Hi. WilyGryphon here. How is everyone doing?

My favorite video games include Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, and Professor Layton.

My favorite TV shows are the Arrowverse (primarily The Flash and Arrow this season at present), the MARVEL Netflix shows, and Once Upon a Time. Back in the day, they included Spongebob Squarepants (when it was still good), Danny Phantom, Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Young Justice (I have yet to see Season 3).

I enjoy(ed) reading Harry Potter, the Percy Jackson series and its spin-offs, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, The Sisters Grimm, and The Bartimaeus Trilogy (and prequel).

I really like Disney films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and Star Wars.

I also like the DC Extended Universe, despite its flaws. Wonder Woman and Aquaman were amazing. I enjoyed Suicide Squad, although I did not find it to be anything special. Man of Steel and Justice League were good, the latter particularly for what it had to work with due to the behind-the-scenes trouble and WB shoving it at us before giving Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg their own movies. But then again, the Justice League cartoon only had Batman and Superman properly developed before the pilot; Flash appeared in one episode and wasn't fully explored as a character, the Green Lantern Corps was teased (with a different GL to boot), and Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter had their origin stories in the pilot while Hawkgirl was just an enigma for most of the show's run. However, Enchantress and Steppenwolf were not great villains, and Dawn of Justice was a travesty with some awesome moments, none of which could redeem it of the stain that is the portrayal of Lex Luthor and the unworthy introduction of Bizarro Doomsday.

I am also a fan of (as I'm sure you can guess from the above) Marvel and DC comics [ding]. Presently, I am subscribed to and reading Justice League, but I am very much intrigued by the vast mythos of both comic universes.

I really hope you enjoy what I have to offer. Read and review, but please, no flames. I would very much appreciate constructive criticism. Let's all try to be respectful here. Don't say things to or about others that you would not like others to say to or about you.

Disliked Storytelling Tropes:

Honestly, I didn't want to add this section without also including a list of Storytelling Tropes that I like, because I don't want to sound pessimistic or be that guy who just puts down everything he hates. However, I couldn't find anything specific that I wanted to praise, so here we are. I'm sure this will provide some insight on my opinions on the low points of some fiction. On the plus-side, it might also provide insight in what I want to see in a story.

Romantic Plot Tumor: If you're going to write a specifically romance-based story, you should indeed revolve it around the romance, although I recommend that if you're going to do something more fleshed-out, be sure to establish the world around the couple and the people in their lives outside of the pairing (preferably in a way that passes the Bechdel Test). [For reference, in Amazing Spider-Man 2 I can count the number of non-Gwen Stacy supporting characters that Peter interacted with on one hand] But if your story has plot and characters that should revolve around more than the hero's love life, have romance be a facet of the characters' relationships and character development. Don't focus so much on the lovey-dovey pairing or the relationship drama that everything and everyone else is pushed to the wayside. If you're going to involve the romance in the plot, integrate it with the plot rather than just overshadow everything (if you want an example, just refer to Karamel from Supergirl).

Conflict Ball: Let's face it. Conflict is an essential part of a story. Conflict between close friends can be essential to the development of both characters, for better or worse. But something that may be hard to pull off for some writers is setting up a conflict that they feel would bring the plot in a new direction and making it believable. However, forced conflict and drama, where the arguers would reasonably be on the same side or be able to sort out their differences easily, stretches believability and makes it less engaging for the audience. An argument between two characters would only work if you can see where each one is coming from, and you can actually believe that a person can be perceived to be in the wrong. Most examples I can think of are a bit more nuanced than "they fight because he feels like it and doesn't want to imagine that the other guy may have a point". But the thing is, unless the argument instigator is supposed to be unsympathetic or turn into the villain, saying that the hero is wrong when viewers or readers are quite likely to agree with their side and say they were justified only leads to the viewers or readers trying to make sense of the argument and wonder what the supporting character has been smoking.
One instance that comes to mind was one that I was sure was going to turn out exactly as I described: Arrow Season 6 Episode: "Brothers in Arms", with Diggle arguing with Oliver about not being allowed to be the Green Arrow, a subplot that I already thought was dumb, but not as dumb as the Schism arc which is another example of this trope. But then it surprised me by having Diggle actually asking himself why he was so upset, before realizing that he was upset about recent developments and thought that the problem was with Oliver juggling too much... which then devolved into a fight.

Painting the Hero as the Villain: A common situation of Conflict Ball involves claiming that the hero (a.k.a. the guy we're supposed to root for) is somehow in the wrong, maybe over something he says, something he does, or something he did about 4-5 years ago, all to squeeze in conflict between him and his friends. Except, in the worst of these situations, this tends to throw something at us that contradicts everything he has done before this point. ("I wanted to and I liked it", Arrow fans?)

The Problems with Word Spellcheck:

In writing my first fanfiction, I noticed that a lot of what I'm writing gets blue squgglies, as Word thinks there is some sort of error. Some of them are reasonable from a certain viewpoint, but others... not so much. I usually just hit "Ignore", but since "Ignore Rule" does not appear for blue squiggly errors, and they reappear whenever I have to reopen the document, it's becoming a gripe for me.

There should be a (?): Some of my sentences, which include phrases such as "what happened" or "which" get "error" marks suggesting that I end the sentence with a question mark. However, if one read the whole sentence, rather than just three words at a time, it would become quite apparent that it is a plain sentence or statement, not a question.
A certain sentence that has this marking but baffles me in how it ought to is this: "Standing on that platform are a horned witch wearing black robes and a dignified-looking man wearing robes with a cape and a staff that resembles a snake." It still thinks it should be a question.
Here is another case that has the opposite problem, but more understandable as the type of sentence depends on the tone and context even if the phrasing is intact: "You want to know why you didn't make the mark?" It thinks it should end with a period.

Double Words: Some phrases and names happen to have the same thing repeated with a space in between (i.e. Jar Jar Binks, Dum Dum Dugan, or ha ha ha ha). I think the only exception is had had, which makes sense since the first "had" is the pluperfect identifier and the second "had" is the past tense of "to have". Nevertheless, this is an annoying pet peeve that I cannot convince Word to accept, and despite being a red squiggly it does not have an "Ignore Rule" option.

Sometimes can't tell a verb from a noun: One particularly stupid issue is when it thinks I should have a possessive when referring to a subject and a verb, which it somehow thinks is a possessed subject. I suppose that the verb can also be a noun in the right context, but it is CLEARLY not the right context. "The creatures lunge", for example; it thinks it should be "The creature's lunge" or "The creatures' lunge"

Another thing: it thinks Your Majesty should be "You're Majesty". I checked Google to see which one was the appropriate grammar, and it is definitely the first one. Who would say "You are majesty"?

Order of Words: This I cannot comprehend. I'll just put the sentence and suggestion here and leave it at that.
My sentence- "Not only that, but a lot of Riku and Sora's activities over the last years were fueled by a rivalry between the two of them over Kairi's attention."
Word's suggestion- "Not only were that, but a lot of Riku and Sora's activities over the last years fueled by a rivalry..."
Another sentence- "They started whispering a conversation that neither Flynn nor Sora could make out, Rapunzel using words and the chameleon making squeaking noises."
Word's first suggestion- "They started whispering a conversation that neither Flynn nor Sora could make out, Rapunzel using words nor the chameleon making squeaking noises."
Word's second suggestion- "They started whispering a conversation that both Flynn nor Sora could make out, Rapunzel using words and the chameleon making squeaking noises."
Of course, it only included the section between where it thinks the word should be and where it thinks the word should not be. That means it actually does consider large portions of the sentence but does not know that it is fine as is.

Plain dumb grammar: These cases... I just cannot comprehend.
Me: "He knew he had them sold." Suggestion: [they] instead of [them] (?)
Me: "Correct me if I'm wrong..." Suggestion: [I] instead of [me] (uh...)

Pairings That I Like in Arrow

Oliver Queen / Dinah Laurel Lance-1: Partly because it is the OP that is canon to the comics, this is the pairing I wanted most. And they are not without chemistry or a nice dynamic, but they do lack proper development and care on the part of the showrunners. They build off each other and have a deep understanding of one another, both before and after Laurel learned Oliver's secret. From their interactions after Olicity broke up for some of the hardest reasons to swallow, it looked as though they might get back together after all... until Guggenheim remembered that he had thrown in a "grave" plotline that he had not thought out from the beginning and went eenie-meenie-miney-mo on a character that people actually stopped hating. At least Laurel's final waking scene and the Invasion dream world showed that the two of them still loved each other.

Oliver Queen / Sara Lance: In my opinion the best-executed relationship Oliver was involved in.

Thea Queen / Roy Harper: One of my OTPs in the Arrow show. They have a great dynamic and chemistry, and they are both great characters. It's a shame that they had to write Roy out in Season 3 due to Colton Haynes' health issues, and Willa Holland's contract expired just as he was able to come back, and then the Season 7 flashforwards had them separated for reasons that still have not been fully explained, meaning that they never got their happy ending.

Felicity Smoak / Ray Palmer:

Sara Lance / Nyssa āl Ghūl: I thought they were good for each other, despite their limited shared screentime. As Nyssa got more character development in Season 3 she became one of my favorite Arrow characters, and the couple became my other OTP in the Arrow show.

Tommy Merlyn / Dinah Laurel Lance-1

Pairings That I Dislike in Arrow

Oliver Queen / Felicity Smoak (Olicity): At first I was like "Huh?" But after a bit, I figured that I would be fine with it if it worked well. As the following two seasons and half the Internet would prove... it didn't. I never really supported the pairing, but it lost my faith when Felicity dumped Oliver for not telling her about his son... twice. I was annoyed when late Season 5 hinted that they might get back together, and I was against it actually happening in Season 6. Then Felicity hijacked Barry and Iris' big moment. I don't hate Felicity, instead seeing her as more of a mixed bag, but the worse aspects of her brought up in the relationship are proof that they should not be together.

Pairings That I Like in The Flash

Barry Allen / Iris West-Allen: With their chemistry, dynamic, and deep understanding of one another, this couple is one of the best pairings in the Arrowverse, in my opinion. They've had a lifelong bond, and their relationship worked almost seamlessly in the story and with their relationships to the rest of the cast.

Barry Allen / Patty Spivot: They had a lot in common and had a fun dynamic, and they were cute together. In another life, I could see them being together.

Barry Allen / Caitlin Snow: They have a great dynamic and friendship, and they developed a great understanding of one another due to their history of loss. I could imagine them dating for a few episodes, though I would envision them choosing to remain as just friends.

Barry Allen / Linda Park:

Cisco Ramon / Caitlin Snow: Due to their close bond and fun dynamic, they were one of my initial ships for this show. It has waned as they remained as "just close friends" and seen other people, but certainly wouldn't be against seeing them as a couple.

Cisco Ramon / Kendra Saunders: They seemed to go well together, though it was a terribly wasted relationship as the writers instead threw her with the unlikable Carter. Bear in mind that while Carter tried to get her to unlock her powers with the warrior side of her past life, which is so far against the person Kendra was at the time, while Cisco helped her embrace the passionate priestess facet of her spiritual identity, basically saving everyone's lives where Felicity and Carter indirectly caused everyone's deaths.

Cisco Ramon / Cynthia Reynolds:

Caitlin Snow / Ronnie Raymond:

Wally West / Jesse Wells: They had a nice dynamic and were pretty cute together. Even after conflicting schedules-I mean responsibilities an Earth away led to Jesse ending the relationship, it is clear that they still care about each other very much.

Pairings That I Dislike in The Flash

Caitlin Snow / Julian Albert Desmond: It was pretty random and underdeveloped, and probably only existed to give Tom Felton something to do after he was unmasked as Alchemy and became less of a jerk to Barry.

Caitlin Snow / Hunter Zolomon: Caitlin and "Jay" was pretty forced and not developed ("Jay" was never really that developed before he was revealed as Zoom, anyway). There is nothing there at all between Caitlin and Zoom, with Zoom being an obsessive murderous sociopath. And since I never saw or read The Phantom of the Opera, I cannot imagine the appeal of that kind of relationship.

Pairings That I Like in Supergirl

Kara Zor-El / Winn Schott: I like their bond and dynamic as well as their adorkable personalities. My interest in the ship waned over time until it was more like "yeah, they're good friends".

Alex Danvers / Maggie Sawyer: They were a nice couple, though it was a bit marred by the fact that Maggie was not well-developed as her own character outside of the relationship. When Floriana Lima chose to leave the show, the writers ended the relationship in the best way they could without ruining the chemistry.

Kara Zor-El / Mon-El: I like their dynamic (post-character development) and how they improve one another, although I did not like Mon-El's attitude early on. I also hated how the relationship overshadowed the entire second season even when there were more important things to focus on (such as finding Jeremiah again, which was touched on but ultimately ignored)

J'onn J'onzz / M'gann M'orzz: I don't really have a lot to say about this. Although, I felt weird imagining the ship early on as I was used to Miss Martian being J'onn's niece in Young Justice.

Querl Dox / Nia Nal: They are both an enjoyable quirky, and their interactions are fun and endearing.

Kara Zor-El / Lena Luthor (SuperCorp): To a certain degree of "like". I can believe the ship and see where the shippers are coming from,although I am not a shipper myself. However, I do believe that Lena had a crush on Kara early on.

Pairings That I Dislike in Supergirl

Kara Danvers / Alex Danvers: Their bond is sisterly exclusively. I cannot picture them as anything more than sisters, even if someone tried to use the "not blood-siblings" justification that some may use to avoid arguments of it being incest, and regardless of Kara's sexuality.

Pairings That I Don't Care About in Supergirl

Kara Zor-El / James Olsen

James Olsen / Lucy Lane

Kara Zor-El / Adam Foster: It was so clearly not going to be a big thing that I did not get invested in it at all. That was before I found out that it was a nod to their actors being married (at the time), but I still never had any interest in the fictional pairing.

Kara Zor-El / Barry Allen: I view them more as buddies and Super Friends who hang out once or twice a year. In another world, I can see it, but I prefer the little comics where they are high-fiving, taking selfies or playing video games in contrast to Batman v Superman or Cap and Iron Man Civil Warring.

Winn Schott / Lyra Strayd: What was the point of this? And where did Lyra go after Season 2 ended?

James Olsen / Lena Luthor: It wasn't really the most developed or interesting thing. It was probably done mostly because James had literally nothing to do in Season 3, which was a very distracting issue.

Kara Zor-El / Oliver Queen-1: I didn't know this was a thing until after Crisis on Earth-X, and I don't really see the potential in it.

Kara Zor-El / Querl Dox: The seeds were there from their first interactions, but nothing's really developed enough for me to focus on.

Mon-El / Imra Ardeen

Pairings That I Like in Legends of Tomorrow

Nate Heywood / Amaya Jiwe:

Ray Palmer / Zari Tomaz

Sara Lance / Ava Sharp (Avalance): They have good chemistry, and I saw the pairing a mile away, though I feel as though the development of the relationship was rushed and could have been handled better.

Sara Lance / Alex Danvers: I don't have a huge opinion of this, but I feel they could make it work if they weren't a universe and a timestream apart.

Pairing That I Dislike in Legends of Tomorrow

Kendra Saunders / Carter Hall: There is no chemistry. Kendra doesn't like Carter, period, and neither do I. Also, Kendra's emotional arc seemed to be about her trying to to be bound by her supposed destiny of only being able to find happiness in Carter. And that didn't exactly go anywhere except back to Carter. Who was dead longer than she even knew him.

Ray Palmer / Kendra Saunders: I really don't have much to say about this. It was just... there, and I didn't really care. And they put so much focus on it.

Pairings That I Like in Kingdom Hearts

Sora / Kairi: OP which thus far has sadly been lacking in screentime (I'm sure that will be rectified in KH3 onward). Their relationship is just plain sweet. They finally made it official, so now they just have to follow through with giving Kairi an arc that is actually well-managed.

Roxas / Naminé: Not my top ship, but I think it's alright.

Roxas / Xion: Such a great bond and a tragic relationship. I don't really know how to elaborate on it.

Sora / Ariel: They have a lot in common and have a nice dynamic. Again, not my top ship, but it's something I can see and enjoy.

Riku / Naminé: I can imagine they were close during the 358/2 year. Riku, who was working to tame his own darkness, might have been a strong support for Naminé, who struggled with self esteem and self-worth issues regarding her nature and powers, especially since they were the only companions to one another for a long time who wasn't a racist jerk

Leon / Yuffie

Terra / Aqua

Axel/Lea / Saïx/Isa (seriously, what should I call them?)

Aqua / Zack

Riku / Elsa: As I imagined how Frozen would work in Kingdom Hearts, I realized that Riku and Elsa are basically parallels of each other (particularly Riku in CoM and 2). Sora even commented on the similarities in their arcs.

Pairings That I Dislike in Kingdom Hearts

Sora / Riku (Soriku): This would probably be one of those ships that I would be far from supporting but be more ambivalent toward, but I feel a disdain for this one due to being aware of shippers who bash Kairi because they want Sora and Riku together (I am not saying all are like that, but it is a problem nonetheless). Thankfully, I haven't run into any of those people with those opinions in reading actual fanfics nor in real life.

Roxas / Axel (AkuRoku): I am more ambivalent toward this ship while being far from supporting it, although I can see where they are coming from. I do think the name is pretty cool, though.

Pairings That I Like in Final Fantasy

Cloud Strife / Tifa Lockhart (CloTi)

Cloud Strife / Aerith Gainsborough (Clerith)

These two pairings are a funny case, as I ship CloTi in the Final Fantasy canon while I ship Clerith in the Kingdom Hearts canon. This difference may have something to do with the fact that in KH, Tifa is actually the embodiment of Cloud's light and not an actual separate person/entity. And there's also the pairing directly below that is also one of my FF7 OTPs.*

Zack Fair / Aerith Gainsborough

Zack Fair / Cissnei

Vincent Valentine / Yuffie Kisaragi

Zidane Tribal / Garnet Til Alexandros

Tidus / Yuna

Celes Chere / Locke Cole

Bartz Klauser / Faris Scherwiz

Cecil Harvey / Rosa Farrell

Lightning / Hope Estheim

Oerba Dia Vanille / Oerba Yun Fang

Noctis Lucis Caelum / Iris Amicitia: Not that I dislike Noctis / Luna (although the writers could have treated it better, since the game's story barely had Noct display any sort of opinion on the matter), but Noct and Iris' interactions and Iris' crush are sweet.

Pairings That I Like in Ace Attorney

Phoenix / Iris

Phoenix / Mia

Gumshoe / Maggey

Franziska / Adrian

Pairings That I Like in Marvel Comics

Spider-Man (Peter Parker) / Mary Jane Watson

Spider-Man (Peter Parker) / Gwen Stacy

Spider-Man (Peter Parker) / Black Cat (Felicia Hardy): A Batman-Catwoman type relationship that is fun and plays off of both of their personalities well, so long as Felicia isn't suddenly a vindictive supervillain for poor reasons

Iron Man (Tony Stark) / Pepper Potts

Hulk (Bruce Banner) / Betty Ross

Captain America (Steve Rogers) / Agent 13 (Sharon Carter)

Hawkeye (Clint Barton) / Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff)

Cyclops (Scott Summers) / Jean Grey

Rogue (Anne Marie) / Gambit (Remy LeBeau)

Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) / Invisible Woman (Susan Storm)

Thing (Ben Grimm) / Alicia Masters

Daredevil (Matt Murdock) / Elektra Natchios

Thor Odinson / Sif

Thor Odinson / Jane Foster

Luke Cage / Jessica Jones

Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) / Vision

Pairings that I Dislike in Marvel Comics

Wolverine (Logan) / Jean Grey: It's kind of dumb, and it has a bad effect on the Wolverine/Cyclops dynamic. They should be arguing over their differing perspectives and ideals, not because Logan keeps hitting on Scott's girl.

Cyclops (Scott Summers) / Emma Frost: Um, didn't she rape Scott in his mind during "therapy" while he was in a very vulnerable position? And we're supposed to think of that as the basis for a healthy relationship?