#*no hate to anyone who writes self inserts btw

[angst-is-love-angst-is-life]

Do you have OCs? If so, tell me about one of them in the WORST way possible.

Oh no

I did have one OC

She started as a self insert

I don’t want to talk about it😀 but I will anyways cause why not (this got a little long so I put a cut)

She was probably a mary sue even though I desperately tried to make her not one

Romantically involved with the MC of a fandom that will remain nameless

Went from no powers to six (and OP af)

When she was still technically a self insert I made her ace unintentionally💀 (didn’t know asexual was a thing at the time)

Both her parents died (but not before or at the beginning of the story— later on)

The story she was in was based off an extremely vivid daydream that spiraled out of control (I had to try and retain all the information from that day dream for over two days before I put it in the notes app. A miracle it all stayed)

I think her planned story arcs were ok

But she was going to lose her powers at the end (ok it was a 50/50 but that was the current plan when I dropped the story)

It’s all very cringe in hindsight but that story’s what got me back into fanfiction writing after a long time of not doing it. So I’m thankful— but it will never see the light of day

[littlebeluu]

Hi! Hope you're day is going well :)

If it's okay I'd like to request smth for marc, if not just ignore this haha. I actually have a few ideas but just pick the one you like the most :)

1. It's kinda similar to the one you already wrote I guess but reader being insecure cos shes not as conventionally attractive as other wags, like she's not ugly but she's not a model either yk? Maybe also like people online hating on her body and/or weight and she doesn't wanna make a big deal out of it but marc notices and like reassures her and stuff (also in my head, reader is like a really private person who doesnt like a lot of attention, has her social media accounts on private and doesn't post anything except a handful of stories every now and then but that's obvi just me, doesn't have to be like that)

2. Marc reaching reader catalan (in my mind reader can already speak Spanish but that's not a must obvi)

3. Marc teaching reader football and she's just really bad at it haha idk I think it could be cute

4. Height difference (I'm 5'3 haha so this is really a self insert) like maybe reader wearing his clothes for the first time and they're so adorably oversized on her or like just anything about height difference really :)

You can obviously change stuff about the requests if there's anything you don't feel comfortable with or don't like, I don't mind. Sorry if it's too much stuff at once btw, I'm not really good at writing this kinda stuff.

Thanks so much in advance already, I hope you have an amazing day (or night, depending when you're reading this haha)

I'll do other ones too 🫶🏻

I might have some trouble to do the second one cause I also don't speak catalán but I'll try anyway.

"Insecure"

marc guiu x female reader

warnings: none

The car engine hummed softly as Marc and I settled into our seats after training. Our eyes met in the rearview mirror, and I felt a flutter in my chest. Despite the hours apart, his presence still had that effect on me.

"Hey," Marc greeted, his voice warm but tinged with concern.

"Hey," I responded, trying to muster enthusiasm.

Marc's brow furrowed as he studied my reflection. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, forcing a smile. "Yes."

His eyes narrowed, unconvinced. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper.

Marc sighed, reaching for the radio. As music filled the car, we drove in silence, the tension palpable. Every few minutes, I caught him glancing at me, worry etched on his face.

"I'm fine," I assured him, though the words felt hollow.

"You're lying," he said softly, his voice a mixture of hurt and frustration.

I hesitated, torn between protecting him from my insecurities and the need to be honest. "It's just..."

"Tell me," he encouraged, his tone gentler now.

"Why do you think I'm upset?" I deflected, buying time.

Marc's eyes softened as he looked at me. "I don't know, but I've noticed you haven't really smiled today. Not your genuine smile, anyway."

"Of course I did," I protested weakly.

"No," he shook his head. "I know you better than anyone else. I can tell when you're feeling down, even if you don't say anything."

His words hung in the air as I struggled to find my voice.

"What's wrong, babe?" Marc pressed, his concern evident. "You're going to tell me, or..." He trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished.

I took a deep breath, feeling tears prick at my eyes. "I'm sorry. It's nothing important."

"It must be something if your smile hasn't been genuine in the past 24 hours."

"Yeah, well..."

"Just say whatever it is," he urged, his voice a mixture of frustration and worry.

"Honestly? People have been saying horrible things about me lately," I admitted, my voice cracking.

Marc's expression darkened. "What? Who?"

"It's okay," I tried to reassure him, wiping away a stray tear. "Really. Just forget about it."

"No," Marc insisted, pulling the car over to the side of the road. He turned to face me fully. "What happened?"

I hesitated, feeling foolish. "It's stupid."

"Just tell me," he pleaded, taking my hand in his.

"Your teammates' girlfriends posted photos with me yesterday," I began, my voice barely audible.

"And?"

"Everyone's saying horrible stuff. Like... like I'm the ugliest and fattest girlfriend."

Marc's face contorted with anger and disbelief. "What? Who's saying this?"

"People online," I mumbled, ashamed of how much it affected me.

"So nobody real?" he asked, his tone softening.

"Well, they could actually exist somewhere," I argued weakly.

"Don't even joke around," Marc frowned. "They don't deserve any importance. You shouldn't read comments under their posts anyway."

I sighed, looking out the window. "I know I shouldn't, but sometimes I can't help it. It's like picking at a scab - you know it's bad for you, but you do it anyway."

Marc's expression softened with understanding. "I get it, but those comments are toxic. They're not worth your time or energy."

"You're right," I admitted, turning back to face him. "I just wish I could stop caring what others think."

Marc reached over and squeezed my hand. "It's not easy, but we'll work on it together. Your worth isn't determined by strangers on the internet."

I took a deep breath, feeling vulnerable. "I guess sometimes those words hurt more than others. Like... maybe I wish I had more confidence. Being known is so overwhelming, and I wish I knew how to get over myself. I guess... I envy the confidence of other girls I meet."

Marc's eyes filled with understanding and love. "You're not ugly nor fat, Y/n. You're beautiful, inside and out."

"I didn't say I was, people said it," I protested weakly.

"But you think it," he said softly, his thumb tracing circles on my hand.

"No," I lied, unable to meet his gaze.

Marc cupped my face gently, forcing me to look at him. "Tell me something, Y/n. When was the last time you read something nice?"

I felt a rush of guilt for worrying him. "Well today, you told me something nice this morning. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like such a baby."

"Stop apologizing," he said firmly. "You're beautiful, and I'm so lucky to be your boyfriend. But more than that, you're kind, intelligent, and strong. Those people online? They don't know you. They don't see how you light up a room, how you make everyone around you feel special."

Tears spilled down my cheeks as Marc's words washed over me. He pulled me into a tight embrace, and I buried my face in his shoulder.

"I love you," he whispered into my hair. "Every part of you. And I promise, we'll work on building your confidence together. You don't have to face this alone”

As we sat there, wrapped in each other's arms, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. The cruel words of strangers seemed to fade away, replaced by the warmth of Marc's love and support.

"Thank you," I murmured, pulling back to meet his gaze. This time, my smile was genuine.

Marc leaned in, his lips meeting mine in a soft, tender kiss. It was gentle and reassuring, conveying all the love and support he had for me. As we parted, he rested his forehead against mine, our breaths mingling.

I reached up, running my fingers through his hair before pulling him in for another kiss, this one deeper and more passionate. When we finally broke apart, we were both slightly breathless.

Marc started the car again, but before pulling back onto the road, he turned to me with a mischievous grin. "Now, how about we go get some ice cream and plot our revenge on those haters"

I laughed, feeling lighter than I had in days. "Ice cream, yes. Revenge... maybe we'll save that for another day."

As we drove off, hand in hand, I realized that while I couldn't control what others said about me, I could choose to surround myself with love and positivity. And with Marc by my side, I felt ready to face whatever challenges came our way.

Before we reached the ice cream shop, Marc pulled over once more. He cupped my face gently and gave me one last, lingering kiss. "You're beautiful," he murmured against my lips. "Inside and out. Don't ever forget that."

I smiled into the kiss, feeling truly loved and cherished. With Marc's support and these tender moments, I knew I could overcome any insecurity. We drove on, looking forward to our ice cream date, our hands intertwined and hearts full of love.

[ivyblossom]

I have been watching a tv show based on a set of books about a woman who goes back in time to 18th century Scotland and lives there for a while and has lots of sex (which she's very good at, btw, the text really wants to make sure I know that, she's SUPER good at sex), I'm sure you know the one I mean.

And my question is: is this writer whose name I am deliberately not typing into this post a narcissist? Because what is even going on with this story?

I realize I'm watching the tv show and not reading the books and surely that's different, but the whole universe of this story is warped around this woman and how amazing she is, and it just stinks of a personality disorder. It's not just that she's good at stuff or important in her own story, it's that everyone she meets is obsessed with her and follows the details of her life and thinks about her all the time, she is so important to everyone, no one else really has a life that doesn't have her as a focus. The belief that total strangers would take this much of an interest in your just smacks of narcissism to me.

And every damn character has a scene with her at some point where they're like, "Yes, I tried to fight you/hated you/wronged you, but it turns out, you were totally right the whole time and I trust you completely now and love you and you were the best thing that's ever happened to me, I die now." This main character would be sorted into Sparklypoo.

Everyone is super hot for her, everyone wants her advice, even her daughter is like, "omg you should totally abandon me now that I'm just barely a legal adult, you need to be with your hot Scottish man! Sure, the man I knew as much father recently died and you leaving would leave me 100% alone in the world, but WHO CARES? Go back in time to be with historical dude!" I...yike.

Then there's the guy who's like, yey, my dad just died, we are currently at his funeral, but you know what's really interesting? This woman and her daughter and their whole life story! I am really here just to serve their needs, I was getting bored at this funeral for my beloved father figure anyway, let's go focus on YOU, ladies!

It feels like the author has very strongly identified with her main character and everyone else are just functions to serve her. I know how fiction works, I know all characters are technically functions in service to the story, but I feel like a writer really shows their whole ass when they see other people as just sort of appendages that exist to support their self-insert character, with no inner worlds of their own. (Plotting against the main character is not an inner world of their own, no it is not!)

This story has all these weird conversations where people are making choices that make zero sense from their perspective, but they are great and meaningful from her main character's perspective, and that's all that matters, they just admire and respect that main character so so much that they will ignore their own will and their own life experiences and knowledge in favour of whatever she thinks and feels, and we're supposed to take this as normal or good somehow?

So...I have to ask. Has anyone met this writer? Is she a piece of shit? Is she actually a super nice lady? I just feel like you cannot be a super nice lady and write a story like this.

[timestillstands]

RAAHAHHAHAHRF

Hi i’m normal

Tell me about your au so I can EAT IT (the information, I mean.)

RRRAGHHHHH HELLO SLIME I HAVE NOT SEEN IN THE PAST TEN MINUTES COUGH COUGH

Hurrrg this might take me overnight because I'm sickies and exhausted but um anyways I'll try and do what I can

BA NA NA NA NAA ENTER THE READER. 100 men's anxiety packaged ever so careful. but not labeled as fragile. Has an overwhelming sense of people pleaser. also thinks everyone hates them if they aren't close w them. I wonder who could write such a self insert. Reader needs a job(you either quit or got fired from your last job) and you're fresh out of college(where you majored in engineering or something. idk.), what better place to turn to than the one and only(that's a lie) PizzaPlex!!!!

Yeah uh hahaha Sun doesn't like you. yayyy. you totally don't blame yourself at all. you do actually ignore that.

Haven't mentioned this yet but the dca is actually trying to PROTECT you. which is funny. because. you get harmed. physically and mentally. a lot. all apart of the plan to get you to quit !!!!

also sun and moon are one person in this au, which is extra fun because yayyy that totally isn't hard to explain at all. I did this to myself. moon is a set of nighttime protocols, while sun is day-time protocols. it just alters how he acts around you and talks etc etc. they both have the same goals and want you OUT.

Moon has very crappy programming; when they tried removing him or reprogramming him entirely, which they gave up on, they weren't very smart and didn't go back to fix anything they have erased. yknow. like safety measures. because. why would they try to do that.

They were more worried about fixing sun and just said screw it, shoving moon in there for a while as the naptime attendant before they realized they fuzzled up. oh good fun. so moon is like, erased from anything besides merchandise. sun won't even talk about what he did. or the fact that he's the same person as moon.

that turned into a bigger problem. why on earth would anyone want to give you a proper set of instructions? sun dismisses any sort of question about moon(who you were specifically told to FIX. by said date unless further complications arrived. they do, btw.) hey, at least we have Vanessa!

your brief encounter w her was great, she got along with you for the short amount of time that you talked that first time. you brought up moon, not having any other real coworker outside of staff bots and the dca around to ask. HEY !!! SHE KNOWS SHIT !!!

so you get some information, really rare around these parts, and haha. yay. you head out for the day and guess what? tomorrow you have a nightshift. fingerguns.

btw. you've never had a nightshift or anything. but you didn't think it was weird or anything to not have lights on, it was night, right?(ahaha that rhymed)

ouhg. hi Moon. um. btw. he likes playing hide and seek 😃

and that's like. the rough outline for the first two chapters

☝️me explaining my au 😁😁😁

[readbyred]

“And he’s cornering me in like a hunter does to an animal. This is not a sappy Casanova we’re taking about. Not a suitor you’re allowed to say ‘no’ to. He sees something and takes it. He’s not sighing dreamily at me, he wants to take me against my will. Or rather force me to give my whole self up to him! Do you even understand the foulness of his scheme?”

Literally obsessed with my limbus self insert! (And uh, my feelings for a certain character)

To anyone Polish that might be in the audience, this is my reimagining of Izabela. Yeah, Izabela Łęcka. With all those teens (largely teenage boys but that might be a skewed perception because of the friends I have) literally calling her a whore, I think the system failed us with this book. I get that the narrator is a self made businessman sigma, who can fight and help the community and all that. But my gosh, he was in his late 40s to early 50s, she was 25 at the oldest. And okay, some people make age gaps work. But not a creep like him

We are taught that she was cruel for ‘using him for money’ and all her sins are made out to be unforgivable. We cheer and write essays about the righteous end where she loses her father, house and is sent off to a nunnery because she “missed out on such a great guy”. Guys, are you okay? Let’s get a few facts straight

Iza’s canon stance on love

She didn’t want to marry. While used to being objectified and feeling like that kind of attention is a signifier of her worth, she didn’t want a husband. Nor love. The closest you see her to liking someone is when she’s giggling and kicking her feet at actors from her fav plays and cool musicians she likes or literally fawning over a fictionalised version of a Greek/Roman God (of whom she literally has ‘merch’). The only reason she’s even giving marriage the time of day is her father. A man who got them in such financial trouble that she would have to marry to give them any semblance of security. She showed her lack of interest in the main character several times and made it clear she wants nothing more than a husband who can give her family safety. It’s easier to understand the lack of loyalty if we remember that this marriage was never her choice. This wasn’t her happy ending, only a means to an end. So her fantasies of her fictional (well, the God isn’t but for the sake of my rant imagine this as more of a PJO version of Apollo) fave coming and sweeping her off her feet aren’t evil. We hate her because she was cynical and materialistic, but I don’t think any of those traits are a hatable offence?? Not to the degree we make it out to be

On their “romance”

Stasiek (Polish nickname from the name Stanislaw, bear with me) literally tried to make her father so dependent on him that it would ensure that her father (caring very little for her wellbeing to begin with) would basically sell her for a roof above his own head. Stanislaw’s plan was to get her no matter what and he tried to use their financial position to ensure she has to say yes. I know that’s ’so sigma of him to buy her all that stuff and help out the family’. But bro! He never bought her anything. He tried to buy her. That’s a bit different. She said she was unnerved, felt like a trapped animal as he stalked and watched her, trying to find any way to make her give in

“Oh, Kas, but she deserved it, she was a bitch!”

Where??? Was she proud? Yeah, no more than any other young girl who was made to believe that being the sole saviour of her family is a privilege. She was treated as a means to an end, a pretty object. With a price written above her head, she held that head high and used what she could to her advantage. She got shit from the author (btw that guy got rejected by a woman and then he wrote the book, you can see the picture, yeah?) for her escapism and being unrealistic, for that statue of Apollo and daydreaming. For seeing the world as a place made of wonders and magic. But my guy, what else did she have as a means of escapism from her bleak reality? She was constantly seen as nothing more than a lamb for slaughter, a puppet and a trophy. Due to being “poor” (at least for the society’s standards, she was well off so at least there I don’t have lots of sympathy, in terms of pitying her living conditions) people dismissed her unless they found her hot. She was talented. Passionate about languages and art. But this is a book about the new age sigmas who did local politics and dabbled in inventions (a world she wasn’t a part of due to actively being known for avoiding the stigma that came with women in those spaces; she was taught that she was a different kind of creature and to survive it was easier to avoid certain things in case they tarnish what worth she has left as a trophy meat). So we’re taught to believe she was dumber. That she was shallow for trying to make the most of the world she was thrust into and playing by the rules. She was cold and bitter upon closer inspection, mad at the mistreatment. The image she had of herself and the world forever warped by the way she was raised

And what about all the good the main character did for the community?

She doesn’t have to like him. Not even because he’s finding people jobs. If he was a good guy, he wouldn’t feel entitled to justify the way he treated her with his other good deeds. If a guy helps out at a homeless shelter I shouldn’t be a bitch for not liking him. And he didn’t do anything strictly for her. Only to ensure he was the highest bidder

Why was that wrong if she wasynt marrying for love?

Well, first of all he creeped her out. Yeah, yeah, we can go on and on about how she was an idiot for being uncomfortable with his scarred hands, but like, other than the authors bitterness seeping into the pages all I see is a young girl being very uncomfortable with the way his hands look because like???? My guy was fighting in an uprising and dealing with repercussions when she was, AT OLDEST, 10. Sure, I’m not shitting at all age gaps, but like, I think it wasn’t so terrible that she was put off by being reminded that this man was so much older. Also, a bigger thing, she was marrying to secure her family. In her ideal world, she’d be single (probably still objectified bc I don’t think she would heal and see herself as something more in that society), free to crush on her fictional fave and travel, talking to people and seeing new things. But she had to marry good. And in that context their relationship doesn’t make sense either! He came into money. Quick and with security that anyone would doubt. Yeah, we know he’s great at money and he’s the main character so it will all work out! Does she? Hell no! It’s not a matter of ‘he doesn’t come from a rich family so he’s not worth my time’. But girlie knew how easy it is to lose money, she was in her right to look for someone who, while she wouldn’t love, wouldn’t be a creep with doubtful financial security at best. If she wanted a good life for her family, she had to look for someone who wouldn’t be screwed if he was unable to work. Marrying into a rich family was never a fantasy, but a move she had to make to make sure she’s connected to people who will never leave her in a situation similar to the current state of things (I’m not fond of rich people and like fuck classism, but you have to be realistic about her motives, man)

What does she get in the end?

Her father gets sick and dies, not efore she gets shit for, for once, not being feminine enough to care for him in a good womanly fashion. Her whole life she was taught that the most gross, unattractive thing she can be is at work (bc of course sexism). Not that she hates it. That she will be seen as even more worthless if people see her working (I kinda see that like shaving? Idk I like it, but ik a lot of ppl who feel like they should do it bc the alternative makes th gross to others). You can uh, sort of imagine where that would leave her mentally in a situation like this. So, good for the man for showing she shouldn’t have kept denying him! Now she learns her lesson! (/sarcasm) Ah, and then her cousin takes over her estate. She’s seen talking with another man too much (that I might not remember but wasn’t that ALSO HER COUSIN???) so her last suitor drops her. The main character is heartbroken because he “got over the bitch” by hearing what she spoke about him in a language she hoped he wouldn’t understand, one he was learning for her. So he doesn’t want her either. The cousin sents her off to a nunnery and the readers cheer that that young, bratty girl got what she deserved for saying ‘no’ repeatedly. Like yeah, she gave in at one point, but Stasiek was so pushy I think a rock would give up, let alone a financially desperate girl. And yeah, it’s rude to talk behind his back but what about how no one took her complaints seriously? How she wanted to speak her mind in private to her cousin without the man she was stuck with listening. And honestly, if you want to hate her for her flaws, go ahead. But please, please be mad, furious even at him as well. Because if she is bad, then no good deeds should outshine his evils. Not my kind of approach, but at least that will be a bit more fair to both

Now that my rant is over, what did I do to put her into Limbus?

I wanna play around with a few ideas here. Mainly, her familiar relationships. In canon her father isn’t all that great but she’s loyal to him. For my own reasons I’ll throw in some mother-related trauma because this is my self insert, so I can. Many people falsely say that the book’s title ‘the doll’ is about her. It’s a common misconception, though completely untrue. However, I will definitely be playing around with that, as it might get on well with the themes that are already present. Those would be the loss of bodily autonomy and being dehumanised. She’s a Pavlov’s dog reimagined, a canine in a lab, who’s most desired when hooked up to machinery and obedient. With men gathered around, she performs all the steps of the routine she was trained for and any silly, feminine escapism is something she is mocked for by the older men observing. I will play it up for Limbus (because that setting kinda requires it) but I won’t have to do much. I wanna play around with her city being canonically vile and her desperately trying not to get to the financial point of having to interact with it, only to then fail. The gloves she wears are a meme in Poland at this point, so I’m keeping them. But, in the fashion in which the author treated her, I will do only one thing he might have approved of, which is adding to her misery. After she lost her home I believe her hands, still made of flesh (which is not the case for a chunk of her body as you can see) would also get scarred, a remained of a man she once tried to escape. With her parent being happy to do anything, even if it impaired her autonomy, to keep his canon gambling habit alive, I think her being made into a doll falls in line with canon. Not only is the world portrayed in Limbus intense, but even in canon she lives surrounded by inventors and great scientists, looking for opportunities to test their theories and improve everything. The last thing is that statue and her fascination with it that I want to underline. I have to make those selfship parallels work and an image of an attractive person that serves as a reminder of her humanity and dreams/goals is too canon to pass it up

This is not the last time I’m ranting about her but this is all for now 🐶🌸

[proustianlesbian]

*i forgot to do my reviews for ep 3 and 4 of ft during both weeks smh.

episode 3 : very sweet vacation at the see also i was not aware of the joseph mccarthy and roy cohn gay allegations (not together). chokbar de bz like we say in french.

[insert here abby lee miller looking around her gif].*

diversity wins i guess, the anticommunist prosecutor who ruined so many lives is jewish AND gay. like tbh i didn't know at all because it wasn't written on his wikipedia french bio (but him bringing his mom to parties was though). like i thought the jokes about him and schine were just because theses environnement are full of men. i love the lightning on this show but it really stroke me during the scene where marcus walks in the alley at night. the costumes are so beautiful, i love the cuts of their suits.

*episode 4 : loved the christmas episode too. i knew mary's colleague was plotting something since episode one's ending. but also i'm scared for 80s timeline tim :(*

i love the actor of roy cohn also. like he's serving. serving conservative homophobic self-hating jewish but serving nonetheless (i'm not a irl roy cohn stan btw, will brill just absolutely serves as him). it was so sweet seeing tim and hawk being happy though (especially as i write those lines specifically right before the diffusion of the last episode). also small detail but it was interesting to see how even when the jewish person (here cohn) is on their side and does everything "right" to be accepted, people will still be antisemitic towards him (mccarthy and his wife).

episode 5 :

the scene of marcus and frankie on the bench ☹️☹️☹️ "i should have let him paint them red." killed me. i was so shocked by the death of senator smith though ??!! the scene where he looks at pictures with lucy was so sad in retrospect. also it's very funny seeing tim lurking around the mccarthy/cohn/schine trio. he's just a little guy. also lucy smith leave your husband and runaway with me !! i can make you happy queen ! she's so gorgeous and dresses so well i love her so much, and even more since this episode. i felt so sorry for her brother and how he gets no real help from anyone. and the last scene ☹️.

episode 6 :

lucy's outfits and hair are so gorgeous !! i really love what we saw her wearing in this episode's 1950s timeline, especially her baby blue and yellow dresses.

hawk being a daughter's father oh he's so real, kendall roy feminist icon coded to me.

the shot of tim in the police car with the back window showing hawk on the road is SICK. like i felt a pain in the heart. and i loved the last shot of hawk hugging jackson.

i kinda wish there was an episode in between 5 and 6 but at the same time it makes sense. we just didn't get used to hawk's children and had jackson for only one episode.

episode 7

an episode for the tim laughlin lesbian fans for real !! it broke my heart for the romance part but i could learn some things about harvey milk ! i'm not american so i didn't know he was murdered (or didn't remember it) but i read on wikipedia that he was jewish too ! i really love the costumes of the 70s, they're all so beautiful and fitting for the characters :'). i love all the small details in the sets and decorations, each of the era have a unique vibe ! i'm absolutely terrified for tomorrow's episode, i'm not ready to see them go at all !!

[ikosburneraccount]

I’m the anon from earlier, thanks for correcting your mistake. I understand you didn’t realize what happened but the fact that you owned up to it means a lot because most blogs would’ve blocked me out of cowardice. It’s nice to see someone else standing up against the racism in this fandom especially from big blogs like IS (who really butchers asian culture in her writing, btw, idk why we’re letting yt people write fanfic in this fandom.) i’ve been in fandom spaces for 10 years now and as far as racism goes TLC is by far the worst considering most people still don’t even accept that the MC is asian. I’ve hated TS for years for her casual racism and the white supremacy themes/narrative implicit in her music and the fact that this fandom idolizes her is disappointing, but not surprising. No, Cinder would not listen to a deeply bigoted woman who openly and unapologetically condones violence against black women and hates jewish people. TS is more like Levana than any other tlc character. Anyways thank you again for taking me srsly and correcting your mistake.

OFC ANON!!!! Your ask was so informative and held me accountable (and let me know that some Swiftie blogs could still engage with my posts without my knowledge/consent). I will definitely be moving forward differently because of your ask, thank you so so so much <3

I don't block anons but I do delete anon hate from Swifties. And I KNOW the Tumblr culture that you're talking about, I've also been here for a while (10 years now). But I want to subvert that culture with my blog and with how I respond to my asks. I would rather take the time to respond and explain than be reactive, because 1) being reactive doesn't reflect well on me and the point I'm trying to make and 2) Engaging with anons with a thoughtful response makes them feel respected and validated regardless if we agree or not. I never want people to feel stupid, ignorant, or dumb by my responses, and that is never my intention as well.

Thank you for acknowledging and feeling the same way about the fandom racism. I do feel a bit isolated and lonely sometimes knowing a majority of the fandom are TS fans, but I remember that I would rather get 0 interactions on a post then engage with racists. And anons like you only validate my point that I'm not the only person who feels this way, I'm just the most vocal. I'm genuinely happy you feel seen and heard and feel this blog is a safe space to talk about fandom racism, because I do want people to ultimately feel safe as TLC fans of color to come and talk to me about how they feel. Despite being a small fandom, we still need safe spaces like this as we, tlc fans of color, can feel/have felt alienated by the overwhelming white presence of this fandom.

(And I think it speaks for itself when, after I blocked all swifties following my page, a majority of people who still follow me are other people of color.)

Talking about TS means talking about racism and people seem to elide the fact that I am hurt by their continued support for TS. Like that's the main point of racism, you're engaging in a power dynamic that reinforces the marginalize and violence towards marginalized and exploited communities. People don't understand that being born as and existing as a person of color is a political statement that we cannot evade but actively informs and filters our lives. And when people engage with open racists like TS, it reinforces the marginalization of people of color.

TLC racism is on a different level, but then again, this is the same fandom that where cresswell, a relationship between a 16 and 20 y/o is its second biggest ship :/ Like clearly people don't care about anyone they hurt as long as they can ship their faves. And yes, the race wars when it comes to Cinder racial/ethnic background are INSANE. It really has to do with the fact that a majority of white women see Y/A heroines as their self insert so Cinder not being white disrupts this assumptions and it's the same reason Cress is so popular. I was active in the TLC fandom back in 2014-16 and there was so much discourse about Cresswell (p*d* ship discourse) and about Cinder's race/ethnicity. I 100% agree with you that TLC fandom is one of the WORST fandoms in YA because of their extreme racism towards the Cinder and other main characters (the way I tear up when I see Black!Annabeth fan art being celebrated...why can't people here act correctly sometimes 😭).

I thought IS is Asian(Chinese)-Australian? Please correct me if I'm wrong though, I was just under this impression from how they responded to asks on their blog. If they're actually not Asian/Chinese-Australian I'm actually even more disgusted with their fanfiction now. But it also explains a lot.

"I’ve hated TS for years for her casual racism and the white supremacy themes/narrative implicit in her music and the fact that this fandom idolizes her is disappointing, but not surprising."

Anon you have NO idea how much I want to be your friend right now. YOU PUT HOW I FEEL PERFECTLY INTO WORDS. This is the EXACT issue I have with TS and why she attracts such racist, bigoted fans while still appealing to her liberal fanbase. She encodes her music with white supremacist messaging and simultaneously posits herself as liberal by perverting feminist ideology to deflect accountability for the harm she's caused. She is the PERFECT white woman because she straddles the apolitical white line to maximize her (white) fanbase. She's an evil person but a commercial and marketing genius, and because white supremacy reinforces the paradigm that wealth equates to good moral character, TS is consistently defended as a good person when she literally isn't. At all.

So that's why my original response to your ask was really weird because I couldn't tell if you were pro/anti-TS but still answered anyways just in case, you know? I'm glad to know that you aren't pro-TS and there are other people recognize the racist and white supremacist undertones of her music.

"No, Cinder would not listen to a deeply bigoted woman who openly and unapologetically condones violence against black women and hates jewish people."

If TS existed in the third era she would be bigoted towards cyborgs and lunars, point blank period. People thinking the TLC main characters would be swifties or love TS is 100% a projection of their whiteness (or delusional, or both) and basic misunderstanding of how PoC face and deal with overwhelmingly popular racist white artists. Also, I have so many thoughts on calling the Lunar people "the Lunar race" in both canon and fandom. That's definitely MM's whiteness not fully understanding how race is constructed and her white vision of a post-racial futuristic society. I could speak about that for hours (but that isn't the purpose of this post).

Also you aren't being dramatic with the TS Levana comparison. That's spot on: she literally manipulates people with her victim narrative despite being 33 years old and is able to make people forget the harm she causes with the amount of content she produces. TS since her debut has never taken direct accountability for her racist actions (like the antisemitic 2009 MTV photo where she poses with a guy wearing a swatstika t-shirt and her PR team justified the photo as her "not knowing." She was FIFTEEN).

I can literally write a completely separate post linking every single article by topic of all the racist and suspicious actions she's done and taken both as an artist and person, but this is a TLC blog and I want to focus on TLC content first. This isn't a dig towards you, nanny; this is just me saying I cannot be 100% responsible for educating people on TS racism, because it is a lot of emotional and time-intensive labor.

I hope this post makes sense. This was super heavy and took me a couple hours to write because you brought up so many brilliant points and I wanted to breakdown a proper response. Seriously, this has been my favorite ask so far. Anon, you are now my friend!

[that-thing-that-feeling]

So Shawn really said he related to Steve the most. Interesting.

What I find funny is that there’s still certain subsets of stans that genuinely act like Jonathan is nothing but a self-insert and is therefore just SO privileged as a character… when he’s literally one of the most sidelined and underwritten mains of the show. While Steve gets like so much screentime in comparison and a lion’s share of the marketing and content and recognition.

Like you’re telling me that Jonathan “gets antagonized every season and not listed on the Netflix tudum” Byers is the obvious Creator’s Pet and not Steve “gets his own Wikipedia page and a massive ‘protect Steve’ billboard” Harrington isn’t. I wasnt even a stan of anyone, let alone a Jonathan stan, starting the series five years ago but I still noticed this disparity in treatment. Lol

I have loved and enjoyed Steve as a character where he fits in the show, but the cognitive dissonance from his fans is so annoying. Even if he’s as prone to poor and shallow writing as much as the rest of the mains (and I feel for him just as much as the others in that sense), he still has it easier than half the main characters, maybe more, and he likely always will.

Which is fine and dandy, but makes it all the more obnoxious when I see people who would throw other characters under the bus to always put him in the better light no matter what, or people who act like Steve is just SO hated by the writers—at least the writers remember him as a character. Jonathan is what, hanging on by the skin of his teeth? Considering his most lauded moment of the season was apparently only conjured as a lucky afterthought of the writers in the middle of filming.

If you ask me, Steve seems like he’s one of the most traditionally heroic-protagonist type of characters and treated as such outside the show. He is set up perfectly for escapism, he’s given all these fanservicey and heroic moments, and for that I can understand why people are led to root for Steve (the writers even admitted writing S2 Nancy this way, to boot) and hell, I would go so far as to say they want to be Steve.

But then you have the Byers, who especially in S1, feel rooted in the kinds of realistic and depressing situations people would want to escape from, even if you take away all the supernatural elements. And you’d think they’re just as subject to the same “underdog” treatment that Steve gets, but then you get people—in 2023, mind you—who are antagonizing them (which reeks of classism btw; “Joyce is a bad mom compared to Karen”, “Jonathan is selfish for worrying about his college issues and just wants a sympathy card lying to Nancy”, “Will is too much of a crybaby who hasnt been through as much as X person”) coupled with the way they are sidelined in the show. Just annoying treatment all around. I do hope S5 fares better compared to the past two seasons, but most of my expectations are on the wrapping up of the supernatural plot at this point.

Yeah the whole Jonathan as a self insert thing makes little sense when they’ve totally underwritten and sidelined him; it’s always a way people try to hate on Jonathan as a character for shipping reasons usually.

And agreed there’s a clear disparity in how Steve is treated and given heroic moments and a lot of screentime. But I still think his writing isn’t as good as it should have been bc once they landed on the popular thing with him, they backed away from all other layers (note this interview from between s2 and s3):

Also a lot of their sympathy/empathy in s2 is all around him and they clearly see him as a victim (of Nancy smh, of “circumstance”???) and have tried to erase his privilege:

Here’s the original thing on Shawn being like Steve and the Duffers relating to Mike (from July 2016, and idk why there’s weird formatting):

The irony though that Shawn talks about Jonathan and Steve co-existing and collaborating (like Shawn and the Duffers?) and then Jonathan and Steve basically never spoke again SMH

I also agree with you w the Byers and classicism; you def see that with fans in how they view them and I wonder w the sidelining on the show. Anyhow it’s baffling to have so sidelined the Byers. I think it’s as they moved away from more realism into what was just funny and popular and memeable.

[sammygender]

long post below be warned

i dislike the way in some feminist circles—and in this particular instance, this means a Guardian review of Barbie, so it’s not even a feminist circle, but i see it a lot while hate-stalking radfems and i hear it a lot in conversation—every little fucked up psychological trait people do, if the person talking about it is a woman, is attributed to womanhood. ‘i am a woman and to exist as a woman is horrific under the patriarchy (true!) and therefore i do this messed-up thing (insert statement).’ and when starting to think about this i said this: i do not know if my dislike of this phenomenon is because it’s true, and it makes me feel weird to think about it because i am a trans man, or because it’s not true, and it feels weird that people attribute human things to Women things (or woman-socialised, non-cis-men, anything that woke people use as a buzzword when they mean ‘woman and anyone i see as a woman’) and act like non cis men have some unique capacity for empathy that cis men/men (differing people will have their own opinions on trans men, and obviously the terfs just think it’s afabs, but i’ll go at this from a perspective where i ignore them) don’t have.

or, rather, i said: i’m sure it is true, for some people, that womanhood has been so traumatising for them that they developed defence mechanisms, but i would argue that is a result of trauma that happens to be gendered and not a thing every woman does & not a thing only women do. & i don’t know if i’m being weird and picky and potentially antagonistic in not LOVING this phenomenon, or whether i’m simply aware of gender essentialism. bc it’s not nice to police how people talk about their oppression. but it also just… feels overly simplified.

FOR EXAMPLE. some of this is because i am a trans man, and it’s horrible to think that my intense, cyclical self-awareness of ‘so i’m doing this, but i KNOW i’m doing this, so it’s okay that i’m doing this!’ is because i was raised as a woman. and that starts to feel like it could be true, because i do have experience of being a girl within me, and who am i to say that this complex, a result of constantly feeling Annoying and like the only way to break that cycle of being Annoying is to be Aware of being annoying because somehow that makes it better, ISN’T because of that? when you actually think about it, though, this feels… silly. how in any way is this an experience unique to women? maybe that they are taught to police themselves and their looks and their everything - true. maybe that leads to that experience of needing to be too self aware. and i see how someone could recognise this trait within them and go This must be because i’m a woman but. it’s like very much a trait i can see in men just as much, just as often, and i think we need to hesitate before ascribing experiences precisely to genders and gender roles we inhabit. first time i ever saw this feeling of irony-piled self-awareness properly expressed was in fucking homestuck, the striders, at one point bo burnham’s 2021 special inside articulated it well. when i read homestuck as a transmasculine 13 year old it felt vaguely like a ‘guy experience’, mostly because i wanted it to be. now i often see this voiced as ‘girl-coded’, something every woman experiences, often paired with poems about making sure you’re always aware of how you’re perceived. but it’s the same damn thing, maybe slightly occasionally different, but same thing. gendered socialisation fucks you up, yeah. women get it worse because they’re oppressed, yeah, but the whole concept of gender enforced into a child is traumatic.

anyway one day ill write an essay on this. & fandom reception. stuff like ‘eldest daughter syndrome’, traits that are seen as inherently gendered but just Aren’t always. it’s always a simplified take.

this goes both ways BTW i’m talking about the problem in feminism bc i am a feminist. but it happens everywhere. one of the most glaringly annoying examples is the idea that ‘men can’t express emotions’. like yes, that is true (to an extent) that men are seen often as weak if they cry! it is ALSO true that, historically, women have been legitimately locked in insane asylums for having feelings and wants more complicated than serve husband and make food for child. it is also true that if a woman shows emotion in front of a man, very often she gets easily dismissed as insane or hysterical. arguably this problem is worse for women because women are like actually oppressed.

and it’s interesting because this leads us to a conclusion - that just you can say ‘i repress my emotions because i’m a man and have been punished for expressing them, in a uniquely gendered way’, you can say ‘i repress my emotions because i’m a woman and i have been punished for expressing them, in a uniquely gendered way’. to go with my previous example - you can say ‘i’m ironically self-aware because i’m a guy and not meant to feel emotions genuinely’. true, this is a thing men are taught because they’re men. you can say ‘i’m ironically self-aware because as a woman i’ve always been mocked for being genuine.’ true, this is a thing that happens to women because they’re women.

anyway. until we get past just designating things and experiences as ONLY for certain genders, we will never get free of gendered oppression/misogyny bc it’s innate to this obsession with gender as 2 binary polar opposites. there’s commonalities, yes, but nothing unique about female or male ‘socialisation’ and you don’t necessarily have more in common with someone the same gender as you just as you don’t necessarily have more in common with someone the same race or the same age - you have SOMETHING in common, but not everything. & it’s weird to presume you do

[fenrir-wolf-of-gotham]

1, 2, and 3 of the Proship Mutual ask game!

Thanks for the ask!

1. Ok so, for me, proshipping was an inevitability. I first started shipping characters before I even knew what shipping was. My first ship was when I was 7 and watching Ben 10.

I distinctly remember watching the episode where Ben gets a crush on Kai, Kai treats him like shit, and Gwen says, “you can’t talk to my cousin like that! Only I can talk to my cousin like that!” and little young me just thought, that’s not how cousins talk about each other. This is not a platonic familial relationship that I’m watching. But I didn’t know that I shipped them, I just knew that their interactions felt like two characters who definitely liked each other pretending not to because they didn’t want to admit it to themselves (now I’m a massive Bwen shipper). Then I was completely anti-shipping (not an anti shipper mind you, I was against the practice of shipping) but then I got a Tumblr account and watched Invader Zim and saw Zim and Gaz.

I then made this meme:

Which I think speaks for itself.

I was never really an anti. I think I just found the proship community immediately after I started shipping because I was into all these niche "problematic" ships, see: Barbara Gordon x Bruce Wayne, Ahsoka Tano x Anakin Skywalker, Azula x Zuko, etc (it also didn't hurt that I actually came to like the cringe I felt from seeing a squicky ship I didn't like. That's how I started shipping Anisoka).

2. I'm actually not sure what exactly got me into Selfshipping. My memories on that are much foggier than my memories on my inevitable ascension into proshipping. I think from what I can remember that I saw Cass in Wayne Family Adventures and immediately thought, "oh she is the cutest most handsome woman I have ever seen," then I started shipping Jason and Cass because I didn't know that much about Cass and felt like Jason Todd was the character I most related to. At some point that fell by the wayside and I started hating Cass because "the Batfamily is getting too big. I wish they had kept it with just Bruce, Barbara, Dick, Jason, and Tim!" but then I grew out of that as I started to learn more about Cass. I think by this point I was aware that people shipped themselves with characters instead of using canon proxies (you were one of the people who made me realize this was a thing btw so thanks for that) which, I mean, I knew people did that but I wasn't aware of all the terminology and substance behind it beyond just the stereotype of young writers making self insert fanfiction to kiss their favorite character. So I started selfshipping with Cassandra Cain privately but not as intensely as I do now. Then I started seeing StephCass stuff all the time in her tag and got upset about that but I came up with the solution of making Cass, Steph, and myself a polycule. Then I made this blog and, as I learned about Steph, I fell in love with her too.

So that's my selfshipping biography. Never been happier with my F/Os.

3. Cass is my oldest F/O but if you want to get technical, she's not the first character I ever considered myself to have a connection with.

Ok so now we have to talk about the longest writing project I never wrote down.

It was this massive story that featured all my favorite stuff that I wrote in my head from when I was 7 to when I was 17. It was a decade of stories I never wrote down and I had a self insert which I shipped other characters with.

The first character I shipped him with was Sunset Shimmer from MLP: Equestria High (her human form for the record). Then I shipped him with Abigail from Stardew Valley, there was a Gardevoir in there at one point, and I think there was 1 more but I don't think anyone would recognize her as a character.

Then it got a bit sad. Ironically this was during the happiest time of my life but the character himself had evolved to the point he was no longer a self insert.

If anyone wants me to, I will gladly go into depth on this story. @andreamland already knows what's up with this overly long word vomit of moderately embarrassing cringe that will take approximately 7 paragraphs minimum but, to quote Brennan Lee Mulligan, "there is no corner of my heart that i won't turn over for 5 points," with the 5 points in this case being friendship points with mutuals.

[bubblegum-and-ciggarettes]

“I Am Not Starfire” Review

I would like to preface this by saying these are my own opinions and you are allowed to like/dislike this comic:)))

Okay, first off I’m getting straight to the point in that I did not like this graphic novel. The art and colors were nice and some of the concepts were good, but it was poorly executed and on the line of being harmful.

No, I do not mean “sjw” harmful in which the majority of backlash for this graphic novel came from. I don’t care that Mandy(Stars daughter) is a lesbian. And I don’t care that she’s overweight. In fact, I applaud the comic for at least not mentioning anything wrong with being lgbt and barely mentioning the fact that Mandy is overweight.

We need to learn that yes, addressing things like homophobia, racism, body shaming, sexism is an issue, but we need to normalize it in media and speak out about it in person. Even if catcalling, rape, homophobia is depicted as wrong in a comic, it still fuels that hatred from those people instead of normalizing these things. Hence why being called straight and white are “normal” to those hateful people. (Which I don’t agree with obviously.)

And on that note, THAT is why this comic is harmful. Not ONLY is Star slut shamed by her own daughter, who, btw, rags on Star not liking her appearance even though Star literally has not said anything about it and is supportive of her, but she’s also talked about how hot she is by other students/people in a degrading manner.

There’s nothing wrong with being sexy, but this comic both insults Star for being sexy while also tries to show being objectified is wrong bc the people who do so are assholes. You can call a character pretty without having at least one male character shout something gross, which leads back to my whole normalizing argument.

It is harmful for Mandy, the main character we’re supposed to be rooting for, to shame her own mother for dressing how she likes, and then complains her mother doesn’t like how she looks or acts. Which??? Star doesn’t??? She never says anything about Mandys weight, hair, attitude, or grades except for the fight about Mandy walking out of the SAT.

That’s not okay. You can’t have a character wanting to be excepted for who she is while hating on everyone else.

She literally has the “I’m not like other girls” attitude and that is the best way to describe it.

Probably doesn’t help she was made practically as a self insert by a woman who clearly doesn’t know how teenagers work and was cast aside during her high school years.

I mean, seriously? Having two popular kids be mean and talk about leggings and carbs while their most popular friend rolls their eyes? Which 2000 teen movie is this one from? And like, leggings have been in style for a while now. LuLu Lemon leggings? Ever heard of them? Literally every popular so called “basic” girl has them?

What would’ve been cool is to see Mandy grow out of her “I hate girls faze”, which, is a thing most girls go through in middle school/high school until they learn slut shaming isn’t okay. That would’ve been a nice way to reconcile with her mother. The realization that “oh shit I’ve been hating my mother because of what OTHER people think and say about her. I’ve been shaming her in my head for wearing “revealing” clothes because I’m mad at how other people flock to her while I’m an outcast.” Would’ve been way better.

And the whole Blackfire thing was super rushed, and brings more questions. Why didn’t Star just fight her? She clearly can. Star would never let Blackfire hurt anyone, let alone her daughter. And what’s the point of Mandy complaining shes different and won’t live up to expectations of the PEOPLE AROUND HER not her mother, if she does in the end? She didn’t NEED to get powers, even though it was pretty obvious she would. And it would’ve tied up the story nicely if she didn’t. Hell, Star doesn’t even WANT her to be a hero.

Lastly, the love interest. She was sweet, kind, popular, and accepting. Everything Star is. I thought maybe this graphic novel would have a part where Mandy is upset because she feels Star likes her crush as a better daughter than her, but, no. She’s just a sweet girl who’s way too good for Mandy. Their whole conflict was bc she posted a picture of her with the Titans, when it was established she always posts pictures of her face and is seemed to be outgoing. And she did it because of a dare? Like literally nothing was her own fault. And even if it was, she met a bunch of heroes. Who wouldn’t take a picture with them and post it?

Mandy should’ve seen her taking the photo right? So why didn’t she just say “hey please don’t post that right now?”

Also there’s the whole mystery of her father. Which both slightly slut shames Kori because of the possibilities but at the same time heavily implies Dick is her father. Why Dick wouldn’t stay with his own daughter or let her know? Idk.

In conclusion, this comic was very bad. Not because of Mandys appearance and sexual orientation, but because of her character. Her whole thing is “I’m not like other girls”, “it’s not a phase mom”, and “you just don’t understand me.” That’s the best way to sum up her character. Star was so sweet while she was bratty. Her love interest was like a mini Star who she loved even though they have the same personality and everything. Mandy never really learned anything until Star was presumed dead/badly injured by Blackfire. Mandy was rude, slut shamed Star, and was written by someone who doesn’t understand high school and hates the “popular” kids. Lovely art and colors, shitty writing and concepts.

Overall rating: 1/10. I really did not like this comic. Dick was the best part for me which I hope says a lot.

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. wait is arion a human or horse in this comic

From OP: Horse.

2. rachel is really outdoing herself by not just ripping off hercules, but sleeping beauty too. she also got mad people noticed a lot of elements seemed straight ripped from frozen as well awhile back, and obvs the fifty shades rip offs are too obvious to ignore. i realize yes a lot of stories will share tropes and all, but not directly ripped plots like rachel is doing. that's so unprofessional and just lazy.

3. if hera and zeus have to lock away their own child for the sake of making sure persephone stays the pure precious bean she is and is never be ~badly influenced~ by her then thats absolutely insane. was it really too much to let persephone, THE DREAD QUEEN, have any complexity that rachel has resorted to throwing ANOTHER woman under the bus than let her self insert have even one flaw or even choice in the story? how does she keep making up the worst possible options for any of this?

4. Lowkey kinda hate how long it took for a real moment for Hera Hestia and Demeter to be together as sisters. Hera set up Persephone and hades knowing Damn well Hestia and Demeter made her a Candidate for TOGeM. Other than staying a Virgin forever and having temples idk what TOGeM actually does. Like we know why Demeter wants her daughter as a memeber but what’s the actual functionality of the group. Hera just seems like a bad friend/sister for setting up her friends daughter with an older guy just because she felt bad for using that guy as a bad up when he marriage gets bad.

Don’t get me wrong the other cast members suck I’m just singling out Hera right now for her involvement in the plot so far 

5. FP mention

///

Btw the fact that Persephone looks like a teenager for the rest of her life and that she was blessed with beauty TWICE is REALLY fucked up. Like what Rachel wants to say???? That teenage girls are the most attractive??? And we shouldn't blame grown-ass men who wants to date them bc they're so much prettier than grown women??? I really don't understand. Or her double-beauty means that her tits are bigger from everyone else's?? Bc apart from that I don't get why Persephone should be more beautiful than Aphrodite(who tbh also looks terrible here Rachel spares no one with her ugly-ass style) when she's literally looks like a kid.

6. I honestly hope there's a major shakeup at WT (hopefully while RS is on her break) and they adopt a longer break between episodes so not only are they allowed more time to focus on the story but the art as well, but also an overhaul in the payment + benefit system. So many of the creators, even the popular ones, are struggling with horrible hours and no benefits, despite making the company millions. Hell, let them unionize. That would be a huge win and draw for new, better talent to want in too.

7. nah nope those fp spoilers better be fake because thats legit too stupid to be true. like we already know rachel is a shit writer but thats just so bad on so many levels. we know her editor is not getting through to her because they literally have a degree in writing and you know theyd pop a blood vessel over any of this. they must only post the episodes for her because that legit wouldnt pass anyone with two brain cells.hooooly shit.

8. Even beyond how creepy it is Hades refers to Persephone as "Little Goddess"/"Kore" (🤢) it's also so patronizing? Sorry, I don't care how hot Persephone finds him or how meek RS forced her to be, any self respecting woman, no matter how young, wouldn't stand for being disrespected, belittled, and treated like that. Maybe RS can try and excuse it that Persephone IS that young to warrant the comments, but that just brings up the question of why Hades lusting after someone he sees as a child 🤔

9. the funniest part about rachel insisting persephone is the most beautiful goddess ever is that one) ok?? why would that matter?? but also two) every woman looks so carbon copied (minus athena) that even dedicated fans cant tell them apart so that doubly doesnt matter?? like then every woman is the twice blessed over with beauty because none of them look different from each other. idk the whole thing just screams 14 year old's first fanfic over a published comic by a woman pushing 40💀

10. Can someone tell me if Minthe has depth or not and explain why….Cause, I’m arguing with these fans and they’re getting a lil too confident 😑☹️ 

From OP: Kinda?? Like, most of the characters in LO aren’t very deep. So, Minthe having more to her than just “evil love rival/bitter ex” and having BPD can be seen as adding depth to her character. She is very morally grey antagonist and many people tend sympathize with her at times, even if they don’t like her. Someone else can probably elaborate more than I can.

[hereathemoment]

This is really interesting to read because it emphasizes how often sjm BLATANTLY self-inserts into her books. She doesn’t relate to Nesta. That’s why Feysand were still a major component of acosf and why is was dual-pov. She had a baby, Feyre had a baby. Feysand is based off her marriage. Nessian was torpedoed because she can’t fathom any of the characters she likes (Cassian) siding against her baby boy rhysand. Nesta MUST be broken and rebuilt in the IC’s image because she was never going to acknowledge the merit Nesta’s objections to the night court have. The majority of Rhys’s court hates him but he “deserves” to be high king? Nesta is only a tool to sjm that bolsters rhysand’s further rise to power. She was given powers to help during the war. She couldn’t train them or use them or god forbid leave the court, but don’t worry she made special baddie weapons before her power was taken from her. She’s always had retcon in her books but acosf was just a genuinely bad idea because she’s already self-inserted into Feyre and she doesn’t have the capacity to maintain character consistency without writing about herself and the developments in her life. I’ve said this before, but right off the bat it is was out of character for Nesta to binge drink and live in the slums after the war. Why do the female characters need to be at their lowest and be “saved” by the male leads to be worth something? I felt the same way when celaena dumped choal and met rowan when she was drunk on a rooftop— the end of the last book seemed to set up a motivation and plot that the proceeding book completely disregarded. The same happened when Nessian almost died together and then in the next book weren’t on speaking terms. Even in acofas the very end has Nesta going to the Illyrian mountains with Cassian and then acosf comes out and that never happened. This got derailed but basically sjm never liked Nesta, her having power was only for how convenient it was for true war and her character was only used as a device to show rhysands loyalty to Feyre (kicking anyone who “hurts” her). And when sjm tried to put herself in Nesta’s head, immediately she was like “oh, well she MUST hate herself and think herself unworthy of love otherwise she would bow and grovel and kiss the ground Rhsyand walks on— which was the ending of acosf btw. But in all seriousness Rhsyand had more screen time in what is supposedly Nesta’s book than Feyre and Feyre and her relationship is the one that’s constantly put on the rocks to “put Nesta in her place” so it’s just weird Feyre was just a baby maker and party host in a book that branches off of Feyre’s story

stans are actually very funny bc they often time talk themselves into the weirdest corners.

the whole point of criticizing acosf and its handling of nesta's character is to prove the point that sjm...doesn't like nesta as a character. that's is literally THE point - that sjm often abandons her moral themes (abuse, trauma, assault, etc.,) for character's deemed as undesirable or villainous to a capacity - and its through the handling of those 'vilified' (i.e. main character opposed - not even villianous) that we can gauge the extent to which sjm actually believes the ideals of her story. like - it is alarming that the only tolerable, empathetic parts of the a court of silver flames were the moments you could tell where ripped straight from sjm's own life (the hiking, training, mind-stilling etc.,). any actual characteristics about nesta weren't explored...like at all. her relationship with feyre and elain, with her mother, her trauma from her sexual assault, her conflicted relationship with her grandmother, her life before the cabin, her life during the cabin. in 800 pages - i still don't know mama archeron's name. what was life like in the cabin? what did nesta do all day? what was the dynamic? what was going on between elain and nesta?i don't know anything about her and nesta, we don't know anything about nesta's human life, her conversation with clare bedor, her relationship with clare beddor, moments with her dad - not even touching moments with him (and part of this story is her finding love for her dad). mind you we read 800+ pages and we learned absolutely nothing about her.

we essentially read sjm's emotional journey in one part, and a taming of the shrew narrative in another. i think the only way sjm had genuine interest in exploring nesta's story is through essentially self-inserting herself and avoiding the actual plot-points she set up in the first three books. like did nesta have childhood friends? if losing the wealth so drastically affected her life wouldn't she reminisce about it a lot? would she yearn for her mother? who were her childhood friends, how did she function at court?

and the whole point of saying alll of that is to argue the misuse of these topics - serious discussions abuse are only reserved for certain situation, and others its completely undermined in a way that only reinforces the negative ideals to begin with. (i.e. nesta needs to abused bc..." "the intervention was harsh but" - pair that with discussion around what feyre needed in acomaf - and it makes much more sense).

nesta antis often jump between the fact that nesta is so favored that sjm nerfed feysand to 'redeem her' and arguing that sjm secretly does everything in her power to embarrass and secretly laugh at people who like nesta's character. (1) we've gotta pick one or the other (2) in my humble opinion - sjm would have always given feyre a pregnancy plot like this regardless of whether this was nesta's book or elain. its literally so sjm. im shocked people are surprised she pulled the pregnancy as she did.

as with the tamlin discussion we had under this post - i think the story undermines its discussion of abuse with feyre/tam by essentially insinuating that tamlin (when placed in the same victimized position as feyre) should have sucked it up and braved out his abuse with amarantha (and the same with rhysand as well - esp with the deliberate foil of rhysand's 'willingness' v. tamlin's unwillingness). and when we start to have a real conversation ultilizing our own irl analysis and standards we really see how harmful and rather sisyphean the conversation becomes. instead of engaging with these topics earnestly, they only engage in them to prove a point - which is how the issue began in the first place. the whole issue with rhysand isn't the fact that he engages with harmful, potentially villainous positions. no - its that the book wants to prove that tamlin is wrong by justifying rhysand's actions. so even though rhysand and tamlin almost always have the same written and expressed intentions in their abuse of feyre, the book flocks to justify one, and eschews the other. and thats why we get so much reactionary critcism of rhys that is surface: people only admit the problems because they know antis will, not because they actually believe their are issues in the story.

and perhaps im still speaking into a void here but i can tell there's tension between pro stans wanting to have these serious conversations but understanding they can only really introspect so far until the conversation begin to prod at the validity of the topics being brought forth. so stans have to jump between invalidating the romantasy genre ("its just faeries") and treating this book as a serious topic (cue: "sjm put a hotline in the back of the book"). this is also the exact reason why the racism conversations stall (i.e. why inherent superiority is always passively emphasized - despite cc1 + 2 centering human oppresion there is no human in the ensemble cast. despite the fact that illyrian women are the most oppressed - rhys has no illyrian women - or reg illyrians (not his brothers) in his inner circle. aelin 'sacrificing' her human body).

[herofics]

Hi! I'm a little curious if you would write Sero, Iida, and Denki (separately) comforting their ftm s/o after being mis-gendered by the same person that just won't leave them alone (little bit of a self insert there)

Btw if you don’t know about @peterokii I recommend checking them out. They’ve got some very nice trans Sero and Todoroki art among others. I have older requests to do, but this seemed like a quick on to write so I just did it

~Kaminari Denki~

•Kaminari is threatening to fry them, because he hates to see you upset and he hates when people are asshats on purpose

•He isn’t a violent person by any means and he wouldn’t hurt anyone unnecessarily of course

•He does not for the life of him understand why some people have so little respect for people who differ from their definition of “normal”

•Kaminari loves you so much, and he would take all your hurt away if he could, but he can’t so he does his best to make you feel better

~Sero Hanta~

•Sero wants to give the person who upset you a piece of his mind, and maybe tape them to a wall and leave them there so they’ll learn their lesson

•Sero just hugs you and tells you that you can talk to him any time about anything

•He would probably actually go tape the person to a wall and leave a sign that says “asshole” on them or something like that

•You get all the comfort cuddles you want and he will make sure to make you feel valid and loved

•He hates seeing you upset, and he has a hard time understanding why people are so shitty about something like that

~Iida Tenya~

•Iida is a bit on the intimidating side, at least in my opinion so no one really messes with you when he’s around

•Anyway, when you meet him at lunch and you seem upset, he asks what’s wrong

•You tell him, trying to shrug it off, even though it obviously bothers you a lot

•Iida is pissed and asks if it’s the same person who’s been bothering you lately

•You tell him yes and he tells you he would like to have a little talk with them

•You don’t want to get anyone in trouble, even though misgendering someone on purpose is incredibly shitty, so you make him swear not to tell any teachers

•I feel like Iida giving someone a lecture is very effective, and I don’t think anyone would dare to bother you again after that

•He is very affirming of your gender identity in general and he loves you just as you are

•He will not let anyone get away with being mean to you, obviously he doesn’t go around beating people up, he just tells them how shitty they’re acting and they better not do it again

[sweetestpopcorn]

what are your reasons to love rhaenyra? don't get me wrong, i adore her as well. i just wonder what's your personal reasons, what made you love her? i believe our loved ones are kinda our reflections, that's why i'm asking it

Hi there! 🤗

Well, actually I don't have anything much in common with her X'D at least nothing that's worth a note or particularly relevant. I usually am also quite bothered if I see too much of myself in a character, especially things I don't like about myself. Or even if a character looks like me physically it usually bothers me and I can't get attached to them. I don't have any self-esteem issues btw, I am just not that interested in myself.

When I read or write about something I don't want it to be about me. I don't like characters because they are self-inserts. I neither like myself that much, nor think myself to be that interesting - sorry not sorry. When I read or write is to escape my every day life, not to live through a character. It's not about me in these moments. In these moments I forget about me, and I have other people to concern myself with. And if I write about X character is about X character (at least how I see them) not about me as X character - no hate about the self-insert genre but that is neither something I like, am interested, in or would ever read. Like boo, I don't care about you sorry. I care about X character. Same to me, I don't care about me right now, it's all about X character.

As to why I like Rhaenyra, I have petty reasons and deep reasons. I will start with the petty reasons first.

So, petty reasons why I like Rhaenyra:

She has the BEST name evah! Seriously, when I got in asoiaf like 10 years ago I remember checking the name of every Targaryen woman, and I immediately loved her because I loved her name so much. Yes, I am this petty. I will love a character just because I love their name and I will not love a character as much if I dislike their name. #sorrynotsorry

I love her dragon's name as well, Syrax, so f_cking cool!

She was called the Realm's Delight, like WOW. Just WOW. One of the coolest things anyone was called.

I remember reading TWOIAF book and going through the Targaryen family. Freaking everyone in there was married to their brother, and then Rhaenyra comes along and was married to her uncle instead. I thought that was like different so I stan.

Her portrait in TWOIAF.

She's a Targaryen.

She was baby Aegon's and Viserys's mama.

Now, actually legitimate reasons why I like Rhaenyra:

I love that she was the youngest person in her House (that we know of) who claimed a dragon (i.e., she was 7 years of age).

I love that she went through so much yet not even once victimized herself. She just kept on going. One of the most resilient characters in Fire and Blood hands down, who died cursing her brother instead of crying or begging.

I love that after everything she went through and all the pain she faced that in the end she "won".

I love her story in the sense that it is a true lesson of the price one pays for being born without a penis. Because don't be fooled, this was Rhaenyra's biggest crime: She was a woman.

I love how much of a romantic she was, how she never stopped loving her first love (i.e., Daemon).

I love how good of a mother she was.

I love that she told her father and his council to f_ck off, made her own decisions and slept with men she cared about (i.e, Daemon and Harwin), not the man they tried to force on her. She had balls and I really do appreciate this about her. I don't like dutiful characters, they irk me to no end.

I love how emotional she was, it makes her seem human. Very human.

I love that she, like Daemon, was a fine conneisseur in the art of not giving a f_ck.

Her relationship with Daemon.

The fact that she was the only Queen in her own right of House Targaryen.

The fact that she was traditionally very feminine (e.g., vain, romantic...) despite having a very masculine role in society and living surrounded by men.

I feel very sorry for her and for how lonely she was for so long. There is a real irony in her in the sense that she was the most desired women of the kingdoms yet she was given to a man who did not desired her.

She didn't try to make herself seem something she wasn't; she didn't hide who she was.

She's very unique. No other character was like her.

All in all, I find the character of Rhaenyra very amusing in all of her different characteristics. Both Daemon and her evoke in me the feeling of "Who are you people?!" and "What's wrong with people?!" which I find very entertaining in fiction.

Rhaenyra's human, complex. Her story is very bitter with a pang of sweetness, and I really do appreciate this. And a character like her should resonate with every woman out there, because again, she is the perfect example of someone who is villainized because of her sex, both in the story and in fandom, since people's critical thinking capacities when reading about her are so (SO) limited. But you know "intellectuals" will "intellect", and most men won't be able to see past their prejudices to understand her. She is without a doubt one of the most villinized characters of Fire and Blood and the fact that people sleep on this is... well actually not at all surprising in a fandom where *insert word of choice here* can't even understand Daenerys like 🤦‍♀️ I am tired. Many people should just stick to Disney imo, but hey free country.

So in sum, no, I don't like her because I identify with her. I like her because she has a cool name, is amusing, feels very real, and has a very cool story.

Much love to you ❤

[houseofglass]

Hmmm, this spn prequel seems to have ruffled a lot of different feathers. My dash has provided me with Jared hate, Jensen hate, confused tinhats, and even a splash of Cockles/Destiel opinions.

Here’s my take. Spoiler alert: unpopular opinions ahead. I’m not linking anything because I’m in the middle of an unprecedented heatwave and I don’t feel like finding all the sources. Do your own research. Or not. Whatever. I just want to get this all out as coherently as possible. Here we go:

From the beginning, Jensen has been a professional. He didn’t let the drama on Dark Angel get to him and he’s said that he actively avoided having that same drama on the set of spn. He’s known as One-Take-Ackles because he brings his A-game every time.

Jared liked to mess around on set. Take after take after take after take. There was reddit post about how the crew would be working 13 (?) hours to get everything set up and still had six hours of teardown to do and then bam! actors messing about and making the day longer. Like, just say your lines dude. Anyway. Jared liked wresting, getting others to break, and pranking. I think he even pranked Misha by ruining his car more than once. Not cool, IMO.

J2 had a massive fight on set in season two. I recall it being about Jared egging Jensen on to fight but Jensen just stared him down until Jared left the set. They made up and agreed to never do that again as it promotes a bad workplace. Keep your shit contained, kind of thing.

But Jared didn’t, not really. One incident in particular is the wrestling with Osric Chau. Osric is a trained fighter and Jared was apparently going to slam him into the concrete. I repeat, into concrete. Osric dislocated Jared’s shoulder as a result. Jared still didn’t back off and Osric dislocated it again, this time Jared needed surgery and rehab. The wrestling finally stopped.

In all of this, J2 became good friends. I, personally, believe they started messing around sexually right after they auditioned for the parts and then got serious early on. They lived together, and Jared had his first breakdown immediately before announcing his engagement to Gen.

J2 are a good match. Jensen grounds Jared and Jared helps Jensen to be more outgoing while ‘on’ outside the set. Jensen seemed reserved and shy before Jared and was more confident and comfortable with Jared by his side. Jared can spin almost out of control and Jensen helps keep his feet on the ground. They also have an energy that’s been described as lightning in a bottle.

Fast forward a whole bunch of years. They’re still on the same show but have other interests. Each of them ensures that the other has the spotlight in turn. When one has a project, the other is quiet on social media so the focus won’t be taken away. They tell each other everything, as evidenced early on when PR and managers tried to play one off the other. They simply didn’t allow that to happen. Nope. Instead, they stepped back so one could shine. Jared opens a bar and Jensen is supportive. Jensen opens a brewery and Jared is supportive.

During all of this, they still perform at cons for fans. For a while, near the end of spn, I noticed Jensen seemed to be drunk/drinking often. He had a flask while getting a tattoo, he was spotted with fans while drunk and kissed one, the Bad Idea Instagram post. This isn’t unusual. He’s an adult. He can drink. I just thought it odd that I was noticing it more and asked myself, was he always a frequent drinker and he just stopped hiding it or is it a result of the rise of cell phones and constant casual photos?

But then Jared was arrested. He was drunk. Not tipsy or having a good time. Drunk. He assaulted an employee. A lot of people said he was just a big puppy and he didn’t mean anything by it, but that didn’t sit well with me. By this point I’d heard too many stories about Jared being a bit of an asshole. Also, I don’t think Jared has depression. I think he has bipolar disorder. He’s had too many incidences of mania for me to believe it’s just depression. He feels emotions deeply, that’s obvious to me, but he also has emotional swings that remind me of my own bipolar disorder. Am I self-inserting? Maybe. But I know the signs and I see them in Jared. BTW, depression meds can bring on mania if you have bd. You need a different cocktail for bd, and you shouldn’t drink while on them.

By the time J2 announced the end of spn, Walker was already in the works. I knew something was up when I saw Jensen advertising himself at every opportunity. The whole King Bacchus thing and him showing up at after parties/events that are designed for networking kinda cemented this for me. I figured he was parading around looking for work and wondered why Jared wasn’t doing the same. Then Walker was announced.

Now, I admit, my timeline there might be a bit off. Maybe Walker was announced before Jensen was King, but my brain is melting and I can’t remember. Either way, I did note that Jared had plans for post-spn when Jensen didn’t.

The wives started getting involved. Gen is on Walker and Danneel is part of Chaos Productions. Me, being the tinhat that I am, thought this was to ensure the wives have an income and are tied to their husbands. From a non-tinhat pov, I can see their involvement as a natural, nepotism thing that happens.

Jared is doing well on Walker, or so I’ve heard. I haven’t watched the show. Jensen got a role on The Boys and is filming now. Cool. Cool cool cool. Both have acting gigs.

Then Jensen announced, on social media, right before the Walker finale, that there’ll be a spn prequel that’ll be narrated by Dean.

Right. Before. Walker. Let that sink in. All these years, J2 have always stepped aside for one another to ensure they have the spotlight in turn. But now Jensen is hogging it? Jensen is taking the focus off Walker and putting it on himself? Not cool man, not cool.

Also, there was no mention of Sam in the prequel. No mention of the other half of spn. Jared has said, publicly, that he’d drop anything to work on spn stuff, so he’s available. So why wasn’t he ‘in the know’ about this? How could Jensen have slipped this past him?

Jared was seen in Colorado during Jensen’s birthday, just before Jensen went to Toronto. So they’ve seen each other. Even if, in the minuscule possibility, that Jared didn’t see Jensen that weekend, they’ve admitted to talking to each other a lot. So why didn’t Jensen, at any point, tell Jared about this prequel?

Then Robbie Thompson tweeted. Jared was hurt even more. Apparently, I heard through this blue hellsite, that Jared wanted RT to write for Walker, but RT refused. Why? Who knows.

Let’s go back in time, shall we?

Jared messed around on set. Jensen didn’t. I can believe that some crew members/writers/producers/directors would have hated working with Jared. Yes, I said that. Not everyone likes a goofball or prankster. Some people think those people are bullies in disguise.

Maybe, just maybe, the lines were drawn when spn ended. Some people supported Jared, others Jensen.

Before anyone yells at me too loudly, answer me this: how did Jensen - and everyone involved in the prequel including Kripke - keep this from Jared? Didn’t anyone at any point ask how Jared felt about it? Or if Jared was available? Or if Jared would have input? “He’s too busy on Walker” doesn’t cut it as an answer to me. Spn was about two brothers, always two brothers, and now a prequel will only feature one brother?

So I came to the conclusion that the industry deliberately took sides in this whole thing. Nobody told Jared because they didn’t want to work with him again. He has his own show, he’s busy, - these are easy ways of handwaving him out of the equation.

Bottom line, finally, is that Jensen stepped in some shit when he didn’t tell his co-star, his partner, his friend, about a prequel to the show they worked on for fifteen years.

Will I ever know all the details of why Jensen would do this? Nope. I’m not in the industry.

I still believe J2 were/are in a relationship and their wives are beards. I believe they have a wonderful friendship and were as close as two people can be. I don’t want to think that relationship is over. I don’t want to believe they’ve gone separate ways. But man oh man, Jensen fucked up big time here.

I can’t wait for a tell-all book thirty years from now.