#IW antis please block the pro tag

[cozza-frenzy]

We're The Magbox System!

OSDD-1b System (Currently in a Discovery Phase, headcount is 30-ish?)

(Bodily) 36 years old

System Host: Terry

Endogenic/"mixed origin" systems and their supporters Do Not Interact

Collectively Queer and Poly (married to our husband, but in an open relationship)

Partner System: @rinjak3 Not all our alters are super active on tumblr, but there's a list of all our alters and their personal tags (if they have them) here. Our headcount fluctuates frequently due to repeated rounds of discovery/splitting and fusion. Recovery isn't always straightforward! We like getting asks! If you have questions for us, our askbox is usually open (Anon is currently: ON) Extra/more detailed stuff under the cut. Thanks, and have fun!

Before you interact: If you're a system, please keep in mind that most of what we post about here are our personal experiences. If you're not a system, feel free to ask questions in good faith, just don't be weird about it. We're actively working towards recovery, and have been seeing a therapist for several years. We have an unusually vivid Inner World that acts as a sanctuary, but also creates metaphor-heavy scenarios for us to engage with - and we "play along" with things, taking them as seriously as we need to in the moment. By engaging with our subconscious like this, performing actions in the Inner World with intent, and trying to understand what our mind is telling us - we take back control. It's how we solve problems, exchange information between parts, confront our fears, and unpack past trauma. To be clear, we don't suffer from delusions - we're aware that what happens in the IW isn't "really real". We don't appropriate cultural/spiritual practices like "tulpamancy". We have no reason to fake our experiences in order to get attention or sympathy from people. What we're doing is closer to self-guided Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and it's a lot of hard work - but if our "meta talk" makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to engage with us. The unfollow and block buttons are right there. If there's something specific you'd like us to tag so you can block it before following, please ask! Our personal views: ACAB, Land Back, Black Lives Matter, Protect Trans Kids, Free Palestine. We're pro-union, pro-immigration, and believe in safe conditions and fair compensation for all workers (including sex work by consenting adults). Politically we're mostly Democratic Socialists, with a few of us leaning further left in terms of ideals. We often jokingly refer to our system structure as an Anarchist Commune because we have no internal hierarchy, and see ourselves as a collective working towards mutual goals. We don't reblog a lot of activism and "awareness" posts unless they include resources to take direct action. Do not send asks about: - Anything to do with our Littles/underage alters; we do not post detailed information about them in public spaces, and we do not allow them to front unsupervised. This is for our safety and our mental health. - Anything to do with "source calls"; we feel this isn't a healthy basis for forming friendships, so we don't engage in it. If we have alters that share a source, don't make that the thing that makes you want to be friends with us. - Internet safety; we are bodily 36 years old, our abusers are an entire continent away, and although we are mentally ill we do not need or want sane people's intervention. If seeing us being open about mental illness makes you uncomfortable, that's on you. - Syscourse; endos and pro-endos keep posting things that spread misinformation, and keep causing paranoia, derealization and general stress within our system. Militant anti-endos keep harassing us over things that they've decided mean we're faking. We're done will all of it, don't bring this shit to us. - Our former relationships; yes we have a toxic/abusive ex, no we don't want anyone else involved with them. They are mentally ill and traumatized, and while that doesn't justify their behavior, we want to be the bigger person(s) here and leave them alone.

We block the following on sight: - Anyone who thinks adults shouldn't talk to minors for any reason, and shouldn't date other adults outside their immediate age range - i.e. an adult in their 30s shouldn't date an adult in their 20s. We try to treat everyone with respect and maintain healthy boundaries, but if you think our actions are inherently abusive, we're not going to debate you - TERFs/SWERFs and Queer Exclusionists; i.e. those who don't accept "contradictory identities", say that asexuals don't belong in the community, or claim that masculine trans men/transmascs don't experience transphobia - Self-identified "radqueers" and "transID", including transabled/transharmed/transplural (if you don't know what this means do not google it, trigger warnings abound) - Drama, cringe, "receipt" and callout blogs, "tar pits" (people who engage with positivity posts just to drag others down), and people who engage in bullying others for harmless things - Endogenic systems, their supporters, and anti-endo blogs that harass others - People who sympathize with/make excuses for authoritarian states and ethnostates, regardless of political alignment (this includes Fascists, Zionists and Tankies) - Anyone who's just here to Cause Problems On Purpose

[kitkatopinions]

You know, this whole “Ironwood is image obsessed” thing that people are apparently saying yet again... Is yet another example of RWBY simps and IW antis that are trying to drain literally any good thing away from Ironwood’s character and then still claiming that he’s nuanced.

James is not image obsessed, it’s literally a defining characteristic of his that he’s willing to do what he thinks needs to be done regardless of how that makes him look. People are just doing whatever they can to try and pretend James Ironwood has always been all bad and has never been any sort of good and then they’re taking their warped, not backed by canon, and even sometimes directly going against canon ideas and presenting them as the truth that they uncovered that people are just ignoring to be dumb.

Ironwood is brave, Ironwood is strong, Ironwood is self-sacrificing, Ironwood is more experienced than most of our protagonists, Ironwood is devoted, Ironwood tries his hardest, Ironwood does what he thinks is right, Ironwood is willing to sacrifice his own wants and needs and reputation to get done what he thinks must be done.

That obviously isn’t to say that James doesn’t have bad traits, because good, well rounded characters have both - heroes or villains or anything in-between. But the behavior of antis of literally trying as hard as they can to take any and everything James does and turning it into something either bad or totally faked... That’s straight up removing any nuance and subtlety from the character and making him even more two dimensional than CRWBY made him become in season eight already.

Of course, people can headcanon whatever the hell, twist James in their fanfictions and their writings to better fit their purposes, but it just isn’t canon James. It’s okay to hate a character with good traits, it’s okay to like a character with bad traits.

[iamanartichoke]

Why do you feel that way about fandom? (In regards to your latest reblog)

Ah, I’m not sure if I know how to explain it, but I’ll try. (This got long, so I’m really sorry.)

The thing is, I first got into the Loki fandom early in 2018, so I’m coming up on about two years of being active here. That first year was so fun and exciting; I was elated to be able to discuss my Loki theories and meta with like-minded people, and I was so happy (and surprised!) at the attention my fic was getting.

I was also still at a point where I believed IW was going to blow our minds, so there was that extra kind of thrill of suspense (and a bit of fear but, when you believe in the MCU and haven’t yet lost faith in its writers/directors, the fear is surface-level and adds to the thrill - there’s not really the accompanying dread and despair). 

IW was a crushing blow to that, of course, but even though we were all devastated, we were all devastated as a fandom. We were still in it together; we had one another to vent to and cry with and share fic with. “Loki is alive bc reasons” became kind of an unwritten rule in most post-IW fics; we all agreed that Loki deserved better. 

In 2019, two things happened: one, I was underemployed and dragging my feet on finding better employment due to my mental health, which ruined my life for a little while. I had to move back in with my parents, which (I love them and am grateful they were willing to support me, but) was a toxic environment. I was too depressed to indulge in my escapism the same way (fic and fandom) and my progress on my stories slowed way down. I’ve never quite been able to get back the momentum I had when writing Sanctuary, but that’s another issue. 

The second thing that happened was, obviously, Endgame came out and whatever theories and hopes the fandom was collectively holding onto about Loki were crushed. Not only that, but the portrayal of Thor seemed to amplify the divide in the fandom between the pro/anti Ragnarok argument. 

It seems, to me, that what was a series of battles or skirmishes only became an all-out war after Endgame. That’s only my perception, of course, but I do feel that the latter part of 2019 saw the divide grow larger and larger. Everyone had opinions on what the “correct” portrayal of Thor was, and how it related to Loki, and whether fanon Thor and Loki’s relationship was founded in canon or not. Everyone was defensive of their own point of view; bullying and name-calling and anon hate became more widespread. 

Again, this is just my observation. Those who’ve been on the front lines since Ragnarok came out probably have a much different perspective; I’m only talking about what I observed bc it directly impacts how I feel about fandom these days. 

So here we are in 2020; like I said, I’ve been here about two years. I haven’t rewatched any of the Thor movies in ages (although @delyth88 and I are talking about it), because they make me so sad and also so angry. Sad for what we had, angry for what could have been. So much wasted potential. Loki’s horrific end hangs over everything, as does Thor’s radical character change, and I don’t have the same excited outlook about the characters and the meta potential anymore. 

Not having watched the movies in a long time, along with that feeling of “ugh” around them, impacts me creatively bc I’m not actively feeding my writing inspiration. For me, fanfic writing comes from being so full of feels about the source material that I just can’t get enough and I need more. I draw my inspiration from things like watching Loki’s facial expressions, catching subtle moments between Thor and Loki, analyzing the way they speak, thinking about the story choices happening, and so on, and so on. 

My source of inspiration has dried up, in other words, which has made it hard for me to keep a good writing momentum going. I was feeling great when I rewrote Sea, and then my inspiration kind of plummeted again - this time, bc I felt that I did such a good job rewriting and the response was so positive, I didn’t know if I could finish the rest of the story as well. Like I was already setting up the second half to fail, bc it would be much more “rough draft” than the first - revised and polished, yes, but not gone over with a fine-toothed comb the way the first part was. 

The truth is, I carry a lot of stress and anxiety around my writing. I am always incredibly anxious that no one actually likes my fic, that no one is reading my fic, that people think it’s stupid or pointless, that my quirky humorous touches are ooc, that my plotlines are convoluted and boring and my sex scenes awkward and non-existent. 

I’m having trouble with the Valki relationship bc I haven’t watched Ragnarok in so long, I’ve forgotten how much chemistry was between them and how it made me feel. I’ve forgotten why I chose to pair them up in this ‘verse in the first place. And I worry about that, too - that the people who read my stories for the Valki are walking away unsatisfied. 

So that’s where I am with fic writing - slow and steady, still trying to find my footing, still secretly assuming what I write is shit.

This is on top of feeling more and more isolated on tumblr, mostly because of the aforementioned tensions and overall negativity that’s erupted in the fandom. I have been unfollowed and blocked by people who were once mutuals; I have been blocked by people I’ve never spoken to before. 

There’s so much stress surrounding the things I post now - I’m constantly thinking, have I worded this correctly to convey my meaning without shitting on someone else’s opinion? Is this post going to be the one that makes this or that mutual unfollow me? Am I tagging correctly so my pro Ragnarok mutuals don’t see my criticism, and vice versa? Can I still post pictures of Chris Hemsworth, who is possibly the only man in the world I am definitely attracted to, which is a shame bc I agree that he’s kind of a douche now? But he’s so beautiful, but I have to disclaim that it’s just his face I’m attracted to? If I reblog this post about Loki that I think is hilarious, but is also founded on the flat stabby villain characterization, will I alienate my anti friends? Does it imply I don’t understand or appreciate Loki and that, by reblogging the thing, I’m endorsing a shitty characterization? 

And so on. It makes scrolling my dashboard uncomfortable and un-fun, bc I end up saving tons of posts to my drafts without reblogging them, and after awhile I am not enjoying myself, so I stop scrolling. 

But this means I miss tons of mutuals’ posts, and I was trying to check individual blogs for awhile but I kept falling further behind, and there were more and more posts I’d missed, and I’d get overwhelmed and then feel like they probably hated me anyway at this point for being a shit mutual, so I might as well just keep lurking on the dash for ten minutes and call it a day. 

On top of that, I haven’t read fic in awhile bc of this mindset, so I haven’t commented, and then when I don’t get comments it’s like, well, maybe the story’s not shitty but no one’s reading it bc what do I expect when I’m not reading theirs? You’re not special, Charlotte. 

The worst part about all of this is that none of it should diminish (and hasn’t diminished!) my love of Loki as a character. I am excited about the series, but I am also very anxious about it - about the story not being good, yes, but also about the inevitably divide that will further split the fandom. 

No matter how the story goes, someone’s going to be upset. You can’t please everyone, and trying only makes for worse storytelling. So the wank will continue. 

But I love Loki. I love everything about him. I am interested in writing about him and reading about him and thinking about him. I am invested in him and always will be. It’s just that, right now, I’m kind of falling further and further out of fandom and I find I have less to say. 

And so I either have to wait it out, or work on my own mindset, or keep on keeping on. I just don’t know how long that will take or if I’m even liked enough here to try to bother. 

tl;dr: Fandom has made me cynical and jaded, and it has dampened not my love of Loki, but my love of interacting with the Loki fandom.

(I know you didn’t ask for this hot garbage pile of my feelings, anon, so I’m sorry.) 

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Hey, sorry to bother you (and we skip right over the notion that we're both rioplatense and we speak the exact same VERSION of Spanish but communicate in English in tumblr because USING SPANISH IN TUMBLR IS JUST SO WEIRD. SO WEIRD) but could I ask you to list all the tags you use for your anti-Tony Stark posts? I'm not a fie hard fan, but I am also not a hater (I'm very meh when it comes to most of the marvel universe tbh) but I would prefer not to see those posts. Thanks so much!!!

Using Spanish in Tumblr feels like speaking parseltongue or some language of old XD

(For anyone else who wants to block my anti content and anti reblogs. If I miss a post or there are other things you prefer I tag, just tell me, please)

I tag:

Anti Tony Stark

Anti Tony Stans

Anti Russo Brothers

IW criticism

CACW criticism

And I will start tagging (from now on) posts which specific theme is character’s defense as pro + [character name] e.g.: pro Steve Rogers, Pro Wanda Maximoff, Pro Stephen Strange and so on.

Thank you for mentioning this :D

[kitkatopinions]

I literally am this close to snapping. Someone made a post saying that James Ironwood fans thought he was right because he's straight, and I pointed out TWICE that not only does having attraction to the opposite sex not make someone automatically straight, but that all the mains in RWBY are heteronormative just like if not more than Ironwood, and that MOST IW FANS think of him as queer and ship him with men. OP ignored me, both times, made posts about how everyone was missing the point they made which was about how people like Ironwood because they're biased for manly men that COMPLETELY IGNORED what I said about MOST OF HIS FANS HEADCANONING HIM AS GAY, and how Ironwood fans are biased. Since they're ignoring me, not responding on the actual post, and refusing to see the problem with the original post that legit misrepresented James fans and suggested we're homophobic, I've blocked them. But I just felt the need to rant.

This idea that all IW fans only like him because we think he's straight, or only like him because he's a man, or because we think he's white, is literally so dumb. And whenever we say 'actually there are very few RWDE posters who AREN'T LGBTQ, women, or people of color, and most (though not all) of us are actively pushing for clear queer rep in RWBY, better depictions of people of color, the removal of a character based on a N*zi, and more focus and growth for their female characters,' we're talked over or told we're lying.

Just for the record, I loved Ozpin way more than James at the start of the show, only started liking James in volume 3, and still he wasn't one of my favorite characters. Instead, until season six, my favorite characters were Nora, Blake, Yang, and Qrow. I hated characters like Cardin and Port BECAUSE of their insane toxic masculinity, as I've been a feminist since I was a teenager, and I even took awhile to like Jaune until he grew out of his more toxic traits. James only started being one of my favorite characters when my previous favorites started doing things like punching children, yelling at abuse victims and then never showing an ounce of regret, and yanking their crush into a forced kiss because he wasn't expressing his feelings fast enough. On top of that, Ironwood displayed a lot of gentleness and tenderness in the first couple eps of season 7, which strengthened the fact that he reminded me of my kind, loving, non-confrontational father. And I also started shipping him with Qrow and have written many a soft (nonpublished) fanfiction involving him and Qrow, and Ironwood LEARNING HE DOESN'T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE STRONG AND DO THINGS ALONE. Because I hate toxic masculinity and James has so many soft, generous, kind, and caring moments!

Honestly, idk if I should even post this because I already blocked OP, but after the passive aggressive side posts they made, I'm just... Feeling like they didn't even TRY to see where anyone else was coming from.

[iamanartichoke]

This is neither eloquent nor organized. I’m very frustrated and I just need to get things off my chest. 

Please do not reblog this post. 

Cut for anti-Ragnarok discourse, pro-Ragnarok discourse, the Ragnarok discourse war, mention of Thorki, and general venting. 

I’m not using tags bc I don’t want this post to show up in them. Very sorry and if any of these things is one of your blacklists, please keep scrolling.

Yesterday, I read a fic.

I was wandering through some of the Thorki content on twitter, and followed a link to one of the big bang fics, bc it was a human AU and das my jam.

I didn’t recognize the author’s name. The fic was extremely well-written, though: lots of feels, beautiful narration, a sweet ending balanced with a lot of sadness. It was one of those fics that gave me a lump in my throat.

I was only going to leave kudos, but then I figured I’d take the extra five seconds and leave a comment, bc we all know how much authors like comments. I mean, I’d rather someone leave a comment than kudos, especially if the fic really affected them.I get it and I gotchu, fam. 

Anyway, so I left a comment and proceeded to click on the author’s profile to see what else they’ve written. As you do.

I recognized their AO3 icon, even though I didn’t recognize the name. I’d seen them around on some Ragnarok wank on tumblr. I went to double-check, and it was the same user, and also they’d blocked me.

I do not know this person. I have never spoken to this person. Yet they’ve gone out of their way to block me, most likely bc I associate with the anti-Ragnarok crowd. This happens to me a lot. I’ve even had a couple of former mutuals unfollow and block me (without saying anything to me) and those felt like punches to the gut.

I understand not wanting to see content that you don’t like or that upsets you. Everyone has the right to block whomever they wish. But I can’t deny that getting blocked like that – by someone I don’t know, let alone interact with – fucking hurts. I know it’s not that deep but I can admit it. It’s a shitty feeling and it’s hard not to take it personally.

It’s not really about this particular person at all, although it’s a shame bc they’re a good writer I probably would have followed otherwise. But this entire anti/pro Ragnarok war has gone so far and it’s exhausting. I stayed pretty neutral for as long as I could. 

And here’s the thing. My observations, both from being neutral and also being someone who, despite often being quietly blocked, tends to fly under the radar are this:

The majority of the negativity comes from the pro side.

Look, I side with and agree with the anti side on this one. I can admit, however, that sometimes it gets tiresome to see posts get turned into Ragnarok criticism or tiresome to see more posts on my dash about this that or another thing that sucks about Ragnarok and why. It, like anything, can be tiring.

But I also see that the anti side largely does its best to keep to itself. The pro side complained about the Ragnarok tags, so the anti side made an anti tag, and the pros still come into it to complain. The anti side will post their discussions and criticisms and they largely just circulate within the same group of people. The discussions are almost always criticisms on the source material (ie, the film) and not about anyone who enjoys it.

Now, maybe I don’t see everything. Though I don’t think I’m biased just bc I agree with the anti side – in fact, it was these attributes that made me take a closer look at what they were saying bc maybe they had a point after all. I don’t follow every anti Ragnarok user, but I do follow a lot. I can’t say personal attacks and whatever never happen - but, I hardly ever see them.

That’s not the case with the pro side. I don’t think I follow many from that side, but I see so much negativity from them. It’s like this kind of underhanded negativity that I’m not quite sure how to explain. It’s tonal negativity. 

I mean, sometimes it’s blatant. Name-calling (Loki stans, lackeys, pathetic, delusional, and racist come to mind) is an example. But more than that, there’s this collective tone among the pro side that smacks of condescension and I can’t stand it.

They make fun of the “dissertations” that have been written.

They always include an “lol” or laugh emoji or something to express that they’re not the ones taking this seriously.

They fall back on saying they don’t care about a two-year-old movie.

They’re laughing and making fun and at the same time acting like they’re so above it all.

They want us to just shut up already.

What it comes down to is this: it’s not just a matter of being able to agree to disagree because the pro side actively acts offended that the antis are even having these critical discussions, even if the antis have gone out of their way to not involve the rest of the fandom at all.

(Again, this is not every pro person, but the majority. Tone does matter online, and the overall tone of the pro side is not positive. I say this from a mostly neutral place.)

And here’s a thing about “oh my god, it came out two years ago, get over it!” Yeah, it came out two years ago. So fucking what? You guys are still engaging with it, via fics and headcanons and art. How old the movie is doesn’t matter when you’re having fun with it, but when someone wants to engage with it in a (valid) critical way that you don’t like? No. That’s unacceptable. That’s pathetic. That’s being a lackey. Get over it.

Even writing this, I know that things are much worse for others than they are for me. I get stealth blocked; others are called out by name in public posts, receive anon hate, and are actively targeted.

It’s just, this shit is so fucking toxic to this fandom and it honestly needs to stop. Both sides need to not only stop engaging one another, but also stop acknowledging one another. We get it: you either like the movie or you don’t.

Let people do their own thing. Don’t be fucking obnoxious. If you disagree and genuinely want to talk about it, then try to remember there’s a person on the other side of the screen and be civil. If you disagree and don’t want to talk about it, then just fucking don’t.

If you see a post you disagree with, scroll past. And, yes, block the person if you need to (and sometimes it might be me that needs blocking and I recognize my hurt feelings are my own personal problem, not whoever else’s).

There are a lot of movies in the MCU that are not perfect. (Btw, it baffles me a little to get hated on for my stance on Ragnarok, when I am so much more vocal [and emotionally invested] in hating the Russos and IW/Endgame – but, whatever.) There are a lot of interpretations of characters that are different. There are a lot of people who project their own identity or issues or whatever onto any particular character that resonates (and that’s okay!) and there are a lot of people who don’t project but still identify with a particular character (and that’s okay, too).

Stop judging whether someone is a “real” fan of a character/franchise or not. Just because someone isn’t engaging with the source material in the way you are, and just because they don’t see it in the same way that you do, does not make them wrong. (Yes, this applies to the pro side, too. None of them are wrong or less valid for enjoying and even stanning the movie.) It doesn’t make anyone better than anyone else here. 

Acting otherwise is honestly going to kill this fandom. Because it bleeds over. Fics will have less readers, bc they don’t want to interact with something posted by someone they dislike (or who blocked them). There’s less sharing of things like art and headcanons and content. People unfollow and block each other, people are having to watch what they say, people are losing friends (and potential friends) bc they may be a great person but they don’t agree with you about fucking Ragnarok.

I came to tumblr bc it was the only place where not only could I find other people who loved Loki as much as I did, but it was the only place where I could express that. Express it in fic, in headcanons, in meta. Being creative and starting dialogues and just interacting. I wish we could get that vibe back.

I wish none of this bothered me so much.