#I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic or fandom way

[kaxtwenty]

It really is insane to think about how foundational the original Mobile Suit Gundam is to gay literature.

[merriclo]

i’m 100% vagueposting here but so many very popular BSD analyses are essentially just huge reaches that can be easily disproven, made due to a deep misunderstanding of the narrative and a lack of genuine respect for the process of analyzing.

i’ve seen entire essays on how Dazai didn’t abuse Akutagawa, and how Akutagawa doesn’t abuse Higuchi. i’ve seen post after post discount the importance of the trust that rests within Double Black. i’ve seen people argue over whether or not Kunikida’s ideals are healthy.

and half the damn time, sources aren’t cited whatsoever: there’s no quotes or manga panels used anywhere!! scenes and moments will be referenced, but without a proper citation there’s so many different ways you can present and misconstrue what actually happened. and with a series like BSD, where so many aren’t able to read the light novels or watch the movie or read the manga, that can change so much.

and then it’ll be revealed that the author only spends like,, 3-4 hours max on the entire process behind one post. the information gathering, the writing, the formatting + aesthetics, and then the posting. if you’ve never gotten deep into analyzing media before, just know that 3-4 hours is a painfully short amount of time to give an analysis.

it boggles my mind, too, because it will be these exact kinds of posts that are written with nothing but contempt for the readers. their words will be laced with pure annoyance and distaste for the audience and general fandom. i’ve even witnessed people publicly insult commenters who praised them, calling them stupid sheep for being hyperbolic in their compliments. it’s cruel, and incredibly mean-spirited.

speaking of which, there’s also a conversation to be had about how bigotry impacts these discussions. several character analyses i’ve seen have been nothing but poorly-masked attempts at discounting popular queer ships, or ignoring the abuse present in heterosexual ones to provide an alternative. but that’s… its own entire can of worms that i’ll crack open at a later date.

tl;dr, think critically, and always for yourself. an analysis shouldn’t be trying to end a conversation, they should always be seen as an addition to them. the author attempting anything else is a major red flag. you should always be trying to find the parts of analyses that you agree and disagree with!! don’t let anyone tell you want to think, that is for you and you alone to decide.

i know this is honestly seems like a non-issue, but media literacy is an incredibly important skill to have in the real world, and it starts with the very media (and commentary of said media) you consume. stay critical chat ily

[total-feminism-takes]

Yeah yeah tdi writers when it comes to female characters could be better but can we please focus on the fandom? Y’all have no excuse as to how you treat these characters!!!

Hello some of the best written and intriguing characters are female, some of the best dynamics include females but y’all are too busy with your male characters and male ships and your internalised misogyny I mean what who said that???

But fr to go onto some of my most hated things in the fandom because I’m in a whingey mood and want to complain and this blog is great if it’s okay I’m gonna dump these here;

Courtney haters need to SHUT UPPPPPPP!!!! I don’t care if you think she’s badly written she’s not and especially not for tdi standards y’all just want to complain about an interesting female character there’s sooo much to her you can just dig into it’s delicious I love her!! And yet she’s still antagonised by the fandom??? I’m not gonna act like she did no wrong and wasn’t the villain because hello did we see action but it’s more nuanced that her being annoying and evil! Y’all just need to look at her more!!!

Svetlana is ALWAYS neglected by the tdi fandom hello she’s one of the alters we see the most yet everyone hates her!! Why!! She’s not my favourite sure I prefer Vito, Manitoba and maybe Mal maybe but come on! She’s a part of the gang too stop ignoring her!!!

People who hc male characters as misogynistic are icky stop itttttt!!! It’s not fun!!!! I have more to talk about this later but I hateee when people say that male characters are misogynistic when either they’re clearly not or they make such a deal of it cough Ezekiel. I’m fine with it being a joke once again I will make fun of Ezekiel till the day I die but when people low-key make the male characters misogynistic it’s like why! Especially when it’s male fans sorry had to be said.

Can we please not ignore platonic male and female friendships pretty please!!!!! We saw how many of the male and male friendships were fake and caved in on themselves we saw the downfall of the guys alliance why do we act like it’s only the females?? I swear the male and female friendships are the only normal ones in the show bar like Gwen and Duncan because they had to do that but hello we all love a bit of DJ and Heather why do we act like we don’t???

The way tdi fans treat the male x male relationships compared to the female x female relationships is soo gross leave them alone please! They can be just as good!!! You don’t believe me well gwourtney has just as much potential as any male x male relationship but y’all don’t want to hear that! And they’re all so fun hello?? Mkulia did more for the homosexuals than anything pride ever did (jokes). Also you can have your toxic yuri like you have your toxic yaoi y’all just can’t understand that there isn’t as critical of a difference between females and men as you like to act there is oops sorry

The way y’all treat Dawn… sighs. She’s not some cute little garden fairy especially not after tdi she definitely doxxes people on Reddit if they’ve wronged her she definitely leaked Scott’s ip address after tdi. Like yeah she’s nice and a good person and likes animals but let her have fun too please

The way roti fans treat zoey is despicable. They treat her either likes she’s the devil and evil and poor little Mike zoey is so hypocritical and evil and mean, or they treat her like she’s a two dimensional piece of cardboard. Didn’t want to say this but she had some of if not the funniest lines in roti. Yeah she sucked in AS but everyone did and im predicting people treated her like this before AS even came out.

Uh TL;DR treat the female characters like how you treat the males please they’re not that different you just hate women.

Uh take this all with a pinch of salt if you do any of this you don’t hate women im just being hyperbolic but there is clearly some issues with the way you view women if you do any of this. Sorry it’s true I’m sending anonymously because I fear this will strike a nerve.

❤️

[nerves-nebula]

I sometimes get uncomfortable around arguments about if certain characters are abusive or not- obviously I see this the most with 2012 tmnt and nobody really needs my opinion but I keep thinking about it so here’s some words to chew on.

Keep in mind I haven’t seen much of 2012 so I’ll mostly be talking about the WAY I see these discussions being had here, rather than the show itself.

I doubt the creators intended for the turtles to be abusive and I kind of just assume that everything they do is within the genre of slapstick kids show. But I also don’t think people who cringe away from the way they treat each other are reading too much into it.

I’ve seen people argue that ppl who think the brothers are abusive just don’t have siblings and that’s an insane take to me. Obviously its probably hyperbole in some instances but as someone with more siblings than most of the people I know, I 100% see the abuse reading of this series. It’s a very obvious idea to latch onto for me as someone who HAS been abused by my siblings- and who’s probably been abusive too.

The main thing that really gets under my skin is when people point out how much the turtles actually care about each other as evidence against abuse. Cause that doesn’t make any sense ??? you can abuse people you love and care about deeply.

And it really rubs me the wrong way when I see a post that’s like Raph can’t be abusive because he does X nice/cute things with Mikey or something like. That’s not how abuse works. You guys have to know that right?? Abuse isn’t just a person being mean 24/7 without pause.

A bit of a tangent coming up, but growing up, I really hated Mabel from gravity falls. not because she is inherently any more annoying or selfish or anything than other characters but because the way she treated dipper was extremely triggering for me as a child with a lot of anxiety. Like if Mabel was real and my sibling, I would’ve considered a lot of the shit she did abusive. Obviously I’m normal about her now cause I’m not 12 anymore but the biggest hurdle about watching that show when I was younger was that I would sometimes be brought to tears of frustration, imagining how scared and distressed I’d be if Mabel did that shit to me.

THE POINT of this tangent is that saying “the 2012 turtles aren’t abusive because I do that stuff with my siblings all the time/cause teenage boys are just like that” isn’t a genuine critique because abuse isn’t just about the action it’s about the relationship. Punching your sibling who’s actually ok with being punched isn’t abuse. Punching your sibling who really doesn’t want you to, and who you KNOW really doesn’t want you to, and who you KNOW would be genuinely upset by being punched? That is abuse.

And I find it annoying because I think we’re all aware that abuse was likely not the intent of the show. (Probably not even the text of the show but once again can’t say for sure) Maybe some dysfunction for drama, but probably not abuse, so you’re really just arguing against someone’s headcanon/personal interpretation of this show. And it’s like.. ok you have a different reading cool I guess.

In the show they aren’t treated as abusive, but fandoms are built around exploring different aspects of art that weren’t explored in canon. So I guess idk why this is a big deal.

Idk I think people have this idea that abusive = evil and always wrong. But abuse is just someone hurting you repeatedly and refusing to stop for whatever reason.

And with a show like 2012 where it’s all played for laughs it can be hard to tell if that’s how they are with each other because they’re ok with it or if that’s how they are cause they don’t know any other way. The turtles are kind of really mean in 2012, and wether that’s a familiarity kind of meanness or not is up to you in fandom, yknow?

Does Mikey actually consider Raph hitting him as like a fun part if their banter or is he coping with jokes about being physically abused? You decide! Like genuinely it can be either and I think that’s fun!

I mean obviously you all know what i’d pick, but that’s because I’m blissfully aware of what I want out of stories and what i want is nuanced discussions of abuse.

Personally, I acted very similarly to the 2012 turtles when living with my siblings, but I didn’t actually fucking like it. It was a defense mechanism because being genuine would only be met with ridicule. So I’m not inclined to agree that it’s fine because it’s just what they do.

Once again though, I doubt it was on purpose. And if you don’t think that they’re abusive then congrats! The show probably doesn’t either! So I just don’t see why people get super upset about it. Don’t you love that someone got a different story out of the same media??

Anyway obviously it doesn’t super matter and I don’t really have a horse in this race. I just got a bit annoyed with the way abuse is discussed and as a hobbyist Abuse Analyst I thought I’d weigh in.

I wrote this instead of going to sleep and it’s sooo late and also so much longer that I meant for it to be… y’all better not have bad takes in response or I’ll be annoyed as hell tomorrow morning, guh.

[biblioflyer]

To boldly go backwards?

Unpacking the attitudes behind people burned by Burnham. No, not those people. The other people. The ones who authentically seem to care about something other than protecting their image of Columbus as a cool dude.

This will be a series. If you’re reading this on the day it escaped my queue, the rest are queued for a 1 a day. If not, all will have the ‘Star Trek ethics’ tag in common. If I’m really on the ball, I’ll come back later and edit in links to the other chapters here.

I can see it now. Enterprise had its 1701-D cameos, Star Trek Picard had its Enterprise-G moment, and now Discovery’s finale will likely be controversial on the basis of Burnham placing the Progenitor’s technology out of reach of pretty much everyone. There will be many different ways of contemplating this, but I think you can sum it up as:

Did Discovery “give in” to techno-pessimism and in doing so undermine a core theme of Star Trek?

I don’t personally think so, but you might and I think I know why. Burnham is kind of, sort of applying a reverse Prime Directive on the Federation. She comes away believing that the Progenitor tech should not be entrusted to one person or even one civilization, and that ultimately it's unnecessary. So she “throws it away.” 

By throw it away, I mean she has it yeeted into a Black Hole where theoretically more advanced civilizations than the Federation can access it if and when it comes to it, but by that point it will likely be more of an anthropological curiosity to them rather than a new technological singularity.

Thus, the series finale of Discovery is one in which some observers might feel that a core premise of Star Trek, that of techno-optimism, is betrayed. While the grousing I think is likely to be hyperbolic, not all of it is necessarily a mask for something more nasty, feral, and likely to get a person kicked off any reasonably well moderated platform if expressed in the open.

What you think the core values of Star Trek are may actually be just that: a different understanding of what the core values are, and thus a different understanding of when they have or have not been undermined. I have my own take on those values.

For instance I despise Section 31 as a concept and storytelling device, believe it has directly attacked one of the most important core conceits of the setting: its fundamental optimism, and the damage this embrace of cynicism has done is continuing to ripple through Trek into the present day.

Yet at the same time, I also understand Trek as a set of modern fables, that the Federation is not a real place, and that it has a narrative function. That function being to model becoming aware of and confronting that which we should find repugnant and unacceptable in our own society if we were not desensitized to it.

Thus Burnham’s choice is one that can be read a few different ways, and that’s without getting into whether it was satisfying as a climax. While it is often derisively referred to as “NuTrek”, a label that both describes a worldview and a storytelling style anathema to those who prefer the more professional affectations, high regard for Classical Education, and “competency porn” of TOS & TNG or the more “neo-realist” shades of gray of DS9; Discovery is in many ways a fusion of the Treks of yesteryear. 

Sometimes it can be a lot closer to The Original Series in worldview than one might imagine in its willingness to indulge moral gray zones: “the Vulcan Hello” being a prime example. Other times it affirms the TNG obsession with personal and civilizational virtues as a thing one actively commits to upholding even when there are tremendous, even transformative benefits to be reaped by conceding. The refusal of the Progenitor tech being one of those examples.

This is something I’m going to unpack in subsequent posts in an attempt to try to sidestep some of the nastier fissures in the fandom and uncover what I think may be a genuine difference in the worldviews and orientations of some fans rather than, at best a distaste for the story structures and affectations of Discovery, and at its worst naked hostility to a crew that isn’t predominantly Anglo-European, heterosexual, and male. 

Next: What is the Kirkian ideal?

[sitp-recs]

I am once again back on your blog scrolling for a fic to read, so wanted to show my appreciation and say that it is no hyperbole to say that your blog is what keeps me coming back here. A lot of my fandoms are quite quiet right now but I can never leave Tumblr because how would I follow your blog if I did?! So thank you for being the greatest of fic reccers

gosh, I don’t even know what to do with myself after being showered with so much appreciation this week, thank you so much 💜 and I probably wouldn’t be still around if it wasn’t for the Drarry community, either. this is such a vibrant fandom with so many active fests and creators it’s hard to keep track of everything (I’ve been taking short breaks since last year and the fomo is real! so much to read, so little time 🥲). it really means a lot to hear that my blog keeps pulling you back, what a wonderful way to start my day! I hope you continue enjoying the recs, take care xo

[pricemarshfield]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

thank you for the ask, neutral!! time to show my deeply multifandom roots and not have any of these share the same fandom 🫡 below the cut because i’m chatty as hell

number one on the list is a recent one but absolutely my all-time favorite thing i’ve ever written: talk, a bg3/raphtav-and-also-haarlep-is-there smut oneshot

i don’t use this tweet here because it’s smut, but because no fic has EVER gripped me by the brain and haunted me for months until i wrote it like this one did and also because the devil’s hot. i laid awake at night in a cold sweat thinking about this even before i’d finished house of hope for the first time. i’m not even being hyperbolic here, this fic GOT me. also this fic converted me from haarlep-neutral to haarlep’s personal cheerleader. they’re so fun

my beloved darling tav already had a very strong characterization to me but i still feel like i Learned her through writing this, and certainly learned a lot about her dynamics with raphael and haarlep. enough that i’m braving actually writing a longfic for them, and feel free to hold me to this because otherwise it’ll languish in my drafts for another six months. but i’m actually formatting the first chapter for ao3, it’s Genuinely almost done !! promise

fun story about this is i cheerfully told my mom i’d finished writing something after i posted this and she asked to read it. i was like haha. well i’ll do that after work! and then i didn’t ♥️

-

number two on the list is what i’d have confidently said was the best thing i’ve ever writtennbefore talk, and that’s one of my dimension 20 big bang 2021 fics: plant a garden in the yard, then, a fantasy high/aelwyn & ayda friendship fic where they explore the deeply haunted tunnels beneath aelwyn’s deeply haunted house

it’s hard to overstate how personal this fic ended up being to me, enough that i hold it as close to my heart as my other d21bb fic which i wrote about grief while Actively grieving. both fics for that event ended up being a good deal more melancholic and introspective than i thought they would at the start, but this one Feels more intimate (for lack of a better word)

aelwyn & ayda are both characters that mean a lot to me on their own, and figuring out their friendship—prickly and uncomfortable as it starts—was honestly healing. there’s something really cathartic about writing a character who’s gone through such extraordinary circumstances in their canon finding a path Towards genuine connection and happiness, even if they don’t find it and Especially if things still aren’t perfect.

also the only time i’ve ever actually hit ao3’s comment length limit was on a reply to an absolutely lovely comment my friend shark left on it so :) the response to this fic was also really nice!

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number three on the list is my queen b magnum opus even though i have one that’s like 8 times longer than it: teeth, the book 1 mc/poppy romance i craved/theoretically a smut oneshot that became something more.

this is a remix of another fic i wrote, so it feels weird to prop it up higher than the original, but i’m just so fond of this one. queen b is a very silly game and poppy min-sinclair can be a VERY silly character but my bea for this fic is another oc i grew deeply attached to, and i think the sheer self-indulgence of the fic shines through, in a good way.

also, i think the characterization in this is strong enough that i’ve been able to recommend it to friends with better taste who haven’t played queen b, and they’ve still enjoyed it! which is just IMMENSELY validating as a writer :’)

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number four and five on the list are my niche oneshots which i wrote for a target audience of me, myself, and i, and i think that’s part of why they work as well as they do!

four is a session with dr. martin whitly, a prodigal son fic which focused on ainsley & martin, namely ainsley relying really heavily on her father, despite the fact he’s a serial killer that she Knows he’s manipulative and terrible.

the fact that i wrote this before the season 1 finale is astounding to me. i have never called characterization beats harder than this, and i feel comfortable saying that even though the actual plot points are quite different, and also even though ainsley isn’t canonically gay. that’s okay because i know and perceive the truth <3

prodigal son’s cancellation is something i’m hard-pressed to say i’m Upset about this far out, but i wish every day that the episode where some ainsley issues got addressed had lived to see the light of day.

this fic i Cannot recommend to people who haven’t watched prodigal son because it’s me extrapolating and picking at lines of dialogue that Suggest a lot without confirming much, but that’s also really fun, in its own way. some of the best fics i’ve ever read are enjoyable specifically as transformative media.

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five is walk with the devil, a the martian/ares3some noir au which was honestly 90% a style experiment but like i fucking nailed it?? there was a stretch of a couple years where some of my best work were from smashing together whatever pairing i wanted to write with a bunch of prompts and seeing what i could make from it (werewolf au caitvi was also one, and a runner-up on this list)

this fic has a lot of hallmarks that i know people aren’t usually a fan of, but i love it. non-linear narrative. major character death but also maybe not, you won’t get closure and neither will the characters. actively avoiding concrete details in favor of a strong, hopeless tone. bringing in a ton of the cast for no reason. LOTS of 1940s slang. and because of that it’s my baby. weirdly i feel like my johanssen characterization is better in this than in either of my two canonverse fics?

i don’t know that i’d write fic for the martian like this again—a lot of what i like about it is really different from the more transformative fandom approach for the things that compel me to write—but i’m glad i did, because this fic is my darling. more people should be experimental in their fics because some of the weirdest stuff will almost always be some of the best !!!

anyway answering this made me so very hyped to write more once i’m off work !!!

[stargareed]

I’d like to address a few of the accusations that’ve been leveled against me by members of the asoiaf fandom during my time on Tumblr.

Accusation 1: Stargareed believes in white genocide.

Truth: I don’t believe there is a genocide going on against white folks. Rather, during a debate with a very passionate Dany stan (who I believe was Indian American), the Dany stan told me she hopes there’s a genocide against white people and that me and my family die. I was like, WTF? Is everyone else ok with this? And to my shock and dismay, the majority of people who responded were like, “Yeah, we’re fine with calling for white genovide during arguments with white people. Also, how dare you ‘tone police’ women of color!” This is such an absurd stance, especially coming from people who trip over themselves to make sure they don’t accidentally misgender someone or forget to include trigger warnings, that I’ve raised the issue periodically ever since as an example of the excesses of woke culture.

Accusation No. 2: Stargareed believes in reverse-racism.

Truth: So, this one’s actually true, with caveats. First, regardless of the ethics of believing in reverse racism, reverse racism is very much a legally-recognized concept. So, believing in reverse racism is like believing in gravity or evolution: it exists whether you want to believe it or not. Second, on the question of whether reverse racism actually exists apart from as a legal concept, I mean, yeah, it very much does. Though I prefer the term “racism” over “reverse racism.” To be sure, recently some academics decided to redefine the word “racism” from “discrimination based on race” to “systemic discrimination based on race.” I think this is a post-hoc, arbitrary definition that attempts to exonerate POC from racism (at least in the West). But even if we adopt this new definition of racism, POC can still be guilty of heinous acts of bigotry and prejudice against white people. So, frankly, I’m not sure why this is the hill woke folk want to die on.

Accusation No. 3: Stargareed is a misogynist.

Truth: Under some of y’all’s definition of misogyny (i.e., liking a male character and having the audacity to disagree with women over fandom issues), I am indeed a misogynist. I just happen to think y’all’s definition of misogyny is dumb and diminishes instances of real misogyny.

In conclusion, I promise I’m not the bad guy some folks have made me out to be. I’m center left and like to think I have reasonable, nuanced opinions. While I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, I hope they afford me the respect to agree to disagree civilly, or at least not send me anon messages wishing for me and my family’s murder. While I sometimes make hyperbolic posts stanning Jon the same way folks stan Dany or Sansa (sorry, this amuses me too much to stop), in actuality I don’t think Jon is objectively the best asoiaf character. Rather, he just happens to be my favorite flavor; it really is as simple as that.

[trigunwritings]

So I have some THOUGHTS about episode 9 now that I finally was able to watch it, so I’m gonna ramble on about them below the readmore

- The brief flashback to Knives and Vash playing the piano together was interesting, not only in that it means both of them are fairly talented on the instrument, but also because it means the song that Knives has been playing in the times we’ve seen him has been only one-half of the full thing perhaps? I’m sure there’s something quite symbolic about it and how it pertains to the brothers being so interconnected, so I wonder how that might show up later 🤔

- Though I would have preferred to get some more depth to Knives via the scenes with Tesla (since that both showcases the stark difference between their viewpoints and establishes a really good reason for Knives to fear/hate humans so much) I did like that we got to see a direct act that shows the audience just how little the common population thinks of plants as anything more than tools

- “We’ve hit the production limit. They put too great a load on the plants, it cut them off from the higher dimension. They can’t maintain their bodies.” <- I have no clue what the hell that’s supposed to mean but, as the person becoming known in this fandom as the feral plant headcanon-er, I am VERY interested to see if they’ll ever elaborate on that since the manga/first anime never did. *shakes the Stampede series* LET ME KNOW THE SECRETS OF THE INTER-DIMENSIONAL ALIENS

- The ‘Last Run’ scene in general was fairly disturbing, but I know that was the point in order to hit home how Knives so far has interacted with humans (the mental pain had to be horrible, given how bad the distress of a single plant had affected Vash)—but who was the man he was with? Was that supposed to be Conrad? Has Knives already started up his cult?

- Even though Knives totally murdered some dudes, he sure did look cool while doing it

- “Outside of human control, plants use up all their energy in one burst and die.” / “So you bought into that nonsense… No matter how comfortable, chains are still chains.” 🫣

- WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON WITH VASH’S ARM

- “Is that… a gate?” WILL SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THAT AT SOME POINT THANK YOU

- I find it interesting how Vash losing his arm was not from the direct influence of Knives—either his Angel Arm doesn’t exist, or its a wildly different kind of power. Either way, Knives having to make a split-second decision to remove his brother’s arm in order to keep that ‘gate’ (looks like a black hole to me tbh) from swallowing up everything is a really neat twist on intention.

- I saw a post recently joking about Knives being utterly obsessed with his brother and I thought it was hyperbole. I SEE THAT IT IN FACT ISNT. Knives you are a lonely fucker I swear to god.

- Last episode I was so confused on the timeline and was worried that they had shortened the time between the flashbacks to the present day—and I’m super happy to be wrong! Putting Luida and Bradley in cryosleep in order to prolonged their lives was a very creative way to keep those characters interacting with Vash.

- Meryl being SO surprised and impressed by flowers really hit home that they straight up DON’T exist on Noman’s Land…. which, jesus, that was a surprise. I assumed at best sickly little potted plants might have existed, but none? Very interesting…

- Roberto being pessimistic is really hitting home that I know he’s going to die soon and will likely be replaced with Milly in the following seasons. I really enjoy the way his character pairs with Meryl’s energy and positive realism 😭

- Ngl Zazie the Beast is lightly growing on me, mostly as a neat antagonist since they represent the native species on Noman’s Land before anyone else arrived. Wonder if their alliance will alter at any point…

- “Outside of human control, plants use up all their energy in one burst and die.” / “So you bought into that nonsense… No matter how comfortable, chains are still chains.” 🫣

- Totally thought Luida was going to die either by Vash (accidentally) or Knives (purposefully).

[theimpossiblescheme]

👀🔥🌙📌

What’s your LEAST favorite song? Why?

"Growltiger's Last Stand"--we all know why. Fuck you, T.S. Eliot, and fuck you, ALW, for not having the good sense to leave it out.

Share one (1) hot take/opinion about the show/fandom/etc.

No more London-style replica designs--society has progressed beyond the need for London-style replica designs. More Broadway replicas or, better yet, Hamburg replicas, you absolute cowards.

Do you think Cats has a theme/message? If so, what is it?

I do think it has one, albeit not one that I think its creators were aiming for. The original poems have a distinct element of British classism to them, i.e. "these cats' jobs/roles in the household constitute their entire lives, and there is nothing else notable about them" (yes, that is partially me projecting based on what I know about T.S. Eliot as a person, but I'm not wrong, am I?), which you still do get some of in the musical. But by nature of almost all of the cats being onstage the entire show, we do get to see that these cats have more to their lives and relationships than just their human-designated jobs. And for all the "Hal, it's about cats" of it, there is quite a lot in the show about the importance of community and acceptance and cherishing our lives and loved ones while we still have them and how growing old is something that happens to all of us with the only difference being how we handle it and how others treat us. I wouldn't call it a message so much as a theme, but I'd say if there is a central one, it's (to paraphrase a certain poem) "sing, dance, and be merry for tomorrow we die."

What was Cats 2019’s biggest mistake, in your opinion? (OTHER than 'bad cgi’) If you don’t think it made any notable mistakes, what’s your favorite thing about it?

I think so many of its flaws can be laid at the feet of Tom Hooper as the director. The dude clearly does not know how to handle a show like Cats (he barely knew how to handle Les Miserables, and that's me being generous), and I'm still baffled that he wanted to inject more realism into it, like... my guy, it's about singing and dancing cats. Realism has left the building. Not only that, but the movie feels like it has a certain amount of contempt for its source material, like it's having a laugh alongside everyone who thinks Cats is weird and bad, which would have made for a mean-spirited and bizarre-in-a-bad-way watch even with a more competent director. I don't hate the Cats movie--I'm not overly fond of it, given all those reasons, but I think all the hyperbolic hate for it got really tiring really fast. If anything, I feel protective of it--if you're gonna criticize the movie, criticize it on its own merits, and don't drag Cats as a whole down with it.

[stitchkiss]

Hi!!! I’ve been following you for a while and I see that you’re very active in the teen wolf/thiam fandom. I want to be more active too and I’ve noticed that you tend to leave really long comments on fics and I was wondering how you do that? I don’t always comment but I want to more, do you have any tips?

hello anon! what a question! i’m going to use comments i left on @raekensarcher’s fics as examples bc that’s where i do my best work.

but first let’s start with why commenting is so important: it is a great way to integrate yourself into fandoms and can even gain you mutuals/friends! i tricked jack into friendship by dropping comments left and right! commenting is also a great way to encourage writers and to keep a fandom alive! it’s basically the entire purpose. i find that writers are kind of like crows. you drop a nice and thoughtful comment and they’ll latch onto it (and possibly you) forever and so they keep putting them out bc they want to keep writing to keep this good shit going with you. help a crow, they bring you shiny things. you comment, they write. it’s a rapport that needs to be nourished bc it’s beneficial to both parties. fandoms are kinda like an ecosystem in this way. comments are like the food and water to keep this network thriving.

alright let’s get into it!

when i comment, i usually type my thoughts as i read, so basically like live blogging. i like reacting in real time. more than once i’ve typed out a prediction or inference about what’s to come and it turns out i was right, so i make sure to mention that too! pointing out an author’s foreshadowing/hints is a good way to let them know that you’re paying attention to what they write. sometimes (depending on the fic and how i feel) this method of commenting can be a little distracting from the actual fic, so reading through it all then going back might be more helpful to get your thoughts in order. this helps make the comment long BUT the length of the comment doesn’t actually matter bc it’s about what you’re saying/putting into the comment

so, what should you say? easy: tell the author your reactions to what they’re writing. humans are social beings, they thrive off interaction and authors LOVE knowing their words elicit emotions in people. writing is basically a superpower in that way! below are a few comments i’ve left on jack’s fics.

as you can see, my responses to what jack writes is very emotional and slightly violent.

there is no wrong way to comment a reaction. in fact you should utilize all the ways you can think of for variation. such as telling the author that you’re screaming, typing an all caps “AHHHH” to show you’re screaming, tell them that you’re crying, laughing, etc. add in keyboard smashes, hyperbole, and even use emojis. there’s a lot more but these are my go-to. (also, please, be cautious if you’re going to threaten yourself with bodily harm, especially when commenting on a stranger’s fic. jokes aren’t often translated well online and it can also make the author uncomfortable nevertheless)

moving on! notice how i quote the author. they LOVE that shit. they eat it up like candy fr. when i pull out quotes they’re usually the ones that effect me the most and stand out. this varies by person ofc but the reason i do this is to show the author that i’m noticing what they write and that i understand (hopefully) what they’re trying to say. it’s even better when the author tells you that you pointed out lines that mean a lot to them or it was their favorite to write. although i will mention that pointing out seemingly small scenes or “throwaway” lines matters just as much! like a slice-of-life moment in the bigger fic pie. if something strikes you, tell the author!

following that, reacting to lines and quoting them is good, but what will make your comment better is if you tell the author WHY you reacted the way you did or why that particular line stuck out so much to you. this often leads me to typing an analysis of what they’ve written about a character or situation. while i’m not the most articulate person out there i do try my best. for example:

analysis! these are harder to write bc they actually require brainpower. like this whole comment is longer than the lit paper i wrote that same week, i even checked the word count. i don’t think i need to explain literary analysis even tho ppl on tumblr sometimes tend to lack comprehension and critical thinking skills BUT i have faith in whoever is reading this bc you wouldn’t have read this far if you weren’t interested. go you! anyway, my analysis usually comes from understanding the source material and the character(s)/situation in question, but i apply this to how the author decides to write. paying attention to what they’re saying and how it challenges and/or confirms canon as well as your interpretation of it will make a good comment. fics are often character driven rather than action/plot driven so consider that. but honestly analysis is up to you and your understanding of a fandom/ship, so good luck if you chose to drop an essay.

there will often be themes in fics, point those out if you notice it! sometimes they’re subtle and sometimes that’s the basis of the fic. tell the author how the application of a chosen theme works with what they’re writing about. reoccurring details are deliberate and authors will love if you mention it!

i think this comment is a good example of a few things i’ve outlined so far! this fic has an underlying religious/christian theme so my comment (analysis) acts according to that as well as my understanding of theo raeken and religion.

if you notice something about the authors writing style, point it out! this is actually something you have to tread carefully with though, so make sure it’s nice and polite if you do decide to say something! authors are human and their fics can be a way for them to bare their soul, so make sure you’re not causing them anxiety by pointing out certain structures/formats of their writing. so again, make sure to be nice about it.

you can also tell the author what the fic means to you. fics can be so personal and you might relate to it more than you realize. if it hits it hits.

interlude on what NOT say: if an author doesn’t explicitly say you can leave constructive criticism then leave that shit out of your comment and stick with unconditional love and support. while it’s true that constructive criticism helps authors they don’t need it all the time, especially when they didn’t ask for it. fics are like their homes, they’re inviting you in so don’t be a dick and insult their curtains, alright?

finally, compliment the author! i am the kind of person that tells strangers that i love them so i usually default with that to wrap up a comment bc i got a lot of love to give and it has to come out somehow! if spontaneous declarations of love aren’t your thing for whatever reason then tell the author how amazing they are! complimenting the writing itself is probably the way to go if you’re allergic to affection but it does make the author really receptive and happy. it’s very cute. acknowledgment of their work will bring them to their knees i promise.

i will admit that commenting how i do takes time. i usually comment when i’m not busy like at night or on weekends. one time i even arranged my schedule with the sole purpose of leaving a hefty comment on a 20k+ multi chapter fic! obviously you don’t have to do that, but i am certifiably insane and like avoiding responsibility. hope this helps anon! :)

jack’s ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raekensarcher/pseuds/raekensarcher/works

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 157

The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo/The Doctor’s Wife

“The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo”

Plot Description: an unsuspecting but hip hacker is hired by Dick Roman to break through Frank’s firewall and gain information in the Winchesters

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: No one died

Oh. The Leviathans are doing a “fun” little eugenics project before before just turning humans into breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Well, I guess Frank IS dead. Sorry Frank.

Awww I love Charlie 💖 she and I have similar looking work desk

Dick’s EXTREMELY THINLY veiled metaphors…they’re not even metaphors. He’s explicitly saying his plans, they just sound like hyperbole

Ooooo Bobby is gonna turn vengeful but I don’t think it’s gonna be Dick

Damn near choked on my lunch when Dick told Charlie’s boss that she was in the same league as Bruce Springsteen and Eli Manning as irreplaceable people…where he is absolutely replaceable like Tim Tebow…and Joe Biden. Just DYING here

I’m trying to get a better look at Charlie’s apartment decor…just looks cool. They’re making plans to break into Dick’s office

Dammit Bobby…DAMMIT BOBBY. You can’t just hitch a ride in Charlie’s bag via flask

I know it was fine and culturally relevant at the time this came out to reference [fandom redacted], but it does sour my mood

I can’t believe the writers pretended that even just the description of Charlie’s tattoo isn’t at all sexy…

The WAY Dean is so very good at walking Charlie through flirting with men

You know that vague sense of unease you get at the end of Blink because you have no idea which statues all over the place could be Weeping Angels? I’m getting that way with every background extra for Leviathans, and like…much more than I had with any demons

Oh. Except the background extras from the private airport were actually………Sam and Dean

No, Bobby. Stay focused.

God he’s so creepy. Which is good for a billionaire who’s also a biblical monster but damn. It does seem like a fun role to get to play

Don’t put what to do about Bobby on the back burner guyssssss

“The Doctor’s Wife”

Plot Description: The Doctor is lured to a sentient asteroid outside of the Universe by a Time Lord distress signal and soon realises his TARDIS is in grave danger.

I just…why would he trust that the distress call ACTUALLY can’t from “one of the good” Time Lords??

And that’s what you get for buying that lie

OMG I FORGOT NEIL WROTE THIS ONE!!! Mr Gaiman, I’m sorry for being incredulous, but god I hope he doesn’t ever see this

“Biting’s excellent! It’s like kissing only there’s a winner.” Did he write this from/for present day tumblr??

Like…I KNOW what “the little boxes will make you angry” means but it’s another thing to HEAR all those Time Lords that got lured there

Michael Sheen as House is just…..he HAS THE RANGE, DARLING

Omggggg his sad little “don’t we all?” when Amy tells him he wants to be forgiven for what he did to Gallifrey 😭😭😭

That’s not good…

I do have a much different reaction to the reveal of how House repairs Uncle and Auntie than I probably did when I first saw this episode. I’ll hold off on whether it’s at all their fault too til later

Not saying that the Doctor isn’t right to be angry at the situation, but can Uncle and Auntie REALLY be blames?

Oh, Idris/the TARDIS is such a Gaiman character (affectionate, absolutely affectionate) from my experience with his work

Oh noooo, House just abducted Amy and Rory. That…is gonna be the worst mistake it made

OMG 💀 Uncle and Auntie are literally just like

The TARDIS calls Amy the orange girl. Cute

Wait, is…is this the one where Amy and Rory have to face all sorts of horrors in the TARDIS??

BOLD of the Doctor to look at the TARDIS junkyard and not think at all about how HIS TARDIS will feel about piecing together a new TARDIS out of parts of old ones after his reaction to the repairs on Uncle and Auntie…..just sayin

Oh. It is…I think.

She always took him where he needed to go ❤️❤️

Nooooooo. There it is, Amy and Rory got separated…again and again. I hate the pain they go through in this one. She’s done nothing wrong but he’ll yell at her because she’s made him wait again after already waiting 2000 years

Like…did he think he could JUST BUILD a TARDIS without putting the soul of a TARDIS in it??

Look. I know House is messing with them and all, but if I found out there was ANY possibility that I could believe the person I was with could loathe me so much that they’d write “KILL [NAME] DIE [NAME] HATE [NAME]” over and over and over all over the corridor where they died??? I don’t think I could so easily and so quickly run into their arms even when I found out that was an illusion. Yeah, I’d still go with them, but…..

I’m also having a different reaction to the whole the name of the TARDIS thing…

Oh it’s nice to see Nine/Ten’s control room again, at least i think that’s what it was. Feels so long ago now

“She’s the TARDIS?!” “And a woman” “did you wish really hard?” “Shut up, not like that”

There are some REALLY good lines. Great job, Neil!!“Fear me, I’ve killed hundreds of Time Lords” “Fear me, I killed them all”

She just wanted to tell him hello. She stole him away from Gallifrey seven hundred years ago and only got to say hello this once after all that time

[nerves-nebula]

god you worded that specific thing about 2012 so well. honestly a lot of aspects of that show make me cringe and i have to tell myself, like oh its from another era of kids media where things were 'meaner', but that doesnt change the fact the way splinter is as a parent reminds me of a bad parent of mine. it doesnt change the way i really wish the guys would talk out their problems every once in a while and have it stick. cuz like you said, it doesnt seem intentionally like theyre trying to show abuse, but sometimes that just kinda makes it seem more harmful if that makes sense? because then the show never addresses the way the characters can be traumatized from the way they've treated each other. and in fandom it always comes down to "raph isnt abusive because hes nice to mikey" like to me, raph isnt even the problem, hes also suffering from a toxic family unit. like splinter literally tells his other sons to insult and bully him to teach him a lesson very early on, the vibes..... are bad. and these excuses come from people who think the rise turtle family is "wish fulfillment" of a family. as if they also dont have their own issues to work through? kids thats sad, and maybe they should address that thats sad.

Reminds me of like Nickelodeon sitcoms where everyone is frustratingly awful to each other all the time lmao. Makes sense they’re from the same eras I think.

Honestly 2012 seems to have a lot going on I don’t think I grasp yet. Can’t wait for college to end so that I can binge it!!!

The idea that the rise family is unrealistically perfect kind of just sounds like you’ve had a bad family life tbh. Or you’ve never been around siblings who like each other without a history of conflict. I’m being hyperbolic but the rise bros are literally so normal. They’re just normal brothers they don’t even like everything about each other they’re just not super mean. And they’re still mean sometimes.

To be fair I didn’t think that kind of relationship existed either until I met my girlfriends family and apparently you really can just have a good relationship with your siblings without steeping it in twelve layers of irony and emotional constipation. I’d never heard that take about rise before tho but that’s so funny lmao.

[thatgirlonstage]

Yes, of course it did. I’m aware. But considering that was the easiest option at the time, the contemporary corollary to what I wrote would have been something like “imagine sending a personal messenger to 124 people’s houses to knock on their doors and hand deliver my fanfics straight to them”. The point is not the notion of the literal physical letter; the point is the extra step and investment that an ao3 subscription represents.

Fanfic in the days of printed fanzines was more underground and involved more effort by default so I can’t really backdate what I’m trying to get across in fandom terms. But consider the difference between walking into a normal bookstore and happening to see a new book by an author you’ve read and enjoyed previously vs subscribing to that author’s personal news letter (whether that is via email, blog post, physical letter, carrier pigeon, whatthefuckever). That subscription means you like this author so much that you always want to know immediately when they have something new out. What I’m saying is that it’s incredible and more than a little surreal that 124 people like my writing so much that they want to know about it every time I post a fanfic, no matter how smutty or self-indulgent or dashed off at 1AM or written for some new fandom I’ve fallen into headfirst this week it is. I phrased it in a silly and hyperbolic way to get the point across (I am also not literally kissing every single one of my Ao3 subscribers on the lips) but the emotion is very real. I mean, do you know how overwhelmed my email inboxes constantly are? The fact that people—people I don’t even know! People I may never have even spoken to! I can’t tell who they all are specifically bc Ao3 doesn’t share usernames of who’s subscribed to you, but like, I don’t have 25 people that I’m close friends with and talk to regularly in fandom, let alone 124, so it’s not like these people just feel an obligation of friendship, a lot of them must be here because they actually just love my writing—care enough about my fanfiction to make me another email they receive and sort through on a semi-regular basis is so genuinely touching. It’s incredible!!! It feels like the kind of investment that a handwritten letter, in the age of the cell phone, represents. The specificity of direction, that they’re not just on their phone idly and looking at their most recent activity, but are hoping to hear more of my words and my thoughts, specifically. The idea that if I did, for some reason, send out handwritten letters to let people know I am putting a fictional guy in situations again, there would be 124 people excited to receive that letter. That’s the point of it: my amazement that that many people care that much. About my fanfiction. And what a silly, glorious, heartwarming notion it is.

Ao3 subscriptions are so fucking wild to me. Every time I write my silly fanfictions and post them 124 people get an email just to let them know that this idiot is posting their fanfictions again. I send 124 people an email every time I write smut. Imagine sending 124 physical letters out just to be like “hello everyone, I put some guys we made up in our heads through the horrors again.” Absolutely absurd. I am kissing all of you on the lips.

[blooming-violets]

People aren’t “weird af” for liking a different form of immersion in what they choose to read. YN/Reader fics have helped me as a POC to be able to enjoy works with characters I love. Fandom is so whitewashed that it’s honestly a fucking relief to read a neutral, nondescript reader then another white girl who blushes with white coded hair texture/style, features, and backgrounds. You don’t have to write it or like it, but don’t judge people who actually benefit from it.

Yeah that is not the take I was going for at all and you're reading far too into something. You turned my half assed statement into an argument that was not being had. I'll base that on the fact that you can't interrupt people's vocal inflections or facial expressions through words written on the screen but, I promise you, it was not that deep, baby.

Nothing I said was remotely serious or meant to be taken as anything more than someone drunkenly ranting to a friend. That's how I talk on and off the internet. If I was speaking what I said out loud, I would have been saying it with a smile and laugh and a way to poke fun at something I sometimes find vaguely mildly annoying (and I really don't even think it's that annoying, I just like to yell). I don't know how you turned me ranting and joke screaming about naming a fictional woman into whitewashing and a statement about poc but that was not the conversation I was having.

Me saying people are weird af is not me actually thinking that people are weird for liking something. It's the way I speak. It's hyperbole. It's a grand, screaming, over the top gesture about something very little and insignificant. Hyperbole. It's a fucking name. That's it. A name. I was yelling about names at midnight on a Wednesday night, on tumblr, about Peter Parker fanfiction. It was not serious. It was not an attack on people who enjoy that shit. I enjoy that shit. I read it AND write it. I write Reader, non-descript characters LITERALLY all the time.

You read that post in an angry light but it was not an angry post. I'm sorry I didn't add /s at the end of it. Sue me. I take it you are not familiar with me and/or someone who has ever interacted with me on the internet before and that's fine. So, hi, I'm Katie and nothing I say on the internet is ever serious and everything I say is thick with sarcasm and feigned screaming about meaningless things. I never said people who enjoy y/n should burn in hell but now that is my official statement. EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO HAS EVER ENJOYED A READER FIC SHOULD BURN IN HELL AND I HATE THEM ALL. Including me. If you read that statement and think I am being entirely seriously then I am not the person to be following because we are not on the same mental vibe waves.

And, just to add, who the hell ever said that the oc's being written about aren't badass, amazing poc?? Why is it if I add a name and description, suddenly that means they are white? I do not understand the logic. I never said "if I give this woman a name, it means she's white now" ??

You're weird af. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing though. Be weird. Don't let random strangers make you feel bad. Let shit roll off your back. Not everything is a personal attack. Some things are silly and pointless. Surprisingly, not every thing you read is said in attack mode meant to harm others. Let me yell about useless shit on the internet. I'm screaming into a void of nothing. Nothing matters. Everything is pointless. It's Peter Parker fanfiction. Nothing is serious.

It will all be okay.

[altschmerzes]

maybe this is...... idk, but i don't understand what's so objectionable about mentioning popular tropes in marketing for a book. seeing a bunch of posts all over the last couple of weeks being like Seeing Someone Describe Their Book As Enemies To Lovers Makes Me Want To Kill Them or whatever - and yes, with that level of direct aggression which, even joking, seems a bit overboard at best - and being like. yeah? and??? who. gives a shit? 

someone wrote a book, they're talking about it in a way maybe they grew up talking about narratives, maybe a way that helps people find what they're interested in. sorry fandom and 'cringe' community related verbiage is polluting the prestigious and classy world of Real BooksTM and Real WritersTM and Real Serious Stories Not That Meaningless Garbage You Dummies On The Internet Throw Around Because You Have No Soul Or Appreciation For Art Or Whatever. 

i don't know what is so enraging about it. everything has tropes in it that's how they ended up tropes. they're a value-neutral narrative tool or phenomenon. i feel like i'm losing my fucking MIND here sometimes. why is it such a hyperbolic violence worthy offence to use language commonly associated with fandom to discuss your published book if that's what it contains. 

 and i don't mean like- the people who are like oh you should read this, it has [rattles off list of diverse character identities and says absolutely nothing about what the book is actually like or about]. that's different. that tells me nothing abt what the book is about, though it does give people who are wanting to read about characters that are like them a piece of valuable information. not the only piece but a piece. this is like. 

why are you so fucking mad and snotty about someone describing their book as 'enemies to lovers.' legitimately who is that harming. not something i'd ever read but that's because i'm allergic to romance, not because describing books using tropes, even tropes common in fanworks, is a fucking cardinal sin or definite hallmark that something is shallow trash.