#I have no intention to attack the shippers but i see the most of the ships i am anti of as bromance / friendship

[violet-2084-turkish-warrior]

No lies detected. Why can’t characters be friends without fandoms forcing them to being secretly gay /bi with each other?

Let friends be friends! Let enemies be enemies! Not to sound homophobic but not everyone have to be lesbian or bi or gay or even Lgbt.

To all writers, please do whatever you want, regardless of what anyone says, as long as it is not something problematic, questionable or controversial (like racism or sexism). It's not easy to please people. Therefore, it is important to master the art of not listening (except for genuinely constructive criticism) and ignoring.

Fandom: Give us healthy straight relationships, please!

Creators: *Procedes to give the fandom a healthy, happy, in love relationship with kids*

Fandom: UGH! WHY ARE ALL THESE RELATIONSHIPS SO STRAIGHT! IT'S CLEAR THAT SHE/HE ARE GAY! WHY ARE YOU FORCING THEM TO BE TOGETHER!

Fandom: Give us male rivalry! Why don't we ever get that!

Creators: *Procedes to give the fandom a toxic ass rivarly where one guy thinks that one guy is a terrorist for an entire year and another guy decides to kill the other guys son and torture him for years on end*

Fandom: Oh my god! They're so in love and are so gay for the other! Don't worry my gay bby's. I'll save you!

Fandom: Give us a strong black female character who can show her emotions as well!

Creators: * Procedes to give the fandom a black woman as a lead character and have her cry when she should be crying and also have her be strong both physically, mentally and emotionally and giving her a realistic background*

Fandom: Ugh! All she does is bitch! Why can't she just understand that the world doesn't revolve around her! And her background is so unrealistic!

Fandom: Give us a strong female friendship!

Creators: *Procedes to give the fandom a female friendship with ups and downs but those two staying loyal as fuck to the other*

Fandom: Yeah but if you make that girl go at it at that girls lover then we can finally have some drama on this fandom!

Fandom: Give us 2 male best friends from childhood!

Creators: *Procedes to give the fandom two best friends from childhood who went to each others weddings as best man's and only see each other as brothers.*

Fandom: Oh my God! Why won't you make them gay! They're so cute together, you heartless monsters.

I can honestly go on but it's too early in the morning. Message me if you want more.

[ryuichirou]

Why is Ortho included in ship art? He died as a child, and although he was rebuilt, his emotional intelligence and maturity level stayed the same as that of a child. Although I fully disagree, I do want to understand your reasoning. Especially since Ortho and Idia are related and I saw your art of them kissing. I am genuinely confused.

I’ll be honest, Anon: the amount of people who message us pretending to be genuinely confused while having ill intentions are more than I care to admit, and this is very tiring; this is why I might sound a little dry in my reply. But I don’t mind explaining it if you genuinely want to understand it. That being said, let this be the last time I am ranting about this topic because there is nothing new I can say.

Here is the short answer: Ortho is included in ship art because we ship him with other characters. Ortho having a maturity level, mentality and/or intelligence of a child is a myth that contradicts canon and only exists to antagonise people who view Ortho as anything other than Idia’s baby mascot with zero agency. The fact that Idia and Ortho are related is not a reason not to ship them: shipping is fictional and doesn’t reflect one’s views on irl matters. Exploring taboo and problematic dynamics and tropes in fiction is a part of natural human experience. What I care most about in shipping is characters’ dynamic that I find fun for shipping. Their relation to each other comes second, but I won’t pretend it doesn’t exist if it does exist.

Now I’ll give you a long answer. Starting with “Ortho is a child/8-year-old/5-year-old/toddler” argument.

We actually saw real 8 yo Ortho before his death in Idia’s flashback and, wow, we can see that AI!Ortho and flashback!Ortho aren’t the same Ortho. "My largest amount of birthday data comes from eleven years ago, when I was five” is the line that Ortho says in one of his Birthday vignettes, which indicates that even though he does have memories of dead!Ortho, he is not stuck in the age of 8 – he thinks and feels that his fifth birthday happened eleven years ago.

But also just in general, if you listen to him talk and compare it to how he talked in Idia’s flashback (both the voice and the manner of speech), it becomes pretty clear that he is older. He is younger-looking and has a high-pitched voice but it’s due to the fact that Idia designed him to look that way, and there are a lot of potential reasons why he could’ve done it (all non-canon and theoretical, so we won’t dive into them today), but he is definitely not 8 years old. Ortho’s AI constantly learns new information, learns more about being a human – he is clearly maturing as the story goes, thus showing that he is in fact capable of aging mentally, and he’s been doing it from the moment Idia first created him. He is naive and inexperienced, but that doesn’t make him an infant.

Plus, post ch.6 he is always being grouped with other freshmen who are also sixteen years old. This is his age group. This is how old Ortho would’ve been if he was still alive, and this is how old AI!Ortho feels. He’s a proper first year student just like Ace, Deuce and the rest of the boys, and the story keeps highlighting it in all the events that happened post ch.6.

Speaking of post ch.6. At the end of the story AI!Ortho and real/blot!Ortho actually merged a little, as far as you can remember. Blot!Ortho, wow, is also 16. He’s been stuck in the Underworld since he was 8 and he existed all those years and grew up as well despite his terrible situation and more than unusual company, so we can safely assume his age. His merging with AI!Ortho also influenced him (AI!Ortho) in a way, making him more human as a result as well.

Not to sound mean, but I think the majority of people who still insist that Ortho is mentally 8 either don’t pay attention to his character, his story and how he interacts with others at all, or straight-up choose to believe that lie because it makes it easier to attack shippers or anyone who likes Ortho in general.

But also guess what, none of that matters actually because ultimately he is a fictional boy, and fictional characters’ ages are irrelevant. Just like fictional characters’ family relations are irrelevant. Even if you don’t think it’s right, that doesn’t change the fact that it is irrelevant, and the only thing that could be done about it is that you can block people and/or tags that make you upset. There is no shame about it: I avoid a lot of ships and tropes that make me upset.

I would prefer people to stop accusing me, a real person, of actual vile crimes (or having dark thoughts about them? What the fuck is wrong with you?) because of fictional, made-up things. If I want to, I can unrelate Ortho and Idia, and my fanart would stop being incestuous with a snap of my fingers. I can make them enemies, I can make them kill each other over and over again, I can kill Idia instead of Ortho. I say this to show how little it matters, and no, ~the implications~ don’t count. People make them up and choose to believe that instead of listening to the person in question. About a real person, let me repeat myself. You (plural/neutral you, not you, Anon) cannot make shit up about another person’s thoughts, ideas, and views just because you find it convenient.

As for why I personally ship Ortho with Idia despite them being siblings, you’re in luck because in addition to this already long post I have an even longer post for you to read if you’re interested! It’s been more than a year since I’ve written that post my reasoning is still pretty much the same, so I think it’s a pretty good one to read if you genuinely want to understand us better.

But if you don’t want to read another long post but are still interested, here is a TL;DR:

I love their deep love for each other and don’t want to just explore the platonic aspect of it – there are a lot of other scenarios that I want to play with;

there are a lot of tropes related to this ship that we love (us two against the world; AI in love; causing an apocalypse for the sake of your loved one; unhealthy and codependent relationship; obsession, etc);

their story has a lot of motifs that could be read as romantic (i.e. Orpheus and Eurydice analogy) that we really enjoy;

personal reasons; relatability (not elaborating on that; not related to incest though lol);

they’re sexy lol I love robot parts, size difference and a lot of other aspects that I won’t mention here.

I hope that explained some stuff. Just to be clear: I don’t want to force anyone ship Shroudcest, in fact I don’t care if we are the only people in the world shipping them (that will never be the case though lol). I just love Ortho very much, and I think he is a very fun character that has a lot to offer, and I really don’t like that people want to create this aura of “he’s just baby don’t touch him” that stops people for getting to know his character better. He is cunning, he is smart, he is caring, he is psychopathic, he is a lot of things, and all of those things make me want to see him bossing Idia around, acting cute around Vil, bonding with Malleus over their differences and similarities, all of those things.

[galstelperion]

hey, alma. i have been following you for a while and i like many of your takes, you always seem level-headed in this fandom, but i think you missed this time around and that post wasn't it. i'm not writing you this to make you feel bad! please, believe me, my intent is not to bring you down or anything of this sort. but the user you were talking about is getting witch hunted by celeb0rn fans, and she made that post because she has been harassed by haladriel-antis and celeb0rn fans for months and months, simply for her interpretations of the show. she never attacked anyone personally, she never rebloged anyone's takes to dismiss them. she just expressed her dislike of celeb0rn fans' own witch hunts and their own insistence that they get galadriel the right way. so it was quite disappointing to see haladriel shipper such as yourself add fuel to the fire that is eating up our fandom right now. turning on each other for celeb0rn is a bit of a waste, isn't it? and we know that the majority of celeb0rn stans aren't genuinely his stans, they are just antis.

i think the fandom is getting more and more toxic, not sure what it is about. im not writing you this so that you answer to this ask, i know you probably weren't coming from a bad place, but i just think this time your post had consequences that you did not intend to happen.

Hello anon, since you seem to be at least cordial, I will respond to this ask and it will be the last time I address this situation:

"we know that the majority of celeb0rn stans aren't genuinely his stans, they are just antis."

This is the root of the problem here. I am saying this in the kindest way possible. Yes, you are allowed to dislike a character. You are even allowed to bash said character in your own spaces. A line is crossed when you make untrue statements like this. The attitude that the majority of "Celeborn stans" who also happen to enjoy Haladriel are just antis is inaccurate and has made a lot of people incredibly uncomfortable. It has made me uncomfortable as someone who is friends with many multishippers who like and explore dynamics with all of these characters involved.

As I said in my original post, I do not ascribe to this all or nothing mentality to shipping or fandom in general. The idea that there is only one right way to like and consume this ship is hurtful and makes many people feel ostracized and unwelcome in this space. I say this as someone who doesn't even care for Celeborn as a character at all and have actively shit talked him around mutuals who agree with me. But I also say this as someone who has been friends with the most incredible Haladriels for 2+ years at this point, Haladriels who have written 100k+ word fanfictions, Haladriels who have dissected and analyzed lore back to front since the early 2000s, who are also interested in exploring Galadriel's dynamic with Celeborn! *gasp* Don't put me in shackles and drag me to the town square but someone who likes a character you don't isn't a crime! It doesn't make them any less of a Haladriel. It doesn't make them "antis in disguise"

This sort of mindset has been permeating the tag for many months now. I never felt inclined to really say anything about it until these broad generalizations were being made by people who I've personally never even seen before here. Like my good friend @nocaptainonthisship has said, "I've been in this fandom since its inception two years ago" isn't a dick measuring contest. It's saying I've been here. I've seen it.

I don't know a whole lot about this account that you're referring to in the ask. I don't even know anything about these people supposedly harassing them either. I don't condone that. I have refrained from @'ing them at all either here or in my original post so as to not to contribute to pile-ons if that is indeed happening. I did block them about a week ago after continuously seeing these actively hostile and confrontational takes about who can and can't be considered a real Haladriel based on their character preferences. Feel free to block me if that is the approach to fandom you want to have. It will certainly never be mine.

[sokkastyles]

(a.p.p.) in re: this post

i'm a lurker in the fandom and i guess i missed out on this bit of drama; it's actually driving me insane that i can't figure out who and what specifically this is about on my own. you don't have to, but if you want to, i'd love to hear the entire pot of tea on this 👀

Okay, I've been trying to stay out of it because I don't want to point fingers, that user and I are both on a mutual block, I do not want to interact with her, and I believe she feels the same. Also, she is the victim in the most recent round of Katara Adultificationgate: Electric Boogaloo, although she's also a hypocrite who attracts drama because she keeps trying to make herself seem morally correct.

The long and short of it is that this user was, a couple years ago, trying to police zutara shippers in her own community for writing darkfic. They aligned with other users who were going on a witch hunt with the stance that it's okay to write darkfic as long as you're doing it "in the right way." With the exception that of course the way they write it is the right way. Because of course they alone are the only one capable of understanding all of the nuance involved in writing about heavy topics.

Now, this person is being attacked for writing darkfic, and is again trying to defend themselves by saying that they're writing about their own trauma, or condemning the violence portrayed.

But what's funny about the current wank is that the content of her fic is like, nearly identical to one that was being targeted in the wank two years ago. It was a fic about Katara being assaulted by men of the NWT. Which, as far as I can tell, is also what the current fic at the center of this is about as well. Only the user who wrote it has been defending it because it's meant to be an expression of her own trauma, or because the themes are about healing and condemning the act itself. Which is all well and good, but the problem is when you get into the issue of trying to police who can write about sexual violence, and in what way, and that is exactly what she was doing before. And that's also at the heart of why she's getting hate now. Every attempt to justify herself just gives more fuel to people who think you need to justify yourself for engaging in fandom a certain way.

And the thing is that KA shippers making the accusations will not see a difference, no matter how hard you try to insist that you're writing about dark topics in the "right" way. Neither they nor her have a right to decide who can write about dark topics and in what way. You can't engage in a good faith argument about how to be sensitive when shipping zutara with someone who thinks shipping it, period, is an irredeemable sin.

I know another component to this is that people are accusing her of racism because the fic involved Katara being assaulted by members of her own/sister tribe, or the idea of her being saved by Zuko. And the thing I will say about that is that while it is valid to express discomfort with those kinds of works or to speak against those particular tropes, it is NOT valid to attack someone over it or say they can't write that kind of fanfiction, or judge their intentions. I'm not going to speak about how indigenous people should feel about such content, but I am going to say that no one, regardless of their identity, has the authority to speak for an entire group of people.

I do understand the issue with the portrayal of violence within the indigenous community by someone who is not indigenous, and I understand the issue with depicting her being saved by someone outside that community. However, these arguments are being misused, because the people doing the arguing hate zutara in any form. If they really cared about the savior trope, they might examine how it is present in canon, with light-skinned Aang being the one to "save" Katara from languishing in the SWT so that she can learn waterbending. Especially considering how her homeland is depicted as backwards and Katara needing to escape it, something EIP parodies but which is still present itself in the narrative. One of the most recent posts made also screenshotted an old interaction where an indigenous fan accused a zutara shipper of "wanting Zuko to get on his wild side with Katara" on a post that said nothing that could possibly be interpreted that way. The post was about Zuko having Hakoda as an in law. The person who made the accusation made it because they hate zutara, not because the zutara shipper was actually being racist. And, I mean, if an indigenous person is caused so much pain by the very existence of a ship, the proper thing to do is not seek out content for that ship that is going to trigger you. Personal discomfort, even due to experiencing racism, does not mean you speak for an entire community. Especially one as wide and varied as "indigenous people," which describes a huge number of ethnic and cultural groups, not a monolith of people who all singularly feel the same about a cartoon ship from 2005.

If you asked an indigenous person not embroiled in fandom nonsense how they felt about these issues, I guarantee you they would not care about the ship war. Some might even be offended at the idea that Katara is even supposed to represent them, considering that her character is a mishmash of cultures and played by a white actress and talks like a white kid from California.

Which all boils down to the same thing. The only thing you can say is "this makes me personally uncomfortable." And the solution, although people may not want to hear it, is to not engage with that content. Nothing else. This was true back then, and it's still true now. And it's true for both sides.

If you want to know what indigenous authors have to say about the issue of representation, though, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Gerald Vizenor have all been heavily criticized both within their indigenous communities and without, for their portrayal of violence, both against native people and native on native violence. For every person who says that intercommunity violence is "bad representation," there is also the opposite issue of the denial and victim blaming that also happens within these communities. In particular, Alexie has been accused both by people within and outside the community of writing a white savior narrative, when he was writing about his own experience, and the story is much more nuanced than that. (And yes, I'm aware of the allegations against Alexie, but that doesn't discount what he's had to say about his own experience, both in the ways he's spoken up about being tokenized by whites and the ways he was criticized for being "bad rep" within his own community).

And it's telling that some of the things I am seeing antis say now about the current fic is identical to what "well meaning" individuals said about the fic that was targeted years ago. And during that time, the author did not even speak up about why they wrote the fic. And I'm gonna say something else people might not like: they shouldn't have to.

Nobody has to justify why they wrote fanfiction or divulge information about their trauma, identity, or history, and the people demanding that are ALWAYS going to find a reason for why it's wrong for you to do what you are doing.

I'm seeing people say things like "but why did she have to write about Katara?"

Because fuck you, that's why.

This is the exact same argument leveled against porny fic. Whether your fic is meant to have a deeper moral point or not, the argument is the same. And you don't owe anyone an explanation.

But antis and radfems don't like that argument because they can't weaponize it.

[kismetconstellations]

@sockdooe Are there legitimately, truly, and genuinely people who fight about that?

I'm pretty sure that the Black Lion, herself, definitively answered that question.

She came to Shiro's aid by awakening and allowing Keith to pilot her when Shiro was being attacked and on the verge of losing his life to those raptor creatures in the second season's opening episode.

She severed Zarkon's connection to her in favor of bolstering her bond with Shiro, because Shiro understood that the relationship between Lion and Paladin is "not about power. It's about earning each other's trust."

And, she cherished Shiro enough to hold onto his essence after his body was destroyed.

Shiro was the first to master seeing through his lion's eyes, all the way back in Season One.

He and Black had a deep enough desire and willingness to fully understand one another that she showed him her history and abilities that she and Shiro had yet to unlock together.

There's no debate to be had, here. Shiro is the ultimate Black Paladin, as determined by the Black Lion, herself.

I can only guess that there's an element of ageism, perhaps even ableism, and undoubtedly superficial vanity at play when it comes to the fandom's preference for Keith, Lance, and the pairing of the two of them that shall not be named. Keith and Lance are skinny, elfin-faced twinks with a cliche rivalry and certain vulnerabilities that appeal more to the younger demographic. Shiro is a square-jawed, six-foot-tall adult man with bulging biceps and abs of steel, and the sort of trauma that would take years to even begin processing, let alone healing from, who seems to be much more popular with the older, adult fans, and Eastern audiences. The younger, American fans took to calling Shiro a "dad", after all, despite him being twenty-five years-old; nowhere near old enough to be a father to any of the teenagers he finds himself put in charge of. I've also seen Keith/Lance shippers calling Shiro "Keith's dad", which feels vaguely racist, and arguing that Shiro "raised" Keith, which is ludicrous. It doesn't help at all that the show, itself, feeds into the ageism and ableism by sweeping Shiro's trauma under the rug, sidelining him when he's down an arm, and sequestering him and Coran off with the other adults while the teenaged- sans Keith, who was at least twenty-one throughout the latter half of the seventh and whole of the eighth season- Paladins go off on their adventures.

I know the intention was to kill Shiro off permanently before the producers vetoed it due to Shiro's popularity and status as the show's only (living, explicitly confirmed, and relevant) gay character. Perhaps because he has no one-to-one equivalent character in the original series this was a remake of, and Keith was the leader in that same original series, so he was destined to be the leader, here, as well. Or, because the VLD showrunners were under the- delusional- belief that they could have Keith redo what Shiro had already done, only better, somehow, because they prioritized spectacle over narrative substance. Regardless, it's apparent that Shiro is only still around out of obligation, come the eighth season, and there was no desire on the writers' parts to further explore or develop his character. Hence him having no family, and, by extension, no real support system, being largely isolated from everyone, only really getting to shine in an episode that's half filler and unintentionally perpetuates more ableism, and then being married off to a "character" who might as well be a glorified piece of set dressing for all of the personality and importance he's given.

It's absolutely mind-boggling to me that,

1. The majority, or at least the most vocal parts of the fanbase cared more about shipping and complaining about being "queerbaited" over Lance/Keith when Shiro is right there.

And, 2. It seems like Josh Keaton, Shiro's voice actor, was the only member of the crew who truly appreciated Shiro, enough to offer his personal headcanon about Shiro's family- that Shiro was raised by his grandfather- state that he intentionally gave the clone's voice a harder edge compared to Shiro's softer, gentler tones in order to distinguish between the two of them, showing his implicit understanding of Shiro's character, and even made a video tribute to Shiro after the show had ended.

Aww, thank you for enjoying my angry rant on Shiro's behalf. Believe me, it burns that Shiro is overlooked entirely as the stepping stone he was on the path toward gay representation in children's media, purely because this show's quality plummeted so hard, and the fandom earned itself a reputation as one of the worst in recorded history. He deserves to be honored and celebrated, as not only a proud gay man who told Pidge that "owning who you are is going to make you a better Paladin", but also as a trauma survivor who strove to remain gentle, patient, and kind, and devote his life to saving others.

And, yes, he also deserves the best therapist in the universe, and all of the cuddles. ❤

[kiwisandpearls]

Kindly take your last post out of the Zutara tag.

People are allowed to criticize Aang. People are allowed to point out the failings of the writing behind his character. He's fictional. His feelings won't be hurt. It shouldn't matter that people hate him.

(Some people who dislike or criticize him aren't even Zutara shippers. And those that are have said that their dislike of Aang has nothing to do with liking Zutara)

What's not okay is attacking Zutara shippers who are real people over their opinions on a FICTIONAL character.

The problem with posts like yours is that they're so hypocritical. You always make out Zutara shippers to be the problem. Do you know what Kataang fans have done? They've doxxed people, sent death threats. They had a rape Discord a few years ago. They've continuously harassed DANTE BOSCO, calling him a pedo because he likes Zutara. They literally recently harassed an NATLA writer on Twitter because she likes Zutara.

Stop calling out Zutara shippers for not liking a fictional character when Kataang shippers have some real damage to real people.

…I—

I literally did not put my post in the zutara tag. I put them in the ‘zutara fans critical’ and ‘zutara stans critical’ tags because 1. I didn’t want to put them in the anti zutara tag because it wasn’t meant to be an anti zutara post and 2. I obviously did not want to put the post critical about zutara shippers in the general zutara tag. I’m guessing you most likely just looked up zutara because like again, you can check yourself, I did not use the general ‘zutara’ tag.

also I never said people weren’t allowed to criticize aang. My point was actually that you don’t have to vilify aang to excuse zutara and/or excuse your dislike of aang. Criticizing aang isn’t “aang forced katara to be with him and would be a horrible boyfriend/husband to her” criticizing aang is “aang was in the wrong for how he talked to katara after the ember islands play”.

“What's not okay is attacking Zutara shippers who are real people over their opinions on a FICTIONAL character.”

i’m not???? Where do you see me attacking zutara shippers, genuinely point it out to me because if I was being hostile to them that wasn’t my intention.

I would’ve just ignored and maybe deleted this ask if I weren’t completely baffled by it. How is me making this one post about how certain zutara shippers should just admit they have a negative opinion of aang and much prefer zutara to kataang instead of coming up batshit reasons to claim aang is a horrible person is me somehow attacking zutara shippers for…having negative opinion on aang, and turning a blind eye to kataang shippers that are just as if not worse?

trust me, I think kataang shippers who make up reasons to explain why zuko would also be terrible for katara is just as annoying as zutara shippers who make up reasons to explain why aang would be terrible for katara. And I don’t think kataang shippers, or any shippers, doxxing and harassing zutara and other shippers is ok in anyway. I just didn’t mention it because I kinda thought it would be obvious that kataang shippers that also harass people are just as bad as zutara shippers that harass people. Maybe that’s asking a little too much of the internet but idk.

Also, I didn’t know kataang shippers were harassing Dante Basco. I didn’t even know he was a zutara shipper, I’m not that deep in the fandom. I’m not even that much in it at all lol. So even if I were to talk about kataang shippers what did you want me to do about it? Telepathically figure out kataang shippers have been harassing him lol? Not saying that it’s ok nor surprising, I just straight up didn’t know.

[rarilight]

37. Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic?

Nope. Or, if I did, it wasn't intentional.

My older RariTwi fics were CONSTANTLY getting attacked by salty sparity shippers, so I make it a point to not put down other ships as much as I can (at least, not in public or anywhere an actual fan of the ship would see) because I hated that it was done to me lol

At most I've made little teases, but never anything actually serious or meant to be mean.

[kataraslove]

longing-for-rain doesn't do ai art. she tried to be honest by saying that the filter she uses can technically be considered ai, and people fixated on the ai and attacked her for it. be honest, you're just jumping on this hate train because she's a zutara shipper who responded to a braindead take your friend sent her. this is not a coincidence that she is the one you people chose to kick off your ai witch hunt

so you’re telling me that someone can rapidly improve their art like THAT in just 4 months? when it took other artists - actual artists - years to improve their art? please don’t insult all our intelligence by saying this is in any way a harmless ai filter. this is straight up ai.

again, the person who made this post explains it perfectly below, and i doubt that they’re a kataang shipper with the intent to “bring this person down” or whatever nonsense you came up with. and after reading this post, it makes perfectly sense, doesn’t it? why the eyes always looked like that, why the hair always looked like that, why it has that eerie ai feeling, why the art is always whitewashed. let’s just say it’s not ai - why were you all hyping up whitewashed art for months? do you not have any standards for the art you reblog? any common sense? you see a brunette with light skin and automatically go, “omg that’s literally katara!!!” even though it looks nothing like katara?

what longing-for-rain was doing (or continuing doing idk) is such a spit in the face to actual artists. do you know how much artists appreciate when you ask them to repost their artwork, merely because you asked for permission (which is the thing you should be doing)? on top of that, that fraud was asking people to send them money for ai artwork. who knows how many people donated. does that not enrage you? most likely not, because you don’t actually care about the ramifications of ai art on the artist community. you care about how this reflects on zutara shippers. well, my response to that is that tons of zutara shippers should’ve used their brains first before blindly reblogging ai art. especially reblogging whitewashed ai art?

all i was going to do was reblog that post up there with the tags “i should’ve known omg” because that eerie feeling I got when I saw their art suddenly made sense. you transformed this into something so much bigger by not only sending me these asks, but falsely accusing another artist (an authentic, non-fraudulent one) of creating ai art. conveniently, this happens to be the very same artist that happened to be the one to respond to longing-for-rain’s initial anti aang response, which they felt was not a fair critique (and they are within their right to do so, because this is tumblr!)

this extends far beyond aang or shipping wars - what l-f-r was doing is considered scamming. interestingly enough, after my initial reblog, i never arrived at the conclusion that the zutara community were filled with ai enthusiasts, because unlike you, i don’t suffer from fandom brainrot and actually go outside.

you, on the other hand, managed to make it so much worse. for the fraudulent ai artist you’re trying and failing so hard to defend. for the zutara community. if there’s an ongoing hate campaign against the “artist” (which i’m not aware of, because i want nothing to do with them), then you are the one instrumental in leading it, not me. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[roseonthewindow]

pomio (or whatever im honestly not careing about that) we need to have a Semi serious disscusion about Accountability.

When I first got here and created this character The original intention was a blackhole via lack of Roleplayers the key figure in Isabellas motovation. I had a full small story and everything. I just got stalled due to a family matter and did not have any real time to adress the astetics. lets face it Tumblr's defaults are not the most astetically pleasing thing.

It was one of your shippers that started shit as nausium and since than your punks have been hideing behind you while using mob style tatics to try and get their way...

Here is the bad news. I AM FRENCH itallian Blueblood...if you want to play mob boss... it comes highly unrecomended.

This is a warning to the bad actors in your spesfic corner. (Put under keep reading to spair the ones not causeng issues.) If your not being a little jerk about it most if this you are already aware of, the rest does not pretain to you.

If you are not causing a stink or drama bassed off the vain stupidity of one of your bad actors you have an invested instrest to just ignore me. I am fine with this, you do not have to interact or talk.

Intentionaly attacking me than flat out denying it when it can not be glarringly more obvious is stupid at best. To the bad actors keep in mind I don't accept your "Skunk butt rug" of an excusse. As for the rest I am not putting this in shipping tags as a courtsy to the shippers who are not causing issues.

Xbox gamepass is NOT Neowiz. (Wasn't there a settlement involving that thou I will have to look into it but I think microsoft got in trouble for putting games on gamepass whos developers opted out of that feature but I don't think Lies of P is in that group of affected games.)

Mods are not canon. (This should be obvious to be fair)

The next DLC will destroy most of your conxept of the protagonists name. (And I know the creator will never be sorry about it.)

This comes as no suprise to anyone fimillar with why Ginago started refering to Gepettos puppet as "brother" you know that thing you get when you see the true ending in lies of P.

There is no offical Ship, this is by design, and if there was it would be a straight ship, because, again, by design.

Your treating what the creator designed as an art piece an your personal playgound. He can and will troll you all. As someone that kmows of his pryor works I will laugh at you all leaving when you never get your way. "Keep fucking around, I will make you find out." Is his exact mentality to forced naratives.

To spite this I do NOT hate your ship, I hate your bad behavior and narsistoc desire to look clean while being a dirty bitch. And that is not a refrence to what you ship but the piss ass bullshit attude your retarded asses have taken towards me from day one.

Some of you did this because of one losers spurging and ghastlughting. If my view on this upsets you keep in mind my beef is not with the ship but a few of the shippers who are literaly being loser cry bully baby fucks.

Again if you are not doing this you do not have to worry; I could care less what you do with your ship but when you try to literaly lie to me, bully me, and make attempts to intimidate me with a hate mob, you just pissed me off to a point where I literaly salavate at getting to rip your revisionist ass a new hole.

I do NOT take kindly to people STUPID enough to try and threaten me; but I am going to be generious because most of you were not alive long enough to know what my family is like. Calling me all the progressive slurs will just be taken and SLAMMED back at you full force with reciepts.

Come at me at your own risk, I can and will destroy you... again if you are here because just curious this does not apply to you. But if you are one of the little fuckers starting shit know that yes you ARE an open target for criticisim for your bad attude alone.

Do not get me started on the activisim that never brlongs in a fucking FANDOM. I will tear you and your shit orgnizations down. Again I am not a nice person to anyone STUPID enough to THREATEN me.

[gerdy-sertorius]

The Shifting Mound and Tumblr

(In which it soon becomes abundantly clear that I prefer the former.)

It's seemed to me that the overwhelming majority of people on Tumblr are generally far more opposed to Slay the Princess's Narrator than the average consensus (which admittedly has very few Narrator defenders). Not necessarily with the idea that there are few Narrator likers. No, that's to be expected. What's interesting is the sheer amount of disgust that the Narrator receives, almost on a nonsensical level. That's intrigued me, especially with Tumblr's, shall we say, unique reputation both in terms of bias towards certain positions as well as the generally intriguing style of media analysis.

The theory that I think sticks best is that the Princess is exactly the kind of character that the most active folks on Tumblr would love, to be frank. She's a god stripped from her godhood, a Lovecraftian entity for all of the horror fans who like religious theming, something directly associated with this platform. She is a genuine "girlboss" (as opposed to the plastic, artificial "girlboss" plaguing our corporate slop), something that this site, both overwhelmingly disgusted with modern media's analysis of women and the only one to openly tolerate blatant misandry, is absolutely dying for. She is a Princess, in a romance of magnificent proportions, one toxic and healthy and horrific and beautiful all at once, one with an innumerable amount of the platform's endless shippers begging for a bit of anything to turn into homosexual romance.

She is something of an ideal character, both in the narrative and in the meta narrative, an individual that can and will be perceived in many different ways, to wear so many hats that the local haberdasher goes out of stock. She has all these positive traits, and infinitely more can be tacked on at the creator's intention. In a way, the Shifting Mound herself begins to deconstruct, every bit of her, even the genuinely nasty parts like Tower or Nightmare, being flanderized into this nothingness, this being that is whatever you want it to be, well, that leads to a lot of opportunities for fan creation, for genuinely talented fanart with an audience for quite literally everyone.

So of course, when something threatens the Shifting Mound, then things begin to get spicy. The Narrator, who fully threatens both the Princess and her endlessly farmable romance with the Long Quiet, already plays something of an antagonistic role. But you attack the cash cow (the golden calf, if you will) of the fandom, one that so many people have a far greater investment in because she embodies those values that creators here so value, then obviously the antagonist must become a villain, no? So with that, the Narrator becomes a pariah, not only being the prideful, unlikable jerk he is as is, but as a threat to the Princess, a threat to the truly *over*loved character in this slice of the fanbase. And while the former would almost certainly be allowable (I can see the "skrunkly" art already, Madre de Dios), the latter is unconscionable.

As I'm sure you can see, I just wanted to dunk on Tumblr while also talking about my favorite game of all time. It's all in good fun, though. Despite everything, you fellas are still the number one site I go to for any fandom, because for all of the irritation that you cause within my fragile body, you make quality. And I do not take that for granted, you magnificent ladies, gentleman, and the remaining 80% of you.

[leorai4life]

heeey idk if you're active and you may have seen this but youtube watch?v=apOGUrqIQ_M, the OFFICIAL tmnt channel put out a leo/karai moments video. the name of the video even includes the blue and black hearts. i think the writers were kinda dumb with making karai splinter's daughter but the writers' intentions were not having them be incest. they're just in a weird position where one was biologically related to splinter (karai) but not raised by him, and the other was not biologically related to splinter (leo) but raised by him.

i also think ppl trying to be so insistent on splinter being leo's biological dad is weird bc leo has BLUE eyes and even if mutation took the dna like that, he'd share it with a kids' dna or the shop keepers or some in the sewers. even though splinter and leo don't share genetics, splinter is still just as much leo's dad. it's fine ppl being uncomfy with it but attacking shippers is stupid bc it's not incest.

i think the fact that's the only thing ppl can come up with to talk shit about it shows that leorai has a lot going for it. and at least leo didn't decide to change karai's name to an artwork of a woman painted by a man which is objectifying and creepy cough cough raph/mona cough

Hi, yes still active! I did in fact see the Leorai compilation on the official channel, yeah! I was happy that they were acknowledging Leorai as a semi-canon ship (tho the actual video barely has any Leorai moments; more like Leo vs Karai moments lol).

Yes I agree that Leo and Karai were put in a awkward position by the writers whereby one is Splinter's biological child (Karai) but not raised by him, and one is his child by lifelong bond (Leo) but not by blood. However the intention wasn't incest, the writers just over-complicated Karai's backstory imo because she was introduced as Leo's love interest/rival (and arguably created the most interesting dynamic for Leo AND the best romantic pairing in the show), so revealing her as Miwa makes it harder to explain to those non-shippers, ESPECIALLY if their introduction to Leo and Karai was via Rise where they actively state that the TMNT are related to Splinter AND refer to Karai as 'gran-gran' (Rise Leo and Karai should NOT be shipped). I understand the confusion from a surface level, but it's why you really have to pay attention to Leo and Karai's interactions after she's revealed as Miwa to show that they don't view each other as siblings (peep my pinned post where I go in-depth about this). And yeah, but in all honesty people just love to talk shit about ships that they don't like or throw shade at it constantly - kiiinndaa like what you did with RaMona /lh I know some of the RaMona shippers tend to hate on Leorai cuz some (emphasis on SOME) tend to see RaMona as the superior ship (it's solid but I definitely see some flaws; such as Mona abandoning her mission to save her planet from destruction for some guy she met like THREE TIMES AND THEN NOT APPEAR AGAIN-), but don't stoop to their level - just ignore their trash talk and enjoy Leorai <3

[leportraitducadavre]

Naruto

Related content on my blog for cellphone users

Disclaimer

I’m not a shipper of any of the problematic four. I analyze canon and enjoy some crack-ships. Shipper to none.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING LINK IMAGES: The images provided in each post are subjected to manga4life's domain, the site modifies the server where the images are stored to keep them online if the prior server is threatened by anti-piracy attacks.

If you see that one of the images doesn't take you to the image and you have an "error" pop-up, try changing the prior link for this one: https://hot.leanbox.us/ [followed by manga/naruto/xxxx-xxx.jpg]

Naruto re-read

#posts - if this doesn't work, try searching the hashtag that follows: #naruto re read (spaces necessary)

Feminism

About feminism and my female characters critiques.

Inclusivity: The woke fandom's drug.

Female empowerment in the Naruto fandom and Feminism without feminists (a companion piece).

Fictional works vs. real historical events. Is it ok to use parallels?

The infinite “who’s strongest Kunoichi” debate and the sexist erasure/degradation of female characters. And a response to it.

Contradictory traits in a character = Bad writing?

Political review

Revolution! Is Internal Reform possible for the Shinobi System? Or is too corrupt to be changed from within?

The Curse of Hatred - or a poorly constructed theory based on bias.

The Chunin Exams -and their actual purpose

Naruhina/Hinata Hyuuga

Hinata’s suicide or why her intention to fight Pain wasn’t to save Naruto.

Hinata endorses slavery. A quick explanation of why.

NaruHina A full analysis of their relationship. Plus, could The Last have worked if it didn't reduce Naruto's character?

NejiHina or the possibilities of the pairing.

The Hyuga clan. And the Caged Bird Seal.

Sorry, no, Hinata never hit Pain.

SasuSaku/Sakura Haruno

Debunking the idea that Sakura was born into a “clanless” family.

SasuSaku a full analysis of their relationship, part one.

Sakura isn’t stronger than most characters. And a small addition. 

Sakura and Ino, an analysis of their relationship.

Sakura and Naruto, an analysis of their relationship. Part 1

Sakura as Orochimaru's apprentice and Sasuke as a Medic AU.

Sakura's personality. A defense of Kishimoto's writing. Additionally

Other pairings

ShikaIno. Why this ship has problems.

My opinion about the idea that Kishimoto "planned SNS".

Uchiha clan

How the Uchiha are perceived, a short exploration through Kishimoto's writing.

Were the Uchiha truly oppressed?

Minorities using violence, is it ok?

Sasuke Uchiha

Sasuke and Kakashi’s relationship. What went wrong?

How Sasuke and Obito surpassed their role in the manga (meta).

Sasuke as a Medic AU and Sakura as Orochimaru's aprentice.

Itachi Uchiha

About Itachi, his fandom, and moral standpoints.

Can Itachi's character be fixed? Spoiler alert: It's the fandom's perception of him that should change, not his character.

Debunking an Itachi stan

Madara Uchiha

Madara Uchiha and sexism.

Madara Uchiha’s characterization.

Obito Uchiha

Obito Uchiha. A character ruined by the fandom and his relationship with Minato.

Obito’s redeemers. A small debunk of their arguments.

Shisui Uchiha

Shisui Uchiha. A quick analysis of his participation in the manga.

Fugaku Uchiha

Fugaku Uchiha, the neglectful father.

Naruto Uzumaki/Naruto the series

The white boy, the hero. Parallelisms between Santiago Maratea and Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto Uzumaki, an underdog or a genius?

Naruto Uzumaki and the hero concept

Other characters

Team Taka. Their relevance.

Kakashi of the Sharingan.

Shikamaru‘s Sexism. Analyzing Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

Minato. A fandom-perceived hero that might not be such.

Jiraiya. My thoughts against the fandom’s obsession with calling him a hypocrite.

Neji vs. Kidomaru. An analysis of their fight.

Yamanaka clan techniques. and a quick rambling of the clan.

Rock Lee.

Hiruzen Sarutobi

Tobirama Senju

Tobirama. The Scientist. An exploration of Tobirama’s academic status and a debunking of his COH theory.

Does Tobirama defy masculinity? No, he doesn't.

Fear and Racism - an analysis of Tobirama’s advocates.

Boruto

Sarada Uchiha and the non-importance of her MS. A small rant about why the quote "she awoke her MS out of love, unlike the others" is false.

[mahoutoons]

i really do not get all the hatred sonamy fans get in the sonic fandom.

"but they're so toxic!!"

so are all other ship fandoms. i've had experience with toxic shippers of other ships. but you won’t see me generalizing the ship's fandom over them. every ship has its fair share of toxic fans. so why is it that only sonamy fans get all the heat for being toxic? i'm not denying that there are bad eggs in our fandom but i don't think its fair yo act like we're a special breed of toxic. i've seen fans of other ships with r*pe on amy yet people don't use them to generalize the whole ship's fandom.

"they think their ship is canon!!"

in the 2000s-2010s, maybe we did have a lot of fans who thoight that way. but nowadays whenever sonamy fans claim its canon, its always done in a joking way. its what fans lf literally every other ship do. i've seen people jokingly say "x ship is canon" because character a looked at character b funny. but no one ever attacks them for it. so why is it that only we get attacked when a lot of the time we aren't even serious?? we KNOW our ship will never actually be canon. we KNOW sega has no intention of changing their dynamic as of now. we're just having fun with the moments we're given. especially in recent media. why do y'all froth at the mouth over that. don't like it? just ignore and block.

and to be honest? as sonamy is now, it can be considered semi canon. like, give me a platonic explanation of the "amy, i should've made up my mind sooner" line in frontiers. IF sega decides to make them a couple, their dynamic still won't change. it'll still be very subtle except they're actually a couple now and you won't even notice it. and even then no one's stopping you from liking other ships. and if they are, well the block button exists for a reason.

"but the fanfics-"

i have my beef with old sonamy fanfics. but i have a feeling the people who made them were young kids and teenagers. i'll bet a lot of them have grown up now and have better things to do in life. now i hardly see any sonamy fanfic that villainizes sally or makes sonic an asshole for the sake of angst. the more extreme shippers from the 2000s-early 2010s should not be used to judge shippers today.

imagine if i used the sonadow shippers i encountered in 2014 deviantart, who were mostly allocishet girls who shipped them because they fetishized gay men, made both of them extremely ooc (anyone remember the terms seme and uke?), and of course hated amy for getting in the way of their ship, to judge the sonadow shippers of today who are now mostly mellow and enjoy their ship in peace, it wouldn't be fair now would it?

"the age gap is problematic!!"

most of the ages in sonic make no sense! there's a line in sonic forces where infinite claims sonic has defeated eggman for decades, and sonic's only supposed to be 15. granted using sonic forces may not be the best example but it shows how little sega cares about the ages. and now they've even been renoved from sonic channel. AND even ian flynn himself has said not to worry about pairings like sonamy and knuxouge because there's nothing wrong with them.

and i KNOW people are gonna take this to mean "so shipping things like s0nt@ils is okay now??" no, because tails is still coded as a little kid. sonic and most of the cast are coded as teenagers.

there's people who ship tails and fiona, and that's an actual toxic ship with an actual problematic age gap. but they don't get half the heat that sonamy shippers get.

"sonamy is a ship for the cishets"

really now? i guess my lgbt cars has expired guys. maybe that's a good thing because i was born and raised in a country where its illegal to be lgbt and my parents are kinda religious. and even the country where i'm originally from is pretty homophobic despite gay marriage being decriminalized. who knew all it took to solve those problems was to ship sonamy?? thanks guys.

do you see how stupid that logic is? a fucking ship doesn't determine your sexuality. i don't want to kiss women any less because i ship sonamy.

[underspell]

In Defense of Namshuri

{ contains spoilers }

After watching Wakanda Forever, I started to see the chemistry between Shuri and Namor. It started after Namor kidnaps Shuri and shows her his underwater kingdom. Besides the undertones of Hades and Persephone which attracted to me to the whole sequence is also how Namor tried to convince Shuri to become allies.

Just think about it, he probably plan this with Attuma and Namora to hunt down Riri, fight anyone who oppose them, but keep Shuri alive. Probably so he can give Shuri the royal gown he gave her and gift her his mother bracelet. A big gesture to give away something so meaningful from a very important person in his life. (and you can't have that big gesture without being brought up again in the future)

He later talks to Queen Ramonda telling her that he has her daughter and she requested to stay in Talokan, and that was a good deal for Namor as he didn't considere anything else in exchange. A manipulation tactic perhaps, but still an interesting exchange considering that to Namor the offer was a good deal for him.

It goes without saying that one of the factors that attract Namshuri shippers is the Enemies-to-Lovers trope, myself included. Now, let me say this from the complains I saw against the ship. One being their age difference. However, there was no uproar when Thor and Jane became a thing, in fact, it was a far more greater age difference between the couple than it is between Namor and Shuri. But we know the biggest turn off and alarming reason for others to not ship Namor and Shuri together is the fact that Queen Ramonda, Shuri's mom, died by the hand of Namor. Well, first of, for us who like the fictional relationship dynamics of Enemies-to-Lovers is that you can't have the 'enemy' and not commit to being the 'enemy/villain.' Otherwise it would be a Rivals-to-Lovers plot, and rivals don't cross that far the line to kill your family members without becoming your enemy. In a way, it is an extreme version of the dynamic in terms of drama and angst to elevate a relationship from rivals to enemies. So there's no point to argue about the morals of it, we know what it is, and we like the fictional possibilities of how the character can evolve, how the relationship of the two of them to change, and the multiple plot directions it can go from transitioning enemies to finalizing the story to lovers. And that to me, personally, it is an interesting factor.

That said, Shuri ended with nothing left. Her father gone, her brother gone, and now her mother. So she gave in to hatred and revenge, in the Ancestral Plane she meets Killmonger, the representation of her same inner feelings.

This is the start of her journey. She started with being T'Challa younger sister, she who scolded tradition. She had the comfort to be the scientist without the worry to be the ruler of Wakanda and become the Black Panther. That all changed when T'Challa passed away and Wakanda left without their protector. She was still under the care of Queen Ramonda who step up for the diplomatic duties, she still was able to hide away in her lab and not deal with the hurt of the reality that she would be the one to step in eventually. But that didn't meant it would be in the immediate future.

Wakanda Forever set up her growth from a genius, but still, 16 year old girl in the first movie to become the leader and protector of the most advanced and powerful nation. Her transition to force her to become a leader was due to the threat of Namor, no other could had done it. If it was in any other way, she could had relied on M'Baku, someone who had already experience of being a leader. The attack of Wakanda and the death of Ramonda was just the painful but necessary tools needed for her to face her responsibility and start her journey.

I talked a lot, going in circles without mentioning the reason of this topic. The defense of Namshuri. So let's talk about it, starting with the final fight.

She had full intention to kill Namor to fulfill her revenge, following Killmonger's influence. Even though she was distraught to see him instead of her mother or brother feeling left, we did not got an answer to his question:

"Are you gonna be noble like your brother or take care of business?"

We didn't see what she choose, but it was implied what was her answer. But one of the clashing ideas was exactly that in the first movie. T'Challa chose to forgive his father killer, Killmonger wanted to burn the world for his father death. Considering that the person we are suppose to root for and the one who won was T'Challa. Revenge won't solve anything, but bring more chaos, and the cycle of hatred as either side attacks in retribution.

Back to the fight, Namor is on the floor, defeated, Shuri has no other obstacles to give the final blow. That is when she hesitates and she hears from the Ancestral Plane Queen Ramonda.

That was Shuri deciding factor to give up her revenge, and mirroring T'Challa, forgiving their parent's killers.

So what was the defense? Ramonda herself telling Shuri to 'show him who you are." And who she is won't end in the final fight or in the rolling end credits, we would see more of Shuri and what she's made of and who she is. Ramonda herself, in a way, asked Shuri to not kill him despite of what he has done.

Enemies-to-Lovers means it is a slow burn, it won't be quick and it won't be pretty. They would go from enemies, to a hint of chemistry but still very much opposing forces, to the action/betrayal that sets the ball rolling for the conflict. There would be mistrust, hidden (and not so hidden) resentments, and anger. Shuri won't see Namor again with a smile nor I am asking to see that any time soon. Shuri won't see Namor as a trusted ally, if anything, reluctantly would seek his help only when it is necessary when she tired up all (and I mean all) her options and resources. Shuri deciding to spare his life did not mean she forgave him or that their nations are in accordance with each other. (Demonstrated when Namora questioned Namor on his decision to stop the battle.)

Enemies-to-Lovers means that there would be a long, long, long road ahead for them to trust each other. At least in trials and in very specific and strict circumstances. For this to work, there would be a lot of trials for Namor to prove to be a reliable ally. Not only for his nation but as his own person to prove to Shuri and her people. Eventually as they grow to slowly trust each other there would be more chances of them connecting the same way it was when Namor showed her his home.

One thing is for sure, thanks to the events of Wakanda Forever, Namor and Shuri are tied to one another. Namor said that once Wakanda is in trouble they would have no choice but to ask for his help. This can go both ways. Either him simply aiding Wakanda as a true ally or, in response to Namora questioning his decision to stop the fight, might be an underlying that by allies means a way to sneak into Wakanda again. Namora can too be a representation of how some people in Talokan feel. In the other hand, she spared his life and he can be grateful for that. It's the push and pull between them, and that's what attractive for Namshuri shippers.

[nothums-from-tj]

@cloudywithachanceofautism hi I can’t find it for the LIFE of me otherwise I’d reblog it so I know you made a post a while back saying that you saw this hc of Raph having extreme body dysmorphia after the Kraang brain swap and Shredder’s mind controlling and that you want it in a fic

Anyway so I have most of a fic on this concept it's just not ready yet, in the time being here's a scrapped scene from it <3 I just couldn't figure out a way to actually put it in the work as much as I love it so uhh here's Leo worrying abt his brother, takes place like a week or so after "Plan 10" (Kraang brain swap ep)

WARNINGS: mentions of a panic attack, low-key anxiety attack, sickeningly sweet affection from Splinter to his kiddo

T- and Hamato-c/st shippers you will be blocked on sight dnfi

Leonardo, being the little tattletale he is, tells Splinter about the breakdown once the others are in bed—once he knows Raph is, at least.

"I know you're trying to meditate," he says shyly, hesitantly stepping into the dojo, "and I apologize for disturbing you, it's...this is important. May we talk for a minute?"

Splinter opens one eye to look at him for a second, and sensing that his son is truly disturbed by something, he pulls himself fully out of his meditative stance to pay attention to his kid before gesturing for him to sit down next to him.

"It's about Raphael," the turtle continues after crossing the room, sitting down as his sensei suppresses a frustrated sigh.

"Was this something to do with his temper, or impatience, again?"

Leo shakes his head, swallowing hard and staring at the mat below as he gathers his thoughts.

"I...don't really know what happened, actually," the teenager confesses. "During the fight, he seemed almost...absent—as if he blacked out. We were fine—he was fine, he just...didn't seem to be in the moment—he hardly said anything, too. At the end, the Kraang were fleeing, and one was pinned under him, and that's when he sort of...'came to', I guess."

There's a pause as Leo seems to gather his thoughts some more. Splinter, quite frankly, isn't as shocked as he wants to be—he knows his second hatched blacks out semi-frequently from his anger, though a neutral depersonalization experience is one he hasn't seen in him.

With a calming breath, Leo carries on.

"The Kraang got free and caught up with the rest of them, though Raph didn't seem to notice. He was staring at the street, and he just looked so...terrified. He was shaking, hyperventilating—he started crying, Sensei. I'd...I'd never seen that in him before. I think his temper makes him black out, Donnie said he and Mike have both seen that kind of terror in his eyes, and that's just it, Sensei—we've seen parts of it, just not the actual scene that we saw today."

Leo looks up at him then, and the worry—the fear in his eyes is so intense Splinter almost wants to look away.

"Donnie thinks it was a panic attack. We don't know if something caused it, or what's going through his head, though he does think it might have to do with the brain-switching event last week. Raph doesn't want to talk about earlier, and Mikey said he's noticed some odd behaviors from him, and—I don't know what to do, Sensei."

The rat holds his son's face as the turtle blinks away tears pricking at his eyes.

"We don't know if this has been going on for longer and we never noticed it," the leader continues, "or if this is new and the Kraang is doing something to him, or—how can we save him if he's being attacked from inside?"

Splinter looks away while he gathers his thoughts, still holding Leo's face in one paw. After a few moments, he sighs again.

"The best we can do," he says solemnly, locking eyes with his son again, "is to keep a close eye on him until we have more information. We can not risk hurting him further, even if the intent is positive."

Leo blinks away tears again, looking down and nodding his head while his heart shatters for his brother.

"Hai, Sensei."

Splinter, frankly, hates seeing any of his kids like this. Leo, as the leader, is responsible for all of his brothers when they're out and about on missions, and he feels the same sense of failure said son is feeling right now. The city—the world needs to be kept safe, and he just wants to be able to keep his kids safe with it. Still, the most helpful option in the moment is to research and observe, so that's what they'll do.

His other hand reaches out to hold the other side of Leonardo's face, and pulls him closer as he leans in to give a gentle kiss atop his head.

"Do not blame yourself," he assures as he pulls back. "There is nothing you could have done to prevent it."

Leo nods his head again, feeling even marginally better than before. Silence passes between them for only another moment or so, then the turtle feels confident enough to cave into his father for a hug, which is instantly returned with another featherlight kiss on his head.

"Get some rest, Leonardo," Splinter says gently, and his eldest nods against him. The two share a smile when they pull apart before the teen sees himself out, hoping to actually get to sleep now that he's not bottling everything up.

[entropic-fantasy]

A frustrated ARMY's perspective on the fandom: Let's do better?

Intro

This post isn't as polished as I would want. My intention here isn't to hate or create division, and I don't aim to call out anyone in particular. As it says in the title: I am frustrated, and honestly merely want to talk with other people in the community about what is going on and hopefully create a space where we can discuss ideas as to what we can do to improve said community.

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Main Text

I have thought about writing something about the fandom for a little while now, but after this particular weekend, it felt more important than ever. For some context: I’ve only been an ARMY for a little over a year now, joining the fandom right before the release of Proof and just in time for that infamous Bangtan Dinner. That is to say, I have no knowledge of what the fandom was like before that point in time – and especially not before BTS became a household name for the mainstream media overseas.

My perspective is limited, but even with this taken into consideration, I am growing evermore appalled at the behaviours I have to witness online.

Let’s take a look at the events, both in real life and in the fandom, that was just too much to ignore: Yoongi’s latest concert in Seoul.

Famously, Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook (Vminkook) attended, and as expected, the fandom was excited. Which is completely justified – them coming to support Yoongi was speculated on, and seeing them arrive creates hype of course. The turning point, however, was when shippers got involved.

Now, I don’t have a particular problem with shipping as such – I myself am not completely free from it even though I am now actively trying to dial back/remove myself from it – but a line has been crossed, and this isn’t the first time.

When it’s suddenly more important who arrived in a car with whom, who interacted more, than the main event itself (aka Yoongi’s concert), people should take a step back and evaluate their priorities. Especially, when it turns into the starting point of disgusting name-calling and unfounded attacks against the very people they claim to be fans of. And no: no-one here was the better sub-group. It’s not okay to accuse members of “using” one of their friends for PR purposes, and it’s not okay to accuse members of “forcing” their affection onto one of their friends against their wishes.

To put it shortly: are you out of your mind?

Now, of course members of these sub-groups will rush to defend or deflect – saying “oh, that’s just some of us” or “but they started it” or “that’s just solo stans” – but at this point none of this matters. As long as these sub-groups don’t manage to regulate themselves in their safe-spaces, cultivating an atmosphere of respect and love – like BTS actually stands for – there’s no hope for the fandom in its entirety. The “us vs them” mentality will continue to spread, these sub-groups only growing if not in numbers then in ferocity, and that is actually scary.

What they’re doing is trying to create a “canon” for the relationship between real people whose private life we are and should not be privy to. Most if not all of that canon is conjecture and opinion by fans – yes, there’s what some might call evidence for certain intimacies between members but as long this “subtext” (for the lack of a better word) doesn’t turn into “text”, going on a crusade for or against a ship to the detriment of BTS as a whole is insane.

To add my two cents:

No one in BTS is overstepping boundaries with another member. They have been brothers in all but blood for more than a decade. More importantly, they have practice in addressing problems within their group and great rapport because of that. Why would we as fans assume that there is anything fundamentally changed in their bond just because we don’t see them interact as they did before? Just because it suits a narrative doesn’t make it factually true. Yes, BTS are in another phase of their lives right now – a time of much upheaval and change – but like many friends that go through times of physical separation, they are more than able to still be brothers while doing their thing.

Neither BigHit nor Hybe are conspirators to force members apart. They are not showing real preference to one member-interaction over another – that’s not how contracts or business work. Do they engage in fanservice? Yes. They are a company, they know what creates the biggest buzz online and thus know what to highlight when it comes to the interactions between members. Emphasis on highlight. The members still do all the interacting themselves, and no-one needs to force them into doing anything. The only jobs the editors have, is finding the moments that create the most coherent video and make fans happy. Also, the notion that BTS are that constrained by their company is a bit silly – especially Jungkook has shown us how little he cares for the rules they do have (aka alcohol consumption before/during a live-stream and sleeping on stream, both of which are legitimate rules for both moral and capitalistic reasons).

No other company for that matter has any actual insight into the relationship between members, especially not one like Dispatch who does not have the same moral obligation to BTS that BigHit and Hybe have but DO have a monetary interest in them. Anything they post is not confirmation but a clever move by their social media managers that very well understand who the biggest sub-groups in the kpop fandom are.

Clothes mean nothing. We have seen on multiple occasions that various members have the same items, be that from promotional material they were sent as part of an endorsement or just personal preference. Any parallels in dress are just coincidence at this point. Especially for their official schedule appearances where we once again don’t know the details of whatever endorsements going on. That goes for colour schemes as well as accessories like bags.

To sum it up a little bit:

The only people who are overstepping are ARMY, and yes I am including everyone in this. As long as those of us who consider themselves better for whatever reason don’t step up, this is a fandom problem.

Pitting the members against one another, accusing them of paedophilia, sexual harassment of one another or manipulation of their friends for their own benefit is plain disgusting. Sending threats, spouting hate and vitriol online where it’s not impossible for the members to see? Again: what the fuck.

No one is the hero here – no one wins. All that will happen is ARMY as a whole losing whatever good opinion BTS still has of us. RM might not have meant this “discourse” when he said the fandom changed, but let’s not be naïve and think it isn’t a factor. We are, as fans of a kpop act, incredibly privileged in regards to the content we get to see. But instead of appreciating that privilege and using it for the good of the whole band, the focus gets always yanked towards three people who don’t want that and did not ask for that. The maknae-line is not the main character here, and they don’t want to be.

It breaks my heart a little bit to think that them visiting their best friend’s concert, celebrating his and their success at what is easily the highest point in their careers yet, turned into an excuse for their fandom to tear each other’s throats out. And that is just me, an individual so far removed from the real-life situation my opinion doesn’t have any bearing on it.

Imagine for a moment what Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung would feel if they knew the muddy and disgusting lengths their fans go to in order to “support” a relationship that might not even exist. They deserve better, and we can do better.