#CW: Joss Whedon

[abadbadbrujah]

I'm sure the fact that Joss Whedon's self insert (Xander) sleeps with a 17 year old Eliza's character and then later on the 16 year old character has a crush on Joss's self insert isn't a pattern, nope...

[dagaku]

Astonishing X-men #6

[lizardywizardy]

So, I haven’t seen the infamous 6x19 scene since I was fifteen years old, and oh my god, why the fuck is it in the middle of the episode?!?

Like, that was brutal. That was so fucking unnecessary, and weird, and wildly out of character, and wow Joss Whedon really is the fucking worst.

Like, I’m not in the space rn to relitigate all my feelings about this season, but I feel very strongly that the scene had less to do with establishing a reason for Spike to get his soul back, and way more like Joss Whedon throwing a temper tantrum about not being able to control how the audience reacts to characters.

That was gross, unnecessary, gratuitous, out of character and an extremely shitty thing to subject the audience to when there was no good fucking reason for it.

[rainbowsuitcase]

Steve & "Language!"

(Sometimes when canon doesn't make sense, you just have to force it, so.)

World War II soldiers swore a fuckton, and it's honestly hilarious to imagine Steve and the Howlies in that context. Because as we see in TFA, thanks to Captain America, all of them become celebrities on some level.

Thanks to USO, Steve definitely has the most media training out of them all and when they're being recorded on missions and whatnot, he probably has to tell them off for swearing all the time. Because America's golden boy cannot be caught fucking swearing on camera when he's supposed to be all pure and shit, and that definitely extends to his unit too.

They definitely tease him about it endlessly when he finally slips up on camera too and tells someone to "Hand me the fucking map," or something.

And to be even more fair to canon, Steve was probably watching himself carefully enough that there's a chance he wouldn't adopt the fucking speech pattern to the extreme the others would.

But one, Bucky absolutely fucking swears and if someone tries to convince me otherwise, I will fucking riot. And two, I would bet that Joss Whedon did not think about it this fucking hard, there's no fucking way, so write your fucking swearing Steve all you fucking want.

[samasmith23]

Lol! Armor calling out & mocking Wing for being an abelist nice-guy dude-bro towards Kitty Pryde is absolutely priceless!

Yeah, in an earlier issue Wing called Kitty the r-slur when she said that “mutants are a community,” and she rightfully punished him by giving him massive amounts of detention.

Serves Wing right!

From Astonishing X-Men (2004) #3-4 by Joss Whedon (unfortunately...) & John Cassaday.

[theemmtropy]

One of my least favorite writing tropes is when a female character has been forcibly sterilized, and they say tearfully "they did ☹️☹️something☹️☹️ to me" like bitch you were given a hysterectomy! An oophorectomy!! A tubal ligation!!! These are real actual medical procedures that people get. The female reproductive system isn't some mysterious, never-to-be-understood thing!!!!!! Let female characters talk about their own body with knowledge. Just because a cis man is leading the writer's room doesn't mean the female character should be just as ignorant.

[mightyisobel]

Wearing the floppy ears -- A 1910 antecedent to the Meereenese Knot (repost from 2018 r/asoiaf)

Daenerys Targaryen in Meereen is not the first ruler of a fantasy realm to chafe under the burden of ruling rabbits while wearing unsuitable headgear.

You may know that that the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz was an adaptation of Book 1 of a 14-book series by author, playwright, and filmmaker L. Frank Baum. The series was extremely popular and their author became famous from writing them.

Book 6 of the Oz series, The Emerald City of Oz (1910), is a great read. It follows two converging point-of-view narratives with Dorothy on a cutesie-pie walkabout through the realm while the Nome King, Roquat the Red, prepares a subterranean invasion of Oz. The invasion story is wholesome fun, but I want to focus on one of Dorothy's encounters, during her visit to Bunnybury.

Here's her description of the place:

Dorothy now found herself in a city so strange and beautiful that she gave a gasp of surprise. The high marble wall extended all around the place and shut out all the rest of the world. And here were marble houses of curious forms, most of them resembling overturned kettles but with delicate slender spires and minarets running far up into the sky....

But the rabbit people were, after all, the most amazing things Dorothy saw. The streets were full of them, and their costumes were so splendid.... Silks and satins of delicate hues seemed always used for material, and nearly every costume sparkled with exquisite gems.

Yes, Dorothy goes to the land of the rabbits, and lunches with their King (Chapter 20).

And check out what he says to her:

"I've often thought," said Dorothy, who was busily eating, "that it would be fun to be a rabbit."

"It is fun—when you're the genuine article," agreed his Majesty. "But look at me now! I live in a marble palace instead of a hole in the ground. I have all I want to eat, without the joy of hunting for it. Every day I must dress in fine clothes and wear that horrible crown till it makes my head ache. Rabbits come to me with all sorts of troubles, when my own troubles are the only ones I care about. When I walk out I can't hop and run; I must strut on my rear legs and wear an ermine robe! And the soldiers salute me and the band plays and the other rabbits laugh and clap their paws and cry out: 'Hail to the King!' Now let me ask you, as a friend and a young lady of good judgment: isn't all this pomp and foolishness enough to make a decent rabbit miserable?"

So many elements of Dany's desolation in Meereen are laid out right here. The complaint about uncomfortable showy clothes and of feeling confined in splendor befitting a ruler. Also the fatigue with ceremony and attention, all "pomp and foolishness" making the monarch "miserable".

By the way, after luncheon, the king presents an acrobatic dance show for his guest (Chapter 21):

"It is our royal duty, as well as our royal pleasure," he said, "to provide fitting entertainment for our distinguished guest. We will now present the Royal Band of Whiskered Friskers."

As he spoke the musicians, who had arranged themselves in a corner, struck up a dance melody while into the room pranced the Whiskered Friskers. They were eight pretty rabbits dressed only in gauzy purple skirts fastened around their waists with diamond bands. Their whiskers were colored a rich purple, but otherwise they were pure white.

After bowing before the King and Dorothy the Friskers began their pranks, and these were so comical that Dorothy laughed with real enjoyment. They not only danced together, whirling and gyrating around the room, but they leaped over one another, stood upon their heads and hopped and skipped here and there so nimbly that it was hard work to keep track of them. Finally they all made double somersaults and turned handsprings out of the room.

Compare their frisking with this moment from ADWD Dany III:

As the drums reached a crescendo, three of the girls leapt above the flames, spinning in the air. The male dancers caught them about the waists and slid them down...

On second thought, best not. L. Frank Baum was definitely not thinking of topless dancing bunny pornography here and neither should you.

Look, I'm not saying that GRRM was explicitly or intentionally referencing this scene or that we can know for sure he ever read it, without Word of GRRM one way or the other. But I do think the books can be read as a delicious gumbo of all kinds of cultural influences beyond his deconstruction of Tolkien-inspired epic fantasy like Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn tetralogy. Reminders of ASOIAF scena are everywhere; some of my personal favorites are: The Godfather, The Court Jester, I, Claudius (short version), I, Claudius (long version), and Gone With the Wind.

GRRM has an uncanny ability to remix motifs from across multiple genres, formats, and cultural eras into something that feels both familiar and startlingly original, something with the capacity to constantly reinvent itself anew. It's an ability that he happens to share with the original Wizard himself, an entertainer and storyteller writing over 100 years ago about strangers in strange lands and the magic and wonder that they find there.

What do you think? Have you noticed other elements borrowed or referenced from the original American fantasy realm, the marvelous Land of Oz? Or other cultural references that seem underappreciated?

originally posted at https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/8laanv/spoilers_adwd_wearing_the_floppy_ears_a_1910/

[fictionkinfessions]

I found out why my memories are so far separated from joss’s cannon. It’s 'cus he hates spike and didn’t want any “good” vampires in the first place and anything further was just fan coercion(I think that's how you spell it). I mean he sucks for real like reasons and 99% of the actors involved have disavowed him for much more serious reasons. But like I'm sorry you paired me with fucking WESLEY just 'cus you hate your vampires. The man I have no chemistry with even when magic drunk I called a friend. (Sorry this is a numbered list, I copied from a discord post. Might wanna tag this that poie thing)

[girl4music]

TV shows that are notoriously known for queerbaiting.

Most of them are CW shows.

Supergirl (Kara and Lena, not Alex and Maggie)

Once Upon A Time (Emma Swan and Regina Mills)

Supernatural (Dean Winchester and Castiel, although I believe the latter was confirmed to have feelings for Dean before killing him off so that one’s complicated)

Rizzoli and Isles (Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles)

Riverdale (Betty and Veronica, not Cheryl and Toni)

Queerbaiting is often used as a manipulation or exploitation of queer viewers tactic only with lead or main characters. Not so much with side or recurring characters because those characters don’t get enough screen time for it to be developed as a major dynamic. The intention or goal is to make sure the same-sex lead or main characters are not the over-arcing romance or love story of the show. The purpose is to prevent that.

Xena (Xena and Gabrielle) are in a situation where because they’re the ONLY lead or main characters, that’s the only dynamic between them that looks and feels natural and makes logical sense and the creators/cast/crew agree with the queer interpretation or queer reading of them and try to depict that as best as they could in a time when they were strictly queer censored.

They went to Herculean efforts to represent a majorly underrepresented community of people that watched their show and they fully embraced the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle as a romantic relationship.

It’s not the same. It’s nowhere near in the same hemisphere as the aforementioned TV shows.

Stop calling the TV show and TV ship queerbait! Either in a positive way or a negative way because there is no “positive” to queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is a negative.

What you actually mean is either queercoding or queer pandering - depending on the creator’s intentions, that can be positive or negative. It’s down to the creators.

Xena and Gabrielle were certainly pandered. I don’t deny that. But the intention was never to manipulate or exploit. It was just to have some fun and just be idiots. However, eventually Lucy and Renee got tired of it and decided to change that because they realized it could be taken as a “grubby gag” and they didn’t like that.

And they could because, unlike other actors, they had all authority on what made it on screen and what didn’t.

Yes,… BECAUSE the main showrunner married “Xena” and the main showrunner did not like how the network kept telling him to “censor” the queer implications. He was like Joss Whedon in the fact that he challenged them and he made threats and he refused to co-operate if they didn’t let him do as he wished to do.

[glompcat]

In every generation, there is a chosen one — again.

Variety has learned from sources that a sequel series to the beloved show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is nearing a pilot order at Hulu.

Sources say that Sarah Michelle Gellar is in final talks to once again play the iconic title character in the untitled project, although it would focus on a new Slayer and Gellar would appear in a recurring role rather than leading the series.

Nora Zuckerman and Lila Zuckerman are attached to write, showrun, and executive produce. Chloé Zhao is attached to direct and executive produce under her Book of Shadows production banner. Gellar would also executive produce along with Gail Berman. Fran Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui will executive produce via Suite B, while Dolly Parton will executive produce via Sandollar. 20th Television and Searchlight Television will produce. Berman, the Kuzuis, and Parton were all executive producers on the original “Buffy” series.

Reps for Hulu and 20th TV declined to comment.

Noticeably absent from the show’s creative team is Joss Whedon, who created the original series and oversaw its seven-season run. As Variety reported in 2021, Whedon was accused of creating a toxic work environment on both “Buffy” and the spinoff series “Angel” by nearly a dozen people associated with the show.

“Buffy” and “Angel” actress Charisma Carpenter also spoke out against Whedon, with fellow cast members like Amber Benson and Michelle Trachtenberg backing up her allegations. Whedon responded to those and other allegations against him in January 2022, admitting that he had been “not mannerly” with Carpenter but otherwise saying “Most of my experiences with Charisma were delightful and charming.”

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” originated as a film starring Kristy Swanson in the title role. Whedon wrote the film with Fran Kuzui directing. It was released in 1992. Five years later, the series version starring Gellar debuted on The WB. It would air on The WB for its first five seasons before airing its final two seasons on UPN. The cast also included Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Carpenter, Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz, Seth Green, and James Marsters among others. Boreanaz would then head up the spinoff series “Angel” at The WB for five seasons.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” has proven to be a massive cult hit and highly influential since its debut. The series is credited for helping to popularize ongoing story arcs in television while also building a show around a strong female lead. It is frequently cited as one of the best television shows of all time.

Whedon previously penned a series of comic books with Dark Horse that continued the story of the series, though no new “Buffy” project has ever made it to screen. Most recently, it was reported in 2018 that Monica Owusu-Breen was working on a reboot of the series with Whedon onboard as an executive producer. Ultimately, that version of the project never went forward.

Gellar can currently be seen in the prequel series “Dexter: Original Sin” on Paramount+ with Showtime. Though she is perhaps best known for her time on “Buffy,” Gellar’s other notable TV credits include Paramount+’s “Wolf Pack,” CBS’ ”The Crazy Ones”  opposite Robin Williams, and The CW’s “Ringer.” In film, she has starred in features like “Cruel Intentions,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” the two live-action “Scooby Doo” movies, and “The Grudge.”

The Zuckermans were the showrunners on the popular Peacock series “Poker Face” starring Natasha Lyonne during the show’s first season. Their past credits include “Prodigal Son” and “Fringe” at Fox, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” at ABC, “Suits” at USA Network, and “Haven” at Syfy. Variety exclusively reported they are also attached to a series adaptation of the novel “The Spy Coast” currently in the works at Amazon.

Zhao received four Oscar nominations for her 2020 film “Nomadland” starring Frances McDormand — best director, best editing, best adapted screenplay, and best picture. Zhao went on to win best director that year with “Nomadland” winning best picture. Zhao is also known for her films “The Rider” and “Songs My Brother Taught Me,” both of which she also wrote and directed. Zhao was also the director and co-writer of the Marvel film “Eternals.”

Gellar is repped by CAA, Linden Entertainment, and Yorn Levine Barnes. The Zuckermans are repped by UTA and Lichter Grossman. Zhao is repped by CAA, Ilene Feldman Management, and Lichter Grossman. Berman is repped by Ziffren Brittenham.

Should the sequel show proceed, it would be the latest series revival to find a home at Hulu. Most recently, Hulu gave a pilot order to a reboot of “Prison Break.” The streamer currently airs new episodes of the adult animated comedy “Futurama,” while a new installment of “King of the Hill” is currently in the works.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PRELIMINARY ROUND - BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL THE SERIES

PROPAGANDA

Fred Burkle

1.) She is chronically a damsel in distress in the canon even though she has demonstrated her intelligence and ability to use weapons. The canon consistently takes away her agency over her body and ability to make decisions just to further plot. Why does she die because she gets possessed by a god for no reason </3

2.) ok I promise I'll be more normal about the other ats female characters than about cordy. fred was introduced as a genius physicist who had spent five years stuck in a demon dimension where humans were persecuted, surviving on her own and trying to somehow find a way back home. after being rescued from the demon dimension by the show's main characters, she joins the main cast and starts trying to readjust to the normal world. the setup for her character is really interesting, with her having a lot of trauma from her time in the demon dimension, feeling helpless, and struggling to become comfortable living in the human world again. but I guess because she's a Woman the show instead reduces her to just being at the centre of a love triangle with two of the other main characters, which she has almost no agnecy in and gets stretched out over like two seasons. and then after she breaks up for good with one of the guys and it looks like MAYBE she'll at least be freed from love triangle hell, the show introduces a NEW love interest for her just to keep the love triangle drama going. she basically never gets any focus or to be an active player in the show's plot aside from in a couple of episodes, pretty much being reduced to just a damsel in distress. and as if all that wasn't bad enough, fred's story ends with her being killed by a demon that takes over her body and destroys her from the inside out in a way that isn't Technically a mystical pregnancy but is like. close enough to one and presented close enough to one for it to count. (if you read the cordelia submission and are perhaps thinking to yourself jesus christ did they actually fridge both their main female characters in exactly the same way? Yes. Yes they did.) the demon in fred's body then allegedly becomes a new member of the main cast but the show does pretty much nothing with this character and she doesn't play any important role so it really does just feel like fred died for no reason other than to make her boyfriend sad. This is because fred died for no reason other than to make her boyfriend sad. It fucking sucks but I guess it's not like she got any agency or development when she was alive either

3.) Poor Fred. Amy Acker is a fantastic actress and Fred had the potential to become a truly wonderful character - a brilliant scientist who goes through intense trauma and finds her purpose in helping other people. I have a lot of love for her. Unfortunately she was the victim of a lot of really misogynistic writing. For starters, a lot of her characterisation falls into the ‘quirky weird girl who’s hot but doesn’t realise’ camp which Joss Whedon is fond of. Like other examples of this, her trauma is turned into something quirky which fades away once they get bored of it. Also, she becomes completely sidelined and silenced in a love triangle where the feelings of the man pining over her are given all air time, and her own opinion is never mentioned. Additionally, she’s constantly sidelined in the final season after being made the token girl, and is finally killed off unceremoniously to generate drama and pain for the aforementioned man who was pining over her. And you know what the worst part is? She still gets off more lightly than Cordelia.

Cordelia Chase (CW: Pregnancy)

1.) (downs an entire bottle of vodka and slams it back on the table) SO. CORDY. Cordy started off as a supporting character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At the start she was your typical high school mean girl character, but as the show went on we got to see more depth to her character: her insecurities, her courage, her capacity for incredible acts of kindness. Then after the third season she moved into the show's spin off, Angel, where from the beginning she was basically the show's secondary protagonist. Her and Angel were the two mainstays of the show's main cast, she gets the most episodes centered on her out of all the characters aside from Angel (and yes, I've checked), and we really got to see her grow from a very shallow and self-centered and kind of mean person to a true hero who was prepared to give up any chance at a normal life to fight the good fight while still never losing the basic core of her character. There were some… questionable moments like the episode where she gets mystically pregnant with demon babies and things got a bit iffy like halfway through season 3 where the writers seemed to run out of ideas for what to do with her outside of sticking her in this romance drama/love triangle situation with the main character but overall, pretty good stuff right? THEN SEASON 4 HAPPENED. In season 4 she gets stripped of literally all agency and spends pretty much the entire season possessed by an evil higher power, and while possessed she sleeps with Angel's teenage son (who BY THE WAY she had helped raise as a baby before he got speed-grown-up into a teenager it was a whole thing don't worry about it) and gets pregnant with like. the physical manifestation of the higher power that's possessing her. it's about as bad and stupid as it sounds and also is like the third time cordy's got mystically pregnant in this show and like the fourth mystical pregnancy storyline overall (you will be hearing more on that note in other submissions I'm so sorry). after giving birth she goes into a coma, in which she remains for the rest of season 4 and the first half of season 5. SPEAKING OF WHICH DON'T THINK SEASON 5 IS GETTING OFF SCOT FREE HERE. yeah so in season 5 the show just FULLY starts trying to erase cordy's existence. she gets mentioned ONCE in the first episode and then never again until halfway through the season where she wakes up, helps out Angel for a bit and encourages him in his fight against evil, and then goes quietly into that good night and dies so it can be all sad and tragic. I'd call it the worst fridging of all time but even THAT feels generous because the whole point of fridging is killing off a female character so a man can be sad, and after Cordy dies basically no one's even sad about it because the show immediately goes back to pretending she never existed. she is not mentioned ONCE in the two episodes after she dies. in the whole stretch of time between her death and the end of the season she gets mentioned exactly four times. again, I counted. anyway the fun twist to all of this is that all of this happened because the actress who played cordy got pregnant before season 4 and joss whedon was so pissed off about this affecting his plans for the show that he decided to completely fuck over her character and then fire her and write her out of the show. so cordy's a victim of both writing AND real life misogyny!! good times!!

2.) OH SO MANY THINGS they menaced by giving her terrible hair cuts, making her seem like she'd get together with the guy she loves (and who loves her back) but instead she was killed and when she was brought back, she got possessed by an evil entity who used her body to give birth to itself. afterwards she was in a long coma and died. her character was so throughoutly assassinated

3.) She got demonically pregnant TWICE - there was this real sense of a womb/ability to get pregnant as like, a place for evil to get in. She got positioned as femme fatale and evil mother. The actress basically got fired for being pregnant, and when she agreed to come back for a single final episode she specifically said they could do anything but kill off the character. Guess what happened

[ripplestitchskein]

This week’s Agatha All Along was muuuuch better, like outside of the first episode it might be the strongest of all so far.

The tonal shifts are still kind of odd at times but I don’t think that’s the show’s fault, I truly believe that’s a Marvel Studio’s thing? I’ve had the same criticism about all of them I’ve watched. It almost seems like they have two different teams of writers assigned to each: a disparate one trying to capture that campy and quippy primetime CW show vibe that probably leads back to *gag* Joss Whedon and the other show writers who are handling the actual narrative implications and the heavier story aspects but they choose the weirdest moments to cross them. It very much reads like a good script that got “punched up” by the studio and then you get these disparate jokes and moments that don’t mesh at all in the scene. I get the sense they are trying to curb some of the heaviness but it comes off like loud awkward jokes at a funeral of someone you didn’t know very well. It’s just uncomfortable and takes the audience out of the moment. It’s hard to pinpoint what I mean but almost all of these Marvel projects try to be multiple things without ever pulling off any of them fully and heaven forbid they let the audience sit with something heavy for longer than a few minutes without a gag or one liner.

That said Agatha is a stellar character and the scenes between her and Teen were exceptional. I loved the recontextualization scene of them where she’s in her detective persona and it was so obvious it was the best take they could get from Joe Locke without him busting out laughing at Katherine Hahn. It worked really well despite the near break because of the context anyway but I also thought it was really cute.

[anhed-nia]

I just finished a barely-interrupted binge of all four seasons of this show, and now I hardly know what to do with myself. A while ago I began research for a project on true crime television, which brought me into contact with an unscripted show veteran who strongly recommended UnReal, a drama about a field producer on a Bachelor-like program who is both extremely good at her job, and extremely mentally ill. It was way better than whatever I expected. I don't watch a ton of TV--which is not a declaration of my superiority in any dimension, it's just that I need to spend most of my time on movies, and I'm kind of particular (not due to "good taste" necessarily, just particular). UnReal initially comes off like a regular old cable show--to me it looks more or less like a CW product or something, with no hint of auteurship like there is with Fargo or Better Call Saul or whatever else usually lures me to television--but the writing pulls absolutely zero punches and I could not take my eyes off it. There is an occasional lull where things are more predictably soapy and I'd think "OK, well that was nice while it lasted," and then as soon as my guard was down something legitimately shocking would happen and I'd be back in my seat, watching unblinkingly.

The show is based on actual experiences of co-creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, a one-time producer on The actual Bachelor, which I only found out after the fact but I was thinking all along, "This is so grotesque that I'm sure it (or something like it) really happens." UnReal's other mastermind is Marti Noxon, who has credits on a lot of dark and/or construably feminist shows that have met with more success (don't ask me, I thought Sharp Objects was OK and I've never been attracted to Buffy, I just can't handle anything Joss Whedon-flavored), and she seems to have a real knack for telling psychologically realistic stories of seriously disturbed women. Which I appreciate a lot. My main complaint about UnReal was just that I wanted MORE, of all of it. Parts of the core mythology are just so fascinating that I craved a deep dive into all the details and consequences that I guess was just not in the cards for something with a large cast and a ton of moving parts. I'll just have to luxuriate in the intrigue since this ended in 2018.

...On which note I'll say that I think UnReal is colored significantly by Trump-era anxiety in ways that are more and less obvious. The show's chief concerns are more generally about the contributions of reality TV and social media to a culture of widespread bullying, but there is definitely something more specific in there about living under the reign of an unapologetic rapist who validates and empowers rapists at large, and feeling like the only way to preserve yourself in that world is to become a predator yourself. But anyway, the one question that is still burning my brain is about the fact that some of the set dressing features Silver Saaremaeel and Kaya Saaremaeel's gothy webcomic Run Freak Run. Which I've never read, actually I specifically found out about it because of posters hanging on office walls in UnReal. I really want someone to tell me how a gothy webcomic made it into the scenery of a major Lifetime drama. My pathetic websleuthing skills have failed to turn up active accounts for either of the comic's creators, so if anyone has a line on this information, please let me know! Meanwhile, you can watch UnReal on Tubi, the king of streaming sites.

^^^ Run Freak Run

[liesmyth]

8, 9, 10, 11, 13 abt John

8. Have you received anon hate? What about?

tbh quite rarely! the highlight was when I wrote a Cancellable Fic and I woke up to my email inbox full of angry comments and I made a video montage set to twenty one pilots.

Please imagine being in the despair-filled depths of the first lockdown and waking up to THIS. Priorities, folks!

(cw I guess — don't watch this if you're sensitive to fandom harassment, I'm very very over it and I make fun of it, but it's probably a bit anxiety-inducing ig)

A more recent memorable one was a long rant about Alecto that I don't really remember in full but said something like "I bet you're one of those people who gets off to Joss Whedon's sad barefoot beaten-up women"

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

If we're talking TLT... this is sooooo hard but I'm gonna have to say Palamedes. Because he's a reasonably popular character that I mostly vibe with in specific ways, so when I check out Pal fics I never know if I'm going to love them or backclick right out.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

The Study of Doctor Sex because it's my least favourite of the short stories (& also I think the Sixth come out looking creepier than most of the fandom thinks)

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

IDK who counts as unpopular in my little lyctorfucking cave, so I'm gonna go with Silas. Teenage Pope! He never had a chance! He is THE ONLY person in the Canaan House group who looked at the Lyctoral process and said, undoubtedly and without even thinking about it "If God asked me to I'd say sorry God you're wrong." Can't wait for him to get back in AtN

13. Unpopular opinion about [John]?

This post I reblogged this morning says it better than I could, but in general I think fandom analysis doesn't engage enough with his identity as an indigenous man. I do have others :D but this is the most niche I think!

[salty asks list]

[bromcommie]

🤩🎯

Hi, thanks for the ask! :) 🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

Oof, boy. So, I mean, I was a geeky little kid and grew up loving the Spiderman and X-Men comics, so my interest kind of naturally progressed with the MCU boom of 2009 or whatever. As for Cap, I have to admit I didn't like him all that much at first - I'd only seen him in The Avengers and I think like many other people I kind of just viewed him as The Square Old American Imperialist Guy (thanks, Joss Whedon😒). It was only after seeing CATWS and retroactively CATFA that the floodgates opened. The interest was kind of on and off for a while, but it definitely spiked with time and I got into the Cap, WS, Black Widow and some other comics as well after that.

Idk when exactly I got into Stucky, because I distinctly remember having a phase of "why can't guys just be really really really good friends???" (I know, I know.) but between then and CA: CW I definitely fell in love with both characters and a) kind of went through my own awakening lol, b) started rapidly developing an unrelated but helpful interest in early and mid-20th century history and c) watching a shit ton of Cap edits on YouTube because I've always liked vidding. I eventually started making some of my own vids and fanart when my brain just woke up one morning and clicked into "oh shit. oh, not only is the premise of this story compelling on several levels, but these motherfuckers are in love in love" mode, and inevitably that also led to me starting to read fanfiction.

And that was just...a fucking revelation and a half. Because suddenly here were all these people writing heartfelt, compelling stories—sometimes heavy as shit, sometimes downright hilarious and sometimes just publishing quality—about everything ranging from grief and guilt and trauma to bodily autonomy and disability and queerness and self-worth to relationships with faith and nationality and community and intersectional identity to beliefs and morality and perseverance to violence and war and systems of oppression to different kinds of love and devotion etc etc etc I could go on literally forever. All set to a sprawling love story, all in a historical context I was interested in, all with about a million different perspectives you would never actually get to see on screen or on the page. I also fell in with a bunch of very passionate, nerdy queer people in college after, all of whom loved comics characters and shared these interests and had a lot to say on the overlap of the two, and well. I never really stood a chance, after that.

I guess ultimately what really drew me to it was the potential of taking material that was (I'm sorry, but let's be real) sometimes painfully mediocre-to-plain bad but with a great premise, and then projecting and exploring some really interesting and grounded and even vulnerable topics through the very fun sandbox that the more fantastical, epic aspects of these stories present—often in a subverted way and with mouthpieces (read: Stereotypical Empowered Bulky Macho Men) that you don't get to see in that light in mainstream media. And the Cap fandom really had (and has to this day!) an abundance of talented, curious people throwing themselves into that wholeheartedly and with such wonderful passion and creativity and care. So engaging with that as a hobby can be really lovely and inspiring and cathartic. And sometimes it's just plain lighthearted fun! I think the older I get the more I can really appreciate that.

Also, not to be super sappy or make it sound more serious than it is, but stories about goddamn superheroes overcoming painful, fucked up real life situations and aspiring to do and be better were a great comfort to nerdy Little Me, and so was getting to talk to people about the things I saw in them that meant something to me. I think Steve's character and origin—and the perspectives on it I got from other people—were just a big deal to my baby teenage brain during a time when I was starting to develop a real life social and political awareness and a sense of all the ways in which the things we do and say and how we stand up for each other matter. And as a grown-ass adult today, I still cherish that. And I cherish that even though I've matured and evolved and so have my other interests, I still got to come on here in the year of our lord 2024 when this particular hyperfixation suddenly came out of its long winter slumber and indulge in a comforting, creative hobby and stretch my writing muscles, and that I still got to find people to play in that sandbox with in a way that is extremely satisfying.

So there you go, and I'm so sorry. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on this. Make of that rambling essay what you will.

🎯 Do you have a writing milestone you’re working towards?

In terms of fandom works, I really don't. I started writing fic just as a fun hobby for myself, and I never really thought of it in terms of goals like I do the original work I try to write, just because I think that'd probably take some of the fun out of it. I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment though, so I'd really like to be able to break out of it soon and post the next few chapters of orpheus I've been trying to work on, if that counts!

[thatneoncrisis]

I'm not sure what the best way to explain Buffy the Vampire Slayer's influence is since I have not seen the show and am also not over 30 but I'm fairly certain most CW shows and maybe the entire MCU wouldn't exist without it so if I could go back in time and kill Joss Whedon before he created it, I would.

no i dont give a fuck about buffy as a show im talking specifically about those two girls in a relationship in it. what did that kiss mean to people. whenever i see people bring up meaningful lesbian relationships in media they go to steven universe or korra or whatever and theyre important in their own right but what did two girls kissing and getting into a serious relationship on one of the most popular shows of all time like. do to peoples brains.

spoiler

and how did those same people react when tara died