#Im just shocked because

[hammill-goes-fogwalking]

Proto Metal

[qualityrain]

[inkskinned]

you know, you know. no gods, no masters, no kings on pedestals. everyone is fallible. death of the author. you know! you are balanced about your intake of media - you allow the wiggle room, the grace, the gratitude, the skepticism. nobody above criticism.

but still. a weird gut-punch feeling, something akin to betrayal. you read the article. surprise! an author you love is actually: a serial fucking predator.

well, shit. what now. no, you knew he was a person (all people are), but now you're wondering - what have i overlooked by accident? what messages have i internalized that are strange and cruel? and also, like, what the fuck?

his actions lay a thick glaze on top of everything. like each place is now ruined, opaque in a new way. but okay, fine, you've done this before. you knew better, right? you've been betrayed by many a cherished childhood author.

still, this stickiness. fuck. can you pick up that book again. will you read it to your children. you've recommended it to others - will you ever do that again? and of course, of course, no parasocial relationships. you were theoretically above this kind of sentiment. but the artist informs the art, right.

so it's not something as clear-cut as feeling he owed you, specifically (a stranger) better behavior - just that you kind of, in a distant and odd way... sort of trusted him to do better. it's not like a real trust or something speakable, just the faint hope that the product (good books) was a thin representation of the soul. now it feels like the product (good? books?) was a mask. in some small or insignificant way, your previous support of this person lent them power. your money and your time and your laughter.

and the thing is - you have this terrible, echoing sensation. how many times will this happen? over and over. you find out that the singer you love is actually a predator. you learn over drinks that your favorite high school english teacher is in jail for what he did to her. you listen to the news idly and suddenly discover that a woman you used to idolize has been abusing her kids for an actual eon.

what can you touch without the static melting off. you can't even really complain about it too much (you were supposed to know better, and besides, you don't want the same re-split "it's not your fault, love what you love" basic advice), but now it's here. somehow, it feels like - you let him into your life.

it's not that things need to be pure or an artist has to be like, endlessly perfect, mindful. demure. it's more just this terrible truth that has been replayed through your veins so often it feels criminally vain. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. did you want any one person to be worth that power?

it's just that he wrote books where he seemed to understand that. he seemed to know about hierarchies and unfair systems and bigotry and privilege. you thought they were books about what it means to struggle. you thought they were about having power and still using it for good rather than for control. he spooned you a narrative of being a good guy, a kind soul. you fucking bought what that fucking monster sold.

maybe that's why they were fantasies, after all.

[cubbihue]

Is becoming a fairy a bad thing? If Timmy is so much happier... why IS it bad?

It's a bit like suddenly thrusting the fate of the world onto some prophesied chosen child's hands. Children shouldn't have the mental fortitude to handle any of that.

Timmy's very glad and happy he became a fairy. He just thinks no other kid should have to make such a choice. You can't get mad when the former prophesied chosen child prevents you from prophesying future children the same fate.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[starbiology]

i can trick myself into classic art studies if i get to draw my fav character lol

[shittysawtraps]

when your friend says “i’m becoming the joker,” reply, “well, i’m becoming jigsaw” to one-up them. do not elaborate on what this means

[moeblob]

Their designs are literally stunning to me.

[wildstar25]

To this day, Arsay still holds the record for "fastest climb up a palm tree" in the South Seas (though there's no real competition for it).

Cultural context:

edit: if you see the version with a word missing no you don't

[petrerpkr]

Marauders stans need to be stopped or at least read the actual books

[redeliminator]

i believe that to some extent Andre knows he's fucked up and this headcanon is one of the hills I will die on in the farewell tape, Cal says that “you can’t cure somebody who has nothing wrong with them.” 

Andre, on the other hand, admits they might be seen as hypocrites. he's not gonna back out, he still thinks it's the right thing for him to do, but he seems to acknowledge that people will not perceive it the same way. he tries to explain that no matter what it’ll look like, it’s not murder for the sake of murder - not in his eyes at least. there's a (sick and twisted) lesson hidden in this tragedy.

to some extent, Andre is aware of what’s going on with him, what exactly shaped him into who he is now. he sees the cause and effect of being bullied, of feeling rejected and alienated, and not being able to do anything about it because that's just who he is. he can kick and scream and shout but he will never change who he is at his core and this realization is crushing for a 17/18-year-old. this and all the implications of a missing sense of belonging.

he knows he’s messed up. he knows what would fix him and he’s convinced it’s out of his reach. he looks at other students and he thinks: it’ll never be me. and he's angry that they have something he will never have.

his awareness doesn't help though. if anything, it fuels his frustration. what adults know to be a temporary problem (high school) seemed like an insurmountable obstacle, the end of everything.

[3liza]

"why do you talk about something awful so much" it has surprised me quite a bit as I've gotten older but the 2000s-2010s SA culture has only become more relevant to current events and media as time goes on, i assume from the natural watershed effects from people aging into their 30s and making media properties that go on to become incredibly influential. I was never a big poster there, I was a lurker 99% of the time and had zero influence on the site, so it's really not personal for me except for stuff like Dropsy, since I was there for the original thread. the SA millennials started popping up in noticeable ways as early as 30 Rock (recall the "lemon party" recurring joke for example) and as the younger members age into their prime output years we're just going to keep seeing more of it.

[cervinae-canine]

yeah i think there's a difference between selfshipping with a antihero/ a antagonist/ a morally grey character, ect; and selfshipping with a rapist or a character who attempted imperialism / genocide. and the fact that i and others need to clarify such, is kind of sad.

Proship / Comship / RPF Do Not Interact Please !

[aesopsharpmybeloved]

Playing KCD 2:

Me as Henry, closely after the falling out with Hans, but because of Tumblr knowing exactly what can happen: "Oh my god, I can't believe I'm going to fuck this prat."

The catchpole: "Wait, you don't have to-"

Me, as Henry: "Oh, no, I will."

[supahstarrr]

i love watari nishino, and so i will ramble about obvious things relating to her background and character. insert heart emoji.

the parentification of watari makes me so so sick. can't stop thinking about that despite the strained relationship with her father she continues to reach out to him despite him not replying, just as she constantly reaches out to others in the game even when they don't reply to her. despite the strained relationship with her older brother based on the lack of energy to her and the younger ones, she is willing to hang out with him—which once again mirrors her tendency to reach out to others.

can't stop thinking about her reassuring her siblings that their mother still loves the family despite the constant emotional and physical neglect, as an attempt to ease their and her mind based on the (valid) perceptions of their mother making them feel unloved. its a reminder of how she tries to find reassurance in okazaki's character despite everyone perceiving them based on how they appear—both her mother and okazaki appear as negative uncaring characters yet it's nishino who is able to see and hope of the potential warmth in them that they don't or aren't perceived to show often, despite the negative perceptions from others having some validity to them.

can't stop thinking about her clinging to leadership roles because that is all she is used to, despite it exhausting her. her deciding to give herself responsibilities revolving around tending to others, despite those kind of responsibilities being forced onto her at a young age. she creates a dance team, and as leader she's the one looking for solutions for problems that risk the existence of her team *all while* constantly tending to her family.

notably her difficulties with the lack of control is what weighs her down, making her prone to being one of the weakest characters in the investigations and trials. this leads her to gravitate to the idea of being a leader.

i can't stop thinking about how the killing game allows her to play with a leadership role, which is something she cannot do while being a leader at home and for her dance team. through playing with the "headmaster" role, she tries to reinforce the false sense of normalcy for both her (that is leadership, tending to others and school) and others (that is school). its an attempt of finding comfort while grappling with the lack of control she's not used to, while also allowing her to be within a "leadership" role that doesn't require much commitment in contrast to being a leader for her family and dance team—thus being an interesting case of (very loosely) reclaiming leadership.

then okazaki takes advantage of watari's role. okazaki takes advantage of watari's "leadership" by utilizing the "privileges" they're given as "hall patrol" for the sake of committing murder. this give more layers to the tragedy that is watari and okazaki's dynamic, as this mirrors how watari's family members (mother, older brother and father) take advantage of watari's role as the primary caregiver so they don't have to put care into the family. watari's tendency to step up for others being taken advantaged by others is a norm for her, and yet okazaki contributed to that normalcy despite the validity to watari's "leadership" being more questionable. watari's attempt to mimic normalcy for the sake of her comfort and others just... became so sad.

i can't stop thinking about how her persistence and dedication leads her to giving energy to people despite them not giving it back the same. and i can't stop thinking about her hope for others.

[cherrielatte]

genuine question do you even understand what a proshipper is ? like youre okay with people romanticizing pedophilia and shipping minors and adults ? you think thats okay?? GENUINE question.

Hello! Judging from the way you worded this - I'm gonna be honest: I don't think you know what proshipping is. I was very close to not answering this because it was sounding a bit in bad faith ( and this isn't the first time I've gotten belligerent asks on the same topic) But well, I decided to give it a shot and give benefit of the doubt.

 I know it's common ground to jump onto proshipping with the idea that it means you romanticize pedophilia, abuse, toxicity, etc. It's the typical high ground taken when people hear that dark fiction enjoyers exist. But that's not actually what it means. It just means that YOU, as an individual, understand that a drawing is not the same thing as human being. Written characters are not the same as human beings. Harassing REAL people over a non existent character because they put them into situations that make you uncomfortable says more about the harasser than the writer/artist. Proshipping is about taking personal responsibility for your experience online. Not long ago, the idea of a proshipper was just considered having fandom etiquette (ie: Don't like; Don't read type of tag lines. ) I'm a proshipper and there are plenty of things I don't like & make me uncomfortable. But I also understand that I can easily not engage. I can filter tags so I don't see it. I can block people that make that kind of content. I can refuse to click on something clearly labeled as the content I don't like. I can control what I see. And I can also understand that that if someone draws something I don't like it doesn't mean anything about them in real life nor what they enjoy in real life. Besides, a lot of people that consider themselves proshippers are victims of abuse or have had to endure traumatic events in their lives. Engaging in what you might consider dark fiction allows people to cope and navigate through complex emotion/trauma and express themselves in ways they are not allowed to or haven't allowed themselves to. I've seen some people say "I've been through trauma and I don't engage in proshipping." And okay, I'm happy for you. But not everyone copes the same way you do. And no one should be held to the same standard. If we were all carbon copies of each other, maybe I would understand that argument. But that's not the case. I should also mention, that it's become a bit standard for people to only excuse those that have been through trauma to make dark fiction. But only if they publicly acknowledge what kind of trauma they have endured. I am 100% against this way of thinking. I do not think it is anyone's right to demand an account of my or anyone's personal traumas just to validate the existence of certain piece of art. No one is entitled to anyone's abuse story. If a person is willing to share, because they want to, that's the personal decision of the individual. But look, much of the horror genre (movies, books, tv, etc) wouldn't exist if we put these high censorship rules onto art as a whole and unfortunately, I see this happening more and more these days like discussed in this post about someone's experience in publishing gothic horror.

Going back to an earlier point, you have to really understand that the characters are fake. 100% fake. If I ship Sora ( KH) and Ash (Pokemon) neither of them are going to be upset about it because they don't exist. If I draw them kissing, it is a drawing of anime looking characters kissing. That's all. They don't look anything like real human people. Wasting energy fighting over fictional characters is just that. Wasting time and energy. Who are you saving? Ash? Sora? They don't need help, because they aren't real. Fight for real people that actually exist. I have seen people outside of the Soriku fandom genuinely upset about people shipping Riku x Sora because they are underage! Mostly because they are both male but without fail, they always slap on the argument: "they are kids, you sicko!" But you know why they go to that? Because assuming the moral high ground wins over arguments quickly. People are eager to be superficially perceived as morally good. I have seen people ship Riku x Ansem SOD, which could fall into that age gap - problematic shipping you referred to in your ask. But you know what? I get it. I see people interpret their relationship as one of abuse, metaphorical SA, manipulation, etc. I completely understand and see that interpretation and where it stems from. And unfortunately, there are many people in fandom that have had this exact experience. Honestly, without me needing to ask anyone specifically, I KNOW there are people in fandom projecting their experiences onto Riku and Ansem as a means to replay it with a bit of actual control. And even if there are people who don't. I'm not going to ask, because it's none of my business. So again, as a proshipper I am completely in control of my online experience. I can block, mute, filter, and not engage with the things I don't like or things that trigger me. But as long as it is fiction, it remains as just that : Something I don't like between characters that dont exist. I don't have to harass, bully, nor threaten people over fiction. Of course, there are bad apples in every circle. But to me, whether someone is a bad person or not is expressed through action toward real people and the intentional harm done onto them, whether it be through inappropriate interactions, abuse of any kind, exposing personal information, harassing family/at work, or encouraging harm. Those are real actions on real people and engaging in these actions is what counts to me as markers of a bad person. Not someone drawing two fictional characters that haven't aged in the last 20 years kissing or having sex. 

[freaky-flawless]

I looove Clawdeen's outfit in the second Gloom and Bloom webisode! Such a great look for such a short appearance.

I put the screenshots I used as reference under the cut!