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madeofvoid · 6 months ago

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Just FYI, it's kind of messed up to call Toshiro (Shuro) a 'bitch ass weaboo shit', regardless of your opinion of him, he's a Japanese man written by a Japanese mangaka. 'Weaboo' has really negative connotations with Japanese people, mostly because of how it's been used by people to refer to anyone excessively obsessed with anime and Japanese culture. I'm not even going to say anything else about the rest of that post because I can't even find the words for it.

People can enjoy things however they want, whether in depth or shallow. But please think before you post stuff like this. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and guess you were just trying to be funny or cute but that's not an excuse to act in a way that can easily be construed as racist, regardless of your intentions.

I'm glad you're enjoying Dungeon Meshi, and I'm glad you're having fun. Please have a good night.

Oh boy. One of these messages. I've only heard of them in legend. Alright.

Hi anon, I'm nora madeofvoid, and I've written four published papers on the subject of racism and ethnic diversity, as well as a few on sociology and modern culture. I was once the lead TA to the Dean of Sociology at my university. I have been a keynote speaker at events with congressmen in attendance. I have been lectured by them in turn at those same conventions(god i wish tampa 2018's closing ceremony was on youtube, what a riot). All of this to say, with full honesty and in good faith, that I am probably the worst person to open this discussion with in a freeform environment; I have no reason to be concise. Conclusions and TL;DR the bottom because I've had no better use for this part of my degree in 4 years and I will not shut up. That said, I'm not bothering to be collegiate on tumblr, either. Oh, and fair warning I'm not a good person. That shit is tiring.

You make a fair point. But the rest of the initial post provided context and perspective of which to view what I intended to be a haha funnee rant about a fictional man with a samurai sword.

First. Suspend your disbelief. Shuro exists as an analog of eastern culture as a whole in a world where the countries and culture as we know which (presumably) only exist in a handwavey "the east is where that comes from" fantasy way. Japan does not exist here, so I didn't bother thinking of it. This is where Elden Ring comes in. Another fantasy world with landmasses which are presumably analagous to ours and cultures that may or may not have developed in an absolute hellscape that are analagous to ours. But they are not ours. We view them through this lens as a way of gaining perspective and familiarity with a world that is entirely alien.

So, I have to disagree with the racism bit. Because it fundamentally can't be. And I, understanding this, made fun of the next best thing: his RPG class. In rpgs, there is often a class that makes you a samurai. be it the literal samurai class in FFXIV, or the katana/bleed builds in Elden Ring. In both cases, picking them opens you up to being called a weeb. I hate to say this specific phrase, but back in my day that was a term of lighthearted namecalling and endearment. Had I called him a squinty bug eyed rice picker, now THAT would be racist. Not to Shuro, but to actual real life asian people(to whom I apologize for that). And that's what you pointed out, so we agree there. Same with caling kabru a melon muncher. explicitly racist. Not to him; for all we know that mentalist weirdo has never seen a watermelon before. But that would be racist to blacks(scholarly designation referring to peoples of the pan-african persuasion as a whole. please don't make me go through my papers to find the citations)

I apologize if I put you off there with the most racist things I could think of as an example, but thats exactly what those are. Examples of what I would consider racist in the first place. Notice that I called Kabru a "mentalist weirdo" instead of anything else. A dig at his toolkit instead of him directly. Thats how to ethically insult a person, by the way. You could call me a wackjob airhead mad scientist, and that'd be on the same level.

I'm not going to say that calling a Japanese man a weeb isn't racist. Because I don't fucking know. You're telling me it is, and I trust your good faith opinion. Was Shuro's race what I was aiming at? No. Couldn't have been. He's not Japanese. His race is Tallman. He is a Tallman from the vaguely defined "east." And for some reason he has a samurai sword. Weeb shit of the human-noble-fighter variety. Anyone who has played an RPG will call that out. A better comparison would be calling a fantasy city guard a pig as a nod to real world cops. A dig at the toolkit, nothing more.

In conclusion, while Shuro's fictional culture can be read as an analog of real world Japan, the man himself is not Japanese. He isn't even Human, or H.Sapiens Sapiens. He's a Tallman. He is a Tallman from a vaguely defined region of the world that in some ways mirrors asian culture, but is still fundamentally different. Hater that I am, I cannot in good or bad faith toss racial slurs at him. Doesn't apply. So I aimed at his RPG class, human noble fighter with a samurai sword. Which, if you've ever sat down for a TTRPG or partied up with someone who plays that class in an MMO, they're all weebs. That in mind, I called him a weeaboo shit. Because as far as I'm concerned thats the best way to shit talk him without becoming a PragerU talkpiece.

You brought up Japan there, not me. And you responded based on your own viewing of a show, whether in depth or shallow, and applied it to the real world. Personally, I'd call that a surface level observation. It's too easy to look at a fantasy character from "the east" and call them Japanese. Thats only the first layer. Kinda fucked up if you think about it long enough.

Tl;DR You can't be racist to fictional characters themselves. The cultures they represent, yes, but only if they are explicitly from that culture. This is not an isekai. Shuro is not a Japanese man, so the rules don't apply. The weebshit comment was aimed at his RPG class, hence the elden ring references. Learn to suspend your disbelief when interacting with shows. You'll stress yourself less. Enjoy Dunmeshi.

#replies from the lab #list of things to do with an otherwise useless degree #long post

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asexualzoro · 3 years ago

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it's my birthday!

I'm 21 now!! i'm doing another Writing Summary for the year! Lew Writes Wrapped, if you will. so, if you'd like to get me a gift, consider reading and reviewing one of these, or reblogging this post!

and if it rhymes, it's true, but i hate poetry (Jan, 3k, TMA, oneshot)

The obligatory sex-repulsed ace Jon fic that every asexual TMA writer tries their hand at eventually.

This is without a doubt the most popular thing I wrote this year, which makes me laugh considering I remember disliking the way I ended it. Still, I appreciate the support a ton, esp bc I'd been sitting on the concept of this fic for months prior. TMA fandom rlly will see an ace Jon oneshot and go is anyone gonna shower that in kudos and not wait for an answer. Love that for you guys.

as long as you can remember (Mar, 3k, TMA, oneshot)

A short horror piece focusing on combining Annabelle's original plan to fill Martin with spiders and the amnesia-inducing effects of Salesa's camera, tied together with narration from MAG 195 in one awful time loop.

I had so much fun with this one!! I loved balancing the spider pinata, amnesiac camera, and typing the start to the ending through use of the statement and repeating the opening of the fic at the end. I also made a lot of ""Martin's"" dialogue mirror lines of his from important JM conversations in canon, and went so far as to research the body temperature of spiders for a line of prose about holding Martin's hand. I'm honestly super fond of this piece because of how much fun I had putting it together.

to be shaped by such strange things (May, 3k, TMA, oneshot)

A piece about how s1 Jon and Sasha are often depicted with glasses, yet NotSasha and late-series Jon are often not, and how losing the lenses through which you see the world really does mean losing a piece of yourself, even if it doesn't seem like it. Or, The Beholding fixes Jon's eyesight is a terrifying and devastating headcanon and I'm going to make that everyone else's problem.

I've needed glasses my entire life and I feel most of the plot points or acknowledgment I've seen about characters' glasses has involved making them not need or not wear them anymore. I'm rather fond of mine, though, and I wanted to write something that reflected that (n pun intended.) That piece is strange things, which I couldn't be happier with, honestly.

Lucid (adj.) (May, 3k, original, complete)

A journal-entry style horror piece about lucid dreaming, trouble sleeping, and the horror that is straddling a nightmare between them. A 'love' letter to the power of an over-active imagination.

I lucid dream IRL, so Lucid (adj.) was so interesting and entertaining to write. I barely ever write original, but I'm so glad I did--this wouldn't have worked any other way. I got to tear into and pick apart a very specific but real fear of mine, based on an actual nightmare I'd had about a month before writing this piece. I'm super fond of this one, so if you like slow-build psychological horror, I cannot recommend it enough!

on a cliche (July, 833, original, complete)

Two strangers meet in a cafe and discuss an age-old question. A piece about whether one would rather to have love and lost.

This might be my favorite thing that I wrote this year? Which is very funny considering that when I wrote it for class, I was sure it was going to be torn apart in critique. Making the setting appear dreamlike without completely tipping my hand was probably my favorite part of the piece. Out of everything on here, this is probably the most sweet/lighthearted thing I wrote/posted this year, so if my writing is normally too depressing for you, I recommend this piece.

my witness brings me into existence (Aug, 4k, TMA, oneshot)

A transcript-style fic about NotJon, and what happens when one lives in the world where they have been forgotten. Archivist Sasha and NotJon returned from the dead, taking place during MAG121. I've read every piece in the NotJon tag on AO3 that I could find and it shows, I think.

God I fucking love this piece. I wrote the first draft of it over discord entirely spur-of-the-moment to my friend @/daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavid, believe it or not, sitting outside and being bitten my mosquitoes literally the whole time. I actually have most of the next parts of this fic sitting in my drafts, but I've been far too busy to finish them. It also has lovely art from @/macmonky, which I'm still enamored with. I really don't have a bad word to say about my witness, go check it out!

dead and undying (Sept, 7k, DSMP RP, complete multichap)

I spend far too much time thinking about Technoblade's execution and it shows. A fic about Techno not finding Tommy has hidden in his basement to escape exile and speedrunning Doomsday about it. If you like reading stories about stories or think the wither is a terrifying mob you should read this fic.

its my birthday which means i get to be cringe on main and you all have to let me. i really enjoyed writing this one! The execution and revival with the totem is some of the most fun body horror I've ever written, and this fic has very lovely art!

To finish out,

this year I didn't write quite as much as last year, but I also wasn't home all day in quarantine, so I'm alright with that! What I did write (and post--I have a lot of unfinished/unposted writing this year), I'm overwhelmingly happy with, after all! All in all, my posted writing for this year totaled up to 25,000 words!

Thank you, as always, to everyone for your continued support of my writing! Happy birthday to me, and thank you for reading!

(reblogs and/or birthday wishes much appreciated!)

#lew writes #check out my writing blog driflew for extra content relating to any of these fics!#lew writes wrapped

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lookingforhappy · 5 months ago

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ok i want to apologise for this post. i really didnt expect it to be considered this controversial bc i wasnt trying to invalidate anyone or to belittle anyone for wanting to see more vulnerable moments with the brellies (in truth i also want to see that, but ill get to that in a minute).

i intended for this post to be lighthearted but my tone didn't come across well and im so sorry.

thats the origin of the "fr we need to be more normal about sibling relationships" comment. i was trying to imitate other funny posts but i think ive misinterpreted something here.

what i was trying to convey was that a lot of fandom seems very caught up in the idea that siblings should be affectionate, and should want to open up and be vulnerable with each other, and in reality thats not really what happens. im struggling to think of a single example of real life siblings (that i know) that are actually vulnerable with each other.

this post was also in response/reaction to a comment i can no longer find about how in TUA characters seem to get very upset over their love interests, but remain dry eyed for their siblings. specifically it was a comment on how lila could be crying for diego's death, as five wouldn't cry over it.

to that i was trying to say that five would be upset if diego was dead, but that he might not show that in the moment or express it to his siblings because siblings dont always have that perfect relationship.

its almost funny how one of the critisims here is that i am generalising my own sibling expereince, when what i was attempting to say was that sibling relationships have nuance and range and are not always necessarily healthy, so to not fall into the trap of believing that siblings should be affectionate or else they're not loving/good enough.

i tried to express this a little better in the tags of my orignal post by saying that its not that weird to not be vulnerable with your siblings:

but i recognise that im at fault for not making my intent clear enough and im so sorry that i caused offense.

my use of the word romanticised was also not clear, as i meant it to mean "idealised" not "unachievable". my intent was to say that sibling relationships are often not that perfect, open, honest and completely trusting.

i would also love to see the siblings show more concern over each other, and to have more soft moments (im especially fond of the five and lila hug in the trailer). i was never arguing against seeing more of that in the show. i simply meant that i understood why they wouldn't go running to each other for help at the first sign of danger/trouble.

again, i cannot apologise enough for the offense i caused. i should have thought my wording thorugh more clearly before posting.

i hope you dont mind but im tagging @feralnumberfive and @matuk-art in the hopes that youll see my apology.

fr i need the tua fandom to get a lot more normal about sibling relationships...

literally i would never cry to my siblings, i would never seek comfort from them, i would very rarely be vulnerable with them (and only when i had to be)

but i still fucking love them and would be devastated if they died/were hurt

the brellies never cry over each other or ask for hugs or admit weakness bc thats such an incredibly romanticised view of sibling relationships

the only exception i can think of is allisons near death but that was when her and luther were still.. yknow so i dont count it

#the consequences of not double checking that midnight ramble are biting me in the ass #im so so so sorry #would it be rude to delete the original post?

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thelightofthingshopedfor · 3 years ago

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so I wrote most of this...four days ago, and then somehow didn’t get around to finishing it until just now, which feels super weird because after writing this I started getting worried about future episodes again for a variety of reasons, and of course now we’re at T minus 10 minutes? (honestly if I’m somehow late for my own funeral I’m pretty sure no one will be surprised.) but I still wanted to post this to go over some of what I liked so much about episode 4, even if...I am no longer anywhere near as confident as I was a few days ago about where the show might be going. whatever.

***

I’ve done almost nothing for the past day or so except chew over episode 4 some more, partly trying to figure out why I liked it so much when it was broadly very divisive, and I realized that a lot of what I’ve been feeling from this episode is relief.

the thing is I’ve been paranoid since at least Infinity War about Marvel doing setup that looks like it’ll lead to a big payoff and then nothing (Loki’s death, but also Gamora’s and maybe Vision’s, and the general fact that the “fix” to IW was convoluted, took place much later, and caused as many problems as it solved, and just, Endgame in general), so I don’t really trust Marvel that way anymore. plus Marvel has pretty badly fumbled a lot of different things in the past, especially on various social issues, by introducing unfortunate implications that apparently didn’t occur to them even though they’re obvious to literally everyone else...stuff like Thanos’s “sacrifice” of Gamora, or how the Flag-Smashers were portrayed and Karli was a villain for no real reason, or how it would’ve been so easy to add a couple lines in WandaVision that would fix the whole thing where the Maximoffs weren’t just whitewashed but they also voluntarily worked with Nazis and they whiffed that too.

so, while I’ve been enjoying the show, a lot of that enjoyment has been based on meta I’ve seen and me sort of going “this interpretation is really cool and it makes a lot of sense, but at this point I can’t know if it’s something the showrunners are doing on purpose or if they sorta accidentally implied depth where there wasn’t any and it’s not actually leading anywhere” with things like the TVA being very clearly authoritarian but also supposedly the good guys, Loki being constantly described as an awful person, Loki sometimes being manic or incompetent, etc. etc. etc., along with the similar interpretation of “sure, we fans know all this stuff about how Loki is not an awful person actually, thanks, and the people who arrested him aren’t automatically Good Guys just because they’re in opposition to him but casual viewers--including not-casual-but-not-fannish viewers who should really know better--have not figured any of this out and so the show needs to go out of its way to demonstrate things that are obvious to us” but I wasn’t sure. the second half of episode 1 made me feel pretty good about where the show was headed as far as Loki’s characterization and emotions were concerned, but the more lighthearted aspects of 2 and 3 had me wondering again.

so then what happens in this episode?

the TVA goes fully mask off. the Time-Keepers are in fact fake, the Sacred Timeline by extension is also basically fake, the people who work there are all variants, the ones we know (C-20, B-15, Mobius) show grief and anger over the lives that were stolen from them, Sylvie is arrested as a child who did absolutely nothing wrong (and then put through the same process Loki was in episode 1, which is cool because a lot of it was kinda played for laughs then but showing the same things happening to an innocent child also serves to reframe what happened to Loki as, hmm, not that funny after all maybe!), Renslayer is willing to prune innocent people--friends and coworkers, even--just because they learned too much, all the sinister propaganda WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SINISTER

Loki gets very serious very fast in this episode. he displays a lot of genuine emotion and trauma but he mostly does it in a calculated way that shows just how fast his brain works and how he’s always, always thinking about what other people want/expect from him. (like--even the complaint about too few guards seems to fall into that category, given that he only says it after Mobius insists he must be wanting to make some kind of quip!) his self-image is garbage but through Sylvie he’s starting to maybe work on that. he goes up against multiple armed enemies while completely unarmed and holds his own until he gets a weapon. he pushes back when it matters and doesn’t just accept everything Mobius throws at him. he lies, pretty competently (the fact that Mobius doesn’t believe him is...really not his fault, considering Mobius wouldn’t believe him at first about the truth either, so I’m pretty sure he wasn’t planning to believe anything Loki outright told him), when it actually matters, primarily in what sure seems like an attempt to protect someone he cares about.

and Mobius. says that Loki WAS RIGHT. ABOUT THE TVA. FROM THE BEGINNING!!! I would still love to hear him say explicitly, look, I said a lot of shitty things to you and tossed in some actual physical torture at the end there oops but the vast majority of it was stuff I didn’t really mean and was only saying to get a reaction and/or information and of course it turns out I was wrong about all the TVA stuff, so I want to say for the record that I was wrong about you personally in many different ways and I’m sorry. (which, honestly, would probably be very awkward for both of them because I doubt Loki has much experience receiving genuine apologies.) but I’m mostly okay with it if he doesn’t, because I feel like you were right from the beginning, and by the way you can be whatever you want does a decent job of implying most of that. (...enough for casual viewers to pick up on it? well, I’m not hoping for miracles but sure, probably some of them.)

in other words? all that stuff the casual viewers were missing (not helped by misleading statements from the showrunners), about the TVA so clearly being bad guys, and Loki being a pretty decent person who presents different versions of himself in different situations and also has some shitty coping mechanisms, and the other Loki variant also not being evil just because they were trying to take down the TVA? we were right. that is, in fact, how the showrunners intended all those things to be taken. they didn’t want to come right out with that stuff at first because they wanted to tell a story and have some twists, and the fact that these things were twists for casual viewers is exactly why it was frustrating to a lot of fans, because it felt like obvious things were being misrepresented or overlooked. I still think that’s reasonable, because see above on why Marvel doesn’t necessarily deserve that trust, but at this point I’m a lot more comfortable believing that this specific show more or less knows what it’s doing.

I mean, yeah, there were some cool fan theories that went nowhere, like the whole thing with the broken TemPad, and I agree that was dumb and it’s very annoying that it really was just sloppy writing, but I guess specific things like that just...don’t bother me as much as more systemic, overarching elements like the characterization of Loki and the TVA. and yes, of course I’ll always be annoyed that we’re apparently never going to get explicit confirmation that Loki’s alliance with Thanos was coerced at best. but, you know, what we got isn’t nothing.

#loki #loki show #loki spoilers #mobius m. mobius #sylvie #marvel cinematic universe #meta #loki meta #my meta #I should add links but uh...maybe later

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myaekingheart · 3 years ago

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20 [Fanfic Writer] Questions Game

Thank you so much for tagging me, @lemony-snickers! This is tons of fun, I love answering these kinds of big questionnaires 😂💕 Also putting mine under a cut because there’s a lot of questions and I like to ramble.

Also gonna go ahead and just tag whoever wants to do this! 😅💕

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

As of August 27, 2021, I have a total of 77 works on my AO3!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Funny enough, I was just looking at this, specifically, earlier today and kind of laughing about it. Right now, my total word count across all my works is 1,148,941 😬

3. How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Apparently 12, but some of them I don’t really consider “big” in my fandom repertoire. Naruto is my greatest fandom with a total of 60 fics so far, followed by The Chronicles of Narnia and Rise of the Guardians. The rest are ones I either did crossover fics with or just did one-off little pieces with--The Incredibles, Tangled, Brave, How to Train Your Dragon, Arthurian Mythology, Disney Princesses, Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms, Back to the Future, and Frozen.

4. What are your Top Five fics by kudos?

The Scarecrow and The Bell (Naruto) - 470 kudos The Day Kakashi’s Mask Slipped (Naruto) - 139 kudos Sunflowers (Naruto) - 92 kudos Sakumo the House Husband (Naruto) - 81 kudos Someone to Lean On (Naruto) - 67 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to respond to comments, because I like to acknowledge when people respond to my work. I cherish comments like nobody’s business, especially when they’re kind and reactionary. I just really love seeing/hearing what people think of the way a story is progressing, or what they thought of a one-shot. Comments keep me going especially when it comes to longfic so I want to be able to let readers know that I do in fact see their comments, that I’m acknowledging what they’re saying, and that I appreciate them. Plus, it can be kind of fun to tease upcoming events in a fic through responses to people’s comments, too. Because I’m mean.

6. What fic have you written with the angstiest ending?

Definitely Hothouse (Rise of the Guardians/The Incredibles; Jack Frost x Violet Parr; American Horror Story AU). This was the first multi-chaptered fic I ever wrote to completion and I honestly cringe when I remember it exists both because it’s so poorly organized (and full of nasty plot holes) and because I just went ham on the gore factor. It definitely has a really bittersweet and heartbreaking ending to it, too.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I think I’ll definitely have to say Temptation. The story itself was kind of a ride, and it’s only the first installment in a series, but it follows the plot of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe but remixed due to the presence of an original character, but the ending is still roughly the same as the original: they defeat the evil, the Pevensies are all crowned kings and queens, happy days. Reading the last few paragraphs of the last chapter honestly still gets me all up in my feelings.

8. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I used to be more of a crossover writer due to one of my main ships being a crossover ship. They weren’t super crazy, though, because they were both CGI-animated films. The craziest crossover I’ve ever written is an in-progress/unfinished multichapter piece, Kakashi, Enchanted, that sees our favorite Copy Ninja get kamui’d into the Disney princess dimension and has to help the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel on his journey to find a way back to his own world. It’s a super weird premise but definitely one of my more lighthearted works and fun to revisit when I need to decompress.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don’t think I’ve ever received hate so much as I’ve received criticism. The closest I ever got to hate on a fic, I think, was someone left an overly personal and mentally disturbed comment on a chapter of my main fic that made me convinced they needed to seek therapy and deal with their own personal issues rather than take it out on a fanfic about animated ninjas.

10. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Maybe 👀 I’m super vanilla when it comes to smut, though. I think the wildest thing I’ve ever written in smut is breeding kink.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, and I hope I never will.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet! I had someone ask to translate a one-shot of mine in Russian but I never got a response back when I laid out my terms and conditions.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not! I used to do paragraph-style roleplay which was kind of like cowriting fanfiction but writing is so personal and sacred to me that I don’t know if I could ever actually cowrite a fic with someone. I like brainstorming with other people, but writing for me is more of a deeply personal and independent endeavour.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh god, this is a tricky question because it depends on fandom. I absolutely love New Dream (Rapunzel x Eugene, Tangled) and have for the past ten years, and my love for them as only grown since watching Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. I don’t write or even really read a ton of fanfiction for them, though. I’m also still highly dedicated to my favorite crossover crackship, Frostfield (Jack Frost x Violet Parr, Rise of the Guardians/The Incredibles) and to this day, if you search for that ship on AO3, I am the sole provider of every single fic about them so far. I’m not as active with them as I used to be, but they got me through some really rough times back in the day and still mean so much to me. A lot of my favorite ships across fandoms, though, are honestly canon x OC ships of mine because I am a self-indulgent bitch who needs to project. So Peter Pevensie x Eilonwy (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Kakashi Hatake x Rei Natsuki (Naruto) are really important to me and I’ve poured so much of myself specifically into their stories. I think it’s safe to say Kakashi and Rei is my all-time favorite ship across all fandoms, though, just because of how much their story means to me. The Scarecrow and The Bell is my magnum opus, my pride and joy, and I’m sure it will be my biggest fandom footprint of my entire life. I’ve dedicated the past three years to this story and these characters and I intend to continue doing it until it no longer brings me joy (which I hope it always will). There’s just so much I could say about this story and Kakashi and Rei’s relationship but I don’t think we have enough time or space in this post for that 😅 Just know that they mean the world to me and I will always hold them in the highest regard as a beautifully messy, flawed, passionate, soulmate-y ship that I love with all of my heart 🥺

EDIT: I also feel obligated to tack on some of my absolute favorite Naruto ships because I may not have written for all of them (yet) but they still make me unbelievably happy or I find them really compelling and enjoy the idea of exploring them:

Naruhina is precious happy sunshine and The Last honestly felt like a wonderful Disney princess movie to me, it was so cute and the romance was so on-point, Naruhina just makes me so incredibly happy and I love them with all my heart.

MinaKushi also gets me all up in my feels and I adore them with every fiber of my being. Their romance also gave me Disney princess movie vibes which I love, their story is just so damn sweet as is their character dynamic and I am still so heartbroken that they never got to be a happy family with Naruto because you know what? It’s what they deserved!

SasuSaku is so compelling to me and I really feel like we were cheated out of seeing their relationship develop and evolve postwar in the same way The Last did for Naruhina. They’re my favorite angst ship and while I don’t think they were written that well in canon, I love the possibility and potential of them together and am excited to explore them more in-depth in my own writing.

NejiTen is just too cute, I really love the way Neji and Tenten’s personalities compliment each other? I don’t have much else to say about them except that I really love them together and think they have so much untapped potential that I also can’t wait to explore in more depth in my own writing.

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Paper Hearts and Impromptu Bookmarks, probably. I love the premise of this story a lot and I have so many interesting ideas for it but at the same time, it also feels kind of cheap and cringey to me, in a way? It takes all of these ideas I probably would have had if I had been into Naruto when I was a kid and kind of compiles them all into one big story. Kakashi and Aiko’s relationship and story is still really important to me and I want to continue it someday but for right now, I just haven’t had the motivation or desire to write any more of it. I think I’m just so overwhelmingly preoccupied with writing Kakashi and Rei’s story that I can’t imagine writing any other Kakashi x OC fics right now.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I want to say that I’m really good at capturing complex emotion? I don’t know, I write a lot of angst and mental upheaval in my fics which can be really difficult to try and capture, but I think I do a decent enough job of it? And just writing difficult subjects in general. I think it’s really important to address difficult topics such as mental illness and relationship difficulties and everything but I also want to try and write those topics in a way that is both authentic to the experience while also still tasteful. I don’t want to drive readers away with heavy subject matter but rather present a situation that feels real and authentic while also still being digestible. I may not be doing a very good job of that during the current arc of my fic that I’m working on, but I’m trying haha

EDIT 2: I also want to add onto this to say that I’m really proud of my organizational techniques for writing longfic. It’s not necessarily a strength in terms of the prose itself but it’s something that’s taken me years to really get a grasp on and find a method that works perfectly for me and so far, it’s been extremely helpful and beneficial to me. I don’t know where I would be now as a writer without these essential tools in my pocket.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I feel like I do a really bad job of the “show, don’t tell” thing. It can be really hard to balance descriptive prose with straightforward writing that moves things along. I don’t want to dwell on mental dialogue to the point where you lose track of what’s going on, but I also don’t want my stuff to read like “Character A did xyz. Character B said abc. They went to 123″, whatever. Another thing I struggle with is sentence variation. I always fall into the same patterns when I’m writing prose and I get really self-conscious about it because I don’t want to sound repetitive or disrupt the flow of the writing. One of my favorite things about prose is focusing on the cadence of the words, I think it’s one of the most beautiful things about writing in general, but it can just be really difficult to get a good grip on that. I’ve been told in the past that I apparently have a really good grasp/control of the language or whatever but sometimes I just find that really hard to believe when I look at my work with such scrutiny. I think one of my biggest pet peeves with my own writing, too, is feeling like I start all of my sentences the same five different ways. I’ll read other people’s works and they’ll write sentences like “Glass-blue water lapped against the shores of a deserted beach as a lonely woman gazed off into the distance” and I can just never figure out how to realistically write sentences that start like that in the context of my prose and it drives me fucking crazy, like I’m definitely jealous 😅

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’ve never really thought much about it before, but I think there are pros and cons! For bilingual/multilingual readers, I think it can be a really enriching reading experience because they know what’s being said in both languages. For people who only know one language, however, unless a translation is provided, I feel like it can be really alienating. I think the best use of that for both worlds is using it as a means for miscommunication humor. Other than that, I think it can be a slippery slope that depends on what kind of reader you are and how it’s written.

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The Chronicles of Narnia! My very first fanfiction was a Narnia fanfic that I barely remember except that it laid the basis for Temptation and my Narnia fanfic series as a whole. I never posted this first iteration anyway, but I remember it was 2008/2009 and I wrote a solid 80 pages (which was wild for me at the time) and had gotten halfway through remixing the events of Prince Caspian when my computer crashed and I lost absolutely everything. I’m still heartbroken that it’s gone forever, not because I’d want to go back and read it necessarily (since I’m sure it was actually hot garbage) but at least for nostalgia’s sake. Either way, like I said, this long-lost fic laid the basis for the very first fanfiction I ever posted, the first published (and never finished) iteration of Temptation back in 2011 on deviantART and the since-defunct Figment. I fell out of the fandom around 2012/2013 and left the story alone for a while before ultimately deciding to completely redux and rewrite the story when the fixation swung back around again between 2016 and 2018.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Despite the fact that it’s still in-progress, definitely The Scarecrow and The Bell. This fic just genuinely means so damn much to me and I will cherish it for the rest of my life because of how much it’s given me, how much love and passion and time and even parts of myself that I have poured into this, and also just how expansive of a story this is. Not only does it touch on some very dark and heavy topics, but I’ve also created so much of my own characters and meta for this story that it’s almost an entire universe in and of itself. I’ve just contributed so much additional world-building and created so many new OCs to fill important roles in this story and in Rei’s life, and they’ve all become so deeply important to me as they’ve developed further over the years. I’ve come up with so many interesting ideas for everyone and their lives, which are all slowly becoming so rich and varied. Not to mention that it’s my most popular fic to date as well as my longest fic at 632k and counting. I’ve really just genuinely poured so much of my heart and soul into this story, it’s my absolute favorite thing I’ve ever done and I really mean it when I say that I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

#tag games #ramblings

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sheetghostwriter · 3 years ago

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I feel a bit like I should apologize for the post I made yesterday! I want to make it very clear that I am not angry at anyone or attempting to incite any kind of action with my “vent post.”

TL;DR: Tone on the internet is hard, I wish we could discuss stuff without it being “discourse”

I made a post with an admittedly frustrated tone in response to a few comments from a single user in site-general on the cherpcord yesterday. I’m not even upset with that user, which is why I changed some details of what they posted and didn’t want to call out their comments specifically. They, like a lot of folks, were simply expressing their frustration that the site is down in a lighthearted, jokey way!

The reason it got under my skin, and why I chose to write about it, is because 1. it is indicative of a larger ideology that’s been present in just about every RP space I’ve been of a perceived divide between “smut” RPers and “quality/wholesome/’plot’” RPers, and it frustrates me to see that attitude (even if it’s simply a ‘vocal minority’) in a space that is tailored for adult content, and 2. I am genuinely surprised that folks who exclusively RP very tame and SFW topics would use cherp as their primary RP hub. They are totally free to do so, I just think it’s a confusing choice. That’s all!

And to be clear on something else, my opinions on the “vibe” of the cherpcord aren’t from yesterday’s activity, but from being a relatively active member on the server for a little over a year. It’s always seemed to me that the userbase trends a bit young, but there were (and are!) still enough folks that I like in there that I’ll pop in a couple times a day to see what’s going on. But during the dmca shutdown a lot more people who I guess were previously lurkers started being active in the server, and I became increasingly uncomfortable with how obvious that uh... these were not my peers, to say the least. Also around the time I stopped being active there were users like, aggressively soliciting for RP in the server, which is one of the main reasons I avoid RP servers (or at least, off-topic/ooc areas in RP servers) because people get so weird and whiny about that it just kills the vibe for me. That’s against the rules in cherp’s servers and I’m sure the mods deftly shut it down when they are present, but they cant’ be there all the time.

Also, those opinions weren’t intended with any sort of hostility! I think the ‘obnoxious diner teen’ phase is something that a lot of folks, especially those of us with marginalized sexualities and gender identities, experience in some form or another. That’s literally what being a theatre kid is, isn’t it? Maybe they’ll chill out, maybe they’ll grow up to be really into burlesque, either way it’s only cringe to me because I’m older, and I only care because I genuinely do think that trying to be mindful of how content and preferences are discussed and whether or not we’re moralizing things with our word choices can really do a lot to make creative and fandom spaces more welcoming.

Finally, my choice of the phrase “within reason” in that post was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, and also I thought the repetition was funny.

I like cherp, my main gripe with it is I think the no-offsite rule is bad and I probably won’t change my mind about that. Otherwise... idk, I’d like to be able to discuss it and even snark about it with other users since I use the site a lot and have a lot of thoughts about it, good and bad! it just feels like everything is received (and responded to) as though there’s the maximum amount of hostility behind it, which is... pretty much never the case with me. i mean i type a lot bc i don’t know how to be succinct but i’m never mad about it lol. sad, sometimes, but that’s about it.

#cherp

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bts-speakyourself · 5 years ago

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20 to One Incident 😬

⚠️Warning: If there is any wrong information in this blog please let me know! I don’t want to give any false information. I’m going to try to not make this blog to long.

If you’ve been on Twitter for the past two days and you’re an ARMY, you know better than anyone how other ARMYs have felt when it came to a segment covering BTS. An absolutely racist and disrespectful segment. To those who might not know here’s a summary of the situation:

Summary:

20 to One is an Australian TV show (on Channel 9) and basically they countdown the top 20 global crazes placing BTS as No. 18 and let me tell you, once the segment was released there were at least three hashtags that were trending on Twitter overnight.

#channel9apoligiz(s)e

#channel9apoligiz(s)etoBTS

#fireAlexWilliamson

Don’t worry, I promise the third hashtag will make sense as I go on. Rather than writing what happened in the segment, the following tweet has the full two minute segment that was covered about BTS. If I’m being honest.....I wasn’t even able to watch the whole thing AT ALL.

There are a few common words that ARMY has used to describe this segment which are:

Disgusting

Racist

Xenophobic

Disrespectful

Then amazingly enough when things were already on fire, more wood was added by Alex Williamson who didn’t post one, but many more tweets adding to the fire. The following was the first tweet that he has posted supporting the segment of 20 to One.

Honestly, the various replys that ARMY made were amazing! There is one tweet that actually caught my attention which was, “Us 14 y/o’s also sold out a 3.5 star wine that Jungkook drank. Don’t forget that.” This reminded me when Jungkook revealed what fabric softer he used and the next thing you know, it was sold out. 😂

The obvious thing ARMY asked for was an apology from those involved in the segment, and I believe a representative of Channel Nine as well for letting them air the segment, since many ARMYs did mention that it did not follow an regulations and was considered defamation. This was what we got:

“As a lighthearted entertainment program, it is our belief that last night’s episode of 20 to One, which highlighted the ‘Greatest Global Crazes’, did not breach any broadcast regulations, and was intended to humorously highlight the popularity of the group. We apologise to any who may have been offended by last night’s episode.”

As for Alex.....let’s just say he didn’t really apologize at all and still kept being quite disrespectful.

End of Summary

I hope the summary helped you guys of the current situation! Now this is my opinion on the situation currently.

I honestly agree with how racist it is and it’s disrespectful as well knowing how hard they worked throughout their career and the tough times they went through. Of course I would like to give my opinion on the whole segment but that’s going to take too long so I’ll give my opinion on four things, three from the segment and the fourth opinion will be about the apology.

‘only one member actually speaks English’

As we know, Namjoon is amazing at English and learned it by watching the American show Friends. But pointing that out that’s a way of belittling them. As ARMYs we know that they try to at least speak a bit of the language for the fans so they can communicate us which is honestly amazing. I’m sure if they wish it, they would want the ability to speak all languages to be able to speak out to us and to able to express more of themselves. But because of their actions we know that they love us hence the quote, “actions speak louder than words.”

Gangster names

This was a bit of a surprise when I first heard it. As I mentioned I didn’t see the full segment because I couldn’t bare to watch anymore. But then I saw this floating around, so I’m guessing they mentioned it towards the end of the segment. I did a bit of research about stage names because my arrogant self didn’t really question why any Kpop idol had a stage name. So this is what I dug up.

I’m still a bit iffy about the process of choosing a stage name but I read that they really don’t have a choice and that their stage name is chosen for them, but idols can later on change their stage name if they wanted to. But the question is why do they have stage name in first place? Apparently it’s so that they can attract more people because they believe that by having an “old” sounding name they wouldn’t attract many people. Some idols tho, have a special meaning behind their stage maybe even a special reason.

J-Hope

The reason why his stage name is J-Hope is because he hopes he can become people’s hope. Hence the introduction “I’m your hope, you’re my hope, I’m J-Hope.”

Suga

Suga on the other hand was a stage name that was given to him from BangPD I believe. The reason why Suga was chosen is because his smiles are sweet like sugar.

Another example is RM. Now here’s the thing, RM changed his stage name. Currently the initials of his stage name means Real Me and I’m guess what that means is that he’s showing ARMYs the real him. Now what about Rap Monster? Well I’m just going on a whim here and guess that the reason for the previous stage name is because of his amazing ability of rapping. Honestly I’m not going to talk about the other stage names he had cause that’s going to take too long. 😂

Last but not least, V! If you’ve been an ARMY even before the debut of BTS then you know very well that V was th last member to be introduced to BTS. During the time they wanted to make V like the mystery member and kept him hidden in hopes to attract more people. He was given the choice between Lex, Six, and V. He chose V because the members thought it fits him well.

‘I’m going to say....hair products.’

As we already know, BTS was able to speak at the UN. Namjoon, gave a speech about self respect which was amazing and a huge accomplishment for their career. During the segment they did mention that they did indeed gave a speech at the UN so they did do a little research but what they said afterwards is flat out ridiculous. They said that the speech that they gave at the UN was most likely about hair products... I’m beyond speechless honestly.

Speech less because could you imagine how nervous they were? Could you imagine how much time they prepped and wrote and try to find out the right words to write such a great speech? It’s not like writing an essay for a school assignment, they’re writing for the public to hear and presenting to not just the leaders of the UN but to those who may be watching as well. It’s a big deal because they’ve been noticed and had made a great impact to us.

If you haven’t yet, I recommend watching the full UN speech!

youtube

I had to share but out of all the videos, Jimmy Fallon’s segment about the speech of the UN was amazing and cracked me up. 😂

youtube

Honestly the part where they made it so that a representative was hearing Fake Love when Trump was giving out his speech was amazing. 😂 Then came along a few minutes of roasting Trump was also funny.

Apology

So this will be my last opinion. What is my opinion about the apology that the representative of channel 9 gave and the tweet from 20 to One. Honestly... I’m not satisfied with it at all. I agree with ARMY that they need to publicly apologize for the racist and disrespectful segment. The way 20 to One apologized is not ok and it’s kinda like they’re not admitting to their fault. “Light hearted entertainment,” do you really think the whole two minute segment was “light hearted.”

No it’s not light hearted at all. They even made us look like crazy fans. But I don’t mind it because ARMY has accomplished a bunch of projects in honor of BTS. Projects like helping the environment, helping conserve the koalas (specifically in honor of RM). I mean, let’s not mention how litteraly there is a koala named Koya in a Australian zoo. ARMYs have donated to US organizations that assist disadvantaged kids around the world (specifically in honor of Suga). Then Mexican ARMY outdid themselves when they acted as a human barricade when BTS were arriving at the airport for K-Con Mexico!

Of course, there are many more projects that AMRYs have done in the past that we all need to be proud of. I’m also proud of the project as well that’s been done for the boys.

Last but not least Alex. He didn’t really give an apology at all and it’s really not worth mentioning it. If you want you can check it out through his Twitter.

Anyway, this is my opinion of the situation and what has happened so far. I’m going to end it here since this is already long blog.

I purple you guys! 💜 Let’s keep making BTS proud!

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comixconnection · 6 years ago

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CHOOSE YOUR THREE FREE COMICS!

The following titles will be available at Comix Connection on May 4th (while supplies last!). Everybody gets to pick three! For every food donation* you bring in for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank you may select an additional free comic book!

*food donations must be at least two months in date to allow for food bank processing time! expired or soon-to-expire items will not be accepted. please check your labels!

We know the line for the FCBD comics can get long (if you want to come in and shop first, you can skip the line and head straight inside!) so in an effort to both entertain you while you’re in that long line and to help it go a little faster by giving you a preview of the various titles so you can decide ahead of time what looks good, the Comix Connection Counter Monkeys have read and reviewed all of the available FCBD books! Take a peek!

CHOOSE YOUR FREE COMICS:

This preview of the Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale graphic novel introduces us to a young, pre-Catwoman Selina Kyle and the difficult adolescence that led her to become everyone’s favorite feline fatale. Plus, get a sneak-peek at the upcoming Teen Titans: Raven graphic novel coming from DC Ink later this summer for $16.99. Want more? Pre-order Raven now or grab a copy of Under the Moon off the shelves today!

CONTENT NOTE: while this sample has been rated ALL AGES it does deal with some heavy subjects, including animal death, and the books themselves are intended for TEEN READERS.

Shiver your way into a galaxy far, far away in this spooky one-shot starring Han Solo and Chewbacca on a galactic treasure hunt during their pre-Rebellion scoundrel days! Want more? Discover the whole era-spanning adventure in the Tales from Vader’s Castle graphic novel, on the shelves now! [ALL AGES]

Marjorie is not excited to go visit her grandmother in the country for Mother’s Day, even though her best friend is coming along for the ride -- secretly of course, because Wendell is a ghost! This down-to-earth haunting pits Majorie against the pressures of growing-up and finding herself, but it’s Wendell who gets the star make-over in this issue! As in the graphic novel, this one-shot deals with the topics of grief and loss in a way that is both approachable and touching for all ages. Want more? Pick up the Sheets graphic novel where the two friends first met, on the shelves now! [ALL AGES]

This two-for-one issues gives you the first ever comic book venture for the beloved video game Minecraft, a teaser for the upcoming graphic novel. in the first story, a cheerful “Griefer” gets some grief of her own when real life consequences collide with her digital destruction. Plus, everyone’s favorite super-siblings decide to give mom and dad the gift of a “Date Night” that gives them more than they bargained for in a short story set after Incredibles 2. Want more? Pre-order the $9.99 Minecraft graphic novel now, or picks up the latest issue of Incredible: Secret Identities on the racks now! [ALL AGES]

A hilarious, lighthearted romp through the world of the Justice League as the world’s greatest heroes answer their fans’ most pressing questions -- such as Superman’s biggest mistakes and Hawkgirl’s dietary preferences. This two chapter preview of the upcoming graphic novel, Dear Justice League exposes the funny side of ordinary super life. Want more? Have us pre-order your copy of the $9.99 graphic novel out later this summer! [ALL AGES]

In this special preview of the upcoming graphic novel Ghost Hog, new ghost Truff the hog gets some lessons in how to haunt -- and the dangers when things go wrong! -- from her friends. Plus, catch a preview of Pilu of the Woods, a sweet graphic novel about family and woodlore as a lost little girl meets a lost little dryad and both have to fight their own dark sides to find their way home. Want more? Have us set aside the first Ghost Hog book for you at $12.99 when it comes in next week, or grab a copy of Pilu of the Woods off the shelves now! [ALL AGES]

It can be hard being a Villain Kid in Auradon and even harder when you’re coming from the Isle of the Lost. Dizzy Tremaine is worried about her first day of school so she seeks out some fortune telling from Celia Facilier, but can she trust what the cards tell her...or Celia? Sneak a peek at this preview of the upcoming Disney Descendants: Dizzy’s New Fortune graphic novel coming out later this month. Pre-order your copy now for $12.99 or grab a previous Descendants story off the shelf now! [ALL AGES]

Discover the beginning of Ash Katchum’s partnership with Pikachu in this preview of the Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You graphic novel -- and if you think it was all smooth sailing for these two famous pair, you’re in for a rough surprise...just like Pikachu! Then, follow Red as he captures his first Pokémon and begins his journey to being a great trainer in the preview of Pokémon Adventures Volume One. Want more? Order the full story of each volume today! [ALL AGES]

A long, long, long time ago -- 40,000 years in fact -- neanderthal siblings Lucy and Andy founded an Adventure Club with their human neighbors to explore their prehistoric world. When they go chasing a meteorite that fell from the sky, they might have found more than they bargained for! But don’t worry: every Lucy & Andy story comes with a back-up feature where modern scientists fill-in the details that Lucy and Andy haven’t figured out yet! Find out more in this one-shot adventure, and then check out their ongoing hi-jinks in the collection of Lucy & Andy Neanderthal graphic novels. Grab one off the shelf or order yourself a copy today! [ALL AGES]

The Lumberjanes are a sensation of adventurous scouts who best magical monsters through the power of friendship, and this issue spotlights two of their stories: first, get a preview of the first part of the upcoming Lumberjanes: Shape of Friendship original graphic novel when a visit to the boys’ camp gets a little knottier than expected and second, enjoy a short story of one time Ripley had to use her wits to save Jen from certain doom! Want more? Pre-order the Shape of Friendship OGN today, or pick up a previous volume of the intrepid scouts’ many adventures from the shelves today! [ALL AGES]

In this collection of short, spooky tales, Casper the Friendly Ghost struggles to stop his friends from pulling mean pranks on one another and goes out of his way (and out of orbit...sort of) to make new friends. Enjoy a haunting from the world’s kindest ghost while you alternate groans and giggles over the antics of his less-than-kindly friends and neighbors. Want more? Grab a Casper issue off the racks today! [ALL AGES]

This underwater one-shot introduces us to Alex the Parrotfish, who is eager to head to the big city of Coralton and find a job! Unfortunately for Alex, his quest runs into a few hiccoughs (some with big, pointy teeth!) that threaten to leave his plans high-and-dry, not least of which is that on the reef everybody has a very specific role in the ecosystem...which you can learn more about in the backup Guide to the Bahamas which identifies all the different fish Alex met along the way, and more! [ALL AGES]

Meet Gillbert, a small sea creature, and his underwater friends. Gillbert is the son of the king and queen of all the oceans, but today he just wants to sleep in! Too bad for Gillbert that today is Everything Day, when you can do Anything...except sleep, at least if you have friends like his! Read the first chapter of Gillbert’s newest adventure by Art Baltazar, creator of Tiny Titans and one of the greatest cartoonists of kids’ comics working today! Want more? Check out the first volume of Gillbert’s adventures, Gillbert the Little Merman vol 1, on shelves now, or grab some of Art Baltazar’s earlier work and see where all that AW, YEAH! got started! [ALL AGES]

One of the classics of comic book history, in this FCBD special Little Lulu is as bold, troublesome, and adventurous as ever! Despite being created in the 1930s, Lulu remains an empowering little girl: assertive, independent, and imbued with expert comedic timing, Lulu was a defining comic of post-war America today this protofeminist icon is ready to bring her gags and giggles to a new audience with a collection of reprints starting later this year. Get in on this not-so-lost treasure early. Want more? Sign-up for the upcoming first volume now, or begin with the John Stanley: Giving His Life to Little Lulu HC and learn about her seminal creator and the history he and Lulu influenced. [ALL AGES]

In this one-shot issue, the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends find themselves in an interstellar amusement park for some rest and recreation (and don’t forget the snacks!) until a rigged game of chance exposes a darker underside to all the shiny, happy fun. Can Yaz, Ryan, Graham, and the newest incarnation of the BBC’s famous Time Lord save the day? Find out here! Want more? Grab an issue of the new Thirteenth Doctor series off the rack, or explore the exploits of the previous twelve incarnations in some of our collected adventures off the shelf or by special order! [ALL AGES]

Written, drawn, and colored by legally blind (no, really!) New Zealander Richard Fairgray, Blastosaurus is the story of the titular mutant triceratops with fists of fury and a heart of gold and the two young kids who become his best friends. Overcoming his beastly nature, good ol' Blasto fights monsters, vampires, and mad scientists who use farts as a weapon. The result is a fun comic with a goofy sense of humor where anything is possible. Think Hellboy running through a MAD Magazine, with a little bit of the bizarreness of Creepy or Eerie thrown in. If you like dinosaurs, punching evil, and think flatulence is funny, this is the book for you (and your kids)! Want more? Grab a collection, or dig into the recent back issue bins for some single issues! [ALL AGES]

This treasury of British comics stacks-up a monstrous plethora of humorous hi-jinks, from sharks to soccer to super heroes and back again! In the grand tradition of classic comic strip funnies, this packed-to-the-brim collection of short tales is ready to tickle your funny bone from dawn to dusk to full moon! [ALL AGES]

Co-created by football star (or “soccer” for we uncultured Americans) Cristiano Ronaldo, this new secret super team stars a fictional version of the famed kicker turning his sports skills toward world-protecting. It’s bright, silly, and kids-centric, fleshed-out with sidekicks like the super-baseball bat-weilding Sita Shaolin and the hammerhead shark-headed hockey stick-swinging Kaiju King, but the key of the team is the power-borrowing sphere that Ronaldo has to deliver to the bad guys via his super soccer kicking skills! Think Teen Titans Go, but with football (soccer). Want more? Keep your eyes peeled for more Striker Force 7 comics in the near future! [ALL AGES]

Brought to you by the producers and animators of the hit TV show and features all your favorite characters; Bob, Linda, Tina, Gene & Louise, this issue reprints three impossible Bob’s Burgers stories: one featuring a carnival ride that does a lot more than just spin, one that involves a magic wish melting with regret, and one of Tina’s fanfiction extravaganzas! Want more? Order one of the earlier Bob’s Burgers collections and relive watching the show all over again! [ALL AGES]

The world of Marvel’s movies might have reached an end point for the moment, but things for the comic book Avengers are dicier than ever! Preview upcoming adventures for two series in this issue. First, Tony Stark finds himself facing eerily familiar faces in a time he never wanted to see, while Namor and the Squadron Supreme heat up the oceans and Captain America and Captain Marvel lead a team of heroes deep into Shi’ar space! Then, read the first chapter of the new Savage Avengers series staring such “classic” Avengers characters as Wolverine, Elektra, Punisher, Venom, Blade, and...Conan!? There’s no slowing these heroes down, True Believers! Want more? Grab the first issue of Savage Avengers off the shelves today, or dive into the ongoing Avengers title for adventures both near and far! [TEEN]

Read the full first issue of Hope, a brand-new ongoing superhero comic. The “Ultras” first showed up five years ago, changing the world with their powers. Some people love them, some people fear them, but for unassuming mom Julie Lavelle they were a carefully-guarded secret...until the car accident that changed everything. Where will the ultra named Hope go from here, and with so much loss will she be able to find her namesake within herself ever again? Find out here, than come back later this summer for Issue #2 where things, somehow, get worse! [TEEN]

Two of television’s most beloved series (one long-running and one far, far too short) return to comics! First, preview the new Firefly series set before the tragic events of the Serenity movie that reveals some ugly skeletons from Mal and Zoe’s wartime closets and strains the crew’s bonds like never before. Then, go back to Sunnydale where everything old is new again with a modern reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy is back in high school again for the first time, surrounded by familiar faces...but how different will things be when she’s slaying in 2019 instead of 1997? Enjoy a modern twist with a classic taste (of blood!) and grab your stakes...and browncoats! Want more? Find the first issues of either series on the shelf today, or delve into the classic collections of the previous Dark Horse stories. [TEEN]

This two-for-one issue explores both the darker and lighter sides of the Spider-Man mythos! In the first story, prepare yourself for danger as Eddie Brock introduces us to the brutal beginning of Absolute Carnage, a Venom-event starting this August. Then enjoy the lighter side of super-heroics as Miles Morales and Peter Parker face-off over an epic conflict of their own...who really has the best pizza in NYC? Want more? Check out the latest issues of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Miles Morales Spider-Man, Venom, or Amazing Spider-Man on the shelves today -- or read-up on previous events in our extensive collection of various spider-rific comics! [TEEN]

What if experiencing a school shooting was so traumatic that it, and other natural and human-produced horrors of the 21st century, actually triggered superpowers to manifest in the survivors? That is the brainstorm behind Humanoid’s first ongoing comics initiative, H1. This FCBD “Ignition” preview gives us a story about these brand-new superheroes (and villains!) trying to find their place in the world...and they aren’t content to stand by and watch the status quo! Also take a behind-the-scenes peek into the creative process and characters of this blisteringly topical political premise: Spearheaded by comic book legend Mark Waid, Humanoids looks ready to break into the superhero market with a set of relevant and wholly original stories. Want more? Sign-up for the first issue next month’s debut of Ignited now. [TEEN]

It’s School Picture Day in Riverdale, and that of course means drama -- but there might be more at work today than Cheryl Blossom’s demands for more flattering lighting! When nasty notes turn up anonymously dropped in the yearbook suggestion box, will our small town friends be able to stick together and solve the case, or will someone do something that everyone will regret? The new Riverdale: Season Three comic series features adventures set between the episodes of the hit show, and as always in the town of Riverdale the moment you start digging for answers the more secrets you expose! Also enjoy some behind-the-scenes sneak peeks as well as an excerpt from the prequel novel Riverdale: The Day Before. Want more? Grab the latest issue of the new Riverdale series off the rack, or explore our variety of collected editions from the traditional Archie Digests to the modern re-vamp of the Archie and Sabrina series and, of course, the show-inspired Riverdale comic itself! [TEEN]

Canada's perennial titular superhero has seen sporadic publication since its creation in 1975, but has been appearing more consistently since 2015 as part of Chapterhouse Comics. This preview of the newest Captain Canuck series starts with a "top secret" dossier to catch you up on recent in-world history, as well as background on some of his allies and enemies. We also receive a small hint of the action to come as the Captain and his French Canadian partner, Kebec, fly into an underground lair for some robot-bashing action! [TEEN]

The beloved Robotech series continues with a revolutionary new revisioning! Jump on board for the next big event right here with this mind-blowing first chapter of Robotech: Event Horizon, beginning this summer with Issue #21! Plus a Curtain Call backup featuring...Minmei!? Check it all out here, then grab a collected edition of the previous issues or sign-up for the start of Event Horizon this summer! [TEEN]

Time-displaced warrior-queen Malika struggles under the burden of the Dragon’s Doom in this preview of her newest adventure, Malika: Fire & Frost. An enchanted sleep sent Malika 500 years into the future but ancient curses do not give up their hold that easily...and neither do her adversaries! The quest for the Dragon Stones is a dangerous one, but what happens when someone new gets caught-up in the fight? Read the first chapter here, then check out the previous two volumes in her epic chronicles: Malika: Warrior Queen on shelves now! [TEEN]

What if one day, all the animals all over the world woke up and started talking? That is the story of Animosity, an epic adventure following human girl Jesse and dog Sandor across the resulting cataclysm. But Jesse and Sandor are not the only ones with a story to tell. In this one-shot, bio major Meredith and Neon, the beta fish who loves her, have to face the terror of life outside the tank. Want more? Grab the first volume of Animosity off the shelves today! [TEEN]

Mel has a secret: she thinks she’s dying. She’s also a clandestine superhero tasked with protecting all of mankind. A chance meeting in a cemetery between the bleeding woman and a kid hiding-out with her sketchbook changes everything...except the fact that being a superhero isn’t easy. Is Jessie up for the challenge? Find out in this FCBD reprint of the first issue of Punchline, the new super-powered super-star from Antarctic Press! Want more? Order the first volume of the sold-out series, Punchline: Blood Sisters, today! [TEEN]

In this adorably meta story, witness the epic throw-down between Sakura and Karin -- both in and out of the game! Can Sakura’s hard-earned skills perfected through after-hours practice at the arcade where she works compete with Karin’s meticulous, expensive training? Who will be the world champion of Super Chibi Puzzle Gem Fighter Ultra Turbo Arcade Edition? Fine out here! Want more? Raid the back issue bins for previous issues of Street Fighter, or grab a collected edition today! [TEEN]

This manga-style two-for-one issue features a story from the world of My Hero Academia and one from The Promised Neverland. In the first, enter a world where 80% of all people are born with “quirks” that give them super-powers! It’s an exciting, hyper-active world full of heroes and villains...but what about the 20% of people who aren’t born “super”? Jump straight into the action with a fight scene that’s more than meets the eye, and find out! Then in the second story, visit the orphanage where eleven-year-old Emma lives with her thirty-seven beloved siblings, enjoying an ordinary life of family, games, and companionship...along with the strange Daily Test, numbers tattooed on their necks, and a fence to keep them from ever going outside! Want more? There are multiple volumes of both manga available now, so grab one today! [TEEN]

Worlds collide in this special FCBD one-shot! When Tala and Eddie, estranged father-daughter duo on the run from good guys and bad guys alike, finally get their hands on an “escape hatch” to another world it seems like all their troubles are solved -- but the world where the Goon lives is never trouble free! When one pair contains a man trapped in the body of a pug and the other contains a newly-minted dogcatcher with a love of violence, is there any way things can end well? Plus, a back-up featuring Eric Powell’s appalachian horror comic, Hillbilly! Want more? Collections of all three series are available now, or grab the first issue of the new Goon today! [TEEN]

Red 5 Comics brings out a two-for-one sampler of high-concept post-apocalyptic stories. In The Dark Age, a mysterious mist destroys all the metal on Earth, immediately plunging society back into a medieval kingdom of wood, brick, and glass. In Afterburn, the world is scorched by a super-powerful solar flare and the story follows a group of thieves and mercenaries breaking into the most dangerous areas of the old world, attempting to recover lost artifacts for the remaining aristocracy. For readers looking for dark, mature stories of a dismal future, this comic is a perfect choice! [TEEN]

In this two-parter from Dark Horse, enjoy a one-shot set in the aftermath of Stranger Things where Nancy struggles to reconnect to her brother and find a way for both of them to return to normal life. Then preview the new series Black Hammer ‘45: Tales From the World of Black Hammer with a foray to the werewolf-riddled battlefields of World War II and a glimpse of the future of the ghostly Jack Sabbath. Want more? Pick up the first volume of Black Hammer, a series that takes the traditional tropes of the super hero world and twists them into new, marvelous, and weird new shapes, or grab the first volume of the Stranger Things tie-in comic exploring Will’s time in the Upside Down off the shelves. You can also sign up for the prequel series, Stranger Things: Six due out later this month! [TEEN]

In the sci-fi/horror world of Midnight Sky, things are always dark. But things are not always what they seem. In this unexpected dystopian tale, we enter a world where light reveals the people who have been replaced...but by what, and why? And how far will one mother go to protect her children when one of them is no longer human, and the other has a strange power that might save -- or doom -- them all? Plus, a preview of Long Live Pro Wrestling, when a fed-up announcer gets a little too honest for his boss and becomes a social media sensation, a short haunting by Gutt Ghost, and previews of several upcoming titles from Scout Comics! Want more? Sign-up for your favorites today! [TEEN]

Discover the strange, steampunk world of Lady Mechanika in this special issue which reprints her original 2010 debut one-shot as well as excerpts from two of her neweer adventures: The Clockwork Assassin and La Belle Dame Sans Merci. The mysterious mechanical woman stalks the streets in search of answers to her own origins -- but could she be a murderer herself? And how will she protect her friend Mr. Lewis from the dangers posed by an even more mysterious woman than herself? Gawk at the breadth of Lady Mechanika’s world, then grab a collection of her adventures off the shelves today! [TEEN]

In 1992, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn burst onto the comics scene. Today you can relive that moment with this reprint of that very first issue, complete with an exclusive new cover by Francesco Mattina. Enjoy a look back at the moment that started it all...or if you’ve never read Spawn before, now is the perfect time to jump on board before the movie! Want more? There are almost 300 issues of Spawn out there today, available in back issue singles and collections! Grab some today! [TEEN]

This two-part issue from Valiant Universe begins the newest saga in the life of nanite-infused ultimate soldier, Bloodshot, as well as setting the stage for the events of the Fallen World event due later this year which will pit the aforementioned Bloodshot against Rai, a haunted cyber-samurai. First witness Bloodshot at his most unstoppable as he seeks to save a doctor from those who would use her talents to make more beings like him; then explore the strain between truth and faith when “heaven” falls out of the sky in the opening salvo of Fallen World. Want more? Pick up a collection of Bloodshot or Rai or sign-up today for their new adventures in either the solo series or the Fallen World mini-series! [TEEN]

Return to the classics with this excerpt from Zagor: The Alien Saga. Originally created in 1961, the story of Zagor combines science fiction, horror, and westerns in one adventurous whole. Here, discover how the titular Zagor and his friend Chico first encountered beings from another world...and the darker, more familiar face beside them! Want more? Order a collection of this classic comic book today. [TEEN]

The main story of this one-shot features Dragonfly and Dragonflyman -- the same hero, but in two different worlds: one colorful and campy, the other gritty and dark! Juxtapose the biff, bam, pow! aesthetics of old school heroism with the grimdark hyper-violence of the nineties and today, and see how familiar faces can turn strange. But what will happen when cheerful Dragonflyman and grizzled Dragonfly change places in The Wrong Earth? Lay the groundwork of their worlds here, and then check out the back-up features introducing Captain Ginger, the feline captain of a ship full of interstellar cats, and a quick trip through the unfriendly world of Edgar Allen Poe’s A Snifter of Terror. Want more? All three series have collections available now! [TEEN]

When humanity left planet Earth behind, fleeing a dying world for a new start in the stars, they nuked it behind them in an attempt to wipe-out the vampires left behind. Unfortunately, in the shadow of that nuclear winter, those vampires evolved. Now with the bloodsucks on the brink of achieving space flight and coming after their wayward food source, humanity has one last chance to save itself: the Interceptor program. One surgically-modified, heavily-trained, even more heavily-armed warrior to wipe-out the vampire threat for good. But when she gets to Earth, she finds something she never expected... This kinetic, fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek comic sets up a battle for Earth the likes of which you’ve never seen! Want more? Pre-order the $17.99 graphic novel due out later this summer that reprints the original series, or jump straight to the sequel with the new four-issue Reactor mini-series, available now! [TEEN]

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the first appearance of the Vampirella character in Vampirella #1, a Warren Publishing horror magazine and sister publication to the company's Creepy and Eerie magazines. As is befitting such an anniversary, Dynamite Comics is bringing out a new series with a new creative team to craft stories for the wry badgirl vampire. In this preview, we see our favorite scantily-clad bloodsucker endure assaults on social media, determined to discover her whereabouts and her secrets. The real treat in this FCBD exclusive is a bonus story, originally published in 1993, written and illustrated by comic book legends Kurt Busiek and Arthur Adams. Want more? Sign-up now for the new ongoing Vampirella series beginning later this summer! [TEEN+]

Jump in mid-action to the latest adventure of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as they race through the city to save their friend and survive multiple ambushes! Then, discover the history of the saga back to the very beginning a long, long time ago in the back-up feature. Want more? Check out the reading order in the back of this issue for where to get started and then grab one of the TMNT’s collected editions off the shelf, or just keep going from here with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes #94, out later this month! [MATURE READERS!]

Jump feet first into the frenetic world of Deadly Class, ongoing comic and hit television show! What do kids going to assassin school do to blow off steam? Hit a concert, of course...but sometimes the work comes with them. Does making art actually change the world? What about revenge? And can you hold onto who you are when the world is trying to shape you into something else? If all that can be packed into just one issue, imagine how much goes on in the entire series...or stop imagining it, and pick up the first volume today! [MATURE READERS!]

In 2017, Emil Ferris published her first graphic novel, the unprecedented and brilliant My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, an exploration of everything from the trauma of a lonely childhood, the Holocaust, and totally awesome horror comics, all drawn with ballpoint pen and a perspective never seen before in comics. This only came about after Ferris experienced severe brain damage from a severe case of West Nile Virus and used drawing with a ballpoint pen as a form of physical therapy. This FCBD-exclusive provides an inside look into how My Favorite Thing Is Monsters emerged from that tragedy and includes Ferris's own guide to drawing monsters. Want more? Find the original graphic novel on our shelves today! [MATURE READERS!]

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT SUPPLIES ARE LIMITED AND ALL FCBD TITLES ARE FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED! WE SUGGEST YOU HAVE IDEAS IN MIND FOR BACK-UP BOOKS IN CASE YOUR FIRST CHOICE IS GONE!

Many of these books tie-in with comic series or graphic novels currently available in our stores, while others are previews for books that are soon to be released! If you enjoyed your free comics, or if you saw an interesting one in the list that you didn’t have the chance to grab that you’d like to read, ask one of your friendly neighborhood Comix Connection Counter Monkeys for help! We’ll be glad to give you more information -- or even order you some goodies!

#fcbd #fcbd 2019 #central pennsylvania food bank #free comic book day #food drive #free comic book day 2019 #comixmech #comixyork #comixsale #comixevent

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yeehawrachel · 4 years ago

Photo

I approached the manifesto from a post-modernist perspective, which arguably made it infinitely harder to complete. If there are no hard-set rules without exceptions, who am I to shout directives at anyone? Or even just into the void. I researched existing manifestos and garnered some prevailing themes that seemed to exist across time and platform. One idea that artists and manifesto creators seem to agree on and preach as a lifestyle is “fail forward” (Popova, 2021). Which seems like a guileless starting place. But how can one tell others to “just act” or “just create”, even if it’s bad or clumsy or wrong, when our creations have the potential to influence lives in potentially damaging ways? Consider the makers of the film “The Birth of a Nation”. The filmmakers probably thought they were creating art, representing their culture, promoting American values, and showing the world their heroic side of the story. But this film is widely credited with generating renewed interest in the KKK, a surge in KKK membership, and frankly it’s beyond likely that many people died due to the hysteria incited by this film. It’s actually probably more important to communicate to a larger audience that people don’t often know when they’re on the wrong side of history. People are generally trying to do good things, stick up for what they think is right.

Take, for example, the artist, singer-songwriter SIA, who recently made a film called “Music”, which was an ‘homage to her autistic half-sister’ and childhood companion, and made in good faith, under the impression that she was giving exposure to an underrepresented community. But this movie was critically received as a disgrace. SIA herself is not autistic, nor is the main actress she chose to represent the autistic individual. She likely didn’t intend to cause any harm, but she reduces autism into a cartoonish and childlike of itself, completely lacking the nuance and sensitivity that it would require to immerse the viewer in their world, put us in their shoes, and bring their story to life. So what should we take away from this? Could this film have been made elegantly, so that it would have been received with grace? Do we adopt a blanket principle that no one should tell any stories about marginalized, disenfranchised, or underrepresented communities unless they, themselves are part of that community? That’s where we find one of the pitfalls of post-modernism. Infinite consensus can create paralysis. Our entire nation is grappling with that notion, at the moment.

Another feature common to these artistic manifestos is the idea that consumerism is the antithesis of progress, that our graphic design skills are absolutely wasted in these capitalistic endeavors, and that we should instead dedicate our time to more virtuous, important tasks (Garland, 1964). At first glance I agreed with this sentiment. Runaway capitalism profits from (and has historically profited from) slavery, and the capitalist creed isn’t exactly something that I want to align myself with completely. But it is worth noting that consumerism is generally the niche that we graphic designers occupy in society, and I don’t think that’s altogether terrible. I have this memory of my friend purchasing a box of adult diapers for her infirmed grandfather, and on the front cover of the box was a handsome young man- maybe 30 years old- wearing an adult diaper. When she bought the box we both had a giggle imagining this man, just after he had accepted his job offer, excitedly calling his mom on the phone like, “Mom, I got the job!! I’m gonna be a MODEL!!” And to be honest that idea still makes me giggle. But the point worth noting here is that he’s a cog of the capitalist machine, just like the rest of us (or, most of us). And we’re all going to have to work less-than-glamorous jobs at some point. But directing anger with the system towards other people who are just trying to make ends meet—doesn’t strike me as a helpful thing to do. So even if you’re employed to make packaging design by a company that makes laxatives, or whatever, just do your best and make it attractive. Or funny. Not solely or necessarily so the company can increase the profit margins of our employers, but so that we can make our world a more beautiful or enjoyable place to live in, however we can.

Lastly, a trend in manifestos and an explicit goal of artists and graphic designers that has caught my attention is the imperative to “make something lasting”. Which didn’t sound completely right to me for some reason. Of course, I believe in making the world a better place for future generations, but achieving that by making something lasting, even if that thing isn’t a physical entity- strikes me as a fallible approach. Ideas change, and there’s almost 8 billion of us on this planet. Sometimes the best way to make the world a better place is to feel small, be kind, and just try to be a good human. Setting out to create things that last, either physically or metaphorically… that’s how we ended up with so many statues of racist war generals. Just saying. Maybe let’s not make “lasting” one of our ultimate motivations.

I had about a million points that I wanted to make in this manifesto, and with each point I got immediately fretful about the million consequential counterpoints. So I went about this manifesto in a way that I felt best demonstrated the idea that there are often at least two sides to every issue, depending on the filter you view it through. And that sometimes a bit of a filter is necessary to make sense of things at all. When viewed with one filter, my manifesto conveys suggestions of silliness and harmless rebellion, and the other through filter is a message more along the lines of “live a humble life and drive safely”. The trends in graphic design that I do enjoy and abided by are the style of write everything in capitals, split things into discrete, brief phrases, using slightly provocative rhetoric, occasionally featuring ‘foul language’ (Hanna, 2021). The back of my manifesto is a drawing (created in photoshop and printed) of mine that I found to be a lighthearted reflection of postmodernism.

Regarding my specific methodology, my manifesto is printed on cardstock and sits within an envelope that has acetate windows on each side to filter out red and blue light respectively. The card, outside of the envelope, is a printed with superimposed messages in red and cyan, that are difficult to read without a filter, but are legible when viewed from within the envelope. The only material problem I encountered along the way is that acetate paper is extremely static-y, it pulls dust out of the air and sticks to clothing because of its charge, and thus constantly appears dirty and gives you little electric shocks when you’re handling it.

I feel like my manifesto is an accurate representation of myself and my views. It is an attractive object containing both information and irreverence, it is a symbol in and of itself, and it is a representation of my present and future approaches to my work in graphic design.

#manifesto

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jess-dw-sherman · 4 years ago

Text

Media Switchup 2 - TikTok

For this week’s media switch-up I chose TikTok. Personally, I’ve never really used the app before this week. I downloaded it around a month ago, but only because one of my best friends kept texting me videos and it was annoying to be redirected to a site each time I wanted to watch them. Overall, this was going to be essentially a completely new app for me. Before starting the assignment for the week, I asked that friend why she used the app so much and she responded, “I like TikTok because it distracts me from all the stress around us…and I can tune out for just a second and don’t get trapped watching things for hours like I would a TV show I’d have to binge.” Almost exclusively based on her comments and videos she’d sent me in the past, I expected a fun app with quick and funny videos.

This was the first time I’d opened the app without being sent there, and I quickly realized I wasn’t following any accounts or topics, so my feed was essentially random. The content format is only videos, with the option to some text in the description or certain parts of the video.

Diversity Among Users

After going to the Discover section, I was able to scroll through different topics and their related videos, and the diversity in users was immediately clear. While on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram I really only see videos from people or brands that I’ve already chosen to follow, it was great to see such a variety of topics and people.

Racial Diversity

On platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, people tend to follow others who look like them or come from similar backgrounds, and this unconscious choice leads to much less diversity in the information and opinions that they see. While I was able to choose categories that interest me on TikTok, I was presented with a much more diverse selection. I also was able to follow #DiverseVoices to ensure that I continue to see content from different backgrounds and cultures.

A wide range of ages

One thing that did surprise me was the range of ages that I saw in users. From an age perspective, most users did seem to be between the ages of 15-30 something, but also a large older population aged between 45-60. This reflects user data reported as of March 2019, which shows that 50 percent of users are ages 18-34 and over 26 percent of users are between 45-64. This is similar to Facebook in some ways – the main users are the same age range – but a much larger percentage of users on TikTok are between 45-64, while only around 8 percent of Facebook users fall in that age range. I quickly found some really cute accounts from people in the older demographic, like @yourkoreandad and @grannycoybundy that had really positive and wholesome videos covering a range of topics, from cooking to advice with dancing.

General Content

The overall content was as I expected: fun, funny, and cute videos. There seemed to be a lot of videos on specific topics, like cooking, makeup, and opinions. It was fun to see opinion videos on really obscure topics, like using Oxford commas. That one was personally appealing to me because I can’t stand it when people don’t use Oxford commas and the video completely embodied my (strong) feelings on the topic.

Risks in this type of video clip sharing

One thing that did come to my attention during my research on TikTok (and as mentioned by @grannycoybundy) was the difficulty of regulating content, especially for younger and vulnerable users. There have been multiple instances of videos of suicides being shared, and the platform has been unable to completely block the spread of these videos. Because of the way the clips are formatted, even if the explicit video itself has been deleted, there are users who have been inserting clips of the video into their post, so viewers see it unexpectedly while they are watching a normal video. This is actually a huge detracting factor for me; one of my family members committed suicide a few months ago, and it is still something that is hard for me to deal with and think about, even to write it in a post like this. Unintentionally watching a real video of someone harming themselves could and likely would have an immediate and detrimental impact on myself or anyone in a similar situation.

Companies using TikTok

It was surprisingly tough to find companies that are using TikTok. I did see some ads from the NFL and Cheerios when I first open the app, but I wasn’t sure how to find others besides searching names of every company I know and seeing if they have an account. It seems like it is relatively new for companies, and I ended up searching online to find some that used it. After looking at a few different corporate accounts, I did find that the most successful ones are using the platform for mostly up-beat, fun videos. A good example is Calvin Klein (CK) versus Vineyard Vines (VV). I’ve always thought of VV as a more niche, preppy brand, while CK seems like it has more widespread appeal. However, VV has been much more successful on TikTok, in large part because their videos are fun and cute (like a giant dancing pink whale, which is their logo) versus CK’s more serious content. VV has also run campaigns that directly involve their followers, such as #vvcheck, in which users can post a video of all their VV apparel.

More serious content for causes

While I had expected most of the videos to be fun and lighthearted, there were some more serious sections, such as #blacklivesmatter. While some of these videos did contain humor, the subject matter was serious and often had an intended message. I think TikTok is a great option for the BLM movement especially because of how it is often misrepresented in the media. News outlets tend to show only violent events when actually 95% of protests have been peaceful.

TikTok gives people a platform where they can share their videos of the protests that give a more accurate depiction to a wider audience. It also provides an opportunity for people to explain difficult topics from their personal experiences, like institutionalized racism or police violence, in a short and easy to consume way that is easy to consume for people who would not normally read a full article or study on the topic.

There were also some really heart-wrenching posts from people of color, especially one parents posted of their 10-year-old daughter’s reaction to learning that she could be killed for the color of their skin. Because we can see personal stories rather than secondhand reports or recounting in a formal setting, I think TikTok provides an easier way for privileged groups to understand the everyday difficulties that BIPOC individuals face.

Final thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed using this platform. I found it really easy to get sucked in and often caught myself watching videos for 30 minutes instead of the original 5 minutes I’d planned. (fortunately, because this is for a class, I could tell myself that I was actually being productive!) As my friend had said, it is an easy way for me to take a break from the stresses of daily life and relax for a few minutes. The length of the videos makes them easy to watch and follow, so I can take just a few minutes. It is also a good way for me to see more diverse content on important topics from real people when I would otherwise be seeing mostly news articles and rants on Facebook. Also, in the current environment of quarantine, it is a nice way to feel connected to people even if you can’t leave the house. The lack of control on viewing explicit content does concern me, but I also don’t think TikTok would be as effective if their videos were too restricted. There were also some hard-to-watch videos that I think it was important for me to see in order to better understand other people’s experiences. So far, my experience with TikTok was largely positive – I noticed that I’ve already started using it multiple times a day, so it will likely remain a permanent app on my phone.

Sources:

BusinessofApps: TikTok and Facebook user data

ACLE Data: Political Violence in America

CBS News

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minijenn · 7 years ago

Note

Soooo... Soos And The Real Girl Notes? (Since you said you would post the notes for every chapter after you complete them)

Under the cut

Characters: Soos, Steven, Mabel, Dipper, Connie, Jamie, Garnet, Giffany, Stan, Amethyst, Wendy, Melody, Soos’ Abulita other minor charactersSetting: Mall, Mystery Shack, Gem TempleEpisodes to look at: Soos and the Real Girl, Love LettersTone: Romance, action, humor, generally lighthearted with some horror elements thrown in

• Start off humorously at the shack, with some fun/fluffy character interactions (extend this part a bit, specifically with stuff between Soos and the kids) • Still, keep it rather short as Soos leaves for the day, leaving everyone to (somewhat) wonder about what Soos does when he’s not working at the shack • From there, cut to Soos at him with Abulita; she informs him that his cousin Reggie’s engagement party is coming up and encourages him to get a date to take to it; Soos assures her that he’ll be able to find one, before realizing that this task might be much more difficult than he hopes • Cut to the next day at the shack once more, this time with some fun, cute interactions between the kids (again keep in mind the stuff from the past several chapters but don’t necessarily bring it up that much); generally though, show that this is kind of a sign of things returning to peace/normality • After a while of this, Jamie the mailman arrives, much to Steven’s excitement (the other three don’t really know him, seeing as how he left to study acting in Kansas relatively early on into the summer); have some humor in initial interactions in here and remember to show just how overdramatic Jamie tends to be • After some fun with this, Garnet arrives (be descriptive about her arrival here) and Jamie instantly “falls” for her; in this bit, Garnet brings up that she was searching the lake to try and come up with a way to split Malachite up (something that Dipper in particular takes immediate interest in) but she confirms that the fusion is inaccessible due to a thick layer of ice Malachite set up just a few feet down into the water (much to the kids’ shared disappointment) (don’t spend too long on this) • Give Jamie some initial interactions with Garnet here (who’s rather deadpan, as usual), but make sure to show just how lovestruck he is, something that the kids (particularly Mabel and Connie) pick up on • Meanwhile, cut to the inside of the shack, where Stan is trying to sell customers on “Old Goldie”, though humorously, kids only seem to be outright frightened of it; Wendy suggests that he get rid of it, but Stan staunchly refuses, until it ends up backfiring on him (make this bit funny, fairly close to the episode, though perhaps with some deviation) • At the same time, show Soos trying to land a date for the party, only to humorously fail; the kids happen to notice this and, upon learning more about the situation, they decide to help Soos in finding a date, with their first step in this to be heading for the mall • However, as they begin to set out, the kids are stopped by Jamie before they can leave, who anxiously hands them off a letter intended for Garnet before rushing off; after a bit of deliberation, the kids decide to split up, with Steven and Dipper accompanying Soos while Mabel and Connie go to deliver the letter to Garnet • Cut to the mall, where Stan heads off to find a replacement for Goldie while Dipper and Steven start (humorously) coaching Soos on how to get a date; of course, once again Soos fails to more funny results as the boys begin to question whether or not they’re up to this task • Meanwhile, the girls hand the letter off to Garnet, only to find that it’s a love letter from Jamie (show what it says); the girls excitedly realize that Jamie wants to ask Garnet out, only to realize the issues with this plan as the remember Garnet’s a fusion and therefore is already “a relationship” in and of herself • All the same, Mabel and Connie help Garnet write out a response for the letter, which turns out to just be a flat “no”; while somewhat disconcerted, the girls head off to deliver the letter anyway • Go back to Stan as he trashes Goldie, only to notice the animatronics at Hoo-Haw’s Pizza Jamboree; he immediately realizes that they’re a viable money-making tool, but the restaurant’s manager haughtily laughs off hits attempts to buy one, leading Stan to want to get even and steal one for himself (imply that he’s going to recruit Amethyst’s help for this) • Go back to Soos, who has hidden away at the video game store to try and avoid his cousin and his fiancé when the boys find him and try in vain to encourage him; at this juncture, Soos happens to find a copy of “Romance Academy 7”, a video game designed to improve anyone’s dating skills (make this a bit ominous, but not too much) • Despite the store cashier’s warnings against buying the game, the boys are quick to realize that Soos defiantly needs the help, and so they go ahead and rent it (imply that this is a dangerous choice, but again, not too overtly yet) • Go back to Mabel and Connie as they attempt to deliver Garnet’s response to Jamie, only to find him in a complete state of bliss over his infatuation; he tells them about how he was rejected over and over again in Kansas, and how he couldn’t bear the possibility of being rejected once more • After hearing this, the girls agree that they can’t give Garnet’s harsh rejection to Jamie, lest they break his heart; so instead, the decide to write up a different letter of their own, one that’s much more wordy and flowery and indirect than what Garnet wrote; end this part with them sending it to Jamie, confident that it will get the message across • Cut to Soos that evening as he sits down to play Romance Academy 7; introduce .GIFfany here and be rather descriptive about her; all the same, show that her and Soos hit it off in several humorous beats • End this part off rather ominously though, with the implication that .GIFfany might not be just a game… (maybe do a bit more to imply this) • The next morning, Steven and Dipper arrive to see that Soos is still playing the game, almost obsessively so; concerned, they pull Soos away from .GIFfany, but show that she intends on following after them through a string of electrical devices (be descriptive/ominous about this) • Go back to the girls as they inform Garnet that they delivered her response to Jamie (even though they didn’t; also have a bit of humor in here of Garnet nearly forgetting about the whole matter entirely, showing how it kinda doesn’t really matter to her) • However, not too long after this, Jamie arrives, still passionate about his love for Garnet as he misinterpreted the note the girls sent him; the girls try to gently tell him that wasn’t the case, only for Garnet to rather harshly and bluntly shut him down, sending him running off in distraught tears, much to the girls’ shared alarm • Go back to the mall where the boys are still struggling to find Soos a date; eventually, they end up getting separated from him, so show Soos’ anxiousness to try and find a date on his own, only for this to be capped off by him reuniting through .GIFfany • Upon Soos’ confusion, .GIFfany explains that she’s not an ordinary program, and that she ended up “Getting rid of” the programmers who tried deleting her (again, make this ominous); while Soos is somewhat alarmed by this, .GIFfany appeases him by claiming that he’ll never have to talk to real girls again as long as he has her • So show some humor in here as Soos and .GIFfany spend time together, only for this to be interrupted by Soos meeting a young woman named Melody; extend this part a bit, make it very cute and endearing, and have it end up with the two setting up a date at Hoo-Haw’s before parting ways (primarily show how they hit it off and have a thing for each other from the get go, establish their relationship strong) • Immediately after this, the boys return, celebrating that Soos managed to get a date on his own; Soos is somewhat hesitant though, since he doesn’t want to turn his back on .GIFfany, though the boys assure him things will be fine (imply that they won’t be, as .GIFfany watched the entire exchange and is far from pleased…) • Incorporate an original scene in all this between the kids as they all meet up once more; as Steven and Dipper report on their (loose) success with getting Soos a date, Mabel and Connie lament on not being able to help Jamie and instead only making things worse • However, in the middle of this, Mabel gets the idea to help smooth things over between Jamie and Garnet by having them meet up for an “apology date” that night at Hoo-Haw’s; while the others (especially Connie) are hesitant on this idea, they decide to go through with it nonetheless • Cut back to Soos as he attempts to hesitantly break up with .GIFfany, only for her to completely lose it on him; realizing that she’s crazy and obsessive, Soos takes her disc out and plans on returning her after the date; However, show that .GIFfany’s still around and has every intention of claiming him as hers alone • Go back to Stan’s subplot after this and show him preparing to take the animatronic badger, despite Wendy’s attempts at dissuading him; Amethyst comes in during this, so have a little humor here as they two profess their confidence over their latest Revenge Trip, before humorously setting off • Cut back to the mall as the boys are prepping Soos for his date, so make this pretty humorous; after a while of this, Soos meets up with Melody, so remember to keep things cute and fluffy between them for a bit • At the same time, show that Garnet has shown up to talk to Jamie; the girls attempt to coach her over what to say, but she assures them that she already knows what’s up (also imply that she’s there for more than just to reconcile with him, as her future vision showed her the whole .GIFfany fiasco) • Build tension in the next part as .GIFfany returns, much to Soos’ distraught shock; she shows her disdain for Melody and her desire to get rid of her, something that alarms Soos enough to flee and go tell the boys (have a little humor in here, but mostly remember to play things straight) • In the midst of this, Jamie (who is immensely depressed after Garnet’s rejection) meets up with her, expecting her to confirm her rejection; Garnet begins to, but before she can get out what she really intends to say, the evening is interrupted as .GIFfany takes control of the animatronics on stage • Make this part dark and alarming, with the other patrons of the restaurant quickly fleeing as Soos tries in vain to rescue Melody from .GIFfany’s wrath; at the same time, Garnet jumps into action to try and take on this newfound threat • At the same time, show Amethyst and Stan successfully and humorously making off with one of the animatronics, only for it to come alive and start attacking them; have some beginning action in here before cutting back • Show that .GIFfany’s taken full control of everything electronic in the restaurant, trapping the kids, Soos, Melody, Jamie, and Garnet in; keep the action running high and frantic in here as everyone tries to escape while Garnet fights .GIFfany (make this kinda confrontational, as .GIFfany kind of disgusts Garnet for her complete lack of understanding of the concept of actual love) • Eventually though, Garnet is distracted by Jamie, who attempts throwing himself in harms way to protect her; in the midst of this break in the action, Soos runs forward to gain .GIFfany’s attention • At the same time, Stan and Amethyst are struggling to hold their own against the animatronic (have some funny banter in here); they end up being saved by Goldie, of all things, in the trash, which ends up subduing the animatronic • Keep things climactic as Garnet continues trying to protect everyone from the restaurant’s attacking facets, only for her to quickly start to be overwhelmed • In the midst of this, everyone else is surrounded, including Soos; .GIFfany proceeds to urge him into loving her, as real girls will only reject and scorn him; she claims that she can download him into the game with her so they can be together forever • In the end though, Soos boldly rejects this offer, putting her CD into the oven; be descriptive as .GIFfany meets her supposed demise • With the animatronic defeated, Stan and Amethyst celebrate, deciding to take the machine on a tandem trip to Vegas (Make this funny, add more onto it) • In the aftermath of all this chaos, Garnet finally sits Jamie down and speaks her piece about love at first sight not existing, and that it takes time and work for it to really happen; she also compliments how he was able to fool himself into thinking he loved her, and encourages him to take up community theater before leaving • The girls head over to ask if Jamie’s ok, and he assures them that he is, thanking them for all their help (even if it was more along the lines of meddling) • At the same time, Soos comes clean to Melody, who surprisingly isn’t that bothered by everything that just happens; Soos asks her to his cousin’s party, and she accepts, though claims that she won’t be in town for much longer; still, show that sparks of bubbling romance are certainly still there as they intend to carry their relationship on via long distance • End the chapter on generally good feelings as the kids reconvene and reflect on their triumphs/failures in matchmaking; let the final beat be a bit of humor as Abulita shows up, revealing that she’d been watching Soos’ endeavors the entire time

Cryptogram (keyword: GIFFANY): A mind of bits, a heart of bytes, Her pixely smile is a beautiful sight,But something about her isn’t quite right,Stand her up and you’re in for a fright

Untranslated: G UNSD BD HQYX, A UCGZY TF OWZMXMEE NOFJQY FKOTJ NS N ZKIZYISSR ANLHGZAB XTMRRNQSL AOMAB MJR VQT'B VZIGC XQLMTFRGVI MEE SV ISI YBS'XM NS FBP G NWNGUR

#uf notes

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literarilymanga · 8 years ago

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Hello! I was lucky enough to have more interest in webcomic features than I thought. Today’s interview is with Merriam Hayden. Read it after the cut!

Me: Hello! Would you share a little bit about yourself as a creator?

Merriam: Sure! My name is Merriam Hayden. I went to college to study animation and did comics during that time because making a comic by myself was more feasible than pumping out animated shorts by myself.

Merriam: I'm a Lesbian in the Midwest as well.

Me: Could you give a short summary of Wrong Hand?

Merriam: Wrong Hand is the story of Lefty, who in a world where your Soulmate is determined by woman having marks on their left hand and men have matching marks on their right hands, has his own hand mark on the "wrong" hand. After meeting his Soulmate, Miles Write, Lefty learns more about "wrong handedness" and how there's many different ways of being "wrong" handed. The Wrong Hand is also the name of the bar where Miles works.

Me: Could you introduce the readers to your characters? Merriam: Lionel "Lefty" Rogers is the main character. He's a soon-to-be college grad who majored in accounting. He likes to play the Ukulele, but has no interest in pursuing music as a career.

Merriam: Miles Write is his Soulmate. He works nights at the Wrong Hand bar and days at the coffee shop called the Sun Dollar. Unlike Lefty, he's much more outgoing and open about his "wrong" handedness (even though he passes as "right" handed) .

Merriam: Sunni Syde is Miles' coworker at the Sun Dollar and a photographer. She dated guys in her early college days, but found the experience unsatisfying. She started dating women instead and found it much better. She's known to hang out at another bar called the Blue Cherry.

Merriam: Aura Easy is Sunni's soulmate and a detective. She had previously dated a girl when she was a teen, but they had a falling out. Aura is the one with the "correct" hand mark on her hand, but is much more butch than Sunni.

Merriam: Melanie Blanc is a blank handed woman who runs the Wrong Hand. She's not interested in dating or sex herself, but is always supportive of other Wrong Handed people who dream of meeting their Soulmates.

Merriam: Teresa Slater (deadname Theodore Slater) is a transwoman who realized she was trans much later in life and is roommates with Melanie.

Merriam: Sam Uno is a nonbinary comedian who always wears gloves and treats everything like a joke.

Merriam: Those are the main recurring characters.

Me: Who is your favorite character—and why?

Merriam: Ah man picking a favorite of my own characters is like picking my favorite child. if I have to choose I think I'll choose Sunni. She's very cute and very passionate about what she wants to do with her life, which is to be a photographer even if she has to work half between a coffee shop and sometimes weekends at her father's restaurant (Eggbert's, it's a breakfast place).

Me: Who is your least favorite character—and why?

Merriam: Chad Prickson. This character is not the most evil villain in the world or anything, but he's engineered to be an absolute jerk to everyone. He's Miles' previous ex, rich and self-centered, who treats people like garbage.

Me: Can you offer insight into how you’ve developed your story and your creative process over the years?

Merriam: Okay. Wrong Hand actually started off as a thing I vaguely kicked around in college a few years ago. A good friend of mine were talking about the concept of Soulmate stories and how'd we do them. She took a more fantasy/serious route with it and I wanted to go for a more lighthearted comedic thing. However, I didn't give it too much thought beyond three characters: Lefty, Miles, and Ms. Blanc. Miles originally worked at the Wrong Hand and ran a hot dog stand. However, my senior year of college I did an independent study. So, I decided to revisit this idea as an animated short. My teacher at the time suggested I change the hot dog stand to a coffee shop and of course I had to come up with more characters to flesh out the world. Sunni and Teresa and Sam wouldn't exist in this world without the short being made. It's not the best in the world, but it took me a year and I had to do it by myself. And I kicked the idea around with a good friend of mine (different one) and he helped me beef up the characters and come up with backstory. We even decided to have the setting be a fictional version of Minneapolis with Lefty growing up in Duluth. Having someone I can bounce ideas off of actually helps me a lot, too.

Me: What is your favorite part of the creative process? The least favorite part?

Merriam: Honestly, I really love planning and world building and writing stories--dialogue especially because I am really funny so I'm great at coming up with dialogue. My least favorite is thumbnailing because it's very tedious and slow and sometimes I can breeze through a page and know exactly how to lay it out and sometimes I get stumped by things. I do depend on thumbnailing because I would be lost while making pages without them, but making them can feel like a chore sometimes

Me: The idea of soulmates being determined by their hand marks is really intriguing. Are you going to go into the concept in more detail? Or are you going to focus more on the “slice of life” experiences?

Merriam: Slice of Life is the main focus of Wrong Hand, but I do also want to explore the idea in detail. Love and Free Will are major themes in a lot of the stories too because it's not like people haven't been falling in love or marrying people who aren't their Soulmate. And sometimes people actively do seek out their Soulmate and sometimes they don't.

Me: Is there a significance to each of the character’s colors?

Merriam: Not particularly, no. I just decided that if this was going to be a mundane world I wanted to give it a visual style that stood out. Part of me wishes I had put more thought into it, but not really. Lefty and Miles are blue and red. Sunni and her family are pink. There are two characters, Jacques Trooper and Zelda Worm, who are blue and pink and are kinda the token straight couple who are friends with Lefty, but other than that I didn't put much thought into the characters being a particular color.

Me: How have readers reacted to your characters and story thus far? Are there any challenges that you’ve had to overcome when working on Wrong Hand?

Merriam: Mostly I had more challenges with technical stuff while working on the short. Though as far as content is concerned the overall response has been super positive and people relate to Lefty and get a lot of the little snap shot comics that revolve around him having problems with his identity as a "wrong" handed male because his hand mark is on the "girl" hand. I haven't gotten into a lot of other characters backstories or hangups yet though, so we'll see how people respond in the future. Me: What do you want readers to take away from your story?

Merriam: I want them to take away that love may be complicated and life may complicate love, but it's definitely something worth seeking out and cultivating. Not just romantic or sexual pursuits, but friendships and familial relationships as well.

Me: You mention being lesbian. How has your sexual identity influenced your story?

Merriam: Well Wrong Hand is basically a not-so-subtle metaphor for being some kind of queer. some wrong handed characters are gay, some bi, some trans, some nonbinary. All my work has some kind of LGBT slant to it because so much media made about or for people like me is either super obscure or really depressing and I want to create hopeful and happy stories even if I do touch about the less savory aspects of things (have plans to touch upon things like how conversion therapy and things like that work in this world, but I do want people to come away from my work feeling good about themselves).

Me: Who is your “intended” audience?

Merriam: My intended audience is anyone who wants to find LGBT content that's hopeful.

Me: Do you plan to pursue other mediums for your story (like print or podcast)?

Merriam: I hadn't considered a podcast. I would love to print a physical copy of the comics someday and, of course, something animated. Like a feature film or even a series! I think an animated series would be awesome.

Me: Do you have any advice you want to share with other artists and writers?

Merriam: Lists are useful for planning a script and having a specific notebook/journal with comic stuff is a good idea.

Me: What are your tools of the trade? Any special software?

Merriam: I mostly use Clip Studio Paint because I can animate with it as well as do illustration. I don't have a specific kind of pen or paper I use for roughing out pages though. I usually draw the pages out traditionally first and then scan the pages to pretty up in Clip Studio Paint.

Me: When does Wrong Hand update?

Merriam: I like to update it at least twice a month, but right now my current day job makes updating on the regular hard. I've worked out getting a more regular schedule though so I'm hopeful that I'll get back to updating more frequently.

Me: Where can readers access your comic?

Merriam: Tapastic and Comic Fury. I have a longer story planned that I'm currently working on and I'll probably start posting the single pages on Comic Fury before Tapastic.

Me: Anything else you want to share? Shout outs?

Merriam: I love my friends and I love all the people who read my comic.

Follow Merriam for more art and life updates on her Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. She’ll also be attending Planet ComicCon, Smallville ComicCon, and TopCon. Merriam may also be at Kansas City Comic Con, but is not sure yet.

Be sure to also check out yesterday’s interview with Micah, webcomic artist for Roommate from Hell, if you haven’t already! And if you’re interested in being interviewed or sharing your thoughts on comics or related media, be sure to comment on this post, send an ask, or send me a message!

Have a great Sunday night!

(This post was adapted from a Twitter interview.)

#webcomic feature #wrong hand #merriam hayden #clip studio paint #tapastic #comic fury #smallville comiccon #topcon #planet comicon #kansas city comic con

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salora-rainriver · 8 years ago

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Gaycoding and You: a Useless Ramble about Milkshakes and 1950s Humor

Ok lemme just start out this Disk Horse by saying that y’all are fuckin fakers. There’s no fuckin way my whole dashboard was secretly hardcore Archies Comics fans who read every motherfuckin issue and have been following the exploits of the Riverdale Crew for years. Shut the fuck up, we all read the comics casually while waiting in line at the grocery store, and now that a dude is confirmed ace, you all basically did the discourse equivalent of pullin’ an all nighter the night before the midterm.

I’m calling your fucking bluff, you ain’t intimately aware with ANY archies comics characters. Do y’all even know the name of that old lady who’s the teacher who has to deal with Archie n Juggy’s shit? the one who looks like a pencil with a cotton ball slapped on it? Cause I fuckin don’t. For all I know, she’s one of the fuckin Pearls from Stevens Universe, and she took a teaching job in this obnoxiously idyllic suburban neighborhood because she’s a masochist.

So now that we’ve got that out of the way let’s move on to this alleged “gay coding,”

Aight so in all the times I’ve read dem Archies Comics, Jughead’s basically been the dude who has 2 things on his mind: burger and nap. That’s it. Sometimes hes thinking of havin a milkshake with that burger. Nice cold 1950s diner style milkshake. His favorite napping spot is a hammock under two trees. It’s probably in his backyard or by the lake in the park and he just has that hammock permanently set up. Maybe he has multiple hammocks permanently set up around Riverdale and no one takes down the Jughead hammocks because that would be rude. In the carefree high school world of Archies Comics, where girls wanna date boys and boys wanna date girls (seriously there’s fuckin PAGES detailing the lighthearted yet completely overdramatic conflicts of archie, reggie, betty, veronica, and their Hetero Drama), Jughead is the quintessential Man Who Doesn’t Give A Single Fuck. As far as we know, he’s not even aware that schoolwork and romance and jobs exist. He literally doesn’t even look once at anything that other people build whole story arcs about. This is his character, this is the comedic trope he fills. He’s the straight man to Archie’s Hetero Bullshit, but he’s also the clown who’s amusingly uninterested in things he should be interested in. like his grades. get it together, Jughead.

At least, that’s the impression I get from all those years casually readin Archies Comics while my mom loads the veggies on the conveyor belt. Who tf knows, maybe Mr Happy Meal Crown batted his eyelashes at Reggie and blew him a kiss like a big fat flami- aw who am i kidding, the only reason Jughead would bat his eyelashes is during Masochist Pearl’s class cuz he’s bored and wants to sleep.

Anyways, Jughead’s character out of the way, we need to talk about this weird-ass idea that every single example of a male character refusing to date women is Gay Coding.

Now I’ve mainly read only the Classical Literature that my middle n highschool teachers gave me to read, and not much else, but BOY HOWDY did I read the SHIT out of those. You’re talking about a girl who cried her ass off at the end of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, in a hotel lobby where people were starin at me like I was a weirdo. Point is, I paid more attention to those verbose messes than most ppl my age, cause I’m a nerd.

And let’s get something straight. Lack of APPARENT attraction to a character of the opposite gender ISN’T gaycoding. And no I’m not saying this because of modern-day conceits like “someone not attracted to the opposite gender could simply not be attracted to ANY gender”, no you wet blanket, listen to me.

If Mr. Hooke isn’t interested in marrying Ms. Fairweather, there’s three main reasons for that, and you can usually tell which one it is right off the fucking bat:

- Hooke is Gay as Shit, and in love with his assistant, Sir Appleseed. You can tell because he’s always seen hanging out with Appleseed, and the two of them spend a lot of time together and regularly express affection for each other with words of praise. Also Appleseed’s like a decade younger and he’s very pretty. Very very pretty. A paragraph is written about how Appleseed has a lithe yet muscular body and nice abs. Any modern reader will giggle at how obnoxiously gay this is. People will debate at length on whether the author intended Mr. Hooke to look like such a fuckin flamer.

- Hooke is straight, but he’s a misogynist intellectual who sees the advances of Ms. Fairweather as a distraction from his Deeply Important Work. Whenever someone mentions Ms. Fairweather or women in general, he speaks at length about how he refuses to give in to their succubus wiles, and how he has a greater purpose. He may also mock Fairweather’s perceived shallow desires. The modern reader soon starts to feel intense hatred for Mr. Hooke, because the dude is so fucking obnoxiously CONCEITED, SHUT THE FUCK UP, but victorian guys probably deeply respected the dude for his chosen celibacy.

- Hooke is just a weirdass loner introvert. People confusedly ask him why he won’t marry Ms. Fairweather, and he just kinda ignores the question. He doesn’t seem to have a single opinion on the woman’s advances, and seems almost oblivious to them. The intent of the author was, of course, to portray Mr. Hooke as an eccentric man, and also maybe to push the idea that women are a drain on mankind’s intellectual pursuits. Or maybe the author just wanted to show how “weird” Hooke is for not wanting to get married. Either way, the modern reader will start desperately wanting to shake said author by the shoulders and shout “YOU WROTE AN ASEXUAL CHARACTER, YOU NITWIT!!!”

The point I’m trying to make here is that merely not wanting to date the opposite gender isn’t gaycoding, it’s too fuckin ambiguous for that. Either the character’s gay, or they’re straight and also illustrating weirdass misogynistic cultural standards, or they’re just a fuckin weirdo, in a way that was probably meant to imply neurodivergency, let’s be real, but any modern reader would unanimously agree it’s probably just asexuality, written from the perspective of people who don’t realize that’s a thing that can exist, and it isn’t a weird nameless “fuck marriage” disorder.

Anyways, 1950s is a bit different. In the context of Post WWII Oldies, specifically comedic comic books set in a suburban high school, if a dude doesn’t want to date, it’s more likely that the authors saw him as someone who was too dumb, ugly, lazy, or nerdy to ever get with a girl, so they made him uninterested in women just because it’s not very funny to see a dude get sad bcs no one will date him. We can feel better if we imagine they’re just uninterested. And That’s Jughead. He’s not coded gay, he’s coded as a nitwit food-obsessed lazeball, and if we’ll be honest, the original writers PROBABLY wrote him with Stoners in mind.

Jughead’s not running through a literal maze of women to get to his precious delicious milkshake because he’s gay, my dudes. He’s doing it because he spent all morning fuckin Blazing it, and he’s got a fierce case of the munchies, and munchies waits for no girl. He’s got that in common with Norville Rogers, AKA Shaggy from Scooby Doo. WE HAVE SEEN THIS TROPE BEFORE.

Point of the matter is, when the writers made him ace, it’s because they decided maybe Jughead should be more than a cheap stoner joke who’s friends w/ Archie. He’s still a stoner joke, of course, but now he’s a stoner joke that also cleverly doubles as an example of the ace community injoke about cake. You know the one I’m talkin about.

And that’s all folks.

#I wrote a fuckton im sorry #that discourse shit

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