#I'm a hater sorry this is personal to me

[no-one-hears-me]

imagine if someone did keto without telling everyone they meet that they're on keto

[instantpansies]

life is hard for us oz fans who are only meh about wicked. have half a meme.

[triple-a-daybreak]

"what if kanadad dies for kana5" what if he has a moment of clarity. what if as he heals he gets a glimmer in his eyes of recognition and recollection. what if kanade doesn't lose ANOTHER parent to death and instead gets to have the hope that the one she has will recover from the cognitive/psychological damage caused by his burnout. (which is all it is by the way. idk why y'all insist that he's dying)

what then.

[vulturevanity]

My actual take about Geordo is that he's both a fascinating and compelling character and someone who shouldn't be within a 2km radius from Katarina as he is, and the issues I have with the way he behaves toward her are more of a genre-wide issue than a character one. Yes, it's common-place to have a character with possessive traits bordering on yandere tendencies, and it makes sense that out of everyone in the harem it's him who gets to act like he owns her, but hear me out: the whole thing's bad actually. The romantization of his actions works to the detriment of both Geordo as a character and GeoKata as a ship, and that's why I will not be okay with them being endgame for as long as he keeps obnoxiously flaunting the Fiancé card.

Broadly, I don't like how his possessiveness and absolute power over their engagement meld into a pretty horrible version of this yandere-adjacent archetype. But that's because I don't like harem tropes lmao if it weren't depicted as "his own way of loving her" and was instead explored for what it is (an unhealthy dynamic that has potential to either grow into something good or crash and burn horribly) then I would have absolutely no issues with it

[wearethekingdom]

Maybe if I had said this a few weeks ago I would've said I'm biased but I'm genuinely getting so sick of seeing the hate on Lando.

I don't like seeing hate on any of the drivers but I want to bring Lando up because people can't seem to shut up about him lately and it's never for a good reason. "He's an overrated driver" "Lando just bottles he's a bad driver" "there he goes again winning dotd" "watch him be a crybaby over this" "Lando fans are the worst fans"

Like does this not get a bit tiring? Especially when you publicly hate a driver with no reason to, no one thinks you're cool for being an asshole to a real life person. There's drivers on the grid that I don't like, there's drivers on the grid who piss me off to no end while they're on track but I think I have enough self awareness and respect on myself and the drivers to not go into a comment section saying "Lando is overrated --->"

[kennyomegasweave]

I was a Certified Sol Hater until the very end and I feel so vindicated with my belief that Sol was no friend to Joe.

He left for Korea because he found out Joe was gay and just knew he was only being nice to him because he wanted him sexually.

He only came back to Thailand when he realized that he was also gay and wanted Joe.

He was then told by Joe multiple times, during the entire show, that he never thought of him like that.

He stayed in a one sided competition with Ming for Joe's romantic affection, despite being told multiple times by Joe that he didn't see him like that.

He was in Joe's If I Stay scene and was NOT part of the reasons to stay flashbacks.

He just had to tell Ming he knew Joe always wanted Ming and was always going to end up with him, even if he had got to Joe first (when Joe never wanted him anyway). Leading to Ming awkwardly being like ...okay well thanks for this talk that was surely needed? while Joe was laid out in the hospital.

He tried to whole ass leave the country without a single goodbye to Joe. He only said bye cause Wut told Joe he was leaving, yet he had a nice group hug with the other stunt crew.

He told Joe he was gonna leave in a few days and that they'd see each other again before he left. Just to quite literally leave for Korea not five minutes later.

He wasn't a villain or evil or anything like that, but he was never Joe's friend. Maybe he could be in the future once he moves on from someone who never even considered him as an option, but that didn't make him Joe's friend once during the duration of this show.

[baileyfox1999]

I've finally realized why fem chuuya designs have never really felt right for me personally

I need to chop her hair off

[icewindandboringhorror]

examining a seemingly normal image only to slowly realize the clear signs of AI generated art.... i know what you are... you cannot hide your true nature from me... go back where you came from... out of my sight with haste, wretched and vile husk

[lunar-years]

Also last thing I'll say about this but I do want to clarify that if you hated the Jack plotline or thought JackKeeley was a terrible portrayal of a wlw relationship/bad queer rep I completely respect your opinion. There were so many well thought out posts about it when the season was airing that I very much enjoyed reading and it is completely valid to have different perspectives on the matter and discuss it respectfully! Everyone is completely within their right to have hated a storyline and to have your own thoughts on how it could have been made better (this is exactly how I feel about Colin's coming out episode, for instance). I simply take issue with someone jumping on a post to call the whole show "biphobic" with "milk toast gay rep" and then dipping, without any examples or evidence or like, basic respect for people who might think differently/enjoyed it. A relationship that turns out badly with an unlikable wlw character does NOT automatically equate to the whole show being "biphobic" and just because you didn't personally think it was good rep doesn't mean that's how everyone in the community needs to also feel. That is the only point I am trying to make :)

[summerfullofsnow]

me when bl fans stop trying to find "the good one" to root for and learn to look at characters as multifaceted beings with their own motivations and personalities

[gorkaya-trava]

no way they're making my girl rhinedottir "less evil". gods let her say fuck! let her torture her homunculus! let her GO TOTAL APESHIT😭😭

[moe-broey]

Like also about that Ryoma "Hinoka and the others (Takumi/Sakura)" moment like. Like esp given the circumstances you might not think to list everyone by name but like . There's. A word you can use. "Everyone". Why are you singling Hinoka out??? Or am I just reading into that as well (esp out of context like, the reason I didn't rb those isn't a huge one it's just been so long since I've done a full Fates run that I didn't have the context on hand/in my memory, so. Felt maybe it could have been an unfair reading?? Idk idk the most impactful thing Ryoma has done to me is going "I'm gonna kill you. Badly. Right Now." [Ryoma will wait 25 turns])

[sciderman]

Drifters White Christmas erasure (and I’m a Christmas music hater)

no no, you're right. unfortunately i can't listen to it in any other context other than it's inclusion in home alone (1990) because i'm under oath that the only song i can listen to with full consent in the month of december is wham!'s last christmas.

[smartzelda]

Sorry guys I gotta speak my truth on this one

I'm not kidding when I say that I think that blaming shit media literacy from fans on shipping/shippers avoids the actual root of the problem to throw people you can easily throw under the bus (simply because it's not unpopular to consider people who post about ships or ship characters in media as having lesser or derivative tastes by default)

And here's why.

I think when you blame people who are "shippers" or "consume media through shipping lenses", the true root of it all is a mindset problem.

In actually, putting on shipping lenses can be helpful when trying to analyze a piece of media. When analyzing media you're supposed to approach it through a number of mindsets and put on different lenses (both to deepen your personal understanding of the media, and to pick it apart and see what you can find there (whether intentional or not on the author's part)), and different ships can be some of those lenses

When it comes to ships between main characters (for those who are genuinely willing to see what the narrative is showing with their relationship and what it's doing), there are times when analyzing it from a shipping lens may be helpful. As someone from KH fandom, I have seen people come to deeper understandings and pick canon apart in the process of analyzing a relationship that is genuinely integral to the story (platonic or not). I've also seen people get into rarepairs of characters who barely interact or who just suffer little screen time, and I've seen them come to better understandings of those side characters and how they potentially fit into the world of the media simply because people are now focusing on these characters and how they fit into the narrative.

Frankly, I resent the idea that the only way to truly objectively analyze a piece of media is by turning off the part of your brain that gets excited over relationships and individual characters. Don't get me wrong, that is a way to approach a piece of media and a valid one at that, but the truth is that we cannot be free of bias.

For instance, I was watching House MD with my parents circa last year. At some point I started heavily tuning into what was going on with House and Wilson's relationship. My parents, on the other hand, were largely watching casually. They're not thinking of character relationships or getting heavily invested in most characters, they're watching because they like watching. One of them in particular did try to analyze things that were happening in the show as they happened. However, when it came to the scene late in the series where House threw out Dominika's letter approving her American citizenship, my parents could understand that he was doing that because he didn't want her to leave, but not much beyond that. I ended up explaining to them that House's fake marriage for Dominika was an explicit parallel to when Wilson was living with House in the early seasons. Both situations started with House being none too happy about it but ultimately letting them stay, spending a considerable amount of effort getting them to leave/getting this situation to be finally over so he didn't have to deal with it anymore, and then by the time a piece of news comes through that would mean the person in question actually leaves, House hides this news as long as he can. Because he doesn't actually want them to leave and has grown attached. And by doing this he became a self fulfilling prophecy. By reacting to the truth of Wilson and Dominika leaving him the way he does, he seals his fate and they ultimately leave anyways. Maybe I ship Hilson, but becoming open to how their relationship was handled allowed me to transition to doing character studies and recognizing patterns/parallels that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't particularly care about the characters or their relationship.

Likewise, I've seen mutuals complain about how people who don't like or don't care about certain characters often overlook these characters (what they're actually like and their place in the narrative), while the mutuals in question (by default) are able to come to deeper understanding of what the writers/story is trying to do because they care about this funky guy

You can't eradicate bias when you're engaging in media analysis, but you can consciously put on a range of lenses and observe the media through different povs with the goal of understanding the media better or bolstering your reading of it. And those lenses/povs can include focusing on specific relationships or the perpective of certain characters

And this is why I say it's actually a mindset problem. Shippers and people who have this one blorbo they like a lot aren't inherently terrible "fandom brained individuals" who are the root of media analysis problems. The problem only arises when people's readings/analysis of a piece of media are inherently restrictive/narrow and self centered. Your problem is with people who view a piece of media through a ship they like but don't keep an open mind about it, and whose "media analysis"/views on canon cannot be split from fanon and their comfortability levels. These are the people whose "media analysis" starts and ends with justifying their fanon as canon, whose views on media revolve around sorting characters and relationships into categories they personally enjoy rather than trying to understand what's going on.

Here's another example.

Here we have a fictional ship we'll call uhhhh...Blanebin. this fictional ship I made up on the spot for characters that don't exist named Blane and Corbin

Person A is super into Blanebin. They're part of the main cast of characters and canonically childhood best friends, so person A (as much as they enjoy fanart and fic) is also enjoying analyzing how narratively important to each other they are. Recently, Corbin started dating another character in canon, but Person A is enjoying watching how Blane is reacting to this. "Is this potentially a tell that Blane is jealous or is having complicated feelings about this? What if he was, how would that contextualize his behavior this season? Here's what I think based on how Blane dealt with explicit jealousy last season in a different situation". It's not impossible that person A is still missing further understanding due to their obsession with Blanebin, but at the end of the day this obsession has allowed them to start picking through the characters both in and outside this relationship. It has allowed them to see potential subtext and theorize on what might happen next with these characters' relationship. Not to mention that with addition of Corbin dating someone else, instead of trying to erase this fact or state that Corbin canonically isn't into that person, Person A is trying to factor in how Corbin's current dating life affects his relationship with Blane (irregardless on personal views on the nature of Corbin's relationship with the person he's dating).

Person B is also super into Blanebin. They really enjoy fanart and fic of the characters, love obsessing over their moments together, and just feel like there's really something between the characters. To person B, every moment between them is just further proof that the writers are ship teasing them. But Corbin getting together with someone else this season? Oh that pissed person B off. They cannot believe that even though Corbin and Blane are CLEARLY gay for each other the writers had Corbin get with someone else this season. Perhaps, they think, it was even a decision specifically made to spite fans. How evil of the writers to tease a perfectly good ship and then have them not get together first? They must have been just doing those teases to get views from Blanebin shippers those scoundrels. To Person B, since Corbin started dating someone when he obviously has some chemistry with Blane (even though the series is far from over) means that Blanebin can never get together now and Corbin x person he's dating is ruining Blanebin by existing. In fact, they think, this is terrible writing for Corbin to be dating someone else because they don't like that relationship and don't see the point. Obviously if the writers were good then Corbin would have started dating Blane instead because this was supposed to be the Blanebin show.

Person C despises Blanebin. Don't get them wrong, they've always enjoyed the character's childhood friendship, but they actually have always thought Blane would have been better off with Victoria. They have a lot of moments too! But they're tired of seeing people ship Blanebin. Corbin just got together with someone else, so obviously that's not gonna work out. Plus Corbin and Blane totally has always given person C bro vibes. In fact, person C thinks, sure Corbin and Blane have a close friendship, but people shouldn't be shipping them. Person C likes Blanetoria and Blanetoria can't be canon if Corbin is in the way of it. So Person C likes to read Blanebin as siblings anyways. Sure they're canonically friends, but obviously their friendship turned into brotherhood. This means that nothing can be in the way of Blanetoria and Corbin can keep dating the person he's already canonically dating. Actually, now Blanebin just straight up makes Person C uncomfortable. Don't the pesky shippers understand that Blanebin are sibling coded because they're childhood best friends and that they're important to each other because they're brothers? It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Sure, ships are involved here, but is the root of this problem shipping? Character A isn't as knowledgeable of other characters in the plot due to this lens they're using, but at the end of the day they're dedicated to analysis. Their love of the characters is pushing them beyond what they like or dislike to try to understand what might be happening through their lens. Not perfect, but they are slowly broadening their horizons. But Person B and C's problems here are their restrictiveness. What is or should be canon to them is tantamount to what they personally like or find comfortable. Is person C actually analyzing the this fake show when they decide to "read" Blanebin as basically canonically siblings (and this all of their moments are totally a bro thing) just because they don't like Blanebin and the idea of them getting together over Blanetoria makes them uncomfortable? Is person B actually analyzing this fake show when their "analysis" of Blanebin goes only as far as asserting it's being ship teased and deciding anything short of canonizing Blanebin is a targeted attack or "bad writing" because it's not what they wanted personally to happen?

This is what I'm talking about. This is the mindset. Shipping isn't the problem. The problem is when people marry fanon and canon to the point where they have a vested interest in superimposing their fanon over canon as "a reading" and trying to make "collective decisions" on what is canon (or what canon is trying to say) based on what does or doesn't make them uncomfortable. The problem is people being restrictive and centering their own likes and dislikes in the conversation, so they can only interact with canon "analysis" wise by deciding what is canon or should be canon "as obviously agreed on by everyone". You can't simply claim you like media analysis. To be able to analyze media and bolster your views on any given canon, you must be open to looking at it through multiple povs, to studying characters without trying to pretend things you don't like don't exist or do like do exist. There is a balance that must be kept between trying to keep objectivity and putting on specific focus/bias based upon the lenses you're putting on. You have to be willing to try to figure out what a media is doing or saying, not saying you're trying to figure out what it's saying while in actuality trying to define the narrative around what people believe it's saying in ways that suit you.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[tls123]

Oh my god HOW DID YOU LIKE SVSSS!!!!!

i liked it more than i thought i would but overall less than i might have given the potential of the story, i think in general i really enjoyed the characters (mxtx never goes wrong with characters, she creates them in a way that makes me feel unhinged) and the world building but the pay off to the set up—which i really liked!—felt a bit........ i mean, just alright.

the dynamics too are pure mxtx, personally the bin/gqiu dynamic specifically really was the least interesting part of the whole story. to me!! but individually i loved both characters. my interest was just elsewhere because """elsewhere""" felt way more fascinating idk how to explain it

was very, very happy about the extra with airplane and the yue qingyuan / shen jiu one because that's exactly what i wanted more of in the story itself as well as just more shen yuan/qingqiu interacting with cang qiong mountain

maybe it's my orv brain but like i told jana a while back i think i would have enjoyed svsss way more if it was more about shen yuan (loner; hater; etc) suddenly finding himself among all of these people (disciples looking up to him; sect siblings relying on him one way or another; common folk admiring him; etc etc) and starting to.... live? again?

Shen Qingqiu hadn't noticed that, unconsciously, he no longer considered the disciples around him (...) to be mob characters the novel had described in a scant number of words.

^from volume one, he starts seeing them almost immediately because he's not actually that separate and he genuinely cares. all the time. about everything. even before that we get:

This was only a book, and all the people were constructs, imaginary characters. Logically, Shen Qingqiu was very clear on this fact...but when a character was actually being taunted and bullied right before his eyes, it was just flat-out unrealistic to expect him to be completely unmoved.

like why are you lying, shen yuan (<- svsss tagline if there ever was one)

just the idea of this really lonely detached guy finding a community, i know it's not the story mxtx was trying to tell but again, with the set up i really wanted to see it go in that direction.

there's one line from vol two where liu qingge goes "you fear becoming a burden to cang qiong mountain (...) but cang qiong mountain fears not your burden"

and basically what i'm saying is that i wish the story had been about THAT

(and also ning yingying's lines in that same chapter about shizun always taking on everything himself and why is it always you like that whole moment with the cang qiong mountain almost begging him to see that they care. idek what i'm saying but you know)

(also foaming at the mouth that we only got tiny tiny glimpses of shen yuan's life from before, those handful of times he mentioned his siblings i wanted to take a bite out of my kindle. tell me more!! dear fucking lord tell me more!! keep talking! elaborate!! he really felt very "kim dokja and his fourth wall" at times, sorry once more about the orv brain)

tldr: i guess i wanted a story about shen yuan/qingqiu but mxtx created svsss to be a story about bin/gqiu. and i just have to be okay with that.

[comet-soda-lite]

I can't believe they only ever made one season of The Umbrella Academy. Like, it was such a cultural phenomenon when it came out, what happened? Why didn't they make more after that season finale cliffhanger? I mean, at least the season we got was peak television, but still