#Not the RIGHT fannish stuff

[shinraelectricpowercom]

Current Events in Silm fandom rlly reinforce my feeling that, despite claiming an ethos of acceptance/tolerance of anything that doesn't hurt ppl, a lot of ppl in the section of Silm fandom I frequent do follow a set of socially-agreed-upon mores about what concepts are "not acceptable" to discuss or propose (or the ways in which certain topics must be discussed to be acceptable), that you all seem to have agreed on despite the things those mores restrict not being harmful to anyone.

And when someone does say smth that violates those mores, the response is disproportionate to the amount of harm done (which is typically none, imo). I know it's tempting to say "but we just want people to be comfortable and safe", but treating ppl badly for the sin of sharing thoughts you dislike is NOT the same as preventing people from doing things that are harmful. The former is much more of a harmful behavior than the sharing of the thoughts that sets it off. Fannish etiquette, people: you shouldn’t act like someone’s meta makes them morally suspect just because you disagree with it; save the “this is morally bad” for things that are ACTUALLY harmful. We're all stuck on this website together & if you want to have any sort of community, you need to ACT like you're in a community, and that means letting other people say things you dislike. Block them if you need to! I block people all the time because i know it's better for me AND for them if we can both blog in peace.

I am not particularly comfortable with the young-queer-on-tumblr silm fandom rn due to this tendency to rebuke things that are uncomfortable rather than harmful. Maybe that's fine with you. But if your goal is to make all fans feel comfortable and accepted, you need to actually do that. If your goal is to make people who share your unwritten rules comfortable in your space, you need to admit that, and write those rules down, and curate your space so it follows them.

Edited 8:10am PST to clarify the specifics of the behavior I find concerning.

[burinazar]

:( patheticposting

nearly literally reduced to tears rn by how overwhelmingly it feels like nobody cares what I make or like or think about and how meaningless any of my creativity and love and effort is

[aeide-thea]

[cw for (non-)discussion of abortion in (fan)fiction]

stories are so interesting bc like. truly there's so much going on there wrt like. what it actually occurs to us to Examine vs what it doesn't

anyway that could be a preface to a million different sorts of posts but i'm just thinking about how the other day an author i'm subscribed to dropped a fic in a Hashtag Problematic fandom with an extensive disclaimer at the beginning abt the terms of their continued engagement with said fandom

and then there was a scene in the fic where like. a married couple find out unexpectedly that the wife is pregnant, and they've already got a few kids and seem quite taken aback at the thought of another, and the medical professional who's revealed this to them is like, 'we can get you hooked up with more reliable birth control after the baby gets here, haha,' and i was like. literally why are you jumping to 'after the baby gets here' before they've actually given you any clear cues abt whether they want it to get there at all! because frankly 'we've got the number of kids we wanted and i'm not up for having any more' is a really excellent reason to get an abortion! that comment put pressure on one side of the scale in a way that frankly i thought was totally inappropriate!

and it's just like. i feel pretty confident the author did not intend this as anti-choice messaging—it seems much likelier to me that in their head it was just like 'these characters are Married and Popping Out Sprogs and of course they'd just tack on another one no problem, let's get back to the real function of this scene, namely character/relationship development for our main pairing!' but. the impact of it is in fact anti-choice, in that it doesn't make explicit or even any room for the idea that there's even a choice to be made here; and in fact, while i get the sense that the scene is intended to establish, among other things, the medical professional's Skill at Diagnosis, it actually made them look less skillful in my eyes, because to me a really critical piece of competence in this context is 'not leaning on the scale when you present options'?

and anyway it just got me thinking like—the author had this whole disclaimer at the beginning abt Engaging With This Fandom in 2023 but like. where's their disclaimer abt having produced what's effectively, if subtly, an anti-choice narrative, at a time in which abortion access in the US is becoming increasingly, horribly restricted? because frankly at least with the fandom i knew what i was getting going in!

[kuwdora]

the urge....

to rewatch season 3 and chew more on my feelings about what i liked and didn't like.

to finish one of my fic wips.

to start a new witcher vid.

to catch up on all my exciting fics in my to-read tabs.

to keep cruisin' through my reread of baptism of fire.

why can't i do it all at the same time? omg not to mention I don't think I ever finished Blood and Wine DLC (just a continuation of 'me having a hard time finishing things'...) i love it all. but. aaaaaaahhhh.

[annerbhp]

If you would but indulge this fandom elder for a few moments, I'd like to point out a few things that I think can make all of our fannish experiences on this hellsite (affectionate) so much more joyful.

Try not to treat yourself or others as "content-providers."

This happens when you allow yourself to be influenced by real or imagined expectations and demands of others. "But I know people want..." "But people would expect me to..." "But they might not like it if I..." "It's been too long since I've written/posted anything..." "What if people get upset if I..." These are the joy killers. The only questions you should ask yourself when posting stuff to tumblr (or not) is "does this bring me joy right now?" and "would this cause harm?" That's it. You can also tag liberally so people can block stuff if they want. That's also a nice thoughtful thing to do. But try not to let the nebulous concept of "people"--your followers, your readers, the internet at large, or whatever--become a bogeyman in your own head. Most of us already have enough internal critics trying to trip us up at any given moment. Try not to invent more.

Treating others as "content-providers" happens if you send asks or comments to someone on this site demanding more content of a specific type, or insinuating that you are entitled to something from that person. You are communicating to that person that they only have value as a content-provider, and only when providing whatever it is you want. This is dehumanizing and ignores the thousands of reasons that person might choose to be here. Tumblr is not a subscription service. No one is paying for anything here. Most people here are just doing stuff that makes them joyful and we are lucky enough that sometimes they share it with us too!

2. Fandom is not a marriage.

The concept of "being in a fandom" is actually incredibly nebulous, as it should be! There is nothing you need to do or declare to be "in a fandom." There is no minimum threshold of love, or time, or interaction, or "production." It's just a feeling. A place. A space that brings joy. (And sometimes, heartbreak, but that's another topic all together.)

Fandom is also not a marriage. You can't cheat on a fandom. You do not have to have formal divorce proceedings and let go of one fandom before messing around with another one. There's no such thing as fandom infidelity. Neither is fandom a job. You don't have to give two weeks' notice. You don't have to post public intent on the town hall. You're not banned once you step out, never to return. You can "take a break" without any moral implications or risk of becoming the focus of a pop culture debate about whether or not you were justified to mess around with another fandom during that time. You can leave a fandom and never go back, all without having to consciously decide to do so. You can fall out of love with a fandom and then fall back in love with it later. It's not a marriage/job! There are no rules!

3. Take ownership and curate your own experience.

If there is a thing, or a blog, or a person who once brought you joy, but on balance no longer does, or makes you more disappointed or annoyed or upset than not, you do not have to keep interacting with them/it. Following someone on tumblr is also not a marriage. You can follow/unfollow as you like, no harm, no foul. It's just curating your personal joy, and I hope we will always wish each other the best with that. If you are scared of "missing out on something," then you will either need to block tags enough to make it enjoyable, or decide unfollowing is worth the risk if it makes you too unhappy to keep following!

The ultimate thing is, it's up to you to curate your fannish experience. It is not up to the person you are following to change to fit your expectations or hopes. (See point #1.) You can feel ways about this, of course! But those are your feelings, which are yours to handle. Do not put them on the other person. Do not send them asks demanding things or lashing out. It won't make you feel better and it definitely won't get you what you are looking for, unless your actual aim is to kill the joy of another person so you are not upset alone. In that case I'm not sure what to tell you other than you might want to spend some time meditating on that one and think about if that's really the kind of person you want to be. Or if this kind of space is actually good for you.

That's it for now. Thank you for indulging me. Don't be a dick on the internet, friends. Take no shit and do no harm. Take care of yourselves! 💕

[vaguely-concerned]

UNHINGED DISTANT VOICES THOUGHTS (or: now we don't have time to unpack all of that julian but --)

this ep has such a banger concept (several banger concepts that should have had an ep all to themselves, really), even if its overall implementation is pretty mid. the idea that julian seems to readily believe that the most central voices inside him are aggression, fear/suspicion, doubt, confidence/sense of adventure, professionalism... and garak, being surprisingly, seductively good at tennis and taking care of him :}

in a doylist perspective I don't think this is well-crafted enough to read into it too deeply before it starts to fall gently apart, but through a watsonian lens and my fannish heart this is fucking fascinating fdsjka. where. where are all the positive feelings and sides of you that aren't about bickering with garak julian. are you okay julian. I like that since the augment storyline hadn't been conceived of yet at this point, you could look back and justify Julian's surge of confidence at the end as him realizing the lethean hasn't been able to get that deep in his mind to find what that whole mess must look like in his brain. 'you don't understand me half as well as you think you do' gains such depth, basically accidentally

'I'm a part of you, remember? I know what you know. Well... maybe a little more.'

'Still the man of mystery?'

'Oh, you wouldn't have me any other way.'

what. the FUCK fhdskjha. what's more gay, the lethean having picked through bashir's brains for this characterization of garak and their relationship (that Bashir easily buys and depends on through the ep), or him seeing half a minute max of julian and garak having lunch and uh. drawing his own conclusions, apparently. wild stuff)

Isn't this also the first time we see Julian actually play tennis with someone? All the other times it's been racquetball, right? Well well. Interesting. is all I'll say.

avery brooks does SUCH a good job changing his voice in this to match julian's doctor voice, I almost jumped in surprise when he was talking b/c that certainly isn't sisko's voice coming out of sisko's mouth

garak alternatingly going 'now -- what do you want me to do?' in a very... willing directable sort of way and telling julian that he's a good boy doing good and being so supportive and attentive and that's how the lethean tries to keep julian's shields down the longest. many thoughts. few of them PG.

JULIAN'S REASONING THAT THIS REALLY ISN'T GARAK -- NOT EVEN HIS MIND'S VERSION OF GARAK -- IS THAT THIS GARAK ISN'T COMPETENT ENOUGH FSDKJFHKSDJ. and he sounds so petulant about it too. 'the real garak would have this fixed for me a long time ago if I just batted my eyelashes and told him I thought cylon pareg's body of work was very interesting and layered :'( I miss him'

jazdia julian BROtp got me crying in quark's tonight, this was such a good direction to take that relationship. I know they kind of fuck it up again in s7 but y'know I'll take the good stuff while it's here haha

julian makes for such an amazing crotchety old man im love him

julian has a near-lethal stress dream about turning 30 and being bisexual. it's weird but very entertaining, and garak is there

[olderthannetfic]

You know what obnoxious thing I keep seeing in fandom I wish would stop? This absolute need some people seem to have for their ship to be Representation in some way. Shipping is just imagining scenarios between two characters! You don’t need it to be a Special reason or whatever? I have a ship that is popular and people make weird vague comments about how the fandom is racist because both of them are white and there are other ship options that have poc so the white ship being big is a reflection on how racist the fandom is but the thing is…

Look I’m going to be real with y’all the fandom is for the game Detroit: Become Human and let’s just say the two major black characters are basically stereotypes written by a neocon lib boomer in a story that itself is imho…let’s call it tone deaf and corny af rather than overtly racist but yeah. Black folks on twitter regularly mock this game for good reason. It is very much a boomer white man’s idea of the civil rights movement but with robots. The robots sing actual slave hymns. The main character is essentially a light-skinned Martin Luther King Jr (dubbed Markus Luthur King by blktwt lol) and the religious allegories of him as a savior figure are very on the nose. It is bad lol. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to explore the black characters but the fandom is full of young white people singing the praises of this writing while patting themselves on the back about it which is genuinely uncomfortable to be around. Just my 2 cents but the virtue signaling and insane policing around those two characters makes it unbearable to interact with their content it is deeply sanitized and you WILL get death threats if you attempt any nuance or are critical of the (kinda racist imo) way they were written in canon.

The worst part of this is that Markus has a popular ship with a character a lot of people read or interpret as a more soft or femme gay man and you know what zoomers hate? Femme gay men. So obviously this is made to be ‘problematic’ in some way because these people can’t just admit to being femmphobic/homophobic themselves.

Sometimes it’s easier to stick with the boring white characters in the background because they aren’t being closely guarded by stupid reactionary people who are used to flashing their favorite fictional poc characters as tokens of their own goodness and virtue.

--

The pinnacle of this game is that moment when the black lady lectures her son about why they need to run the robot underground railroad to Canada.

I watched some playthroughs. Unsurprisingly, I liked the buddy cops with the good development, not the cringey activism plot with too many foils and not enough development of any single relationship and not the the Women Care About Babies plot.

But if I were going to do something fannish with Markus, I'd write him having a fucked up relationship with his mentor's son post game—the surrogate son who thought the guy was great and the estranged son who knew he wasn't but who has also done a bunch of shitty stuff himself.

It's especially hilarious when tryhards think the problem is not enough people shipping Markus with North as if the slashers are going to be into 1. het and 2. yet another unnecessary traumatic sex stuff backstory for a lady.

Even worse, half the whining isn't even about that Nines fanon nonsense being more popular than Markus: it's about how Markus/Connor would be better than Hank/Connor because old people are ew.

Sorry, children, a lot of people are here to thirst for Clancy Brown and because they'll turn up for any Caves of Steel ripoff. Other Connor ships were never in the running.

[pluckyredhead]

☕️batfam (not each character, but your opinion of them as a family both in canon vs. canon)

I think the version of them that you see in things like WFA and a lot of fandom stuff is delightful and entertaining. Don't get me wrong - a lot of the fandom stuff is also wildly wrong and infuriating. But there are writers who do a great job with a more fannish take on the Batfamily and I enjoy their work. (It is usually...painfully obvious who has actually read the comics and who only knows the Batfam via tumblr posts.)

The Batfamily in mainstream continuity is...not that. The characters are significantly more traumatized and rarely joke around with each other. They're also not a unit in the same way. They almost never do anything together out of costume. They don't have a joint baseline relationship of "family" - each pair of characters has a unique relationship. Like, Dick and Damian are close, Tim and Damian have a very rocky history, and Jason and Damian have honestly just not interacted that much? (Hilariously, Jason literally shot Damian early on and Damian doesn't appear to hold a grudge, while you know Tim is still mad about the dinosaur thing.) Damian has a specific relationship with Steph. Tim has a specific (and close!) relationship with Babs. (He used to just...hang out in the Watchtower! Being nerds together!) Duke and Cass are close, which of course is largely ignored by fandom. Etc.

I think the fact that the canon relationships are fraught and in some cases either really volatile or nonexistent is potentially really interesting. Like, I would love to see a story that puts Jason and Tim on a mission together and really digs into that dynamic, or Tim and Damian. (Or my dream story, one where Tim feels Some Kind Of Way about how he used to be Dick's favorite but now Damian very clearly is. (This is not how Dick sees it at all, for the record. Tim is his little brother! But Damian is his baby. It's different.))

Or look at the Robins' current relationships with Bruce: Dick is the closest with him but also accepts and absorbs much of Bruce's bad behavior without question. Bruce and Jason cannot be around each other for more than 30 minutes without dragging up every wound they've inflicted on each other over the years. Tim is desperate to fix Bruce to a degree that's actively unhealthy for Tim. Bruce functionally ignores Steph's entire existence and she seems to have wisely made her peace with that. And Damian is desperate for the unconditional love Bruce seems incapable of giving and mad at himself for it.

I don't actually want to change that. I find it fascinating. I'm not opposed to stories about the kids healing some of that damage, but I don't particularly want it to be via their relationships with Bruce. I'd like to see it happen via their relationships with each other. (That one story where Dick was like "Tim you will never fix Bruce, PLEASE stop trying" and Bruce was like "Lol he's right" was SO good. And then the writing on Tim went catastrophically off the rails but we're not talking about that right now.)

Anyway I think I've gotten a little far afield of your original question, but basically: I like (the good takes on) the fanon Batfam, but I also think the canon Batfam is really interesting. I don't think the two should be conflated (which is what DC does when they try to give us fluffy interactions that haven't been earned, Tom Taylor). And I don't think anyone is wrong for preferring either a more lighthearted take or a more fraught, canon-compliant take. The asshole behavior comes in when you refuse to accept other people's preferences.

(But also, if you are looking for an actually loving and healthy canon family that has playful interactions, you want the Flashes or the Arrows.)

[landwriter]

1589 got me feeling&rambling and I'm so sorry beforehand that I can't keep it short and simple, as would probably befit the thing. Feel free to ignore if not interesting to you, still you are the one that comes to mind when thinking about Hob being morally grey.

That scene is always so painful to watch, mostly because Hob is behaving like such a sorry fool. He has really decked himself out to impress his stranger and misses the mark so dramatically.

(Whereas Dream seemingly has not held back either - I mean it's easily his hottest look, you can't tell me he didn't mean to make a lasting impression. So much disappointment on both sides.)

Cringe Hob as part of the dark Hob spectrum, his self-importance/selfishness showing - of course it's not pure fun to watch, but I'm always so fascinated by that flicker of pain (foreshadowing shame) that comes right to the surface in all his put on show, just before he orders the lamb. The contrast makes for a very intense moment, imo. And I am wondering, has he really left all of this behind by 1889? Or is he simply more smooth by that time (that's what I'm getting from the show) ? In fanfics his flaws are mostly depicted as minor or serving a good end in modern times, he is always such a goodie by then (and I love him, of course). But can we imagine just a trace of more questionable/offputting Hob in the mix (if only on impulse) - to be clear, I have no idea how that would work. Or should we just be grateful that that lies behind him (it certainly makes for a much more likeable character and a nicer love story)?

(me force feeding myself more of the horrible stuff I just wanted to avoid looking at)

It's a beautiful contrast: opulence and insecurity. Success and asking still for validation. I have Thoughts on each meeting (please send me asks about them) - ostensibly the very first fannish thing I did for this show, and also in my adult life, was rewatch the meetings and pause constantly and take - oh holy Christ over 4,000 words of notes.

I propose Hob is not acting like a sorry fool. Sure, some bits are clearly played for comedy. Hob is selfish, self-important, and given to hedonism. He is concerned primarily with his own comfort and the personal pleasures of life. But I blame 1589 pretty solidly on Dream. In 1489, after being asked what his experience is like, he answers Dream with an inarticulate statement spoken by a true person who just Digs The Experience of Experiencing: it's 'fucking brilliant' and 'all changing'. Dream asks how, Hob literally looks around the room like a student who forgot an essay was due, and names chimneys and playing cards. Handkerchiefs. Simple things - still sensual things - but simple ones. Certainly no sociopolitical discourse here. What will you people think of next, says Dream, deeply sarcastic and visibly disinterested. And Dream also asks him: but what is Hob doing with his time? This, too, he is under-prepared to answer. Soldiering, banditry, bit of printing press work. Hardly enough to impress this supernatural lord, and Hob can tell.

When he is granted, explicitly, another 100 years by Dream, it is not only a relief, but I think a part of Hob squares its jaw in that moment and says: I'll show him - I'll show him what I can do in a century, I'll earn his pleased regard. Not necessarily because he's even, you know, madly in love at this point, but because he's in it for the living, does not intrinsically have great ambitions, but does have someone who has a) seemingly granted him this greatest gift and b) is unimpressed with what he's doing with it. And he's lost everyone he knew. Dream is now his oldest acquaintance, and wouldn't it be nice if he liked Hob?

He knows only the language of what impresses other men, and this is what he achieves. But to Dream, both Hob's socially-valued successes and his deeply personal ones are terrifically uninteresting. They are not New Dreams To Spur The Minds Of Men. There is no new story in a man seeking fortune and having a wife and a child he loves. He is ancient as the first dreaming thing, and he is Bored. He is, in fact, soured on this meeting from the outset, when he says "Hello, Hob," which on my watch struck me, apparently, as extremely bizarre and of having a real air of Hob being In Trouble. (The only other times Dream says his name are at the first, looming and omniscient, and in 1789, - 'I suggest you find yourself a different line of business, Robert Gadling'. He does not say it at their modern meeting.)

I mean - how would you impress someone? Someone who was interested in your deeds? Putting on a nice little dinner and catching them up on your life, talking about your family, seems a decent enough shout. It's not like you can ask him about his life, he won't offer information when asked and only sometimes will correct you if you venture your own guesses. (see also: 1889 foreshadowing) Hob is feeling proud and triumphant, feeling like he's come far. He is obviously a bit obnoxious about it, but I do think Dream shows off his flaws far more in 1589 than Hob does.

Hob's greatest sin, here, is trying to be liked. His greatest regret is almost certainly not the spread he put on, but the moment he was really, truly, earnest - not underscored even by a subsequent joke - the moment he declaims that this is what he had imagined Heaven to be like (safe enough to walk the streets; good food; good wine) - Life is so rich, he says - and Dream looks away to listen to Will Shaxberd, and we watch real time as Hob's expression collapses. He had leaned forward nearly out of his chair in enthusiasm, and now he shrinks back, reminded again of the dangers of earnestness: being alone in it. Being ignored. Better to make a joke of things, which is why he tells so many around Dream, especially after being more open - it's clearly a matter of habit. (It is also, incidentally, absolutely unappealing to Dream, who really and truly looks at him for the first time in 1689, when he is stripped of the social niceties of men and reigns nothing in.) He eats. He frets. He has had another century, and he has failed to impress the stranger.

The worst moment, I think, is that Dream does not renew their compact. He does not ask Hob if he still wishes to live, and Hob does not get the opportunity to say "Oh, yes." He was given this gift for one reason: the stranger was curious about his experiences. Does the stranger seem still curious about him now? I wonder, honestly, if Hob thought he would see another meeting.

Has he really left that all behind by 1889? No - you hear it in his own words, 'People are almost always better than you think they are.' - the earnesty, and then the joke - 'Not me, though, still the same as ever.' Except it's not really a joke, is it? Hob is saying to Dream, I know you don't think much of me, well, I don't pretend to think much of myself. He still wants Dream's validation, of course, he's just trying to earn it differently. (It goes poorly.) He's smoother, but also more frustrated, more fed up, more hungry for knowledge of his stranger; and I think that's such an interesting point in time for him. I think he leaves little behind, and what he does leave behind, he dreams of. He's changed so much and so little, and I think you could really go in whatever direction you want depicting that and be convincing.

I can't speak to the fanon on Hob's flaws because I don't read nearly as much as I wish I could. While I don't personally think 1589 Hob was actually that questionable or offputting - at least no more than most people would be in that situation - I would love to see a modern fic where has the same flaws he's always had, where they come up maybe different than they would have several centuries ago, but they absolutely exist, it does have plot consequences. Bonus points if he is not being offputting for the purposes of rescuing Dream from the fishbowl - if his flaws exist independent of his relationship with Dream altogether. Bonus bonus points if Hob is the one whose character development needs to be developed and Dream is in a better place than he is. If anyone has fic recs feel free to drop them in the comments!

P.S. 1589 Dream, wow, yes, for sure. 10/10 would babble and get walked out on

[darkshrimpemotions]

The thing you gotta understand about antis in fandom is that they are not in fact highly moral people waging a holy war against Bad Evil things in media. Most of them are actually quite fine with plenty of bad evil things in media, will bend over backwards to justify why the bad evil things THEY like are okay actually, and will employ methods they claim to find reprehensible to intimidate people they disagree with into silence.

What they are, is fans engaging in a massive one-sided shipwar, trying to turn their point of view into the only morally correct one by claiming it's about anything other than them simply vibing with a different fucked up little blorbo than someone else.

Look at them in any fandom. They always start out as fans mad someone else doesn't love the thing they love in the same way. The fannish stuff comes first, the moralizing comes later. First it's "I don't understand how you could ship X when Y is right there" then it's "if you ship X you're a [rape/abuse/racism/war crimes] apologist and you deserve to die."

This isn't to say they don't cause real harm. They do. But it's important you understand that at the root of it, they cause real harm for the silliest reason imaginable, not as a side effect of misguided good intentions.

[max1461]

The tumblr user who annoys me greatly but has always been perfectly nice in our interactions so I can't say anything about it, and is not my mutual so don't worry it's none of you, is just always so confident in all of their socio-political commentary, that's part of what bugs me. I'm confident in my convictions, you know, about right and wrong in a fairly abstract sense. But I'm always hedging discussions of actual policy with "it seems like" and saying "some of the effects of this were X" and "some were Y", and shit like that. People find hedging like that annoying, but it's just objectively correct! We don't, like, know stuff, there's a lot of stuff that's hard to know. If you're speaking really confidently about complex object level issues, especially such a wide range of object level issues and especially in this gregarious, "fannish" style that this person talks, I just can't help but feel that you're a little bit intellectually unvirtuous. I'm so annoyed at this internet user but that's ok. It doesn't matter.

[shadowmaat]

The Jedi Order: a different view

From what I can tell the overwhelming majority of fannish content regarding the Jedi, their Order, and their Temple, relies solely on content from the now-discontinued Legends.

I understand the urge since it gives fans a veritable feast of trauma and whump for Obi-Wan and can help underscore the belief that Anakin was a misunderstood, maligned pariah who was never good enough for anyone in the Order.

However. It does get a little... tiresome after a while. Oh, people do some incredible and cool things to try and "fix" the Order, but they still start with the belief that the Order needs fixing. I wanted to ignore all that and start fresh.

Right! So! I'll focus on the Jedi on Coruscant, since they're the most relevant to the picture. I'll also start with the Temple itself, since it IS where everyone lives.

THE TEMPLE

The Temple was founded millennia ago and has been building on ever since in an effort to keep up with the growth of the city around them. I'd be tempted to base that at ground level, or the nearest equivalent. Given how high up Coruscant has now become, that implies layers upon layers upon layers, and of course they aren't going to add one level at a time, it'll be multiples.

I would absolutely love to see some archaeology-focused stuff. Jedi explorers delving deeper and deeper into the Temple's depths, discovering lost and forgotten histories, artifacts, art, books, etc. And also notes from previous Jedi archaeologists who also delved down.

With that in mind I've decided that the "Room of a Thousand Fountains" is a vast misnomer. The Temple Gardens extend downward, encompassing previous Gardens and lovingly maintained not only by the Agricorp (who aren't limited to just crops), but also bunches of Jedi, outside gardeners, and of course specialists for the different regions/biomes. There are plants in the Temple that have gone extinct everywhere else in the universe (credit to RoosjeM's Temporary Temple Guards for making me think of this possibility).

The point is, the Gardens are ENORMOUS. There are fixes and workarounds for the issues of sunlight, and I imagine there's a water reclamation/sanitation/whatever system in place to make sure everything (and everyone) stays as hydrated as necessary. I betcha there are secret depths to the Archives, too. Maybe museums full of ancient starships that regrettably had to be walled up whenever the surrounding city got too tall.

Jedi come from nearly every sapient species imaginable, and some of them have specific environmental needs. I know I've seen plenty of fics where Plo Koon's quarters are specially sealed so he can breathe his homeworld's atmosphere and not need to worry about goggles and an anti-ox mask. I think it'd be more interesting if there were entire sections dedicated to (or easily converted to) different atmospheres. This is easier and a lot more convenient when, say, there are multiples of a species in the Temple. Sure, individual room conversions can be done, too, but having a whole mini "neighborhood" of your fellow [species] can be nice as well. Walk freely. Chat with neighbors unencumbered. Enjoy meals together. Communal stuff like that.

I also love the idea of water-filled corridors for the aquatic types. Like that one comic panel that showed naked Kit Fisto happily swimming by on his way to somewhere else. Maybe an underwater training salle so the aquatics can learn how to fight/use their sabers in those conditions.

Dining areas would also be spread throughout the Temple, with some being "generic" fare to feed a wide variety of the most common species and others having a more specific focus, both in terms of species and cuisine types. Open-access kitchen areas for those who want to cook their own food, but not in their own kitchen (MUCH better ventilation in the public spaces, for starters). Also vending machines and automats for those on the go. (This shows up in K_R_Closson's All the Roads We Walk Are Winding and was goddamn genius.)

THE JEDI

In my version of things, the Jedi are much more considerate than fandom generally depicts.

A Jedi can never "age out." While allowances can be made if someone with basic control skills wants to leave, or if they want to find their own path when they reach their species level of majority, no one is ever forced onto the streets or "dumped" into a place not of their own choosing.

When an Initiate enters the Temple the biggest themes they are taught are "Community" and "Choice." Community means that they will always have a home in the Temple, no matter what. They can leave and come back if they choose. There are no legitimate mistakes that can get you thrown out. Failing a class, or multiple classes, doesn't mean you don't belong, it means that you need a more tailored learning experience to help you reach your goals.

Starting at an early age, crèche clans are taken on a "tour" of the various service branches; each one maintains a presence within the Temple itself, not only to maintain connections with the Jedi as a whole, but also to make communicating their needs (to the Jedi, to the Senate, to various interests) easier. And there is always at least one person available to chat about what it is their branch does. I did a whole separate post exploring how varied the Service Corps could be.

As the initiates grow older, they're encouraged to do a work/study thing that matches with their interests and gives them a better taste for what a particular field is like. This can, and usually is, done many times so an Initiate can find the best fit. And if they can't find a good fit, that's fine, too; there's no time limit on choosing a career. In fact it isn't uncommon for a Jedi to switch paths, either within an individual branch (Consular to Sentinel) or an entirely different discipline (Seeker in ExplorCorp to Crèche Master in the Educorp).

The point is, there are always choices available. It isn't shameful to not be a Knight. In fact it's expected that most will choose paths that don't involve a lot of political juggling and aggressive negotiations (although politics do creep into every field).

The whole mess with the Jedi being beholden to the Galactic Senate is a bucket of eels I'm not willing to handle at the moment, but I figure this is a good start to pinning down my ideas and I may venture back if I think of anything else.

[sophia-helix]

Oh, and just to weigh in on the bizarre Tumblr vs Twitter thing going on right now -- they are totally different sites that fill totally different needs (here I mostly look at and appreciate content by other people, Twitter is mostly for sharing life stuff and quick fannish ideas with friends and acquaintances), but if Twitter goes down you better believe Tumblr and many other sites will feel the loss of not just funny screenshots but a whole news network for every subject you can think of. You want to get sports news when Instagram's non-chrono feed decides to show it to you? Political news from media accounts on Facebook? Creator announcements only if you subscribe to their Patreon? Getting rid of Twitter isn't like CNN going down, it's like all national news channels disappearing and now you have to rely on your local paper again.

[sevenmerrymagpies]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you @mustlovesteve for the tag!

How many works do you have on AO3? 106

What's your total AO3 word count? 603,511

What fandoms do you write for? I’m a one-fandom-at-a-time writer. Currently, I write for Stranger Things. Previously, some in the Captain America and Thor MCU fandoms, Merlin, due South, BtVS, and Angel. I have a smattering of other fandoms in there as well.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Steve’s No Good, Terrible, Kinda Perfect Senior Year (ST) He Sets the Tone (ST) A Paladin’s Work is Never Done (ST) She Sets The Agenda (ST) As I Hesitated, Time Rushed Onwards Without Me (Merlin)

Do you respond to comments? I try to. I figure I’ve let a few drop over the years by accident and I’ve never had a story get crazy popular with too many comments to respond to either.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Generally I write happy endings but Chosen, Rare Minds is a short, one shot downer. (It’s a canon compliant missing scene fic for the Captain America fandom is angsty in that it’s about Peggy and Howard deciding to move forward with bring Armin Zola into SHIELD using operation paperclip)

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I feel like so many of my stories have happy endings, but many of them are series that aren’t done, so the real ending (which will be happy) isn’t published yet. Of the published ones, I think maybe Translucent Hearts. Steve basically dies in the beginning of the story but by the end Steve, Eddie, Robin, and everyone Steve cares about is in a better place and happy with their lives. Lust, Love, and Other Side Effects also has a really happy ending for Steddie specifically.

Do you get hate on fics? I have a dirty, sweet short Darcy/Steve fic that has a shit ton of hits, but no love/kudos and two shitty comments (basically saying that it wasn’t what they expected, but I don’t know what to say, it was tagged and described accurately). Still, it’s tentacle dildo pegging and people don’t seem to want to own up to liking it. Only weird/mean comments I’ve gotten.

Do you write smut? Yes, but the least amount for Stranger Things. For some fandoms all I ever wrote for them was for kink bingo on LJ. I had to learn how to plot before I could do anything but write porn.

Do you write crossovers? Yup! Love a good crossover or fusion. I still love that I am the only Stranger Things/Highlander crossover fic in the fandom.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don’t think so.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Again, I don’t think so. No one has told me if they did.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope

What's your all time favorite ship? I am a true mulitshipper and trying to figure out a favorite ship in a single fandom is nearly impossible. I don’t think I could ever do it for all my fandoms ever.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? To: Birdbrian c/o the Wakandan Royal Residence - I’ve marked it complete, but it was supposed to be a series of short postcards between Natasha and Clint after Civil War. It was an experiment with writing a WIP that obviously didn’t work.

What are your writing strengths? For someone who writes fluffy stuff: angst, miscommunication (done right, meaning from actual character flaws not contrivance), and horror. Also, dialogue, character arcs, tight plotting, world building (fannish expansion style), and characterization.

What are your writing weaknesses? For all that I write sex, I still feel like it’s more mechanical than I want it to be. Action scenes, rising action and real stakes (I don’t want my babies hurt), emotions, subtle interactions between people - I always have to spell things out.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Super short phrases maybe. But for most MCU stuff I either avoided it or used italics to get across the fact that the dialog was not in English.

First fandom you wrote for? Buffy!

Favorite fics you've written? Steve’s No Good, Terrible, Kinda Perfect Senior Year series, Translucent Hearts, and my Eddie-centric story about Eddie being from the Lab: Future Hazy Try Again (and the rest of the series but I’m really proud of the first story). My older stuff is not my proudest stuff at this point. Some of it is over 20 years old and it shows.

(OMG I'm gonna try and get over my tagging fear, hold my hand and be nice to me)

Tagged: @devondespresso, @formosusiniquis, @ladykailitha, @libraryofgage, @dodger-chan, @1lostsoul0fishbowl

[kutputli]

Hi, I wanted to thank you for your posts about racism in tl and iw tv. You pointed out things that completely flew over my white head. Out of curiosity, will you be watching season 4 or did you give up on the show completely? Sending you lots of hugs <3

oh hey! Thank you for that very sweet and entirely unexpected message! It is lovely to hear that what I said helped you see some stuff.

Ted Lasso season 4, huh.

When a friend messaged me about the news, we shared a good eyeroll at the announcement itself. Look at this article from Deadline - Warner Bros has picked up options for THREE of the British actors who were series regulars - Hannah, Brett, and Jeremy. And then you have Forbes chatting about how Phil's option was probably not picked up because of scheduling conflicts. And then both articles talk about how the rest of the cast is American and so represented by SAG-AFTRA and will need separate options.

Guess who is the ONLY actor who is British, was a series regular right from season one, and has not been named in any article, much less had an option picked up of? Go on, take a wild guess.

Yeah, so apparently Nick Mohammed doesn't count to any of these people as a main cast.

And this is to say nothing about other actors of colour who are probably represented by the Brit actors union Equity - Toheeb, Kola, Mo.

So, you know, I am starting out as a giant ball of hatred towards the putrid racism of Ted Lasso even before season 4 has been officially greenlit.

Let's see how I feel in 2025, if it is actually made and releases. I may watch it out of disdain, but unless Nathan Shelley gets the triumphant arc he deserves, I will not be remotely fannish about it.

[alovelyburn]

So, sidenote on my history with the Vampires of Interview fame.

When I was a kid, my mom was really into these books and every birthday and every christmas I would get her either an Anne Rice book or a Stephen King book. So I kind of grew up around them, and obviously there's the movie, which I love.

Now I never looked too deeply into it, but a few years ago, after hearing that the series was finally DONE done, I googled it to see how it ended and it was like...

...book spoilers alert...

Okay, it was like "Lestat and Louis basically get married and rule the vampires together."

So, okay my reaction was, "oh thank God." Because even knowing as little as I knew about this series, even going back to when I was a kid, I was just convinced that those two were clearly meant for each other and for some reason I found that I was way more invested in those two ending up together than I'd realized considering I'd never read the books.

Anyway for some reason I never got around to watching it until recently, I guess because I never watch anything - I'm pretty sure it was literally the first new series I've finished in like 10 years. I just dont watch tv at all.

And as I'm watching it, I'm like, what the hell is going on here, I have never encountered a whole piece of media that appeared to be so custom built for my specific tastes.

Berserk is still my favorite thing in the world, of course, I don't see that changing anytime before I shuffle off this mortal coil. However, that's because I love that world and the cosmology and how weighty and complicated and full of Themes And Stuff it is, it's not really because I like Guts and Griffith together.

But there's like, a difference between the canons I typically enjoy as a reader/viewer and the fan stuff that I typically look to/create, right? The fanstuff tends to be way more relationship-centric and mired in interpersonal drama than the series themselves.

But IWTV was like the relationship-drama stories that I read or write in fannish spaces, but it was just RIGHT THERE ON THE TV. It was a genuinely surreal experience and to this day I'm in a bit of disbelief that it exists. There are a few things I wish had been done differently but nothing that has been able to make me enjoy it less.

Also this isn't to say that I'm boiling the show down to romance drama. More just that its proportion of interpersonal stuff to plot is very similar to the kind of fanmaterial I prefer - my fanstuff is generally fairly plotty too.

I've started reading the books since then (well interchangeably reading and audible-ing) - this is really the source of my "man, I wish'd they'd done this differently" feelings. And they are quite different but still oddly in my lane.

ETA: Also I told my mother about the Lestat-and-Louis ending - she didn't realize that last trilogy existed - and she said, "Good. They're adorable, they act like teenagers together."