#STOP TREATING THINGS THAT I KNOW ARE JUST POPULAR FANON AS CANON PLEASE

[shieldwife]

I need the hunger games to go back to no longer being relevant to most people because I keep getting genuinely heated over other people's opinions on a ya series and it's embarrassing

[longing-for-rain]

Out of curiosity, what makes you feel drawn to Zutara as a lesbian. Is it still relatable to you?

It does feel relatable to me. Obviously it’s a heterosexual relationship, but given the lack of good and complete representation of lesbian relationships in the media, I still gravitate towards certain aspects of romances like this.

There are many reasons why, but before I get into it, I want to preface this by saying that the point of this is not to say that Zutara is “lesbian coded” or anything like that so please don’t construe it that way. It’s a heterosexual relationship, period. All I’m saying here is what I, personally, enjoy about it as a lesbian.

The biggest reason I like it is because it represents female desire to me. I know the BoyMom and Pick-Me brigade hates that I’ve described Zutara that way in the past—but it’s true and I stand by it. That is the reason why Zutara became so popular and why its fanon narrative is almost entirely driven by female fans. It directly reflects their desire in a romance and what Katara’s canon one was lacking.

I honestly didn’t have strong feelings about Zutara until I saw the backlash it received. The narrative and the fans both treat Katara as if getting with anyone besides Aang makes her selfish, or that she’s neglecting some kind of duty by doing so. Katara’s voice and desire is fundamentally unimportant to the writers, because they always focused on Aang’s feelings over hers, and even though fans try to pretend otherwise, the dominant narrative surrounding this relationship has always been about Aang. How he needs airbending children, how his heart would be broken if she left, how he needs her to rebuild, etc.

And from Katara’s side, even though she never shows that she shares Aang’s level of interest, fans insist on reading in signs that aren’t really there. They also focus on logical reasons why they’d work. Aang is nice, he’s fun, he’s a prodigy like Katara, both have suffered in the war, etc. At first glance, it seems like a good match…but we never actually see the writing demonstrate how they actually connect over any of these things.

Good in theory, but bland and passionless in reality.

That narrative resonated with me in a bad way, because it’s exactly how I’ve felt as a lesbian. It reflects the pressures I’ve felt to put aside my desire for love to date a man instead. I’ve been told to my face that it’s selfish for me to “choose” another woman—a person I actually desire—over a man.

“What about children?”

“This is going to make your life so much more difficult!”

“Think of your family!”

“Jakey is such a nice guy, can’t you just give him a chance?”

“You have so many interests in common with Jakey and he has a good job! Why won’t you go out with him? It makes so much sense!”

“You’re so shallow, being fixated on looks. What if your perfect match comes along, but he’s male? Would you really say no?”

“You only want that because you’re a pervert. You need to stop being so obsessed with sex and think about the person instead.”

It’s eerily familiar, that’s all I’m saying. A lot of these ideas are used to attack Zutara and its fans nearly verbatim.

Katara isn’t a lesbian, but like a lesbian, Katara in the context of Zutara commits the crime of marrying for love and desire over duty. Some people see that as an evil act of selfishness, but to me, it’s just love.

We can’t control who we love, and I like to see the narrative of a female character breaking free from the social expectations placed on her to pursue it. No; Zuko isn’t the “safe” option, their relationship would be heavily criticized, and it could even endanger them. But that relationship is one they both feel passion for, and together, they would draw power from one another and use it for good. Their love and connection is powerful, and they would have fought hard for it. Because love is worth fighting for.

That’s deeply admirable to me, and an empowering narrative when I think about how I’m inevitably going to have to fight hard for any love of mine. But it’s worth it to me—it’s always worth it.

[oscconfessions]

ii is like actually really good, amazing, even. like it's not perfect since nothing is but it is REALLY good. you can tell AE cares about the show and the characters and the story. i will say, though, a big problem as to why people often come across as pretty negative towards the show, it's thanks to the fact that pretty big people on the fandom often treat ii as terrible, completely misunderstand the story on purpose, make up things about it, and actually don't care about the characters themselves. i know, i know, listen, crazy, how does a fandom not even care about the show they like? and i think that it is thanks to said popular people and how the fandom treats the fanon as canon, and thanks to the fact that again, the fandom only really seems to care about shipping and the character designs and. it's really discouraging. since back then from what i saw, the fandom actually cared about the show. you could tell they cared deeply about it and looked into the characters deeply, and were overall pretty calm too.

i really hope that with the coming back of s2, the old fandom of ii comes back. it is much nicer to have people who care and want to learn more about it than people who just... hate the media they're watching and genuinely believe it is bad, but that the fanon "made it" good. (spoiler: it did not).

like even regarding the things the big people on the fandom say, you can literally just rewatch the show yourself and realize that "Wow, they're wrong" or that they're straight up lying in some cases (that one Cabby thread, Mic's character in the way the fandom sees her as a whole and the way people insist that Nickel hasn't changed). Like. I genuinely encourage all of you to actually watch the show and to look deeper into it outside of ships and designs and the basic storylines, AND outside of the fanon. And also please watch III. People complain about it being bad but it's not! It's really not! Main problem is that most of the rejoiners are characters who's arcs have been already closed (those being TT, Fan, OJ, and Paintbrush), so that ultimately only leaves Yinyang, Nickel and Balloon as the only guys who get development (the invitationals do too, of course, but what I mean is that those 3 guys are the s1-s2 rejoiners that ACTUALLY get development and it was for the better.)

And people willlll complain about it "not living up to s2's writing" when that was never the purpose of it! S3 was made so that AnimationEpic could take a break from Season 2, which was emotionally taxing to them! They even said it themselves! It is meant to be more lighthearted, but that doesn't mean that it can't portray emotional or serious moments because of it. Do I think it could've been better? Of course! But that's still not really AE's fault nor I think people should hate them for... wanting to enjoy making a show again. And the reason as to why PB, TT and Fan were even there was because of viewer voting. AE ultimately wanted to make their fans happy and I think that's a nice sentiment. I am very sad on the way the fandom treats AE and how they overall act regarding the show.

Please, stop believing everything that the popular people on the ii fandom say, it is usually pretty bad takes on the show and they often take things out of context as well. Make your own judgement on the show. Be interesed on it. Don't stay in the fanon. Please, please care about the show. Care about the stories. Care about the characters. Care about the friendships. Care about the growth these guys had. Please. Give the show the same love AE has been giving it.

I'm usually more angry about II not being treated the way it should be (with love) but honestly, I'm just heartbroken nowdays about it. Not even angry. I just want people to care about it and to not follow fanon, to not believe what big artists say all the time, to make their own mind and to look deeply into it. I want people to care about II the way people used to do, to care about it the way AnimationEpic and the people who worked on the show do.

I love Inanimate Insanity and I love how much care AE has poured into it. And I hope that with time, the fandom gets to understand it and to care about it for what it is. Or that it goes back to how it was. When people actually liked it.

I really do hope so.

(also, mods, you don't have to tag the characters here! i just mention them briefly and it is mostly just my thoughts on the way the osc treat inanimate insanity and it's content.)

- 💛🎤 anon

.

[spamtonology]

I'm always happy to encounter someone else who ISN'T a fan of the acid theory because I'm beginning to feel very alienated for not liking it. The theory itself doesn't even bother me as much as how fandom treats it as practically canon. It's almost as common as the fanon white-haired Addison Spamton now, so much so that fic writers don't even warn or mention it until it suddenly comes up, like, it should be ~obvious~ that that happened. Like, I wouldn't mind it if it wasn't *everywhere*.

Ah, the Acid theory, a popular yet controversial theory.

You are not alone in disliking it, I won't name specific people but a few others have also expressed their dislike of the theory, namely the fact it contradicts some previously established canon.

I will put another disclaimer that this in no way means people should stop writing or drawing anything concerning the theory, this would be policing on my part and my intent is not and will never be "stop having fun".

(There were a few posts some time back criticizing the theory, but I cannot find them now. If you have these posts please be sure to reblog with a link to the post!)

There are several reasons as to why the theory is problematic (side note, this is a word that has somewhat changed meaning thanks to internet culture, I am using the term here in its original sense: Open to doubt; debatable.)

At first glance the theory seems to have merit, considering the acid river sequence the player goes through, and the remarks Spamton makes in allusion to the acid river as he used to be an inhabitant of the mansion. That, and there is Queen's statement that the acid shrinks anyone who falls into it, further supported by Spamton's dialogue. It's easy to see why the theory becomes popular for this reason.

But, further examination into the game sees several contradictions: First, the acid does not have that much of an effect on Darkners, Queen can drink it just fine (it seems to have an inebriating effect), and I believe there's a line mentioning Swatchlings swimming in it unharmed but I don't know how correct that is.

Her "guests" shrink from the acid, but they shrink to about the size of a mouse, not to the size of a teenager, hence why they can fit in those tiny "villas".

Second, this applies to the above about Queen, there is a common idea that it was either Queen or Swatch that "threw" Spamton into acid. There's...no evidence to support that beyond the fact these two characters would have been present at the time. Furthermore, it is out of character for either of them to consider the act:

Queen is not cruel. She is strange, airheaded and has a playful attitude that often leads to mistakes being made and criticism from her civillians, but she is not cruel enough that she would dump someone in acid as an act of revenge/punishment. The fandom, weirdly enough, seems to want to make the Queen out to be more evil than she really lets on (or more than she really wants to be), all for making Spamton the victim and, often, Swatch as his savior. It's a very strange phenomenon in my opinion.

Swatch has a little less established character so the situation is more ambiguous, but they’re not especially violent enough to do such a thing either.

There is that other problem with the theory: using it to further angst plots and Spamton’s victim role in fanworks. Personally, I find it a little cheap when there are probably more creative ways you could portray his downfall. It also adds on to the phenomenon of needing to rescue and protect him from perceived ills, making him helpless in that situation re: ableism and treating him like a child.

The final reason the theory can be contradicted is that in the Japanese text, the line about burning is attributed into staring into something so bright it burned away at his eyes. This is personally a little more interesting to me than simply using acid, and it provides more creativity as to what could have burned his eyes out.

And, yes, I agree wholeheartedly on the untagged Acid Theory mentions, I do feel that it’s something that should be trigger tagged, and too many people in the fandom fail to do so.

I’ve run out of steam for now, unfortunately, so if anyone else wants to back me up, please do, thank you.

EDIT: @firethekitty has given me a post on evidence for the eyes burning away theory

[balillee]

my unpopular dsmp opinions, some of which genuinely should be popular

c!dream has crossed the moral event horizon and is irredeemable. once you cross that threshold, you're no longer a 'morally grey' character.

pre-recorded, heavily produced lore killed the lore. it was cool, sure, but you completely misunderstand the magic that the smp had when people watched it initially. the story is improv and that's how we like it. we can tell the cc's have lost interest in it, you can admit that to us, we'll understand, just stop lying to me.

c!dream's pov isn't necessary to understand his character or his motivations. if you've watched literally any c!primeboys stream he's basically spelled it out for you.

i don't understand how fans can dislike l'manberg or have claimed to be against it since the beginning. i honestly don't get it. what's so bad about wanting your own spot where you make your own rules and skirt accountability that has been used to technically oppress you before - and, before someone who never saw the earlier streams tries to disagree with this, the og l'manberg crew were imprisoned for shit that everyone else on the server was practically encouraged to do. also, what do you have against fun and happiness?

i think some of you forget that 'hybrids' aren't a thing, discounting c!ranboo. there's no piglin hybrids, c!techno is just a pig. there's no avian hybrids, c!phil is just a man with wings. there's no creeper hybrids, c!sam is just a creeper who's indecently exposed from the hips down. canonically there's no hybrids, and therefore no hybrid discrimination. people ran with that concept too much.

the loss and the fanon rewriting of the early lore up until pogtopia has ruined fandom perception of c!dream and the og l'manberg boys. c!tommy is more morally white than you think he is, and c!dream has always been a villain - he massacres and he kills and he destroys and he schemes and he always has broken his own rules. no wonder the boys wanted their own space after how they were treated.

i think ranboo oftentimes forgets his own lore. he brings stuff up that c!ranboo may have done, such as exploding the community house to frame c!tommy, holding onto Cat, and it goes absolutely nowhere. we've gotten all of these developments in his story but they have never been expanded on, and we're nowhere closer to figuring out his relationship to c!dream and what his other side is and honestly i see no hope that we'll be any closer to knowing even by the end of the year.

your characters don't all have to be morally grey for the story itself to be morally grey. this is fiction - some people can be nothing but evil and others can be nothing but good. being purely good or evil doesn't mean that you're one dimensional, either.

c!dream apologists have ruined c!dream for me. he's not a good person. how about you let me enjoy a villain for who he actually is, rather for than your percieved woobified ragdoll you pass off as c!dream.

the story was better when there was a central writer. it was brilliant back when wilbur wrote it to be that the environment drives the characters and the story, and it was really good in early s2 up until techno's execution day when it was more character driven. since then, the amount of autonomy people have over their characters without any central 'director', as it were, has been a detriment to the story overall. there needs to still be one overarching figure or director or writer.

not everyone is a main character. just because they have a pov, doesn't mean they're a main character. some characters have such little impact on the overall plot and describing everyone as a main character oversaturates the story and makes some characters seem more important than they are.

the egg lore had so much potential up until it didn't. all that built up threat that we were expecting and we still don't even know what the egg wants really other than just controlling people. does it hatch?

genuinely, if there's no major plot developments by the end of the year (and let's be honest, it's a very big possibility at this point), a few of the more prominent members of the server should do a podcast style stream talking about where the story would have gone, because at least then we would have gotten somewhat closer to a conclusion.

c!techno is a villain and an asshole and a bad person. he stops caring for people once their interests don't align with his or if they look at him funny. he makes meta-jokes about his own tyrannical and oppressive nature. stop taking that away from him. he's a bad person. cc!techno does a fabulous job portraying that in a comedic manner and the balancing of him being a deeply flawed person with deeply flawed morals and ideas with his comedically-portrayed stubbornness and lack of willingness to hear out opposing viewpoints is incredible. i want to like characters who are arseholes for the sake of being arseholes, and who refuse to take into account the hurt they've caused either out of self-righteousness or because they don't care, so let me. he's the anti-peacemaker, LET ME HIM ENJOY HIM FOR THAT!!!!

i think tommy and wilbur's way of doing lore is my favourite. relies heavily on improv, voice acting, sprite acting and facial expressions. really shows off the acting props and they pull off the emotional moments well for the insanity of the creative medium.

i'm not a fan of fan-music. i find songs about media i'm into difficult to listen to. coincidentally i'm also not a fan of shit like slam poetry or live music/musicals/pantomimes.

the death of l'manberg killed people's motivation to go on the server casually. i've talked about it more in depth before, but destroying what was a central, driving environment for the story killed momentum and motivation. imagine in an episode of she-ra, the princess alliance just nuke the freight zone and all of the members of the horde just have to deal with it. that would be shit.

until season 3 has some momentum, i'm counting the end of the smp as january 20th. that had a conclusion. season 3 has... whores, technoblade and tommyinnit. that's about it.

i wasn't a fan of the development of c!tubbo joining las nevadas. i preferred snowchester and the walled city conflict. give c!tubbo some backbone and some badassery. also tubbo where's the fucking nuke bro if you're shelving that plotline just tell us on like an alt stream what the plan was i beg

add like 2 or 3 new people to the server so that michael mcchill has someone to talk to and so that there's something always happening on the server. it gives the og's more motivation to return if things are happening in and out of canon and it'll help with momentum, and who knows? maybe they can write their own story/stories.

i really think that c!sam is an underrated character. he's multilayered, extremely interesting, and the dichotomy of his loyalty to his job and how far down the rabbithole that's taken him versus the genuine love he has for his friends that drives him to do what he does out of wanting to do right by them is brilliant. i don't talk about c!sam enough.

STOP HAVING FUCKING VILLAIN ARCS!!! I'M FUCKIN SICK OF IT!!!! i want to see more characters who see everyone else being absolute selfish, abhorrent cunts and go 'if nobody else is going to be a good person, i fucking will'. GIVE ME SOME MORAL WHITENESS!!! IT'S INTERESTING AND MORALLY GOOD CHARACTERS ARE FUN!!!

let tommyinnit build cobblestone towers. everyone bullied him too much for how ugly they were and the one he built outside of the prison looked genuinely really nice. it gives the boy something to do.

i'm a fan of the revive book and the canon lives system. don't ask me why, but i think it might just be the morbidity of it. it adds to c!dream's god complex persona, and i think the fragility of death itself is a really fun concept. not enough fan cc's have made connections with that and c!mumza, and it could make for cool fanfic.

ranboo your house is fucking ugly. it's an eyesore

c!niki, and to some extent now c!jack and c!fundy, are boring me and ruining my mood. i think c!jack is the closest to being an actually interesting sympathetic villain, mainly because nobody else seems to realise that c!niki is a villain. not a good one imo, but she's a villain. c!jack just has the problem of starting a new project over and over and over and over again and because of the slow in momentum for the primary cast, there hasn't been a lot of recent development for him.

not really a dream smp opinion, but if philza went full geordie accent, i would love it. i want him to, in canon, say shit like 'me n ye' instead of 'me and you' and use geordie dialect. i want him to be physically unintelligible because it's funny.

i don't really know what's up with c!foolish but i think he's a dumbass. he had a while to think about c!q's proposal and then changed his mind about joining the guy to admitted to letting him die just because. moron

i wish there was more c!eret lore. i wish he was an actual king with an actual kingdom and actual subjects and royal advisors. c!eret is far too fucking cool to be the king of nothing and nobody. fatten up the kingdom and the castle with people who work with c!eret, and don't just make it tyrannical and dictator-y to prove the point of the server's 'anarchists'. make it a healthy working environment, please - if you want moral greyness, have 'anarchists' who claim to care about the welfare of the server oppose a kingdom of happy people under a fair and just ruler because their ideologies clash.

the server needs more characters who oppose anarchy in more peaceful ways, or passively wish for systems to be a part of. i think a chaos vs order conflict ending only in mutual understanding where everyone understands that they should just leave each other alone would slot nicely into the story that's been created so far.

you need to have watched all of the previous arcs to understand the story. i've seen people argue that they don't need to know about earlier lore to understand the prison, but that's the equivalent of only watching the final season of pretty little liars and expecting to understand the context of what's going on.

some characters aren't that morally grey. some characters, take c!tommy for example, are definitely on the whiter side for the morality scale, he's just an asshole. he's abrasive and rude and a dickhead but he also doesn't agree with terrorism, he's patriotic, he strives for a better world, he's apologetic, but he's also a fucking BITCH.

you can add onto this if you want, but not if you're a c!dream apologist. nobody likes your opinions

[ravenhilarious]

sometimes I fear that Logan is becoming the Hermione of this fandom

elaboration under the cut. this will discuss the Harry Potter fandom, the sanders sides fandom, and some comparisons of my personal issues within them. there are some mentions of violence, abuse, bigotry, and death, and it is very long.

that’s what they said

disclaimer: I love Harry Potter even if jk is a bigot, I love Hermione, I love sanders sides which fortunately is not created by a bigot, I love Logan, so there’s no intended negativity about any of these

now, back to the point. I repeat: I fear that Logan is becoming the Hermione of this fandom

which should be a good thing, because I love Logan and I love Hermione. being “the Hermione” shouldn’t be seen as something negative, but the reason I'm referring to it as that is:

there was a time where Fanon Hermione basically became, for a lack of a better term, a Mary Sue (I know this term can have problematic and misogynistic elements but I couldn’t find a better way to describe it)

lots of it was based on the movie adaption’s version of her. lots of her flaws were either stripped away or justified – she became more fearless and confident, her condescending attitude towards mainly Harry and (especially) Ron was exaggerated, and, again, seemed more justified here. and of course, it didn’t help that she was played by the gorgeous Emma Watson. 

then came the fandom portrayal of her. while her movie counterpart was definitely more “perfectilized” (is that a word? now it is) than her book counterpart, she still had elements of being a teenager, and, well, a human. but on the internet, there were so many claims of her being the sole reason that Harry was alive, and that she was way out of Ron’s league, and lots of other stuff. if you’re in any way familiar with the Harry Potter fandom around... well, anywhere before like 2016, really, you probably know what I'm talking about. she was basically this “perfect does everything right keeps saying everyone the best at everything” kind of character. that was kinda annoying, both to people who didn’t care that much for Hermione as a character in the first place, and for the people who enjoyed her (more flawed and realistic) book counterpart

and don’t even get me started on the dr4m10ne shippers who claimed that “she deserves better than Ron (or Harry, or Neville, [heteronormativity was still a big thing back then] or really anyone who treated her with respect) and dr4c0 would be so much better for her!” 

and oof, the “Hermione joins the dark side” au’s where her actions were still justified by the narratives (why would a muggleborn join the people that discriminate against her lol)

during the last few years, she’s gotten some backlash because of this. more potter heads started realizing her flaws, or stopped justifying them. the shocking realization that the fan favorite was not perfect made a large part of the fandom go in the opposite direction. which I understand.

now, I am still able to enjoy the (canon) character Hermione Granger, despite the sue-ification she went through (maybe it’s the autism that helps me not to get so affected by public opinion, idk), but not everyone is that lucky. so many potter heads had gotten a very good character ruined for them, which is sad.

I don’t want the same thing to happen to Logan Sanders. 

Now, he wasn’t always one of the faves – in an early episode, he literally gets told that he’s the least popular character in the series (which does get played off as a joke, but I assume – I wasn’t in the fandom back then, so please correct me if I'm wrong – that for many fanders back then, that was very much the case) and I wouldn’t say he’s a “fan favorite” the same way that Hermione used to be. 

however, he has by now gained quite a large fanbase here on Tumblr. which is great! I, myself, really enjoy Logan, and most of his fans are really cool.

but there are some stans who, in my opinion, have started to give him The Hermione Treatment. who claim that he is the one constantly helping Thomas. who feel the need to bash some of the other sides in order to prove that Logan is the best. the main complaint being that “they ignore/silence him too much”. and yes, they definitely don’t listen to him nearly as much as they could and should. I agree with that.

what I don’t agree with is when fanders start wishing for him to “snap” at the others. I'm putting “snap” in quotation marks, because what they usually mean is just him straight up verbally abusing them, sometimes being physically violent toward them. all because they... didn’t pay enough attention to him? 

it gives me the same vibes as when Hermione’s acts of violence (I'm talking about, like, the bird attack toward Ron or the acne scars she forced on Marietta Edgecombe [another thing that got removed in the movie adaption], not the “fighting death eaters” parts) were considered “girl power” or something by the internet. 

now, I'm not saying that Logan in canon is super aggressive and violent, but he definitely has his moments – and that’s fine. a character does not have to be nice 24/7. but the fandom seems to, idk, romanticize (for lack of a better word) these moments, his outbursts of anger and violence, both the canon and Fanon ones. 

furthermore, there seems to be a double standard, in that lots of the things he’s praised for or that gets ignored about him, are the exact same things that would (or do) get criticized when other sides do it.

Patton gets flack for being controlling and guilt-tripping the others, which, yes, that is true, but Logan can also be controlling (Growing Up, Why Do We Get Out Of Bed In The Morning, arguably in Moving On too) and guilt-tripping (”not that any of you care, but I am unharmed” in Putting Others First)

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that fanders have started seeing the less perfect aspects of morality. Even cinnamon rolls can do not so nice things at times.

Roman is considered to be too proud and condescending, and yeah, he is, he is literally Thomas’ ego. But Logan? “I know I'm smarter than everyone else”? nuff said.

Virgil gets criticized for being too aggressive, and boy is that true, but again, you can not bash one character for a trait that you praise (or even wish more of) in another character.

now, I know that there are fanders who also give Virgil a free pass for violence etc. (he was the ultimate Fan Favorite for a very long time), but they seem to be fewer today than they used to be – which is great! it’s just sad that instead of disappearing completely, this character treatment has now moved towards Logan.

(funnily enough, these certain Logan Stans tend to be less critical of Janus’ and Remus’ flaws too, which I will cover later on)

no, I do not want Logan to be flawless, just like I don’t want Hermione to be. I just wish this double standard wasn’t so common in the fandom.

unlike with Hermione, however, the narrative (and the writers) doesn’t seem to favor him over the others – the sides get a relatively equal treatment in that way. but the biggest problem with Hermione was not the writing, or even the movie adaption (though that definitely played a factor too), but rather the fandom. the fandom was the one who claimed Hermione to be some perfect goddess, talented in every way, too good for this world, etc. And I really don’t want this to happen with Logan!

another parallel I'll bring up is the “going dark” thing, more specifically, “going dark because the light is not good enough for me”. I mentioned dr4m10ne earlier, and Hermione joining the death eaters because Harry and Ron and the rest of the “good guys” weren’t good enough. not smart or talented enough. didn’t appreciate her enough. because Ron would at times make fun of her nerdiness, because they sometimes bickered. 

but for some reason, these dr4m10ne shippers and dark!Hermione Stans would gloss over the fact that Dr4c0 made fun of her heritage and that the death eaters literally fought for genocide of people like her (which, imo, is a bit more serious than “haha ur a nerd”)

similarly, it’s become common to head canon Logan “becoming a dark side”. now, I am in no way trying to imply that “the dark sides” are in any way similar to death eaters, or that Janus and Remus are anything like Dr4c0.

but there seems to be, yet again, a double standard. Patton, Roman, and Virgil ignore or silence or under appreciate Logan? oh yes, they definitely do. 

but so do Janus and Remus. I see so many au’s of Logan joining the “dark sides” because they are more likely to listen to and appreciate him, which, if we go by canon... is not true? Janus literally excluded Logan from the courtroom, and Remus has repeatedly threatened and physically harmed Logan because he didn’t like what he was saying. but people gloss over that because ????? 

I don’t really have a conclusion or anything, I just wanted to get this out

[just-zenitsu]

Zenitsu should've had an arc where he slowly learns how to love himself with the help of his friends and realizes he's not weak and has worth and doesn't deserve pain and doesn't deserve to be treated like shit- I just want him to have some shred of confidence please please please please please ple-

ok so every time i had an ask like this ive always just said ‘but look at the bright side! what are hc and aus for! gotoge had problems,, etc etc’ and i feel like ive always just glossed u guys over and maybe even made it seem like these opinions dont matter so im gonna take the time to try and answer this a smidge seriously (under read more bc its long, also im not tagging bc tumblr might fuck up the formatting again rip) (also warning for manga spoilers)

(also disclaimer sdjfhksd i havent read the manga! so im gonna go off of other people’s claims about zenitsu having wasted potential. and to be fair ive read the few last chapters, or at least PARTS of them) 

im not new to having a favorite character whose more or less claimed to have had a lot of potential but losing it in canon bc of, for a lack of a more general term, ‘’bad writing’’. and im not saying kny has bad writing, i dont think im one to judge that JUST yet but for comparison yall should know that i have a fav character in another series that is written so badly that he has the personality of cardboard and was only given life thanks to fanon content. and i dont blame people when they say they dont like said character! its the same as zenitsu, only that this guy, this yellow idiot, actually has a much more solid grasp on how he acts/feels/does things! but more often than not, this linear perspective does damage to how deep his character actually goes, thus just making him the stereotypical ‘pervert’ in an anime. ive seen people say that he’s just the same as mineta!!! which is just. very sad for me

i understand why they’d think like that though, maybe there wouldve been a difference if kny became more popular b4 bnha, but who knows! anyways, back to zenitsu. now, i understand if people ever found his actions uncomfortable or annoying! but when people say that he’s just a crybaby and that he’s literally just dead weight that’s when i get,,, well, iffy. and this is kinda where the frustration comes, we see zenitsu overcoming these obstacles off screen, apparently it was even only just mentioned in a passing comment that zenitsu had stopped having to fall asleep to do missions and cried less when he was going on solo missions. these are the tidbits that i wish was shown more explicitly in canon, showcasing his growth and such. MAYBE it was touched upon once kaigaku came up, but thats another problem, literally kaigaku only showed up once in a flashback and then suddenly he’s a demon? sure a brief flashback that showed him being in gyomei’s orphanage wouldve been enough to put some light, but i think there was still some things that wasnt touched upon when we discuss how kaigaku was portrayed in canon. i think he’s even MORE misunderstood compared to zenitsu. they have (arguably) been in the same situation in their childhood, have drastically different personalities and dealt with it in their own way, but in the end i think he was just used so that zenitsu had a big bad he had to defeat. i think there wouldve been more impact if we were shown thunder fam interacting more, imagine how cool that wouldve been, ESPECIALLY if kaigaku just wasnt thrown into the manga and was given a chance to interact with kamaboko before hand. just, a lot to think about.

and now we have what happened in the last few chapters, w tanjirou becoming a demon and after all that zenitsu just says something along the lines of ‘ill make u pay for hurting me and my future wife (nezuko)’ which sucks to a degree. but count the fact that gotoge was inching towards zennezu, as i mentioned in a previous post, he was worried about nezuko getting hurt by tanjirou. im also a bit disappointed that he didnt really do much in terms of, well, caring for tanjirou, but one GOOD thing that i really liked happening was in the previous chapters bEFORE tan got turned to a demon, the part w him assuring inosuke that he can still hear tanjirou’s heartbeat, and then consecutively screaming at tanjirou that he had to stay alive, he went as far to say that he hears nezuko’s human heartbeat and that he has a family to return to, which was, surprise surprise, apparently somewhat a LIE! i cant confirm this unfortunately since ive long since lost the explanation but someone said that zenitsu wasnt actually able to hear nezuko’s heartbeat then, meaning he lied for tanjirou’s sake bc he knew that if he’d pull through something, he’d pull through it for nezuko. (there’s also that part where zenitsu fought hard to keep this family alive since well, he doesnt have one to return to, which is just. ouch) another thing i liked about this part is that he wasnt!!! crying!!!, but both inosuke and tanjirou were and dont u just love the irony. dont u just love it when zenitsu, resident crybaby of the demon slayer corps, is the one who shouts at the both of his friends, who are usually the ones pushing him, yelling at him to stop sniveling and fight, to raise their chins up and to not give up? i think these few moments are JUST ABSOLUTELY TASTY. 

but. unfortunately, they are glossed over once we have what happened in chapter 203.

tl/dr; zenitsu’s character is something much more than a crybaby who’s a pervert and annoying. these points overshadow the fact that he’s a kind person, who was willing to protect nezuko despite knowing she was a demon just BECAUSE he trusted tanjirou that much and that he had a kind sound! he’s willingly THROWN HANDS when someone talked bad about kaigaku, a person he ADMITTED HE HATES, because he respects them as a person! zenitsu is much more than a crybaby who’s a pervert and annoying. if only canon were able to explain much more clearly than these few tidbits that we were given.

//im crying at the club im so sorry this is so long oh god oh fuck. anyways ive been disappointed time and time again and ive long since really stopped looking forward to the best to my fav characters and ive been p negative in previous fandoms so its why i avoided complaining like this in this blog but yeah kjfhkjsdf thank u for reading,,, 

[queenitn]

So...I just found something that I'd written one night at like 4am a month into lockdown.

It's pretty much a very unnecessarily angry rant.

I can probably contradict half the stuff I say in it myself. It's just...kinda rude in places and when I'm thinking straight there's some parts I don't really agree with myself. It's not aimed at anybody and I'm definitely a hypocrite but I'm gonna post it anyways so go wild I guess.

So I recently took a stroll through Stucky fanfiction on ao3. For a while there I'd been avoiding it, and I'd nearly convinced myself that my mind was exaggerating the whole bottom!Bucky/top!Steve thing but yeah, I'm not.

Normally, I'd say who tops or bottoms doesn't matter. It's pretty irrelevant. But... since the majority of the fanfictions clearly prefer to write bottom!Bucky, obviously, there is some significance. Wouldn't the proportion be more equal if it truly was irrelevant?

Besides being annoying as fuck, it's also pretty interesting I guess. I have nothing else to do so I'm going to be ranting about a lot of stuff.

So, I mostly try to look for bottom!Steve, right? Because that's what I like. I read a bottom!Steve fic, then I say, "Hmm, this author seems to like bottom!Steve, maybe they've written more?" I go check, and I find...mostly bottom!Bucky, with maybe one or two more bottom!Steve.

It's fine the first few times, but after a while it's honestly weird. Clearly, a lot of very good authors have no problem writing bottom!Steve. They just happen to write more bottom!Bucky. As far as I can tell, that's pretty much the common trend. But why? What exactly does one think while starting a new fic, going all, "Hmm...I think...this time.... we're gonna have bottom!Bucky again." Again and again and again until it's most times.

Why is bottom!Steve so fetishized? I don't mean the fics that actually have a dom/sub element. I mean just pure bottom!Steve itself. Why does it have to be some sort of rarity?

As far as I know, there's...really nothing in canon indicating who would likely top or bottom. (I mean yeah, I do believe that canon Bucky is more likely to want to dom than canon Steve, but that's different.)

So, what is it?

Sure, Steve is taller, has a deeper voice, more muscle, a beard....but those are just physical things. They don't actually have anything to do with taking or giving.

Besides, he used to be small before. Is that what this is about? Previously tiny man likes to be in control? Likes to...what? Prove he's a manlier man? Bullshit. Besides the fact that it's bullshit, it also doesn't seem to fit with canon Steve.

The "Sometimes I think you like getting punched" and the "And you've got nothing to prove" make me think that his proving himself had less to do with showing his dominance and more to do with showing his endurance. I'd say bottoming is exactly what he'd want to do.

Besides, wasn't that exactly what made his relationship with Bucky special? The fact that he didn't have to "prove himself" in any way? Bucky already knew his worth.

Is it because Steve likes to give orders? Some sort of "Oh, this guy was always meant to be the leader"? Well, there's a huge difference between being a leader, giving orders in a battlefield...and giving orders in the bedroom. And I'm pretty sure top/bottom preferences would be completely unrelated to who's the boss at work.

But nevermind that, as far as I can tell, sure Steve gives orders, but he also looks to the people he trusts for guidance. The best example is Nat. The thing that makes their friendship so goddamm precious is partly in the way he always glances at her for confirmation before making a decision. Isn't Bucky sort of like an Ultimate Nat with sex benefits?

Nevermind that too. Steve bossing people around is great, but that's not the point, is it? The point is does he enjoy it? I think, the only movie where he did look like he relished his power was TFA. I'm pretty confident that's because of the novelty of his new strength partially, and partially also because of the rush caused by his back to back successes. Why? Because he never seems to take that kind of enjoyment again. As opposed to...maybe Sam? The guy who gets his literal wings back after (presumably) years and lets out a whoop after being chased by the missile thingies. Sam's joy doesn't wear off. Steve's does.

Is it just me, or has this skew towards bottom!Bucky actually increased over the years? Why? I can say a few things on this.

First, maybe people need to remember a bit more that Sebastian Stan is not Bucky Barnes. Chris Evans is not Steve Rogers. And Steve Rogers is not Captain America.

No matter what you think about the actors, the characters they play are separate. Please.

Second, there is a very interesting theory that exists which says that the reason why Bucky is so popular in the fandom is because his character arc is relatable to women and the queer community in the fact that it's about him regaining his stolen agency. Which is true.

Does this have anything to do with him bottoming though? I mean, I don't know. Fanfictions are important because they allow us to explore ourselves, whether it's our sexuality or our trauma that we're trying to figure out. In that way, it makes sense that maybe we will tend to write Bucky as a bottom more often. Except no.

Partly because, having had bad experiences at a young age myself, and being queer myself, I do not relate to Bucky. And hypothetically speaking, I would totally bottom for Peggy or Bucky, but I would rail the absolute shit out of Steve. I canNOT be the only one.

Partly also because yeah, a lot of fanfiction is projection, which is good for the soul, both yours and mine, but not to the point where we create a fanon version of the character completely different from the canon one. Yeah, you could say that canon doesn't really give us much of a character, but clearly they give us something and we have to build up on that right? It's true for both Bucky and Steve. Bucky barely has lines, but his actions speak enough. There's an absolutely breathtaking character waiting for you in canon if you really want to look. As for Steve, let me just say, sass and the tiniest little hints of PTSD do not make a whole character. Marvel fucked it up, but this goes for the fandom too (this is keeping in mind that Steve technically has three movies dedicated to him and Bucky doesn't)

Stop treating Steve like your personal punching bag, Stucky fandom.

It does happen, if we project our bad experiences on Bucky, Steve often naturally fills the role of the clueless/mildly asshole-ish love interest. Not too much of an asshole though, clearly you love him.

That's fine. Fanfiction is about self expression, but should we lose sight of the canon characters that we loved so much in the first place? And isn't fanfiction just as much about exploring those characters, as objectively as we possibly can?

Another thing related to that...why do we only have to identify with one character? I don't know how to put this, but there's a thing called halo effect and I think that's kind of what happens (I'm not a psychologist).

You see something in Bucky. And then you start to attribute more and more things to him that may or may not actually exist. Like yeah, he's fullfilling the traditional love interest role in Steve's movies, but that doesn't automatically mean he's a bottom. The two things are... actually entirely unrelated. They're only related in your mind. And similar to that, when we see one thing in a character that we identify with, we kind of want to see even more things in them we identify with, but it doesn't have to be like that. That's not how any person works, and it's not how any fully developed character works. You can relate to both the characters in different ways, no need to dump it all in one.

Ok, another thing, that I don't like to think about but it's occured to me and I don't like it. So, Steve is generally coded as a bisexual, right? And Bucky is coded as gay. Look yourself in the eye in the mirror and think about whether you're unconsciously assuming that the bi guy isn't going to want to bottom. I'm a bisexual woman, I will top Steve. I kind of resent this.

Going off on another tangent, I have also delved into Stony on my quest for bottom!Steve. Pretty sure there's even less of that there. Why??? That's crazy.

Normally, I'm pretty sure Tony would be coded as the top. He's much older, richer. He clearly has control issues. That's one of his defining features. Control. (I don't mean that in a bad way.) So....what exactly do Bucky and Tony have in common besides dark hair and short hight? The only thing I could come up with was thotiness. They're both shown as Thots. Is that it? The Thot Bottoms? Ok.

Is it the whole energy thing? "Bucky has bottom energy"? Does he? Can you argue with me if I say that TFA Steve has bratty bottom energy? That TFA Bucky goes from service top energy to mean top energy? Pretty sure that's subjective. But what exactly are we seeing differently here? I'm honestly asking.

Bucky's character is ridiculously strong, stronger than Steve in some ways (besides probably physically). Specifically, it's because of his ability to not only survive, but heal. Can we acknowledge how crazy that is? He's just fucking buying plums, but that's still more than we've ever seen Steve do. You can say his trauma is greater, but it looks like his coping ability is greater too. So is that what this is? Steve doesn't cope. Instead he focuses on external things like being Cap, Hydra, Bucky. I wouldn't call that a healthy way of living...but it's romantic, right? Neglecting to take care of yourself? No, actually avoiding taking care of yourself by focusing entirely on another person? Is that it? We're romanticizing unhealthy behaviour?

Is it because you feel more for Bucky, wearing his hurt on his sleave, versus Steve who wears it hidden under his skin?

Am I allowed to believe that Steve's ultimate shield isn't the vibranium one, but Captain America himself?

That's just me getting off track and mildly pissy but the point stands. We like seeing Steve in control. He wears it well. He's good at it. But that's just not that relevant. You don't just boss poeple around in the bedroom because you're good at it, you have to want it too. Would he want it? Is a commanding voice really an indicator of a person's desire to command? Can we really say because he's usually the one giving orders (because that's his actual job), that he likes it too? Does he look like he especially likes it? No.

I've been around fandoms long enough to know that all fandoms always have a preference regarding who ultimately tops or bottoms. This isn't the first time it's bugged me, but it feels more this time because I just don't see it. And it makes me angry because it contradicts what I feel, are the best parts of the characters. No, Bucky bottoming isn't the contradiction..but all this that I wrote, the connotations of this kind of coding, the underlying thoughts.... some of it is just not nice, but some of it opposes the little things that humanize these characters. It wouldn't matter, except that it wouldn't have happened at all if it didn't matter.

It's not just what happens to them in canon that matters so much. It's also what they choose to do for themselves when they have the chance. It feels like they made their choices and half the fandom ignored it. "Nah man, you'll look better at the bottom. Look at that hair."

Because ultimately, that's what it feels like to me. A mixture of not thinking too much about it (though I know this post probably counts as overthinking), some wierd internalised heteronormativity, and I don't know what just kind of fucks with all of us. All I know is that I hate it. I hate it.

It's not the bottom!Bucky I hate, it's the underlying, unthinking assumptions. The way it's a foregone conclusion. It's not. I really just want to be able to read the goddamn fanfictions again without wanting to tear my skin off.

( You can help by giving reccs)

[a-real-chara-cter]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; MUN & MUSE - MEME.

FILL OUT & REPOST ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

TAGGED BY: @the-judge-of-bones TAGGING: Steal it

MY MUSE IS:  canon / oc / au / CANON-DIVERGENT / fandomless / complicated

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK  Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK / KINDA (They're certainly underappreciated, I think - lots of screaming about 'MURDERBRAT CHARA', not much really looking at them as a character) Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO / KINDA (Depends on your headcanons, but they're literally the instigator of half the worldbuilding so) Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG (The main character is mistaken for them, and will either finally be seen for who they are, or meet them at the end) Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. (Duh. Human Prince of Monsters) How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL (The way I play them, while they're seen as more distant and less approachable than the King, Queen, or the other Prince - they have a reputation for caring and working hard for monsters, and for being, if not easy to work with, then reliable to work with. If they say they'll arrange funding for your work, you can practically start spending the money already.) How strictly do you follow canon?  — Not very strictly at all, really. I diverge in a major way right from the get go, and I have no problems with changing or tweaking details to make them work better, though I'll at least try to get at the -purpose- behind the detail first and see how it can be salvaged.

SELL YOUR MUSE! AKA TRY TO LIST EVERYTHING, WHICH MAKES YOUR MUSE INTERESTING IN YOUR OPINION TO MAKE THEM SPICY FOR YOUR MUTUALS.  —  Regal of bearing, quick of wit, sly of tongue, Determined of heart and dorky of mind. Prince Chara is an exercise in dichotomies, in the liminal spaces between love and hate, hard and soft, hot and cold. If you want to interact with a muse who can be waxing philosophical on the ways feelings can treat and triage emotional wounds one minute and then turn around and flirt through puns the next, here's your enby. If you ever wanted to see what a grown up Chara could have been, here they are.

NOW THE OPPOSITE, LIST EVERYTHING WHY YOUR MUSE COULD NOT BE SO INTERESTING (EVEN IF YOU MAY NOT AGREE, WHAT DOES THE FANDOM PERHAPS THINK?).  —  They're prickly. They trust slowly, and often only at swordpoint at first. They're a Chara, which, well - one of hundreds in the fandom, even if they're a bit different - the differences make them stand out, but also make them closer to an OC, which has its own problems. They like things to go as expected/planned, which can make initial interactions a bit tricky.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RP YOUR MUSE?  —  The mystery of Chara fascinated me about Undertale, and I admit to feeling a strong kinship to them - the Sans Genocide fight certainly didn't help there, because _I love a challenge_, and that fight comes part and parcel with Chara in the surrounding fandom materials. It was a surprise when I started hearing their voice and feeling it looking for an outlet, but not an unwelcome one - it took me a little while to refine exactly who and what my Chara was, which parts of common fanon resonated and which to discard, but I'm quite pleased by the person they've grown into through the journey.

WHAT KEEPS YOUR INSPIRATION GOING?  —  Honestly? Nothing did for a while. I had a bad experience with the fandom that put me off for a long while, and then real life got in the way and Chara retreated into the back corner of my head, only coming out for occasional snippets of conversation with their favorite Asriel or to snark on random moments and things I was doing. I'm not sure what drew them more fully out of hiding exactly, but it's been really great to get into the swing of writing them again.

SOME MORE PERSONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE MUN.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / SORT OF? Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO / SORT OF? (I have headcanons and little ideas all the time, but I rarely write them out unless prompted, mostly they emerge in actual threading or discussions.) Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO / WHEN PROMPTED (See above, basically) Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO (They're in my head 24/7, along with a handful of other muses sure, but still, it's rare an hour goes by without them chiming in some thought or observation or another.) Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO / SORT OF? Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO (For all I often joke about being good for nothing but shipping and shitposting, I -have- been writing fiction for over fifteen years, and RPing for over ten. I'm pretty confident my writing is good) Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO / SORTA (I can be really easy to upset or piss off if a hot button topic's pressed, but I'm generally pretty thick skinned, and I'm learning to be better at catching my temper and working around it.) DO YOU ACCEPT CRITICISM WELL ABOUT YOUR PORTRAYAL?  —  If it's useful criticism, that's actually about _my_ Prince and not what the reader thinks Chara should be, sure.

DO YOU LIKE QUESTIONS, WHICH HELP YOU EXPLORE YOUR CHARACTER?  — Go for it! I reblog headcanon type memes often enough, toss one at me, or just random questions.

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES TO A HEADCANON OF YOURS, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?  —  Depends on the headcanon - if it's a worldbuilding type headcanon, then sure, I'll debate that stuff all day. If it's a personal character headcanon, well... so long as you're framing it as a discussion, maybe? But it's not your headvoice, it's mine, you don't get a vote in how they express themselves.

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES WITH YOUR PORTRAYAL, HOW WOULD YOU TAKE IT?  — Hey, that's cool. If there's something offensive about it, lemme know and I can try to fix things, otherwise, we can hang out on separate parts of the fandom without being forced to interact, you don't gotta love my portrayal to be here, you don't even gotta read my shit to be here.

IF SOMEONE REALLY HATES YOUR CHARACTER, HOW DO YOU TAKE IT?  —  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Not my circus, not my monkey. Bring it -into- my circus and I'll tell you to fuck off.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PEOPLE POINTING OUT YOUR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS?  — Sure go for it

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE EASY GOING AS A MUN?   —  Fairly easy-going, but, well, I'm autistic, I know I'm not always as easy to get along with as I'd like. Still, tell me I'm doing something shitty and I'll stop, I'm not doing it on purpose.

[aproblematicpanda]

Harry Potter? For the in-depth fandom ask

Hi thank you! ♥ I will use the books for my answers, since I didn’t really like most of the movies. I apologize if I mix up some of the characters, I’ve only read the books in my native language so I will have to google for some of the names in English. :’D

Top 5 favorite characters: Minerva McGonagall, Luna Lovegood, Fred & George Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley. Other characters you like: The golden trio obviously, Molly, Dobby, Draco Malfoy, ... There are not a lot of characters I dislike. Least favourite characters: Umbridge, for obvious reasons. Otps: Hermione and Ron. Notps: I don’t think I have any? I’m not very invested in shipping when it comes to the HP fandom, I pretty much keep an open mind to everything? Except incest but I’ve never seen anyone ship anything like that, so. Favourite friendships: Harry, Ron and Hermione, obviously, and I also really liked Fren, George and Lee, and Lavender and Parvati. Favourite family: The Weasleys Favourite episodes: / Favourite book:  Prisoner of Azkaban is probably my favorite book. Favourite quotes:  "If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." "But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." "Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, 'It unscrews the other way.’" "There is no need to call me ‘sir,’ Professor." And probably more. The books have so many amazing scenes, funny, inspirational, sad, hopeful, ... It was really hard to pick just a few. Best musical moment: / Moment that made you fangirl the hardest: Ehh... I mean, obviously I was rooting for Harry and the ending was a satisfying one, just like every other time Harry beat Voldemort, but the moment that made me fangirl the hardest would probably be Hermione punching Draco in the face. xD When it really disappointed you: The only truly disappointing thing about the book is how House-Elves are treated. Other than that, the only time I’m disappoint is literally every time JK Rowling decides it’s a good idea to open her mouth. Saddest moment: The moment Harry breaks down in Dumbledore’s chambers after Sirius dies gives me chills every. damn. time I reread the book. Most well done character death: Oh god, this is so hard because most of the deaths really hit me hard Favourite guest star: / Favourite cast member: / Character you wish was still alive: Honestly? Probably Hedwig. Maybe Fred. One thing you hope really happens: That JK Rowling’s Twitter account is banned so she doesn’t have a damn platform anymore. Most shocking twist:  When did you start reading: I think the first three books were already out when I started to read them. My classmates kept telling me to do it and I was in that annoying phase where I refused to dive into anything that was this massively popular - but I’m glad I eventually caved because if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have grown up in this fandom and that means I would’ve had an entirely different experience. Now I can still say I grew up with the books and I’m glad I did. Best animal/creature: I’m a gigantic sucker for unicorns and I’m not sorry about it. xD Favourite location: I mean, Hogwarts is amazing, the descriptions of the castle never get old. Trope you wish they would stop using: Ehh... I honestly don’t know? One thing this book does better than others: I love how this show has such an inspired, dedicated, creative fanbase. The amount of HP related art, fanfiction, headcanons, ... out there is mindblowing. I’ve never quite seen that happen in any other fandom and it’s part of why I love this one as much as I do. Like how people can take a character that’s mentioned maybe a couple of times in the books and they create so much content for them to the point where I’ve actively had to stop myself from writing an answer to this questions because the answer isn’t canon, that’s admirable. Funniest moments: Fred and George wrecking havoc on Umbridge and finally leaving the castle after they get caught is without a doubt the funniest scene I can think of. Couple you would like to see: Like I said, I was never really into shipping anyone with anyone. I enjoy quite a lot of fanon ships I see on Tumblr, though. Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: / Favourite outfit: Every outfit I can think of is influenced by the movies so I don’t really have an answer to this. I would’ve loved to see Hermione’s dress to the Yule Ball, though, and the Patil sisters’. Oh, and Fleur’s wedding dress. Favourite item: The Marauder’s map. Do you own anything related to this show: No. What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in: I’m a Slytherin. Most boring plotline: I can’t think of anything. The passage that bores me the most is the one where the Minister of Magic meets the Muggle Prime Minister but that’s not a plotline. I guess everything is just so well thought of, everything that’s in the books in there for a reason and I wouldn’t cut anything out of it. Most laughably bad moment: As much as I dislike JK Rowling, she wrote seven brilliant books. I can’t think of a bad moment. There are plot holes, sure, and things that really fucking bug me, but no laughably bad moments. At least, not any that I can think of right now. The fact that she gave Cho Chang two last names as a name is a bad moment, though - but it’s not laughably. It’s just more proof that JK Rowling is a terrible person. Best flashback/flashfoward if any: The memories Snape shows to Harry, and the ones they both get to see of each other during their Occlumency lessons. Most layered character: I love the character development Ron goes through. Most one dimensional character: Ehh. There were a lot of important characters so it makes sense that not all of them got the layers they deserved. Right now nobody who’s relevant to the plot comes to mind as an answer? Scariest moment: Well, when Harry and Dumbledore came back from finding the fake Horcrux, that had me scared. Not for their lives (because it was obvious that Harry would live and Dumbledore would die) but because it felt like all of Dumbledore’s plans would be ruined so that’d probably be the scariest moment for me? Grossest moment: Ehh... I would probably throw up if I had witnessed Nagini sliding out of Bathilda’s dead body so I’m gonna go with that one, that must’ve been horrifying for Harry, especially because he spares Hermione the details. Best looking male: Well the books name Cedric Diggory as the most attractive one, so... Let’s go with that one then?  Best looking female: Fleur and Ginny Who you’re crushing on (if any): I would probably be all over Ginny if I had gone to Hogwarts. Favourite cast moment: / Favourite transportation: A Thestral! Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): I really love the descriptions of Hogwarts. Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: Oh god, so. many. Off the top of my head, here we go. 1. The carriages that bring the students back to the train station are mentioned specifically at the end of the fourth book and yet Harry can’t see the Thestrals until the beginning of the fifth book. 2. In what world are the Weasleys poor? Hermione specifically mentions in the seventh book that you can increase the quantity of food and Harry gets more wine for Slughorn and Hagrid with a spell in the sixth book, so no wizard or witch would have to spend any money on food, ever. And like with clothes and books and everything, why buy multiple ones? Just buy one and then duplicate it like when Hermione did it with the medallion? 3. Harry randomly remembering the phone number to get into the Ministry of Magic after almost an entire year, having heard them once: please. I started rereading the fifth book like two months ago for the gazillionth time and I already don’t remember them anymore. 4. Supposedly there’s a curse on the position as the DADA professor ever since Voldemort asked for the job, so there’s a new teacher every year, but Professor Quirrel is introduced in a way that makes it seem as if he has been teaching there for quite a while and other students (like Fred and George) treat him as such - seems to me like the curse was only activated with Harry coming to Hogwarts but that’s not what’s canon. 5. Voldemort conveniently waiting for the end of the school year each year to make his move. 6. The school year somehow always starts on a Monday and the Hogwarts express always leaves on September 1 which would mean that September 1 was a Sunday for seven years in a row. 7. Why, WHY, would they use feathers and parchment? What the hell is wrong with pen and paper? Or things like torches, when electricity has been a thing since forever? And the same goes for using owls to send letters, or the memos that are used in the Ministry of Magic: just text or e-mail, dudes. One sloppy ‘this doesn’t work here because there’s too much magic in the air’ just doesn’t cut it for me, especially because Harry does wear a watch, for instance. I probably have more but this is all I can come up with right now. xD Best promo: My childhood best friend bugging me about the books until I finally caved and started to read them. xD At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: Literally the first chapter.

Send me a show/fandom and I’ll answer

[eirenical]

Can you do 5, 7, 10 for the salty ask meme?

[Anyone else want to send me salty asks?]

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

And I think I’m going to put all of these behind a cut... AND THIS ONE IS WHY.  XD 

...honestly SO MANY TIMES.  OTZ

Fandom ruined e/R for me.  Fandom has nearly ruined Courferre for me--it’s why I stopped reading them unless they’re written by someone I know and trust.  Bahorel x Feuilly is another one that got ruined for me by fandom.  (Even mentioning the word ‘bromos’ is enough to make me rage-quit tumblr for the day at this point due to past associations with the word.  But to be fair, that ship was also saved for me by fandom, because YES, please give me ALL THE CUTE FARMERS’ MARKET AUs.  *_*)

And it’s happened before in other fandoms, too, but more recently than it ever used to.  I think what happens to me is that when a pairing I like gets popular, it ends up getting flooded with fanon interpretations of the characters.  People read a fic they like with that fanon and then end up using the fanon when they write their own stories and the cycle kind of perpetuates itself.  And then you get people who start believing that that fanon is canon... and extrapolate further fanon off of it.  And the next thing you know, the characterization has gotten so far away from actual canon that the characters and ship are barely recognizable as the same people as canon.  And that seems to happen with nearly every juggernaut ship I’ve ever liked.  If I catch it happening in time, I just stop reading things for that ship before it’s ruined for me.  But if I don’t... :P  Then I just have to stop associating with that ship altogether, usually to the extent of blocking the tag.

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

...bananas?  Practicing veterinary medicine?  Honestly, I can’t think of anything fandom related.  XD  Maybe most het ships?  IDEK.

Most disliked arc? Why?

Les Mis doesn’t really have arcs, per se, so I’m going to fall back on SW for this because BOY OH BOY DO I HAVE AN ANSWER.

...the sequel trilogy.  I’m sorry.  I really am.  I know there are people who like it.  And it’s definitely had its moments.  But I can’t help but feel that it’s destroyed and disrespected most of what I love about Star Wars.  From characters to mythology to the EU.  And I’m still really fucking bitter about it.  It doesn’t even treat ITS OWN characters with respect.  Just... fuck that noise.  I hate it so fucking much.  And I really wish that George Lucas would come back and take the wheel before Disney turns SW into another MCU.  :P

[polyamorous-mysme]

if i remember right, you did non-mc poly ships as well right? do you have any headcanons related to the first post thing you reblogged with zen/yoosung/seven?

oh my god that other anon that asked for this one got the TOTALLY WRONG ANSWERS because i used the wrong ask meme 😭😭😭 so sorry non

and yes i actually prefer non-mc ships tbh!

If you had to change the pairing’s very first meeting, how would you change it?

hm this is weird with mysme but i have to say i totally love the idea of seven and yoosung meeting in LOL and being cute gamer bfs and since we all know seven is a huge fan of zen i like the idea of the pair of them like. being somewhat famous in zen fan circles for mixing gaming and zen characters and zen meets up with them to thank them cause 707 has done so much to boost his popularity like. literally singlehandedly

What song fits your pairing the most?

not really the song itself but more the title maybe a bit of both but 15 reading homestuck on the internet - atlas is the first that comes to mind (as i was writing this i remembered internet personas by the same artist and it fits SO well)

What is your favorite AU/prompt idea/trope for your pairing?

HMMMM maybe a soulmate au like i love yoosung and seven getting paired together in a viddy game match and yoosung hearing “YO WHATS GOOD GAMERS LETS GIT THIS BREAD” and thats literally whats tattooed on his hip and 707 having “omg wadda hell” on his wrist and both of them have like. “are you here for a selfie:)?” w zen just having “oh” “um” on him like that would be so fucking FUNNY. for a prompt idea or trope i really like the idea of enemies to lovers like yoosung and 707 being competitors in an esports league that zen managed to score a place in like hosting cause his manager said it would be really good to expand his fanbase. i love it. gorgeous.

Do you prefer canon ideas or do you have your own headcanons for them?

little bit of both i mean i like 707s canon interactions w both of them but when it comes to zen and yoosung they arent really the BEST of friends and they butt heads a lot so you really kinda have to hc where those interactions are coming from

Favorite canon moment of them?

oh the COFFEE prank definitely

Least favorite canon moment of them?

HMMMMM altogether i wouldnt be able to think of one off the top of my head but i dont rly like the convos of zen like. telling yoosung like. “you should be more like me:)” or 707 like. FORGETTING he told yoosung to come over to his house neither of those are really fun for me

Favorite headcanon trope/idea? (Your own or someone else’s)

no legit now that i think about it that soulmate au idea is so funny to me i literally might write like. just a little one-shot for that cause its entertaining me immensely rn

Least favorite headcanon trope/idea? 

okay this isnt for the ship but i HATE tsundere yoosung please stop its gross. also stop treating trans!yoosung as an omg soft baby boy always anxious widdle baby like he is an adult w anxiety but he’s not. precious. he just needs to learn how to cope w shit better

Favorite aspect of them/their relationship dynamics?

i love how much zen and seven like. genuinely love yoosung. genuinely they both just want him to do well and start feeling better and zen trying to push yoosung to exercise and sevens little pranks are both just. them trying to make him feel better because they love him and i LOVE that

Least favorite aspect of them/their relationship dynamics? (Can be headcannon)

again: precious baby cant do anything himself yoosung or like. MEAN 707. he’s not mean or malicious.

If they aren’t a canon pairing, how would you get them together?

hm. in canon? 707 and yoosung sleepovers getting ready for party and zen seeing them both kinda work themselves/hide themselves away to death and forcing them to get out and have FUN and interactions with people. 

NON-canon … seven and yoosung pro gamer boyz meeting zen like over twitter and realizing that they actually live in the same city and meeting together for coffee and then just. going from there!

If you had to take them and plunk them into another fandom, what fandom would that be? Why?

dont know what this means. they’re all in the zen is hot fandom tho

How hard is it write/draw your pairing? Scale of 1-10.

not that hard given other pairings they do have a great dynamic that i love. though i have a harder time writing zen in general so that knocks it down to a high seven/low eight

Is there a pairing that you think rivals them?

jaehee/mc/zen 

Which character of the pairing do you like more? (Would you ever pair yourself with them?)

707 i love him so much cause i relate so hard. im a lesbian so not really but i had a hard comphet crush on 707 for a while.

Which character of your pairing would be the one to break up with the other? Why?

707 might if he thought he was gonna get them in trouble or put them in danger w his work. zen would if their unhealthy habits just kept going throughout the relationship and he felt like he was babysitting them more than dating them

Are they relatable as characters or as a pairing?

oh always. truthfully i can relate to all of them in a lot of ways and as a ship? yeah. love them.

Did you once/ever dislike one/both of them?

ive never been zen’s biggest fan tbh i did his route last and i didnt enjoy it really very much at all. him and yoosung just slide a lot under the radar for me but i dont dislike or hate either of them in canon or my own personal fanon. other ppls fanon though … yikes

On an estimate, how many posts have you made about them?

most my posts have 707 most of my reqs have 707 or zen. yoosungs pretty popular too but i think 707 would be the big one

What made you decide to ship them?

its my job:/

Favorite genre for them? (Angst, fluff, etc.)

angsty fluff. like good angst w some fluffy bits in the middle and ends in a big enormous $200 beanbag

[greed-the-dorkalicious]

Hello yes I made a thing please consider accepting our lord and savior aro Jotaro into your life

Text-only version under the cut, for anyone who can’t read the images for any reason:

Aromantic Jotaro Kujo

A powerpoint literally nobody asked for but I made anyway for some fucking reason

By @greed-the-dorkalicious / @pics-of-jotaro-smiling / @mutant-jojos

What does “aromantic” mean?

An aromantic person is someone who doesn’t experience romantic attraction- in layman’s terms, someone who doesn’t get crushes. (Side note: This is an extremely simplified description just for the sake of people who have never heard the term before. I know this doesn’t necessarily fit every aro, and I’m not trying to exclude anyone. Please don’t yell at me about semantics.)

It can be combined with any sexual orientation (aromantic bisexual, aromantic asexual, aromantic lesbian, etc.)

Why Jotaro?

Unlike his predecessors, Jotaro did not have a love interest as a protagonist. He gets angry at the girls who hit on him at school, and when Polnareff suggested tactical flirting with Midler, he seemed reluctant, saying “Yare yare, do I really have to say that?”

In an interview between Hirohiko Araki and Shoko Nakagawa, when asked about Jotaro’s preference in women, Araki said, “I don’t think Jotaro really likes girls.” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTh1woTmDqs)

Few (if any) aromantic characters exist in popular media, and aromanticism is heavily stigmatized. Creating headcanons can help spread positivity, and as an aromantic person, headcanoning Jotaro as aromantic greatly helped me come to terms with my own identity.

I just think Jotaro’s really cool and good and looks nice in green

Please

But couldn’t he just be (gay/etc.)?

Well, sure! That’s a perfectly valid and reasonable interpretation. Headcanons are just that- headcanons. Everyone has the right to interpret characters however they choose.

As mentioned, aromantics suffer from a severe lack of representation in media, both in canon and fanon. I hope to promote the aro Jotaro headcanon to spread awareness of aromanticism and help aro Jojo fans, but you’re not obligated to support it.

Of course, aros come in all varieties. He could very well be aro and gay, or aroace, or whatever you like.

But he’s married!

It’s important to make the distinction that Jotaro is divorced, not married. Whatever the reasons may have been, ultimately Jotaro’s marriage failed.

Marriage doesn’t necessarily invalidate aromanticism. There are a number of reasons an aro might choose to get married, ranging from genuine healthy domestic partnership to amatonormativity/compulsory heterosexuality.

This has never stopped anyone from headcanoning him as gay, also, I’d die for Jolyne’s mom and could write a whole other powerpoint on why this fandom treats her like shit. But that’s a story for another day

But I ship him with so-and-so!

You don’t have to stick with one interpretation of a character all the time. You might choose to write him as aro in some fics, while also writing ship fics as well.

You could write Jotaro and your chosen character as having a purely sexual relationship, or sexual-platonic, or a QPR (queerplatonic/quasiplatonic relationship). Or, y’know, just good old-fashioned friendship.

In conclusion, fuck yeah

Thank you for your time

[freifraufischer]

I've been following the discussions about the Supergirl cast incident and your opinion that a large part of the issue is that the cast doesn't understand fandom culture, especially non-canon shipping. As someone involved in fandom for a few years now, but has never seriously shipped a non-canon couple, I would agree that fanon shipping is a subculture all its own. And tbh, it's one that I've never quite understood in spite of being actively involved in fandom for years. (1/5)

I’ve asked non-canon shippers why why choose their ship, and isn’t it frustrating to support a relationship that they never get to see on screen? The general answer has been that they HAVE to ship non-canon, b/c the relationships they want to see (usually LGBTQ relationships) aren’t represented by most shows. OK, fair enough. But I still didn’t really get it. I can honestly say that I’ve never sent hate to anyone for shipping non-canon – that’s not my style – but I didn’t really get it. (2/5)

I had a small light bulb moment recently, though. An anon sent hate to one of my shipmates over her fic, in which she portrayed the main female character as overweight. (The character is not overweight in canon.) Anon called the fic – and the character – gross and asked the writer why she would twist the character that way. I was indignant on behalf of my shipmate that she’d been insulted like that for a work of fiction, in which she should be able to express herself however she wants. (3/5)

Furthermore, as an overweight woman myself, I was infuriated that this anon implied that fat women have no place in romance stories. Don’t I have just as much right to see myself represented in fic, as the thin and conventionally beautiful women do? And that’s when I remembered all the comments from LGBTQ fans who ship non-canon couples and just want to see themselves on screen, and it clicked. (4/5)

I am NOT trying to say that these experiences are equivalent. I know that the LGBTQ community struggles more for representation than a straight, white, overweight woman. But this is the (very roundabout) way that I, someone who’s actually in fandom, came to understanding non-canon shipping a little better. So I’m not really surprised that the showrunners and casts of popular TV shows don’t get it. It’s very unfortunate that they don’t understand, but not surprising. (5/5)

It’s good that you found a way to understand this.  I do know that a lot of fandom doesn’t understand it either.  Especially when “boy slash” and femslash actually have different and basically unrelated subcultures.

I’d add two things for you.  The first is that often times the canon LGBT ships aren’t treated the same way as canon het ships.  There is never a will they wont they phase for us.  We are always told before the characters even appear on screen who the designated gay couple is and there will only be one of them so sucks for you if you don’t like them.  Could you imagine what your shipping experience would be like if you didn’t get a choice to about which elements of a couple you prefer or not.  Sucks to be you if you like the tropes around Captain Swan.  All you get on screen is Rumbelle.  And you have no hope of getting another couple.  LGBT ships are often less visibly affectionate.  A kiss is racey.  All this stuff about implied sex scenes that Once canon shippers are demanding?  Pipe dream for us even when we’re dealing with canon representation.  Oh… and time.  Straight people always seem to think the LGBT couple is on screen a lot longer than they actually are.  By something like 50%.  So we get no choice, a less full story, and half of it.  And that’s if you are shipping a canon LGBT couple.

Where as if you are shipping an non canon couple anything in the world is possible.  The other day I reblogged someone who said that fan fiction was the only place two women meet and immediately start flirting.  It’s the only place where no one has to have a coming out story or explain their gayness.  A non canon LGBT ship is literally the only way we can find the stories that are written equally to the ones you enjoy on screen because we write them ourselves.

Do I love canon LGBT couples?  Sure.  More of them please.  But let’s stop pretending that they’re equal or they should be enough.

And let’s stop treating non canon shippers like they’re naive fools.  No one needs you to tell them that their ship isn’t happening.  Even if they’re asking when it will be they’re having a fantasy life where they are safe and normal and they get to ask content creators when they’ll be getting something that you get given automatically.  Maybe the casts and the writers don’t want to be pestered.  But why are we prioritizing a minor annoyance over someone’s right to just have a tiny space to imagine that they might be safe and normal and accepted totally? 

So nonnie i’m going to leave you with a charge, you straight shipper, the next time you hear one of your ship mates say “well they’re just letting them down easy” or “telling them the truth” or “letting them know it wont happen” I’d like you to tell them to stop assuming they know better than the non canon lgbt shipper.

[stormsbourne]

since dirkcourse is going on god knows I gotta open my mouth

I’m not trying to vague here cause god knows I hate vagueing but I want to weigh in on the current dirkcourse so here’s this. it’s addressed at all the of the dirk tag and current discourse going around. 

(for reference in this post I am defining soft dirk as a dirk who has the narrative/artistic focus more on his softer or gentler traits, his love for his friends or his desperate crush on jake english, instead of his manipulative tendencies or his facade of assholishness or his need to try and be stoic 24/7. it dwells more on his intense feelings for other people and self-sacrificing over perceived elitism or snide condescension, both of which are traits that I feel dirk only plays up as part of his “coolguy” persona. the appearance part is mostly unrelated aside from some stuff about hypermasculinity we’ll get into in a second)

anyway if it’s longtime fandom cred we’re going for, here’s my experience, as someone who’s read homestuck since 2010:

it was impossible to escape abuser dirk. 

people posted shit in the dirk and dirkjake tags on the daily reminding you that if you didn’t “acknowledge” how abusive their relationship was, you were an apologist. trying to counter this argument got you angry posts from various people in the group perpetuating that. you got called an apologist. accused of shouting over survivors. in the rare cases that survivors spoke up and asked to please stop getting called apologist for shipping something fucking fictional between teenagers, they were told to stop shouting over minors. they were told they needed to stop defining their lives by their abuse. they were asked why they hadn’t grown up and gotten over it. they had campaigns and crusades and mocking group circlejerks going after them for expressing a view of dirk that didn’t align with popular fanon.

I wouldn’t say this is the popular reading of dirk anymore. but the only reason I’d say that’s true is because the people driving this, the people making sure everyone knew abuser dirk was “canon,” aren’t into homestuck much anymore, aside from one or two of them. but you have to understand, this shit was inescapable. big names in the fandom lexicon, like shelby, treated dirk’s abusiveness as an obvious fact. you couldn’t write dirk meta without either dancing franticallly around the subject or just disclaiming it at the beginning with “I know dirk is an abuser,” even if you didn’t agree with it. if you didn’t do these things, you were guaranteed asks and condescending vague posts or callouts about you disagreeing. 

and for that matter, the idea that it’s completely gone away isn’t even true. landofsomethingsomething didn’t even get into homestuck until last year and didn’t start writing fic until post act 7 and still got an ask demanding why she shipped dirkjake, couldn’t she see how unhealthy and bad it was? didn’t she care about the opinions of survivors? 

all of this is without touching on how big masculine semi-wolverine dirk was the more popular version in fanart (especially in het, but also in slash) and how usually he looked like a miniature bro, often older than the other characters. this is without talking about how people deliberately read in the worst to everything he said, pointing to his “let’s go raiding” line with jake and shouting about how manipulative that was or him breaking up with jake as proof he was trying to force jake to hook back up with him. this is without touching on how the phrase “strider manpain” became a blanket mocking phrase to make fun of anybody who cared about dirk or dave’s feelings -- complete with mocking anybody who thought dave’s selfie shit was a semi-mental breakdown (which it was) or that dirk sitting on the edge of the roof was him contemplating suicide (which it sort of was, but to be technical, it was more suicide-plus-murder). 

artists left homestuck fandom because the discourse wore them out. several artists I personally FOLLOW deleted most of their dirkjake content because they didn’t want to deal with the discourse anymore and they were tired of being called apologist. one artist made a misstep with some of their art and got so bombarded by asks calling them an abuse apologist and rape supporter that they pretty much quit tumblr for weeks. several dirkjakes I know have expressed that during the 2011-2014 (or so, it depends) era they were outright afraid to participate in the fandom. even most of the popular dirkjake content producers (who I’m sure are on the list of “soft dirks”) bought into the dialogue that dirk was abusive. that’s without getting into how dudebros kicked it up, how dudebros talked about that andrew hussie only wrote dirkjake to mock slashers and “prove” to them that slash between two random dudes could never work. that’s without talking about how dudebros figured dirk, such a violent person, could only have black feelings for jake. that’s without talking about how dirk/uu people routinely either gave dirkjakes the runaround for “denying abuse” or talked about how dirk, as a gay dude, was OBVIOUSLY too hardcore and too kinky for a gentle cinnamon roll like jake. (and the “cinnamon roll jake” discourse is something I could write about 5 more posts about.)

it was inescapable.

look, I know fandom is gigantic and what you see depends on the following you curate, but keep in mind that applies both ways. just because you never saw it doesn’t mean it didn’t exist. I’m sure there were corners of fandom where this dialogue wasn’t mainstream and softboy dirk was. but in a lot of the fandom, abusive hypermasculine wolverine sideburns dirk was the only thing we saw. asshole dirk was all we could find because if you didn’t do asshole dirk, you were Problematic.

[movingtoamultimuseblog-blog]

🔥 + fanon tbh

Oh my god. Where do I even get started? (UNPOPULAR OPINION WARNING)

I could likely go on about this topic until the day I die but I’ll try to keep it simple and sweet. (spoiler: it wasn’t simple or sweet)

Too many people think that what the fan-base says is canon. I’m sorry but I’ve been in several communities that fall victim to this. In a series, regardless of whether it’s a video game, anime, manga, movie, web-series, or TV show, there are certain things that the creator states are canon. Those are the only things that could be defended so rabidly if something honestly needed defending. Which, spoiler alert, it doesn’t need defending. I realize I’m going to sound so harsh and cold on this topic but it needs it honestly.

When people role-play, they are collectively writing what many of us like to call fan-fiction. Please take a look at the word again. Fan. Fiction. Not fact. We take creative liberties such as changing the gender of a character, changing the character’s species for supernatural stories, and changing the character’s sexual persuasion. How many times have we taken canonically hetero or homo characters and changed that? Countless.

Sometimes when a community likes these changes, they tend to adopt it as more “canon” than what the creators wrote and decided. To be honest, if you want head canons, that’s fine! But when it comes to the end of the day, that is only your interpretation of the character, a character that was not created by you.

And guess what? It’s okay not to like the same things. We all have free-will and the ability to form opinions. Why is it that people who go outside of the fanon are viciously attacked? Were you raised to treat others like that? If so, would you do it to their face if you didn’t have the security of a keyboard and screen in front of you? No; I don’t think many of the people who attack others over fanon would be able to step-up. Coming from a psychology major, I’ve learned real quick over the years that people will say anything as long as they can’t be confronted in life outside of the internet. This behavior because of technological changes has perpetuated and grown awfully rampant.

It needs to stop.

People are allowed to have their opinions. But they should express those opinions civilly and with respect. If you don’t like what someone else likes, just either say “hey I don’t agree but to each their own” or don’t say anything at all. Some people like hetero. It doesn’t make them homophobic or transphobic or acephobic or whatever stupid Tumblr-ite terms people want to use. Some people like homo. Doesn’t mean their heterophobic or bi-phobic. Like, really.

Some of this community, speaking about the Overwatch one here, have taken this dislike so far that I’ve contemplated just dropping it altogether and I don’t even ship or get involved! The fanon over things like Emily or Amelie. Fanon over various ships or backstories. Let me say this one loud and clear. Overwatch is a game that is still developing and changing constantly. We do not have everything for backstories, sexual orientations, and who some of them even definitively like in the series. Everyone can have a different interpretation and creative liberty here. But do not get pissy when the creator decides something for their series. You didn’t make it; you didn’t help make it; get off your self-entitled, privilaged, high horse and realize that you don’t have a say.

You have a creative liberty. Just like everyone else. Give respect to others regardless of your fanon or head canons and you’ll get it in return. It’s okay not to like something popular. It’s not okay to hate someone for not liking it or not following it.

Fanon will never equal canon. But that doesn’t make it bad. It just makes it a community with an opinion; an opinion that should be expressed with civility, not with echo chambers and death threats. Take away the safety of your screen sometime and say the things you say to someone on the street that you don’t even know. Watch how well that goes.

I realize this is longer than I intended but these things need to be said. Not just for the Overwatch community, but for every community out there. Please; for my sake and for the sake of those around you all. Learn to understand each other, learn to accept that not everyone is the same and thinks the same, and please for the love of anything? Stop attacking each other over fanon, claiming they’re hateful of a certain group or that they need to die. You’re better than that.