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ryuichirou · 4 years ago

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Out of all the snk shipping fandoms, which one do you think is the best/most wholesome? And which one is the worst/most toxic? Reminder that we’re talking about fandoms here and not ships (btw even tho I hate ereri I can’t help but love your art about it, it’s just amazing and hilarious, keep it up!)

Interesting question! As you might know, we don’t consider ourselves a part of any shipping fandom (or any fandom in general), so we can only talk about how we (and people we know) were treated by them. There won’t be much of an “inside” experience, because well we’re not “inside” any of these. And a lot of it is “people who ship X tend to shit on Ereri absolutely unprovoked at every chance they get, so we really don’t like them” lol

Obligatory and very obvious: loving a certain ship doesn’t make you a good/bad person, and there are a lot of wholesome people in any shipping fandom: we’ve met a lot of very kind, helpful and open-minded folks during these two years. So if any of you read this and think “oh, I ship X too, and this doesn’t sound like me or my friends at all”, chances are I’m not talking about you. But there’s always a possibility that peeps that you interact with in your shipping circle are pretty nice to you, but super mega shitty to others. Whether you ignore this type of behavior or not is up to you. I just want all the harassment to stop, because frankly we’re very tired.

As someone who ships Ereri, we’ve experienced and witnessed a lot lol especially on twitter. The most vocal ones would be Levihan, Eremin and Eruri fandoms I suppose.

With Eruri fandom, we’ve heard a lot of stories about some people bashing Zevi and attacking Zevi shippers + we’ve witnessed the great Eruri vs Ereri war, so of course we know how pretentious and rude they can get. There are people who felt like they were exiled from the Eruri shipping fandom for either shipping any other character with Levi or just seeing characters and their relationships differently (i.e. not seeing them as wholesome husbands or preferring Levi to bottom which is apparently a sin for Eruris too sometimes nowadays???). Although it’s important to mention that I feel like Eruri shippers know how shitty the anti stuff is better than a lot of other communities, so I don’t feel the same aggression from them at this moment.

If we’re talking twitter, based on what we and our friends have experienced, the most aggressive groups seem to be Levihan and Eremins. When I go through my blocking sprees and block everyone who hates on Ereri or Zevi or Eruri (well, mostly Ereri), ~88% of the accs happen to be either Eremin or Levihans. When someone writes a long-ass thread to attack a content creator, it always happen to be either of these two, and I have no idea why. A lot of them are also minors who act like the way they harass others is perfectly justified. I legit see stuff like “besties let’s spoil snk for ereris” and “let’s bully ereris and tell them to kys” every time I search ereri on twitter. And I’ve seen enough of Levihan folks saying shit like Eruris being criminals because Erwin is basically a nazi + spreading misinformation about popular artists just out of spite… extremely annoying stuff. Actually, I think you’re the first LH person who’s been kind to us lol

Also don’t get the idea that there are no toxic people in the Ereri community, because this simply isn’t true. Like I said, every fandom has its own clique and a certain level of toxicity, and it’s stupidly easy to be the “wrong one” here, at least it used to when we just started posting. People who’ve been following us for a while know that we used to get a lot of crap for making Levi a bottom on all of our drawings and not wanting characters to switch. It’s such a stupid reason to get harassed, who the fuck cares whether a character tops or bottoms in a drawing??? And yet we’ve been told that a lot of harassment has happened because of it + experienced it ourselves. I think the only reason we don’t get harassed for it very often nowadays is because of a luxury of being a kind of a big art account. It’s much easier to attack smaller ones who don’t have any power or connections, especially when they’re insecure and want to fit in with the fandom.

Now for some reason some people now think that we (me and Katsu) block people for loving top!Levi or bottom!Eren… this isn’t true. I admit that I can get petty when I block people, but it’s always about their attitude and never about their preferred ship or character’s position. Whether you like something or not is none of our business, and we never criticized what others like, so it’s kind of offensive that people think we’d act that way towards others when we ourselves experienced the same treatment for making Levi bottom every single time. It’s childish and disgusting, and I really don’t want people to think of us as someone who approves of this behavior.

Top!Levi stans act pretty toxic too sometimes, not only in Ereri (well Riren) community. The majority of comments about our Levi being ooc, looking like a child and being too horny and blushy we got from them, they get straight-up OFFENDED by our Levi. We’ve talked about how people are afraid to make Levi into anything but a serious and stoic manly man a lot in the past… And this is the only reason we get defensive when people ask us about top!Levi. But still, we never block anyone because of their preferences. This assumption is very... idk yikes, and more disgusting is the fact that people very easily jump to this conclusion, like... seriously? That’s what you think about us? So much for “uwu our supportive shipping fandom community”.

Shippers of het ships can get quite toxic too, especially after the finale. Some of Eremika peeps got wild, and you’ve probably seen our replies about it and that one Anon who got very upset with our reply about Eren. For some reason, when you post something het-related, there’s always going to be a person saying shit like “NAAAH HE LOVES X, NOT HER”, as if any of this matters. They are the type to whine about Eruri shippers ruining beautiful friendship between Erwin and Levi with their homo sexy stuff. They’re often disrespectful: shit in your comments, belittle other ships with comments like “well THIS is much better than X”, and overall make the experience very uncomfortable. For some reason they just can’t enjoy their darn ships without shitting on others.

Anyhow. I know this reply sounds like “everyone’s a shithead” lol, but once again: sadly, there are nasty people in almost every shipping circle, this is unavoidable. And it’s easier to mark them as “shippers of X”, because they often act like a clique or high school bullies or something. And even though there are a lot of very nice people, I tend not to associate them with any shipping community: it’s just a pleasant and cool person who we had fun communicating with, and who just happen to ship X, Y and Z.

Maybe… it’s fair to say that we dislike fandoms, but talking to people who are kind, polite and excited about the same things that we are, is always great.

Siiigh, hope I didn’t bore you to death with this reply. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to talk about this! And for enjoying my art and being open-minded :)

#replies

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lucifer-kane · 5 years ago

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Finally my side of this whole KFAM debacle

I’ve never had to write something like this before, so here we go. I know that there have been other people who have said things on this topic, people who I’m very grateful towards in all of this, who have come forward in this… strange time. I feel like I finally can say something after freaking out for a few days and talking with others as well online who are on this side of it all. But I feel like I finally need to say something as…. Probably the person who really started it all, I guess? As the one who made the post saying “Me casting death of the author onto kfam” Because I was finally fed up with just everything I had learned over the last year + of talking about criticisms in the show and of the creators/writers. I spent months talking to others on at least two different servers about all of this, from learning it myself, to being here in this position of what’s currently going on.

A lot started a few months ago in the Official Server, when a graphic artist posted an edit of a character of the show in BDSM gear, which, automatically, is NSFW. Some had issues and said that it got taken down, then a few hours later uploaded it once more with a spoiler cover over it. Friday morning, it happened again, this time with a group shot, but he was still there. Now. I don’t think I would have issues with this if it was posted on a server with specific channels for 18+ members of it only. But it wasn’t, and this server is a SFW only, but apparently “canon compliant” NSFW is a-okay. Which, I think is utterly ridiculous, because minors are still in there, and that should not be allowed. If you’re going to allow that stuff, at least have designated channels where only 18+ members can opt in to see that sort of thing. You can’t have both.

Two people called this out, one directly sending an @ to the mods in said server, and it was a little bit before a response happened, then two other messages were taken down, the message with the @ left in it. Kyle had also retweeted the art on twitter, and while I don’t think that was such a bad thing, his response to at least adding a warning that it was NSFW, was pretty unprofessional. The person who asked Kyle to say as such, was bullied by both Kyle and Trent on twitter as well.

Now, onto my DotA post once more. After posting that I had a few hours of chillness, up until in the middle of a call with friends, I looked over to my discord list of servers I was in, and the Official was no longer there. I panicked, left the call, and cried for a long time about it, because despite my criticism, I loved being there! I told my friends on this server, where the criticism was most of the time, and there was a few hour period of questioning what the hell was going on. It was late at night, and everyone was confused. No one would give reasoning to what was going on. Until I was vagued to have been a problem for a long time.

Now, it may have been my bluntness when it comes to text, bc you know, autism! But I don't think I've ever done anything that would warrant people to be uncomfortable, other than criticize the show (and the server at times) on my personal tumblr (twitter on occasion). Which I can see as being upset about that, but I was way too damn scared to PM a mod to talk about what was going on, because at this point, it was very obvious they hated me. I didn’t like that they never came to talk, like a civilized person, about all this. I don't want to make people uncomfortable, that's the last goddamn thing I wanna do in this world.

Now, we’re here. A few days after everything went down, to what I feel like was a simple miscommunication, I would never wish death on someone at all, that’s disgusting behavior and I don’t like that Kyle even vagued that I did such a thing. I have never interacted with him at all, even when he would come and talk on the server. I actively tried to avoid interactions with the creators because I’m not a fan of creators being this close to their fanbase, where people have actively said it makes them uncomfortable.

I love this podcast a lot, for the first year I praised it like others did as well, but then, I read some things about Kyle, and then some of the things in the show. We all know those things, the Hellen Keller episode, how Lily is written, Jacob in his whole character, and the racism in Walt. But I started being critical on main, voicing my thoughts and concerns. Because criticism is an okay thing, it helps artists grow in the things they do. And I understand not liking criticism, I don’t like it sometimes, but sometimes it’s needed, to move your art forward. Kyle’s reaction to criticism is that of a man who doesn’t have thick skin and doesn’t wanna be proven wrong in the things he does.

As of now, because of all this, I’ve been blocked from the KFAM twitter, Kyle himself, and I think the tumblr as well (Or at least they’ve unfollowed me, I don’t care enough to check on there). And I’ve seen my friends get bullied by the creator of this show, and even members of the community. While at a lesser scale than Kyle, it’s still gross to see the fanbase act like this, especially acting like my friends and I are actively bullying them, when we just wanted one piece of art to be taken down from a space that, in all reality, has a lot of minors in it.

And finally, I just wanna talk about the server in general. I joined maybe six months after getting into the show, we were pretty far into the first hiatus at this point and I wanted more content, so, I finally beat my discord anxiety down and joined. And I had so much fun! I talked to people who I still think about, posted art, fics, did headcanons all the time. I talked in there quite a bit up until I got kicked. But the overall vibe of the discord after being there longer than a month, was not the greatest. And it took me longer than average to notice, shortly before posting public criticisms. This was when I started getting ignored more often than not, and not that everyone did that, I still had people talk to me, which was nice. But as time went on, this happened more and more, to more and more people.

People who saw my criticisms, and came to me, mostly anonymously, to say they felt the exact same way. And that’s… not a good thing. The whole “Only happy things, no negativity about the show!” attitude that is in there, is bad. You can’t criticize something you love, and if you do, you’re dogpiled onto until you shut up. This has happened to many people, not just me. There’s times where queer members of this community, will talk about themseles as some lgbt+/queer fans do. Saying things along the line of “___ is gay culture!” or “I think [x] is trans!!” and they’ll either get ignored (in the latter case) or just someone won't get the first one is a joke and get upset. Which, I can see if you’re new to a place where people say that, but don’t outright shut someone down like that, ask what it means. That goes for anything.

I enjoyed my time there, and I was super upset when I found myself kicked, distraught even. Then they started kicking more people without even a word which isn’t how you run a server, no one should get an instant ban without being talked to, and I think I would be less upset if I had been talked to, to at least tell my side. But no, I got this, and here we are. With multiple testimonies that aren’t my own, telling how horrible that server is towards some people who they don’t like, who speak out, who say “Hey maybe we should do [x].” And that’s… Not the safe environment they say they have, because I, among many others. Was also super uncomfortable when it came to some things in there.

As a queer member of this community, I, and others like me, felt ignored. Ignored in the criticism of their queer characters who were written by non-queer men, and then, as stated above. Upset at literally everything else that wasn’t good in their show. But now, we’re being painted as the villains in a way, being bullied by the creator, and others acting like nothing is going wrong. But that’s all I have to say, if prompted, I will talk more on any subject here.

I’m not angry, I never once was. At this point I find more saddened amusement in all of this, rather than anger. But. That is all, thank you for your time on this subject.

#I may have missed some things but this is so much of it #king falls am #kfam #kfam critical

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booksneedcaffeinetoo · 5 years ago

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Book Review: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

This review is going to be LITTERED with SPOILERS because idk how to talk about this book without giving away the whole plot.

Consider yourself officially warned.

I’m still debating on my rating, but for now here is my review. Fair warning: it is rant-y and ramble-y and hasn't been edited yet. I'll clean it up when I come back for a rating.

As always, content warnings are listed at the bottom!

Overall Positives:

• SJM has actually included a few gay characters….now they are all very minor side characters (Isiah, Fury, Juniper, and Declan) who are only present for maybe 3% total of the novel, but at least they exist??? So she gets points for actually having gay characters who aren’t killed off. You can say that she’s making an effort.

• The banter between Bryce and Hunt was pretty funny

• That scene with the knock-off My Little Pony dolls was funny

• I think there might've been a reference in the book to First Aid Kit (the sister folk duo) and it made my heart squeal because I love that band SO MUCH!

• Bryce actually has a great relationship with her mom and her stepfather! And they are both alive! And stay alive! I’m actually struggling to recall a book I’ve read where the main character in the book has a). both parents alive and b). a great relationship with them both. So that was really refreshing!

• Hunt in a sunball cap.

• Bryce and Hunt taking photos together. Way too adorable.

• Ride or die friendship. I love books that emphasize the importance of friendship.

• That LIGHT IT UP DANIKA LIGHT IT UP LIGHT IT UP scene....like i felt that...her happiness. so sweet. i teared up at that scene ngl....

• Pretty good depiction of grief. How even after years the pain of losing your friend doesn’t go away. How some people cut themselves off to cope and others don’t. How some take out their anger on the closest target. How some people remember the dead one’s birthday and other don’t. etc. etc.

• It really was a slow burn because they like didn’t even kiss until 75% into the 3,000 page book.

• Rhun is my favorite character in this book. He’s a goth softie king. I also loved the Demon Cat. And Fury. And Declan. And Flynn. And Isaiah. And Hunt. And Lele. And the dog. And Jesiba. And Randall. And….well….that’s about it….

• I have recently been getting more and more into Urban Fantasy so I am excited and glad that this book is UF. I also like how it takes place in a different world with a different history (although for some reason I went into this book under the impression it takes place in New Orleans…)

Overall Negatives:

• If I ever have to see the word “alphahole” again it will still be too soon. I get that she was going for meta and trying to poke fun at how the trope in so many UF books includes an alphamale love interest….but it just doesn’t really work because none of the guys she was calling an alphahole was actually acting like one??? Okay so this is kind of ramble-y but whatever. When I think of an alphamale love interest acting like a…*shudders*…. alphahole I think of the stereotypical shifter romance/erotica novel where the guy likes wants to punch any guy who stands too close or talks to his mate. I think of him making outrageous claims, always posting a guard, never letting her leave the house, etc. all without any cause. Having a literal demon serial killer who (at this point in the book) you believe RIPPED APART AN ENTIRE PACK OF WEREWOLVES and is killing everyone who is close to working on the same case as you and you are a half-fae who NEVER carries a weapon with you, doesn’t have magic, and no one beside your mom, stepdad, and dead bestie know that you can turn into a flashlight at will…..yeah it makes sense that the people who care about you would like you to have a guard. But that’s not “alphahole” behavior. Nor is when you’re starving yourself from guilt him being concerned and wanting you to eat, or wanting you to try to take care of yourself….that’s not “alphahole” behavior, it’s being a good friend/sibling. If someone wanted a guard on her PRIOR to her investigating the murder than yeah….that would be “alphahole” 100%. But that’s not what happened…one of the highlights of the book was Hunt calling out Bryce by telling her that she is actually the “alphahole” here.

• Fucking sunball = baseball. WHYYYYYY I thought it was soccer for so long until Hunt tossed on a “sunball cap”

• I thought that Violet Hall from Pucked was the most infuriating main character I have read in a long time until I met Bryce fucking Quinnland. It is a pet peeve of mine when a character acts like someone (usually lazy or a partier) and then gets pissed because people think they are how they act??? Like, if you act like an asshole then don’t be shocked if people think you are an asshole. Also she was someone who was terribly selfish and stupidly reckless for no reason for 99% of the book. Yeah she’s ride or die for her friends which is supposed to be her best quality but she is just terribly rude to so many people. Like take Lele for example. Bryce treated her horribly until Hunt was sold again, then was friends with Lele for like a week which someone equated to Lele being willing to die for her???

• Part two of that bullet above^: Why was everyone willing to die for Bryce? Maybe I hate Bryce because she reminds me too much of Jane Salone from The Bold Type with her ‘I’m always right’ attitude. But yeah, everyone is willing to die for her. I don’t get why though. Also everyone wants to fuck her. She can’t walk down the street without like five dudes wanting to fuck her. It was so annoying. Also how the hell has she not died by age 25!?!? There is a different between being bitchy with your algebra teacher versus being bitchy with some guy who could smite you before you blink. And all of them are like ‘oooh she’s not afraid of me like everyone else how charming’ and I’m just like NO. That’s like if I intentionally pissed off some mafia dom and instead of making an example out of me for dissing him in front of his mafia bros, he’s like ‘oooh you’re sassy wanna fuck?’ MAKES NO SENSE!!!

•Part three of the above^: okay before someone comes at me and says ‘well would you be saying the same things if she was a guy doing an acting this way’ well probably. I love the KATE DANIELS (Magic Bites) series. And Kate is a no-nonsense, can come across rude, and gives zero fucks what anyone else thinks about her. Kind of like Bryce, but less bitchy and has the power and skills to back up her recklessness. (No one around Bryce learns of her secret lightbright gift or of her sharpshooting skills until the very end so I am maintaining my ‘she’s reckless’ viewpoint based on everyone around her not knowing of her abilities when she does all of this dumbshit). Kate also is a fucking martyr who runs towards danger even when the odds are against her. Just like Bryce. But I love Kate and hate Bryce. So…yeah I think it was just a Bryce issue. It took until about 41% with the whole phone-Sandriel thing for me to stop finding her insufferable….but I still never really liked her after that...I could stand her for the occasional paragraph or two

• Speaking of martyrs…why is everyone one in this book!?!? NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE A MARTYR!!!

• Another reason I hate Bryce (yes I’m back on that Bryce shit) is because after Hunt broke her heart he immediate thought upon learning who he was going to be sold (back to his old owner who is a sadistic fuck) her thought was good, he deserves it and all he did was break her heart and not want to be a slave anymore and kept something he knew would destroy you (which yeah, keeping that secret furthered his cause but still…) and I just????? Have???? No words???? Like girl you have a RIGHT to be PISSED but jfc that doesn’t equate to TORTURE.

• Ugh and then her whole ‘take me instead’ bullshit was so reminiscent of that Jules and Emma whipping scene from Lady Midnight I almost gagged for the level of cheese and martyr-syndrome

• Why is everyone described as “brown,” “golden brown,” or “tan”?! It’s like SJM is trying to not make everyone white but doesn’t want to fully commit…

• And was anyone uncomfortable/cringed at the ‘white angel wings are supreme to any wings with color’ bit....

• I hate books where the werewolves can talk outloud in human form. I cringed.

• Why was the calling people by their last name thing not consistent? I’ve read books before where characters flip between using another character’s first and last name, but there is context behind why they choose one or the other: the professional setting, if the person is happy or upset, who is being addressed, etc. But you’ll get Hunt calling Bryce “Bryce” and “Quinnland” within a sentence of each other? And literally every character did stuff like this. It was weird and not consistent at all.

Negatives About the Plot:

• This book really felt like three books in one: Part One (first 12ish%) being the day leading up to the Pack of Devil’s murder. And I do mean like every boring thing that happened. Part Two (the next 66ish%) being the murder investigation. Part Three (the last 22ish%) being where all the action occurred. The book felt like it couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. The summary promised a murder investigation so I was expecting it to be a KATE DANIELS-esque plot. But nothing of true importance really occurred during that investigation. We got some cool flashbacks with Danika, and some sweet moments between Hunt and Bryce…but that’s it. SJM isn’t Brandon with a Stormlight Archives (The Way of Kings) complicated interwoven plot. I think the book as whole would have been better if it was about 300 pages shorter.

• Nothing in the plot of true importance happened until the last 100 pages or so.

• I mean we literally got every single thing that happened during every single day of their investigation…it was….too much detail.

• When I got to 80% like every other chapter felt like the book should end. It could’ve ended on a cliffhanger. Like right after Hunt was found on that boat. But nope….

• Figures. SJM can’t have a main couple unless they both are super special. Did anyone else feel like she just recycled parts of ACOMAF in this book? Hunt: has wings and super special powers. Bryce: absorbs some super-fae juiced up power from a cauldron—er….I mean arch—to get extra powers and become the most super cool and super special fae in all existence because god forbid we have a heroine who isn’t the most physically powerful person ever. I mean, to hell with mental strength. Must be physically magically powerful or you’re no good!

• The only plot points that surprised me were the hunt being at the drug bust (because we got nothing from his povs that he was remotely interested in going back down that revolution road especially after his whole meeting with Briggs…still iffy with this one, because his thoughts in that cell sound like he actually was on board with it until he called it off because the drug is too dangerous but his call to the viper queen said she owed him a favor so…..) and Micah’s weird horn hard-on. Literally nothing else surprised me...

• I really though Reid would play a bigger role considering Bryce used to date him and is fam is responsible for that drug....but nope. The dude is like never even mentioned.

• Ugh...that villain speech. Maybe I'm just like...what's the point? Why not just zap the bitch why do you need to tell her your life story!?!?!

• Also let's be real, Danika's password never would have been allowed to be that simple nor remain unchanged for 2 years. But whatever.

• It’s also pretty cringe that Bryce freed Lele just for her to die…………..

• Why is Jesiba’s shop impenetrable (the building and cameras) until it’s convenient for it not to be…I mean it sounded like nothing could break into her building or the cameras but then… Micah just easily waltzed in there and Declan easily hacked into the security cameras….makes no sense but okayyyyyyy…..

• ....or about how the dog can teleport and undo locks until once again it's convenient for him not to be able to so she can dramatically save the day (look I also have issues with her valuing her pet's life over Lele's in that scene...also isn't the dog supposed to be like terrifying, it could've fought while her and Lele got out. not really sure how the water which delayed him like two seconds helped more than her dog would've....look, i love pets and i don't want him to die but i don't want Lele to die either!)

• Bryce and Hunt literally never have a talk about everything???? Like I get the world almost ended but neither of them had a thought like I know we need to talk about everything that happened on the boat. About if his love for Shahar trumps his love for me. But that can wait… Because those were all fears she had before but now vanished???? I get not wanted to have verbal talk but a thought from Bryce would’ve been nice.

• How can you run, carry a sword, and shoot a gun all at the same time? Still trying to figure out the logistics of that all....

• Why is SJM's adult book the least smutty thing she has written so far!?!?!?!?

• The love saves everyone and everything line is so fucking cheesy I can’t.

My Overall Feelings:

• The book couldn’t choose a plot. Did it want to be a crime book? Did it want to be ACOMAF? Who the fuck knows.

• This would have worked better as a TV series than a book. Especially that scene where Bryce is trying to save the city and everyone is just watching it happen on the jumbo screen at the summit. In book form it was just….weird….and felt disruptive...and someone could've started flying to help out. Plus I like watching shows with characters like Bryce but hate reading books with characters like her if that makes sense...

• Also if the summit is just between the leaders of CC then why did Sadriel have to be there? Why does it happen only every 10 years? Why does it have to take place outside of the city if no other leaders from other places are present?

• Why don’t we get a map of all of the other countries that were mentioned?

• This book was wayyyyyy too long. It would have been much better if it was reduced to 500ish pages instead.

• Also the character’s flip-flopped with their character development way too much. It wasn’t consistent.

• This is definitely one of the better SJM book’s I’ve read, but it won’t be one that I’ll reread. It is too long with too many boring bits in the middle.

• But hey! If you love SJM then you’ll probably love this book…

Content Warnings and Trigger Warnings: restricted eating, self-harm, drug use, alcohol consumption, implied rape, mentions of abusive relationships, suicidal thoughts, depression, emesis, slavery, terrorist attacks, grief, gun violence, death, murder, violence, torture

View all my reviews

#this review is so long it ran out of space on goodreads lol #book review #house of blood and earth spoilers #crescent city spoilers #crescent city #house of blood and earth #booksneedcaffeinetooblog

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imaginedanganronpa · 6 years ago

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Can you please do some headcanons on Shuichi and some of the V3 cast being affected by the Despair disease? Shuichi being a meaner version of Togami and says mean to stuff to the remaining cast that are surprisely true about themselves. Like taking their flaws or insecurities and slapping them in the face.

I decided to just write the whole Cast being affected with it, hope that’s okay! But poor Saihara, I can’t imagine him doing those things.

Fair Warning: Some Minor Spoilers from SDR2 and Spoilers for the Mastermind in V3!

V3 Cast Getting Infected With the Despair Disease!

Kaede Akamatsu

Pessimistic Disease

Kaede is normally a veryoptimistic leader-type who sometimes forcefully pushes her friends towards uncovering the Mastermind and finding the truth, but after being affected by the Despair Disease, all of those leadership qualities will be discarded.

Her firm, strong-willed character disappears and is replaced by a much more pessimistic version of herself. Kaede will have a weak mind and feel no motivation in this Killing Game.

Kaede is convinced that they are all going to die here and succumbs to the very Motive behind the Despair Disease as she falls into Despair and completely gives up.

On top of her pessimistic attitude, Kaede no longer cares about the well-being of her classmates and becomes quite selfish. In her eyes, nothing they do in this Killing Game matters because they will all either die or be trapped here for the rest of their lives. She sees no reason to fight since it all seems pointless to her, anyway; and doesn’t want to give the others a false sense of hope and security.

Kaede has no desire to motivate the others and couldn’t care less about who dies or becomes the Blackened and who lives. She has also seemingly convinced herself that, “I’ll be the next victim anyway.”

She becomes much less brave and more willing to give up her life because she no longer sees a real reason to try or live.

Kaede also becomes increasingly irritable and vulgar, especially towards her classmates. Any positive attribute she had before getting infected seemed to be a thing of the past.

Overall, she doesn’t trust the others whatsoever and puts her guard up, not letting anyone get close to her - especially including Saihara Shuichi; she considers him to be the most sketchy out of all of them and believes that he has something to hide involving his Detective talent. Kaede develops a strong hatred for her classmates and detests being around them, nevertheless speaking to them.

After being infected with this Disease, she no longer has any faith in their situation and reverts back to her previous self.

Saihara Shuichi

Crude Disease

After being infected with the Despair Disease, Saihara will become increasingly over-confident and even somewhat cocky, believing that he has a place above the others and that they are inferior to him.

Before, he was anxious and a bit reserved, but now Saihara demands to be the center of attention and talks down to the rest of the participants. Any fear that he had before subsides and he no longer has any issues with social interaction or insecurities.

He also refuses to use his talent for beneficial purposes, believing that everyone else’s talents are pointless while his is the most valuable one here, and that they should be begging him to use his abilities to help them.

In Saihara’s eyes, they would have been dead by now if it weren’t for him and he shouldn’t waste his talent on useless individuals.

However, this causes him to believe in himself a little bit too much which actually alters his skills and diminishes his talent.

Saihara can be incredibly mean at times, using his talent to uncover the other’s insecurities and then using that against them. He also isn’t afraid to expose the others or belittle them with facts about themselves that are surprisingly true, being far too brutally honest with the others and definitely stepping over some sensitive lines.

He isn’t nearly as serious as he was before, often making dark jokes about their situation or taking breaks to poke fun at the remaining cast. Saihara comes across as incredibly crude and downright evil, causing the others to avoid him rather than flocking to him for help and support.

Instead of making logical decisions, Saihara puts blind faith into his abilities and goes off of hunches, as well as wildly accusing the other students and talking down to them like they are children.

He also shows little fear about their situation, not taking it as seriously as he should and shrugging off the Trials. If someone gets something twisted or accuses the wrong person, he will also call them, “Stupid” or “Idiotic” and laugh in their face.

And with improved people-skills, Saihara not only comes across as rude and mean, but can also come off as a bit flirty and confident, possibly too confident for his own good.

Maki Harukawa

Compassionate Disease

Before, Maki was an incredibly reserved and sometimes hostile person who showed little to no empathy. Now, however, she is always seen with a big, bright smile on her face and an overly preppy, bubbly attitude to boot.

Maki shows a great love an adoration for everything around her and cares about them way too much.

This isn’t limited to people, though, and she also shows love towards inanimate objects and animals as well. She is shown to be greatly affected whenever one of her classmate’s is in a bad mood or gets injured and can be seen talking to plants and animals.

Maki cries easily and at nearly everything in an almost childlike, immature way. She is much less serious and more carefree, even acting like a child at times.

Overprotective of her loved ones, which is everyone, she is constantly checking up on the other students to make sure that they are okay and asking them how their day was, providing emotional support if they need it. She may also pry if you try shooing her away.

Maki is overly friendly and just wants everyone else to get along. She has no tolerance for violence or hostility of any kind and often breaks up fights, getting extremely emotional whenever her classmates argue.

After all, she feels way too much and is much more sensitive now than before, all of her emotions are much more intense and even the smallest thing can send her over the edge. Maki follows her heart much more than her mind.

She can be a bit air-headed at times and come off as oblivious, not always understanding the weight of the Killing Game.

She is also much more attached to the others, especially Kaito. She is constantly bringing him gifts and clinging onto him even when he doesn’t want her around, and often giggles like a school girl whilst blabbing on and on about how much she loves not only Kaito but everyone else here.

Needless to say, once Maki was finally cured, she was disgusted with herself for acting this way. She refused to believe that she could actually be like that, Disease or not.

Ouma Kokichi

Honest Disease

Despite his talent as an Ultimate Supreme Leader, once exposed to the Despair Disease, Ouma won’t be able to stand evil motives and wishes to rid the world of any and all negativity and evil-doers. He also positively motivates his classmates to finding the Mastermind.

Ouma is extremely compassionate and shows love for his friends, and could never imagine doing anything to hurt them.

And most importantly, with this Disease he must only tell the truth. He can’t lie about anything, no matter how minor, and even if he wanted to lie, he wouldn’t be able to because the Disease wouldn’t let him;.

He is obligated to be one-hundred percent truthful, one-hundred percent of the time.

He sticks up for others when they are being tormented, demanding that the other leaves them alone and finds someone else to pick on. He can’t stand seeing others torment his friends.

Ouma becomes very serious and mature, as well as becoming much less eccentric. He is no longer the over-dramatic character that we have all come to know.

He can’t tell when others are lying so he often blindly trusts them and is easily manipulated; he becomes quite oblivious and rather innocent.

And Ouma himself becomes a bit dumb and all of his skills disappear - he turns into an awful liar. Since the Disease won’t let him lie, it makes it obvious when he tries bending the truth so that anyone would be able to read him like a book.

He’ll start sweating and fidgeting nervously, his voice rises and he looks increasingly uncomfortable and worried. When he gets called out, Ouma will become frantic and shy.

All he wants is for everyone else to remain positive in their situation, taking up a Protagonist-like role in this scenario.

Ouma is also one who becomes really uncomfortable when he’s finally cured. “Damn, I wonder what kinds of secrets I spilled!~” he giggles nonchalantly.

Himiko Yumeno

Energetic Disease

Normal Himiko is quite lazy when it comes to anything but magic, but the Despair Disease flips that. She has a ‘too the max’ personality about anything and everything as she bounces off the walls with energy, but she shows very little interest in magic.

Eventually, she’ll just admit that she isn’t a real Mage and that all of her Magic as well as Magic as a whole is fake, going so far to reveal the secrets behind all of her tricks without a care in the world.

Of course, once she’s finally cured of the Disease she tries casting a ‘Forgetting Spell’ on the others to cover-up her secrets.

When she’s infected, though, Himiko is extremely intelligent and instead of being ‘slow’ she’s normally one of the first people to catch onto suspicious behavior.

In a lot of ways, her intuition improves and she replaces Saihara as the most valuable student in the Killing Game.

Himiko is always full of bountiful energy, never tired nor is she lazy. She is loud and somewhat crass, always making her presence known.

All she wants is for the others to try their best and can get easily angered, especially when trying to encourage her friends. Himiko is probably the most motivated out of all of them to succeed.

She matures greatly and becomes much more serious, no longer making time for childish things and dropping her whole ‘I’m a Real Mage!’ act.

Her personality is similar to that of Tenko Chabashira’s real personality in the sense that Himiko has an extreme nature, and she isn’t afraid to go out of her way in hopes of motivating her friends, sometimes coming across as too intense or out of line.

She no longer feels any real need to sleep, and because of this Himiko will be even more tired than usual once she finally does get cured of the Disease. But she can be seen and heard at all hours of the night, often getting nose complaints from her neighbors.

Himiko will become much more talkative as well, and once she starts you really can’t stop her. She just keeps going, and going, and going…

She almost seems annoying to the rest of her peers, her endless energy will drain you if you’re around her for too long.

Rantaro Amami

God-Complex Disease

Before, Rantaro was probably the most ordinary person out of the Cast, and he recognized this. He believed that he was plain in comparison to the rest of the students.

However, now he has a strong God-Complex and sees himself as much higher up than the rest of the participants. The others should bow down to him as far as he’s concerned.

Rantaro places himself on a pedestal and thinks he is much greater than the rest of the students here. Seemingly above average, he views everyone else as scum who should bow down to him and acknowledge his greatness.

He also remembers his talent when infected with the Disease. As a result, this fuels his Complex because, as he sees it, he has survived one of these scenarios in the past therefore he is the most well-off person here.

Rantaro’s love for adventure disappears, though, and he turns into a Homebody in the truest sense. He has no desire to see the world and all he wants to do is escape the Killing Game and make it home.

His calm, relaxing personality is replaced by an anxious and tense one, to the point where just being around him will make you feel tense as well. He’ll begin to worry and panic about their situation. Rantaro grows impatient and irritable around the others as well.

When this happens, he can lash out and go on a rant about how much better he is than everyone else and how he doesn’t deserve to die here. If anything, he thinks he’s the only one worth anything, therefore he should be the sole survivor.

Rather than trying to be helpful, he accuses everyone else of being suspicious and, rather bluntly, finds everyone else to be mysterious and untrustworthy.

And unlike his usual self, Rantaro becomes a complete and utter womanizer who goes around flirting with any female he comes across. When they don’t reciprocate, he gets angry because “They should be thankful a guy like me is actually talking to them.”

Tenko Chabashira

Timid Disease

Tenko is normally the excitable, loud, boisterous girl that is bursting at the seams with energy. However, this Disease calms her down and rewrites her entire personality.

She becomes much more quiet, gloomy, and aloof. Rather than being loud and obnoxious, Tenko disappears into the back of the room and her classmates usually forget that she’s even there. She is far too timid to approach the others and instead silently observes them from a distance.

She bottles up her emotions rather than freely expressing them and doesn’t let others in on how she feels.

Her talent is rendered useless under the effects of the Despair Disease, because infected-Tenko can’t stand fighting and hates violence. She is quite weak and dependent on others to do things for her. She also doesn’t like seeing others fighting nor does she do so herself.

She actually becomes quite clumsy and gets hurt easily, her body becoming riddled with bruises.

Interestingly enough, her preferences switch as well. She becomes much more inwardly hostile towards other degenerate women, even belittling herself at times for being stuck in a “Weak woman’s body.”

And on the other hand, Tenko is more than welcoming and warm around the male characters, though, even acting flustered or possibly flirty around them.

She has to take several showers once she’s cured of the Disease after interacting with the men so much. She also bombards Himiko with apologies for anything that may have been mistakenly said.

Tenko is much more logical, careful and hesitant when it comes to other’s feelings, and she abandons her reckless nature and thinks ahead, sometimes overthinking, and considering every possibility before making a choice instead of rushing into a quick decision.

Kiibo

Impolite Disease

In a lot of ways, infected-Kiibo acts like normal-Kokichi. The pair have jarringly different personalities after all. Typically, Kiibo is very polite and serious, although a bit oblivious at times.

Ironically enough, their roles swap and Kiibo becomes the one constantly harassing Ouma.

But now he often terrorizes and messes with the others for the sole purpose to entertain and amuse himself. Where he used to lack social-behaviors and skills, Kiibo now has no issue socializing but comes across as pretty rude and will say impolite things about the others, driving them away instead.

Unfortunately, his lack of social-awkwardness doesn’t process this so he acts overly-confident around the students.

Kiibo doesn’t take things very seriously and makes a lot of jokes, most of which are crude and based on other’s insecurities or hurting their feelings. A lot of them also seem ‘Human-Phobic’ as Kiibo calls it, but he doesn’t care. It’s fine to be Human-Phobic in his eyes since Robots are so much more advanced anyway.

Obviously, he says a lot of discriminatory and rude things as well, never considering the other person’s feelings. He comes off as blatantly prejudiced towards humans. He also loudly and confidently laughs at discriminatory remarks, gaining a pretty twisted sense of humor, which isn’t anything he would normally condone.

Despite the fact that with this Disease, Kiibo acts less robotic and disregards a lot of the functions that define him and set him apart, and acts more human - or, at least as human as possible.

Kiibo can seem a little bit insensitive and has a ‘Screw everyone else’ attitude.

It seems to affect him more than the other students, though, so even when he was cured there was still traces of the Disease in his system.

Miu Iruma

Moral Disease

Miu is normally a very crass girl who plays it off like she isn’t afraid of anything, but she gets quite affected whenever someone damages her self esteem or says something crude towards her.

The Despair Disease would only intensify that part of herself, causing her to become quite shy and reluctant to show off her skin, covering her body in any way possible.

Miu would be much more defensive and less hostile afterwards, and her insecurities would flare up as she belittles herself and sees herself as much more inferior than the others.

Morally, she quiets down and becomes much more ethically-sound, getting visibly uncomfortable when sexual things are mentioned and starts preaching about how we should all be more responsible when it comes to our bodies and sexuality, as she insists that we need to suppress our lusty sides and cherish the ‘sacredness’ of our bodies.

Miu still thinks she is below others but isn’t nearly as emotional anymore - rather, she is seen as visibly depressed and dragging herself around. Miu hangs her head down low and doesn’t really look up at the others.

She keeps all of her negative thoughts internally and is less outwardly emotional and affected by their words.

But if people ignore her, Miu gets obviously irritated and demands that they show her more attention. She becomes much more commanding and less afraid of receiving backlash.

She becomes repulsed by machinery, including Kiibo, and sexual favors, and instead talks only with perfect, proper, and poised speech. She no longer swears or is very vulgar.

Miu cares about what others think more and this makes her much more hesitant to say something, provoking her to think about what she’ll say before it comes spewing out of her mouth.

And as far as her talent goes, Miu will no longer be interested in Inventions nor will she have the mental creativity to come up with them, becoming much lazier and unmotivated.

Kaito Momota

Halfhearted Disease

Until his normal self who is a passionate hopeless romantic, Kaito becomes extremely shy and nervous around girls, especially Maki. Although she’s the one who wants his affection, he is too meek to actually give it to her.

He also finds himself being crude and less than compassionate towards Maki, giving her the cold shoulder instead.

He comes very weak, lazy, and unmotivated. All he wants to do is hide in his room and sleep all day, and Kaito would if he could. Rather than having a workout routine, he becomes flimsy and no longer cares about his body or physical strength.

Kaito also couldn’t care less about the others. He isn’t fazed by the Killing Game and it doesn’t matter to him who lives or who dies - he becomes similar to Kaede in that aspect. He doesn’t have any real motivation to escape the Killing Game and won’t put up much of a fight if his life is on the line.

He becomes terrified of taking risks, much more secluded and reserved. Kaito often avoids the others because he doesn’t want to make contact and fears that he will be rejected, his more socially awkward side peeking through in moments like these. Because of this, he doesn’t want to bring very much attention to himself because he doesn’t think he deserves it, and thinks very little of himself.

Kaito’s ‘hero-type’ disappears and he becomes much more weak-hearted.

Not only that, but he is unreliable and independent. He makes promises he can’t keep and will lie just to make himself look better, which makes it hard for him to keep a real schedule.

He finds crude humor entertaining and has a much more laid-back persona, taking life easy and not worrying about the Killing Game too much. Since he is so carefree and halfhearted, it’s hard to actually anger this Kaito.

However, he is much more anxious than usual and demands validation at all times, stuttering and becoming flustered if he doesn’t receive it. His self-worth plummets to an all-time low and he sees himself as inferior and useless compared to everyone else.

Angie Yonaga

Unfaithful Disease

Angie’s defining characteristic is her religion and faith in her God, Atua. The Despair Disease, on the other hand, completely reverses this and causes her to drop all aspects of religion from her life.

She becomes a very firm Atheist, turning into a God-Fearing woman who goes so far to belittle religion and criticize anyone who chooses to follow it. She often rants about how it’s unnecessary, calling those people of faith ‘nut-jobs.’

And since she no longer follows her religion, she can no longer hear or speak to Atua so her incoherent ramblings don’t occur as often, either.

Funnily enough, her accent also disappears after she gets infected with this Disease, which was quite unexpected.

Angie doesn’t care about the others nearly as much as she used to, if at all. She is no longer the preppy, positive girl who wanted to form a ‘Cult’ to protect the rest of the students. Now, she genuinely couldn’t care less about what happens to them.

Secretly, she puts them before herself and is much more willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good, but she’s far too stubborn to actually admit that.

Angie’s generally cheery side is gone and replaced with a pessimistic personality who believes that they’re all going to end up dead. This wouldn’t be an issue for her in the past, though, since she always believed that she’d go to Atua once she passed away…

But this Angie is petrified of dying and wants to put it off for as long as possible. Rather than being upbeat, she is worried that she will face an early death in this Killing Game.

Instead of smiling all the time, Angie’s expression is more neutral and unimpressed now than before.

She has little interest in art since her art previously revolved around her religion and sacrifices to her God, but now she wouldn’t be able to recognize her art if she saw it. Angie would also probably criticize it for being too religious.

In a way, she feels like everyone is against her and refuses to follow blind faith in others, so Angie becomes much more independent and abandons the friendships she’s made with Gonta and Himiko.

Korekiyo Shinguuji

Friendly Disease

Rather than being aloof, lonesome, andcool-headed, the Disease would make Korekiyo much more outgoing and friendly towards the rest of his peers. He would likely see them as superiors and, in a way, romanticize them so pieces of his true personality would remain the same.

But he would be unnaturally friendly and upbeat, ditching his mask and wearing a large, beaming smile across his lips and walk with a pep in his step.

It’s a little bit strange and uncomfortable to see Korekiyo act this compassionate towards others.

He consider everyone to be his friend and, like Maki, he would cling onto them, becoming much more dependent rather than isolating himself.

Korekiyo would want nothing more than to entertain the rest of the participants and bring them happiness, purposefully seeking them out and wanting to spend time with them and get to know them better.

He would fixate on others, seeking out friendships with specific people, and try his best to alleviate their situation.

Normally, Korekiyo thinks with his head and makes much more rational, logical decisions; however, now he would be driven by his emotions and use his heart rather than his mind. This causes him to frantically jump to conclusions.

He cares more for people’s personalities rather than their beauty, so his talent gets twisted a little bit but ultimately remains somewhat similar. He wouldn’t be affected by the Disease as intensely as some of the other students, so parts of him are able to shine through.

Korekiyo lessens the distance between himself and his classmates, caring about them and their safety.

He gets overly excited around the others, and his creepily friendly attitude can easily be mistaken for Korekiyo simply being invasive and far too personal.

He’s still a little bit unsettling, but not in the same way. His other personality sometimes peeks through and speaks for him, but that side of him, too, is affected by the Despair Disease and altered in some way.

Kirumi Tojo

Messy Disease

Kirumi, although she doesn’t like to be recognized this way, is like the motherly figure of the group. Her talent as a Maid gets completely overturned and rewritten after she gets exposed to and infected by the Despair Disease, though.

She becomes much more immature and unprofessional, laughing uncontrollably at the most childish jokes and pranks and even playing minor pranks on the others herself. Things that Kirumi would normally refuse to bat an eye at would now have her doubled-over from pure joy, but maybe that wasn’t an entirely bad thing.

People have always told her that she needs to ‘loosen up’ after all…

More importantly, she becomes much more messy and unorganized, slacking off from her work and refusing to clean up after herself and others.

She would have stains all over her Maid uniform and her Dorm Room would look like a disaster area.

Kirumi becomes a lot more dependent on others, when before the other students were dependent on her. She needs someone else to assist her with even the most basic tasks and promotes laziness.

Unlike a good, respectable Maid, Kirumi would become incredibly impolite and rude, especially when someone asked her for help or a favor. She would snap and hiss at them to do it themselves.

She stops caring about herself and really lets herself go. This Disease would cause her to become a ‘slob’ in every sense of the world, and she wouldn’t be able to take herself seriously once she did finally get cured.

Kirumi becomes untrustworthy and sketchy rather than the responsible, parental figure that everyone was used to. But she would never commit an immoral act like murder, which is something that actually stays the same as far as her values go.

However, despite her messiness Kirumi will view herself as being above average and demand respect in a very frantic and desperate way.

Gonta Gokuhara

Angry Disease

Normal-Gonta would be ashamed of what the Despair Disease does to him. He wouldn’t be able to look at his own reflection for weeks.

It turns him crass and rude, instead of the caring and considerate Gentleman that we all know and love.

Although Gonta would gain an intelligence boost and comprehend things much easier, he wouldn’t always use it beneficially.

He would become easily angered by the things he is now able to understand, even more-so since the weight of the Killing Game is just now making sense to him.

No longer patient and soft-hearted, Gonta will become absolutely enraged by even the smallest things and becomes more prone to breaking things and using his sheer brute strength against both his classmates and his surroundings.

Gonta will become much more competent, therefore resulting in him being a compulsive liar who refuses to help the others if he doesn’t gain any benefit from it.

He will lash out easily, much more irritable than before. And Gonta is quite scary and intimidating when he gets angry, completely contrasting the sweet and innocent boy that his class is used to. He can and will threaten you, even using his strength as a gambling chip.

And he becomes much more prone to getting into physical fights, sizing up to his other classmates or even challenging them to fights. If he gets really angry, he’ll start swinging and let his anger out on whatever stands in his way.

Becoming a Gentleman is no longer at the top of Gonta’s priorities and be becomes much more selfish and lets his own desires get in the way of what he should do and what’s right.

In some sense, he thinks of himself as being higher up now. The selfishness shifts his mind into believing that others should respect him, putting himself first every time. Because of this, Gonta stops caring about his classmates in this situation.

The Despair Disease does weaken Gonta, but not as much as you’d think. He still has average strength and enough muscle so that he will pack a punch regardless, especially when enraged.

Tsumugi Shirogane

Disobedient Disease

Tsumugi is secretly quite smart, considering she is the Mastermind behind their entire situation. But even she isn’t immune to the affects of the Despair Disease - plus, it would look suspicious if she was the only one who wasn’t infected by it,

Tsumugi afterwards would be a little bit ‘dumbed-down’ to say the least. She would act more air-headed and clueless, especially to who the Mastermind could possibly be.

She typically thinks she is pretty plain, so afterwards she would also be much more lively and eccentric, and unafraid to really put herself out there as much.

She would gain a lot of confidence but would also become much more snarky and snippy towards the others, often times going off on them and losing her temper.

Tsumugi isn’t bothered by Cospox since the Despair Disease cancels its effects out, so she isn’t afraid to strut around in her sexiest cosplay.

Overall, she is much more reckless and carefree now. She is more likely to make dangerous or hasty decisions, without fear of the possible consequences.

The Mastermind within her comes out more easily, so Tsumugi has to be careful and find a balance between her true reserved nature and hidden reckless side so that she doesn’t accidentally expose herself.

But she could easily use other drugs to cause Confusion or Amnesia among the group if needed.

She somewhat loses interest in the Killing Game and disobeys authority when infected, temporarily disregarding her duties as a Mastermind and having a bit of fun while she’s still here.

However, she wouldn’t get infected with the same amount as the rest of her class, so the effects wouldn’t bother her as intensely, and Tsumugi would still be able to act under her own free-will to some extent.

Ryoma Hoshi

Hopeful Disease

Even though Ryoma insists that he is the ‘Shell of the man he once was,’ the Despair Disease would not revert him back to his normal state. Instead, his entire personality would change, showing that maybe he isn’t so different from his ‘previous self’ after all.

Ryoma would become panicky and cautious over every small detail, defending himself even when that was unnecessary and keeping his guard up at all times. He would also be overwrought and nervous, his skin crawling with fear as he worries that he might be the next victim.

He gets easily shaken up and can freak out over the smallest incidences, but Ryoma remains vigilant and blindly hopeful in their situation.

He would become very soft and sweet towards the others, offering warm and reassuring smiles even to those who don’t want them and he would do his best to encourage the others to find the truth. All he wants is to work together towards finding the Mastermind.

Ryoma, despite remaining suspicious of others, would get as close as possible to the other participants and form bonds with those who were willing. He would want to make friends in this situation, more than welcoming to the rest of the group.

He seems a bit delusional, happy-go-lucky and idealistic even in the Killing Game. Even when things look bad, Ryoma would remain as positive as possible, spreading hope to his other classmates.

With the Motives involving a Time-Limit, he would be the last person willing to sacrifice themselves - he’s simply too afraid of dying and not humble or courageous enough to go through with that. Deep down, he has hope that there is another way out of this.

His normal-self doesn’t act upon or show feelings too often, but he would be a bit more sexual and make more innuendos than before.

Ryoma fantasizes about his future a lot, and is actually excited and desperate to survive this Killing Game.

- Mod Rantaro

587 notes · View notes

serenewrites · 5 years ago

Text

Tips on Character Development

(AKA the convoluted way I do things)

Ok, so, wow. This ended up being like super ridiculously long. Sorry about that. I just got done adding "a thing or two" and it ended up being longer than what I originally wrote.

So, a while ago I responded to a post on Reddit asking for help developing a character. My comment seemed to help a few people, so I figured I'd add a thing or two and post it for anyone else who may find it helpful!

TL;DR: I think Personality tests —Myers Briggs and Enneagram — used in tandem make a pretty complete, rounded character. Add in some Pinterest Character Inspiration boards to that and you've got some preeettyyy developed characters. Also, OneNote rocks my world.

If you wanna read my entire process, keep reading. If not, just read the first few paragraphs and you'll get the idea. If you don’t care, ignore me and scroll on, friend.

The Personality Tests

When I started getting my MCs together, I took a Myers Briggs personality test for each of them! 16 Personalities is a really great resource because you just answer how your character would and it gives you so much information on what type of person they'd be. If you go to that second link, it goes deeper into their theory and what each aspect of the test results actually mean. If you're looking for that, scroll down to the Five Personality Aspects part of the second link. I think the entire thing is neat, so I recommend the read. Anyways, I've done this for my protagonists, as well as my main BBEGs, and some minor characters that I was kind of struggling with.

From there, I also looked up what Enneagram types they'd line up with according to their Myers Briggs type. That site talks a lot about what the Enneagram personality stuff is all about. It's worth a read. The whole concept is pretty neat. Your personality type is similar to the personality types that are near you, but also reflects to the types across from you. Or something... I'm explaining this poorly, I know haha.

There are a few ways I went about relating the two personality tests. I didn't want to take two different tests. I really like the Myers Briggs because it's all about decisions, but I like that the Enneagram talks a lot about how they interact with each other and the world. It kind of gave me a more rounded vision of who they are. Instead of taking two tests, I used this site to find a correlation between the Myers Briggs type and the Enneagram type.

There are 9 Enneagram types. Russell Rowe (not Crowe, I know, I thought it too) does an AWESOME job of breaking them down... into 15-20 page PDFs.

Enneagram Type 1

Enneagram Type 2

Enneagram Type 3

Enneagram Type 4

Enneagram Type 5

Enneagram Type 6

Enneagram Type 7

Enneagram Type 8

Enneagram Type 9

You can easily find any of those by Googling "Enneagram Type x Russell Rowe" and it'll pop up as literally the first thing. But I linked each of them to the above list. I have each of those PDFs saved into my OneNote folder for each major character, good or evil. I highlighted things that really stuck out to me for each character.

After reading through all those, I was able to figure out if that was truly who I wanted my character to be. Is that personality type and Enneagram type truly who I envisioned my character? If yes, move forward. If not, retake the tests. I retook my one MC's Myers Briggs test 3 times, I think, and once I rounded it out with the Enneagram type, I really got her how I wanted her, so don't get discouraged if you read the results and don't feel like it fits your characters!

This is the point where I kind of venture off into more of how I do things, so I won't feel bad if you don't want to read my word vomit from here on out. I kind of just talk about the benefits of questionnaires vs the personality test method, how I use OneNote to keep track of my character development, and visual inspiration using Pinterest.

If you decide to keep reading, thanks! Also, buckle up, because it's a lot...

Personality Tests vs Character Questionnaires

So, I use Scrivener, but I also have used Bibisco (free!) in the past. Bibisco has a really, really detailed questionnaire that asks questions I hadn't even thought about. How does this character eat? What are they usually dressed like? What's their favorite type of music? Are they a pessimist or an optimist? A realist? Are they book smart or street smart? There's like... literally HUNDREDS of questions on there. It also asks about family members, relationships, sexuality (I think, but it's worth adding), past events that occurred before the book.

While I am a perfectionist, I started with the Bibisco stuff and then ended up falling off the wagon with it because it took so excruciatingly long to complete one for each character. I already had a pretty good idea of how each of them would act and I didn't really want to put myself in a box creatively. Sometimes my characters just grow organically as I write and I make discoveries about them that way!

The Bibisco questions, and questionnaires overall, are so helpful, but again, they can be so so time consuming. If you have the time (and that's your jam) I totes recommend it. Bibisco so in-depth and has so many questions that I honestly hadn't even thought about. But I have 4 main characters, and 2 major minor characters, and 1 BBEG in my first book alone. I just could not handle like hundreds of questions per person. And tbh, the Myers Briggs and Enneagram was enough for me!

All of that to say, the way Bibisco breaks down their information and some questions it asks are really cool and helpful. While I don't answer each question it has, I do like to think of just in general, how does Kein act? How does she carry herself, talk, laugh, cry? Does she belly laugh or is it more of a quiet giggle. When she cries, does she try to hide it and push everyone away (spoiler alert, yes), or does she cry openly and ask for help?

OneNote is your super organized best friend forever

I compile all of this information into OneNote, which... is honestly a post in and of itself (something I would be more than happy to do if people were interested). OneNote is just the most amazing way to keep track of everything in my world (venturing past char dev here, for a tiny second).

I first discovered how useful it was when I started my homebrew campaign for dnd and it has been so invaluable ever since. Especially for the worldbuilding I am currently doing for my fictional world. I'm also pretty sure anyone who has Windows and the Microsoft Office Suite, has it for free. So if you do have Microsoft Office, I HIGHLY recommend checking out OneNote for book/character organization.

In OneNote, I have different collections set up for worldbuilding, chapter notes, a to-do list, a timeline, and most importantly (or relevantly) for characters. I have a section for the protagonists, the villains, the good guys, bad guys, and then misc neutral people. Though, usually, people in my book fall into the good or bad sections. I have neutral people for things that have happened historically, but that's neither here nor there.

Within each section, say, the Heroes, I have a "page" for each of my main characters. Their title page is just a bunch of random notes that I hastily added on the go, but the subpages are where it's at. Each subpage is based off the Bibisco (see above) sections. Personal Data, Physical Features, Behaviors/Attitude, Psych, Ideas/Passions, Interpersonal, Life Before the Story, Conflict, Evolution, and Visual Inspiration.

The psych section of Bibisco is a very in depth 64 questions on their psychological profile. In my OneNote, this is more or less where I put my personality test results and I highlight important information. Instead of answering 64 questions that answer whether or not Kein is outgoing or shy, the personality profiles answer those for you, quite easily.

For example, Kein tested as ISTP-T. She is an Introvert, Observant, Thinking, Prospecting, and Turbulent. Even just looking at that last sentence, it tells me more about my character than any 64 questions about how hardworking, free-spirited, or vain (all Bibisco questions) she is.

I really like how Bibisco broke down the information, but how it goes about char dev doesn't work for me personally. So I modified it to work for me! Instead of answering all those questions, I read through the questions and the personality profiles I have in the Psych section. In the other sections, I just type a blurb or two about how Kein behaves, her passions, and her interpersonal skills (or lack thereof). Instead of reading through a numbered list of questions and answers, I can just read the blurb or highlighted sections in the personality section and be reminded of her overall personality instead of how she acts in one rigid sense.

I think that's why I like the personality tests the most— they give you a more generalized sense of your character instead of how they act in a linear or flat scenario. How do they walk, for instance, is one of the questions, but that really hinges on a lot, right? What's the scenario?

Is Kein coming home from a successful scavenging mission, standing tall and proud, but letting someone else take the spotlight of success? (Introvert vs Extrovert). Or is she folding into herself, thinking about all the things she could have done differently, while she’s being scolded? (Thinking vs Feeling).

How a character, walks, talks, laughs, and generally holds themselves really depends on... you guessed it! Their personalities! Which is why I really like the personality test route.

One extra bit, OneNote lets you do 3 tiers of folders, so I can have Kein>Physical Features and then one more set of subpages under Physical Features. I find this useful for character development that happens over the course of your writing. For example, my MCs fight a pack of wolves at one point (this first book of mine is very Man v Nature). They all walk away with injuries. Under my Physical Features page, I have a subpage for Developments. I either just have notes there, or a table set up by chapter. It'll say, Ch# in the left column, and then it'll have a set of bullet points for things that changed in that chapter.

Ch# - Kein attacked by a wolf - sustained a bite to shoulder and claw slash across her stomach. (A note: for wounds, I'll sometimes add pics, but as long as you can visualize it, it's whatevs).

It goes for other aspects of character development too though! If a romance is blossoming, I'll add notes chapter by chapter using the table system I noted above. If an injury causes someone to move/walk differently I make a note of it. Especially for injuries that I need to remember like, ok, she has fractured ribs. She ain't climbing that cliff side— they're going to have to find a different way or they're going to have to figure out how to get her up it.

Side note for the injury and time keeping — I made an entire post about how I do this, so check that out if you’re interested.

A small bit on visual inspiration

When coming up with a visual of my characters, I turn to Pinterest. Pinterest is the bee's knees for visual character inspiration. If you have a general idea of what you want your character to look like, just search "character inspiration" and then adding any descriptors. Sometimes I don't find what I'm looking for, so instead I'll search "model" and then the descriptors. My MC has red hair and freckles. I searched "character inspiration red hair female" and "model freckles female" and tons of pics popped up.

I created a board named "Character Inspo_NAME" on Pinterest for each main character. A nice spring board for visualizing my characters. It ranges from boots and ripped jeans, to faces of models/people, hairstyles and accessories.

I mass pin things and then I comb through and look for stuff that really resonates with a character— a few pics of models, some outfits, particular accessories or items, shoes, clothes, hair styles!! With those few, more narrowed down pics, I place them into my Visual Inspiration folder in OneNote. I can reference it if I need to remember what someone is wearing or what a particular item someone has looks like. Or just in general if I need a bit of a boost, it helps to write a character's description if I'm looking at the character inspiration.

I’m certainly not, like, the best person to go to for visual inspo stuff. There are so many other people out there who do these amazing aesthetic and mood boards and all kinds’a stuff like that and it’s so so so amazing. So, don’t take my word for it in this area, because I’m certainly not the authority here. I’m just givin yinz an idea of how I do things.

I hope this helps! Maybe I should have added memes or something.

Anyways, that’s all folks. Good luck! Feel free to ask me any questions if you have them! Also, I'd love to hear comments on my process, or how anyone else does their character development!

i also feel like this entire post is a mess so thanks for reading if you made it to the end. also let me know if any links don’t work or anything like that.

#writeblr #writing tips #character development #writing #writing advice #writing tools #writing community #characters #original characters #ocs #writers helping writers #character inspo #character inspiration #novel writing #nanowrimo #i did this instead of writing

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freckliedan · 6 years ago

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can u please explain what an phanti//anti is (like moree specifically)? ive only really ever seen ppl talk about dan & phil from the perspective of they’re (prob) together or they don’t feel comfortable with speculation/don’t care either way

oh my god anon i’m so glad that things have changed so much that this is the culture now. oh my god i’m so glad you don’t know what a phanti is

i think in the most basic sense of the word, a phanti is someone who believes that dan and phil are heterosexual, and that they’re just friends, and that shippers are super disrespectful/being bad people for forcing the idea that the two of them might be together on them & in their faces. phantis tend to think we’re seeing things that aren’t there/making things up, and they’re really, really shitty in the ways they aggressively will argue with people about it. they have blinders on, essentially, when it comes to the ways dan and phil have been subtly coming out for the past few years.

and an anti is someone who’s opposed to a ship? so like ok cool, that’s a fair word to have made up, but most of the time that you see that being used on tumblr, i’d be wary. a lot of people who talk about antis in general on tumblr are complaining about being criticized for fetishizing mlm or shipping unhealthy ships, and i’m going to go into more detail about that under the cut but i’m gonna put a few trigger warnings first bc it’s some potentially triggering reasons that people get criticized and then pull out the word anti.

the overall point about the general word anti is: it means someone who’s against a ship, but usually if people are making posts about how antis suck and you shouldn’t police other’s enjoyment of fandom, be wary/check out OP’s blog before reblogging because it might be someone defending a really shitty stance.

(for under the cut: csa tw/, pedophilia tw/, incest tw/, rape tw/; i’m having a serious discussion of toxic parts of fandom under the cut so please take my trigger warnings seriously and gauge your comfort level/whether it’s healthy for you to click to the read more. i don’t want to feel responsible for causing hurt, and the discussion under the cut doesn’t have any information that’s not explained in broad strokes in the main body of my post.)

oftentimes people who use the word anti are adults who shipping an adult character with a minor & not listening when people tell them that doing so supports pedophilic attitudes & contributes to societal grooming of minors to be abused by predatory adults; this is the most common original poster of things about how antis need to stop policing others’ enjoyment of fandom, and i’ve seen a number of people who describe themselves as fandom moms who also behave in this way. typically the antis in this specific scenario are minors who are saying that the adult’s actions are making them uncomfortable, and the adult will mobilize their larger follower base against the minor who spoke up about their discomfort.

and i’m not talking like, an 18/19 year old who’s shipping two characters of a similar age to themself together when one is still like 16/17; that’s different; i’m talking like. someone who’s 20+, usually mid twenties or older, who describes themself as a fandom mom and who will not listen to criticism or people who tell them that they’ve been made uncomfortable. i’m not saying that all fandom moms are like this, i’m just saying that i’ve seen it enough times that i get wary when i see someone constantly and proudly self defining as a fandom mom.

other times the unhealthy ship will be incest, or will be focused on dub con/non con. and there’s a place for that in fandom; i know that there’s a lot of people who process traumas through writing fic about characters that they relate deeply to, and rape survivors and survivors of incest should have a space in which to do that, too. i’m not talking about that kind of fan content though; there’s people who get pissed about being criticized for eroticizing rape, incest, and dub con, and for romanticizing abusive, unhealthy relationships, and when they get pissed for the valid criticisms people are bringing up, they roll out the word anti and start getting self righteous.

fandom is a really wonderful place for the most part, but a lof of minors get exposed to extremely toxic ideas by adults and those ideas get normalized through the constant repitition. that normalization can leave a kid vulnerable to manipulation by predatory adults, or lead to the adoption of unhealthy behaviors or a kid being put into unsafe situations. this especially happens due to the way that sex is discussed in fan spaces without regard to age a lot of the time.

i really want all minors to be safe, and i think talking about this is important, because none of the adults i was following when i was a minor were discussing this even though it should be the adult’s responsibility to protect minors and make sure they’re not interacting sexually with young people, even when it’s about a fandom, not about people’s personal sex lives. this is a hill that i’m willing to die on, and although i turned out okay and didn’t end up in any bad situations, i know that i was exposed to some super toxic ideas through fandom when i was growing up and i did internalize a fair amount of shit.

so. yeah. beware people who use the word anti and if you’re an adult reading this, don’t behave sexually with minors on the internet. nobody tells us that it’s our responsibility to protect minors on the internet, but it is, and this is me telling you that if you’ve not already realized it yourself.

#den posts #den chats #ty for the ask anon sorry for getting preachy in the readmore about toxicity in fandom #anon #den replies #den thoughts #adults in fandom

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starstruckpurpledragon · 6 years ago

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So earlier today I saw an ask on @fuckyeahasexual talking about there being articles on Vice about aromanticism and asexuality. Well, mostly asexuality, but there was apparently one on aromanticism too. I didn’t really have time to read it then, but I wasn’t super impressed by the tagline “They're never gonna fall in love—because they don't want to.”

A person’s orientation isn’t a choice, so I tend to be kind of wary of phrasing that implies the opposite. So not a great start for the article.

It’s actually not bad. It was written in 2014 and despite being 5 years old (well, in September it will be), its information hasn’t aged badly (there’s still the 1% of the population is ace figure that’s outdated, but... 2014). I really don’t like some of the author’s tendency towards flippant humor, but I’ll get to that some below the cut. Overall, its a decent take on aromanticism from an outsider’s perspective and, better yet, the aromantics interviewed for the article aren’t all aroace, there’s a lesbian aro and straight aro who get quoted, and a few other aros who may or may not be ace mentioned throughout the article. I also think it does a fairly good job of addressing common misconceptions like ‘aros are late bloomers’ and ‘it’s a tumblr thing’, though your mileage may vary on that one.

I particularly like the closing paragraph:

It’s clear that the human experience that sits under the label of “aromantic” is not simple. Aros may feel sexual attractions, they may not. They may want to be intimate, they may not. They might want relationships with one special person, or have squishes, they might not. Their ideal Christmas present might be a Blu-ray copy of The Notebook, or they might have taste. But all of this variation doesn’t make the label less valid. Why should minority sexual and romantic orientations have to fit into strict criteria? Straight, romantic people aren’t all easily defined either. Love is complicated, and humans are more so—and when you think in those terms, I guess the real question is why aren't there more labels for the way that we relate to each other?

Okay, so I do like some of the flippant humor because I’ll never not find taking potshots at The Notebook funny.

If you’re looking for some 101 resources to start explaining aromanticism to a non-aro friend, this would be a good article to toss their way. Below the cut is a deeper look at the good and bad aspects of the article.

The Good:

While the article uses asexuality as a jumping off point for explaining aromanticism, the author makes it clear that asexual does not equal aromantic or vice versa. She discusses sexuality as a spectrum then introduces the concept of romantic orientations as a spectrum too, moving from there into a deeper view of aromanticism.

She debunks a lot of misconceptions about aromanticism:

Discusses how its not about disliking romantic gestures

Makes it clear that aromantics aren’t psychopaths (though this was one of the places her flippant humor irked me)

Touches on the concept that aromantics do feel all kinds of platonic love, just not romantic love

Tackles the idea that aromantics are just late bloomers, examining the reasoning behind that assumption and ultimately uses quotes from an interviewed aro to land firmly against the idea that aromantics are just late bloomers

Also tackles the idea that we’re just tumblr snowflakes, though this one is more of a mixed-bag of results and YMMV just how well she deals with it

Discusses how enjoying romance as a genre does not disqualify a person from being aromantic

Confronts the idea that aromantics are all sex-fiends both with quotes from aros who explain why thats not true and from using her own logic skills to pick apart the fallacy

While she doesn’t discuss amatanormativity by name, she does tackle the concept to some degree. There are quotes from aromantics discussing the harm society’s expectations regarding romance have made aros feel uncomfortable or even broken.

Describing squishes using AVEN’s definition was a good start - “a desire for a strong platonic relationship with someone which is usually more emotionally intimate than a typical friendship.” - which makes it all the more annoying when her treatment of the term squish is immediately fumbled afterwards. (More below in ‘The Bad’ section.)

She discusses what QPRs are and while the definition given isn’t the greatest - there’s no mention of alterous attractions and the standard ‘romantic relationship levels of commitment between intensely close friends’ description is given. While some aros are okay with this type of description for QPRs and other aros are very intensely against it, this is definitely a spot where YMMV. While I’m ultimately glad that QPRs were addressed at all and in a way that non-aros can start grasping the concept, I do find it frustrating that she implies that QPRs are sort of friendship+ since that’s not really what they are.

The Bad:

I admit, I really just don’t like the tagline. In addition to my earlier complaints, it erases aromantics who do want to be in a romantic relationship. There are a lot of valid reasons an aro might choose to be in a romantic relationship and I don’t think that ever really gets addressed in the article, which instead frames all aro relationships as either friendships or QPRs.

“Aromanticism is simply the fundamental desire to not be in a romantic relationship.” - That’s... not really a good explanation of what aromanticism is. While it, thankfully, doesn’t imply that aromanticism is a choice, it doesn’t actually describe what aromanticism is - not experiencing romantic attraction - and equates aromanticism with behavior - not wanting to be in a romantic relationship. This once again erases aromantics who are in romantic relationships for any number of valid reasons.

“Unlike psychopaths or people who just don’t want to be in a romantic relationship with you (ugh, weirdos), aros are capable of love.” - While I’m glad she addresses both that aros aren’t psychopaths and that aros do feel love, I could do without the amatanormative joke in the middle there. The idea that only weirdos wouldn’t be romantically attracted to a person is really entitled and creepy and gross and just jarring to have there. The semi-flippant treatment of dismissing the psychopath misconception isn’t all that great either, but YMMV. In this particular context its just very uncomfortable to me, perhaps largely because the person making the joke isn’t aro.

The dismissive attitude towards aro culture because we make jokes about auto-correct, discuss fandom headcanons, and create pride flags. These are all things that pretty much every LGBT+ identity does and its insulting to single us out for being comfortable enough with our aromanticism to start having fun and taking pride in ourselves. None of that is inherently childish and I really can’t tell if she’s being ignorant or indulging in ageism by classifying things she’s not interested in as things that adults don’t do.

The equally dismissive treatment of aromantic terms, like ‘squish’ and ‘zucchini’. ‘Squish’ is no more childish than the term ‘crush’ and plenty of adults use the word ‘crush’ to describe their romantic feelings. And while ‘zucchini’ may sound weird without knowing the history behind it (or even when you do) slang pretty much always sounds weird. It’s even more frustrating because one of the quotes in this section are used to reinforce the author’s disdainful attitude towards the adequacy of our terminology. Not every aro finds these words useful but its downright hurtful to see an aro quoted calling the word ‘squish’ juvenile or equate it with being ‘emotionally stunted’. (Seriously, while I can understand wanting equivalent terms we can use that are less likely to be dismissed by non-aros, I hope everyone will try to remember that dismissing words like ‘squish’ is really hypocritical when similar slang terms are widely in use for conveying romantic emotions and are not treated as childish. It’s just another form of aromisia and one that is very easily internalized.)

Overall, the author seemed extremely open to understanding what aromanticism really is and the parts of her writing that conveyed amatanormative and aromisic sentiments could be put down to her simply still being ignorant on the subject. It’s definitely a good starting point for non-aros to learn some of the basics about aromanticism. I don’t know if I’d recommend this to someone trying to figure out if they themselves are aro, though.

#aromantic article #non-aro author #aromisia #arophobia #good as a 101 article for non-aros #aro erasure #2014 #I might go back later and checkout the articles on asexuality #but I was more interested in the aro article #because as little as there is on asexuality there's even less on aromanticism #aro 101

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motherboxing · 7 years ago

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csa tw, this is about fandom space discourse shit and is specifically written for adults

I actually am fairly sympathetic to arguments that teenagers can and will, of their own desire and volition, read shit online that isn’t totally age-appropriate, and that after a certain point of reasonable discretion/precautionary measures, adults who don’t know those kids from Adam are not responsible for that. I wrote weird smutty fanfic as a teenager, and most adults I know today did as well. Most of us are capable of grasping that while there are some lines that clearly should not be crossed because doing so is abusive, an adult doing the equivalent of keeping some porno mags in their bedroom and telling kids to stay out of there is not an abuser if those kids get stupid curious, sneak some beer one night, and end up finding the porno mags and giggling about boobs. I feel like when people hear people say they have problems with adults writing and distributing smut in fan spaces, they think we have a problem with that kind of scenario.

So let’s be clear: I don’t give a shit about that kind of scenario and I don’t think that scenario is what most people who are trying to talk about Ao3′s shortcomings in terms of fan safety are talking about. It is hypocritical to ask that people presume good faith on the part of Ao3 and the adults posting erotica about csa, while actively assuming that the people uncomfortable with that erotica are so because they’re uncomfortable with the mere existence of sexuality at all.

My problem with ~fanfic discourse is that I mainly just want people to do better. I want people to be less hostile towards discussions of What If, because to a lot of survivors those discussions are not hypothetical in nature. Like, sure, have your weird smut archive, but how will you handle it if an adult user on your site is interacting with that smut in a way that sets off alarm bells? How will you handle it if a user on your site is a minor who is clearly in a bad situation? How will you handle it if you think a piece of fiction hosted on your site crosses a line in terms of its content? If other people think that? What do the discussions around these possibilities look like?

We live in a society! Some of the stuff hosted on Ao3 is super fucking creepy and should be considered a red flag! Not all of it, and not even all the smut, but just as a blanket condemnation of Every Fanfic is not appropriate, neither is a blanket assertion that it’s all fine and any abuse is a matter of a bad apple here or there, which isn’t worth trying to address or fix. You can’t just sniff “individual responsibility, I’m not your mother” whenever people raise concerns about collective attitudes towards sexual violence, grooming, and abuse! It is normal and #valid for people to be concerned about adults not maintaining appropriate boundaries with kids in all-ages fandom spaces because this is a systemic problem. It was a systemic problem when I was a traumatized teenager seeking (and receiving, sometimes without seeking) validation, affection, and attention from adults. That did not turn out well for me, and honestly I consider myself to have been kind of lucky in terms of how it did turn out. I wish that more adults in that scene had had compassion for me and spared some thought towards what I might have needed, especially when it came to my clearly dysfunctional relationships with older people.

No one is obligated to intervene in someone else’s crisis, especially someone they don’t know. But we should feel obligated to treat each other like human beings. Not all talk about social responsibility is just about making women take care of everyone, or about telling people what to do and what not to do. It’s about considering the positions of people in our communities who are vulnerable and asking ourselves how we can do better by those people and by ourselves. I am NOT sympathetic to people who act like any concern expressed about the overall environment of Ao3 and whether or not specific kinds of smut hosted there can be used to groom kids and normalize abusive behavior is just about cracking down on healthy adult sexuality, because to be perfectly frank it does not fill me with optimism to see grown-ass people acting like any media criticism of something that gets them off is the equivalent of a 20 year prison sentence like we weren’t all writing thinkpieces about the politics of Buffy the Vampire Slayer long before the term “thinkpiece” had even entered public consciousness.

Also I REALLY need people to stop lecturing survivors about how they’re too dumb to understand that fanfiction/cartoons/etc didn’t abuse them and “only your abuser is responsible” as though it is stupid and selfish of them to want people to question the social values etc that informed their abusers’ attitudes, and stop turning a blind eye to exploitation. Rape culture is all of our collective responsibility, and besides, it’s fucking nasty! It’s nasty to hear someone say “well, I’m a survivor and I’m worried about X,” and sneer, “X didn’t abuse you honey, you’re just too crazy and dumb to understand.” It’s mean, and nasty, and even if you think it’s true that is no reason to be so gleefully snide about another person’s abuse.

#this is okay to reblog #it's just behind a cut for length

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restoringsanity · 7 years ago

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What's your thoughts on poc thinking they can't be racist?

Not sure if you’re going to like what I’m going to say - but, you asked for my thoughts, so you’ll get my thoughts.

First, I need to admit that I’m one of those people who prefer dictionary definitions of terminology. If we want to have conversations, we need to agree on what words mean, and that their definitions apply indiscriminately, following the same logic. We can’t have productive conversations any other way, because everything would get lost in semantics otherwise. Our definitions need to be globally applicable to some extent, as well. If ‘racism’ means something different in North America than it does in South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe - the entire rest of the world essentially - we’re going to keep running into an abundance of obstacles, as well. As far as I (personally) am concerned, racism doesn’t need an updated or more specific definition. It’s plenty specific already.

But,I understand the need to specify the impact racism has on different groups of people.

This is important, so please pay attention.

Definition of Racism

Racism is the belief in the superiority of one race over another, which often results in discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their race or ethnicity. Today, the use of the term “racism” does not easily fall under a single definition.[1]

The ideology underlying racist practices often includes the idea that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different due to their social behavior and their innate capacities as well as the idea that they can be ranked as inferior or superior.[2] The Holocaust is a classic example of institutionalized racism which led to the death of millions of people based on race.

While the concepts of race and ethnicity are considered to be separate in contemporary social science, the two terms have a long history of equivalence in both popular usage and older social science literature. “Ethnicity” is often used in a sense close to one traditionally attributed to “race”: the division of human groups based on qualities assumed to be essential or innate to the group (e.g. shared ancestry or shared behavior). Therefore, racism and racial discrimination are often used to describe discrimination on an ethnic or cultural basis, independent of whether these differences are described as racial. According to a United Nations convention on racial discrimination, there is no distinction between the terms “racial” and “ethnic” discrimination. The UN convention further concludes that superiority based on racial differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and there is no justification for racial discrimination, anywhere, in theory or in practice.[3]

Racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social life. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political systems (e.g., apartheid) that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices. Associated social actions may include nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, supremacism, and related social phenomena.

(source)

Stipulative Definition of Racism

Prejudice plus power is a stipulative definition of racism often used by anti-racist educators, including the American pastor Joseph Barndt.[1] The definition was first proposed by Patricia Bidol, who, in a 1970 book, defined it as “prejudice plus institutional power.”[2]According to this definition, two elements are required in order for racism to exist: racial prejudice, and social power to codify and enforce this prejudice into an entire society.[1][3] Reasons cited in support of this definition include that power is responsible for the creation of racial categories, and that people favor their own racial groups over others.[4] The reaction of students to this definition tends to be mixed, with some thinking that it makes sense, and others perceiving it as an unfair redefinition of racism to portray whites in an unfairly negative light.[5] In 2004, Beverly Tatum wrote that many of her white students find it difficult to relate to this definition on a personal level, because they do not perceive themselves either as prejudiced or as having power.[3] The definition has been criticized by some academics for relying on the assumption that power is a zero-sum game, and for not accounting for the lack of uniformity in prejudicial attitudes.[6] Critics have also noted that this definition is belied by the fact that except in absolutist regimes, minorities, however disadvantaged they may be, are not powerless, because power is organized into multiple levels.[7]

(source)

What is a ‘stipulative definition’?

A stipulative definition is a type of definition in which a new or currently-existing term is given a new specific meaning for the purposes of argument or discussion in a given context. When the term already exists, this definition may, but does not necessarily, contradict the dictionary (lexical) definition of the term. Because of this, a stipulative definition cannot be “correct” or “incorrect”; it can only differ from other definitions, but it can be useful for its intended purpose.[1][2]

For example, in the riddle of induction by Nelson Goodman, “grue” was stipulated to be “a property of an object that makes it appear green if observed before some future time t, and blue if observed afterward”. “Grue” has no meaning in standard English; therefore, Goodman created the new term and gave it a stipulative definition.

Stipulative definitions of existing terms are useful in making theoretical arguments, or stating specific cases. For example:

*Suppose we say that to love someone is to be willing to die for that person.

*Take “human” to mean any member of the species Homo sapiens.

*For the purposes of argument, we will define a “student” to be “a person under 18 enrolled in a local school”.

Some of these are also precising definitions, a subtype of stipulative definition that may not contradict but only extend the lexical definition of a term. Theoretical definitions, used extensively in science and philosophy, are similar in some ways to stipulative definitions (although theoretical definitions are somewhat normative, more like persuasive definitions).[2]

Many holders of controversial and highly charged opinions use stipulative definitions in order to attach the emotional or other connotations of a word to the meaning they would like to give it; for example, defining “murder” as “the killing of any living thing for any reason”. The other side of such an argument is likely to use a different stipulative definition for the same term: “the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought” or “the premeditated killing of a human being”. The lexical definition in such a case is likely to fall somewhere in between.

When a stipulative definition is confused with a lexical definition within an argument there is a risk of equivocation.

(source)

Now, what is the purpose of the stipulative definition of racism? I would conclude it’s to highlight the origin and impact of racism in the United States specifically. The stipulative definition of racism benefits the argument that people of color in the United States suffer more (and have suffered more) from racism against their group, than white citizens suffer (and have suffered) from racism against their group.

Personally, I don’t think whether or not people of color can be racist is a necessary question. It’s detrimental to the overall conversations we need to have, and the questions we need to answer. By lexical definition - yes, they can. By stipulative definition - their racism, while not defined as such in this specific instance, has a lesser impact in countries where white citizens are the majority.

The lexical definition of racism describes the act of racism within a sociological and anthropological context.The stipulative definition of racism describes the act of racism against a specific historical background, while highlighting prejudice as a motivator and power imbalances as an enabling force.

“I believe white people are collectively inferior and I hate every single one of them, but I’m not racist.” -> incorrect according to lexical definition-> ‘correct’ according to stipulative definition

We have to acknowledge that the stipulative definition of racism perhaps shouldn’t be abused to excuse unbridled hatred, seeing as how it benefits nothing and no one to do so, other than people who seek to excuse their hatred. I don’t think hate needs an excuse. It speaks for itself, regardless. Do I have empathy for a person of color expressing their frustration in a vitriolic manner? Yes. Without a doubt. Do I have sympathy? To a lesser degree. Do I choose to take their anger personally? No. I don’t have to. (I’m not a white American, anyway. But even if I was, I’m much less interested in getting upset than I am in bettering the world for everyone.)If someone tells you “I’m in pain, and it’s your fault!” the moral thing to do would be to find ways to address their pain first, then deal with their accusations later, if it’s at all necessary. Your methods should be rational, reasonable, and compassionate.The response of some white Americans to certain accusations is, quite frankly, embarrassing. If your response to someone expressing pain is self-flagellation, self-loathing and overabundant expressions of guilt - you’re not helping. Your pain doesn’t lessen the pain of others, it just adds to it. Your response has to be dignified and concise. I find it quite irritating to witness that political/societal discourse has become further obsessed with ‘whiteness’ in their attempt to deconstruct it. Just … focus, for fuck’s sake. Stop getting distracted by masturbatory hyper-wokeness. You can have all kinds of discussion on campus, that’s what it’s for, but outside of that bubble, you have to focus on the issues that many Americans still struggle with. (Yes, this entire post is US-centric, because the initial ask is.)The issues marginalized Americans deal with are issues of racism and classism - which, interestingly, is included in the stipulative definition of racism. It’s a matter of prioritizing according to impact. Poor white Americans have it rough, but poor people of color living in America are just profoundly fucked. You can, and you should address both. If your goal is 1, and you have two lesser instances, one at 0.75 and one at 0.25 you need and want to elevate both to 1. It just takes more effort to elevate one instance. Of course, either instance might elevate themselves by reducing one another to 0, but the total sum would be lesser. Or maybe I’m just bad at math, and this example sucks. Who knows.

There’s really no point in pushing each other down in our attempt at finding equal standing. Same as it’s useless to point fingers. It doesn’t really matter who is racist, or sexist, or anything like that - it’s about addressing the issues stemming from racism, sexism, etc. If a patient arrives in critical condition, your approach is symptomatic initially. As soon as their condition isn‘t critical anymore, then you can address the core problems.

Continuing on with the US-centrism - the American body still isn’t in stable condition. A festering infection has broken out recently (cough white supremacy cough), which is going to slow down the process of healing to a considerable degree. It can’t just be cut out, either. Whatever it has infected is part of the system, too. That’s why all of this is so fucking complicated.

Anyway, at this point I’m just rambling. It’s just very frustrating to observe, and while I have lived it to a certain degree, I certainly haven’t experienced it the exact same way. These are my thoughts on the issue.

To boil it down to a simple statement: What are my thoughts on people of color (in the U.S.) thinking they can’t be racist? Who cares? That’s not the issue. It’s a petty question, it’s a petty issue, it benefits no one.

#politics #racism #also this has nothing to do with fiction #:' (#this blog is about fictional problems #kind of #at this point I don't know anymore

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brittanyyoungblog · 4 years ago

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What’s in a Kiss? How People Describe Their Best and Worst Kisses Ever

Kissing is among the most common sexual and romantic behaviors. Although it isn’t a universal activity across cultures (in fact, researchers haven't found evidence of kissing in a surprisingly large number of places), in cultures where it does occur, it is often people’s first partnered sexual activity, and it is one of the most frequently practiced behaviors.

While a lot of research has addressed the role and value of kissing in our intimate lives (as well as our reasons for kissing), surprisingly little work has looked at the quality of kissing itself. I mean, what distinguishes a “good kiss” from a “bad kiss” anyway?

A recent study published in the Journal of Relationships Research sought to explore people’s memories of their best and worst kisses ever to help us better understand the dynamics of good and bad kissing.

Researchers surveyed 691 U.S. adults online, who were age 32 on average. Overall, 86% identified as heterosexual, with the remaining 14% reporting sexual minority identities (most commonly bisexual, followed by gay or lesbian).

Participants were asked extensive questions about their kissing history and attitudes, as well as their memories of different types of kisses, including open-ended questions about what their best and worst kisses were like, which the researchers then analyzed for themes.

On average, participants reported having had their first kiss at age 15 and said they had kissed 18-19 persons in their lifetime.

How important was kissing to these folks? When asked whether they would rather give up kissing forever or give up receiving oral sex forever, 49% said they would give up oral, 23% said they would give up kissing, and 28% could not decide. Likewise, many said that kissing was a major factor influencing their romantic/sexual interest in someone—almost half (44%) said that they had lost significant interest in someone simply from kissing them, while 14% said they had gained significant interest in someone from kissing alone.

Everyone described having had a “best kiss” and 96% described having had a “worst kiss.” So what made those kisses good versus bad?

Memories of Best Kisses

Most participants described their best kisses as occurring within a positive intimate relationship they had with someone, often the first kiss they had with a current or former romantic partner. However, some described their best kiss as occurring with someone they barely knew because there were “overwhelmingly desirable physical components of the kiss.”

For example, in the words of one participant, “I was meeting a guy in New York. I barely knew him and he was picking me up at the airport. When we got into the cab to go to our hotel, he started kissing me. Up until then, no one had kissed me that way. It was very powerful and made me feel very wanted.”

Many said their best kiss evoked a very strong emotional state, such as love, arousal, or passion—and people also often tied those kisses in with specific events and positive memories, such as getting engaged, a midnight kiss on New Year’s Eve, being on a special trip or vacation, or during a particularly hot sexual encounter.

Only a small number of participants (just 16 in total) said that their very first kiss was the best.

Quality and technique were not necessarily emphasized in the way people described their best kisses—these kisses had more to do with a specific person, a specific memory, and a specific positive feeling. This isn’t to say that the physical components of the kiss itself were unimportant, just that, for most people, this isn’t what made their best kiss the best—it was more about how the kiss (and their partner) made them feel.

Memories of Worst Kisses

By contrast, most participants talked about physical qualities when describing their worst kiss—specifically, they had elements that were “unfavorable or intolerable.” Indeed, many described these kisses as being “disgusting.”

For example, in the words of one participant, “The worst was when he just finished eating garlic bread and then practically cleaned my mouth out with his tongue. Gross!”

Also, unlike best kisses—which usually occurred with current or former romantic partners—worst kisses were far more likely to occur with persons who were either strangers or acquaintances. What made these kisses bad was often physical. For instance, as one participant said, “He had a tongue that felt like the size of a baseball. Every time he kissed me, his tongue would fill my mouth and almost go down my throat, it was wet and disgusting.” However, others tied it to an uncomfortable social situation, coercion or pressure to kiss someone they didn’t want to, or a lack of emotional connection or “spark” (e.g., “It was really like kissing a dead fish”).

Similar to best kisses, only a small number said their first kiss was the worst (just 24 participants said this).

Alcohol often played a role in worst kisses, too, such as being drunk and making out with someone you wouldn’t normally kiss. Perhaps not surprisingly, regret was a commonly described emotion when talking about worst kisses.

*****

Although these findings do not come from a representative sample of adults and don’t consider cross-cultural variation in what makes kissing good or bad, they do tell us something important about how people tend to recall their best and worst kisses.

Specifically, the best kisses usually occur with a known partner with whom there is a certain spark or energy, with the kiss evoking a powerful emotional response. By contrast, the worst kisses are more likely to be with strangers or persons with whom there is no intimate connection, with the kiss itself having unpleasant physical qualities or taking place in an undesirable or uncomfortable situation.

Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for previous articles or follow the blog on Facebook (facebook.com/psychologyofsex), Twitter (@JustinLehmiller), or Reddit (reddit.com/r/psychologyofsex) to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram.

To learn more about this research, see: Simpson, K. S. W., O'Sullivan, L. F., Thompson, A. E., & Fortenberry, J. D. (2020). First, Best, Forbidden and Worst: Memorable Experiences of Intimate Kisses Among Heterosexual and Sexual Minority US Adults. Journal of Relationships Research.

Image Source: Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash