#(but again this is NOT directed at any specific post...just a trend i've felt for a while)

[bisamwilson]

hey honey! <33 for the ask game: 4, 13, 42, 57 and 63!

hi darlin!!!!! thanks for the ask <3

(from this list)

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

from lots of places! books i've read, shows or movies i've watched, conversations with friends, real life things that have happened to me! song lyrics on occasion. the princess diaries au sequel i'm working on for example, in addition to being inspired by the princess diaries movies of course, is inspired by past lives (2023, dir. celine song)! and the fic where bucky grows old without sam was inspired by a man called ove, even if it doesn't line up entirely. the fic where sam takes bucky home for the birth of AJ after finding him in paris was inspired by that one tumblr post where the op's uncle showed up at their birth with a ONS in tow akjsfdads

13. what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

i'm generally not afraid of the word "said," and also i try my very hardest to stay aware of what tense i'm using so i'm not switching up constantly. those are the things that take me out of a story pretty often, so i try to be vigilant about them

in non grammar tips, i tend to write in blitzes when i have the motivation. set a timer for twenty minutes, write like 600 or so words, take a break, do it again until my motivation's gone or my word count is steadily declining during my set time period

42. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

the last fic i read was actually a bbc merlin canon divergence merthur fic called to the point of fear which is from a season 5 mordred's point of view! i enjoyed it! i liked having mordred as the pov character working through what he thinks are merlin's motivations

i also recently opened up a tab to reread don't stop believing (aos spirk fic) which i haven't read in YEARS but i do remember really liking back in the day (hence why i wanted to revisit it)

57. Do you prefer editing as you write, or waiting until it’s finished? 

theoretically i prefer waiting until it's finished but i am physically incapable of not rereading and editing whenever i find a mistake/something i dislike so it ends up being both. i do tend to give it a read over before i post anything, though (and, without fail, any time i reread my own fics later on i end up having to edit something small that i catch asjdfhkds)

63. Something you hate to see in smut.

(putting this under the cut since nsfw text)

in sambucky specifically, i hate seeing overly aggressive and/or super dominant!sam. usually those fics are just woobifying bucky and also they were EVERYWHERE when tfatws came out. felt like every other fic was just sam either taking care of bucky or bucky being very uwu while sam was hypersexual and aggressive, and now if i see anything looking like it mind trend in that general direction i skip right on past.

in general, i'm generally not a huge fan of reading the kind of dirty talk that's just constantly degrading a partner (i get why people are into it, but it's generally not my thing, though small bits of calling someone a slut or their slut/whore/etc is fine and i even write it on occasion, but even then i write it where it's said in a loving/adoring tone, rather than a "i'm purposefully degrading you" kind of way). also not huge into breeding kinks and if anything is tagged "watersports" i won't touch it with a ten foot pole. people can enjoy the kinks they enjoy, those just. aren't the kinks for me

[tame-a-messenger]

Re: the last ask but only about the smosh games part, because I don't have fully formed opinions on pit tbh

I feel like with the amount of videos smosh games puts out, they couldn't do "love is blind" type videos 3 times a week. Logistically, energy wise, and financially.

The guesses videos are just a lot easier to produce and I feel pretty confident about saying that they need to do that to keep up the posting schedule. (Technically not those specific videos, but formats in that ball park.)

If they should is another question but probably they have to, because money. Idk how much profit smosh makes, but their margin must be a lot slimmer than people imagine. All the salaries they have to pay, etc. And yk how shayne and stuff talked about feeling like smosh would had to shut down if Anthony didn't come back. That makes me feel like they were barely turning profit in those times and now it prob is better, but not extremely more.

Smosh games is simultaneously the one that makes the best and the most boring videos. From all smosh channels, it is least consistent, and I think it very much has to do with the amount they produce. And realistically, that won't change.

They good thing is that you can skip a bunch of uploads and still have multiple new smosh games videos you can watch per week.

But yeah if all those considerations weren't on the table the perfect smosh games would be a lot of gaming content mixed with high energy character videos (love is blind falls under that too). And of course the pinnacle, characters playing video games.

Sadly my wish won't come true, because of what I just stated but also because the types of videos I enjoy typically get the least views on top of that (not always but yeah). I suffer from too great of taste djkds.

I think what you said about them having to turn profit is the sole reason they do so much of the "lackluster" content like the Guesses videos. Those videos get consistent views for all uploads (averaging about 600k views which I believe makes them "roughly" $18k if monetized) and are really easy to make, for filming and editing.

Like I've said and am sure everyone is aware of, they make a lot of videos because they know it'll get a certain number of views. Look at Reddit Stories! Whereas if one-off videos don't get views they don't do them again typically.

The topic of why they decide to certain videos isn't really what I'm the most peeved about. (even though it DOES peev me! It's at the least understandable why they do it)(we talked about how they could transition to doing other videos without loosing money here)

The main thing I want from Smosh is for them to better focus on what the ACTUAL community wants! somebody has to watch their content so they can make money? I don't understand why it's far and between when they do stuff for the fans. We've been saying that we want the Summer/Winter Games back since it's been gone, it's like whoever runs the creative directing(?) (whoever decides the video concepts) pays almost no attention to comments/generally anything Smosh related on the internet. It's like they only focus on their personal timeline and the trending tab.

(Rant incoming!->

Full shade, I really don't think the social team takes their jobs seriously. Something has to be going wrong behind the scenes for so much shit to come off so weird. Mainly talking about the disaster with Sword AF S2, idk who's idea it was to let the community know they couldn't do it WHEN IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE RELEASED. Their is no good reason they couldn't let us know sometime before. (however I am open to what they have to say) It just felt like they didn't really care about people that were excited. I had popcorn ready and my schedule cleared for the day so I could watch it :( waiting on the clock to watch the upload, just to get-> "Ooopsie! teehee! We didn't finish it! So sorry lol!" ...

They still haven't teased/released any further info about when it's coming back which makes me think they FOR SURE knew it wasn't gonna be ready by the date THEY FUCKING SET THEMSELVES, which again if they knew they couldn't do it in time why not announce like a week before? even an hour before would have been fine! but no, they sent out the community post at 10am pst when they were supposed to drop S2..)

The only thing the social team (if they handle this even) is the YT shorts and the Tiktoks. Pretty much everything else I can think of they could do better in my opinion

Sorry to rant about stuff I've already talked about, but this is really just to easy of a fix to not point out when I can.

Pay attention to what your community wants. You WILL get rewarded for it.

[the-nysh]

I just wanna say thank you for writing the recently analysis meta for Garou being an empath, that's an excellent explanation and I always enjoyed your essay about OPM or MP100 characters!

Tbh I think the OP's post is meant to be a lighthearted one, therefore there's no intention to slander Garou's characterization at all, I assure you. On the other hand, I also like your take on Garou about the matter, the way he understands Tareo and want to help him going through it.

My dumbass brain take is, Garou has clearly shown empathy for others and totally has capacity for emotional intelligence, he just didn't know how to say it right. Knowing his social skill beforehand is pretty much non-existent, and Garou also doesn't have anyone else to opened up about himself (no friends, his mentor basically doesn't want to listen to him, everyone was kinda afraid of him, Garou himself has trust issue towards others since the bullying happened, etc). He gets difficulty on how to deliver what he actually means. Thus Garou said some dumb things instead, even though he has well-intentions. Someone please give him more friends to interact with! :""(

Anyways, thanks alot for giving more of your insight about Garou, love it! ❤

Oh! :’) Ah, thank you anon! And no worries, everything was clarified in the responses of that post, so it’s all good~

But exactly, from such circumstances of his origins, here Garou’s always felt that much, both from witnessing and experiencing injustice himself, but he’s just...never allowed himself or gained/practiced the tools needed to properly process his anger. Which compels him to hastily react (even acting on others’, like Tareo’s, behalf) and often leads him down to make some very rash (dumb) decisions without thinking things thru (cause hey he’s young). And his ability to honestly face his feelings, or even openly express himself to others is well...oop, quite inexperienced. :’D He’s basically as ‘eloquent’ as Saitama is when it comes to explaining himself and articulating his thoughts/feelings well, aha. But even so, he still can’t help but feel (cause it’s part of who he is), even when his capacity to care that much upsets him. So his inner conflict (and part of his appeal on his journey to find/accept himself) is that he’s not the heartless ‘monster’ he believes himself to be, to the point of denying his true nature and forcing himself to perform as someone he’s not. :’) Cause as we see, in those other telling moments, his true self still shines through~

---

Anyway, witnessing and lightly teasing all his antics is fun, because he’s a silly dork yes, but (and this is addressing a separate, but general fandom observation I’ve seen over time) it’s another story when I see genuine character hatred for him over on reddit for ex (usually from incomplete readings of the story or misinformation about him, from people wanting him to die or hoping Saitama kills him at the end of MA arc in extreme yikes cases)...because then I honestly can’t tell anymore if some of the fandom’s common takes & ‘jokes’ about Garou are made thru fond endearment (simply poking fun), or are just veiled excuses for continued character bashing. o.o Blurring the lines and confusing me even more when I see fellow Garou fans going along with it like it’s accepted, or unknowingly(?) spreading it further like nothing’s amiss. Like...whoa wait, guys??? I thought we already knew and trusted his character more than this? D:

For example, most of the time things are pretty chill so it’s no big deal, but sometimes I see this strange trend of mean spirited & fatalistic ‘humor’ towards him even in the teen squad posts for instance, where Garou’s often demeaned or used as the butt-end of a joke. Making bullying ‘jokes’ at his expense in ways that are....truly unfunny (especially when considering his past, it comes off either tone deaf or unsettling in poor taste). Worst case, it makes me resent those fanon characters who’re portrayed perpetuating the same cycle that got Garou so upset in the first place. D: (Which is another ❌ for me when it’s Genos who’s used in this role. ;o; So I doubly don’t like it when the Garou-bashing ‘jokes’ have the adverse effect of making me dislike Genos too, noo!) So you see? :’) It’s sometimes hard to tell what’s up or considered ‘funny’ anymore, when it feels like the circumstances that made and shunned Garou in the first place, are ironically circling back around towards him again, but playing out in real-time (which I’ve become privy to notice, but I’m not sure if other fans are aware yet). Overall, when it comes down to a case-by-case basis of what content to look for, I think Tareo canonically summarizes that mindful feeling best:

[purrincess-chat]

Something that has been on my mind today since reading Rae's post this morning might ruffle a few feathers, but I feel like sharing my perspective. This isn't directed at any one person because I've seen it in numerous places from numerous people over the last several months, and I'm not looking to start any fights, just sharing my experience.

A lot of the outcry I've seen about pre reveal Adrinette "ruining" the love square or not being fair to x side or whatever grievance people have is giving me salty side of the fandom vibes. I say this as someone who was once part of the salt crowd and left for various reasons I've talked about over time. Now, these people making these posts might scoff at that notion because "unlike the salters I actually love the show," but the thing about salters is they once loved the show too.

The thing about fandom is it's a double edged sword. It's fun to make headcanons and write fanfic about our faves in situations. It's fun to speculate about what all of the little pieces and clues and crumbs in canon mean. But when the lines between fanon and canon get blurred, that's when things get tricky. It's fun until it isn't.

As someone who was once part of the salt crowd who had many friends who took pleasure in ripping the show apart, I can tell you that a vast majority of the vitriol came from unmet expectations. We got it in our heads that something would happen or should happen in order for the show to be good, and when those very hyper specific things didn't happen, we got mad. "It's bad writing" we would say. "It's not fair" we would cry. "Canon would be better if it just did what we wanted." From our perspective, we loved the show a lot and wanted to see it done well. We wanted to see a good story told because we loved the characters and the universe. At least, that's how I felt. I wrote numerous salt fics after Chameleon and started arguably one of the worst salt trends to come from that episode with the whole 'Marinette changes schools and gets revenge' trope. But eventually, for me, the constant negativity reached a point that was unhealthy, and I started to recognize the anger and disappointment I felt towards the writers bleeding into my psyche and corrupting me. I no longer enjoyed the show I once loved. My days were full of arguments with strangers over fictional people. I was angry. I would lash out at anyone who disagreed with me. I was miserable. So I pumped the brakes. I took breaks from the fandom to work through my own issues. I asked myself why I was even here at all if I wasn't enjoying it. And ultimately I decided I did still enjoy the show even with all of its flaws, and I accepted that canon was going to do whatever canon was going to do. When I came back to fandom, I found I no longer related to the salt crowd, so I left it behind. I mass unfollowed everyone in the fandom minus a few trusted mutuals and friends. Over the last couple years I've slowly started branching out again, being extremely picky about who I follow this time. So when I say this, it comes from a place of experience because a lot of the posts I've seen floating around from people who admonish the salters and tout themselves as not being like the salters are starting to look familiar. As Dr. Taylor Swift once said, "I think I've seen this film before, and I didn't like the ending." The salters started out the same way, at least the ones I knew. They originally loved canon, then one thing happened that they didn't quite like. Then the next tiny little thing became more noticeable. Then they started noticing a lot of things. Then they started looking for things to notice. And it snowballed from there to what it is now: a group of bitter, disgruntled ex-fans whose expectations were never met.

I'm not saying the people posting about their disapproval of pre reveal Adrinette are all terrible bad people on par with the salters. Nor am I saying they will ever get that bad necessarily. I'm just saying that these posts, to me, resemble the beginning of that road. Certain expectations that weren't met by canon, and anyone who even tries to suggest that those expectations weren't meant to happen are wrong and don't understand the show clearly because if you did, you'd agree with our anger.

Maybe I'm just jaded with fandom. Maybe I'm too old. Maybe I'm a biased Adrinette stan that is happy to see the two kids finally getting together after 4.5 seasons of dancing circles around each other. 🤷‍♀️ But when I came back and changed my tune toward the show I accepted canon for what it is. It's fun. It's cringy. It has good parts and bad parts. It's neither the terrible, awful shitshow the salters make it out to be nor the perfectly innocent devoid of any flaws angel that its highest praisers make it out to be. It is what it is. I told myself a long time ago that I just want to see the love square get together by whatever means necessary. If the writers feel like pre reveal Adrinette is necessary, then that's just what it is. No amount of me bitching about what could've been, would've been, should've been will change that. If I'm really disgruntled, I'll go write a fic about what I wanted to happen instead. That's what fandom is for. That was fanfic's original purpose. It was a writer's ability to say "but what if this happened instead?"

Idk. A lot of the takes I've seen in fandom lately just leave a bad taste in my mouth and remind me of a time in my fandom history that I've worked hard to move on from. This fandom has been dying for years, and I think s5 will be the final nail in the coffin.