea of companionship revolves around quiet nights at home watching movies and slightly tense dinner party gatherings with the people in his life willing to understand why their doting old friend/father/uncle/work contact is feeling the urge to scratch this new itch. His professional life may suffer in some way from the association, which would make for the biggest threat to any potential relationship. Although he doesn’t often get hard anymore he loves to perform oral…but his skill can’t quite match his enthusiasm. Also, the beard tends to get in the way, but good luck getting that across to him.
…No. Just no. There are horny teenage delinquents and then there are literal prepubescent children. Good on them if they’ve got themselves figured out so young, but it’ll be a few more years before they’re ready to really learn about the bees and the bees. Also, at their age they’re more altar boys than priests, and really no one has any business going there.
I’m not going to engage with them directly or use the relevant tags here as it’s one of those “If you do X you’re gross and need to go away” posts, but someone in the Forsython and Lukas tags recently complained about people using a “canon aroace” character in ships. Who they’re talking about I have no idea, as not one of these characters comes across as both asexual and aromantic and certainly not in any definitive way considering how the series prefers to deal with such things. I would think that most Forsython + Lukas fans like navigating that messy grey area where their desires don’t easily align, but as has been generally noted ambiguity is more and more becoming a bad thing in certain fandom spaces.
Fun, it’s been over a year since I’ve had the opportunity to talk about Wuko.
1. My take on their canon relationship:
Even if the writers intended it mostly for comic relief it’s surprisingly sweet, and I like that they give Wu a way to be useful that plays to his strengths – and that Mako is supportive of him. Could have done without Wu’s cringeworthy flirting with women, but my theory is that that’s mostly a leftover from an earlier stage of his design kept in because it might convince someone that he’s not gay…maybe.
2. Do I ship them:
Of course. It’s not an exaggeration to say that what finally got me to watch both AtLA and LoK in the first place was reading about Wu and this relationship, not to mention to see Korrasami play out. Definitely canon and possibly canon same-sex pairings, yay.
3. Reasons why I do/don’t ship them;
Wu is amusing and identifiably effete, using some of my own favorite strategies with men albeit with mixed results. I can also see why Mako would be appealing to him, even if he’s secretly an awkward dork.
4. Headcanon, if any:
Ever since I read developer commentary suggesting that Wu spent much of his childhood in Republic City I’ve headcanoned the two of them briefly meeting as children and Wu being enamored of Mako even back then (despite the whole homeless street urchin thing). Whether they’d remember each other years later can go either way.
5. How much do I ship (%):
80ish% Hopefully the comics won’t develop things too far away from their potential at the end of the show, but even if they do they ended on a strong note and possibly an offscreen hookup after the reception.
Note that I’ve only slept with him and not finished the game or gotten to any kind of long-term thing, though I’m a little more familiar with the pairing through other sources.
1. My take on their canon relationship:
In 2009 pickings for canon same-sex pairings in video games were nearly nonexistent, so that m!Warden/Zevran (and f!Warden/Leliana) are possible at all is pretty awesome. The slutty bi guy as an option for M/M has been done elsewhere since and maybe before, and like with FE rogues and archers and their ilk seem most predisposed to not be straight. Eh, whatever – the flirting is fun and the sex is as hot as the graphics will allow, and there’s the potential for something deeper there as well if you care to explore it.
2. Do I ship them:
As the only M/M option in DA:O I do so by default, though if I had a stronger handle on the Warden’s character my opinion there might differ. As a self-insert I’d love to be boning Alistair instead – he’s so derpy and a virgin and also a king – but that requires modding (or a female Warden, which I’ll probably try out at some point).
3. Reasons why I do/don’t ship them;
Zevran has his fun moments and he’s never uninteresting, and once again he’s the only option in this game for M/M romance. Who knows how I’d feel about playing either of the other two DA games where there’s more than one.
4. Headcanon, if any:
Not so much about them, but I headcanon that Alistair accidentally catches the two of them enjoying themselves and enjoys the sight more than he’s comfortable with. He’s consumed with guilt over it for months.
5. How much do I ship (%):
Since I suppose I should be considering the possibility of a female Warden, only 60-70% since I don’t think any of the romance options in DA:O are duds if one is sufficiently invested.
Gascon-en-exil: Gallophilic Cultural Posturing 