#I mean yeah yeah I get it it's fiction and we're all entitled to our own perspectives and those perspectives are not a moral failing

[just-another-misfit-lunatic]

These kinds of interpretation absolutely baffle me. Why do we, as a fandom, see an abused, hurting, struggling, vulnerable man, who clings to his humanity and tries to protect everyone around him in a world that doesn't make sense and is trying to actively KILL him, and immediately jump to a conclusion this man is... weak and pathetic?

Why? Because he was abused?

Because his bodily and psychological autonomy were violated in every sense, and he could do nothing to stop it?

Because he got addicted and dependent on something he didn't choose or want, had no control over, and had no choice?

Because he got addicted to statements and trauma and the Eye against his will and was actively starving himself? Because starving himself made him physically weak, tired and prone to collapsing?

Because his health was failing?

Because he was hurting every minute of his life?

Because he tried his best to resist the powers and it made his pain WORSE?

Because, despite his fear of vulnerability, his highly independent nature and exterior aloofness, he was deep down a deeply vulnerable, hurt man?

Because he's a victim of abuse, and he couldn't do anything against his abuser?

Why, can you explain to me, WHY do you call Jonathan Sims pathetic? Do you really think people who are victims of abuse and violation, people who are suicidal and depressed, people who are chronically ill, people who struggle with physical and mental health problems are?

[thelunastusco]

Also, like,

Regarding the whole "I'm not saying you shouldn't exist but I am saying you should be ashamed you do and your system should actively strive to make sure your existence is closeted so that it doesn't spread to other people because god knows fictives can't stop talking about themselves" kind of attitude,

We're not a popular system. We don't have a lot of friends, systems or singlets. We don't have biological family. We don't have co-workers and we don't really engage with community meetups or anything like that. We don't talk about ourselves all that much on our social media or in private. There's maybe five people (bodily) we'd consider good friends, and only two in our lives currently who we'd say know us intimately, one who isn't even part of the people-we-consider-friends group, lmao.

This isn't a poor me thing. Would we like more friends? Sure! Would we like to be more involved in the community? Yeah! Have we accepted things as they are? Pretty much. It is a "so where's this planet where fictives get to be seen for who they are?" thing.

We feel like most people, even systems, don't and wouldn't accept us as we are. We're older, we're reclusive, we're mostly fictives and a solid majority of those fictives are villains or grey moral types, we're adamantly proship/profic, we don't care what people do within their own system as long as no one is being harmed, and overall we just refuse to give a shit about origins or dx labels. It's just not a thrilling combination of traits for an increasingly younger + more sanitized community.

And usually, that's okay. But it does mean that once we pass from this world, there will likely be no one left who remembers us as we really were. It's a bit of a saddening thought, especially considering we're ALIVE and PRESENT on tumblr and people already get us so, so wrong sometimes, lol. (If we see one more "well they're endogenic in denial of their trauma" thing we're gonna start biting people.) We wish we could leave some little (positive) thumbprints, but also we're a system of over 700 people. And eventually, most people in history are more or less forgotten, we're not special in that regards.

But it also really goes against the idea that systems with fictives just can't stop talking about themselves or their sources. Even the people who know us better than anyone else in this world, don't know about everyone here. We just don't talk about things or people or sources unless it seems relevant. And even the people they know well, hate talking about themselves more than necessary.

We already closet our own existences.

And we shouldn't have to. No one we care about is forcing us to, but society as a whole tells us to shut up, keep your head down, don't share too much about yourselves. Pretend you don't exist. Don't be open, certainly not loud, about who you really are. And we're not the only system in the world like this. Some systems are bold and brave enough to be super open about who they are, and what they're about. We admire them. But if we had to guess, most systems are more like us, where we have maybe a handful of people who know us well.

Shame is a given as it is. The world as a whole doesn't even accept us as real. Most systems with fictives couldn't get MORE in the closet if they tried. Like, even if fictives turn to fandom spaces where they might be recognized most, (a) most fictives are different from canon and fandom perception, (b) some singlet people in fandom can get eerily entitled to a fictive's time and attention or get super creepy/intrusive with it, and (c) fandom is ultimately a sandbox where people play with their fictional Barbie dolls as a means of coping/escape and the presence of fictives can, sometimes, make things really uncomfortable for people. Valid. We, ourselves, don't want to take that away from people.

But fictives are then left to hide themselves and their identity. It's still a heavy, isolating feeling. The only time fictives really get to open up are to understanding friends, or systems who accept fictives; sometimes there's still this chasm because not all friendly singlets or systems will understand who a specific fictive is, where they're from, and who they are as a separate entity from their canon source. (And most don't have the time to sit and consume the source media + ask follow-up questions just to get a better idea, though hands down that's one of the most romantic things someone can do for a fictive in our opinion, lmao.) It's a lot harder to manage than some people seem to think. Especially in this age where there's so much disconnect and a lot of people in general are struggling to make/maintain deeper connections.

So where is this idea coming from that fictives talk about themselves so much? That they just can't help BUT talk about their source/s? That they have SUCH pull that they should be held responsible for the spread of the media source they're from?

Because as far as we can tell, it simply isn't a thing.

Why would it be, when most of the world isn't listening?

[vintage-bentley]

"Fruity" isn't even the worst of it. They've graduated to calling themselves f*ggots now.

Every time I see that, I KNOW it's a larping straight girl, and I wonder if she knows that every gay person who lays eyes on her blog wants to slap her in her "he / they achillean transmasc" face.

I don't even care if it's not feminist of me to say so, at this point. I just want every one of these girls to know that we may not say anything, but every single actual homosexual she encounters is thinking "fuck you, you stupid bitch". We're too polite and / or sick of the drama to say it, but make no mistake, that's how we feel.

Beneath our silence is a deep, deep well of disgust.

I’ve seen that, and it upsets me so much. It’s so insane that “fruity” took off as just a funny word to say online. Even without the derogatory history, it would still be homophobic because to find the use of “fruity” funny, you have to find the idea of a man being gay to be funny and not just a neutral and natural thing. But nobody even stops to think about that! They just find it so fun to mock gay men every chance they get.

So because of the complete ignorance to the homophobia of “fruity”, I’m really not surprised to see more and more women throwing around the f slur like candy. It really disgusts me that so many straight people are so comfortable being openly homophobic, and get to hide behind “teehee it was just a joke! And I’m a nonbinary transmasc gay dude so it’s okay!”

Although some of them don’t even hide behind a trans identity. They think that identifying as “queer” gives them a pass to all homophobic slurs and derogatory terms. Even if “queer” to them means “greyromantic heterosexual” or some bullshit.

This is probably an unpopular feminist opinion, but I really don’t care about being all kind and nice to homophobes. I don’t care if they’re women. If a woman or girl is running around calling every gay man—real or fictional—she sees “fruity”, and calling herself and others the f slur, yeah I do want to slap her. I do want to yell at her and tell her she’s a disgusting ignorant homophobe. I do want to shake her and tell her to stop treating homosexual oppression like a fucking playground.

I see a lot of feminists talking about how we have to approach these women/girls with kindness and patience because “oh, they’re just misguided and have so much internalised misogyny”…but the truth is that no amount of internalised misogyny results in homophobia. Maybe it results in internalised lesbophobia, which is why I feel less anger towards trans identified homosexual females. But it does not result in thinking it’s fun to use homophobic slurs as a heterosexual. Maybe it results in wishing you were a gay man, but it does not result in having enough ignorance and entitlement that you actually believe you are a gay man and demand that everyone play along.

Homosexuals are absolutely exhausted. We are tired of the constant homophobia from all sides of the political compass. We are tired of telling conservatives that we aren’t perverted sinners, and then having to turn around to tell liberals that we also aren’t weird quirky queers. We just want to be left alone. Many of us simply don’t have the patience anymore to take a deep breath and be nice to the people who are making being gay so tedious right now.

“Beneath our silence is a deep, deep well of disgust” is such a wonderful way to put it. I wish that every trans identified homophobe understood this. That gay people aren’t silent because we agree with them: we’re silent because they’ve forced us into silence with their power as the heterosexual majority. And we’re angry about it.

[petit-papillion]

Personally I think a true Charlos fan would have been completely over the moon this weekend with the 1-2, and not have had any time to spout negativity with the massive amount of C² content fed to us!/

I feel like most charlos fans are not really charles fans as well.

They are fans of carlos and they are fans of the ship. I think it's because charles is very "shippable" in the sense that he have chemistry with multiple drivers he interact and he's also very good looking which certainly helps.

But when it comes to charles as a driver, they barely acknowledge him. And they will always side with carlos no matter what.

I think after carlos leave ferrari we're gonna see a big change in some "charlos" and "ferrari" fans who claim to "love both drivers" and honestly is going to be a big relief to have less of them in charles tag

To be honest, I think it's really hard to be a fan of 2 drivers who are in direct competition. You're like one of those parents with a child on competing football teams - you root for one to win means you root for the other to lose..

I admire true Lestappen or Charlos fans who can somehow find that balance between joy for one and disappointment (or sadness/anger) for the other every race weekend. Also very impressed by their level of delulu, but that's another story.

It will be interesting to see how things go after Carlos is replaced by Lewis. Both how C² fans are likely to change, as well as how LH and CL fans get along. Of course, we are all entitled to change our minds - I've seen C² fans shift to Charles or Carlos alone and that's fine. I used to like Carlos more than I do now. And I like Lewis a lot, but who knows, that may change once he becomes Charles's teammate.

I do agree with you: Charles has great chemistry with just about anyone he meets, and (if I wa sso inclined) I could write some serious fan fiction about the way he has looked at anyone from Jean Alesi to a random guy he met at indoor karting. If people want to ship him with their fave, that's up to them, but yeah, it doesn't necessarily make them an equal fan of both drivers.

[fatalism-and-villainy]

@overripethighbones:

YEAH, this. and tbh I think the assumption that liking specific media means something about you underlies a lot of fandom tension and the feeling of betrayal some people have when they turn out not to automatically get along with everyone in fandom. There’s somehow they expectation that we are all fundamentally alike, similar people because we like the same TV show, and that is just. not how it works.

Yeah man. I've been thinking a lot about this for uhhh... a long time. Probably since before I got deep into Hannibal. And I honestly have many many tangential threads I could go on relating to this topic that I've been trying to narrow down.

But I think first of all, that tonal undercurrent of betrayal is a big part of what I find exhausting about fandom (perhaps especially on tumblr) right now. The sheer pervasiveness in the style of expressing disagreement with a certain perspective with this tone of anger and entitlement... yeah, I don't care for that. Part of being in fandom, for me, is about cultivating a sense of curiosity about other perspectives - why interact with other fans otherwise? I'm a pretty opinionated person, and pretty firm in my convictions, and there are certain approaches that I'm never going to vibe with, but it's because my view is so singular (as are most people's!) that that curiosity is necessary. I'm never going to find anyone whose sensibility completely overlaps with mine, so if I'm going to interact at all, it requires some grasp of the concept that, wrt relationship with the source material, people are different from each other.

I also think one frustration I have with this "well why would you even like this canon if you don't like this central aspect!" mindset - and I wrote up a post on this topic awhile ago, that I've been meaning to reblog and bring back around - is that what people perceive as being "central" or "essential" to the text varies considerably from person to person! Not in the sense that one can never make any more objective analytical claim as to which textual and thematic elements are more central to a text, and which are more ephemeral or not engaged with at all. But in the sense that... well, for one thing, most texts worth engaging with are pretty multifaceted, and analysis and critical approach pretty much requires zeroing in on one of those facets. One can never engage with literally every single essential element of a story. And for another, everybody carries their own perspectives and their own interpretative lenses with them at all times. Most of us have some sort of subjective overlay we're inclined to use for our personal engagement with stuff, or certain elements we're inclined to latch onto and amplify in our responses that others might not notice at all. That diversity is part of what's intellectually engaging about both fandom and criticism!

For me personally, for example, regarding Hannibal as a piece of media - I'm not a huge horror person. It's not its frightening or disturbing qualities that put me off, it's just not remarkably compelling as a story structure or bundle of critical concerns to me at the moment. The same is true for gothic fiction, although to a lesser degree - I have some interest in the gothic in the sense that a lot of film noir (a genre/style I do love) was influenced by it, and because a lot of the applications of queer theory that interest me engage with gothic tropes and narrative structure in some way. But I'm not especially drawn to gothic fiction for its own sake. I can recognize that Hannibal is a work of gothic horror, and that its engagement with that genre is a significant aspect of it. But I do not believe that one has to be a fan of that genre to "understand" Hannibal, or that one is "missing the point" of the show for not personally being drawn to that particular quality it possesses. (In fact, the question of why someone who doesn't normally like those genres likes this particular work that falls under those headings is, in fact, an interesting critical inquiry that's worth following through on, rather than snidely dismissing!)

Regarding what does appeal to me about the show - this will be a non-comprehensive overview, but: very stylized and avant-garde visuals, and an awareness of the expansive possibilities of the visual medium and visual storytelling that so few TV shows possess. Applicability to queer theory stuff that I'm invested in, like camp, decadent literature and the aestheticism movement, queer epistemology, gothic doubling (there's the gothic!), etc. A strong ensemble cast with lots of well-constructed and nuanced parallels between different character dynamics (one of the show's under-discussed strengths, imo). A primary ship that appeals to my id in a vast number of ways. ...Yeah probably lots of other stuff I'm forgetting about.

I think all of those things are absolutely relevant to what the show is doing, and what its thematic and artistic concerns are. (Yes, even the last one - the interpersonal dynamic between the show's main characters, and how its erotic undercurrents are implemented, are ripe for serious analysis, and have received it!) Yeah, these points of appeal are pretentious as fuck, because that's who I am as a person, but that's also the point - you cannot actually cleanly separate out what the "point" of a piece of media is from personal and subjective investment in it. I'm not missing the point by focusing on what interests me about it - what has continually interested me about media in general.

And I think this failure to understand how multifaceted and idiosyncratic everyone's approach to stories is, to some degree, also produces the idea that people can just transfer enjoyment from one work to another work that shares certain attributes with it. A lot of media that gets touted as being "like Hannibal" has been vastly disappointing to me, or has entertained me without prompting the same sort of love and creative investment. Conversely, when I think of media that has absolutely thrilled and delighted me, made me revel in what storytelling as a whole is capable of, in ways that feel similar to the feelings Hannibal instills in me - the first thing that comes to mind is The Insider (1999). It has absolutely nothing in common with Hannibal, outside of it being directed by Michael Mann of Manhunter fame, but it gave me the same sense of awe as to what the filmic medium can do - the attentiveness to its visual composition, and its operatic soundtrack, elevate it far above the bare bones of its story. See also Barry Lyndon (1975), which, like Hannibal, has so many frames that are pure works of art (they literally look like paintings! how!!).

Idk man. Art is complicated and has lots and lots of moving parts. The same is true of people. You can't guarantee anything.

A meme is not that deep but I do really reject the idea that it's possible to simply list television shows that will allow people to get to know you. All people know from a list of your favourite shows is that those shows resonated with you or were enjoyable to you in some way! Watching the shows wouldn't clue anyone into what you specifically liked about them, or what values or interests or aesthetics or ideologies of yours they reflected, because what people take from media varies wildly from person to person.

[stayarmytinyzenmoa-l]

Prominence [WCh. 2.70]

Social Media AU ; Idol AU ; Added Unit AU CW/TW: Language Genre: Comedy, Romance Pairing: NCT x Idol!Reader, Seonghwa x Reader Y/N Pronouns: Female (She/Her) Word Count: 3.2K

(70/80) [First] | [Previous] | [Next] [NCT Masterlist] | [Other Groups Masterlist] | [Prominence Masterlist] | [Prominence S2 Masterlist]

Notes: Hehe…. more angst Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in these actions. The idols mentioned in this work are meant to be seen more as face claims rather than the actual idols themselves.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!! Thank you for reading!

26 February 2022

Yangyang woke up slowly, his eyes still heavy from staying up so late the night before and every limb aching from sleeping on the floor. He tugged at his pillow to turn over, but when instead he heard a groan, he backed off immediately.

"Dude, get off of me!" Yangyang pries Mark off of him.

"I should be saying that to you!" Mark groans. "Ugh... I can't feel my arms," Mark pushes up on the bed to stand. "(Y/N), are you-" He stops.

"What's wrong?" Yangyang sits up.

"Where... where did she go?" Mark's face drops into a frown. Yangyang shakes the grogginess out of his face.

"Oh no," Yangyang stumbles when he stands up. Grabbing one of the stuffed animals that had mascara wiped all over it. "Aww... poor Yuumi," Yangyang frowns.

"You're worried about the cat plush? We have to find (Y/N)!" Mark freaks out. The door opens next to him, Xiaojun standing there with his arms crossed and face mask freshly applied.

"She went with Kun for a walk," he says.

"Oh, thank god, I was so worried," Mark's shoulder slouched.

"I know. The walls are thin," he says. "Oh, and by the way, 'You're hot, why wouldn't Seonghwa want to date you again?' is not the right way to console a woman, Yangyang," Xiaojun shakes his head and Yangyang face heats up and Xiaojun closes the door.

"Do you think... do you think I was too harsh last night?" Yangyang asks. Mark shakes his head.

"I'm going to be honest, Yang, I don't think (Y/N) even remembers a lot of what you said. And even when she does, I think she kind of needed that. You know (Y/N), she's too stubborn, you really have to sit her down and give it to her cold for her to finally acknowledge things," Mark says.

"I mean... but still," Yangyang says. "I made her cry."

"She was already crying!"

"But still! I feel like a shitty friend!"

"You'd be an even shittier one if you didn't say anything, though. Just think of it like an intervention," Mark says. "Plus, she was sobering up around that time too, so she'll probably remember soon. If it wasn't us who told her that, it probably would've been someone else. I'd rather her hear that from us than from, god forbid, a police officer or anyone else," he says. Yangyang sits down on his bed, thinking back to last night.

"Yeah, you're right about that," Yangyang falls back, allowing himself to bounce on the mattress. He grabs onto the pillow and screams. "She hates me!"

"She doesn't hate you!"

"Oh my god, our friendship is ruined!"

"She probably doesn't even remember any of it!" Mark tries to console him.

"What about our blood pact, Mark?!"

"Our what now?!" Mark's jaw dropped and Yangyang reaches under his bed, pulling out a piece of paper with hastily drawn scribbles all over it with three fingerprints stamped onto it that were very obviously blood. "When the hell did we do that?!" Mark gasps. Yangyang holds it up to his face and squints, trying to make out the illegible writing.

"You know what? I have no idea," he frowns.

"What does it even say?"

"I can't really read it, but I think we're entitled to each other's first borns," Yangyang says with uncertainty. Mark's face remained in a state of shock.

"Man, if that's the worst that our drunk charades have gotten, then you have nothing to worry about last night," Mark says. Yangyang shoves the contract back under his bed.

"Yeah... you're right," Yangyang yawns. "I can't believe I let her take the bed, I should've made her walk back to her room, now my back's all jacked up," Yangyang twists uncomfortably and Mark chuckles.

"She needed it more than we did," Mark sighs. Yangyang could only nod, trying to salvage his messy bed.

Mark was right, he just said what you needed to hear, and if he was lucky, you'd remember it subconsciously at least.

~

Four hours earlier.

"Yeah, I knew she wasn't going to sleep," Yangyang watched you pace around his room, hands squeezing each other while you muttered incoherent things to yourself. Yangyang's hand flew up instinctively to catch whatever you threw at him.

"Get out of my room!" You shout.

"This is my room!" Yangyang gasps. "Why would you have a roll of toilet paper in your room?!" He argues. Mark shakes his head.

"Not the best argument, Yang," Mark grimaces.

"Seriously? I'm a guy!"

"You're disgusting," you flung a bottle of lotion at him next, something Yangyang quickly dodged.

"Okay, well, if I'm going to get lectured, I at least want you to be sober when you do it," Yangyang walks passed you and lightly pushes you on the bed. You dramatically sprawled over it and turned to Mark.

"Mark, did you see that? He hates me."

"He doesn't hate you, (Y/N)," Mark handed you a water bottle and you sat up.

"Why can't drunk you mistake Mark's room for your room for once? Why's it always mine?" Yangyang whines.

"Because I hate the 127 dorms!" You shout.

"Hey! What's wrong with my side of the dorms?" Mark asks.

"Doyoung is there!" You screamed into a pillow and, once it falls onto your lap, you stared at mark with the utmost seriousness. "He scares me."

"So you're not afraid of a literal stalker but you're afraid of Doyoung?!" Yangyang's jaw drops.

"That's different! I can't call the cops on Doyoung!"

"Why are we calling the cops on Doyoung?" Mark interjects.

"We're not! He just doesn't like me and I don't want to deal with that because it's not my problem!" You explained. The two boys stared at you and you scoffed. "Go away, I'm tired," you muttered, pulling the comforter over your lap.

"You're in my room! Go to yours!" Yangyang throws a pillow at you, but you quickly swat it away, its trajectory instead landing on Mark. "Mark! No! Baby, what happened?!" You cried. Mark only sighs.

"(Y/N), you're drunk, go to bed," he pushes you down gently, but his hand quickly retracts when tears well up in your eyes. Before he could move away, you latched yourself to his waist and Mark instinctively hugged back. "Is everything okay, (Y/N)? What happened out there?" He asks. Yangyang rolls his chair closer to the two of you, a comforting hand on your back now.

"I'm sick of everything right now," you blabbered. "I'm so sick of it. No one used to like me, everyone used to hate me, the hashtag '(Y/N)Out' trended weekly on Twitter then all of a sudden I have a stalker?" Your words were almost entirely slurred. "It's just not fair, Mark, what did I do? What the hell is this timing? Why is everyone blaming me for it?" You frowned. Mark just pat your head.

"Hey, come on, it's not your fault, (Y/N), none of us are upset over something you can't control," he says. "(Y/N), this is on the company to handle, they're the ones managing you."

"It's not that simple! This has been going on since I debuted! You may not be upset about it, but everyone else is, Mark! The company keeps saying that they'll handle it but then it just gets worse! I'm so sick of it! I breathe and people get pissed! It's just so horrible! There are so many horrible things about me that everyone's saying, but none of them are true! Jeno's like a brother to me, I can never see him romantically! I don't even have the skills to seduce anyone, alright? Seonghwa asked me out first, not the other way around! Hell, I wasn't even friends with him first, that was all Wooyoung! Keeho and I have known each other for years, Yeonjun and I just met, and I only happened to be in the same room with other guys! I've never bullied anyone in my life! I'm not lazy, I just can't dance in skirts as short as the ones they give me, alright? And I'm not a clutz either! I genuinely don't know where any of those stockings I used went, or any of the makeup brushes, or ribbons they put in my hair, I even use my own paycheck to get new ones! And I most certainly do not kill kittens!" You rambled. "Imagine, imagine, if I involved anyone else, it would just get worse for everyone's reputation, so it's better if everyone would just let me handle it," you insisted.

"(Y/N), did you not hear a single thing I said earlier?" Yangyang asks.

"Oh, you're the one to talk! I went out for dinner with you and Mark once before Photograph was even announced and people were calling me a prowling harlot while they were babying you both on Twitter," you argued. "Seriously! It was even your idea!"

"Geez, (Y/N), this is why we keep telling you to stay off of Twitter!" Mark steps in.

"Even if I salvaged my relationship, what if Seonghwa just hates me more now? I overreacted so much for no reason and I hate thinking about it because it's embarrassing!"

"Oh my god, (Y/N), you're hot, why wouldn't Seonghwa want to date you again?!" Yangyang insists.

"You think I'm hot?" You ask.

"That's not the point right now!"

"And, besides, what does the opinion of strangers on the internet mean in comparison to ours, (Y/N)? Your actual friends," Mark's voice, for the first time, had gotten louder than his usual comfort. Your lips sealed. Yangyang takes a deep breath.

"Look, (Y/N), I know it doesn't seem like it, but we get it, hell, we probably get it more than anyone else," Yangyang says. "What we don't get is why you're dealing with it on your own. You have Saeron and the others, you have Mark and I, and... I don't know what the hell is going on with you and Seonghwa but I'm pretty sure you have him too, there's no need to beat yourself up about any of those rumors. You know they're not true, we know they're not true, why does anyone else's opinion matter? It's just bad luck that it all happened after your breakup, but even then, you're both talking it out now, right? There's nothing to be worried about," he says. Mark hands you the discarded roll of toilet paper and you pushed it away.

"Don't touch that, Mark, who knows what Yangyang did to that," you mumbled.

"Oh thank god she's back," Mark buries his hands in his face. "Are you sobering up?"

"The world is blacking out around me."

"Oh my god, what did you drink?" Yangyang's shoulders slumped. You threw your arms open and beckoned both of them to come closer.

"Ah, what the hell," Mark hugs you first before dragging Yangyang to join.

"I love you two so much," you sniffled. "You're both like brothers to me," your voice wavered.

"Yangyang... what stage are we at?" Mark asks.

"The last one, she should be passing out soon," Yangyang whispers.

"I can't wait to take your first borns."

"What?" They both turned to you, but you had already fallen asleep, your head knocking against the wall behind you.

"Well, I'm sleeping on the floor tonight," Yangyang removes one of your limp arms from his shoulders.

"I'll stay here too just in case. She likes me more when she's drunk."

"I wonder if that's like a thing?" Yangyang pulls the comforter from under you and places it on the floor.

"I think it's more of a she hangs out with you more and me less thing," Mark shrugs.

"Sure, yeah, let's go with that," Yangyang stretches out over the floor. "Shit, the things I go through for this girl, (Y/N), you're lucky we're best friends."

"She's not going to remember any of this, is she?"

"Nope."

That should've been the end to that conversation, but, as Mark digested and went over everything that had been happening these past few days, and how could he not? It's been bothering his close friend for ages, how could he not worry? Two things suddenly stood out to him, and slowly everything started to fall into place.

"Hey, Yang?" Mark looks up at the ceiling. "You don't think..." Mark looks at his phone now, going through a specific set of messages with his stylist. "You don't think this and that are related, right?"

"Mark, a lot of shit happens, please be more specific."

"I'm talking about the missing items from the stylists and Kyungjae, dude."

"Oh, shit, dude," Yangyang props himself up on and elbow and he and Mark look at each other. "You don't think that Kyungjae's the one taking them, do you?"

"I do, I think it has something to do with those crazy messages (Y/N) has been getting too," then, as if the devil heard, your phone buzzed above them. It was only out of blatant curiosity that Yangyang grabbed it, the unknown number sending you multiple messages at once of the same topic.

'Just leave. The group's better off without you.'

"Geez, how many of these has she been getting?" Yangyang clears the message from your screen and places it back on the charger pad. Then, in that moment of silence, Yangyang gasps. "I've connected the dots."

"You didn't connect shit," Mark shakes his head. "I did."

"We've connected the dots!" Yangyang scrambles on top of his bed and shakes you. "(Y/N)! (Y/N), wake up we found out who's stealing your shit!" He shouts. You placed a hand on his face and shoved him away from you, Yangyang promptly landing on Mark.

"Don't piss off the sleeping beast," Mark groans.

"We'll tell her in the morning later."

~

Six hours later

Winwin listened with intensity, trying his best to picture everything in his head. His hand was pressing against his temple while the other one held his phone up.

"Well, any questions?" Xiaojun asks on the other side of the phone. Winwin hums.

"Uh... yeah... Who's Kyungjae?"

"Hyung, he is literally the antagonist of this whole story!" Ten sighs on the other screen.

"Just give me a second! It takes me a while, okay? And who's Wooyoung?!"

"Oh god," Xiaojun brushes his hair back with his hands. "Kun, you tell him the story." Kun looks away from his computer and to the screen.

"Hey, I'm just here to fact check, you're the story tellers."

"Okay, wait, wait, hyung, what do you think about (Y/N) and Seonghwa getting back together?" Xiaojun moved closer to his screen.

"Well, it's not much of my business, but if they're happy together then they're happy together? Sure, I think they should probably work some things out first, I think Seonghwa might be hiding something still, but that's a bridge they'll cross when they get to it," Winwin shrugs.

"So you're team YNSH," Ten says.

"Team... Team what?"

"We need better names for these," Ten rolls his eyes.

"Hyung! You need to be team YNYY!" Xiaojun shouts

"Team... YN... YY?" He asks. "(Y/N) and Yangyang?!"

"Yes!" Xiaojun throws his hands up. "He's our junior! We have to be on his side!"

"Oh my god, Dejun, YNYY is dead! That was so last season!" Ten scoffs.

"Let me dream, Chittaphon!"

"Okay, okay, break it up you two!" Kun says sternly. "Winwin still needs the finer details explained to him."

"Don't worry, I got this," Hendery grins. "So, basically, (Y/N) has a mech-"

"Shut up, Hendery!" Everyone cut him off.

"Where are you guys sourcing Seonghwa's side of this story anyway?" Winwin asks.

"Oh, I have my sources," Ten says. "Very reliable sources that don't want to be named."

"That's even more worrying," Kun shakes his head. "And... Ten have you been typing this whole time?" Ten freezes.

"No."

"Oh my god, you're taking notes!" Hendery gasps

"I have clients too!"

"(Y/N)'s private life is not meant to be sensationalized!" Kun scolds.

"Ugh, I'm changing their names anyway!" Ten sticks his tongue out.

"Good god," Kun shakes his head.

~

Elsewhere.

The sound of a keyboard clacking was the only thing that filled his ears. A cup of coffee steamed next to him while he looked between the two monitors as well as the files next to him. Pictures, text receipts, audio transcriptions, he had enough to build a case but at the same time not enough for a hefty conviction. Not to mention a motive, but is there ever a stronger motive in sasaeng cases?

Not to mention, the items stolen are essentially borrowed items, none of which actually belonged to you. Hard to build a case around that as much as he'd want to.

He answered his phone as soon as it rang.

"Is it enough?" The feminine voice asks.

"Not necessarily," Kanghoon sighs. "I'm sorry, I know you're paying a lot for this. Are you sure the company isn't doing anything, Saeron?" He asks.

"I keep asking, and the answer is always that they're working on it."

"I don't even want to know how you got most of these."

"Let's just call it undercover work."

"Infiltrating a sasaeng group chat is hardly undercover work," Kanghoon sighs. "I'm just surprised you found out my line of business so quickly."

"You're not very private for a private investigator," Saeron says. "Besides, you can't tell me that you weren't already looking into this." Kanghoon pauses. Sure, maybe he did look into a few things after your breakup scandal, but it was only to make sure you were alright. Naturally, any investigator would be concerned about malicious messages. "Is there anything I can do to help?" Kanghoon looks over at his third monitor.

"Sure, there's a Twitter account that's been standing out to me, maybe you could leak a thing or two about it on your 'private' account, looks like you've amassed quite the following."

"Which one?"

"Looks like you may have interacted with them before, the @ should be 'I know how this works' no capitals and no spaces."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Saeron sighs.

"Does (Y/N) know you're doing any of this?" He asks.

"No, this is all my own doing," Saeron answers. "You must think it's over the top, don't you?"

"No, not at all. You'll be surprised how often my agency gets requests like yours, we usually turn them down but... well, she is my sister."

"Right, thank you so much for your help, Kanghoon, I mean it, I owe you one," Saeron says.

"It's nothing... just make sure she's alright for me, yeah? She didn't look too hot when I ran into her."

"I can do that for you, thank you." With that, Saeron hung up. Kanghoon placed the cigarette between his lips, lighting it without another thought, and took a slow drag.

"All of this just to be an idol, what's even the point?" He wonders aloud. "Is it even worth it?" He continues. How could he forget how tired you looked earlier? It was heart wrenching. He opened your texts, finally clearing out the '100+' notification on that icon and did a brief skim through all of them. The light at the end of his cigarette burned brightly.

Maybe it was time he stepped in.

General Tag List: @stopeatread @bat-shark-repellant @raeincitizen @umbralhelwolf @yangsrose @kazooms

NCT Tag List: @cherrylovr @minjiville @resonantcherry 

Prominence: @leesalts @jcngh0-hq @kpopslittles1ut @marsophilia @zwiehe @uzumakioden @mythicalamphitrite @w4yh0me @dear-dreamie @samsemsame @lune1897 @billboard-singer

If you want to be added to either tag list or removed just send me a reply to this post, and ask, or a DM and I’ll add you as soon as possible!

[ophiuchus-interactive]

Originality, Criticism, and Entitlement

After joining the IF community, I've come to see (and experience) the accusation that there are IF writers who steal, copy, or even plagiarize another author's work. I'm going to explain why throwing such accusations around is harmful not only to the accused, but the community as a whole.

This is also an explanation as to why they're incredibly stupid criticisms, and unless there is actual, direct evidence that the work is being copied or stolen, it is not, as such "critics" want to call it, "ripping off" anybody.

(Long read)

Star Wars (1977) is considered by many to be the world's first real blockbuster, with such sensation and hype that even over thirty years since its original release date, it reminds a key figure in our pop culture and media today. In every form or fashion, Star Wars was groundbreaking in terms of cinematic storytelling and movie-going experience.

But Star Wars is nothing new.

George Lucas, the creator, has discussed many times over the years just how precisely the world of Star Wars came to be, and its origins go back much, much farther than you think.

George Lucas claimed that the idea of Star Wars was inspired by Flash Gordon serials, a comic book series that was turned into a TV show in the 1930s. The famous title crawl that appears at the beginning of every Star Wars movie?

Look familiar?

It is also a pretty well known fact that the Galactic Empire and Rebels, along with the battle scenes within the movies, also take heavy inspiration from WWII. Stormtroopers are German Gestapo, the X-Wings and TIE Fighters are inspired by WWII aerial combat: https://youtu.be/msb8OdvBBjU

There is a clear right and wrong that is written into the Star Wars universe, and that most assuredly comes from the material and real world events that George Lucas was inspired by; serial comics and shows of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, leaned heavily into black and white morality. This is why superheroes from that era like Superman or Batman were originally written as static characters. "Superman is invincible, that's not as interesting as the X-Men struggling with their place in society!" Well, yeah, that's because Superman was meant to be nothing more than a comic book character that allows children to act out their power fantasy- "you can't make me go to bed, mom! Superman doesn't go to bed!" etc. etc.

But Star Wars has inspiration that goes back even further than the 1930s. It goes back to ancient Mesopotamia.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the world's oldest and most notable form of literature that we know of. It is an epic that describes the heroic journey of one Gilgamesh, told in five parts. This is the earliest known example of what is known as "The Hero's Journey" in literature.

If you have any knowledge of the first movie of Star Wars, you're well aware of the story beats that you can read out in this diagram, as well be able to distinguish the similarities it has with The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Does this mean that Star Wars ripped off The Epic of Gilgamesh?

No. It doesn't. Because even though the story shares similar story beats, and features a black-and-white morality, a sci-fi space opera is a far cry from ancient Mesopotamian gods battling with each other. George Lucas didn't read the epic in school and decide "ah ha! I know how I'm going to make money!"

He was inspired, and he took that inspiration and created a multi-billion dollar franchise that millions love across the globe. He wrote that story and directed that movie, he put in the blood, sweat (lots of sweat- they filmed in Tunisia) and tears to make something WHOLLY NEW, and yet in some ways...similar.

Humans are very complex creatures, and our brain loves nothing more than finding patterns in things. Why is there such a thing as the Rule of Three in literature, a rule that dictates the satisfaction the reader gets when a story has a plot that occurs in three parts? Why is there traditionally only three acts? It is, simply put, satisfying. This traditional three-part structure often times creates stories that may look or feel similar simply because of how it is structured. This is not copying. This is a literature technique that humans have been using since the beginning of language itself.

And this is why I have such a problem with the people suggesting that authors are "copying" popular works- no one solely invented story beats, no one invented the supernatural fiction, no one, singular person, solely created the concepts that we are using today. No one. Not a single thing written is wholly original.

Originality is overrated. We are products of our environment, our culture, our media we consume- if an IF writer has a story with vampires and other supernatural creatures, and the MC is a detective attempting to solve crimes, was that invented by the very popular Wayhaven Chronicles by Mishka Jenkins? No. Vampires in media are nothing new, detectives in media are nothing new, and if they so happen to exist in other stories, what of it? Did Mishka invent vampires? No. They're a cultural phenomenon that has existed in multiple civilizations at once. Did she invent detectives? Obviously not.

Mishka was inspired and so were countless of other IF writers to write a story that involved the supernatural. These IF writers may have similar story beats, they may have similar themes, but that does not make it copying.

You know what makes Star Wars or The Wayhaven Chronicles or any other form of entertaining media great? Innovation.

It is how the authors tell the story, and why it is being written that creates such vast differences in genres. Star Wars isn't The Epic of Gilgamesh because its just "in space", it is the magnificent, innovative storytelling behind Star Wars that makes it so unique in our minds. The cinematography, the storytelling, the dialogue, the acting- all of that hard work into making something worthwhile and good is what makes it so unique when comparing it to other media that feature the literary use of "The Hero's Journey".

We all have something to bring to the table, to tell our stories that have a piece of us inside them. They are influenced by our laughter, our tears, our horror, our love, our rage or terrible indifference. They are influenced by our passions, our delusions, and they are written because we wish it to be so.

Are all impressionists copying Monet because he popularized impressionism? Are all artists who paint in similar styles copying off of the one who created the style in the first place? No. They're not.

To accuse IF authors, particularly the INNOCENT ones of copying others is an unbelievably insulting and ignorant statement that disregards the author's creativity and free will to write whatever the hell they want. If all you have to see out of a story is the basic, bare bones elements to it, then allow me to speak for all IF authors out there and say:

You're missing the fucking point!

We've all put our hard work into not only LEARNING a coding language (which, surprise, not ALL of us know and have to spend HOURS figuring out) but we've learned a coding language to create a game for other people to enjoy, and we'll be damn fucking lucky if we're able to get any money off of our work that we have put in it.

This criticism becomes a form of entitlement real fast, as if a reader has any say as to the pace or way an IF story (or any art for that matter) is written.

Most of us are doing this because we love the idea of putting our work out there as an IF fiction for fun. Some of us have to work jobs, some of us have complicated lives that demand constant attention, some of us wish to do this as a living, but all of us?

All of us deserve the courtesy of being a creator that is sharing their work with the world.

The next time you decide to accuse an IF writer of copying another person, ask yourself if it's legitimate plagiarism or you're just someone who doesn't have the capacity to consider that literary themes, tropes, cliches, and genres, are not the same thing as "copying".

[epickiya722]

It sucks now that in fandoms, people can't be critical of the media they're consuming or the character they like.

We're entitled to have our opinions and it's okay to disagree with them. However, it's not okay to tell someone their opinion is invalid and harass them about it. To think some people are so pathetic enough to tell someone, "How can you like this character so much when you judge them so much? You need to take '--- stan' out your bio. If you don't like how the show is going, why don't you just drop it?"

Um... who are you to tell me I can't claim myself as this character's fan? Who are you to tell me how I should feel about this plot or this scene or anything?

What if the show I make so many critical posts about is still my comfort show and still interests me? What if the character I adore makes mistakes that just don't make sense and I have to rant about it?

Look, I have my fair share of fave characters. Does that mean I think they're absolutely flawless? No. I will probably have that "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, YOU IDIOT?!" moment. However, that doesn't me less of a fan.

For example, I adore Midoriya with all my heart. That's my baby, my ray of sunshine, my precious one. But even I want to yell at some of the things he does. Does that mean I suddenly hate him? Does that mean I can no longer be a fan?

No. That just means I have feelings and have every right to express them.

Bakugo is another one of my fave characters, but I did think he was a bully in the beginning. I have my least favorite scenes for him. However, I still think he's a fun character. He's entertaining to me. Yeah, I want to bonk him on the head, stop being such a gremlin child, sometimes. But again, doesn't make me less of a fan if I feel that way and I won't let anyone tell me different.

Sure, sometimes, people do lose interest in a character and that's okay, too. Interests can change.

And even if that person no longer stan a character or is critical, what it doesn't mean is for you anons to go into someone's inbox and tell them to take something out their bio or they shouldn't be a fan of that character. You have no right to dictate someone's opinions and feelings over FICTION, something there to entertain us.

It's getting ridiculous!

Again, if you disagree someone, that's okay. But if you have an urge to taunt them in their inbox, keep it to yourself. Do keep in mind that your harassment is not needed AT ALL and NEVER WILL BE. For one, it's fiction. Chill out. Two, you don't know what that person is going through in their life.

There is no media out there without flaws. There is no character without their flaws. This isn't just for BNHA, but for everything out there.

Plots will go out of whack, characters can frustrate us, details can go missing. We are allowed to be critical of it. Some criticism, not all because some isn't necessary, helps artists and writers to do better. Shoot, it even fuels fanfiction and fanart because we may wish this should have happen or it's a ship we need more of.

Regardless of how someone feels, it's not your business to tell them they can't be a fan of a character if they say the character did something they shouldn't have. It's not your business to tell them they can't like the media if the plot doesn't make sense sometimes. It's not your business in any way of how someone perceives some fiction. If you don't like it, just don't interact.

[captainshadowgirllostfan]

How about posting your own posts instead of expecting others to give it to you? Do you have a lot of stuff then, by all means, share?

We're a quiet bunch. I guess we all must come to you for our opinions huh? As if Tumblr isn't made to do that in our own blogs.

If I have an opinion, I will post it on my own blog or reblog from people who share that opinion, thanks for the offer though.

And again am I someone whose calling themselves a general Naruto opinions blog

I post about a lot of stuff

And yeah right from the start I'm a Sasuke fan

You're clearly a Sasuke hater. I have no reason to send you posts

Unless it's something attacking my character, in which case I'd reblog. I send submissions to blogs I admire and have good worthwhile content. Yours doesn't, especially since it's borrowed content and one you clearly either don't take the time to read or care or you agree with those takes which you've sort of admitted, so thanks for that. You can't call yourself unbiased and then point to me and say it's the pot calling the kettle black. I don't do what you do. I don't ask for submissions from other people and then claim I have no responsibility for those submissions because they aren't MY opinions. And then claim that you aren't silencing anyone because you don't get submissions well why do you think that is when you have accusations out there framed as "opinions"

You malign a group, you aren't gonna get submissions from them and they aren't entitled to give you any sort of submissions

I'm sorry I don't support you nor want you popular. You've given me no reason to want that

And I will bitch in my own blog if I want. I'm not complaining to you. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't because you cut off replies since it got so heated. A Sasuke fan who sent you something claimed you didn't post their "opinion," which you finally did in answering my reblog

Yes, you do have a responsibility, especially if it's a lie that maligns other people characters. I don't care about fiction. But people are something else. And considering the number of death threats people have been getting, you're endorsing that by spreading lies.

But no, I guess if they didn't do it in the past, we don't have to do it now. Run the blog the way you run it. Tumblr won't do anything because Tumblr has never done anything. Not unless it gets to a higher up or become a bigger issue which considering it's small niche along with lack of control in social media where people can post whatever they want, we won't be seeing that anytime soon.

I will continue to post anything I want, too, including criticizing the way you run your blog. Or maybe I'll stop. Bad press can be good press.

But don't act entitled like I gotta send you submissions or that I can't have opinions in my own blog. Especially the way you run yours and claim it's for the Naruto fandom. Please.

I'm putting this out to vent because I need it laid out, especially since it's pretty obvious from the Naruto opinions blog which side they're on. That blog has had so much Sasuke fandom hate that legit has no basis to it. It feels like legit lies, and it attacks our fanbase, particularly, which I find nefarious. To talk about a fanbase and claim it to he racist without any sort of receipts is a humongous accusation and I have half a mind to want to report if not for the fact that I know Tumblr won't do anything about it...perhaps I will. Idk. But this accusation is not an opinion. It's an accusation and if you clearly have met someone like this, someone who has racist takes then perhaps you should report them instead of putting it on a blog that claims to be an opinions blog and generalize an entire fandom or a portion of them to be like this. We are not racist. I know many POC and black fans of Sasuke, and nobody I know has ever thought, claimed this sort of accusation and opinion on Killer Bee. Hell, this opinion of Bee being an aggressive black man has got no basis in the manga/anime! He is the most chill black man there is! If anyone said this, they would literally laugh!

EDIT: After writing this, I decided to report that post. It's literally a libel post against the Sasuke fandom. There is literally no basis to it and OP wants to pretend it's an opinion about general experience. If you got a bad experience be more specific and what's more report them or call them out. It's really that simple! Everybody's experience is not the same but to make a general statement that bottles almost half the fandom as "racist" just because of one or two bad experience is literally... defaming the fandom! I'm sorry it is!

As a POC, and when you say something like that, do you have any idea how unsafe, hurt, and angry can make some people participating in the fandom? You don't put something like that and call it an opinion because it's not. It's an accusation verging on defamation against a group of people just because you had what one or two bad experiences with people.

I've had some bad experiences with people in other fandoms. You're not gonna hear me claim that a fandom is this or half the fandom is this just because of that one or two experience! I'd be attacking an entire fandom that way with an accusation that had nothing to do with them

This post is NOT the only post that has been accusing and posting lies about the Sasuke fandom. It literally mocks the Sasuke fandom for rightfully being angry. You can check the blog right now. It's the most recent post on its blog.

Right after the moderator of said blog posts that it won't be putting any more replies because it's gotten "heated"

Because God forbid someone is angry at you for posting libel and calling it an "opinion".

I mean, omg, you got pushback for literally stating that there's a group in a certain fandom that is racist and think "oh this is just gossip?"Oh, I'm just saying my opinion or talking about an experience and saying yeah the entire fandom is that way."

And the negative Sasuke posts keep coming because I looked back at it again, and there's clearly an anon there with an agenda against the Sasuke fandom. And nowhere there is a defense against this. The other side apparently has no say on this blog. And by other side, I mean the Sasuke fandom. OP closed replies because it got heated.

and tbh there's rarely a positive post about any of the Naruto characters, certainly not Sasuke, in a blog that is called the " Naruto General Opinions" blog. What is so general about this blog? It seems to side heavily on one opinion over the other. Right after posting a negative Sasuke fandom post that accuses the fandom of racism, anti-blackness, and micro-aggressions of black people with the baseless claim that Sasuke stans say that Killer Bee is an aggressive black man which I have seen that absolutely no where and even the claim of Killer Bee has no support in the manga so why would anyone say that? But right after posting that, they won't be putting any sort of heated replies because, again, people got anger, why? This person posts about Sasuke "bad decisions" as if characters aren't allowed that, and we all gotta stand perfect characters who do pretty much nothing.

Basically, we should all stand Hinata since you don't get a more inoffensive character than that, right?

Also what is anon talking about? You think we're angry at people criticizing Sasuke's decisions. People have been criticizing Sasuke's decision since day on. Hell the post creates another falsehood about why Sasuke stans are angry.

Y'all called us racist and anti-black. As a POC, Idk whether to laugh or be angry at such baseless claims and I'd again rant about why but I've probably repeated myself a number of times on why I feel like that post is nothing more than libel especially since OP wants to pretend that it's an opinion of an experience that a number of times could've been much more clearer but isn't, and defame an entire fanbase as that way.

OP wants to pretend they care about safe-spaces but they do not. Their lack of clarification and the majority of their anon posts of "general Naruto opinions" being basically negative, not just to the Sasuke community but to many character fanbases such as Sakura, Hinata, Naruto etc tells you everything. And it's the fanbases that are generally attacked and mocked. Never anything about the characters.

OP has a post pinning Sakura and Hinata against each other...

Is it any wonder people think the Naruto fandom is so toxic?

In writing this vent, I relooked at the blog and found yeah I agree with some of the takes the blog has but as a Sasuke fan who feels very attacked, especially when a majority of posts about Sasuke are negative in a blog that claims to be about general opinions of Naruto, I can't help but sympathize with Sakura and Hinata fandoms and any other fandom that has been criticized. How ostracized they must feel when there's a blog claiming to be about general opinions of Naruto, but it's about them...

Like opinions are not...general. A majority of us don't share the same opinions. We're all different and we absorb and express content in different way. While annoyance and irritation of how some people absorb and express content is valid, it's quite something else to post these opinions in a blog that claims to represent the general Naruto fanbase.

And even if the majority do feel the same way...is it fair for the minority to be excluded? Is it fair to have one blog be the space of "opinions," especially when the majority are nothing more than toxic angry anti takes

And again, some of these anti takes, I do agree on...but I'm going to be honest, I will never reblog from them because no way do I think my opinion is just a general opinion especially when it excludes a group of people in the fandom who may not agree. I will reblog from blogs that have similar opinions to mine and backs them up with evidence.

If you have these sorts of opinions, post it on your own blog. A general opinion blog is honestly not necessary...it's clear everyone has different opinions about different things... I mean...it's Tumblr. Unless sourced and backed up by proof, it's just an opinion.

But opinions can be hurtful and verge on to seemingly defamatory when opinions feel like falsehoods, especially when it's not backed by proof. I've looked, and many others have looked to see where this claim of Killer Bee being an aggressive black man comes from, and...it's nowhere!? And OP will not ask or show proof because apparently it's an "opinion about an experience.". If you're gonna put baseless accuations of opinions there, I'm gonna tell you what that's called. It's called libel. Spoken, it would be slander. And all of it is just defamation against an entire fanbase who likes a character you don't like.

And as the moderator of that blog, which frankly I find them questionable and toxic in many ways, they have a responsibility to ask for clarification because spreading lies about a certain fandom base is not right. It's not. Clearly, the blog is very biased, but it verges on harassment and abuse and a hate campaign against an entire fanbase of a character they don't like.

Like I don't think I'm over-inflating, this becomes I personally feel like my character has been attacked by this. I don't write metas or analysis. I've been thinking about it... but it almost feels like both OP and Anon want to silence an entire fanbase because they just don't agree, and they do so with this slander!

This isn't just about the Sasuke fanbase. This is also about every fanbase in the Naruto community. Racism is serious so if an accusation is made, we have a responsibility to answer it and separate ourselves from that or at least if we've engaged in such behavior, to better ourselves for other members in the larger Naruto fandom.

This is just a rant I needed to get out, but I'm deciding to take action. I've had some friends that have been hurt and have seen some defamatory statements online about the Sasuke fanbase and I will no longer stand idolly by. It's one thing to insult and criticize my character, you are entitled to your opinion, but when someone is attacking my character for liking a character they don't like, expect some pushback.

I came into the Naruto fandom because I like Naruto, the manga, and anime. I didn't come in to be harassed for liking a character you don't like. Feel free to rant about it on your own blog, but the moment you spread lies, especially on a blog that claims to be a blog about "general naruto opinions"is the moment I can't stay silent about this.

Okay, I'm gonna end my rant here. I've wasted enough time thinking and writing this, but I mean it when I said, I've had enough when lies start coming into the picture.

EDIT 2: I've decided to take out screenshots because I'm unsure if I should put screenshots. It could be wrong or taken wrong.

[fireemblems24]

I am so glad you pointed out the imperialist vibes Edelgard has sometimes. As someone who lives in a country who was basically occupied ahem conquered because they said "we have better ideas that will improve your lives" and had our culture absolutely shattered, one of the main reasons why I disagree with Edelgard so much is because of that. She thinks her point of view is superior and the most morally right and I really don't like it whenever she sounds so confused about people defending their homeland. Especially that one line she has with Dimitri in Chapter 17 ffffff—

Like, girl, they have the fucking right to disagree with you please stop sounding so confused as to why they can't see eye to eye with you gahhhhh

I would be more tolerant with the war if she had say, did diplomacy before it? But she tried to had Dimitri and Claude killed in Part I (the prologue). I would also understand her better if the war was a last resort and the other leaders were corrupt and all that. But they're not. Many of the students (who have power because many are noble heirs) outside her house are heavily affected by the nobility and Crests (Sylvain, Ingrid, Mercedes, Lysithea, etc.) or at least understanding of the problems caused by them (Dimitri). It's so frustrating how so much of this can be prevented if she just talked about it.

Also, to those who said she wants the change to be quick, even with war it won't be. The fucking war basically caused continent-wide damage. It's going to be so hard to actually fix this. Hell, there's definitely going to be an eventual rebellion by former Kingdom / Alliance people or sympathisers. It's not going to be as clean cut as the game or some pro-Edelgard people make it to be. Not everyone is going to agree with her, whether she takes over or not. She just destroyed the stability of the continent and while yes, she can rebuild it again, it will still take time and who's to say future leaders won't be corrupt? Also, a hierarchy will always exist, whether she likes it or not. Especially if she plans to set up a meritocracy. Meritocracy is going to usually end up giving power and privilege to those with already pre-existing privilege as they the opportunity to show off their merits or develop those skills. Poor and disabled people are going to have difficulty as they don't have equal opportunity to develop skills and accomplish stuff. I'm generalising, but it just ends up as a hierarchy, again. Not only that, it also has ways to enforce discrimination.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, she needs to long term plan out her systems. I apologise since I have bad memory but as far as I remember, the game doesn't give us too many details on how she wants to establish her system. All I remember is she does the war > Church / Rhea out of power > Establish her government > ???. Someone please clear this up for me because I'm confused.

...and again really, diplomatic reforms are an option. Yes, they're much more tedious. Yes, they take so much more longer. Yes, sometimes it feels impossible to accomplish. But did she not even consider it as an option?

All in all, I do like Edelgard. But I really wish the game let us go against her while we're with her? I wish it wasn't just general "agree with Edelgard" for CF. I remember someone pointing it out to me before that it would've been really great if she had someone in her house who does the same role Felix does in AM... which is basically disagree and call out the lord's shit. And they pointed out Ferdinand could've probably been that character for CF. And I kinda agree? I really think CF would immensely improve if Edelgard had a challenger / foil to her beliefs similar to how Felix does that for Dimitri.

Anyway, sorry for the very long ask lol. I like Edelgard and I agree with some of her morals and ideals such as the crest system being bad but....she's done so dirty asdfghjkl. I do think she's written well enough to incite these emotions in me, and she makes for a good antagonist. As a protagonist lord however.... yeah.

First off, sorry it took so long to respond, but I wanted to give an equally throughout response. 

While I haven’t gotten to chapter 17 yet, I can attest to the notion that Edelgard’s rhetoric is eerily similar to Imperialist propaganda. I do understand this is fiction, and that it’s okay to hand-wave/enjoy things in fiction that you shouldn’t or wouldn’t in real life. Crimson Flower has its charms and parts I enjoy. Edelgard is an interesting character more hampered by things that plague Three Houses as a whole than anything else, but it’s still worth examining how dangerous her rhetoric is. Because, unlike you, my country sits at the opposite end - the Imperialist nation selling that rhetoric to its citizens, and, unfortunately, at the time I bought it - which makes me really sensitive to this. 

I’m from the US and I’m specifically speaking about the US’s invasion of the Middle East. I was in middle or high school, just barely a teenager, and naive and ignorant enough to believe what my leaders said. Because guess what? I bought into it out of misplaced and ignorant (and racist) compassion. I was horrified at the idea these people were suffering unfairly just because of where they were born whereas I got all these promised privileges just because of where I was born. I really thought the US would go in there and give them democracy and everything would be great. Looking back, I realize they were lying, that we’ve only made things worse, that it’s horribly racist to assume the US was just inherently better, and I’ve sense then gained access to fast-speed internet, traveled, matured, etc . . . and thankfully this all happened before I had any actual power to do anything like vote. But to this day I’m beyond pissed off they used my own compassion against me to line their own pockets. It was ignorant and racist, but it was all based in concern that others didn’t have the same quality of life I had and a growing realization of my own privilege. And that’s what I hate so much. It didn’t sound evil. It sounded good. It used people’s good will and compassion against them and twisted it into evil for their own causes. 

I don’t think Edelgard is after Faerghus and the Alliance because she wants oil. I think she honestly thinks she’s doing good. And, if this were real life, I think that makes her rhetoric even more dangerous than a corrupt politicians’.  Because everything else is still the same. She’s being ignorant, nationalist instead of racist in this case, and honestly thinks her moral superiority will improve everyone’s lives even if it means ravaging the entire content in war. She is dangerously naive and ignorant. 

Maybe I’d support her more morally if I believed for an instant the general populace welcomed the changes she wants to bring, if the leaders she fought against weren’t open and wanting change themselves, ect . . . But the dialogue indicated her presence inspires people running and screaming in terror, not welcoming her presence (see the chapter where you kill Claude). The Kingdom is still fighting tooth and nail against her. She’s not supported. Her changes aren’t wanted. And she hasn’t bothered to learn a single thing about the cultures she’s determined to squash under her heal nor the leaders heading them. 

I also think I’d support her better if we had a clearer idea of what her plans were. But CF has shifted from Edelgard speaking about interesting ideas and classism to evil dragon overlords and chastising Byleth for making her blush. The decision to side with her or Rhea is not choosing between two ideals, but an emotional, spur of the moment thing. Edelgard’s early supports with Byleth attempt to convince the player to side with her not based on political ideals, but on feeling sorry for her. 

CF gives you no choice but to agree with everything Edelgard says (as you said, there’s no “Felix” or a “Lorenz”). It wants you to support her war without question, and therefore you don’t get any answers to questions like - if this is really just about Rhea, why are we invading the Alliance? Because they won’t hand power over to you? Why didn’t you just stick to the Empire to enact your changes? In the end, you’re left with what sounds more and more like an entitled Imperialistic princess with absolutely no idea how ignorant she is hell bent on conquering what she thinks belongs to her based on a conspiracy theory. 

All that said, I do think Edelgard has interesting ideas and isn’t wholly wrong, just how she goes about it is horribly wrong. And I fully believe the core issue is how CF has dropped the ball big time writing wise, because diving deeper into her ideas and not her crush on you would go a long way. So would shifting the narrative away from evil boogey dragon lady must die and everyone else is wrong and I am superior and right and more towards a clashing of ideals, this route could’ve been a lot more and seemed a lot less ignorant, naive, entitled, and Imperialistic. 

[0aurelion-sol0]

SNK 134: Why we need to move forward.

Well...

That's horrifying...

Oh but whatever they are probably bad people in there. Thieves, greedy people, hateful mothers, men who beat their wives , liars, bullies, killers, murderers, rapist, child rapist and racist babies.

Yeah...

This is a rhetoric that has been used for ages and is currently being used in this fandom especially on reddit and 4chan.

The justification of injustice.

When George Floyd was slammed on the ground and died because he couldn't breathe anymore, conservatives and republicans at large ignored the police brutaliy leading up to that.

He was just a cocaine or drug addict who one day pointed a gun at a pregnant lady. So he was a criminal and deserved that.

Of course ignoring the racial segregation that happened from the very legalized slavery hundreds of years ago and how poor and racially stigmatized black people are being in America right now.

When the Uyghurs are being genocided by China, the world blinds itself because China is one the worlds necessary assets in economy as it basically produces a good chunk of what is being used in the world. Most made by children, " but it makes us live "... Apparently that's the only logical reason...

When Palestinians and Israelis are literally killing each other over some complicated non sense that no one ever really understands and also Israël basically doing Apartheid at this point,

When the totality of the Middle East has turned into a warzone because of the United States's violent imperialism,

When most far right or extremist group decided that Islam and Islamic terrorism are the same thing,

When xenophobes and racist always attack immigration,

"If she wasn't wearing that skirt, she probably wouldn't have been raped",

When we have homophobes, transphobes, LGBTphobes, telling us what's natural and always bragging about "\___-_-___/ God, Holy Jesus",

When you have people who tells you that poor people chose their way of living when there are a small percent of billionaires and soon to be trillionaires having such a gigantic amount of wealth,

When 6 millions Jews were genocided which was 40% of Jewish people at the time and 2/3 of European Jews,

When the prime minister of Israël is saying that the Holocaust wasn't Hitler's Idea but Haj Amin al-Husseini, (who was extremely anti semitic, don't get me wrong)who suggested it to him maiking the prime minister a revisionist but at the same time making his actions against Palestinians justified,

When around the world Christianic places of worship are being vandalized,

When entire SYSTEMS of segregations have made societies work,

When the South American continent has been attacked by the United States because of different political beliefs,

When people use their rape as a way to attack other communities of a specific religion or color,

When Black Panthers uses racism against White people because of the story of USA and are being anti semitic but essentializing a whole group,

When Nationalistic Israelis tells you what is a good Jew and what isn't a good Jew,

When dozens of groups have been forced to extinction,

Natives who were being murdered, yeah? YOU DON'T SEE THAT A LOT IN YOUR COWBOY MOVIES ?

When literal "feminist" calls for the destruction of men while they can't educate the kids about what to do and what not to do, OH, can also be transphobic apparently,

When you have entire websites who encourages pedophilia,

And pedophiles killed, left alone and live a life of endless torment while no one does nothing to help them and fight those who encourages it even in the highest places of our society,

Oh and Hollywood, that's all I need to say.

And let's not even talk about animal brutality and the destruction of ecosystems.

And there is more and more and more and more and more and FUCKING MORE,

All that because of reasons, reasons, reasons, reasons,

All stuck in a cycle of hate, violence and discrimination that just never ends.

The selfishness,

The greed,

And at end, everything is meaningless. There is just blood.

This is what this chapter represent the meaningless of it all. How everything goes to shit...

How everyone, whether it's the oppresor or the oppresed, will justify the violence, the injustice.

Society does nothing cause society right now runs for the entitled and the entitled only and creates it's own monsters.

I want to ask those people who defend the rumbling.

After everything we saw in this manga, after what the real world has commited, after how much these real events have inspired this story, how can you say it was the only way ?

After everyone hided Hange valuable informations including Eren who had information about KRUGER who was a spy in MARLEY. Who has created a civil war in Eldia and activated the rumbling while killing Eldian civilians in the way.

After seeing the mental breakdown of Bertolt, who we don't hear about anymore, Annie and Reiner's mental breakdown over GENOCIDING AN ENTIRE GROUP OF PEOPLE, by the way Reiner totally didn't develop another persona at that time to cope with what he was doing, HUH ?

After all the deaths, Carla, Grisha, Dina, Faye Marco, Levi's squad, Ymir, Erwin, Sasha, Hange, Hannes, Floch and many others, how can you go and be like "CHAD EREN, BEING DADDY, FUCKING HIS MEAT WAIFU, PHILOSOPHER FREEDOM SEEKER"

"104th crybabies... xDdDDDD Prfrpfr"

Come on...

This isn't serious at this point.

And for the H character, we're gonna come back for her but...

GODDAMNIT!

THANK YOU, DEATH.

This has sparked debates.

Some are thankful for this speech by the commander.

Others are finding it disingenous.

Others think it's too on the nose and not natural.

Others don't care.

On my part, I enjoy it but I take it with the context. Most of their airships have been destroyed and they are facing their doom upfront right now. It's more of a death plea at this point. Just like in the cave with Histor... GOD IT'S SO HARD SAYING HER NAME... with Historia who said truly horrible things at the point of an imminent death. At that moment, words like this can tell what you really are inside but even that is not enough to have a full picture.

It did have some interesting elements.

It is true, using, raising, breeding hate and shoving problems upon a group will always come bite you up the ass someday.

Marley in their extensive and violent coloniaslistic, imperialiatic behavior towards Eldia creates only weaknesses for them on an international field and create this monstruosity that is right now Eren.

Eren, a soldier who suffer from trauma and PTSD, who has terrible insecurities and everything to lose after losing so much and possibly in my book being influenced by another entity decides to kill them all.

But...

In no way does that justify Eren's actions, in fact it goes against it.

He is just as angry and hateful as they were back then but instead of destroying the system, he decides to genocide.

Essentializing the whole world as your ennemy and problem, and deciding to get rid of it is just continuing what has been started and continued for hundreds of years before.

No one ever thinks about the simple families, the innocent children, the homeless...

What about them Eren ?

What about the people who faced discrimination like Ramzi ?

What about the other groups that are almost extinct just like yours ?

What about the groups that tried to support the Eldians but were considered freaks ? HUH ?

What about the babies and innocent children ?

Isayama is even spelling it out for you this chapter.

Is he not worth it ? To stop all this ?

He was born into this world just like every other baby.

Look at that while everyone, is trying to jump off, their trying to save the baby. Even if it's probably impossible. That's humanity right there.

And... jesus christ...

I literally saw people who said that the mother was dumb to give it to the people because titans were behind them.

I can't even...

Imagine if Eren is the daddy of H's Baby and that he completes the genocide, killing his friends or even persuading them and at the end he is saying you are free to this baby.

So this baby is worth more than this baby ?

He is more legitimate to live than him.

I can't even imagine what the arguments would be like with the Eren stans:

"He's protecting his friends."

While literally challenging them to fight and right now trying to kill them.

"Well, you know the Rumbling is horrible but they got what was coming for them. They did nothing to help Paradise."

While forgetting the complexity of human nature, how banalization of these acts of violence have come to be BECAUSE...

These just like me and you are just simple people. With simple lives and not too much power who can't do anything about it.

Most of the people today sees all the suffering in the world, they just don't have the power, nor the will to go against such complex geo-political conflicts.

Would you be able to just resolve the Israelo-Palestinian conflict ? I don't think so, so shut your ass down with this argument.

These people can't change the world with power that they have and the one that has the power to change that, is killing them right now. BRAVO.

" Well, uh, the child is a child, parents might be racist and uh... child maybe is racist or will become racist..."

God...

Just because someone has done horrible shits or is an horrible shit doesn't mean he should die like this.

Here it is people, how we work as human :

Fuck redemption and possible solutions, let's kill everyone who did something bad.

Y'all would have been perfect during monarchies time.

And like... having an argument on a baby should face genocide is just fucking disgusting.

AND DON'T GIVE ME THE BULLCRAP OF FICTION DOESN'T EQUAL REALITY!

That you are interested into what could bring the Rumbling in terms of thematics and story is fine.

BUT ENDORSING IT ?

Do y'all even hear yourselves sometimes ?

You just sound like every racist, bigoted, fascist and violent person that has ever existed.

You're just excited to see someone die because he commited something wrong, sadistic pricks.

You're no different. Perhaps the guy who was talking to Grisha in chapter 97, who was a Marleyan and gave serums to Eldian is right. When he was talking to Grisha, Isayama use it to break the fourth wall and talk to the readers.

Why do we watch this, all this violence ?

" Because it's fun!"

" People take peace for granted!"

" Of course we're abnormal in society's eyes."

" We wish to exterminate all eldians!"

" Your sister did nothing wrong. Shame she was an Eldian!"

The fun fact is that this guy is a racist fuck but he dies pushed by Kruger and killed by his very own creation: a titan.

Why do people endorse genocide ?

" Because it's justice!"

" They got what was coming for them!"

" Isayama is just showing us that genocide is not really wrong if you just understand the concept of morals. Puritans."

" Humanity can die, they deserve it!"

" I'm sad for Ramzi, he didn't do nothing wrong but you know... maybe he didn't have good ideas about Eldians."

While also saying why children could deserve genocide. \____@-@____/

Of course I found most of these on Reddit and 4chan, the nazi propaganda website. Tumblr is a little free of it.

Babies....

Literally babies...

That remind me of somethin'...

OH YEAH!

QUEER NO MORE.

*put gloves on*

PUUUUUUUSSHH!!! COOOOOOOMMEEE OOONN!!!!

Breathe...

I SEEEEE THE HEAAADDD, IT'S HEREEEEEE!!!!

Natalie, bring the bucket, quick!

Of fuck she shitted on herself a little bit!

_________________________________________

So ?

Y'all like my fanfic ?

It's about how Erehisu is canon and how Historia is actually thinking about Eren right now because she is blushing.

But also about how Historia actually looks good and sexy while being pregnant and how she looks so happy!

She also is a lesbian that turned straight.

I'm so proud of my work.

_________________________________________

In all honesty...

This is... dissapointing and an insult to Historia fans. Why ? What is the purpose or the reason ? Being tragic ? To show how far Historia can go to protect her loved ones ? A female Eren so ?

I always leaned towards the fake pregnancy even if I don't know how something like that could be really pulled. I didn't understand this choice for his storytelling. The others I understand but this one...

O_o

What the fuck ?

So she really is pregnant ? But nothing leading up to it makes sense.

The character whose thematics still rings too much true for this arc is put in the background and as a breeding farm on top of that.

It even came to a point I started people to stop asking about her.

I had faith in her presence in the final arc. That she would have a role play.

But now ?

/\/\/\

For people who don't understand why this aspect of story is wrong, we have to break it down.

First off, Historia one of the first queer characters with Ymir in SNK. Others are suspected but these two are the few that holds a definitive representation as queer.

Most often in media or in real life, LGBT people have been forced into a situation that requires them to fall under heterosexuals lives. Here Historia is forced to be pregnant, yes in a way she agreed because of her people, but at the same time she didn't really want it.

For queer people, like me, this still rings true. Too much true. People literally forces you to go for your opposite sex everytime, to have a family.

No, stop forcing your view of your own life or desire of life on other people.

The fact that the fandom rationalizes that and says that she is happy and in love with Eren is just so fucking weird.

It either is blind ship following, heteronormativity or not understanding the story.

And I saw people saying she might be bisexual. This doesn't change anything. Also ignoring the fact that she hasn't shown any attraction to men other than women in the story.

If she is bisexual, it doesn't change anything, she is still queer. Not semi-straight AND EVEN IF SHE WAS A WOMAN WHO HAPPENED TO BE STRAIGHT, SHE IS STILL FORCED INTO SOMETHING SHE DID NOT WANT.

Bisexual is not semi-straight, semi-gay.

It's bisexual.

Bisexual, Straight and Homosexuality are not the same thing.

And if she was straight, that doesn't make it acceptable. It's just sick.

Just because you're a straight woman doesn't mean you are going to be more happy or have god like duty to have kids.

I just don't understand it...

A manga who was so progressive with his female characters reduces Historia to this.

Imagine...

Just imagine...

Eren is the father. I would shoot myself in the face. A forced straight relationship at the end for the pleasure of shonen readers and heteronormative readers.

" What if I have baby, Eren ?"

" Only if it is from me. I want him to live and have FREEDOM!"

" It's open bar, honey." *saying this after hearing the guy says he's going to genocide which goes against her own values and actions as queen*

Ew... Just ew...

And even worse she wasn't supposed to give birth right now, she was supposed to give birth in a few months.

She could DIE. SHE IS 19. This is dangerous.

Everyone is like this is normal.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL. *sigh*

This goes against what she is supposed to have as a character development.

The fact that she would be okay for genocide while as a queen she reached out to the most weak and in need is fucking incoherent.

No. This doesn't make sense. Even Eren said that Historia's action as a queen were to help others. How could she be okay sitting at her house ? Telling no one about what Eren was going to do ? And becoming a breeding farm ? What is the logic in that ?

Why make it suspicious than ?

The only thing that was able to make any logical sense to me was that the person we are seeing here isn't Historia.

I know if my theory is right, it's sick, even more sick.

The only times we saw Historia after the timeskip was during flashbacks, the reveal at 107 and possibly at the end of 123.

If this is her at the end of 123, I want to ask you why is she all prepared, why is she all dressed up and why is she wearing the same clothes in 134 that she is wearing 107. Something doesn't add up.

She is young, small-petite, blonde and her belly and face are hidden.

I was only able to go through the theory that this is a fake Historia. Than who it is than ?

Well, I searched for female characters who look like her or who could look like Historia right now. From all the characters that we haven't seen coming coming back and that has interacted with Historia, there is only one.

Rico Brzenska.

For those, who don't remember her : She was a Garrison Member who helped Mikasa and Eren during the Trost Arc and also helped Historia while she was exhausted during the Clash of the Titans Arc.

She hasn't appeared ever since the start of the Return to Shiganshina Arc unlike many of the older characters.

She is the only one I see who could pass as Historia I think.

I know this is still sick. But this is the only way I would be able to make Historia get out of this crappy storyline and play some relevance in the story. And if we look at Rico and Historia in 107, they kinda look the same. They have the heart shaped face, they are both small and they both have this sort of closed eyelids.

One line that just stuck with me of Rico was:

"Hiding/Lying about Eren's rampage in the report wouldn't have benefited humanity. "

This was during Eren's trial before joining the Survey Corps. What was discused was when Eren lost control of himself during the Trost Arc and attacked Mikasa.

The second line that struck was the one where she holds Historia who is exhausted in her arms:

"Wow! Who is this girl, is she okay ?"

I don't know why it just pushed that theory. And I kinda believe it now, because no one can make me believe that there is something satisfying coming out of this. Why would she sacrifice herself for Historia ? Well, I don't really know but Rico was always a little wary of Eren, even after the Trost Arc but yeah ultimately for Rico being able to give her own life for Historia. I don't know about that. But with this manga you never now. It is a very dark and twisted theory but this is the only logical thing I can see right now since no answers have been provided.

Monkey is BACK

Zeke is back and like most of us predicted, Eren dragged him with him. And I'm not gonna lie, the way he was attached to the spine was pretty badass.

He is used as a puppet which reinforces the theory for me that all three of them: Eren, Ymir and Zeke are being used by the Attack Titan.

I cannot understand Eren's illogical behavior especially after seeing the train scene where he says he wants them to live long happy lives and than having him kill his friends.

Ymir the first being free and having eyes to returning to having no eyes just like before and Eren.

And Zeke would have never agreed to the Rumbling. And we can't see his eyes either.

And...

Thank you, 104th for existing.

Because...

After how much shit they have gone through and after how much the fandom, not just the Eren stans, have mocked them. Like the fandom has been the biggest asshole to the the Alliance while they were the ones who were able to survive through the sentence " Genocide is wrong!" that so many people seems to find to be so hard to say.

I will root for them until the bitter end, I don't care. They are the one who are fighting. You can call Cringevengers all you want but I am glad they are winning.

They all suffered like Eren but they didn't prioritize their own and only feelings above everything else and they stood by for the values they fought for since they joined the Survey Corps. Even if I have to admit they have, for most of them, conflicted feelings with what they were doing and have done things like trying to talk to Eren while it's obvious he wasn't going to talk and that in a situation like this I don't think someone would try to stop Eren by just talking.

Levi, and it would be foolish to not recognize it, is being consumed by his promise but he is restraining it and still is able to think about the bigger picture.

There's one thing I really like about this is Armin asking Eren:

"Eren... I'll ask you one last time... "What part of you is free" after we rip you out from there... "

Hehe... yes... what part of you is free ?

To be honest, there's many things I don't want for the ending.

A Lelouch Ending, it was all Eren's plan. Literally wouldn't make sense. No one would be questionning his free will and he wouldn't have these weird shits happening to him.

A Code Geass ending, why would Mikasa have to kill Eren, what does that add to her as a character ? More tragedy ? No she doesn't have the scarf, it's pretty telling what place she's at right now.

Eren being the daddy. NO, JUST NO.

Everyone dies, genocide is the right thing. You know all the worst shit that can happen.

But most of all I want important plot points to be explored and moved over because ever since the timeskip, there has been no important plot points out the way. Eren's behavior, Ackertalk, Bertolttalk, Historia's Condition, Paths stuffs, answers!

Whatever... Trust me Peace is not something I take for granted. Being proud of myself and having a life with the least conflict and problem is something you fight for. Having rights, being recognized as a human.

Never lose that, fight for it. But never with injustice, be smarter and stronger. Cause at the end what unites us is not only what we have in common but what the perspective of what we have not in common can make a bigger picture of what we are as humans. We all are different and have a different story with similarities but in the end, we are human and born into this world. And in that, we must move forward. In the present, because of the past and for the future.

We all wish for the problems to go away but if it's for the solutions to be rigged with injustice, it will not work. No one has acheived with genocide and never will.

It's kinda sad that this long of a post has to say this. Did y'all see that ? Pretty inspiring what I wrote. Oh well you know what ? If they can be bigoted why can't I myself.

Here's a song I wrote:

(Fuck everyone and you.

We hate women

There are only 2 genders, the breeder and the breeded.

Everything is degenerate.

We hate brown, Arab and Muslim people.

Genocide is cool

And Hitler was too.)

I know but you know what, at least if they want a spy for Nazi Germany someday. They'll know not to give it to me because I'd laugh at the stupidity of the people just like you and I are doing with the rest of world cause for all the shits it gives us, it's entertaining.

[sirro85-blog]

Dark Horses 6

So, what are the Xhost? Now, so long after they have left the stars it's a question that can be asked.

The Xhost were an idea that became a cult, if humans are more durable and Rhul are faster and Biviladi are more adaptable to environmental changes what if instead of celebrating the diversity we examined the discrepancies and found a common ground?

A noble thought, corrupted, corrupted into the Xhost where races were genetically modified to be a bit of everything, differences were no longer celebrated as part of a more fantastic whole but instead were vilified as non-conforming.

To the Xhost purity was required, variation was the enemy.

Kovac sat against the wall looking at his friends, Wolf shook his head and turned to Dorman for support.

"No," said Kovac, " you both have opinions and you're both entitled to them, but you're wrong.

It's as simple as this. Iron man is the greatest superhero, all those with superpowers built in can fuck right off, if your solution to a problem is punching harder then you're not a solution. Iron man's super power is thinking better than all of the others, he figures stuff out, after that his inventions win fights. All the other smart guys either have powers or their limited, I mean Batman isn't a one man army. Reed Richards works stuff out then relies on being Mr Fantastic to solve the problem.

Also Tony fights butt naked and the rest don't."

Kovac looked at his friends and smiled at their faces, "look it's this simple, your mind, the human mind is the greatest weapon in the galaxy. Now the second lesson I have to teach you is this simple, no matter what your taste in music one song needs special attention."

"We Will Rick You, by Queen will be remembered as a Pride song but it shouldn't be. What really matters is the solo or fade out; that piece of guitar play by May...everything else is just delivery for that.

Finally, if you're not happy, watching bad television at 0400 with you're partner then you're relationship won't last, if their presence doesn't bring you joy then move on.

Right that's about it, that's my life time knowledge, guess we should see this out then." Kovac stood.

Outside the Xhost forces had swept across the continent.

"Major, you know that the General will mobilise to defend us, even with the bones of a brigade. Major General Michaela Jones will be here," Wolf said.

"I know Wolf, the question has always been how do we drive the Xhost back? They control more sectors than the Rhul and the Flet together, they control more planet's than the Korlax."

"They've never defeated the Galactic Council forces though." Dorman countered.

"Well that's not strictly true, they've never won a war against the GCDF but they've always required mobilising core divisions and I hate to say it but that means human troops, we're the backbone of the GCDF without our presence the Xhost have seen success."

"You really don't think we can save the Towoli? Or the EDC?" Wolf asked morose.

"With a squadron of combat engineers? No." The Major was terse in his response.

Captain Becca looked out at the gathering darkness, "three days to capture the Towoli and secure the cities, so on the fourth day they turn around and hit the EDC, they're dug in now, so they last, maybe another four days and then it us. In this position we can last, maybe three days. That gives the Major-general two weeks, to raise at least a brigade and to get to us..." the question hung in the air unasked.

Kovac puffed out his cheeks, and rubbed his right forearm. "Remember in the 88th there became this belief that I'd pull it out of the fire, everytime it looked impossible odds you'd hear the men, "trust in kovac" I have that faith in Michaela Jones. Our only job right now is to keep open this beach head so she can land the troops. Now I've shared my life's wisdom with you, who has any other nuggets to share?"

Sergeant Major Panther had her own meeting with her sergeants, the needs of various troops and sections were discussed and the talk turned to how long they could hold out, "Captain says three at a push, but knowing the Major, if say closer to five."

"It'll take them a week to roll the Towoli and the EDC so by the end of the second week it'll be all over," said Sergeant Webb.

"No, you're forgetting Webb, we've got Kovac, 'keep calm and trust in Kovac' I've been saying that for over ten years now and I'll keep saying as long as he keeps earning my damn faith." Knickers glared at her fellow sergeants, "what was it he always said? It's us, it's us the 88th, well now it's us the Dark Horses but it's still us, we're still the real first in last out and we're still fighting fit and fucking ugly, Kovac will know what to do and when he asks us to do the impossible we'll deliver."

Panther grinned, "Exactly, so get out there and tell that to the men, wipe their little faces, help them blow their noses and smack the heads that need smacking, we are the Dark Horses and we will do what is needed."

"Except the Major is sitting there saying the same about the General," Webb said, "you all know I love the man, he's personally saved my life four times that I can count, if anyone can save us he can...but he isn't trying to. He's not even mentioned trying to save the Towoli and the EDC, he's said we use them as cannon fodder. Our hope is that we get rescued by the woman we walked away from to follow Kovac."

The sergeant-major stared at her sergeants, she seemed at a loss for what to say.

"I'll keep my faith thank you Webb. You're not wrong, yet, but I'll put my trust in Kovac."

Corporal Grey was growing weary of banging heads, the men were despondent and grumbling. The leader they trusted beyond all others was finally cornered and they could all see it. He watched as Captain Dorman walked away from the Major looking down-trodden, after a few steps the officer managed to organise himself and he straightened his shoulders and put his head up...keeping up appearances.

"I hear you're out of ideas and we're all fucked," said a coarse voice behind Kovac.

"Hello RQ," said Kovac without turning round, "and do you believe it?"

"Of course not, you need extra arms for all the tricks up your sleeves," scoffed the Quartemaster, "but they do, the rank, which I'm guessing is the point."

"They're good people, good people don't become monsters without falling down first, I need them to be monsters, they have to lose hope so when I throw them a cobra for a life line they grab it."

"What's the plan troop?"

"The secret to Xhost success is that the Xhost have their own supply of fuel, took us a while to realise what it was, now they use a variety of tricks but the basic component is Phosphene gas, toxic and smells like rotten fish half the time. So the finest galactic scientists looked at how they could inhibit their engines, how they could stop the Xhost fuelling their war machine, they failed. Then a human looked at it, her solution was deemed too heinous, the very suggestion caused humanity some problems, as we were suddenly seen as viscious and evil."

"What was her solution?"

"Chemistry, it's beyond me but...have you ever heard of White Phosphorus?"

The Qm blanched, "really!? That's your solution?"

"Turn their fuel into chemical weapons, I just need men desperate enough to agree to it."

"Kovac..."

Kovac turned to look at the Qm, "first time you've ever called me that, look, we can sit here and let the Xhost slaughter the Towoli and the EDC or we can act, to save innocent lives, maybe we need to be less innocent."

The Qm was quiet a moment and then sighed, "you think we have to?"

"I do."

"Alright then," she touched his arm and left him.

Kovac stared into the gathering gloom, "Clausewitz never finished and Ludendorff was a bastard who lost," he seemed to mutter to himself.

Later Kovac would say it was almost sad how quickly his men agreed to his plan, but they did. So within 6 hours his troops were prepared and moving out.

Before dawn the Dark Horses had returned to their fortifications, none of the normal a activities were on display, showing pride in a job we'll done. Instead the attitude was grim, an unpleasant job but one needing done.

Outside in the skies and on the ground, the Xhost burned, White Phosphorus burns on contact with air and it can burn even human flesh to the bone. Steel melts at half the temperature of burning white phosphorus.

I've seen artists renderings of the human construct of hell, the day the Xhost burned was brighter, hotter and there was more smoke. The issue of demons I'll leave to other scholars.

Ten days later Major General Michaela Jones landed with the 3rd army of the Galactic Defence Force to discover a smoking planet and the Towoli and EDC talking about burning skies and enemies vaporized in a wall of heat.

The Dark Horses, grim of face and closed in demeanour said nothing, they simply boarded and left with the advance ships into Xhost territory.

There is a phrase amongst those who study human kind, it's taken from their own old language, a term itself bastardised from an even older tale, "humans are space-orcs"

To humans it's funny, "the human can withstand the loss of a limb and is capable of feats of strength near impossible to other races, they fix metal into their mouths and inject their skins for aesthetic purposes...ha ha, fuck yeah we're space-orcs"

But to those of us who study, it means something different, orcs are the monsters of human fiction, rewritten and redefined they are brutal, barbarous and backwards. Their savagery and their lack of humanity is common in all their iterations. Orcs are the monsters humans see in themselves.

We space going species forget that humans may be like us in their hunt for answers but they got to this technology not through global cooperation but through war-driven advances and international tensions and competition.

They have only recently become the advanced global society we know, just under the surface lies the monster. Humans are Space Orcs.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

So I know the Chemistry is a bit hinky here according to a chemist friend of mine what I've said is possible but not easily but...hey It's sci-fi.

Anyway this one ends in a dark place but it's where it went and I can't really pretend I know what I'm doing.

As always feedback is appreciated.

[theholidayslingerlikebadperfume]

The difference between how men and women behave in society when it comes to dating is that women may have a dream man they fantasy about but they are also willing to date people who don't check off every box for them whereas men feel entitled to obtaining their dream woman and will settle for nothing less.

Not only is it unrealistic to go into dating with a preordained checklist and refuse to compromise on any of the qualities listed on it, it's also childish and immature emotionally. Like I don't mean this as an insult but rather as a diagnosis.

Every woman I know starts dating and is willing to let of of superficial preferences in order to find a genuine connection but few men are willing to accept less than what they believe they "deserve."

Like these dating interviews where misogynists are like "what's your dream man?" And then they take that answer as "see women admit they are looking for "chads" only!!!! I told you guys" no what you "discovered" is that women have preferences, like everyone else.

It's taboo to say this but it shouldn't be but everyone "settles" to some degree. You will not find a partner where every single quality they have is your individual preference, because humans are flawed creatures. We are not perfect and we don't realize that every "good" quality a person has reflects a "bad" quality they have as well.

Like I am very compassionate and empathetic to my friends because I am highly impatient + take steps to correct that about myself in my actions and behaviors. I am very intelligent because I am highly ambitious and competitive and view knowledge as the best weapon you can have in this world. It's all a give and take in this world, we are the sum of our good and bad experiences in life and as women grow up, we realize this about dating.

We realize that prince charming doesn't exist in real life, but men still look for Cinderella even though she's fictional too and they put their inflexibility to compromise on women because they think we behave the way they do, even when we tell them we don't.

Like, every single misogynist is always like "women lie about not needing a man to be 6 feet tall because when you ask them what their dream man looks like, they say 6 feet tall!!!" And it's like yeah, because you asked for their DREAM man, not their ex or current partner.

We all have preferences, my dream man has green eyes and is built like Dylan Obrien but the love of my life doesn't have either of these qualities. That doesn't mean I don't love my partner, it just means we all have different ideals in our minds that society and culture have influenced us to want, even if those things are shallow or not realistic. Because my dream man is also kind, empathetic, caring, supportive, funny, ambitious, a socialist, etc etc and I can afford to let go of the superficial preferences for all these other boxes he ticks, you know?

Like, also, even if we're talking about just looks wise right, what I find most attractive is what I would list as my dream man but that doesn't mean I'm ONLY attracted that very specific fantasy, right? Like if you ask for my dream man in terms of appearance, obviously I'm going to list the qualities I find MOST attractive. That doesn't mean other qualities don't turn me on or I don't find other eye colors attractive (I love brown, blue, Grey, hazel, Amber, etc colors but green is my favorite, I'd still sleep with blue eyed or brown eyed man right. Same is true for all my physical preferences). But like men seem to think listing preferences is the same thing as listing deal-breakers.

If these men asked those same women what are you dating deal-breakers for example, they'd get very different responses. Because like idk they're different concepts, you feel ?

I just find men to have a weird culture around dating where they project their thoughts onto women as justification for abusing them. It's wild.

[astraphel]

So, I'm indigenous, and I've been in fandom since I was like 8 years old starting with the Pokemon trading card game. I desperately want to create indigenous OCs and other content that could signal other indigenous nerds. The reality of that is a bit more tenuous than it might seem, however. I can't cherry-pick from real-life cultures because

a) it's disrespectful, which I will expand on below, and

b) ndn country is small. You're like, two degrees of separation from someone you know at all times.

For example, I'm Alaska Native and went to the first Indigenous Comic-Con (now Indigipopx) in Albuquerque, where I happened to run into a dude from Alaska. I went up to him and asked, "Do you know so-and-so?" and he said (paraphrased)..."The fuck? Yeah?" I ran into friends at Standing Rock that I didn't travel there with and didn't know were coming. The point being, you could be in another country and run into someone who knows your Uncle. I would get my ears boxed if I wrote something uninformed or pulled some J.K. Rowling sk*nw*lk*rs shit (obligatory "fuck you"). Every day of my life, I ask myself, "What Would Auntie Do?"

At ICC, I attended a game development workshop hosted by folks involved with developing video games, tabletop, RPGs, etc. One of the things we specifically discussed was the importance of respect for your culture when designing things for a fictional setting. After the initial introductions and discussions on that topic, we split into groups to conceptualize games based on different themes. Being the language nerd I am, I went to the language table.

Almost everyone else at the table was Pueblo, so we ended up creating a mock Pueblo video game that would function as a tool for teaching their youth. One challenge was the number of restrictions on cultural items that can be digitally depicted. Those restrictions are even more stringent if the game was being made for non-tribal members. We're talking clothing types, basket patterns, types of food, etc. Even making something culturally accurate and intended only for tribal members, some objects just aren't allowed to be rendered. And that needs to be respected.

The Alaska Native man I mentioned earlier? He worked on a game called Kisima Ingitchuna (2014) or Never Alone in English. It's a puzzle platformer in the Inuit language. It depicts some of their stories in video game format to connect with their youth and meet them where they're at. The game was developed by the first indigenous-owned and run studio in the world. By and for Native people, that happens to be available to everyone else, too.

He said that one of the biggest challenges was considering what not to show, as the game is available on basically all platforms. It became essential to create something that can resonate with the audience, both Inuit and not. Balancing that line is an issue for many Native creators who wish to bring indigeneity into their work, especially folks who want to make things like comics, etc. Anything fictional, more or less. A lot of amazing artists blend their traditional art forms with contemporary stuff.

Fun fact, some Alaska Native "art forms" originally functioned more as language pre-contact, as we did not have written language. We communicated through song and dance, food, and our various beautiful artforms. These things are clan-specific, so just because I'm in the same tribe doesn't mean I am entitled to these things either.

Also, while companies like Disney and other media outlets in Early America were busy making Totem Poles a part of the universal pan-Indian stereotype, my people, who actually made pts'aan, were not legally allowed to carve them. The first totem pole on my Rez did not rise until the 1980s. My cousin was the one who carved it.

I can't speak for all indigenous people; I can only speak to my experience and my people's history. My ancestors had to give up their language, arts, foods, regalia, children to be a proper God-fearing community. Today, there are less than 100 people who speak our language fluently, and they're all elders. Most of them were abused in residential schools (they existed in both the US and Canada for the same purpose) and continue to grapple with the trauma associated with speaking it. I met one of my elders two years ago who had this experience. I clocked her at a big Native event because she had a tattoo on her calf that had a familiar, casual phrase unique to our people. So I approached her, and we spoke our language together—basics, nothing conversational. But after generations of efforts to stamp out our language...What a powerful moment, you know? But also so bittersweet. She told me how long she struggled with anger after she got away from boarding school. Such is the existence of many ndns today. Things could have been so different.

In essence, my culture was forcibly taken away from my ancestors, and by extension, from me. Many cultures do not allow certain things to be shown in fictional, fantasy settings. Even within the tribe, it can be hard to know what those things are without consulting an elder or other counsel. I've stopped reading indigenous authors because they got called out by their community for not listening when told to not include stuff in their books. I wish them no ill-will, but I won't contribute my dollars to that. If I have to seriously consider what I can and cannot add to my work as a Native person, you bet your ass other folks need to be thinking about that shit too.

It breaks my heart when I come across folks who, essentially, bastardize some of our art forms. It's typically clear as day when someone wasn't taught by a Native artist, regardless of their ethnicity. Some folks even dare to cry about freedom of expression when called out. Like...bro, you literally have no idea how much I get it. But, not everything belongs to you; sorry, you got duped by the illusion that being born a certain way gives you access to things just because they exist. Sometimes reality is fanfiction. My own people have trouble getting access to mentors to guide our ways, and it can take years to master some things. It's a colonizer mindset.

Also like...I had to unlearn shit, too. I'm an adult learner of my culture and language; it's taken a lot of work and care from myself and my community. I've made mistakes and been accidentally disrespectful. It happens. It's okay; just keep moving forward and do better next time. You got this.

(I feel like I said so much, and I did. For some context, I did my undergraduate independent study on race and representation in video games, so this is like...my thing)

race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.  

[itsclydebitches]

So I've really just gotten to skellige and I really don't like yennifer lmaooo, like she stole this mask right? and from what little information my brain retained, it's important/dangerous, she shouldn't have and had no right to? and it's really shitty to. and she forces Geralt into helping her steal it. and she ignores any other options as they take longer than 'now'. I totally get we're looking for Ciri and need to find her asap but like, she's been okay so far? She's been holding her own so far? I could be wrong and we could find her bleeding to death but like,,, I don't think caring for your family excuses your rude, desrespectful and entitled behavior?

My perspective precisely, anon. Outside of fans just enjoying a takes no shit, does what she wants, screw others in the name of her family character (which is cool. Fiction exists to explore all types) that's the only solid justification I've ever seen for Yen's actions in TW3: time is of the essence and she needs to find her daughter. Which, idk if you've followed any of my RWBY stuff, but that's the same basic reasoning behind the group's airship theft, that any and all atrocities are justified in the name of doing something that, they assume, needs to be done now. I didn't like that warped logic then and I still don't like it now. Yen admittedly doesn't have our knowledge about Ciri's whereabout and current doings - she doesn't know she's holding her own so far - but that, to my mind, still doesn't excuse the extreme lengths she goes to throughout the Skellige arc when, as far as she also knows, she doesn't have to. This isn't a matter of knowing precisely what's going on and realizing that such extreme measures are indeed the only option available to her (because, uh, things will get a lot worse than just stealing and using the mask, and that was already pretty bad lol), but rather a matter of assuming the worst and using that as a catch-all excuse for anything she might want to do.

Which, again, a lot of fans find inspiring, heroic, a sign of true motherly devotion. Yen will do anything for Ciri. How wonderful! But for me, personally, that's not wonderful. Not when Yen has other options available to her. This isn't a Molly Weasley "Not my daughter, you bitch" situation where she's actively defending Ciri against an immediate, obvious threat. This is her just leaving a path of harm in her wake because nothing else can compare to the possibility that Ciri might need immediate assistance. Ciri's possible future is worth more to her than others' current reality. Yen's the sort of character who would let the world burn for her and while yeah, that kind of devotion is nice on the one hand, I'm inclined to be... less than comfortable with that disregard for everyone else's culture, comfort, and safety.

Really, Ciri is the cornerstone of much of Yen's characterization. Since you've watched almost all of the show, you know about the whole wanting a child plotline and accepting Ciri as her adoptive daughter is a major moment of growth for Yen. My problem is how easily that love is used as a means of dismissing Yen's other flaws. When I first started posting about Witcher and made my personal feelings about her clear, a lot of fans pushed back against my discomfort with Yen's actions throughout the franchise. And I can't tell you how many conversations boiled down to:

Me: Yen treats Geralt horribly. She's not a particularly kind person and I'm not into that.

Them: How can you say that? She adores Ciri! She's the best mom ever!

Me: What does Yen being a devoted mother have to do with her being shitty to Geralt?

Yen clearly loves Ciri - and in TW3 its to quite the extreme - and that love is often used as a catch-all defense against the idea that Yen could be cruel to anyone else. But it's often because she loves Ciri that she's cruel to everyone else. Treating others well - whether we're talking about not stealing a powerful mask, or just listening to Geralt's displeasure at these actions (if you go those dialogue routes) - simply don't matter. Strangers and even Geralt's feelings will never be more important than Ciri's safety, regardless of whether Yen knows she's in immediate danger or not. Which is then added to the idea that Yen's big actions (like, say, saving someone's life) outweigh how she treats them on the daily which I'm... also not a fan of. I hate pointing out how cruel Yen's dialogue can be only to get, "Yeah, but she'd die for them" as a counter. Or an explanation that functions as an excuse: "Yeah, but she had a hard life/doesn't believe in the Gods/Sorceresses are just Like That/etc." As if all of Yen's behavior is forever excused because because we can understand why she's reached that point in her characterization, but few are willing to consider that maybe this should... change? To be clear, I don't think she's OOC, it's just that I'm always surprised by the number of fans who consider her characterization something to uphold, rather than looking at this character and going, "Yeeeeaaah there's a ton of problems there, yikes." Idk, call me crazy, but a generic "She loves Ciri and loves Geralt they were destined to be a family!" really doesn't mean much in the face of, say, watching her refuse to explain her dangerous, disrespectful plans because she clearly doesn't care enough about Geralt's opinion to consider changing them. Witcher as a franchise banks a lot on Big Themes that, to my mind, aren't particularly persuasive when pit against what we actually see the characters doing. Which, incidentally, is my same problem with the Jaskier/Geralt dynamic in the show. The meta understanding that Geralt is destined (from a writing perspective) to care deeply for Jaskier doesn't stand much chance against watching him ignore him, punch him, insult his career, drive him off, etc. And even Big Moments like getting him help after the genie don't feel like they mean much because... that's such a low bar to me. He sought medical help when someone was dying? So what! I'd do that for someone I hated. The bare minimum of human decency isn't evidence of true care. If a story wants me to believe that characters love one another (romantically or otherwise), I need to be shown that, not just told it. And in TW3 incredibly little of Yen's interactions with Geralt come across as loving to me.

Does all this make for a fascinating character? Absolutely. Does it make for a character I personally like and want to spend time with, especially in a medium where I have a certain amount of control over the story? Not at all lol.