Hello other UK-based folks! Quick question: which parts of the South Downs would Aziraphale and Crowley be most likely to settle down in? I don’t know which places in that part of the country are best suited to them, and a Google search has not been abundantly helpful, so send me any villages/towns you can think of where the goofs would have a happily-ever-after.
(Context: I live in Scotland and haven’t been further south than Durham in England, so I have precisely 0 idea what I’m talking about with the Downs.)
hope-inthedark reblogged
My observations from the Good Omens fandom:
Fanart and fics that are from the time before the TV series (1990 - 2019): Az & Co love each other deeply and there are no labels. Their love is very chaste and they usually kiss only. Ace vibes.
Fanart and fics after GO S1 (2019 - 2023): Aziraphale is a babe, a softie, and Crowley is the strong protector. The only fanart where Crowley is the one holding Aziraphale in his arms is from this time period. Fics are often explicit, but it’s very balanced between top Crowley and Top Aziraphale. There is a lot of play with different genitalia, but the main focus is still the strong, intense, unbreakable bond between the two, which defies all human relationship labels.
Fanart and fics after GO S2 (Aug. 2023 - present): Crowley is the soft, whiny baby who needs protection. Most fanart depicts Aziraphale as the strong protector and Crowley as the fragile girlfriend behind him. Crowley is very often depicted with black nail polish & long hair, more feminine character traits, unless both characters are female. Most fics are explicit, and Aziraphale is dominating Crowley, Crowley is desperately looking for approval or being a total brat and making Aziraphale’s life a living hell after the final fifteen, pouting and being angry/resentful. The main focus in the fics in now the sex and sexual pleasure. Now there is also a lot more exploration of different AUs and incarnations e.g. Crowley is very often a snake, they are drawn as robots or mouse & rat, AUs for coffee shops, gardeners, priests etc.
I am not judging this trend in any way, but I personally prefer the depictions and interpretations during the S1 era, because they feel the most true to the source material of the TV show for me. I wonder if after S3 it will diverge even further or if it will circle back.
I hate to reblog this with my two-sense, because it currently has 69 notes, but you've activated my special interest so it is what it is.
While this feels like an accurate depiction of general fandom moods, it is, suprisingly, actually not true! (statistically at least) On ao3 at least, the ratios for who's topping and explicit/non explicit fics have remained relatively stable.
(Note that at no point has either chosen dynamic made up more than 20% of the total of E-rated fics, so it's important to remember that this only represents those fics which specifically chose to use top/bottom tags)
As you can see in the above chart, with data pulled from ao3 in three-month intervals, top!Crowley has actually been the more popular dynamic pretty much forever, though notably untrue during the first three month after the initial release of S1.
It's also untrue to assess that fics are generally more explicit now, as shown below:
It's worth noting that both the season one and season two release periods have the lowest percentage of explicit fics, with the number growing after fans become more comfortable with the canon given and begin branching out.
Speaking of branching out, you can see the same trend in the percentage of human au fics. The number of human au fics written trends upwards significantly as time passes post-season-release. While we're not currently at a higher rate than before the release of season 2, we're at about twice the rate of a comparable time period relative to release date as last season. It will be super interesting to see where things go from here!
It's worth noting that this data doesn't tell us everything we could possibly know about fandom interactions and fanon preferences, simply because ao3 tagging is a wild world and also only about 47% of fic in this fandom is actually published on ao3! (pspsps you wanna click the link to see more of my research so baddddd) I'm planning to do a more thorough analysis of smut fic within the fandom, so what you're seeing here is some of my initial data collecting and hastily thrown together graphs, and it will be interesting to see what new information comes up in that!
<3
Click Here to see more of the data analysis I've done on Good Omens fanfiction!
really appreciate you weighing in with this info @bowtiepastabitch! i've got a few things to add about this topic
1 there was a four-year gap between s1 and 2. this means that, of course, writers and fanartists had a lot of time to develop their voices, to form their preferences for az/crowley sexual dynamics, to decide the kind of stories they wanted to portray and things like that. it may seem like there's more variety purely because we haven't had nearly that much time since s2 came out. i bet you by the time s3 comes out, there'll be a lot more development in the aforementioned areas and it won't feel so one-note to some people (not that i personally think there isn't diversity in post-s2 fanworks). also, the idea that the story of s1 was self-contained potentially made for more lighthearted and less emotionally draining fan creations.
2 people are essentially still reacting to and attempting to make sense of a hugely significant, emotionally-charged scene, the likes of which we didn't see in s1. why are people still so focused on the final fifteen even now? because season 2 allowed us to develop a much more nuanced view about aziraphale and crowley as characters. we know so much more about how they operate, and about their histories, and the way they interact with their surroundings, than we did pre-s2. there's also a lot more big-fish universe stuff going on in fanworks now, for example due to the threat of the second coming, so i'd wager there are a lot more fanworks focused on plotting/exploring major conflicts which are bigger than purely these two characters now than there were pre-s2
3 i've not obviously gone out and read every single good omens fic chronologically, but i do also think that as time has marched on, the number of fanworks with gender and sexual variation in aziraphale and/or crowley (as in fanworks which don't render either or both characters as cis gay man-shaped beings), both in canon and in human au contexts, has increased significantly. maybe that's because the fandom is bigger and therefore there's inherently more variety, maybe that's because our understanding of aziraphale and crowley's gender identities has expanded in recent times, maybe it's because our general understanding as a society of gender variance has improved significantly in the past 5 years. most likely a combination of the above
4 you don't have to engage with fanworks which don't interest you, and there will still be such an abundance of fanwork that does (we totally take for granted just how much good omens fanwork is out there but that's another story). i, for example, don't really care about fix-it fics, or fics which attempt to plot az and crowley's story with regards to heaven and hell beyond season 2. i steer clear of deep angst and final fifteen-oriented fanworks. of course i don't resent anyone for contributing to the fandom in these ways, it just doesn't personally tickle my pickle. i like little-fish fanworks whose main focuses are crowley and az's relationship, which are generally lighthearted and fun and sexy in a way that makes me happy. sure, it can feel frustrating when fandom trends don't do it for you, but luckily i've found my cluster of fans whose work speaks to my preferences and ideas about the show and characters.
i do get preferring pre-s2 to post-s2 content. it was a very different time for the fandom, and in a way it is truer to the source material as a lot of the post-s1 fics leaned more heavily into a book omens-based understanding of the characters. however, i still think there's a healthy variety in character dynamics and presentations visible in fanworks post-s2!!
hope-inthedark reblogged
I love you,I love you,I love you
thinking about Book Aziraphale and his white dad trainers rn
(photo from @v4mpyfangz on Twitter btw, saw it and haven’t stopped thinking about it since)
hope-inthedark reblogged
three years ago today, a new me was born
Check out this fucking shit
CHOO CHOO ALL ABOARD MOTHERFUCKERS the transfemme glow up train is leaving the station
Can I throw one in here?
2012-2020 2 years on HRT
If I may...
2016 -> 2023; 2 and half years on HRT 🏳️⚧️
I'd say it worked out pretty well for me 🤷♀️
Fuck it. Feb 14 2021 -> Dec 31 2022
A little over a year on E
Decided to use my favorite pre transition photo from just before my egg cracked. Tbh I made a very pretty boy. I just like being a pretty girl more :3
Jan 2019 - June 2023 (2.5 yr HRT)
2000's nu metal bassist to goth gf pipeline (i do need to play more bass fr)
Oct 2014 -> June 2023 (abt 6 years HRT)
posted on this before, but i took some new bice photos of myself recently, and who am i to deprive tumblr of my cuteness :3c
Nov 2019 -> June 2023. 3.33 Years E
Not my best pics tbh but w/e
This thread is the cutest
Here's my lil Sept. 2019 -> June 2023
October 2018 -> May 2023 💜
June 2020 -> June 2023 🥰
Excellent thread hehe
1 year of HRT
November 2022 - November 2023
new Hozier music tomorrow……..
…….maybe I’ll do some new GO art soon?
hope-inthedark reblogged
Here, have some tattooed Crowley 🤍
I started drawing and writing again a few months ago after 15+ years of hibernation, so I'm still pretty much learning but I thought I'd share this here anyway.
The first chapter of the fic that goes along with this should be up on AO3 soon (Human!AU, tattoos!AU, fandom!AU, Friends to Lovers with pining and long-distance friendship)!
hope-inthedark reblogged
silly headcanon time
Maggie actually texted her message to Aziraphale but because he doesn’t have a modern phone it arrived through the mail slot
hope-inthedark reblogged
starmaker
When I started writing Growing Pains, it was my secret personal hope that the story might one day inspire someone to try therapy for themselves. I never expected it to happen, in all honesty.
Today, a reader reached out to tell me that the way I’ve written Crowley’s experience in therapy has given them the push they needed to seek professional help for their own healing. Which is incredible, truly, and I couldn’t be more pleased for them.
Not all therapists are created equal, and not all healing journeys are, either. In my humble opinion, though, it’s usually worth a go.
Anyway: thank you for being here, friends. And thanks for feeling big feelings about things I write, and thanks for telling me about them. My door (and ask box) is always open. Xx
#growing pains#therapy has been hugely helpful for me#and I know Demonology is the big fandom therapy fic#and absolutely credit where it’s due - it inspired the premise of this story#but! multiple cakes and all that#anyway tl;dr fandom is a huge blessing and the gift that keeps giving#good omens#good omens fanfiction
hope-inthedark reblogged
Growing Pains // Chapter Ten
Crowley was having a bad day.
It had been a bad day from the moment he’d opened his eyes, choking on a cry that hadn’t made it past his lips in his dream. The dream had faded quickly, but not so fast that he didn’t remember the details of it. He remembered losing everything, watching a fire that he couldn’t touch or control taking everything that mattered, and he remembered being alone.
And now Crowley was sitting across from Mark, watching the clock on the far wall and trying very hard to pretend that Mark was not waiting for an answer to an especially existential question.
What do you want?
----
Hello! Back with a new chapter. Thank you all for your patience!
Also, if you're interested in catching up on an old WIP of mine, I'm working on another new chapter for it. It can be found here.
Growing Pains // Chapter Ten
Crowley was having a bad day.
It had been a bad day from the moment he’d opened his eyes, choking on a cry that hadn’t made it past his lips in his dream. The dream had faded quickly, but not so fast that he didn’t remember the details of it. He remembered losing everything, watching a fire that he couldn’t touch or control taking everything that mattered, and he remembered being alone.
And now Crowley was sitting across from Mark, watching the clock on the far wall and trying very hard to pretend that Mark was not waiting for an answer to an especially existential question.
What do you want?
----
Hello! Back with a new chapter. Thank you all for your patience!
Also, if you're interested in catching up on an old WIP of mine, I'm working on another new chapter for it. It can be found here.
live footage of me working on an update for a fic I started a good while ago, deciding to check how long it’s been since I last updated:
(I am genuinely so sorry.)